the view from here

Of Walking And Breastfeeding

2012-01-27T22:21:00.004+08:00

Minggu lepas ada kenduri di rumah sepupu Zuf. Sedang aku duduk di lantai bersantai mendukung Aisha, datang seorang anak buah jauh Zuf, juga mendukung adiknya yang aku kira agak muda iaitu agak-agak 2 years old

ABZ : Umur dia berapa tahun kak?

AKU : Baru masuk 5 bulan.

ABZ : Dia dah boleh cakap dah?

AKU : (Kau dah kenapa budak 5 bulan dah boleh bercakap?!) Err.. tak boleh lagi lah.

ABZ : Mukhriz (adiknya itu) jalan cepat, cakap lambat. Orang kata jalan cepat, cakap lambat.

AKU : (Eh ada aku tanya?) Oh ye ke.. bila dia start jalan?

ABZ : Tujuh bulan dah jalan!

AKU : (Hek eleh budak darjah satu ni. Jalan meniti kot. Hebat betul adik ko?! Sentap ni!!)

Heh? (Terus pandang tempat lain)

Aku skeptik dengan ayat itu kerana Emma dahlah jalan lambat, cakap lagilah lambat. Don't think there is such a thing, or is a scientically proven thing. Skeptik tahu tak, skeptik!

OK sekarang Aisha's updates.

Sedang menonton televisyen. Sangat khusyuk.

Hmm.. biasa saja. Kadang-kadang dia berpusing-pusing. She also gets up on all fours and rocks herself. Tang tido tu memang dahsyat repositioning dia. Biasa dia tidur jam 8, dan bangun balik menyusu jam 4. (Biasa menyusu sambil baring, bila aku nak tidur aku angkat dia masuk babycot. Jam 4 menyusu aku angkat atas katil). So far so good.

Menyusu pulak Alhamdulillah masih menyusu badan. Stok susu dalam fridge pun OKlah, not bad at all. Time Emma dulu memang kais pagi makan pagi, Aisha ni ada lagi stok so pumping schedule tak begitu rigid. The other day after a meeting that went on and on, I double pumped while driving back to the office. Freestyle FTW! Kadang-kadang sesi mengepam dibuat sambil menggosok baju, mengemas beg, mencuci botol, menaip di pejabat ewah. Cumanya masa mengepam kat meja office tu, janganlah menyuruh aku bangun kerana walaupun ia boleh dilakukan, aku akan kelihatan seperti seorang wanita with super boobies.

Emma breastfeeding her baby, also named Aisha Zoeya sheesh.

Saiz badan, hehehe, is average. Not as Sin Chan as Emma. Much slimmer. And lighter. And dare I say shorter. Sigh.

So far, Emma has been nothing but a good and loving sister. Dia bangun pagi kalau Aisha dah bangun lepak dengan aku kat depan, dia menangis cari Aisha. Kalau Aisha terjaga dari tidur, dia dodoikan Aisha. Of course Aisha never falls back asleep, but at least she keeps her entertained. Kalau Aisha tarik rambut Emma (which she always does), aku marah Aisha, aku kena marah balik dengan Emma.

A photo I uploaded on facebook the other day.

Love.

Seems like Emma and I are the ones who have to fight for Aisha's affection. Bukan Aisha dan Emma yang fight for mine.

Next!

2012-01-24T19:28:00.001+08:00

Okay so Blogaway sucked. Couldn't upload photos. Or maybe I didn't know how. Mari eksperimen!

Blogaway

2012-01-16T01:15:00.001+08:00

Keeping to my resolution, so far. So I'm trying out this new blogging app, let's see if it's any good.

We had Shaqeel for the weekend while K Chy went outstation. It was nice to see Emma and Shaq and even Aisha bonding. Once I was at the kitchen, leaving the kids alone in the kids' room, then Aisha sorta cried. I yelled "Emma! Main dengan Aisha!". Usually she'd just follow my order. Today I heard her yell "Shaqeel! Main dengan Aisha!". Lepas tu dengar suara Shaqeel cakap-cakap dengan "Esha". Hehe the heirarchy has changed.

Haha really quick update. Happy Monday morning, everyone!

2012-01-07T00:55:00.001+08:00

Happy 2012 people! Haven't seen you guys for quite some time. I'm in a meeting right now, but aku sedang duduk tersandar sambil mengupdate blog muahahaha. Bergaduhlah you all. I'm doing this because of my resolution. Heh heh.I resolve to update my blog at least once a week, more frequently if time permits. Like today hahaha. Susah nak update because android app takde blogpress. Hehehe alasan.Among other resolutions are:-To spend less time indoors, watching TV and to spend more time appreciating nature chewah. Implemented last weekend whereby Aisha terbaring baring atas tilam kat luar rumah while aku jemur baju dan bercucuk tanam dan Emma bermain pasir.Lagi resolusi :- To run the half marathon in this year's KL Marathon. Berusahalah! Haven't started training yet.. Hmm..Cook more often. With four mouths to feed, eating out everyday is not a viable option. Plus its healthier. Cooked in bulk on Monday and froze some.To be more patient. Especially with Emma. God, akal budak ni nowadays. I've had meltdowns I'm not proud of *cries*Final resolution :-submit my application to ISM. Muahahaha. 7 years gone. Major procastinator (sp).Fuih banyak juga azam tahun 2012. Marilah berusaha menjayakannya! Happy 2012 everyone!

36 Days Of Aisha

2011-09-24T23:42:00.001+08:00

Well pantang is almost over. Hooray. Thursday morning I'm gonna have me a cold glass of coke on the rocks ewah. And later some ice cream. Or just save time and have a coke float. Just to get that craving out of my system. And hope Little Zoe won't be affected by it. Like the day I had a cup of very mild coffee. Argh penyesalan ok because she wouldn't sleep! So no more coffee for me until I start work.

So baby's a little over a month today. At her month old checkup she gained about 800g which according to the nurse is OK. Sangat best check up kat Klinik Jalan Abd Samad seh, kosong! Aisha was the only baby there! In and out in sup sup sap (less than an hour, including her jab).

I'm now spending time in Singapore, attending my cousin's engagement tomorrow and doing some hari raya visiting. Hahaha pantang tak habis dah keluar berjalan bagai. Pagi tadi siap pergi East Coast Park bawak the kids cycling chewah. Found out Emma's afraid of the waves, she scolded the water for getting her feet wet. Did some cardio haha cycled for 45 minutes! Turun je bicycle tu kaki rasa macam jelly fish, seriously! It was a beca-lije bicycle contraption, 2 cyclist, a sort of like child seat in front, ada cover atas and a steering wheel. Quite heavy lah the thing, itu pasai kaki rasa jelly fish. And now my back is painful. Should take the next few days easy.

On a plus note, I'm down to my pre-pregnancy weight. Yay! But since I was already a bit (hah! Denial, much?) overweight then, I am aiming for an extra 10kilo weight loss. Too ambitious kot. Try 5 kg first then we discuss. As usual belly still at 3 months pregnant. Apparently the weight came off my butt. I think. Sigh. Getting flatter after each baby. And wider too. Should look for area spesific exercises. Or new jeans that hides all flaws.

Hmm but can I since early Tuesday morning is our flight back to KL? Mampu mak handle 2 kids naik flight pukul 8:45 am sorang-sorang? Insyallah. Papa kata nak keluar rumah at 630. Tak payah mandi lah gitu. Or if nak mandi kena bangun pukul 530, or 6. Because Aisha typically wakes up at 630. Yup, whatever.

Akhir kata dari saya, selamat hari raya aidil fitri, maafkan saya, zahir dan batin. Thanks for friends who came (di KJ dan juga di SP!!) bearing gifts, cash and well wishes. Ketahuilah bahawa kami sekeluarga appreciate kebaikan anda, sedalam-dalamnya. Juga kepada yang membawa makanan dan juga kepada yang memasak kat rumah I, hehe. Harap u ok ok je nak bersalin nanti, u can do it babe! Thanks!

Argh ignore huge flabby arms, please. Should trim those too. The only photo with the 3 of us.

My Birth Story - in a nutshell

2011-08-29T00:22:00.001+08:00

The contractions began while I was strolling in Alamanda, timed them around 10 minutes apart. There was some bloody discharge when I checked in the toilet. I continued walking. Around 4 pm Zufri came to pick me up and off we went to Hospital Putrajaya. Terserempak dengan Dr.Hamidah who was just leaving, so she gave me a vaginal examination (VE) first.

2 cm dilated je daa. Chehs. They did a CTG and sent me off to the ward. Lama nak tunggu dapat masuk ward tu, nak buka puasa baru dapat bilik. Kesian kat Zufri, pasal aku dah buka puasa dah dalam kereta tadi.

So dinner came, I had to eat standing up due to the contractions. Around 9 the contractions got more intense and half an hour later I took a very long hot shower to help ease the pain, and it did make a difference. Lama jugak aku dalam shower tu.

The nurse came while I was showering and said that she'll come back at 11 for another dreaded CTG. So I got out of the shower, and immediately the contractions came hitting hard. I think it was around 5 minutes apart at that time, each lasting about 2 minutes. Oh. My. God. I was on the verge of tears by then, begging Zufri for an epidural. Zufri pulak dok bagi aku kata-kata semangat. Serius rasa macam nak tumbuk je muka dia.

As it turns out, I had given him a set of instructions. He reminded me that I told him no matter what, DO NOT LET ME GET AN EPIDURAL! Cheh. Nice timing to start listening. But I am thankful for that. And I am so thankful that Zufri was with me for the whole ordeal. I have no idea how I could go through labour alone.

By this time I'd tried all sorts of poses, from all fours to the child's pose lah, leaning over the food tray lah, sitting down lah, squatting lah, leaning over Zufri lah. Macam-macamlah. Then the nurse came for the CTG. I told her to just call the doctor to see how far along dilated I was before she did the CTG (if necessary). Nurse tu berkeras jugak nak suruh buat CTG 'because the doctor ordered for it'.

I didn't wanna lie on my back so I laid sideways, tak boleh detect heartbeat, kena baring jugak. 3 kali jugakla contraction time CTG tu, hampas betul. Then she like urgently called the doctor, and she said that I was already 9 cm, kita bersalin kat sini je lah. I said tak nak and so off we went to the labour room. Berlari-lari nurse tu tolak katil aku turun lif.

Sampai labour room at 11:55, waited for Zufri to arrive before I started pushing. I remember giving up a few times, saying tak boleh, tak boleh. Later I remember asking to just vacuum the baby out, mak tak larat. Finally the doctor gave me an episiotomy (cheh kena jugak) and at 12:29 am on Saturday the 20th of August 2011, I gave the final push and out came baby Aisha Zoeya, She Who Lives Life, all 3.85 kgs of her.

I cried when she came out, an experience I never had with Emma I think due to the epidural. I guess I was really on a high because the stitching up later was a breeze, didn't really feel the pain. It was over pretty fast too. I put her to the breast and she nursed for around half an hour. Or she just suckled. Whatever.

Rindu sangat dekat Emma masa ni. Masa aku call Emma (mintak tolong Kak Yen amek dia kat rumah Opah), mengalir air mata Zufri, kesian katanya kat Emma. Zufri memang garang dengan Emma, aku lebih toleransi, pasal tu Emma lagi sayang kat aku hehe chewah perasan.

So anyway there you go. Not really in a nutshell, huh? Apapun, syukur Alhamdulillah semuanya selamat dan tak perlu di induce (sepatutnya di induce hari Isnin, 22 Ogos). Dan syukur juga that I got to labour mostly in the room.

Oh, The Drama

2011-07-27T10:18:00.001+08:00

Yesterday (this is a delayed post, happened on 20/07/2011) as some of you might know, I was at Hospital Putrajaya regarding my pregnancy. During my biweekly appointment at Klinik Kerajaan Kelana Jaya that morning, they discovered a few things. I had protein in my urine and slightly elevated blood pressure (signs of pre-eclampsia), my glucose level was at 2+ (impending sign of gestational diabetes for which I had to repeat my MGTT this morning), and that my baby’s heart beat according to the Doppler is 174 bpm (normal being 160, and hers had always been between 140 and 150). The nurse made me lie down and rest and then took several reading at 5 minutes intervals. Her heartbeat never came down.

When I saw the doctor, she said that she’s referring me to the hospital and I started crying. Emma was with me, sedang melayan Hutos (thanks to Nannoor’s tweet! Sangat comel) jadi dia tak perasan mummynya sedang menangis. Doktor kata la, saya refer hospital untuk check je, kalau takde apa-apa dia tak tahan u. And I replied in between sobs saya tak nak kena induuuuccceee!! Huk huk sedihnya. I really really wanted a non medicated natural birth this time around. Doktor kata kalau kena induce pun takpe what, you dah 36 minggu, baby berat dah lebih 2 kg, everything will be fine. Which is actually correctlah sebenarnya, better she thrive outside rather than suffer inside kan.

So I called Zufri who was in a meeting in Putrajaya and he picked me up, dropped Emma at Kak Yen’s (Opah pun pergi hospital, ingat belum sampai rumah, rupa-rupanya pukul 10 dah sampai), singgah rumah ambil my hospital bag and drove to Putrajaya. Fully prepared in case I have to give birth that day.

Upon registration and checking in at the counter, the nurse said ‘pergi ke wad bersalin sekarang!’ in what I thought was a serious tone. So again I cried, kerana terperanjat of the severity of my case. I know, lemah gila. Hormonal sungguh. Especially because Zufri was somewhere else, getting me something to eat. Then off we went to the labour ward. Masuk-masuk je ada notice mengatakan we are full, all patients will be checked and referred to Hospital Kajang. Zufri panicked, he didn’t want the hassle to be moving here and there, so he booked me on the hospital’s FPP scheme, hehe. Will update about that later.

They took me in to the examination room, hooked me on to an external fetal monitor and I heard the word tachy repeatedly. Now I don’t think the nurses were calling me tacky and I’ve watched countless medical shows to know that they were talking about tachycardia, which is high heart beat count. But I didn’t have my phone with me so I couldn’t Google it. Then the doctors came, all 4 of them sheesh, started asking me this and that. At one point the male doc started asking me things about medication, how I miscarried my second one, what happened, family planning lah, IUD lah, do I have a fever or no, do I have thyroid problemlah, was I leaking lah, bla bla bla all the while shooting nervous glances at my EFM reading, so of course I panicked. Lagi nak tanya Puan nervous ke puan? Of course I’m freaking out! You’re asking me all sorts of questions, of course I get nervous. Is there something wrong with my baby?! I mean shut up already!

But whatever. So he called his superior, a Dr. Lam who seems to have a worried look plastered on his face all the time and said ya puan, nampak anak you punya heart beat ada sedikit tinggi, we will hydrate you and see how things go. So off he went and the male doctor gave me a heplock for the fluid. Salah cocok pulak tu. Makin lah gua stress. Sakit gila dia cocok. Lepas tu dipasangya di pergelangan tangan kiriku.

After half an hour of EFM and fluids, nothing changed. Dr. Lam said puan puasa ya sekarang, jangan makan minum apa-apa. Eyebrows furrowed. I thought having to fast means I’d have a caesarian section! At least that is what I thought. I never asked him and he never explained. Mak panik sekejap, tapi serius mak pasrah dah masa tu. Kedengaran pulak di background nurse tu tanya doctor tu wad mana doctor nak bagi pasal memag dah takde bilik dah.

I drowsed in and out of sleep, and finally Dr.Lam said OK, your EFM reading is much better now, averaging at 150 bpm. Alhamdulillah! Everything’s fine! I get to go home! So he did an ultrasound, her size is according to her gestational age (well maybe a week late, I’m supposed to be 36w + 4d as of yesterday, but according to the scan its 35w + 5d and my edd instead of 15/08 was 21/08. At one week apart it didn’t really matter, plus my period cycle is 35 days compared to the normal 28 days) and her efw is 2.70kg saja! Quite light, but Alhamdulillah that she’s fine.

So segala-galanya OK, MGTT results came out OK, blood pressure still slightly elevated, haven’t done a urine test since the above happened. Hai, macam-macam problemo lah. I really thought I did a very good job carrying the baby this time around, tapi nampaknya Allah lebih mengetahui. So today (27/07/2011) I have an appointment with the gynae at Hospital Putrajaya at 2pm. Tak dapat any of the female docs, dapatlah Dr.Azmi. Takpelah, at least I will be closely monitored.

Will update as and when possible.

P/s : Semalam berjaya menyiapkan penjahitan quilt / mini toto for the baby. Gambar nanti saya update. Satu weekend kumpul kain, satu weekend gunting kain dan susun, satu weekend jahit atas, rest beberapa weekend hahaha semalam siapkan dengan kain alas belakang. Siapa tahu, the baby might be coming soon. She deserves something lovingly home made by her mummy. Hehe.

Now back to work!

The Baju That Didn't Happen

2011-06-30T11:15:00.001+08:00

Started sewing littla baby's baju kurung last night. Potong kainnya dah lama, tapi minggu ni asyik memasak je, hehe, lantas jadi penat dan tiada masa. Since last night only made Prego's cheese and herb kuah, so dinner was done at 830, plus Zufri wanted to watch the match so I couldn't watch Fox.

So anyway, started the washing machine and figured 1 had an hour to sew whatever I could. Ingatkan sempatla siap, pasal baju kurung kecik je, berapa banyak sangatla nak kena jahit kan?

Mula mula jahit, aturan dah salah. Kena tetas balik. Lepas tu jahit je benang tercabut lah, jarum patah la, Emma kacau main benang lah. Ya Allah, stress gila. Tapi aku gunakan pendekatan zen chewah, dan remained calm at least on the outside.

So finally when the laundry was done, I had managed to complete one part of the pesak and the sleeves. I proudly showrd Zufri what I had done, and he went on to say the sleeves have to be bigger, don't think the baby will be comfortable in that.

Kecilnya hatiku, dan sambil protes aku kata yang aku amek dari sample baju Emma la, sambil mengambil baju itu. Turns out yeah, it was a whole lot smaller than the sample!! Kenapa??!!! Measurement aku salah ke??!! Tension gila!

Nasib baik aku buat draf je, not using the original kain baju raya dia. Now no more confidence already to make the girls' baju raya. Shoot.

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-20T00:18:00.001+08:00

Zuf doesn't really celebrate any special 'day', except for birthdays. And the only reason he celebrates birthdays nowadays is because my family is big on birthdays.

He never wished me a happy mother's day ka, happy valentine's day ka, and I have grown tired of expecting one. I'm sure he's not expecting one from me, so no pressure there, hehe.

Instead of 'worshipping' him today, he spent the day doing his fatherly duties, which I assure doesn't happen that often. He cleaned up the middle room, which has been turned into Emma and the new baby's room, and even committed himself to training Emma to sleep by herself in her room before the baby comes (which I think is quite impossible), but hey he has my support.

He doesn't read my blog anyways. So happy father's day to daddies who are reading.

I'm Pregnant And Is Super Emotional

2011-06-16T13:56:00.001+08:00

Papa called just now, asking why he was charged for using unifi at my place on his phone when it should have been free, according to me. So I said I don't know, but maybe he didn't really use a unifi connection but celcom's gprs instead, because those things are really expensive and I think he was charged about RM74 just for that.

Then he started yelling, "then who's gonna pay for this?!" over and over again, so I said yeah, I'll pay, whatever. I wasn't sure, I thought he was just yelling in jest, but then again he sounded so serious, I got I dunno, scared I think, and suddenly burst into tears! Silently of course.

Then I suppose he figured something was wrong so he started chuckling and said that if I didn't have any money its OK, he was gonna pay anyway.

Aku senyaaaap aje. I was afraid I might cry louder if I started talking. I finally hung up. Siot je. Then when Papa called back I didn't answer.

Nanti kang malamlah baru aku telefon balik. Kecik hati I.

Stretch marks!

2011-05-10T08:26:00.001+08:00

Last night, while I was lying down on the couch watching TV with my T-shirt over my belly for better ventilation, Zufri saw stretch-marks! I got away with a relatively clean belly, no cellulite nor stretch-marks whatsoever while I was pregnant with Emma!

Argh pressurenya! But yeah, I really took pregnancy easy this time. No susu ibu mengandung and no Palmer's cocoa butter cream. Semalam baru terhegeh-hegeh nak sapu lotion, padahal tau-tau mengandung je aku dah beli lotion tu.

The stretch marks will disappear, right?

Sardine Rolls

2011-05-06T09:52:00.001+08:00

I've been craving for these rolls for quite some time now, so yesterday I finally googled them up. All that came up were the recipes, but most use either bread or those popiah pastry slices. Finally I came upon Kak Teh's blog that insists on making the dough with butter, not margarine! I took that as a sign that this was the right recipe to follow. I thought however, that her end product didn't look so pretty.

Sekali tengok mine was worse! Hahaha sabar je lah. Forgot about getting the pastry brush when I bought the rolling pin and the board, so I used my finger for the egg-wash. And the dough koyak rabak, because aku tak cukup professional.

Taste wise, I think I went a little crazy with the salt, but really, very delicious. Zufri didn't really care for it because sardines aren't his thing, but got some rave reviews from the visiting chef, Pipi (who made dinner, AND lunch btw, all while taking care of Emma!)

Two whole days of wholesome home cooked food. Ahh bliss. And a money saver too! And we had Tutti Frutti frozen yogurt for dessert semalam.

Haha rasa macam so positive and happy this morning. Maybe because its a short working week and its Friday already! Plus the Unifi installation is tomorrow! And I'm also picking up my new jubah tomorrow!

Hehe OTT pulak rasa. Have an amazing weekend, everyone!

Visiting Baby Armand

2011-04-10T19:30:00.001+08:00

Semalam hari membeli-belah di Gulati's USJ. Diskaun gila-gila you! Memang murah, tapi rasa stok last year kot pasal nak raya mesti nak masuk stok baru, kan? Banyak orang kawin bulan 6 ni, harus ada banyak baju.

Lebih enjoy dari ke Jakel tahun lepas pasal Gulati's tak ramai orang, so semua salesgirl busy layan Emma, Zuf busy layan handphone, aku dan Pipi busy shopping. Kenapa Gulati's USJ? Pasal kami baru balik dari melawat baby Megat Armand Firdaus, dan wedding yang aku sangkakan di petang Sabtu rupanya di petang Ahad.

2011-04-08T15:08:00.001+08:00

Ooohhhh the storm has passed. Great skills in risk management, in my humble opinion. Yay time to enjoy the rest of the workday!

2011-04-08T10:32:00.001+08:00

I have dug my grave. Now is the time to wallow in self-pity and ride the storm over. At least its Friday.

Sigh.

Disney On Ice

2011-04-07T11:25:00.001+08:00

Last Saturday Emma got to see her 3rd favourite cartoon character, Mickey Mouse and friends. Her most favourite cast would be them from Toy Story (siap mengigau Woody) and second is Elmo.

The show started at 1.00 pm give or take 10 minutes, and ended around 3.00 pm. Started off with Mickey's car nreaking down, and then came the cast of Cars, which I'm not familiar with. I thought the Cars part of the show wad pretty lame, pasal takde pape pun, cuma 4 biji kereta pusing2 atas ais pastu drift sikit2. Whatever.

Lepas tu ada The Little Mermaid pulak. This was quite nice, as Emma and I could relate to the underwater creatures like the fishes lah, sea horse lah, octopus lah. Emma tak pernah tengok cerita ni lagi, and afterwards I went to Speedy to look for the DVD tapi depa takdak pulak.

After that it was time for The Lion King. Also thoroughly enjoyable, with the detailed costumes and beautiful skating. Didn't snap a lot of pictures as we were busy clapping hands, singing and gawking at the show. Kenalah excited nyanyi2 dan joget2 dengan Emma pasal kalau tak harus membazir duit duduk tegak je tengok macam tengok wayang pulak.

Then a short intermission and then came Tinkerbell. Quite boring in the beginning because I kept waiting for Peter Pan to show up, rupa-rupanya there's a show called Tinkerbell or Fairies or something. But the production was quite impressive, with a flying queen fairy.

The costumes were pretty elaborate, the sound system was great, not too loud but yet loud enough to understand, the skating routines while not Olympic grade was still spectacular and amazing!

So would I go again next year? Hehe probably no because Emma would be 3 this August dan kena beli separate ticket hehe and the baby would still be a baby to appreciate the show. However kalau ada Pixar on Ice hehe, then definitely!

Toodles!

Office Lengang, Yo!

2011-03-29T15:47:00.001+08:00

Read a new blog today, and found that she's really funny. Don't wanna share her link in case saya terplagiat her work. A little. Sub-conciously, of course.

No bosses are in sight today. Now i can see my colleague's true colours. I see that they're still working. Darn. Eh why this passage like so short the sentences lah? Oh, the above-mentioned blogger went to STF, hehehe. Tak boleh lari lah dari budak STF.

It hasn't rained here since the weekend, I think, and when I mentioned this to Zufri, dia kata hujan complain, panas pun complain. But... I never complain when it's raining because I love the rain! I even let Emma play in the rain! So he should check his facts before speaking next time, huh.

I have a follower on Twitter already. Hahaha. But I have yet to tweet. Malulah. I mean what do I say? "Eating nasi lemak for breakfast today, yay", everyday? Because that's what I do. Zufri says I should use my name as my username, ie Intanhamzah, but I wanted something cool and not too formal. So I thought of ririblurry, my usual y'know habis poyo nickname.

But then it sounded so childish, and felt so blur like that. Fikir dan fikir dan fikir saya pilih username jeng jeng jeng riri the third. Kekeke.

I know what you're thinking. So this name doesn't sound childish and konon cool lah tu? Eh cool apa. Aku kan cool. Zufri says it sounds like riri the nerd. And retard. Kurang asam la suami aku ni. Nasib baik aku cool tau, tak heran pun komen-komen yang tak membina tu.

So whose twitter (or is it tweet) that is worth following?

2011-03-28T19:06:00.001+08:00

2011-03-26T14:05:00.001+08:00

2011-03-26T13:37:00.001+08:00

The curious incident

2011-03-22T22:40:00.001+08:00

Yesterday at carrefour at Tropicana City Mall, we were at the aisle displaying toolslah, tool boxes lah, lights lah etc. Emma was cycling just beneath the tool boxes when suddenly the shelf gave out and one tool box came tumbling down. Tool box besi tu. Fortunately I was next to her jadi mak pun tepislah tool box tu, tapi salah angle so jari aku terseliuh sikit. Mmg berdentumlah bunyi tool box tu mencecah lantai, campur suara aku menjerit lagi kekeke.

Baru nak bertenang, satu lagi tool box jatuh. Yang ni tak tau apasal, tak sempat tempis jadi aku cover Emma dengan badan aku because I was already down there checking on her from the first accident. Nasib baik tool box itu plastic ya.

Hampas okay carrefour. A staff apologized profusely and looked very sorry, and sesal and also angry for having let the incident happen that I just shrugged it off. I am a push over, like that. Sigh.

Tapi all is well, alhamdulillah nothing unwanted happened.

Blogpress

2011-03-11T08:53:00.001+08:00

So I'm posting via Blogpress today.

Now to put in some photos

Hohoho success! Pretty easy this Blogpress. Gambar di atas diambil petang semalam otw back dari rumah Opah. She insisted on wearing my baju as a hoodie. Sangat individual sense of style chewah puji anak sendiri.

blog test

2011-03-04T09:31:00.001+08:00

Testing blogging from my phone. Mcm xleh add gambar je

Short Notes

2011-02-25T23:39:00.002+08:00

Just the two of us at home tonite, Emma and I. Zufri went out training for golf and Pipi's off to stay at Kak Peachy's. Hehe did you hear what happened to her maid? Kerana melawan kata, dia dipecat on the spot. Moralnya jangan cari pasal dengan Kak Peachy. Hehe.

We had a few makan sessions last weekend. Pipi's macarons didn't quite turn out so we had Wondermilk cupcakes instead. The kids loved them. The kids' mothers loved them as well. Love them.

Some people just need to chill out. Downloaded 4 pregnancy apps on my phone.

A Recap

2011-02-17T23:31:00.003+08:00

First post as a 29 year old, huhu. So maybe my posts should sound more mature but not to prissy chewah. Thank you babes for the birthday wishes. Pipi made me lamb stew for dinner last night as a pre-birthday dinner. Then we had dinner at Swensen's, I had the salad because I was making room for ice cream. Hehe. Not the earthquake because I wanted something traditional, with almonds and whipped cream and love letters et al. Quite satisfying. Not the same case with their main courses however. My salad was OK, becuase how the heck can you screw up a salad dish?

So anyway, requested for a birthday present from Zufri this year, hehe. Tapi hadiah belum sampai. Mula-mula ingat nak fridge 2 pintu, hahaha. Gila domesticated. Terfikir mana nak simpan stok EBM nanti? Itu nantilah, dekat-dekat nak bersalin kang nak buat request number 2. Maybe I can surprise HIM with a fridge on HIS birthday, muahahaha. Tu barulah surprise namanya.

Shikin is having a makan-makan session this Saturday to half celebrate my birthday, half her house warming. I'm having a makan-makan this Sunday. Thinking of cooking Singapore style chilli crab. Yummy. And maybe cajun shrimp ala Bubba Gump. Pipi kata nak buat macaroons. The one she got from Whisk was quite delicious, although a bit too sweet for my sweet tooth. Yes, begitu manis.

Wah satu paragraph satu story mory doo.

Papa is on board the Ekspress Senandung Malam, transit di KL Sentral on their way to Penang, also by train tomorrow morning. Seronok, kan travel naik train, especially when you get a cabin, and because its free. Auntie Rani won an essay writing contest, dapatlah cuti-cuti malaysia sekejap.

Kami pun cuti-cuti malaysia gak cuti cny hari tu. Kelas mak jadi organizer, tip top sangat, kekekeke. Especially rumah Encik Abrar tu. Semi-D 3 tingkat, roof patio yang besar, semua bilik ada air-cond, ada boiler (hot water), ada washing machine, ada pak guard. Superb la kira rumah itu. Siap bagi grill lagi jika nak berbarbeque. Tapi tak sempatla. Sampai Ipoh je dah pukul 12! Breakfast sekejap kat R&R Jejantas Sungai Buloh, aku masak nasi lemak lazat dan sambal daging superb tapi termasin sikit, hehehe. They all bawak telur je, hehehe, tak mencabars. Oh ngan ayam goreng. Yawn. Sampai Ipoh, touch up2 sikit, lepak-lepak, then we had lunch at McDonalds what?! Jalan jauh-jauh makan McD? Hampas.

Sampai Tambun at 2+ kot. OKlah Lost World Of Tambun itu. Yang hebatnya pasal dia ada hot water spring tu. Ya Allah serius panas. The coolest hot spring there was at 38 degrees kot, the warmest at a whopping 43 degrees! Not recommended por pregnant ladies, so I just sort of dipped my legs there. Papa pun tak tahan. Then we went down dan lepak at a much cooler 40 degrees. Not bad. Really relaxing.

The petting zoo was quite small., but you can touch everything. Ada seorang tukang bersih tu, when I wanted to touch the guinea pig, he said cannot touch. Sheesh. Its not actually a pig, you know. Like why would they put a pig in a petting zoo? Kenapa? Then we went to feed the sheep. Agak jakun di situ. Penjaga kambing tu tanya aku, akak nak rasa dikerumuni kambing tak? Mula-mula tak nak, tapi apa motif pergi petting zoo kalau tak nak pegang haiwan? Jadi dia bagi aku some seeds, tadah tangan dan kambing-kambing pun meluru ke arah aku, menjilat-jilat tangan aku. Mula-mula agak ewwwwwwwww, maklumlah, ewwwwww. Depa macam takdak gigi kot. Lama-lama I ok je posing dengan kambing, hehe. Ada seorang budak tu darjah 6 kot, menangis-nangis kena kejar dengan kambing (padahal pakai t-shirt WWF ganas abes, kekeke)

Lepak-lepak, swimming-swimming, pukul 630 kami cabut, balik lepak-lepak, keluar dinner kat Restoran Nasi Padang Simpang Tiga. Again, what?! Nasi padang?! Aku sangat suka lauk-pauk dia, not everyone agreed. Takpelah, lain orang lain selera.

So for lunch the next day, papa wanted to have some nasi kandaq perak. There's this one place named Kedai Rahamath near a mosque in town. Kami pun dok carikla, and this one man said maybe its in the medan selera. Masuk-masuk nasi kandaq Hussein, papa pun dah lapaq kot time tu, so kami pun digged in. OK je la makanan dia, but not to my taste lah actually. Zufri said that's how the real nasi kandaq tastes like, where they put some peanut gravy on your rice. I'd take Pelita over Hussein anytime.

So after lunch, on our walk back to the car, lo and behold! Terselit di sebalik bukit adalah Kedai Rahamath yang glamourous itu dang it! Oh mujurlah ia tutup for Friday prayers. Tapi tetap rasa kerugian. Lain kali on the way back to Penang harus stop by Ipoh kejap hehe.

Wow panjangnya post kali ini. Making up for lost time. Penatlah lately asyik overtime aje nasib baik Mak Su jarang keluar dating pasal save budget nak kawin kekekeke.

Then we went to Kellies Castle in Batu Gajah. Mak aih, jauh benar tempat itu. Siap pusing-pusing Batu Gajah lagi. Tiba-tiba berhenti depan sebuah rumah misteri. Kemudian telefon papa berbunyi... Oh rupa-rupanya Kak Peachy, calling to say that it was Emil's grandpa's house. Hohoho bawak pusing-pusing kampung halaman rupanya. Oh Kellies Castle. Cantik castle tersebut. Not quite finished, because according to Papa Kellie (haha agaknyalah nama dia Kellie. Tak ingat lah) built the castle for his wife, but stopped halfway because his wife divorced him. Of course that's all bull, because he actually died of pneumonia. Sheesh. Begitu jaded nya pemikiran papa ini.

So then we left for KL, but not without stopping at Tapah first. Pergh so many stops in such a short journey? I like. Very cuti-cuti malaysia.

And there you have it. Practically a recap of my life since my last update. Had so much fun during the trip to Ipoh. I love February. Apart from my birth month, it is also the month I get my bonus and my increment. Also this year ada quite a few public holidays. And the month is so short, before you know it, its the 28th and its pay day again!

So yay for February!

Lost World

2011-01-25T22:10:00.004+08:00

Opah half day hari ni, so kalau ikutkan aku pun nak half day juga. Sekali cuti kena cancel di atas alasan kerja, so Zufri bawak Emma ke Teacher Zulaikha kat nursery kat bangunan MITI tu. Emma loves Teacher Zulaikha. Sikit-sikit teacher, sikit-sikit teacher. Yang menjadi cerita adalah setelah penat lelah mengemas beg Emma (kena bawak susu, botol, bantal, toto, toiletries, diapers, selimut, Woody, Jessie dan Bullseye), masa aku nak berjalan ke tempat kerja, nampak beg tu kat atas meja makan! Terpaksa Zufri patah balik during lunch dan hantar Emma ke rumah Opah.

Sekali Opah kata, oh budak-budak lain semua tak ada, Emma sorang je datang. Hahahaha. Ada aku rasa bersalah? Ada? Oh, Emma kena main sorang-sorang la nanti. Bye Emma, mummy pergi kerja. See you at 5:30. Dan aku pun cabut.

Hahaha. Kesian Opah.

Kami tak jadi ke Tree Top Walk, mahupun ke PD. We are going to the Lost World Of Tambun! Yay! Tak sabarnya menunggu minggu depan. And I also made myself a pair of maternity jeans, altered from an old existing pair i had. Quite good handiwork. Hehehe. Also quite tight, worried that it might not stretch when the stretch is really needed.

Dan aku sedang menonton The Walking Dead. Pipi says its stupid. I think its scary. Memang ada satu part tu semalam aku sangat takut, Emma peluk dan cover mata aku dan berkata dah dah dah mummy. Jangan takut.

Yeah rite, kiddo.

Happy Chinese New Year and happy holidays! Yay!

Tree Top Walk

2011-01-11T21:52:00.002+08:00

So I suggested to Zufri that maybe we should go to PD. Dia kata tak nak PD, ramai orang. Aku suggest Cherating. Tak nak, pantai timur tengah monsun timur laut. Aku ajak pegi Hutan Belum pasal hari tu tengok dalam paper adalah sangat cantik resort itu. Tak nak, kena hiking. Which I think is not true. Then kita pi Genting lah. Also don't want for some reason. I must've tuned out by this time pasal malas nak layan. Jangan dia ajak pergi Royale Bintang Damansara sudah. Hahahaha. Boleh tengok Bukit Sungai Penchala.

Turns out he wants to go to Sungai Sedim in Kulim, his friend has this resort that has the tallest tree top walk is Asia, I think. I'm not sure.

Oklah babe, Kulim pun Kulim daa.

Harus singgah Taiping Night Safari.

2 Weddings and 2 Birthdays

2011-01-09T00:49:00.003+08:00

2010 has been a year of sad endings and happy beginnings. Let's hope for a happier and cheerier 2011, yeah?

2 important weddings took place within the last month. Anies in Perlis and Shikin in KL. Saya pergi pernikahan Anies kat Perlis, tapi tak stay untuk kenduri besok harinya. I wish I had stayed darn it. And I didn't go to Shikin's nikah, but went instead to her reception dinner. Both weddings were gorgeous. I especially loved Shikin's wedding soundtrack, very Shikin. And very me also, I think. Thanks you for having the guts to play Radiohead's Creep (Scala Version, tak sempat carik lagi). Your live singer is also very, very good! And I loved the food Anies served at her nikah night! Dengan suasana kampungnya, makan lauk pauk yang unconventional.. Mak tambah nasik 3 kali OK! These two are my bestfriends, and I love them very much (and they both have become bestfriends too, selalu pinggirkan aku. Mentang-mentangla I tak pakai Blackberry. Huh benci)

So congratulations and have a great life ahead, Insya Allah!

Then today we went swimmin at The Club after dropping Zufri off for a game of golf. Sejuk OK swimming pukul 8 pagi, tapi Emma sampai-sampai je terus bukak baju and her jeans (dalam dah pakai her swimming costume). Kalau tak kat rumah macam nak pengsan tunggu dia bukak baju sendiri. Yesterday Zufri even said she took her clothes off in her sleep. Hahaha. Dunno lah she, she likes sleeping with only with her diapers on. During the day pulak she naps diaperless.

Then we went to The Curve to get birthday presents for Dhani and Iskandar, picked Zufri up, dropped him off (main golf without breakfast, akhirnya migraine dan harus stay out of the sun, baah!) and headed out to the KFC at Shah Alam Extreme Park. I thought it'd be like an outdoorsy thing, because its in the Extreme Park. Tak tahu pulak Extreme Park tu tempat orang rock climb and skate and what not, hehe.

I'd say that Emma had an OK of a time at the party, pasal Mummy dia wasn't so much fun today, hehe. Masa treasure hunt tu, aku ngan Emma duduk je tengok orang berkocoh-kocoh kumpul barang. Wan Rose and Sazrin gave us some of Nabil's collection, hehe. Then Chicky came out, and the kids (birthday boy included!) started crying for dear life! Kesian gila tengok Chicky, macam not appreciated gitu, huhu. Mula-mula Emma OK, tapi bila aku amek tangan dia suruh usap-usap Chicky tu terus menjerit menangis. Hahahaha. Rugi je. Sekali KFC black-out.

Hahahahahaha hampassss sungguh la KFC! Nasib baik games dah habis. Keji je tau berparty dalam gelap. Nasib baik kat luar ada playground.

Happy birthday Dhani and Iskandar!

Sampai rumah, tengok Nat Geo's In The Womb about twins, triplets and quadruplets. Bagusnya kalau dapat kembar, boleh berhenti kerja. Hahaha relevannya statement itu. Terus tertidur, dekat pukul 12 baru bangun. Saya juga kagum, macam mana saya boleh tidur begitu lama dan tenang. Rupa-rupanya Emma juga turut terbongkang sama. Bangun kejap, minum 2 botol susu. Sekarang dia sambung tidur. Ahh penantnya lah Cik Emma berenang dan bermain hari ni.

Sekali sekala update blog best juga. Next update : cuti CNY nak ke mana?

Super Gross - 2nd Half

2010-12-01T13:26:00.002+08:00

Alhamdullillah everything looks, seems and feels OK. Emma behaving normally, she doesn’t have any fever, no vomiting, no diarrhea, no temper tantrums and loving the antibiotics and anti allergy medication. Serious. Asyik mintak nak ubat aje.

So the second half begins now.

Friday night Mak Yen and Mak Su took Emma to Mak Ngah’s place so Zufri and I had the whole house to ourselves. When I went to work that morning, I left our bedroom door ajar (oh did I mention that Super Gross hid behind the shelf after she sashayed down my bed?) but kept the door separating the living area with the back area closed. The windows were left open, with the intention of letting her escape while she can escape. Perangkap tikus dipasang, gam tikus dilumurkan.

When we came back from dinner that night, we found the traps and glues uninterrupted. Since we didn’t know where Super Gross was, the door remained shut, and any cleaning works shall be done on the front part of the house only. So cleaned we did, scrubbed and sterilized every thing ‘sterilizable’. Carpets washed, rugs washed, living room redecorated, Emma’s room stripped bare bar the dresser shelf that was too heavy to lift. Clothes were washed with Clorox. The floor mopped 3 times. Twice with Clorox All Purpose Cleaner, the last with Afy Hanif’s Serai.

Penat gila ni, and it wasn’t even the whole house. I have more junk than I can account for. Mostly Emma’s. Argh toys. Then I set to do the dishes. Zufri went to take a bath. Sekali I heard a scrambling noise, a thud and Zufri running out of the bath, slamming the door behind him.

Turns out Super Gross was hiding behind Emma’s bath tub (that certainly got thrown away!) and while Zufri was trying to drain the water away, he lifted the tub and voila! Super Gross! Zufri lived to tell the tale, complete with a shiner on his forehead. Kekeke. So that’s that. Kurung Super Gross dalam toilet. You can hear her trying to escape, banging on the door (like that will ever work). Outside Zufri dah pasang perangkap sepanjang pintu. Say the banging the door suddenly works, there’s a perangkap waiting for her outside. Macam kata pepatah melayu, keluar dari mulut harimau, masuk mulut buaya. Muahahahaha – evil laugh.

In the morning, Zufri went around looking for somebody man enough to capture Super Gross. 2 people came by but upon opening the toilet door, chickened out (an Indonesian man and a Bangladeshi). At 11 came a knight in shining armour (actually is a gardener and his son) who actually marched right up to the toilet door, went inside, locked himself in and came out smelling of success and rat shit with Super Gross whimpering in a garbage bag.

I think he had a reputation to uphold lah. Maybe he wanted to chicken out, but then he saw 4 full-grown adults peeking from behind the door (through a glass panel – Zufri, Pipi and I and standing on a chair was Kak Yen. Geez. Behind locked door pun nak berdiri atas kerusi ke? Hahahaha). Takkan nak disappoint a cheering crowd kot? Hehehe. Thank you uncle.

We then went to the toilet. Sigh. The damage was done. Rat poo everywhere, urine everywhere. I couldn’t stand it, so Zufri did all the cleaning in the toilet. Everything got thrown out, shampoo, facial wash, and toothbrushes. Super Gross really was gross.

Zufri blames himself, saying he should’ve killed Super Gross when I found her the first. Instead he left it at that and Super Gross bit Emma’s finger. I manipulated his guilt to make him do most of the cleaning, while I sometimes watched Toy Story 3 with Emma. He doesn’t trust my domestic skills anyway. Believes he cleans up better than me. Maybe he does.

Tapi Alhamdulillah, everything worked out fine in the end. Zufri dah pasang jaring-jaring pada semua tingkap dan bawah pintu dapur. I no longer have a view of the backyard, but at least I have peace of mind. Insha Allah.

Emma’s sleeping in her own room now. But I’m sleeping with her. Until I am sure she will be fine on her own.

Super Gross - 1st Half

2010-12-01T13:26:00.001+08:00

This is a backdated post, written on Friday morning.

Two mysterious things happened.

Early this morning, around 2.00 a.m., I was woken up by (to my ears) a loud noise. I sat up, startled, looking around – only to find nothing. I was sleeping with Emma on the floor in her room (Emma started on her mattress but found her way into my arms on only a comforter), our first of hopefully many others.

When I tried sleeping again, I banged Emma’s bottle of minyak yuyi cap limau on the floor, out of boredom. I discovered that a portion of the floor underneath where I was lying was hollow, thus making the banging noises louder. Plus, I was lying down, so it sounded much louder to my ears.

One mystery solved.

When I tried sleeping again, I heard footsteps. Bilik Emma, just like every other room in the house, pakai tikar getah. Bunyi tapak kaki berjalan atas tikar getah di pagi yang hening adalah quite obvious. Again I sat up, looking around. That’s when I saw it. A huge, big, gigantic rat! Masha Allah, terperanjatnya aku! Just about 1 foot away from my, urm, right foot. Super gross OK. Hereinafter known as Super Gross. Super besar tikus tu, almost as big as a month old kitten but with much shorter legs.

I shooed Super Gross away and it sort of berjalan lenggang kangkung behind a mounting board I kept in the room. So not afraid of humans this Super Gross. I quickly picked Emma up, woke Zufri who was sleeping at the living room (I know, our sleeping arrangement is agak scattered at the mo) and told him about Super Gross.

Dia kata agaknya cicak tak?

What?

WHAT?! Adakah aku kelihatan seperti seorang yang tak dapat membezakan antara tikus dan cicak? Seriously? Granted, I wasn’t wearing my glasses, but still??!

Insulting my eyesight sungguh.

Anyways, I hauled our asses into our actual bedroom lah, while Zufri, convinced that my eyes deluded me, stayed on at the living room.

Within minutes everybody was asleep. Suddenly I heard Emma crying.

Lo and behold,

IT WAS SUPER GROSS ON MY BED!!!!

AND IT BIT EMMA’S JARI KELINGKING!!

It was bleeding profusely. OK maybe not that much, but she bled all over my t-shirt. Babiturat ok tikus tu. Masa Emma menjerit dia dah berlenggang kangkung turun katil. Aku angkat Emma lari pegi kat Zufri (masa tu baru perasan darah tu). Zufri amek kayu golf nak belasah tikus tu. Hahaha. Tapi cari-cari tak jumpa. Emma sambung tido. Hehe.

We went to the clinic, thinking Emma might need to get a shot of anti virus ke or whatever. Instead the doctor just gave her some antibiotics, some anti-allergy meds and some painkillers. I told the doctor that the wound looks quite deep; doesn’t she need like an injection? He confidently said no. We’re taking his word for it. If something looks out of place, we’re taking her straight to the hospital. And we’re gonna sue his ass off.

2nd mystery not solved. Don’t know where Super Gross came from. No spaces left open.

Diet Wise?

2010-11-23T21:34:00.002+08:00

Last week was terrible for me. Diet wise. Tuesday I had filet mignon, Wednesday was Dominos and rendang daging and lodeh, Thursday had home grilled ribs daging korban, Friday sambal daging korban pulak, Saturday chilli crabs and finally on Sunday had McDonalds. Complete with ayaq gas. Malam aku insaf dan makan tauhu bakaq je. Hehehe. Sekali belasah Cornetto sebijik. And 3 Kinder Buenos since Tuesday. And to make things worse a colleague brought back packs of chocolate from Langkawi and they are just within an arm's reach.

Argh aku sangat lemah!

But it was my anniversary dinner y'know. Then hari raya haji pulak, takkan nak makan rolled oats kot na? And of course daging korban you have to finish up right? As for the crabs, Zufri yang mengidam nak makan kerang, sekali pergi pasar malam found crabs instead. Recipe pulak follow Masterchef. Pergh. Harus lazat. And the Kinder Buenos? Well, I haven't had chocolates for almost two weeks, SO CUT ME SOME SLACK, OK??! Tee hee defensive pulak.

So yesterday for breakfast I had two pieces of toast. With cheese and egg. Then topped it all up with four slices of toast with butter and sugar. Finished it all up with a glass of cold milk. Full cream. Sigh. I'm a sucker for buttered toast.

But at least I took a power walk Saturday morning, so that has to count for something, right? Right, who am I kidding ey. Kalau lari 5 km 3 times a week didn't help me lose any weight, why would a 3 km power walk, right?

Sudah, sudah. This is so depressing. I hope Anies doesn't read this post.

Megamind

2010-11-14T13:02:00.001+08:00

So yesterday we finally took Emma to the movies. Yay! Watched Megamind at Cathay Cineleisure since that was the only cartoon showing.

Mula-mula she was so excited to go into the cinema, but when it started, with the loud noises and all (she didn't seem to mind the dark), she crawled straight to my lap and sat there glued to my neck throughout the whole movie! Thank god for the wide and spacious seat.

I thought the movie was fun, although might not be suited for children Emma's age. Something like Toy Story or Finding Nemo might be up her alley. Oh well. No thanks to someone who's golf game ended late.

Jalan-jalan di The Curve sampai lewat mala, finally had dinner at Bumbu Desa. Quite nice, but since I'm on a diet, just had their ayam goreng. Cheh. Sangat tak diet makan ayam goreng.

Then yesterday took Emma swimming at Dayang's place. Wan Rose was there as well. Baby dia, Maya namanya, kelihatan persis abangnya Nabil. Hehe. Sangat comel. Sangat halus. Huhu. Masa tengah mandi manda tu, ada orang buat shooting la. I was OK I think because I was half submerged in the water. Dayang dengan Mar tu ha, duduk berjemur tepi pool. Hohoho.

Dunno where Zufri's taking me to our anniversary dinner tomorrow. Hehehe. Will my babysitter arrive in time? Hahahaha. Banyak sangat problem thesis.

Antara satu paragraph dengan the other macam tak ada korelasi, kan? Belasah je tukar-tukar cerita.

Selamat Hari Raya Qurban everyone!

I miss blogging.

Gardening

2010-10-04T13:29:00.000+08:00

Last weekend was spent gardening. I know, two whole days of gardening, how huge is my lawn? Jawapannya, kecil saja, not more than 10m². Seriously, that is small. Tanah sejemput depan rumahku itu mengambil masa 2 hari untuk dikemaskini. I’ve been bugging Zufri for months to tidy the lawn, buy some potted plants and maybe grow some carpet grass or whatever. On Saturday he suddenly relented.

I think Emma had the most fun playing with the soil. Not sand, but more to clay. She had her own ‘claw’ to rake the earth. She helped carry the loose earth into the pail. She ‘helped’ scatter them back again. All these sans shoes! Because we didn’t have ours on. But she’s due for her ubat cacing soon, so I’m not so worried, hehe.

Zufri picked up a squiggly worm and gave it to Emma. Hahaha. Emma memang a girly girl kot, dia lari sembunyi belakang aku sambil menjerit (kegembiraan + a bit ketakutan) dengan suara yang sangat high pitched eee eee cicak cicak. Kekekeke. Bukan cicak la sayang, cacing. Ooohhh cacim. Dia semua benda yang habis dengan ng jadi m. Harus pegang jadik pegam dan baring dan baling jadi balim.

After that she had a good scrub and came out of the shower smelling fresh and clean. Hehe.

So what we did:
1) Tanam rumput dari benih rumput.
Mula-mula nak beli rumput yang dah siap, buat spot turfing, tapi 1 square foot sudah RM5. Mau dekat RM300 campur baja dan top soil. No way jose.
2) Tanam beberapa jenis sayuran yang kerap dimakan seperti
a) Cili merah
b) Bendi
c) Kacang botol (aku ingat Zufri suka makan, rupanya tidak)
d) Carrot
e) Broccoli (Zufri tak yakin ia akan tumbuh)
3) Buat sangkar untuk tanaman-tanaman itu, dan diletakkan lampu solar berhampiran untuk menerangi tanaman tersebut.

Now, its time to reap what we sow!

Drama Hari Raya

2010-09-30T13:30:00.002+08:00

Hoo boy! Drama, drama, drama! That’s what this year’s raya is all about! Pembuka cerita yang over dan berbaur gossip, dan sememangnya benar!

Mula-mula sekali adalah baju raya. Pickups were made in Selayang (jauh tu!) and Hillpark (not as far, tapi kena park jauh tu!) and a drop off was made at Ujie’s place. Di Selayang harus menunggu hampir 2 jam untuk baju Zufri siap, dan pickup di buat di Hillpark kerana kedai di Pudu lambat bukak. Tapi at least baju aku kelihatan cantik (me thinks).

Kasihan si Anies yang berumah di Hillpark. Sudahlah hari Ahad masa ambil baju aku, baju dia belum siap! Bahawasanya baju Anies disangkanya akan diambil di bulan Oktober. What the hell? Raya Deepavalikah sangkanya? Katanya siap hari Isnin. Call call kata belum siap. Kemudian tangguh Selasa. Call call kata belum siap. Akhirnya Anies frust meminta Encik tunang ambilkan Rabu pagi (rabu nak balik kampung dah ni).

Pakai pakai katanya tak cantik. Aku rasa begitu bersalahm but not as guilty as Kak Peachy because it was her recommendation. Kuikuikui. Agak musykil kerana my baju was nice, Kak Peachy’s was nice as well. So maybe Anies punya wasn’t so nice because it was a rushed job. Dia sangat frust dan hendak mengambil semula baju nikah (!) dari Wendy dan meminta Eusopth membuatkan (tapi sangat mahal!).

OK itu satu drama.

Drama kedua berlaku pada malam raya, tapi hal keluarga so tak boleh cerita damn it.

Drama ketiga berlaku pada pagi raya pertama. Jeng jeng jeng. We never know why, even after the most detailed preparation and meticulous planning, pagi raya will always be a blur of chaos. Dari mak mak nak mandikan babies, nak siapkan meja untuk makan besar, ke mak mak nak siapkan daddies, mak mak nak siapkan mommies, nak bergambaran gembirun, children screaming, makeup cair pasal berpeluh dan harus touch up. Waduh. Walaupun malam sebelum tu kami dah cuci pinggan, lap. Si Pipi siap nak lay the table the night before, supaya esoknya Cuma senduk kuah aje. Pergh. Pipi was efficient this year by the way. Kikiki.

Oh itu bukan dramanya. Itu cuma cerita biasa di pagi raya. Kami ke Singapura menaiki 2 kereta. Papa, auntie Rani & Pipi in one car, the rest of us in the other car. Kak Yen sefamili for course (bukan typo, deliberate.) tak ikut pasal dia pantang dan baby had no passport.

Adalah super jam, it took us about what an hour kot to get to CIQ (Johor side). Papa dah kelam kabut bising-bising pasal kan hari Jumaat, nak semayang Jumaat. Sampai sampai turn Zufri punya passport di cek, the officer kata Encik Zufri, you ada kes ke? Waduh waduh. Semua orang agak kaget. Kes? Kes apakah? Zufri sangkakan kes saman trafik tak berbayar. Officer bertanya ada buat loan kah? Then it dawned on us. Loan PTPTN kah rupanya. Chehhhhhh.

Officer tu berkeras tak bagi Zufri lepas. Undang-undang lah, dah dalam system lah, bla bla bla. Zufri pergi office immigration, dia Tanya berapa orang nak balik? Satu kereta kah satu orang? Sebagai isteri mithali, aku baliklah dengan suami. Dok pikiaq la time tu, Emma dengan tidurnya, aku dengan high heels lagi, Zufri bersampin songkok segala, and walk the walk of shame. Chewah. So dia pi balik office nak mintak passport, rupa-rupanya aku dan Emma harus ikut sama. Zufri kata alamak anak saya tidur la encik. Encik itu yang sedang makan lemang dan rending terus berasa kasihan dan selepas berbincang-bincang dia kata tak apalah encik, pergilah ke singapura. If anyone asks, say that the system’s jammed up here. Hahaha. Thank you kind sir. Semoga panjang umur dan dimurahkan rezeki. (Turns out there’s a shuttle bus to send us walk of shamers maybe to the bus station).

Maka itulah dia drama hari raya tahun ini.

Tahun ini the cooking was done early. Biasanya mencecah midnite, ketupat tak kering lagi. This year aku dan Pipi handled all the cooking. Rendang, lodeh (ini Pipi masak sorang), ayam masak merah (ini mak masak sorang ya), sambal udang, butter prawn for the kids dan ketupat pulut kegemaran kami sekeluarga. Adalah bahawasanya rendang itu dimasak di atas dapur arang yang sudah ancient dan mujurlah rendang dah siap pabila dindingnya runtuh. Mujur juga tiada anak-anak kecil di sekeliling ketika insiden itu.

Duit raya Emma tahun ni sedikit kurengs dari last year. Orang Singapura sekarang memberi kami wang Ringgit instead of Singapore Dollars darn it. Tak dapat Emma belanja kami ke Universal Studios.

Macam siot je tak cerita pengalaman raya kat SP plak. Takde benda nak cerita la, dia macam hari-hari biasa je pasal semua orang macam konsentrasi pada wedding sepupu Zufri instead of berhari raya. Emma pulak recovering from demam. Tengah-tengah malam bangun nak air la, nak susu botol la. Ada satu hari tu tengah malam ni susu habis dah ni, malas nak pegi 7E in the middle of the night. Aku kata kat Emma susu botol dah habislah, meh susu mummy. Cis. Di rejectnya aku! Nak susu botol nak susu botol. Oh sadisnya. Zufri pun turun bancuh whatever susu he could find. Turns out adalah susu Everyday. Emma pun minum dengan lahapnya dan tertidur dengan lena. Shukran.

Dan hari ni masuk kerja last monday dengan perasaan relaxed and well rested. I was actually looking forward to coming to work. Woot!

Sorry post tiada gambar. Update di office.

Ucapan Hari Raya

2010-09-08T09:14:00.002+08:00

Kak Yen has just given birth to (yet another) baby boy! Yippie! She's a week overdue, and was supposed to be induced today. Mujurlah tak perlu di-induce. Can't wait to go back to JB to see the baby! Yeah, dia balik JB bersalin. How cool is that, huh?

Dan hari ni nak balik JB as soon as Zufri's done with the car. Hopefully sempat sampai before buka. Must make a stop at the clinic to get an MC. Kikiki.

Jadi, sebagai akhir kata, saya sekeluarga ingin mengucapkan sebanyak-banyak terima kasih dan selamat hari raya aidil fitri, maaf zahir dan batin, semoga diterima semua amalan kepada semua pembaca blog ini secara khususnya, dan kepada semua umat Islam di seluruh dunia in general. Have a blessed and blissful raya!

See you!

Puasa - Day 11

2010-08-21T23:20:00.002+08:00

Hahaha just came back from buka puasa with friends at Alif's. What a long night! Delicious food, delightful company, well behaved child(ren). Ahh.. I wish all buka puasa sessions are like this. Alhamdulillah. Anies and Mar couldn't make it. Anies ada sesi berbuka puasa bersama bakal mertua. Mar's kid Iskandar has hand foot mouth disease. Hope he gets well soon!

Tomorrow is another day out for us, this time with my sisters hosted by Kak Peachy. Next week it shall be at our place pulak. Yay!

I need to get massaged tomorrow.

I don't blame myself, so whoever blames me can just go to hell

2010-08-10T15:02:00.004+08:00

Who's got time to read? Because I've got time to write. Lots of time, so expect a long (and long winded) post.

So. When we went for a scan at my 8th week, the doctor couldn't detect any heartbeat, and the baby measured up to be only 6 weeks old. Then I started spotting, Little at first, then a bit more on Saturday (at Dayang's house warming). I was a bit concerned by then, and when we went see the doctor again that night, I was referred to a specialist. I suppose from the moment the second line appeared on the UPT, I was a bit apprehensive. Firstly because I had been training for the run since months before, and I ran the morning the test came out positive. Secondly was because we had actually put on hold our plans to get pregnant.

Anyway, on Monday we went to Putrajaya Hospital and true enough, the baby was gone. I had come to terms with my loss by then. I didn't think running was to blame. But having said that, if I were to know I was pregnant before I ran, I probably wouldn't have. The doctor didn't know what caused the miscarriage, but said that sometimes the baby just wasn't strong enough to develop. We accepted that explanation. I was sent home and an appointment was set 2 weeks later for a D&C.

Then early Friday morning (the same week), I awoke at 3.30 a.m to a bed wet with my blood. I had worn a pad that night and so I was surprised to see so much blood coming out. Like I said, I consider myself lucky. If I didn't already know I had miscarried, I probably would have screamed my head off or became really traumatized. The blood was lumpy (? I meant beeketul-ketul), it even looked like pardon me hati lembu. It was that huge, that piece of lumpy blood. About 10cm x 5cm x say 3cm thick. That's the biggest piece. There were several smaller pieces. I got so light headed I couldn't stand up. But Alhamdulillah, I didn't suffer from any cramps. In short, it was painless. The blood just flowed out. I just took a glance at the mess on the toilet floor and went to lie down in front.

I couldn't look at what I had passed, because I was scared at what I might find. It was just so heart breaking.

We waited until morning to go to the hospital, after we dropped Emma off at Opah's.

Had the D&C done at 4.30 pm, and I was warded for one night. The D stands for dilation, which means enlarging. Curettage (the C) means scraping. Together, this procedure involves expanding or enlarging the entrance of a woman's uterus so that a thin, sharp instrument can scrape or suction away the lining of the uterus and take tissue samples. I apparently had an incomplete miscarriage whereby 'expulsion of some, but not all, of the products of conception before the twentieth week of pregnancy. With incomplete miscarriage, the bleeding is heavier, and abdominal pain is almost always present. The mouth of the womb is open, and the pregnancy is being expelled. Ultrasound would show some material still remaining in the womb.'

I don't blame myself, so whoever blames me can just go to hell.

It was generally painless because of the general anesthesia given. Post op was also relatively OK for me, didn't experience any stomach cramps or back pain. I did however end up with a swollen lower right lip and ulcers and a swollen (I think) lelangit.

Jadi, saya sedang berpantang di rumah dan berehat kerana mendapat 8 hari cuti sakit sehingga Jumaat ini.

Another story to tell is about Zufri's experience taking care of Emma for one whole day. I was worried he couldn't cope or that Emma wouldn't sleep. But Alhamdulillah, she did ask for me for the first few hours she came home. But after that she seemed fine, according to Zufri. They were lying down watching the telly when Emma said she was hungry and wanted rice. So at 9.30pm, they went to Aladdin. Diaper change wasn't a struggle or a contest with Zufri. With me I always had to entertain her and trick her and all that. With her father, she went willingly. Sleep time was also pleasant. See. Boleh aje dia tido tanpa menyusu. I should really clean her room up soon so she can learn to sleep on her own.

And tonight is already Ramadhan. Sayangnya tak dapat ke masjid 1st night of Ramadhan. InsyaAllah there'll be many more days this holy month.

Selamat berpuasa kepada semua.

Naruto

2010-07-10T02:30:00.002+08:00

I'm waiting for my cookies to bake. At 2:34 am!

Dulu amek gambar ok je posing macam ni, walaupun sedikit over.

Sepatutnya posing ala Naruto complete dengan kekuda.

Sikit-sikit, dia jadi lagi over.

Tak nampak macam Naruto sangat.

(Abaikan background tu tau. Haha)

Kemudian semakin over.

Lengkap dengan mata kenyit dan kepala senget.

Pose masih seperti pembuka silat.

Last sekali jadi gila over OK.

Nampak macam rabbit jek?

Going to watch a Sesame Street Musical in September. Time bulan puasa, OK. Dah beli tiket, together with Syahirah. Emma baby, consider this your second birthday present eh? Hehe. This year no party for you lah. This year we celebrate just with family, kay?

Time To Talk About The Run

2010-07-08T17:51:00.000+08:00

Lets talk about last Sunday. The ambience was OK, not as fun and upbeat as I thought it would be. Maybe I was just stressed about trying to get a good time, I dunno. The run started just as jam gadang di Dataran Merdeka berdetik 7 kali. Not bad lah. I tried pacing myself, running as I would during training. The last few days before the run, I didn’t train. Partly because I didn’t want to strain myself, and partly pasal mak tak larat dah nyah nak training.

Sekali, at the 5th kilometer (at the first drinking station), I stopped for a drink (actually two, hehe) and that’s where it went downhill. Bukan jalan tu turun bukit, prestasi larian mak merudum. Lepas tu jogging sikit, jalan banyak. Jogging sikit, jalan banyak. Gila gua pressure time tu, tapi belah kanan perut rasa macam senak. Lari jugak kang ada yang pecah perut. Tension gila. Siap jalan tepuk-tepuk tangan kuat-kuat nak bagi semangat pada diri sendiri. Adalah semangat sikit dan start running again, but then we reached the hill next to Bird Park. MashaAllah. Sangatlah jauh perjalanan naik bukit tu. Pressure lagi.

Then up the hill, I gained some strength to start running again. I was doing some good time I think, sekali sampai 2nd drinking station. Cheh. Start minum balik ni, memang payah la nak start lari balik. Started running again at DBKL.

Over at Nagoya, a man passed me by and said, “You’re doing good, keep it up!”. Pergh, terus mak semangat. I passed the finishing line after 1 hour, 30 minutes and 45 seconds, but that’s my time for 10.383km (since the run was for that distance) but my official time for 10k is 1 hour 29 minutes 58 seconds. Kekekeke. 2 seconds later, I wouldn’t get my finisher’s medal. I’m finisher number 1300++. Keji betul.

Alhamdulillah. Kak Peachy’s time was 1 hour 16 minutes (no ranking because she was running for a cause, bless her) and Papa’s 1 hour 3 minutes (400++. Dahsyat orang tua ni, hehehe. All the time he thought he was in the top 100, kekeke). Very impressed with their times, very jealous also, but training for my next 10k would have to wait at least 9 months. They are even talking about entering the Penang Bridge Run at the end of the year. I might enter a 3km fun run kot, tak larat jalan je lah kan?

But apart from the good things, a not so good thing happened during the run.

Ya Allah. I’m sure you’ve read about the 10k runner who collapsed and died during the run? Ya Allah, how do I start? I was across the road, nearer to DBKL side. He was on the pavement on the other side. I saw a commotion. I thought there was a fight, maybe some runners tried to take a shortcut or something.

Then I heard a man scream “Panggil medic la wei!”, and I saw a man, an official of some sort walking towards Dataran. That’s right. WALKING. And that was around 8:20 (give or take a few minutes). So reports that said an ambulance reached the scene at 8:10? That’s stretching the truth.

I stopped for a while across the road; saw what I thought to be a man having a seizure, registered in my mind that there already was a crowd surrounding him, why add in robbing this man of some well needed oxygen? So yeah. I continued running. I wish I hadn’t. For that man, Weiji? He’s my colleague. He’s a very fine young man. He truly was.

My last words to him was, see you at the finish line. His was, haha, I takut I pengsan halfway, tak dapat habis.

Brings fresh tears to my eyes each time I think about it.

Rest in peace, babe. See you at the finish line.

(Or maybe not)

Potty Training

2010-07-06T13:35:00.002+08:00

Went to Emma's check up this morning. By 9 I was done. Not bad.

The nurse said, "Eh, pakai pampers lagi?"

Eh? Apakah maksudnya?

"Mak tolong ajar anak kencing sendiri ya, nanti dia tak reti"

Yelah, memang aku telah melengah-lengahkan hal ini. Baik. Harus training segera!

A weekend well spent.

2010-06-20T19:39:00.002+08:00

To do list for this weekend was:
1- Send oven for repairs
2- Look for material for baju raya
3- Send no.2 to new tailor
4- Train

What we did this weekend :-
1- Zufri fixed the oven himself, the handyman! While doing that, he cleaned and scrubbed the oven. And fixed the water heater and the fan. Impressive.
2- Went to Jakel Shah Alam and got myself kain material for my baju raya. The top was some cloth of Mummy's I took from JB. Hehe. For Emma I bought 2 English Cotton materials. Anies bought this gorgeous printed chiffon that I now wish I bought as well. Nanti nak ajak Zufri pergi untuk cari baju raya dia, I'm gonna selitkan my baju. Hehe.
3- Sent the cloths to a new tailor that came highly recommended by Kak Peachy. So high that Anies menempah baju nikahnya di situ. Dia kata kalau Kak Peachy recommend, dia percaya. Sheesh.
4- Haha. Seeing that race day is in a week, I should be training very, very seriously. Sigh. Ran for 30 minutes on Saturday morning. Woke up late and had breakfast with Zufri's friends on Sunday morning. I did compensate with walking non stop while carrying Emma the whole time today. Haha. Argh. Pressure.

So all in all, a weekend well spent.

Emma's such a poser nowadays.

2010-05-31T20:15:00.004+08:00

I tell her to smile tapi dia buat muka teran berak, instead.

Ini muka dia melakonkan kembali aksi menangis atas katil mintak susu. Kenapa aku kata melakonkan kembali? Pasal suara tak keluar dan dia statik berwajah begitu sampai aku habis snap.

Sila lihat close-up (a different picture, the same pose).
Doesn't look like Zufri at all, does she?

Ini Emma berlakon tidur.

Ini berlakon dia sedang enjoying something. You know how people always take pictures of themselves jumping in the air, exclaiming how happy they are? Yaeh. Sort of like that.

Then this is her falling down from that jump.Siap dengan wajah penuh ekspresi.

Emma yang ayu (juga sebuah lakonan)

Hooray!

2010-05-28T16:39:00.001+08:00

Working on a public holiday is so much fun!

Kelantan is calling.

2010-05-09T00:21:00.002+08:00

A new staff sits opposite my desk at work. She has half working years (than me) and is getting paid 10% more (than me).

Life is unfair. Or at least this stupid company is.

Can't wait to drive up to Kelantan this weekend. Only girls as Zufri and Basit can't make it.

Imagine me, Shikin and Anies, plus Emma lah of course, enjoying ourselves by the beach, meredah Kelantan, dan MC on Monday. Yup. All well planned out.

All Is Not Well

2010-04-26T14:05:00.000+08:00

Singapore General Hospital is much different from JB General Hospital (Hospital Sultanah Aminah) or even KL General Hospital. Why, it’s much better than Assunta Specialist. And is much more expensive. Betullah kata Papa, it looks like a 4 star hotel. Hehe.

Auntie Rani has Hodgkins Disease (I think. Its cancer of the lymph nodes). She’s at stage 3, and she seems to be responding to the chemotherapy. Déjà vu. Her chemo’s for 6 cycles, each cycle is 21 days apart. I’m not so sure about radiotherapy (whether she has to do them).

Papa seems thinner, according to Zufri. I think he just looks tired. He’s OK though, even joking that he’s had experience, so he’d be able to handle it well.

He’s such a good man. It feels unfair that he’d have to go through this for the third time, tapi ini ketentuan Tuhan. He’s not complaining, so I shouldn’t be.

Insya Allah, with proper treatment she’ll be A-OK.

Cancer is everywhere nowadays.

Take care of yourselves.

Of Running And Loss

2010-04-25T20:58:00.002+08:00

Don't really wanna say it, but I've been pretty busy lately. Oh no no no, not with work. Work was pretty breezy last week. I've been cataloging the catalogs at the library cum meeting room. Banyak yo katalog. Katalog dan brochure dan technical specifications dating back from 1992 jua masih disimpan.

So anyway, what I was busy doing was, jeng jeng jeng, training. I signed up for Standard Chartered KL Marathon, woot! But for the 10km run, haha. Saja nak kasi gempak kejap. I'm pretty nervous but mostly excited. This would be my first 10km run.

I called Papa up to get some training advice. He said his best time was 52 minutes, and that I should focus on finishing the run. Coming in at 2 hours would be good enough. Chehhhhhh sungguh statement bapak gua ni. Dia ingat aku tahan ke nak lari selama dua jam? Hehehe. Akan aku buktikan bahawasanya aku akan complete the run in less than 2 hours (nak kata less than 1 hour tapi tak berani ya)!

I took a break from running while I was pregnant with Emma. Sampai ke la ni, baru dua / tiga kali aku berlari. The day I signed up, I ran again. For twenty minutes. Not bad eh for a person who didn't do any form of exercise for two years? Not good enough, but not quite bad.

The day I get my overtime claim, I'm gonna get myself a new pair of Aasics. Kenapa Aasics? Aku terpengaruh dengan iklannya di dalam Runners magazine. Ya, aku membaca majalah tentang larian. Don't know where to get 'em. My old running shoes are thirsty. Kakakaka direct translation, tapak dah haus.

Insya Allah, larian akan lebih bersemangat. I've already downloaded Owl City. Ya, harus complete. Tiada muzik, tiada semangat.

Now a moment of silence.

Wan Rose lost her dearest mother this morning. She's very close to her ma, so this must be a devastating blow. Hope she's coping well with her loss.

Al-Fatihah.

Je m’apelle Claude

2010-04-06T18:49:00.001+08:00

I have the most annoying team leader in the world. Most times I wish she were dead. Childish, yes. Morbid, yes. Awful, also yes. Tak baik tau wishing anyone were dead. Argh I take it back, I wish she’d resign. Hehe.

Sometimes I really had it up to this (points to nose) level. Just enough air to breathe. Why is she so annoying? Are all unmarried 50 + year olds this annoying and irritating? Based on MY experience (having worked with 2, hehe), I’d have to agree. Yes. They are all annoying and irritating. But why? Maybe because of the lack of companionship ke? Maybe because they have so much to give, so much to say, so much to complain, but no one to give, say or complain to.

Pastu tension sorang-sorang tak puas hati, nak bagi semua orang tension sekali. Bleurgh.

Hari tu bukak you tube, pasang video belajar French dengan Emma. Hahaha. Le coleurs. Je m’apelle Claude. Eh, Emma. Hahaha. Joey never fails to crack me up. Antara lawak Friends yang aku suka adalah pasal Ross dan unagi. Hahahaha. The state of awareness atau a kind of sushi? Bodoh gila. Kemudian aku juga suka yang Joey appeared on Pyramid Game. Hahaha like why would there be a ghost in my fridge? Hahahaha.

Hahahahaha kelakar gila.

See? Friends always cheers me up.

Lega? Gembira?

2010-04-06T18:41:00.000+08:00

Ujie said I could work under pressure. I sometimes think that I produce my best works under pressure. Sometimes however, I crack. Case in point: yesterday I was quite busy trying to finish ujie’s taking off, while juggling the preparation of Miss Tang’s addendum, when suddenly Miss Tang asked me a question about a contractor’s claim that I had prepared the day before. She only told me to write what we paid next to their claim amount per block. Sekali aku check-check, tak dapat. It’s a simple enough exercise, one I should be able to do with an eye closed. Check lagi, tak tally. Check satu-satu pun tak dapat.

I began to panic. Then I took some time off and went to dinner with my colleagues. At that time, Zufri called and said that he’s tapauing KFC and would I like some? I said no, I’m having dinner now. Then I saw our car, heading towards KFC. I looked around me and said to myself, what the hell am I doing? I had a kind of longing feeling. I don’t know. It’s a feeling I can’t describe lah. Mostly I felt guilty.

When I began to ponder upon the stupid thing I was working on, dan masih tak dapat-dapat lagi penyelesaiannya, I began to cry. Not an all out sob-fest, lebih kepada air mata berlinangan. I packed up and left. On the walk home, linangan air mata itu berterusan.

When I reached home and was greeted by Emma, segala keresahan dan linangan air mata itu hilang. Diganti dengan rasa.. lega? Gembira? Entah, again it is a feeling I can’t describe. Serius ni, bukannya aku cuba menjadi corny or cliché or poyo ke, tapi bila nampak Emma, rasa penat jerih bekerja itu hilang. Nak nangis di bahu Zufri pun tak jadik.

Maybe I felt at peace.

This morning, the problem sorted itself out.

Maybe I was just too tired to be able to think straight.
Al-Fatihah buat arwah Din Beramboi. He’s the only reason I can sit through Afi dan Abah.

Laman sesawang aku dah bersawang, yo!

2010-03-25T18:42:00.000+08:00

Banyak yang berlaku. I had diarrhea and lost 1 kilo! Woot! Best diet ever. Hee hee. Then I lost my appetite. Imagine, makan OR fillet burger dari KFC for lunch pun tak habis! Itu pun aku tak breakfast. For a while there I thought I might be pregnant. You know, all the (my) symptoms were there. No appetite, feeling tired all the time, dizziness, short of breath. And my period was 2 days late. Sekali third day tu mak period pulak. Cheh, false alarm je. Anyway, should have figured, since Adam The Psychic tak kata pulak dalam perut Gigi ada baby. So there.

Last Sunday we planned on going to The Club for a swim with friends from JB iaitu Syahirah and Ryan. They have the best slide ever, considering I’ve never been to Sunway Lagoon. Dulu masa kecik-kecik kitorang selalu pergi Big Splash namanya kat Singapore. Siapa ingat tempat tu? Sekarang tak taulah ada lagi ke tak.

So anyway, we woke up early and all, the night before Zufri even bought a whole new suit for swimming, I dressed Emma up, complete with swimming costume (selalu kena kutuk dengan Zufri. I’m just used to calling it a costume) and goggles, inflated her (brand new, hehe) arm floats (kalau guna yang neck float tu tak tau macamana dia nak turun slide) and all and I changed into my swimming costume (apasal banyak sangat kurungan ni?) and the zipper sort of became loose.

Faham tak? Zip kan mencengkam dua-dua side kan, ni satu side dia cengkam satu side lagi dah terkeluar. So Zufri the ‘Handyman’ tried to fix the zipper. And voila! I tried it on again, and again it became loose. Maybe it’s too tight, I dunno. Hehe. But I only got to wear it twice! Then Zufri tried to fix it again, but this time the zipper just broke into pieces. So unless I want to pin the front up, I won’t be able to wear the darned suit. Serves me right for trying to save a few bucks and buy Ogival. Should have bought Arena. Takkan mak nak pakai swimming costume sexy mak? Hahaha.

Hani Kerinting

2010-03-02T23:38:00.002+08:00

Hani : Emma, sana ah sikit. Nanti tak nampak muka Hani!

Emma : Eh sibuk seh minah ni. Camera Emma la!!

Hani : Aww c'mon, man. Look at me going all cross-eyed trying to entertain you.
Emma : Sheesh, get a life, can? So not funny.

And finally.
Hani Nur Khadeeja : 2 years 3 months.
Almas Amelia : 1 year 7 months.

2010-02-24T11:51:00.000+08:00

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!

2010-02-21T00:38:00.006+08:00

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!

2010-02-11T10:28:00.001+08:00

Emma cam whoring.

Besok mak dah start cuti sampai jumaat depan kay!

Adam The Psychic

2010-02-05T17:36:00.000+08:00

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

2010-02-05T17:35:00.000+08:00

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

2010-02-05T17:34:00.001+08:00

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!

Al-Fatihah

2010-01-05T17:59:00.001+08:00

Ya Allah.

Bapa Roziah telah pulang ke rahmat Allah.

Mari kita sama-sama sedekahkan Al-Fatihah ke atas rohnya.

Don't know where arwah will be taken to.

The Fear.

2010-01-05T10:08:00.000+08:00

Salaam Alaykum.

Received some heart breaking news over the weekend.

My deepest condolences to Shasha for the passing of her father. Al-Fatihah.

And my heart goes out to Diana and family, whose 8 year old daughter Darling (an only child) was diagnosed with brain tumor (/ cancer, I’m not sure. Will update). There are no words of consolation to offer. I can’t pretend to understand how hard it must be on her. I broke down upon hearing the news, not only for Darling, but for Diana as well. And for me. For the fear of losing a child.

Trials like these make our own lives seem so meaningless, our problems so trivial.

InsyaAllah, everything will turn out all right. Have faith.

To A Better 2010!

2009-12-30T11:31:00.000+08:00

Resolusi tahun 2009 adalah to live and eat healthier. I gained 1 kilo. Guess that didn’t go as planned. But I suppose I lived healthier than 2008. I cooked more and ate more fruits and vegetables.

Didn’t wanna make new resolutions for 2010, but rather to improve on 2009’s resolution. Hmm. But I think I’ll add one new one: -

Change professions.

Insya Allah.

At first Zufri didn’t seem too keen on my wanting to become a lecturer, but he’s warming up to the idea. I guess if I want it that bad, Zufri pasti akan menyokong aku dari belakang. He’s my rock, y’know.

Don’t know if I want it that bad, though.

Here’s to a brand spanking New Year.

So long.

Won’t be posting for a while. I’m tired of all the drama.

Farewell.

Tropic Thunder And Hanis Zalikha

2009-12-29T16:04:00.004+08:00

Semalam tengok Tropic Thunder. Hahaha. Kelakar gila. Tapi macam mana boleh nominated for awards pun ceq tak tahu.

Weekend ni kami pegi Penang, ada wedding di Bukit Mertajam (rasanya). Oh, man. Tapi ceq redha. Zufri doesn’t want to stay at his mom’s at Sungai Petani because his parents won’t be there. But with the New Year weekend coming, hotel rates in Penang will surely double. He’s not so keen on staying with his brother in Penang, either. Don’t know yet. Let him decidelah. After all he’s paying.

Weekend lalu aku macam extra free so aku baca-baca balik post aku yang lama-lama. Hahaha. Memang betul-betul free. Kelakar jugak aku ni kan? Hahaha. Gila aku tergelak baca certain posts. Sekarang aku dah pressure to keep up the fabulous work. Hehe. Aku suka layan blog Hanis Zalikha. Kelakar sey dia. Lagi kelakar dari aku, sob sob. Juga cantik, tapi tak poyo macam some models. Hmm aku tak pernah tengok lah iklan/poster dia. Runway model kot? Famous, but very down-to-earth. Wah wah puji menggunung nampaknya. Adakah aku mengidolakan dia? Hahaha mungkin tidaklah begitu sekali.

Miss Tang cuti seminggu, yo!

2009-12-28T15:04:00.001+08:00

Expect regular updates this week. Heh heh.

Semalam tengok cerita Twilight untuk kali pertama. Cerita cinta rupanya. Kusangkakan cerita epik vampires dan werewolves dan gollum hehe. Watsup with Bella and all the lip biting, eh? Trying to look sexy ke? Eww kay. Tapi setting yang sangat cantik. Would love to be living in Fork.

The whole long weekend kami (aku dan Emma, semestinya) melepak depan TV saja, layan one movie after another. (Zufri main golf. Ni kalau tak jadi pro ni…) Didn’t have time to clean, hehe. Sinki penuh dengan pinggan. Hahaha. Mujurlah aku tiada OCD. Hahahaha. I’m not a slob, either. I mean, I may not wash the dishes immediately after use, but I don’t pee on floors either. Forest floor mungkin. Hehe. There’s a reason the toilet bowl’s invented, y’know. A piece of decoration, it is not. Except maybe those gold plated ones.

I always try to set a good example for my kid. Mostly when I eat junk food, it’s in the office. Because when I eat in front of Emma, she surely wants a bite. And since junk food is so much tastier and is so addictive, she’ll sure want more. And if I refuse her, oh well, I can’t refuse her. So the simple solution is jangan makan depan Emma. Dan Zufri. Hahaha.

Same goes to my actions and speech. Janganlah mencarut depan anak hang. I’ve certainly narrowed down my choice of words. Partly because I hardly drive anymore. I’ve realized that I curse a lot when I’m driving. But driving with Emma is a more calm and happy time, hehe because I have to sing and entertain her while driving. Dan janganlah bertumbuk depan anak hang. Hahaha. Ada ke orang buat macam ni? Seriously, ada ke? Kang anak hang tumbuk kawan-kawan dia macam mana? Who do you blame then?

Going off tangent here, Baby Shaq is enjoying his holiday in UK and latest I heard, he’s taking pictures with the Eiffel Tower. Hohoho. So looking forward to my souvenir. I wonder how they’re coping, since they didn’t bring Shaq’s stroller. Tapi yelah, jalan-jalan dengan Emma skarang mana bawak stroller dah. Kadang-kadang hairan jugak tengok budak-budak yang dah besar tapi still duduk dalam stroller lagi.

But whatever, y’know. To each, his own.

A Day At The Zoo.

2009-12-26T23:49:00.005+08:00

Hye! My name is Emma. Nenek said that I should start my own blog. But I think I should tumpang my Mummy's blog until I can actually think and type. Heh.

Two weeks ago we went to the Zoo! Yay! I had so much fun looking at the animals from near and far. We reached the zoo at 10:30 am and left at 5:30 pm! Yikes! 7 whole hours! Mummy said we should get our money's worth so we might as well stay until closing. Bapak really wanted to go to the Night Safari, but I guess we'll have to do that next time.

Of all the animals, I was really fascinated by the goats. They are so cute, and I did not find their smell disturbing at all. In fact, I even touched one of the goats! I'm too fast for my Mummy!

We caught the water animals show and the elephant show. They have an elephant named Intan. My Mummy's name is Intan. Hee hee.

I was so excited that I refused to eat lunch. I just had some Tiger cookies. Auumm. Heh heh. Maybe that's why I fell asleep on Mummy's shoulder while watching the elephants. I can not believe I missed their show!

Then we took a ride on the tram and on the boat across Seletar Strait.

Useless fact No. 1 : The Seletar Strait was named after orang-orang Selat.

After that, we went to their Kid's Zone. I took a ride on the carousel.

At first I was afraid, but when it started moving, I enjoyed myself. I had the ride all to myself! Bapak took videos of me on the carousel, and I loved it so much that I keep on playing the clip on the camera, again and again. Then something happened. I pressed the 'delete' button instead of the 'play' button. Hmph. I blame Mummy for allowing me to handle the camera myself. I mean, she knows pretty well I can't read!

I was really scared of the statues. Even cute little statues of otters! I thought they were real!

But then Mummy explained to me that they were just statues and that they couldn't move, let alone bite me. So I let Bapak take this picture of me. Hee hee.

This is the notorious Omar. Mummy said he ate his trainer last year. *Shudder* He looks like a giant cute cat.

Useless fact No.2 : White tigers aren't albinos. They're just white. All white tigers remaining in the world are descendants of a white tiger named Mohar.

Useless fact No. 3 : In Africa, they have lions. In Asia, we have tigers. There are no lions in Asia and vice versa.

Near the exit, we saw the orang utans. The camera had run out of batteries by this time (we didn't even get a chance to take pictures of the Savannah animals!). I especially loved watching the baby orang utan, yang asyik bergayut pada mak dia. It reminds me of, well, myself. Emma pun suka bergayut pada mummy. Maybe because she always smells so good. Hee hee.

Boy oh boy, was I tired at the end of the day! But it's okay as I slept all the way home.

Thank you Mummy and Bapak for the fun day out! I love you both.

(Hee hee perasan)

Disclaimer : Of course ini bukan Emma yang tulis okay. Don't be a smart ass and leave comments on Emma's genius mind. Heh. Tapi kalau ikhlas rasa Emma genius, mak aminkan aje. Hehe.

Sehari Di Putrajaya

2009-12-08T23:28:00.004+08:00

Hari ni aku ikut Zufri pergi Putrajaya, since aku still ada mc sehari. Spent most of the afternoon berjalan-jalan dan bergambar di sekitar Precinct 2.

Emma looking all excited, over nothing

Rasa macam dalam scene cerita Cicakman.

Dalam CIMB, Emma tiba-tiba buat muka uh-oh macam ni.
Rupa-rupanya she was mimicking an ad posted on the wall.
Sheesh.

Muka aku yang sangat semangat bergambar.
Emma pulak senyum poyo sambil memandang tempat lain.
Ey, why my teeth so yellow?

Then, we went to Pullman Hotel & Resort, Putrajaya. We've made reservations for 18th to 20th. Hoo-ray! We sooooo need a break. They're having a promotion, weekends are priced at RM199++ per night, including 2 breakfasts. Usual price is RM414.00 (including taxes)! Oh sungguh teruja. I love December. The hotel is sooooo lovely, the wooden wall panelling, the tempered glass steps that make me feel like walking on air, the super comfy sofas, the free breakfasts.. Hehe. What can I say. I'm a simple person.

Tengok, Emma pun dah tido kat Pullman.
Hoho.

Then.. And Now

2009-12-07T13:31:00.007+08:00

I have an eye infection, courtesy of Emma. Got 2 days MC, courtesy of Dr.George. Everybody's just so courteous. Heheh. But Emma's at home with me. Tomorrow maybe I'll send her to Opah's, so I can just lepak and finish the book I'm currently reading.

Anyway, was going through old photos the other day and found these:-

Emma : Almost 2 months.
My God, look at those cheeks!
Mata sepet, bibir tebal. Hahaha. Hidung ada 'ong'.
Masa tu tak perasan bila orang cakap pipi dia tembam,
tapi sila compare dengan gambar seterusnya.

Emma : 16 months.
Ahhh.. Kelihatan seperti sangat sopan santun.
Dan ayu. Haha.

Rizzqin : Almost 2 months as well.
Sangat comel dan innocent

Rizzqin : 17 months
Hahahaha sangat cheeky.
Like he's up to some mischief.

Shaqeel : A few days old.
Very small and fragile

Shaqeel now : 4 months +
Check out those thighs. And arms. And those long fingers.
And check out the serious face.

Adam : Not sure. Probably 2 months old.
Haha. Handsome little fella.

Adam now : 4 years 2 months old
He's actually fairer in real life.
Tang telinga tu ikut mak dia ka ayah dia ka, I dunno.
Really smart little guy.

So there you go, the whole clan of cousins so far. InsyaAllah, more will be added to the clan. These children were and are still breastfed exclusively (Kak Yen & Kak Peachy still exclusive, aku dah start campur FM at 13 months). Thanks to Pops for the encouragement.

Oh today's Papa's 61st birthday! Happy birthday, Pops! Papa sangat kerek pasal hari tu dia buat checkup and found out his biological age is actually 48. Sheesh. Auntie Rani pulak she's 51, with a body older than her age. I shudder to think how old my body is. Should. Start. Exercising.

We are planning for a family holiday this CNY. Unless somebody gets engaged then. Kan, kan?

Cerita Anniversary

2009-11-22T00:48:00.002+08:00

Oh, forgot to tell the story about our wedding anniversary. Dah pukul 4 petang baru aku teringat anniversary kami. Sebelum tu kalau aku dok tulis tarikh, memang rasa macam there's something about this date, but I wonder what, kan. Sekali tu teringat, laaaaa wedding anniversary aku rupanya. So I sms-ed Zufri, saying hey I just remebered that today's our anniversary, and love you (cukup syarat jek, haha). Dia reply 'I tau, saja nak tunggu tengok u ingat ke tak'. Cecece gila aku tak percaya ayat tu. Because I swear, lately I've been bad with dates and birthdays. Semua birthday aku tak ingat.

Masuk-masuk kereta aku cakap aku tak percaya statement dia tadi, dan dia mengaku dia pun terlupa. Hahaha. Doesn't matter lah babe, since I forgot about it as well. So dinner was supposed to be something special lah kan, tapi Emma kan super cranky dan malam hujan pulak tu. So we went to Secret Recipe saja di (gasp!) Giant.

Hadui. Zufri kata for our second wedding anniversary he's getting me a water heater. Hahahaha. Kurang asam betul statement itu. Birthday aku dia bagi washing machine. Boleh? Benci lah. Hahaha. But birthday dia tahun ni aku tak bagi dia present. Anniversary lagilah tiada. Hahaha. Oh ada. Aku belikan kepala shower yang diidamkan (yang besar gabak tu, ala shower di club house katanya). Ni tak pasang lagi, tengah tunggu wrench.

Hahaha. What a year, ey? Harap-harap next year dapat saxophone.

Soprano, kay?

Happy second anniversary, babe. I sayang u, ok.

Anyway, found out that she's actually teething. Sheesh

2009-11-21T23:43:00.003+08:00

Emma ada sikiiiiit demam hari Rabu hari tu. Since it was so soon after her discharge the other day, a panic mummy quickly gave her some paracetamol, walaupun itu adalah against prinsip aku (tidak mengambil ubat di atas segala kesakitan). Nanti pain treshold dia rendah macamana? Aku jugak yang susah.

Anyway, found out that she's actually teething. Sheesh.

Emma is a terrible teether. She doesn't dribble as much, but she gets super cranky. Kalau larat nak dengar dia melalak, letaklah dia di lantai. Mujurlah I am such a patient person. Hehe. She's taken to falling asleep around 3 am because of this. Maksudnya aku jugaklah. Kadang-kadang Zufri join sekaki.

Anyway gigi yang naik tu adalah gigi gerahamnya. Aku adalah sangat musykil memandangkan so far dia hanya ada empat gigi depan aje, dua atas dua bawah. Tiba-tiba muncul dua gigi geraham atas. Dua gigi geraham bawah dah mula membengkak. Hmm.

Today we bought a few things for the house, since my in-laws are coming over the Qurban weekend. Kami memang malas nak balik, jadik kami buat korban untuk Emma di masjid sini. Alhamdulillah, walaupun dah setahun lebih baru nak buat korban. Anyway, abang sulung Zufri pun datang jugak. Jadi dalam usaha kami membuatkan mereka berasa selesa, maka a few things had to be updated around the house.

Kikiki. Juga telah update car seat untuk Emma. Ingat tak Emma's wish list for her birthday? It's numero uno, tapi Dori, bukan Tobi, since Dori can be used from newborn. Jadi boleh digunakan untuk Emma's little sibling in the future, heh heh. Isnin dan Selasa Emma akan dihantar ke Putrajaya (Zufri dan Emma berdua, woot!) since Opah akan masuk hospital pasal nak buat angiogram.

Ran into Hani and her husband at Planet Enfante kat Atria. Depa tengah dok ricki travel system Peg Perego. I dunnolah about that brand, but bapak aku ada kata masuk news in Singapore that Maclaren recalled one of its strollers because apparently childrens' fingers get cut off from using the strolles. Scary, huh? And that's from a reputable brand like Maclaren.

Huh, gila tiada korelasi ayat-ayat dan cerita-cerita aku hari ni. Penat seh mengemas rumah secara robotik. Nasib baik Emma senang tidur hari ni. Mungkin gusi dia tak sesakit sebelum ni. Syukurlah. Maybe I can get some rest now.

Yeah, maybe I should.

Celcom Did It Again!

2009-11-13T07:08:00.002+08:00

Adoi semalam drama lagi lah! Zufri pergi driving range sebelah OU tu, so naturally aku dan Emma di'dropped' di OU. Dalam pukul 930 macam tu tiba-tiba ada mesej mengatakan yang akau ada 11 missed calls from Zufri! Hoo boy! Sure mengamuk punyalah Zufri. Tapi I was sure I didn't hear or feel the phone that was in my back pockey all night. Aku siap check phone sekali sekala to make sure Zufri didn't call.

Aku call balik tak dapat. No network coverage katanya. I called from the public phone, juga tak dapat. Ah, I thought. Stupid Celcom must have acted up again. Bodoh je kan? Dahle semalam jalan jam pasal ada konsert depan OU tu. Jadi aku pun berjalan dengan Emma ke driving range. Not that near. 10 minutes jog, pasal takut tiba-tiba hujan. Sambil mendukung Emma.

Oh did I mention that I had a headache from conducting a site valuation under blazing hot sun that morning? In fact, I still have it this morning. Argh.

Macam ni caranya Mummy saya berlari.

Sampai-sampai driving range, Zufri tak ada. Neither were his golf buddies. So I waited for around 10 minutes then started to walk back to OU. This time I was too tired to run. Seriously felt like crying from feeling so tired added with the meadache plus arm ache pasal takkan nak biar Emma berjalan di tengah-tengah malam di tepi jalan raya, kan? Dalam OU pun aku tak bagi sangat Emma jalan pasal she would end up snatching clothes from the racks pastu bawak lari pegi cashier. Kalau tak itu, dia nampak sesuatu di atas lantai pastu terus tiarap mencium benda itu. Oh, very unhygienic ya!

Finally got a call from Tawau on our way back to OU mengatakan Zufri tunggu kat tempat biasa.(Tawau pakai Maxis). Huhu finally reached home around 10.30.

Stupid Celcom. Should really swith to something else, huh?

Ahh..

2009-11-12T17:17:00.001+08:00

Ahh.. What a week. Ms.Tang’s out again! Tomorrow she’s on leave. What else can I ask for? Menang loteri, mungkin! Amin, Amin. Hehe.

Tahukah anda bahawa The Time Traveler’s Wife sedang ditayangkan di pawagam-pawagam?

Tahukah anda bahawa prior to all the drama last week, aku dan Shikin sudah bercadang untuk berpura-pura sakit (or at least aku sahaja) dan menonton wayang tersebut di Pavillion pada hari Rabu iaitu semalam?

Tahukah anda bahawa Shikin mencadangkan agar watak Claire dimainkan oleh Audrey Tatou dan Henry oleh Christian Bale? Aku pula memilih (oh dan pendapat ini sering berubah-ubah) pasangan Edward Norton dan Lois Lane di dalam Smallville (siapalah namanya?). But I suppose Rachel McAdams will do just fine. Eric Bana seems too hunky for Henry. I did suggest James McAvoy, but we agreed that he’s too short.

Semalam Zufri ajak bercuti in December. To Hard Rock Hotel, no less. But in Penang, not Bali ya (or wherever). Woot! Mana-manalah. I’m thinking it’s too expensive. He thinks he deserves a break. Of course you do, babe. But at RM1351.00, we can relax much more by paying my credit card bills. Wakaka. Serious tak berbaloi rasanya. I mean, Penang? Sheesh.

Harus slow slow discourage suami saya agar tak membazir wang sewenang-wenangnya.

Hari ni sangat panas, kan? Terbakar muka aku pergi valuation tadi. Client ni pun sibuk, nak tengok manhole le, nak check rumput le, nak borak-borak di bawah panas terik le.. Adus.

And on a totally different note, tonight we’re eating out again. Hehe. After 4 days of eating hospital food, I find cooking very tiring. Huhu. Tiga minggu tau aku masak dinner tanpa henti, even on weekends! Lunch siap balik rumah lagi makan. A feat by my standards. Haha. Kena start balik slowly. Really slowly.

Okay, enjoy the rest of the day!

Oh, Terlupa Pulak

2009-11-11T17:53:00.000+08:00

So how did you like the ridiculously long post? I have more, you know. Just not as long. As it turns out, Emma’s blood count (or platelets, I’m not sure) is quite low so the doctor said that either one of us has talesemia. Wah. Quite shocking news. Thankfully only one of us has it, so its not dangerous.

And we just found out that Emma’s blood is the same as Zufri’s, which is A+. I’m an O, which is a universal donor. Very generous of us. And we (O blood people) are picky, because we only accept our own kind. Hehe.

Jadi sekarang kalau ada orang puji Emma, Zufri akan berkata of courselah, tengoklah darah siapa. Sheesh, babe.

Oh by the way, kami rasa mungkin aku yang ada talasemia pasal dulu memang sangat susah untuk aku menderma darah. Platlet tak cukup, kata mereka.

By the way, I think I’ve gained a lot of weight lately. Sikit-sikit aku makan coklat. Sikit-sikit makan chilli cheese corntos. Lunch tadi makan mcD, siap ada sundae lagi pasal ada kupon free daripada pamayam. Kuikuikui. Ni dalam beg aku ada skittles littles. Kat rumah ada chocolate cake.

Oh! Totally forgot! Hari Isnin 9/11 birthday Zufri. Hahaha. We were still in hospital then. He was throwing up. I was freaking out. Emma was asleep, blissfully unaware of the chaos surrounding her. Ahh.. what a birthday to remember, eh?

Happy 28th birthday, babe. No party, no makan-makan, no birthday present for you this year. Tapi tak bermakna itu yang I nak untuk birthday I, ok.

We Are OK Now

2009-11-10T17:34:00.000+08:00

Warning. Seriously long post ahead. Miss Tang keluar meeting. Hahaha. Sila..

Alhamdulillah, Emma sudah di-discharge semalam, with an almost clean bill of health. Problem is the cough is still there. However the pediatrician said that the coughing would take some time to heal, and at least has gone down in just one week. Some children have it for almost three long weeks! Oh such torture for their parents, not knowing what to do ey?

Ceritanya bermula begini. Hari Selasa lepas, badan Emma mula panas sikit, but no fever. Batuk ada sikit-sikit, tapi tiada kahak. Hari Rabu pagi pulak Emma tak kasi aku pergi kerja. Tak boleh dilepaskan, pasti menangis. Takkan aku nak angkut je dia ke rumah Opah dalam keadaan aku berbaju tidur, kot? Hehe. Jadi kami pun baring-baring depan tv. Dalam 8:40 Zufri call aku tanya aku di mana. Aku katalah kat rumahlah, baru 7:40 what. Hahaha aku tak pakai contacts mahupun glasses. Kesimpulannya cuti sajalah. Bagus juga aku cuti pasal kadang kala suhu badan Emma turun naik. Aku pun lap badan dia dengan air suam (never use ice or cold water because it will cause her blood vessels to constrict and keep the heat inside. When u use warm / tepid water your blood vessels expand thus releasing body heat. Correct me if I’m mistaken) dan suhu badan dia normal kembali. Batuk semakin kerap, but still no phlegm.

Hari Khamis semuanya berjalan lancar. Badan Emma sedikit hangat, but also no fever. Khamis juga bapak aku, step mom aku dan Pipi Doo datang KL for a wedding. Kami pun ambil mereka di Pudu. Emma was fine then, but Papa and Zufri commented that she felt a bit warm. The thing with Emma is, she is usually much warmer at night and while sleeping as compared to pagi hari. Initially we all thought she was teething as her gums seemed a bit swollen. So on Friday before going to bed aku lapkan lagi badan Emma. Mungkin silap aku adalah aku biarkan Emma tido dengan hanya memakai diapers. Because I read that you should not bundle up your child when they have fever. Tapi mungkin juga kaedah ini tak wajar diaplikasikan sewaktu malam. Aku rasa sangat bersalah.

Tengah-tengah malam around 3 a.m Emma woke up screaming. A temperature check showed that she’s 39.1 degrees hot. Aku pun cepat-cepat lapkan badan dia dan susukan dia dan kemudian check suhu badan dia dah turun ke 37 degrees something. Oh lupa nak cerita yang aku juga turut memberikan Emma paracetamol twice a day since Wednesday, just in case.

Friday morning I decided to take Emma to a pediatrician near my home but the clinic was closed so we took her to a new clinic in SS2 (aku, Kak Peachy, Baby Shaq, Papa dan Pipi). Masuk-masuk je klinik nurse tanya aku bila last makan ubat demam. Aku cakaplah 10 pm last night. Dia jerit kat aku kau tau. “Anak demam panas, u tak takut ke dia sawan dalam kereta?!” or something like that. Usually I’d feel defensive but that day I felt so guilty. What if she really had seizures in the car? Oh Nauzubillah!

Kemudian dia check temp, was at an all time high of 39.4°! Cepat-cepat dia bagi Emma a higher dosage of Paracetamol to keep the temperature down. Bila dicek doctor (Klinik Dr.Oh di SS2) dia suspect Emma ada pneumonia and should be admitted to hospital that day itself! Aku sangat nervous because people die from pneumonia, don’t they? Sounds like a very deadly disease. I haven’t had time to google pneumonia yet, so I wouldn’t know if my fears are unfounded. Nanti aku update on pneumonia (and bronchitis) OK.

So I decided (I swear, I made the decision by myself) for Emma to be admitted to Assunta Hospital here in PJ Old Town. Was referred to Dr.S.T.Lim who was (in my humble opinion) a very good and funny doctor. Anyway, I think all pediatrician should be friendly and funny. Did an x-ray and the radiologist confirmed that it was pneumonia! Ack! Tapi Dr.Lim kata radiologists Cuma tengok x-ray film, dia tak jumpa patient. Looking at Emma, her breathing dan sebagainya, dia putuskan yang Emma has acute bronchitis. And it was viral (caused by a virus) which is much better than bacterial. Jadi ia bukanlah nanah tetapi cuma kahak.

Alhamdulillah.

Jika anda letak telinga di belakang badan Emma, you’ll hear a cracking sound everytime she sucks in air. Sekarang sudah semakin kurang.

She was put on IV drip the first day she was admitted because she refused to eat or drink anything (including breastmilk!). Dia diberi nebulizer setiap 4 jam, and one time she struggled so hard she tore the needle from her bloody hand (not a curse word, it was bloody). Since she was nursing regularly by then, the Dr. decided to stop the drip. Tu pun pasal aku request. Pun juga aku rasa pasal nurses takut pasal drip tu tercabut dari tangan Emma kan, takut aku complaint ke kan. Hahaha.

Malam tu kami tidur berdua, jam 4 pagi Emma terjaga batuk-batuk. Tiba-tiba nurse masuk, on-kan lampu dan kata, mari kita bagi dia gas sekarang! Hahaha sangat dedikasi ya. The fact that she heard Emma coughing was shocking enough. Oh btw, kahak Emma tak disedut. Aku ada tanya doctor, dia kata tak perlu because (in her words) the salur (bronkus, is it? Trakea? Atau esophagus?) is like a tree, and the bronchiole are the branches. Bila kita sedut, hanya sampai sini (menunjuk ke separuh dada) maka hanya sampai situ saja yang disedut. Phlegm berada di branches. No use kita sedut. It will go off on its own.

OK doc!

Four trying days later, Emma was discharged. Oh, the last night there, Zufri pulak fell sick. He threw up 4 times that night. Akulah yang penat. Mana dengan Emma lagi, dengan bapak Emma lagi. Semoga berdouble-double pahala aku. Hehehe.

Masa nak discharge pulak ada drama lain. Insurance decline, tak nak bayar. Oh gila. Lagu mana cek nak bayaq? Mujurlah ejen insurans kami yang dedikasi came to the rescue. Ada la insurance terms yang aku tak ambil tahu, Syat bayarkan dulu, nanti dia buat claim, bila claim dah dibayar aku bayar balik kat dia. Hehe. Dia kena lah jaga hati dan poket client, bukan? Terima kasih Syat.

Thank you all who came, who called, who commented, and who cared.

Not Feeling So Good

2009-11-06T16:05:00.001+08:00

Woke up this morning with a 39.4 degree temp! Dr.Oh suspects pneumonia. Oh! Referred to Assunta + was admitted. Xray + blood test done. Now taking urine sample. Pray for me, everyone.

Not Feeling So Good

2009-11-06T16:04:00.001+08:00

Woke up this morning with a 39.4 degree temp! Dr.Oh suspects pneumonia. Oh! Referred to Assunta + was admitted. Xray + blood test done. Now taking urine sample. Pray for me, everyone.

Bapak's Guidance.

2009-11-03T12:21:00.001+08:00

Bapak, jauh lagi perjalanan kita ni. Lead, and I shall follow.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

2009-11-02T09:41:00.001+08:00

And happy 15 month birthday, Emma!

She's busy concentrating on strangling a ghoul! A charmed one, mungkin Emma ni? Huhu.

A test post

2009-10-30T17:51:00.001+08:00

I'm posting this from my handphone. Harap2 menjadi.

Emma!

2009-10-29T21:19:00.001+08:00

Haha emma over

Dedicated To Shasha

2009-10-26T18:03:00.000+08:00

This post is dedicated to my high school friend, who’s also a reader of ‘The View From Here’ (ha ha poyo), Shasha.

I read about your ailing father, and your dilemma about wanting to take time off to take care of him.

The first time my mummy was fighting against cancer, I was in university. So she was scheduled to have her radiology treatments, which was available in KL General Hospital then. I can’t remember it now but I think she stayed with me in college for a few days because my father had to go back to JB for something. So I asked Anies my roommate and her then boyfriend Amad to send us to hospital, and some days borrowed Kak Peachy’s car to take her to those appointments. It was tough but we had some really good times.

Once, Amad was busy and so we couldn’t get a ride to hospital, so she decided that we shall take the bus there! And boy, was she happy and excited! Siap cakap dia excited gila nak naik bas. But I decided that I shall not subject her to such torture, yelah penat ok nak naik bas. Aku takpelah, mak aku kan sakit. Jadik aku mintak tolong Mar dan kawan dia tolong hantarkan kami ke Hospital. Balik kami naik cab. Now when I think about it, maybe we should have taken the bus, ek?

Generally, what I am saying is that I am glad I took the time to take care of her.

The second time she was diagnosed with cancer, it was – I reckon – too late because it was already at a critical stage. I suppose I thought she’d get better just like the last time. Aku baru je habis praktikal masa tu. Mummy by then was already spending nights at the GH in JB. The obvious choice would have been to stay in JB to take care of her, since I was jobless then. Instead I spent a week in JB, then I shot off to KL dan sambung kerja dekat ofis tempat aku praktikal tu dengan gaji RM1000 je sebulan.

The first weekend I didn’t go home for some stupid reason. The Friday approaching the second weekend mummy passed away.

Until today, I have not forgiven myself for choosing work over taking care of my ailing mother.

As cliché as this may sound, family comes first. Above all other.

I have told Zufri, should anything happen to my father (mintak simpang malaikat 44), I am going to quit my job, go back to JB to take care of him. InsyaAllah. Refuse to let pisang berbuah dua kali.

I know what you are going through. Persevere, and with God’s will, everything will be fine.

Pembencian Di Hari Jumaat

2009-10-23T17:34:00.001+08:00

Eiii serius aku membenci seorang kontraktor melayu ni yang suka sangat bercakap seperti orang cina. You know how some people sometimes adapt their way of speaking to suit the person they are speking to kan. But I’m not Chinese! Argh!

Dahlah suara sangat irritating. Lepas tu cakap macam aku ni moron. You’re the moron, lah. That’s mean, that’s mean. Apa that’s mean? That means, lah! Sheesh! Bencinya, bencinya!

Oh, I tak tau, dekat plan the calculations shows like such and such, bukan I yang measure. Oh, I tak tau, YY says its like this. Oh, biasa dah buat site measurement we follow site measurement quantities.

D-uh. Tapi apasal kau punya measurement dengan plan beza sangat, gila? Something must be wrong, either your as-built or your site measurement. Your as built drawing should reflect what’s done on site.
Yelah, saya tau.

Cheh menjawab pulak tu. Aku tumbuk karang minah ni.

My measurement can’t be wrong, pasal aku expert. Hahaha. No lah, I had a colleague check my calculation. It couldn’t be possible that my company actually hired 2 dumb asses, could it?

Never have I felt so much hate for a person I’ve never met before.

Benci.

OK.

I’m OK now.

Enjoy your weekend!

Emma approaching 15 months

2009-10-23T17:33:00.001+08:00

Updates on Emma.

She’s now approaching 15 months, and I’ve seen some short unsupported walks when she thinks nobody’s watching. Seriously. When we’re there to cheer her on, she clams up and crawls around. She’s really taking her time lah, this girl. People have said kind things to me when I say she’s not walking yet. I’ve really come to terms with this. I’m really OK, OK? Heheh. No need to worry about me.

Calls Bapak, Opah and Kin. Hehehe Kin adalah Rizzqin, me thinks.

Calls me Mummy only when she’s wailing on top of her voice.

Says ‘apa tu’ at almost anything while pointing at the thing.

Says tatih bila dia ditatihkan.

Says bye while waving. Sometimes turns back while walking to continue waving.

When I sing twinkle twinkle little… she’ll say star, minus the s, of course.

What else yeah.

Just only learned to shake people’s hands.

Says ‘cih’ when handed something. That’s emmanese (hehe) for terima kasih.

Upon entering the house, somehow she always screams ‘dahh’ when I give my Salaam.

Drinks from a cup pretty well now. Minimal spill, but is still there.

Hair is still very, well, little despite super efforts from me in melumurkan olive oil on her head every day. Serius jealous je tengok anak orang rambut lebat.

Weighs approximately 9.7 kilos the last time I checked. Her chart is tapering now. Hahaha dulu sangat curam.

Drinks around 10oz of formula during the day, on top of 6/7 oz of EBM I supply. Huhu lagi banyak FM dari EBM ok. Argh aku gagal! Gagal maintain supply. At lunchtime I’ll be lucky if I get 4 oz. After work its usually 3 oz. Mornings I don’t pump anymore. Sedih, but it leaves me with a lot more free time to prepare breakfast, hehe.

When I say dog, she sometimes say woof woof. Cat is miao in a very high pitch.

When I ask where’s her shoes, she says ‘shuz’ but doesn’t go looking for her shoes. When I point to her shoes and asks her apa ni? She asks me back apa tu? Sheesh.

So anyways, itulah dia perkembangan Emma thus far. Kalau ada yang tertinggal, akan aku update kelak.

James Mcavoy

2009-10-13T23:42:00.005+08:00

Just finished watching Penelope for the first time.

Think I'm falling in love with James Mcavoy, heh heh.

May not be some people's cup of tea. Tapi handsome, kan?
And the character he plays in Penelope?
Just perfect for him.
Hahaha.

Zufri's still out with friends.

Syawal Is Almost Ending

2009-10-13T17:56:00.000+08:00

Weekends have been a flurry of activities, with short sojourns in the comforts of our own home. Old acquaintances renewed, forgotten love affairs rekindled, two hearts merge as one. I love Syawal as much as I love Ramadhan.

Read two of Khaled Hosseini’s recently, A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner. Does that explain my somewhat fluid-like phrases, almost melodic?

(Bayangkan aku menari. Eww. I can’t dance. Remember Di Mana Bulan Selalu Retak? Hah. Try meliuk lintuk ditiup angin)

Heh heh. Who knows? I might write the Great Malaysian Novel someday.

We had so much fun attending open houses and weddings and even visiting relatives for Hari Raya. Thank you all for inviting us and serving us with the most delicious food and the warmest hospitality. May you always be within Allah’s good graces.

Lost And Gone Forever

2009-10-02T07:28:00.002+08:00

My super ancient phone hilang lah.

Sob sob. Will post more about it later. For now, Shikin, hang sms address open house itu pada Zufri's phone ok? Atau hang email saja padaku.

So to anyone who's been sms-ing me in hope of a reply, bukan aku sombong mahupun terlalu busy bekerja dan beraya. Hahaha.

How Has It Been?

2009-09-25T12:51:00.002+08:00

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri.

Saya minta maaf dari

hujung rambutku yang pendek ini ke

hujung kakiku yang pendek tapi lebar ini.

So how has it been so far? Ours have been so far so good. Beraya di perantauan wasn't as bad as I'd expected. Probably lebih meriah since Zufri has 10 nieces and nephews. Emma was an angel. She was very well behaved, even with very limited sleep.

First and second day was spent in Sungai Petani, the third and fourth day we went to Penang and the fifth day was spent making PLUS richer by about RM90.00. Hoho We started out at 10:00 am and reached JB at 6:30 agak-agak. Oh sangat pening menahan mengantuk.

But Alhamdulillah we made it safe and sound. Emma was manageable sahaja at this point. Not an angel OK. And now I'm blogging away at my step mom's crib in Singapore. Aku dan Emma saja ya. Pipi tak ikut pasal biasalah dia. Remaja. Zufri dan Pops tengah solat Jumaat ya. Nek Pah di depan menonton TV. Auntie Rani berjalan-jalan di luar mundar mandir trying to get everything settled barangkali.

Tomorrow I hear we're coming to Singapore again, but I don't think I wanna come lah. Hope to get everything (visit as much relatives as we can) done by today, because there's a birthday party tomorrow. See lah how.

Gambar raya will be uploaded as soon as I can.

Salam lebaran dari kami.

Emma = Complete

2009-09-11T06:09:00.002+08:00

Aunties and uncles, jangan lupa duit raya Emma, ya!

Gigi atas Emma jarang lah. People say don't worry, it ain't permanent. But teeth is important to me. Papa said its better that her teeth grows slowly, so that they spoil later. Huhuhu.

I am starting to worry about Emma's inability to walk. Hopefully its actually nothing. I was a late walker myself.

ps: Emma means complete in Hebrew. Wakaka.

Sorry babe, not just yet

2009-08-28T10:38:00.000+08:00

Paparan di kaca handphone aku sejak semalam adalah :

(insert photo of ancient handphone)

Nampak tak?

(oopss sorry no photo of phone, so surely you can’t see it.)

Mari aku bacakan.

Tuesday : Hantar resignation letter
17:00 – 17:30
(Means Tuesday, 1st September 2009)

Zufri tengok handphone aku semalam and said sorry babe, not just yet.

Shoot!

Things ain’t going according to plan.

Darn!

On a brighter note, tomorrow we’re leaving as soon as I leave the office, which means 5:30. The bag’s packed and is already in the car. Haha macamlah jauh sangat rumah aku dengan office, sampai tak boleh nak singgah kejap ambil beg.

Of course ini semua idea aku. Zufri couldn’t come up with a plan like this. Dia terlalu rigid mengikut schedule. Aku pula perlu a rough outline, and I’ll wing it when the time comes.

Oh, come visit my BIL at Pasar Ramadhan Kelana Jaya, Stall No. 222 (3rd stall from Tabung Haji side) and try the dadih(s). Delicious y’all! Especially the vanilla flavoured ones.

7 down, 23 to go!

Ramadhan

2009-08-26T23:22:00.004+08:00

Today is the fifth day of Ramadhan. Alhamdulillah, so far everything's going quite well. Pumping sessions maintain, however the supply's dwindled a bit. But I have been (somewhat willingly) supplementing Emma with some formula to tide her over during the day.

Hari-hari kami berbelanja di Pasar Ramadhan Kelana Jaya. Auntie jual trifle tu takde jugak lah this year. I wonder where she's gone. 1st & 2nd days we had Laksa Johor (sold by Kak Yen. Haha) 3rd day we had Roti John, but this Zufri bought himself in Putrajaya. The queue's a mile long OK! Sangat famous dan lazat. Then yesterday we had hmm murtabak ke ek? Argh speaking of yesterday, Emma only slept at 3 am! Very very tiring. Thank God she's asleep now.

Anyways, we'll be going home to JB over the long weekend. Yippie! Plus, Miss Tang's on leave this Friday! Double yippie! I think I'm right on track (work wise) so I'm more realxed at work.

I hope it's not too late to wish my Muslim readers (hadoi perasaan glamour la) salam Ramadhan Al-Mubarak. May we be better muslims this time around. I know I'm trying :)

I hope Mummy's not giving me bubur lambuk again tomorrow. Ack!

P/s : Hari-hari Tok We (macam anak itik Tok We, bukan english we) ambilkan kami bubur lambuk dari surau. Alhamdulillah. Semoga murah rezeki Tok We sekeluarga. Amin.

1st August 2009

2009-08-07T17:57:00.007+08:00

Alhamdulillah, Emma is already one. What a year, ey? Can hardly believe our little darling is no longer be a baby. Hehe.

And no, Emma masih belum boleh berjalan. Hehe aiyoh my little girl still wants to crawl. She sure is taking her own sweet time, huh? Papa kata Emma pengecut. Cheh sungguhla bapakku itu. Takpelah, sayang. You just wait until you are ready, ok?

Emma ni kalau aku jalan berpimpin dengan dia, mesti dua – tiga tapak saja. Lepas tu dia akan pusing belakang aku, berpaut kat peha aku, letak kepala kat celah-celah lutut aku dan berjalan bila aku jalan. Hahahaha. Tak tahu apa motif dia. Sikit lagi, she’ll kiss my ass. Hahaha.

We had a little celebration for Emma’s birthday last Saturday. Alhamdulillah, everything went amazingly well! All the guests turned up except for Lenny who had a last minute wedding to attend.

Thank you everyone who attended, and even more thanks for having fun and the presents for Emma.

Didn't get a car seat, but Emma got everything else. And then some!

Enjoy the pictures below, ey.

The birthday girl, looking for something to do.

The birthday cupcakes, dibuat fresh oleh Auntie Pipi pagi itu.
Not bad. Cantik juga lazat.

The Guest Book
Handmade, and hand stitched.
Tapi tak padam harga kertas!
Argh!

Presents from friends. Sorry! Ada yang tertinggal! Haha.
Later update OK.

A ball filled pool yang menjadi pujaan semua anak-anak kecil.

Haha. No one thought of taking more pictures lah. Gambar potong kek pun tiada. Sebelum orang potong kek, Emma put her handprint first. Haha. Then wiped it off my white cardigan. Cheh. Tapi oh kenangannya. Haha.

Mummy and Bapak love you, Emma. With all our hearts. Happy first birthday. *sigh. wish mummy was here.

Baby Shaqeel Aidin's debut on The View From Here.
Chewah, macam talk show pulak rasanya.
Yang kecil itu bukan syaitan berbisik di telinga Shaqeel.
Haha.
Itu Adam.

Raya. Haha.

2009-08-07T17:55:00.000+08:00

You know you hate your job when :-
1- You wish you had the H1N1 virus so you could be quarantined for one week.
2- You wish you were in an accident so you could be hospitalized
3- You wish your husband died so you could quit and balik kampung
4- You secretly envy your colleague who was fired last week

Ack! Guilty of all the above! Masya Allah, apa nak jadi ni??

Kerja macam swine (haha swine flu, geddit?) pun tak guna kalau tiada passion terhadap kerja, kan? Benci benci benci.

Agar lebih bersemangat..

Babes, tahun ni saya menjual kuih raya bernama Kuih Cik Intan. Hahaha. Chocolate chip cookies saja. Tapi saya tahu, tahun-tahun lepas kualiti kuih saya dah merudum dengan drastic! Jadi tahun ni saya berjanji akan membuat the best (in my humble opinion – takleh sebarang janji je, taste aku dan tase korang berbeza hehe) chocolate chip cookies you have ever tasted!

Baju raya tak buat lagi! Panik!Di disko.

Eww lawak budak-budak remaja.

On another note, totally digging Zee Avi. Suara dia macam Megan (saiko American Idol tu) dan dia bijak memilih lagu yang sesuai dengan suaranya itu (whereas Megan wasn’t. Smart, I mean). Thanks to Pips. Sekali rupanya her song’s on Hitz le. Bitter Heart. Ever heard that song? She also has this rojak Melayu + English song called ‘Kantoi’. Kikiki. Sangat everyday conversation (rojak, I mean. Not kantoi. Sheesh. Bangang apa hari-hari nak kantoi?)

Oh aku juga sudah mendraf post mengenai birthday Emma. Tapi tak nak publish lagi pasal aku belum masukkan gambaran. A post on its own won’t do the party justice. Hahaha. Padahal aku tak sempat ambil gambar. Sesiapa yang ada ambil gambar please email me at intanzarinaputri@yahoo.com.my.

Gila 1 Malaysia. Thanks!

The Belly Has Burst!

2009-07-26T23:24:00.004+08:00

Alhamdulillah, Kak Peachy sudah selamat melahirkan seorang baby boy, Shaqeel, di Pantai Medical Centre pada 25.07.2009 tepat jam 5.27 petang seberat 2.7 kilo.

What is it with the 2s, 5s & 7s, eh?

Long labour, close to 12 hours! Ack! Didn't take epidural. Says she'll definitely go for epidural the 2nd time around. Haha.

Rasanya besok baru discharge. Oh aku tak bawak camera when we went visiting. Next time I go I'll take some pix ok. Kemudia tayangkan kecomelan anak buah latest ku pada semua. Huhu.

All I Want For My Birthday Is..

2009-07-23T18:06:00.000+08:00

Kepala aku terasa bengap. Bukan macam bangang, tapi macam ada satu selaput covering my brain. Tiada konsentrasi terhadap kerja. The fact that I am constantly hungry does not help at all. Argh.

So people have been asking me, what I (hehe) want for Emma’s birthday.

Ok first on the list is a maxi-cosi toby carseat (which I know no one will buy, sob sob).

Next would be bunches of cloth diapers! Kesian Emma tau, dia cirit birit sejak hari Isnin. Her once RFC (hoho Radix Fried Chicken. Lain kali aku cerita) thighs or drumstick if you’d like dah jadi macam drumstick ayam kampung, OK! Begitu juga her Michelin arms. Er itu masih kelihatan seperti Michelin. Tapi Alhamdulillah she’s almost better now. Oh kaitannya adalah bontot dia melecet, due to the frequent contact with her own shit, I think. Dan jia anda refer kepada beberapa post sebelum ni, cara terbaik untuk memperbaiki keadaan ini adalah dengan menggunakan Huggies Ultra. Ataupun cloth diaper. Jadi takkan aku nak mintak Huggies Ultra, kan?

So next on the list is mainan-mainan yang age appropriate dan membuka minda. Oh speaking of which, I never did tell about the time I bought a Fisher Price Stride-To-Ride Something at my beloved Tesco, huh? Retail price is around RM169.00, which I know because I have been eyeing this particular thing for ages. Tapi rasa macam membazirlah nak beli begitu mahal kan. Tapi satu hari Pipi cakap kat aku, “kesian Emma. Dia main dengan household items je (like lotion bottles, mineral water bottles, tupperwares, boxes and the likes). Jadi aku terus bertekad untuk membeli the above item (herein known as STR).

The next night we were girls (hehehe aku dan Emma. Zufri golf. Pipi dating. Yelah budak-budak baru bercinta, meman dating saja kerjanya) on a mission. I was focused. Cari-cari tak ada, ada yang model baru gambar macam harimau apa semua tu. That’s even more expensive at RM259 or something! Aku kecewa tapi pasal aku seorang yang focus dan berdedikasi (cheh) aku pun mencari sesuatu yang seakan-akan STR. Tak kisahlah apa brand pun, hatta brand Tesco sekalipun. Finally I saw STR at their babies’ clothes section. Tapi masyaAllah, kotaknya koyak rabak! Bila aku cuba on, lampu tak menyala. Aku tanya salesgirl dia kata takleh try. So I said screw it, I’m just gonna buy it. They had a nice discount because of the condition, so I took it to the cashier, preparing myself to fork out RM94.50 for this (possible) piece of crap.

The cashier looked at me like I was mad for buying a torn and tattered package. Tapi aku kan tak kisah apa orang fikir pasal aku. Or do I? Hahaha. Sekali dia scan harga yang keluar adalah RM47.90! Aku cakap kat cashier tu, eh salah ni. Kat tempat tadi dia tulis RM94.50. Oh jujurnya aku ini. But the cashier just shrugged her shoulders and said takpelah. Like she was doing me a favour like that. Cheh. Padahal mestilah dia tak update harga kat aisle tadi. But anyhow, woot! Kuikuikui. Murah OK (compared to the original price) and amazingly, it works A-OK! Emma loves it. I love it. Zufri loves it. And we love each other. Wakaka.

Jadi, itulah saja antara hadiah-hadiah yang dihajati hati. Kalau nak bagi baju pun takpe.

But as I’ve said before, even if there’s no present(s), your presence is more than enough.

Serius.

Siapa yang aku tak jemput lagi? Pojan, kau jauh di perantauan lah. Tapi kalau kau rajin, hehe, marilah. Marilah. Nanoor juga. Maafkan aku ye Nanoor kerana lewat menjemput. Marilah.

P/s: Anies dah beli hadiah Emma lama gila dah. Hahaha.

Dalam dunia ni ada 4 jenis orang.

2009-07-21T17:55:00.000+08:00

1- Orang yang suka berpura-pura. Belakang orang bukan main lagi mengutuk mengata, tapi depan orang tu manis pulak muka dan perangai dia. Orang macam ni biasalah, menyakitkan hati, jiwa dan raga. Biasa adalah mami mami penang. Wahahaha sukahati je. Weh keluarga ipar aku baca ke blog aku weh?

2- Orang yang depan dan belakang orang sama je. Mulut yang laser. Aku tak suka sangat orang yang laser ni, konon dia bagus sangat. Dia ingat pasal dia laser (dan orang tau dia laser), dia ada hak nak kutuk orang sesuka hati. Oh, go to hell.

3- Orang yang belakang kutuk, dan actually does something about it. Diplomatically. Orang beginilah yang bagus, bukan? Hoho aku bukan orang ini. Unless it has something to do with me, then I act lah. But after a few days or weeks of thinking and pondering. Aku memang pengecut sikit. Hahaha. And I can’t handle authority.

4- Orang yang selalunya mendengar saja bila orang mengutuk atau menumpat orang. Biasanya akan tambah sedikit sebanyak expressions yang menunjukkan bahawa mereka ni paying attention and they care. Hah. I think I belong in this group. Aku tak rasa aku orang yang suka mengutuk orang (stress pada perkataan “aku tak rasa”, ok). Maksud aku, kalau aku mengutuk orang pun, mesti kutukan yang light light je, Aku selalu tak ada gossip yang hangat. Haha. Siapa yang nak bergossip dengan aku mesti kecewa. And I always jumble up my stories. Like what happens first and then what happened. Kalau aku bercerita mesti aku terlupa parts, then kena return balik. Then termasuk citer lain. Oh Zufri mesti sangat bersabar bila aku bercerita gossip ofis.

Apalah kaitannya.

Ada orang kata aku berlagak. Tak tahulah kenapa. Muka aku berlagak ke? Aku berlagak cun ke? Cheh, ni lagi satu jenis orang. Orang yang kata konon dia tak pedulik apa orang nak cakap, tapi dalam hati sebenarnya selalu fikir apa orang cakap (aku le tu)

Ey bencilah. Buat bodoh sudahlah.

Oh I have my own David Tuterra OK. She says she’s a combination between David Tuterra and Nigella Lawson but with (way) smaller boobs. She’s Emma’s birthday party planner! Woot! (Again?)

Harap-harap semua berjalan lancar.

Marilah kita sama-sama mendoakan agar kak Peachy selamat bersalin tanpa intervention. Dia tak nak di induce katanya. Apparently she’s heard a lot of bad experiences of people getting induced. Haha. I’m sure one of it’s mine. Hehe. Mari berdoa OK.

Diaper Review

2009-07-11T22:01:00.003+08:00

I read up on quite a few reviews on diapers, so I just thought I'll share my thoughts with mummies, current, new and future hehe.

1-The first diaper we tried was Drypers newborn. OKlah. Not bad at all. The price was reasonable, around 50 sen per piece I think. Why Drypers? Ntah ek. Mungkin pasal itu saja pampers newborn yang kami jumpa kot? But only bought one newborn pack and one size S. I hated the plastic tapes. Woke Emma up at every diaper change. And Emma had severe rashes at her diaper area. So we changed to...

2-Huggies Ultra. Its clinically proven (they claim) to help prevent diaper rash, and prevent it did! Emma's rashes cleared up almost immediately, also with the help of Dr.Siva. Haha see, I told you I like him. But Huggies Ultra ni sangatlah mahalnya, sekeping hampir RM1.00. I think it's more expensive than Mamy Poko, but only by a few sen. So at this time, we alternated between this and...

3-Mamy Poko. The first time I tried Mamy Poko, I hated it because I felt that it was so thin compared to Huggies Ultra! But after a few tries, I thought they were OK. And their sizes were a bit bigger than Huggies Ultra. Tapi lama-lama rasa macam mahal sangat kedua-dua diapers ni, so we tried...

4-Pampers All Night. Why Pampers? Because everyone seemed to call diapers Pampers kan, so I felt that it had a good reputation, hehe. Butttt I hated Pampers because of their plastic cover. The other diapers had cloth like outer covers. And they had plastic tapes just like drypers. Otherwise I felt that they did just fine. And they're not so expensive, macam harga Drypers kot? One packet was enough. Then we tried..

5-Huggies Dry Comfort. Ahhh... this one I love. And Emma's butt seems to love this as well. And Zufri's pocket. Hahaha. They can be quite pricey if you don't know where to look. At GiAnt its RM47.90, carre4 is RM51.00 but at lovable Tesco its only RM35.00! Banyak OK beza! Jadi harganya hanya plus minus 58 sen sekeping (compared to 73 sen in Giant!). These little-little expenditures really add up eh. Oh but that's not the end of our diaper experiments. We then tried..

6-Huggies Dry. This one's much cheaper than No.5, and much thinner too. I didn't like this as much. Rasa macam bontot Emma terkepam. Hehe. Then we tried..

7-Tesco Value Diapers! Yup. Generic brand, huh? Tapi pelekat dia plastik. At least outer layer dia breathable cloth. Tapi pelakt dia plastik. Haha. Sangat mementingkan pelekat. Jadi kami kembali ke..

No. 5, Huggies Dry Comfort. Good, in my humble opinion. But I have to say, everytime I go back to JB or SP, I will surprisingly forget to bring Emma's diapers so we always end up buying Mamy Poko Pull Up Pants. Tak tahu kenapa.

But that's all in the past. Emma's a partially green baby, because she wears mostly cloth diapers now. I'll post a review on cloth diapers some other day, OK?

Going off tangent now, Kak Peachy's 37 weeks yesterday! Woot! (I never say woot in real life. I wonder why I use it in my writings? Hmm..) Tak sabar menunggu kelahiran anak buah yang ketiga.

Tomorrow we're going swimming! Yay! Will post pictures tomorrow.

On Breastfeeding

2009-07-03T17:43:00.001+08:00

Alhamdulillah, I have been breastfeeding Emma for 11 months now. Dan Alhamdulillah juga kerana perjalanan kami dimudahkan Allah. Like I once said, I’ve been supplying Opah with 15oz of expressed breast milk from the time I started work, but since almost a month ago its been reduced to only 12oz to 13oz daily. Maybe its because she eats more during the day. Its getting harder for me achieve my daily quota of 15oz now. I blame it on the new healthy lifestyle I’m leading. Hehe. Tapi syukurlah kerana Emma anak yang memahami kesulitan mummynya. Huhuhu. When I get more, I will supply her with more.

At home, I do not have an emergency can of formula. I always set in my mind that what I have is enough for my baby. Tapi, aku juga tak bersetuju dengan ibu-ibu yang terlalu fanatik dan taksub dengan susu ibu sehingga sanggup bagi anak mereka minum dan makan benda-benda mengarut instead of feeding them formula. Maka sekiranya terpaksa (aku jatuh sakit ke), aku merelakan Emma diberi formula.

Oh, Emma kelmarin diberi formula oleh Opah kerana katanya susu yang aku bekalkan tak cukup. Memanglah tak cukup. Aku hantar jam 11 pagi berbekalkan 5oz je. Dengan niat agar dia menelefon aku untuk menghantar susu, lalu aku akan ambil Emma pulang siap-siap. (Insiden berlaku pada hari Isnin yang aku MC tu). Remuk redam hati aku, pasal bukannya aku tak ada stok susu di rumah!

Eh apa motif post aku ni? Post post aku semua takde motif, kesinambungan dan kesimpulan lah.

Aku mengantuk and my contact lenses are bothering my eyes. Haha. Dan kekenyangan (baru lepas lunch). Oh lunch tadi dapt banyak sedikit, 4oz. Harap soon akan kembali mencapai quota. Insya Allah.

Miss Tang busy dengan tender projek Valencia Phase 4F. Mujur bukan aku yang handle. Mujur Valencia yang aku take over dari Soo Lin tu dah nak Final Account. Pasal tu lah aku ada masa nak memblog. Ke meblog? Atau mungkin mengeblog? Aku suka memblog. Oh I’ve come across the word ‘asumsiasi’ which is taken from the English word ‘assumption’. Perlukah? Bukankah kita sudah ada perkataan tanggapan? Berpendapat? Cis sungguh lah author itu. Asumsiasi. Bah!

Oh mungkin kesimpulannya adalah untuk breastfeed your baby for as long as you can, dan dalam Islam mengatakan sehingga 2 tahun, jadi harapan aku adalah agar Emma akan dapat yang terbaik dari aku selama 2 tahun. Lepas tu stop OK. Hehe.

Alright then. Time to go home. Have a happy and safe weekend!

P/s: Malam ni Zufri ajak pergi OU, ada sale di Golf House. I wonder what else he wants to buy.

Mari Kita Berpantang

2009-07-02T18:10:00.001+08:00

Come children, gather around. Let me tell you a story.

I was on sick leave Friday afternoon. Then again whole day Monday. Monday morning started well enough. While I was entertaining Emma while watching Jim Jam & Sunny (saluran ceria ya. Rumah aku tiada Disney Playhouse) I suddenly sneezed. Kesejukan. Bersin itu telah mengakibatkan belakang aku yang memang sudah sakit menjadi lebih sakit, bagaikan sakit bersalin. But then again I was on epidural so what do I know about pain, ey? Hehe.

So I waited for the pain to subside. 730 menginjak ke 800, menginjak ke 830 sehinggalah 930 barulah aku menelefon office kesayanganku. Ah! Ruginya! Miss Tang meeting! Biarlah, bukan rezeki aku untuk duduk bersenang lenang di office. Hehe. Zufri bawa aku ke Klinik Siva selepas kami menghantar Emma ke rumah Opah. Sorry Darling, kasihan Emma menangis nangis ditinggalkan Zufri. Huh, bila aku yang hantar takde pun nak nangis nangis. Double standard betullah Emma ni.

Bukan aku tak pernah jumpa doctor regarding sakit belakang aku ni. Tapi biasa aku jumpa doctor panel office aje lah. Biasalah, ada angkat barang berat? Nope. Ada exercise? Hehe nope. Tidur cukup? Oh, cukup. MC mau? Hehe nak! Tu yang aku suka doctor ni. Doktor Siva jauh berbeza. Emma dari dalam perut dah pergi jumpa Dr.Siva ni. Ramai ok dalam klinik dia hari tu. No wonder he drives a 6 series. Dia pun mengurut, merasa dan menanyakan soalan-soalan yang aku kira bernas dan relevan. Kesimpulan yang diberi adalah angin. Cis. OK berikut adalah poin-poin yang diutarakan olehnya :-

1) Jangan minum air ais. Sila minum air panas ya, bukan suam. Panas. A tough one since my breakfast consists of iced Milo & nasi goring every day. Jangan minum ais masa pantang ya! Wakaka nanti jadi macam saya.
2) Jangan mandi lewat malam. Now not so much a problem. When the weather turns warm, we review this point.
3) Jangan hala kipas / air cond direct pada diri anda. Which is also hard because I can’t sleep when my legs are warm. The rest of my body I can take. My legs I can’t. But as a compromise I’ve taken to sleeping with long pants in lieu of the shorts I normally wear.
4) Malam sebelum tidur minum air panas direndam dengan kayu manis dan bunga lawang.
5) Jangan makan makanan yang naturally cooling, like tempe, watermelon, kangkung.

Basically, live my life as if I’m still in my confinement. Oh, man! Tapi ini hanya hipotesis Dr.Siva saja OK. Tak semestinya tepat. Anyway like he said, we eliminate the simplest possibility first, which is angin lah. Remember that painkillers are only to manage your pain, if you don’t change your lifestyle nothing will change.

Dah 4 hari aku berubah. Makcik Selera Kampung pun pelik tengok aku order barli panas. Cheh. Takpe, takpe. Memang salah aku. Zufri pulak beria ikut cakap Dr.Siva tu. Lepas Maghrib aku dilarang mandi dah. Malam kalau aku selak selimut dia mesti sibuk nak selimutkan balik. Alhamdulillh lah.

Cloth Diapers

2009-06-09T22:12:00.004+08:00

On Monday I received a parcel at work. I already know what it was, but still I was super excited. I love surprises and parcels and gifts and letters. Sigh. I even opened Papa's anniversary gift (towels, hah!) from Pak Cik Haron. Tak tahan lah tengok hadiah berbalut. So anyway, it was Emma's 2nd and 3rd cloth diapers, hehe. Lunatots that I bought from mom's little ones. The first was Wahmies I bought from ezmotherhood. Sekali pandang lihat macam Lunatots tu agak tebal dan fluffy berbanding Wahmies, but upon closer inspection, I find Wahmies a bit softer. Ni Emma baru nak cuba Lunatots kuning (macam Dayang punya, hehe), besok baru boleh komen keberkesanannya OK. But so far Wahmies never disappoints.

Early this morning, Emma had a slight temperature, but come morning time her temp was somewhat normal so I sent her to Opah's. Then after work she got really cranky and clingy. Rupa-rupanya gigi kedua dia baru tumbuh. Chet. Didn't check her tooth because the time she cut her first tooth she was all fine. Second tooth ni je over sikit. Haiyah. Mujurlah I don't have to take leave tomorrow. Tinggal 4 hari saja lagi OK.

So anyway, here are some backdated pictures meant for my previous post.Emma nak duduk dalam boot kereta lah Mummy sampai JB!
Haha car seat pun kat bonet. Hampeh sungguh.Emma enjoying herself on a trip to Istana GardenEmma diapit jejaka jejaka machoHah itulah ibu tiriku, Auntie Rani. Berbeza, kan dengan Mummy aku? Itu Kak Peachy at 32 weeks. Dengan rambut salun. Itu aku.
Itu Emma yang mengantuk at Papa's anniversary dinner. Atau adakah Bapak Emma yang mengantuk?Dan finally, Emma yang demam memakai Kool Fever dan cloth diaper barunya sambil berlengging menghisap jari menonton Anak Wayang. Zufri layan cerita itu OK. Sejurus selepas Erra Gu Gu Ga Ga. Itu aku yang layan.

Dan itu kaki aku yang gigantic. Argh besok Ms Tg (bos kecil ku) masuk office lah! Dah 3 hari dia cuti (since Friday). Ternyata hidupku lebih aman. Darn!

p/s: Tadi kami pergi tengok gudang. Tepi Federal Highway ok. Langkah kedua sedang dicaturkan. Yeah! (Ala-ala Junior dalam My Wife And Kids. Layan tak semalam?)

JB Post, Sans Pictures.

2009-06-07T23:18:00.003+08:00

Papa had a 1st anniversary bash in JB this previous weekend. All us girls and boys came back for the celebration. Rasa macam hari raya pun ada. Sangat meriah dan bising. Kira tak lah ralat sangat tak sambut hari raya pertama kat JB & Singapore tahun ni.

Sangat lama aku tak balik JB. Zufri tak sabar nak balik JB pasal dia kata dia teruja nak tidur sepanjang hari dalam air-cond, which he did. Siot je kan balik ye ye tapi tido. Pagi tu kitorang pegi breakfast dulu di restoran nasi padang kegemaran seisi keluarga, yang seberang Kotaraya tu. Tak tau le nama dia apa. Tapi memang kitorang makan kat sana sejak zaman kulit hitam berambut gonjeng lagi, hehehe. Then besoknya pegi lagi, this time for lunch. Zufri kan siap pejam-pejam mata menikmati lauk urat dia. Makan sambil senyum. Gila mamat ni.

Setiap kali aku balik JB, mesti tak kesampaian niat aku nak bawak Zufri dan Emma pegi Istana Garden, tempat aku jogging (cuba) menguruskan badan suatu ketika dahulu. Which brings me to the fact that this is yet another year of me failing to run in the KL Marathon. Darn! Sejak mengandung mana ada lari-lari dah. Baru start balik beberapa bulan lepas. 4 kilometer pancit dah OK. Harus pace myself. Oh so anywaysssss, akhirnya aku pegi jugak membawa Zufri, Emma, Kak Yen, Adam, Rizzqin dan Pipi. Kak Peachy pergi Holiday Plaza set rambut (like she somehow always does when she's in JB. Strange.)

Bestlah duduk melepak atas rumput, atas bukit menghadap laut. Sambil berlari menghirup udara segar.

Hahaha. Cerita aku tak best lah minggu ni. More interesting to me then to you. Aku poyo je lebih.

So anyway the dinner was a blast. Everyone seemed to be having fun. Do you know that I have an uncle called Om Din Din? Everyone else calls him Pak Long. Kuikuikui. I wonder who made us call him that.

Argh sangat lama tunggu gambar upload. Bila nak share gambar mak tiri aku ni? Wakakaka.
Laterlah OK.

Amareican Idol sudah tamat

2009-05-23T20:20:00.005+08:00

OK, first things first, here's the photograph of an excited Emma on her first ferry ride. Lihat, sangat teruja, bukan? Hehe.

Second of all, I think it sucks that Adam Lambert lost to Kris Allen. Simply because I personally think that Adam is a more versatile artist, and that America definitely needs a different kind of Idol. Not different as in gay, which I think Adam is. But different as in genre and voice quality. Hahaha. With that being said, aku rasa sebenarnya both singers didn't deliver during the finals. Both could have done better. And the song co-written by Kara? Awful, awful, awful.

Yang hebatnya, aku selalu diskas pasal AI dengan Ujie, Shikin, Zufri dan Papa. Everyone else rooted for Kris. Ujie dan Shikin siap bagi aku kata-kata semangat lagi masa Adam kalah. Hahaha. Thank you, people.

Third of all, Pipi had been busying herself the last week sewing Emma her very first baju kurung. Hehehe. Fits Emma to a T. Thanks Auntie Pips. Not quite bad for a first try. And finally, Zufri and I are busying ourselves with a little project that would certainly change our lives forever. So here's a picture of Emma project hunting today. Baru je lepas bangun. Masih sempat tersenyum comel. Rambut agak serabut.

P/S: Somedays I hate my job, somedays I love it to bits. Hehe. Last Friday was definitely one of my love days. Harap-harap by September our pet project takes off so aku boleh berhenti kerja sia-sia menjadi QS ni forever. Hehe. Insya Allah.

Bicara Tanpa Gambaran

2009-05-05T21:29:00.003+08:00

Look at what came in the mail today!

Yay! Emma's (hopefully) very first cloth diaper! Aku sangat teruja kerana ia sangat mengujakan. Nak cerita panjang pun tak boleh, pasal aku, or more precisely Emma tak cuba lagi. Baru cuci, mungkin esok boleh dirasmikan sewaktu tidur. Dayang (the one who gotme hooked, btw) kata "lagi kering dari Mami Poko!". Hahaha. Hmm, mungkin kejap lagi boleh surf the net dan cari even more great cloth diaper bargains. Oh speaking about bargains, look what I bought last weekend.

Hehehe. Apa banyak sangat pengumpul tahi dan kencing daa. Tapi at RM90 for three (normal price would be RM132), who could resist? Two whole months' supply of pampers.

Oh, almost forgot to share this picture of Emma on her first ferry ride. Dia taklah excited sangat macam aku nak naik ferry ni. Hmm. Maybe she just doesn't share mummy's over excitement for just about anything.

On another note, the weather's been really hot lately, kan? Almost wish that we have an aircond. Two showers are insufficient nowadays.

p/s : gambr sume tak nak keluar ah. laterlah aku upload.

Yet another tag

2009-04-19T15:16:00.002+08:00

Here’s a chance to see how well you really know your husband/boyfriend/lover. Cut, paste and fill in the answers, then shoot, you know what to do. The real challenge is to send it to your husband/boyfriend/lover to see how right you really are.

1. He’s sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
Right now it's some movie. Other times usually whatever I wanna watch.

2. You’re out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
Zufri makan salad? Hahahahaha

3. What’s one food he doesn’t like?
Bubur nasi.

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order?
Biasanya teh o ais. Kadang-kadang longan.

5. Where did he go to high school?
Penang Free School. Everytime we go to Penang, sure pass by his school. Sure wanna brag that his school's right next to McDonald's.

6. What size shoes does he wear?
6.5 - 7, depends on type.

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be?
Collect? Entrepreneur Of The Year Award. Kih kih kih perasaan plak. Collect Kak Yen's dry cleaning?

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
Double egg and cheese

9. What would this person eat every day if he could?
Any italian food.

10. What is his favorite cereal?
Coco Crunch? Haha ni aku tak tahu.

11. What would he never wear?
He'd never wear mass produced t-shirt

12. What is his favorite sports team?
Arsenal & the one with Thierry Henry tu. Apa eh? Barcelona ke?

13. Who did he vote for?
The Oppostion. Hohoho. And Matt Giraud. wth? eww ok.

14. Who is his best friend?
Aku le. Hehehehe. And Pogie.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do?
He wishes I wouldn't procastinate so much. And buy too many magazines.

16. What is his heritage?
Melayu

17. What is his favourite colour?
Purple. Sure explains my walls, huh?

18. What is his habit?
He has this habit of having to 'go' after every meal. And it has to be at home. Or any toilet he's used to. Public toilet kat Pelita ke, Ou ke, jangan haraplah.

19. What is he proud of?
The company he built from scratch.

20. Lastly, do you think he will read this?
Bertuah la kalau dia baca. Hahaha.

Now I'd like to tag Ujielicious, Aniemanis dan Min.

Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah

2009-04-18T23:38:00.003+08:00

So today was outing day with old friends from school, Syahirah (desk partner in form 3 & 5) and Dayang (form 4) and their babies. Decided to meet up in One Utamaa pasal dekat dengan aku dan Syahirah, and Dayang loves OU. Walaupun kami janji nak jumpa jam 3, aku sampai jam 4 pasal Zufri sibuk bermain golf sehingga lupa pada masa. Sampai sana nak cari tempat makan lagi (that would be spacious enough to cater to 3 strollers), dengan semua orang tak boleh nak decide lagi, akhirnya kami memilih nak makan di Secret Recipee. OKlah tu.

Syahirah beli boya (pelampung) yang pasang bukan di lengan OK, tapi di leher Ryan! Super weird! Emma the (self proclaimed) water baby pun still haven' t had her first swim yet! Menyesal tak duduk condo! Hehehe. Tak lah. Tak menyesal pun. I prefer the easy access and green green grass of home.

Ryan, Emma and Dhani.

After tea, we parted ways and I continued gallivanting with Emma in tow. Tengok-tengok golf sets (cheh macam serius je Zufri ni tau), tengok-tengok baju Emma, breastpumps (tak tau apasal, tapi seronok je tengok pumps ni), bought my favourite Viennese Sandwiches dan akhirnya sampai rumah jam 10! Hahahaha. It's been so long since we last did that.

Oh on a sadder note, I'd like to wish my deepest condolence to an acquaintance, Shasha, whose baby passed in her womb at 9 months of age. Saya sangat bersimpati, tapi Alhamdulillah, kelihatannya seperti dia redha dengan ketentuan ini.

Marilah kita sama-sama take a minute dan sedekahkan Al-Fatihah buat Allahyarham Alexander.

It's always heart breaking when a mother to lose her child.