One day before the new year 2008

Venue: my office table
Date: A day before we usher the new year 2008

My former company's CEO Mr Tan Ah Wah passed away today at his home .He died after being discharged from the the hospital today. From my GM, who was at his side during his final moments, I found out that my former CEO had been holding on all the while just to have his last breath at his home..

I felt sad upon hearing his death. But I'm relieved that I managed to see him last Friday at the hospital...That Friday I was so busy with work. Plus I was the only one from my dept working that day as the rest ( including my dept manager ) was away outstation. So when kak Izan invited me to visit my late boss , i quickly said yes . I got to know about his illness only on Wednesday. I barely recognised him at the hospital room. He looked so thin.. I was about to cry but didn't when I saw how sad his wife was ... It seemed that everyone else especially the children had to be strong just for the sake of their mother.. I hope my late boss heard me calling his name when I was there.. :(

Who is he to me? He was my boss. And it was him who hired me in the 1st place. Those who didn't know him may think he is one fierce & stern looking one. And he likes to call u " Bodoh kau! " Of course la most of us did chicken out & scared bila kena marah dgn dia. But at the end of the day most of us would laugh at this... To my late Boss , saying " Bodoh kau ! " to his staff is like saying " Apalah!", " Hampeh" , "F@cK!" , etc... And he was the type of person who will give advises to u, really give advises that can make u cry ( in the good way la )

One thing I learn from him was that everyone in the office should be able (99%) be able to do multitasking assignments. An account&Finance staff should be able to do some HR work and vice versa..

Another thing I remember of him is the way he chaired the meetings.. His meetings started with some story telling, where he will relate to what he wanted us to learn from that meetings.. So this part he will be like a father to all of us... But once the story stop, habisla we all kena prepared nak jawab itu ini when asked.

Another thing I will remember about him is the delicious food we get to eat after big meetings... It may be nasi brianni or nasi padang or chinesse food that u can get anywhere in KL.. But from him, we all learnt where is the best place for certain type of food... Up to this day, the best chinese food will have to be Corus Hotel in Jalan Ampang. We just need to mention my late boss name as the food menu.. Another best food is the chinesse curry restoran at Taman Wahyu..The sotong goreng is just crunchy and delicious..

Somehow this year I have so many death news... One things I know, I have to make times for my family members. At least I wont feel losing much when they are gone...


p/s: Happy New Year 2008 to all of us! Hope I can catch some fireworks after tonite's family dinner..

BOMPANI ?

Hood, hobs & multioven? Does anyone outhere know what is the best and reliable brand to buy? Yes. I did my research on these things. Infact me & hubby went to some kitchen appliances sales around PJ and Puchong too... But we have not enough info on the brands reliability and performance... So, to those who are sifu in the kitchen area , what brand do I buy peps? Teka? Fagor? Pacific? Tellini? Elba? And have anyone heard of BOMPANI?

Children toys

There was an interesting article in one of the newspaper yesterday... It's about todays' parents habits of buying children toys... It seems that new generation of parents doesn't mind paying through their noses when it comes to children toys and travelling gadgets ie. strollers... And this new buying habit is making the retailers happy as it means more sales & profits to them... Kaching$$$$$$

Well, this new buying trend wont dies off that easily.. why? Coz brand still plays an important factors in making that final purchases... And most parents outthere still think expensive brands mean good qualities... With expensives brands, most parents dont have to think much about products quality... Thus, no need to put on the thinking cap la!!!! Parents need only to choose which toys to buy .... And I think this is true and happening outthere . If not we wont be seeing this new buying trends in Malaysia...

But then again, at the end of the day, will the child be getting the same amount of experience if he/she were to play with cheap toys than expensive toys? For me, there wont be any major differences as toys will be toys in children eyes... The child will still be getting the same good happy feelings regardless of the prices and brands......

How many times has it happen to us when simple things brought so much joys to our children? Those simple things were actually not toys . They were just some cheap laddle , a strainer or an egg whisk or even a shoe box or even a feather duster...

Maybe that is why my mom can give such comments on Arissa's toys ... Just like any other children, Arissa's has too many toys .... Family members and friends has been so wonderfull to Arissa.. The only things that stand out more when one looks at her toys is the brand of the toys... U will see more cheap local brands rather than expensives brands...

Are we stingy when it comes to buying her toys? Well, no. Quality comes first. Price will come second... And when we dont mind putting our thinking caps when it comes to buying her things... So far she is happy playing with all the toys we bought for her... And it feels nice and warm when u see that toys is played over time and again.... No burnt holes in our pockets too...

A Letter to Syafiah Arissa

My dearest Arissa,
As Mama seldoms write about your development, I think I will do it today, Baby..At least u get to read & reminisce it in years to come darling.. So here's the story when u are 2 years old and 2 months:

Almost everymorning u will said u want to follow Mama to work. And Mama had to twist it another way by saying that u can follow me to the car.. and it works ! I know how u wanted me to stay at home & play with you..Once in the car, I have to take u for a short trip. And u will want to wind down the windows or press the horn or turn on the wipers just before bibik pick u up from the car.. U wouldn't want to leave if u didn't get to do all these things..

U are so smart to come up with so many excuses if u want to delay something ( this u do so in order for u to get to do the things u wanna do la ) .... How clever of u darling to say "please wait mama!" or "mama, wait mama ." when i rushed you to do other things... Another thing is during your bedtime.. U will asked to switch on the tv or ask mama to make u your milk.. And I can't leave u in the room with your baba so that i can go downstairs to prepare it for u.. " mama, arissa nak follow!" U love the idea of going downstairs with me .Why, coz u get to stay awake and talk with bibik while mama prepares your milk... Do u finished your milk? Well, sometimes yes, and sometimes no...

You will cry when I told u to have your evening nap.. U will be crying while sleeping next to me.. " Mama, don't want to sleep"... and shortly u fall asleep...

U will ask me or baba to sing for you Laa ilaa haillallah before going to sleep..Currently this is your favourite lullaby baby.. U also will ask us to open & hold the Laa ilaa haillallah book... Then u will ask to read what ever words u are pointing in that book. This u do will snuggling next to me..You head will be ontop of my right upper arm & baba will be laying down next to you on your right side.. Yes dear, most of the time u will insist of having baba to lay down next to you during bedtime.. Mama too will have to dukung you just for a while when u are almost sleepy.. Dont know how to stop this things..

And when u wake up in the morning(weekdays) , u will cry sometimes, asking "where is Baba?" or 'where is mama?". U normally wake up late as u normally fell asleep around 11 pm! It's so hard to change your sleeping time !

You have a very healthy appetite dear .. Almost all food, be it spicy or not, u will eat.. U ate redang negeri yg pedas ... and curry too... And choc too... Funny when u only eat the choc layer and not the wafer .. And the murukku tuh.... Yes, we let u have all this but in moderation as u are still young and you dont brush your teeth well ... Mama don't want u not to have no front teeth ok.. Alhamdulillah , u can understand us when we told u to stop eating as u had enough of the food..

U listen more to your baba than your mama... With me, u will give me that look ( boring look) when i forbid u to do certain things.. Like walking in my shoes & sandals.. Or playing on the staircase.. I have to reason it outwith u and then only u will agree not to do it.. Or i will let u do it for a few minutes before calling it short.. This I learnt from your Baba la.. And for a toddler your age, your comprehension is very good.. Alhamdulillah.

U will insist on playing when u are actually sleepy...

U like to do the "no more dirty diapers" dance. This u learnt from watching Elmo's potty time VCD.. And u like to sing & dance " Who is afraid of the big bad wolf" . This u got it from watching Disney's cartoon.. It's from the 3 little pigs story. Apart from Elmo which is your favourite puppet, u like Mickey mouse too..

U love going out for a walk around our neighbourhood. U actually love running ... U will say " Arissa jog mama!" ...Park is your favourite place..And u can identify well where the parks are located.. we have about 4 parks around my house.. All in the walking distance only... That's what u get when there are different housing developers around the neighbourhood..
During the walk, u can tell also which house has a dog ... And u will want to touch the cat when u see one...

Arissa, mama thinks that's all for now... Mama will definitely post another entry like this whenever possible ok..

Hugs&kisses,
Mama

Love or Lust

Hubby took me out for a movie date yesterday :) I told hubby I wanted to watch this movie ,Stardust , after seeing its short clip during Resident Evil.. I must say I didn't expect it to be a love story movie. Anyway, I love it as it was funny and it's a love movie!

I think this movie is suitable for couples, in the sense it made u think about what is love all about actually... It makes you ponder is it love or lust that you have at this very stage of your love lives! This movie also can be a point of reference for those who are about to embarke into marriage life.

Love or lust? U can be rest assured that it is love u have there when you are willing to sacrifice anything for the other half. U will find yourself willingly (without realising it so much initially) to make the time, spend your money and give your energy just to make that someone happy.... Of course we do this to our best friends. But this time, u will be doing it with that very extra special feelings that u yourself can't described nor expressed into words...

And it is love when u can accept that person at a face value ( ni mcm accounting jargon pulak!).. U find yourself accepting the person's bad points which is actually tolerable to your standards but much to the dislikes of your best friends! I found this happening to most of my friends and collegues... I guess this situation is what we can term it as completing each other's needs & characters .. Just like in that tom cruise's movie "You completes me ! " Hmmm! Until today I found myself saying it to my hubby . Be it in our happy times and bad times. Its the best assurance when our marriage is tested by God .

To be in love , to found love is the very special gifts from The Almighty to all of us.... And it is so sweet when love found you when u are not looking for it... I think this situation is the best things that can happened to any one of us... The best gifts also to those who has lost one ...

As it is not easy to find love, I salute those single status people who are making the extra miles just to meet and know other people ... It is never an easy matter making that bold steps nor going through the routines of getting to know new people again.. This was what I saw last nite when me& hubby went to his friends' deeparaya open house. This chap who is my hubby's & host's friend was giving himself a chance of seeing some other girl who is a friend of another hubby's & host's friend . This guy is a nice person la ..Not like the some playboy la.. What I like about him is that he is willing to open out himself to see other people after an unsuccessfull relationship. I know he is looking for some nice girl to settle down. Just that he wasn't that lucky in that department yet... And he didn't mind when the girl he was going to give a call later is one year older than him... Talk about giving others and yourself a chance too..!

To other's who are still have not found their soulmates, go easy on yourself when meeting new people.. I find it easy when we dont put any benchmarks or criterias when meeting new people. The road in front of us will be a bit rocky when we grade people by our benchmarks.. We wouldn't want others to do the same things to us... Give others a chance as we want to be given the same chance by others. I know there are certain single people outthere who sticked this " I wanna find mysoulmates" into their heads when meeting new people.. This kind of attitude is actually not benefitting them at all.. It's better to go out just for the sake of meeting someone new. Who knows if that person has another friend who could be your soulmates...

Have a marvellous weekend peps!

Dating

I had a date with my hubby on the 1st saturday of Nov . It's a date to me eventhough we did it after attending hubby's company's open house. I accompanied him even he was on duty on that day.. So many people turned up as our PM too was there to launch the new coffetable book in town. I wish the antique phone that our PM got can be used as it still look good!

Since we still have some time left for a short drink, hubby suggested that we go for a drink somewhere in Bangsar. So the easiest and convenient place is BV2. Treat was on hubby as he asked me to choose the place. I wanted to go Bakerzin ( opposite Starbucks) but was closed for renovation. EEEE! We did checked out the one in BV2 but less variety on the desserts!

So off we went to Delicious. It's been quite sometime since i last went out for a drink with hubby to a place like this... Finally I got be there.. Thumbs up on the delicious apple pie crumble. SERVED with ICE CREAMS! The pie pastry was SEDAP! Better than the one at Starbuck. My Death by IcedChoc drink was heaven!

We did glance at what other people were having . And I must say, the food presentation was superbly done. They make a sandwish look so appetising ! Hubby said we should have ordered the brownie which was served with icecream. But I said no as it didn't look like the one at Chilli's.

Spending time with hubby even for just a drink at mamak stall is something precious to me. And it matters most now when we have a child. This going-out things will be the time we get to spend each other company and talk any topics freely without the interruption from our child.. And we get to eat certain food that our child can't have yet...

Actually going out just the two of us always make me feel like we are one childless couple. I always have that feelings when we were out without Arissa. I feel like a young couple! And when we go back to our house after our dating, how nice getting a warm loving hug & smile & kisses from Arissa.

I know it's not easy to leave your child behind. But when u can and when there is help around ( be it from your parents or siblings or maid ) , do go out with your spouse...

And tomorrow , I'll have date with hubby ..Hopefully he got the movie tickets.. And Arissa get to spend her time with her tukummi!

Raya 2007

Somehow this year raya mood was a bit gloomy from last year. Of course we did keep a happy face when in front of others but nobody knows what the heart is filling inside each of my husband's family members and my sides too.
My hubby lost his 2nd bro to cancer late March this year. And my father lost his mother to cancer too on Friday 5th Oct 2007. My late BIL was 33 years old . While my late grandma was 70 plus years old. Both never shown any early signs of cancer. It came in a second just like that. It's hard to lose someone in a matter of less than 5 days after the 1st diagnose. Both of them died immediately after the medical reports were out.
All these things make me think that anything can be taken from us in short span of time. From a healthy body to illness, from living to death. From a happy marriage to a broken one.

This year I dare not to comment much about my MIL raya cookies & morning raya food spread. Some of the food was my late BIL's fav food. Only him who likes to eat dates rolls. And even when he is gone, my MIL still baked it. I dont know how his wife handle it when it comes to fast food. Both of them love eating fast food.

This Raya too brought new changes to my daughter who suddenly enjoy having her photos taken. It must be the camera handphone thing and the digital camera too. She likes to see her photos immediately after it was snapped. So easy to ask her to smile and pose in front of a camera. She herself will decide on how to pose for that snap. Doesn't matter if it was a camera handphone or digital camera, she will bug you all the time. And that was what happened to my brother and my nephew & niece . We were at my MIL's besan's house for jalan raya. As we bid farewell to everyone , Arissa asked two of her cousins who have camera handphones to take her photo. Each one of them had to use their own handphones to take the picture. Only after it was done, did she is finally happy to say goodbye.

I think most of us have started working today. So, have a good day at the office and happy fasting to those yang puasa enam.

my missing other half

I'm a single parent this week as hubby is away on his business trip. So u can imagine the loneliness, boredom of not having your soulmate next to you at nite.. I even dont have the mood to buy juadah berbuka posa as it is only me & my maid who will be breaking fast . It's a different feeling when hubby is around as I would be eager to buy some of his favourite berbuka puasa food from the bazar ramadhan. It's not a must to have rice dishes for fast breaking for my family as hubby prefers eating other non-rice dishes such as roti boom, kebab, mee, mee hoon, pizza, fast food and whatever la..
( i'm back at my own house since last week as my MIL has to take care of my BIL's two children . Both he & my SIL are away in UK now. We will be staying back with my MIL for one week till raya , starting this coming Sunday )

Talked about bazar food, i wanna share with you all some delicious food and drinks that i've tasted throughout this fasting month. For those who likes to drink air mata kucing, the best stall will be at Bazar setiawangsa. The owner use gula merah/melaka and not the normal white sugar k . That's the reason too why the air mata kucing is darker than the other stalls. And this too was confirmed by my number one food critic i.e my hubby. Those who knows my hubby will definetely trust my hubby's critics when it comes to food. I guess that is what u will get or become when u grew up with a mom who is cikgu sains rumah tangga. ops,,,sorry for the long diversions or short iklan ni ok! Back to the air mata kucing story. Which stalls? Well, try to look at the stall that is on the lower bottom of the hilly road. If you r coming from the higher part of the road, the stall will be on your right as u r walking down .

Another delicious food is the kuih putu piring. There is only one stall selling this kuih. 3 pieces for RM1 . The ikan bakar there too is mmmmmm. try to look for this stall that will have people queing up in front of it. Other food is not so good.Even the nasi kerabu from 2 stalls are tak sedap lansung. The roti boom is way to expensive and big too. Maybe that is why they are selling it for RM0.80 cents per piece. Even the ayam percik are expensive i.e RM3.50 per pieces. U cant get it at RM 2 for the same size of ayam percik at Bazar Melawati . The one next to MRR2 .


At bazar Melawati, the best murtabak will be this husband&wife stall with one helper only. Their stall is located as the same lane as the buziest ikan bakar stall, just in front of the parking lot where u can get lori sewa services. Last Ramadan this stall sold roti boom which was the best one. They make the mutabak filling by batches and the main filling i.e meat looks like a rendang a bit. U can see it from the stall . The best sate stalls is the sate panglima as printed on their small signboard. We have tried others sate in the same bazar but this one is the best as the meat is marinated perfectly. Others seems like is marinated with kunyit only. My 2 year old daughter pun can tell which sate is tasty . Sate is her latest fav food . She will be asking for sate day & nite. But of course la we dont give in to her wants everyday. I normally buy sate every after 3 days. So I had to look for the best one as she wont eat it if it's not tasty. For those living in Bandar kinrara, try looking for this one sate stall at the bazar ramadan near I&P office . The peanut gravy & sate meat is just perfect & mmmmmm!

I guess it pays to really look at details when finding good food at bazar ramadan as some of the food sellers are just like 'mcm cendawan yang tumbuh selepas hujan". I hate it when the food that I bought did'nt worth the amount I paid. Like for malay kuih mueh, some are just pretty to look but lacking in taste. Thank God I can get my kuih mueh from felda cafe. yes, the same kuih that u guys will be eating at dewan perdana Felda if ure breaking fast there.

So what shall I have for buka posa today? I had keros kebab and some kuih mueh yesteday. I really have no mood to buy food when hubby is not around. Maybe a slice of tiramisu from Sun moulin bakery KLCC outlet perhaps..

server down

Actually my nawaitu this morning is to do my job ..But I can't as the network server is down .Thus I can't download my bank statements from Maybank desktop . How come I can surf the net lak? I think there's a problem with the Maybank server kot.. This week is again a busy week for me as we will be doing the monthly account closing which has to be completed before Raya .. Eeee! I just hope everything will be ok la.. Most of my finance collegues are outstationed for quarterly stocktake . Left only me, my boss & one clerk... Why I'm not outhere doing stocktake? Well, eversince I gave birth, I have been excluded from all outstationed work. Somehow , my boss understand the need of me being at home with my lil baby.. Not that I don't want to go or complaining. But I'm thankful for this exclusion also.

Before Arissa came along into my life, I never failed to join any company's trips or functions or go outstation. Alhamdulillah, hubby was supportive & gave his blessing. In fact, my last company's trip was when I was 3 months pregnant. There was an anual company's games at JB. I wanted to go as my pregnancy was ok . No morning sickness ma!

Do I miss being going oustations? Not actually. Maybe because I'm done with all that before Arissa came along. The only thing I miss sometimes is berbuka posa kat luar.. I used to attend most of my company's bebuka posa kat various hotels in KL. Yeah, talk about the mouthwatering hotel food for buka posa ..I dont really go for malay food when eating out with my company as we can always get it from any food stalls outthere. But fusion food, Japanese food, & whatever non malaysian food, that I really go all out. Dont worry, I dont pile up my food so much in one plate. I hate seeing people piling up food so much in their plate and then didn't finished eating all of it.. It's good too when some hotels or restaurants charge for this food wastage.. Unless u dont mind paying for it la..

Copy Cat

Thesedays, me & my hubby have our very own copy cat. Who else but our daughter Arissa. She likes to imitate whatever we are saying during most of our talks. Actully this act has started a long time ago . A time when she could only make sounds. She will laugh when we are laughing over something. And we will find ourseves laughing at her over this. I guess, maybe she didn't want to be left out from our conversation. But then, there's one thing that always sparks curiousity in me. She always seems to know that we are talking about her. How does she knows? well, all of sudden she make a sound or thesedays, utters some words that relates to our talk. For example, my MIL was telling us how Arissa cried looking for her missing tuk ummi who had gone out shopping. As my MIL was telling us the story, Arissa will chipped into our conversation by making the crying sound. And then she will said that she cried looking for her tuk ummi.

And this Lil Angle will repeat after whatever words we are using. I was in the kicthen washing my hands after dinner one nite when I heard someone calling me Y@ng. My hubby told me then, that Arissa heard him calling me by that name . So Arissa found it amusing that she too wanted to call me by that name.. And I found her smiling when she's saying it.

I have informed my maid to be careful with her words especially infront of Arissa. Just the other day, my maid refered my MIL's chinese neighbour as c!n@. In a matter of 2nds , Arissa who was there with me & my maid, uttered the same word. I quickly told Arissa that is not the right way to refer to that neighbour. Told her to say "uncle" which she went on to repeat it several times... But that vocab of "c!n@" is still in her memory as I heard her saying it yesterday...

When she talks, she will do it with a very strong facial expression. My mom always tells me how she likes seeing the way Arissa talks. The eyes, the head, the hands, all talk when she is talking to you.. Most of the times, u can't help not to be amused by this..

As her vocabs increased tremendously thesedays, the more challenging it is for me & hubby to talk her out from doing or wanting something... Tapi alhamdulillah, she is able to comprehend and understand to what ever we are saying to her so far..

She likes going to the park. Before this,to her any time of the day is a good time to go to the park. But she finally understand that it's not the good time to go to the park when it is a hot day. It will be her telling me " Mama, hot day!. Can not go to park"

All these new development in her makes me eager to know how my next 2nd, 3rd or 4th or 5th child will be. It's a wonderful, exciting, educational and enriching experience watching one child grow from baby to toddler and so forth.

Tremors

Alhamdulillah. Nothing bad happened to all of us at my office. The tremors that we felt yesterday morning at office was longer than the one in 2004( tsunami time). Me & my collegues didn't evacuate our office when we felt it earlier. All of us was busy chatting the tremors that were happening... We only left our seats once we heard the news that there were big crowds standing outside our building.

While waiting to see if things are safe and clear from any upcoming tremors,me & my collegues felt a big disappointment on how our evacuation officers dealt with this issue. There were no announcement made after we felt the 1st tremors. No announcement were made either to tell us that things are safer after that... No doubts this people had done some many latihan kecemasan . But what did they do when the real things like this happened? NOTHING!!!!..
It was our GMD who had to tell us informally that we can go back to our office. My GMD was standing near our group at that time...

From hubby too, I found out that the TM's evacuation team dealt this things rather badly... The emergency announcement were chaos and not properly done. Hai ya!!!!! I thought ours was bad. Didn't expect the same things could happened to a big giant company like TM.

Fasting

Gosh! I can’t believe I arrived so early at office today. Reached office at 6.55 am. I left home 5 minutes to 6.30 am . Today marks the 1st day of fasting for Muslim . Hence there’s a new working hours for Ramadan month. Mine starts at 7.45 am & finishes at 4.30 pm. I need to leave early as this one whole month of Ramadan , me& family are staying at my MIL’s house as she is all alone.

One thing that will always comes to my mind during fasting month is my fasting days when I was single and living just about 15 minutes drives from Bangsar. I like doing my terawih at bangsar mosque. It's comfy and the jemaah there are ok too . And maybe too because it's so easy to get there from my apartment. I miss allthis when I moved to my current house where there is a surau nearby. I somehow dont like the nearest mosque ( about 5 km from my house). Something about the mosque ambiance that I rather dont like.

Actually not only that I miss but also my life living at F@j@r!a. Imagine going to MidValley on weekdays nite. Sometimes, when I'm just bored or wanted to have my dinner, I can just easily drive to MV. No traffic & less crowd too there. And there's an LRT station just right behind my aprtmnt .. It was so easy to go to office or anywhere else too. Though I have a car, but I prefer to take the LRT to work... At that time, the traffic near the bulatan pahang was so bad as they were building the monorail.

And we have so many places to go for dating . Hehehe.. So what happened to my apartment theseday..... My office is shaking now..... bergegar! kuatnya goyang !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

selamat berpuasa k...

Akhirnya Kini Pasti

Finally last nite the much waited reunion happened. This reunion was 1st planned long time ago. But then, it never happened because almost everyone has this-and-that to do.. We all joked about this reunion as it was an impromptu one. I only knew it at lunch time yesterday from Pija. Got a shocked to hear her on the other line as she never calls me from her office number. Normally it is me who called her.

So alhamdulillah, I got to see all my best friends from my university days except one, Yati who now lives and work in Sabah.. Missed not having her there last nite. Out of 5 people last nite, only one is living&working in Kedah. Ida came down on tuesday to do her raya shopping. Her visits too was a last minute plan. So that is why last nite get together was a last minute one.

Alhamdulillah also I have my MIL at my house. At least hubby&Arissa has company while I'm out having dinner. I hate having to leave both of them at home. I dont think I would have come to the reunion if my MIL wasn't there at my house. Hubby gave the green light when I told him about the dinner. He will said yes even if his mom wasn't there with us. It was him all this while who keep pushing me to plan for my reunion.

Met them at Jusco Cheras Selatan. Me & pija had to come all the way from KL . Lin&Syikin stay around Bangi . Ate at Pizza hut . Reminiscing the good old days.. Pija reminded me about our eating trip at McDs during the exams week. We drove almost 50kms from campus just to eat McDs's burgers a day before our exams. Tgh stress waktu tuh people..

And they all reminded me of how I switched my course degree from IT to Business. Yes , people, for one good semester I was an IT student. My heart wasn't into IT. In fact I know my capabilities. Almost all my closest friends ( I have anotherIT group of best freinds) were doing IT at that time. Maybe that is the reason why they never failed to bring up this matter everytime we see each other.

Though I was the only one taking BBA course, all of us really clicked to each other. And all of us came from different states. I will be talking to one of them " aku/kau" , to another friend " I/y ou" , to another one "orang/awak"... so rojak...

Glad I was given the time to see them. Glad I made the time to see them just before Lin's departure to UK for the her PHD . ...

What a small world!

Through internet, we are bound to meet someone who is connected to us in someway.Be it from our own life history , spouses or even from other family members. Thus, I was surprised to know that my hubby met his old friend from his student's days' in London last Saturday .

We were invited to attend Aidan's 1st birthday party ( thanks for having us Dot dear!) on last Saturday 25th Aug. As this is the 1st time for me to meet other fellow FP's & blogger's mommies, I did get cold feet. I almost back out when we were lost in Kota Damansara.. Dot dear, sorry but your map was a bit confusing la.But hubby was so determined that we finally found our way to Dot's home sweet home.

I was worried a bit if hubby would feel lonely and out of place. Not that he is not friendly person. Anyway, I was relief when he introduced me to this guy who looked like someone he knows. On our way back to our house from the party, he told me that the guy is his friend when he studied in London. What small world to meet again your friend! I never thought my hubby will meet up his old friend on our 1st FP's gathering.

Internet really connects people .From it , I not only gained new benificial knowledge, meet new people but also also managed to traceback one of my closest friends who in the end doesnt want to be found . Phew!

Breastfeeding

For almost two years I have succesfully breastfeeding my child. I never thought I will make it to this day. The journey was a wonderful experience and new. New in the sense not only for me but also for people at my office. I was the 1st one to start this culture of expressing BM at the office. It did worry me in the 1st place of not being able to do it.. But alhamdulillah, people was very helpful and understanding. I got to use the pantry for my EBM session 3 or 4 times aday.

Breastfeeding and wanting to do EBM at office is not an easy thing to do for a new mommy. I remember how people from the older generation ( including my mom& MIl ) can easily succumb to giving powdered milk to a crying baby who is still learnng the rope to latch on properly . .. And also when the new mother is still not adapt at breastfeeding the baby. This thing happened to me.. However, thank god I didn't resort to give Arissa powdered milk ...

In my own personal opinion, I dont think breastfeeding is a skill that is possesed naturally by all mothers. It is something that all new mom-to-be should learned. Its like riding a bike. U need to learn and relearn how to bike so that u wont fall .. So it is the same with breastfeeding.

I remember searching for articles and books on breastfeeding from either the internet or at the bookstore. All this was done before I was pregnant. I refused to believe that breastfeeing was easy. And I am thankful that I wasn't in the wrong .

From books and articles, I found out that there is a milk production systems in our body that controls supply of breastmilk. And this information is vital and essential for every mother to understand. Remember when we mommies always complaint about not having enough breastmilk to feed our child? Well, the key to that is the mommy herself. We are the owner of our own body. Thus we are the keys that can unlock and lock so many doors in our milk production system. In simple words,high or low breastmilk supply is actually something that can be controllable.

Of course, I did have my ups and downs in breastfeeding my child. But having the knowledge on successfull breastfeeding really helps me alot. There were times, when I was stress with breastfeeding. But then again, thank god hubby was always there to support me . He is my no. 1
breastfeeding suppoter. To breastfeed succesfully, every mommy needs a strong suppoter. And that role is best played by our hubby.

However, at the end of the day, breastfeeding is an individual decision. No doubt the best milk in the world is breastmilk. And the best food for baby under 6 months is breastmilk.
Don't feel bad that if we are unable to breastfeed our children. It doesn't make us a lesser parents. What is more important, be the best parents we can be and give to our child.

there's a saying in Islam, that a new born child is like a piece of white canvas. A piece of white canvas can be turned into beautiful art or the other way around. Thus, it is the painter's job to paint it beautifully so that the canvas can give values to others.

So, may each and one of us be the best painter for our children's sake. Amin.

All for you

I have been slowling preparing Arissa for that big day. The day when she can finally drink 100% powdered milk and not her Mama's milk.. We started when she was 20 months old. She will be drinking neslac 1 during the day and at nite time, she will be have mama's milk. And now, she is TWO years old...

So far, she has been ok about not being able to feed from me.. It has been almost a week ... She did ask for it at nite just before she goes to sleep. And asked for it again when she wakes up at nite.... She didn;t ask again or get all cranky when I said no & explain her why she can't have it.. She has been a good girl... But her mama really miss breastdfeeding her... Hubby told me to be patient .

Who said that you are not going to miss breastfeeding your child? It did cross my mind that I may miss this special session @ breastfeeding ...I thought I will only feel a bit strange and that's it.. But I guessed it wrong by now.. I miss our special moments. I miss our mom&daughter bonding time.. I miss having her in my lap drinking my milk..

She is two years old

This year Arissa had an early birthday celebration with her cousin Danial who turned 1 year old on Aug 10th. The small party was done at my parents' house on Saturday nite. We had bbq party too on that nite..

It seems like only yesterday she was born. In fact I still think she is small and baby too. I guess it is hard for parents especially mothers to think that their child has grown up.

People always ask me what can she do ? Well, almost everything I would say. There are some words she can pronounce clearly & some words a bit babylish. But her comprehension of things spoken to her and around her is great. Her memory skills are excellent for a toddler like her . She can recalled exactly which , what & when & how things are done,stored, said etc. I know my hubby & MIL have a sharp & alert mind.. But I never expected my daughter to have thve that qualities. :) I'm happy she has that inside of her as I'm not that person.

She is still like any other normal toddler. Will put up an act when she didn't get what she wants. She can even be angry at me & dont want me to hold her when she cant get her ways.. Sometimes she will pretend that she is crying .Thinking I would succumb to her cry.

But she's quick to know if her Baba is in an angry mood. All by listening to the high tone of my hubby's voices.

My darling Arissa, may you grow into a beautiful person inside and outside.

And thank you to the Man up there for this wonderful precious gifts.

Durian Eater

The youngest family member in E&F family likes to eat durian..Wanna know how old she is? Well, she just turned TWO(2) years old today…. Here's a picture of our daughter Arissa happily enjoying eating her durian. That was the 1st time we allowed her to eat one biji durian . Before this, we only gave her about 1 scoop / just a pinch of durian..

How did it all started? Well, it all started when we were back at my parents house inN9. My dad will never fail to buy durians whenever the children come back home. Mom always said it is better to eat durian with a bigger crowd rather than eating it between 2 people only(my parents la!).

As usual, Arissa always want to join in whatever we adults are doing. So she was there sitting on my mom’s maid lap in the kitchen watching us ‘kopek durian” . It was fine by me when we let her touch the thorny durian skin . . And I even let her take a sniff of the wonderful smell of durian. Suddenly she said she wants to eat one of it.. Hubby said “Let her try a bit”. Off I put a bit of durian inside her mouth. When I asked her if the durian tasted nice, she said “Nice”. And after that she insisted of having some more… We let her eat a few more after that before my mom’s maid took her out from the kitchen .

All of us was surprised that she likes the taste of durian as she is still small. Even my brother’s young children don’t like to eat durian. Maybe because the parents themselves are not durian lovers.

So far we have exposed Arissa to many kinds of food. But we have limited her exposure to junk food i.e fast food like ice creams, cakes, sweets . She just had her 1st taste of ice cream about 1(one) month back. Wanna know what was the brand? Baskin & Robbins. We were out at Subang Parade with my husband’s brother and his family. If it wasn’t for Khuya (Abang) Fazul buying his kids some ice creams, Arissa woudn’t get the chance at all.
As curious as she has always is, she likes the new taste and experience of feeling and eating a new thing. My hubby & I had to eat most of ice creams in my hand as we don’t want her to eat most of it. Arissa insisted of eating to last bit of the ice cream cone!

Remember the Wall’s ice creamman riding on the motorcycle? Arissa only recognizes it as the-musical-motorcycled man. She doesn't know that that person is selling ice cream actually. I have advised my maid & all our family & in laws too , not to tell her what about the ice cream man.

MacDonalds? KFC? Hemm… That too we have not exposed it to her .. Of course there’s no way of escaping it when watching TV. But me & hubby never said the word to her. We sometimes switch to another channel when MacDonalds or KFC’s advertisement is aired.

Why the delay of not exposing her to all this? Reasons are plain & simple. Apart from we wanting her to have a good eating habits, we too thought she has all the time later to eat MacDonalds or KFC or any other sweet drinks when she is older. In fact, I’ve seen it from my own experience be it from my family members or from public, how hard it is to resist your children craving of eating fast food. Once a while it is ok to have roti canai or nuggets for breakfast. But I don’t think it is healthy to let your child to eat roti canai & nuggets for every meal.

We firmly believe for our kids to have good eating habits from young to ensure they grow up as healthy achievers in life...

To see more pictures of Arissa eating durian ( just one biji k !) , swing over to here http://pinkrabbit.fotopages.com

My daughter, My first born child

As her 2nd birthday is coming up soon which falls on Aug 15, I'll be pasting some pictures of Arissa , my daughter , here in my blog.. More pictures can be viewed in my other site http://pinkrabbit.fotopages.com/



Syafiah Arissa , our 1st born child.. My hubby choosed her 1st name , Syafiah . While I came up with her 2nd name Arissa. You can say that her Baba prefers to choose names based on its meaning while her Mama prefers the sound of the names. Alhamdulillah, the proces of choosing our 1st born child wasn't that long & troublesome.

So what do we call her thesedays? Both names I would say.. Yes, folks! She responds to both names when we are talking to her.. At 1st, other family members would asked us if the child get confused with 2 names being addressed to her at all times... But then, no.... In fact she responded very well to both names.. You will see us calling her by her 1st name at one time. And calling her by her 2nd name at a different times. She knows we means business with her when our tone of voice is suddenly on a higher note and more firm than usual. In fact, researches has proven that babies respond differently to both parents.. My hubby said that I’m my daughter’s food source as I still breastfeed our child. While I like to say that he is our daughter’s buddy..To her, Baba is fun time…



Alhamdulillah, carrying her for 9th months was a smooth sailing experience. Thanks to my dear hubby who " menatang mcm air yang penuh" ... Yeah..My mom keep on telling me how lucky I am to have such a helpful and understanding and loving husband I have... Thanks to Allah too for fulfilling my wish that I made when I was single mingle.. hehehe!



I didn't get to experience morning sickness or even feeling like one preggy mom-to-be..May be that was all due to me going to the gym until I was around 6 months pregnant.. I'm not bragging on this but there was time when I missed feeling those feelings that only preggy mommy would feel... Those feelings gives most significant feelings that differentiate you from the other non preggy women.

So, when is the 2nd child coming? InsyaAllah, soon I hope so..

Fitness First---- Finally

Finally at last I have enrolled myself into a gym on last Wednesday... I've been delaying my comeback to gym since the last 6 months... reasons for the delay was because Arissa is still below 2 years old... I've been bathing her morning & nite since her birth... My maid only helps me to lap2 kan aje if I were to come back home late from work.But she will be 2 come this Aug 15.... I try to come back home as early as I can after completing my work at 5.15 pm... And with hubby's office at Pantai Bahru and the kind of work he is into , I'm in the better position to come home as early as I can....

Prior to my gym enrollment last week, I normally take Arissa out for a walk.. But not the leasurely walk la folks! Most of the times, she will be running ( I repeat RUNNING! ) happily around the housing neighbourhood... And how she remembers which house has a dog or a cat and small pond and with nice garden.... And she knows which one is my bro's house too.... yes, my bro lives in the same neighbourhood... Easy for my parents to visit us... ;)

Back to the gym story, I just so happy to be able to do this as I miss doing it ...My last gym session was when I was 6 months pregnant... So, it feels so good , less guilty leaving my daughter now ... But I wont be coming back that late from gym la ... Just need to be home before maghrib.. To those who will think bad of me for the above statements, Pls do not make your own assumption as U dont know me very well... It's unfair to have bad judgement about oneself when u dont know that person inside out... So just read my entry & shut up k...

Nadia, to answer your question on this, I alone joined ... But one of my collegues, just joined yesterday... So , yeah for me!

Our First Born

These days, most of the blogspots or the fotopages are about one's parents first born. There we are, all eager to share with the rest out there all the sweet & frightening experiences , the 1st achievement of our first born. Rarely do we find such websites ( let me know if there is ) that tell us about not only the 1st born but the 2nd child in the family.

So I wonder. Will this mood or feelings be the same when we have our 2nd child? Like me and like most of parents out there, how I adore my 1st born. You will find me kissing and sniffing my child eventhough she is all sweating , bau machammm! You will find me thinking of can I store my child's unique smell( u may all laugh ok! ) so that I can sniff it again in the next 20 years!

I rarely videotape my child.But when I do, how nice to watch it again and again . Maybe that is why I salute to those parents who are so rajin in snapping photos and videotaping their child's every moves and antics. I dont even have a special album or scrapbook to record and paste pictures of my child's 1st step, 1st word , 1st shoes etc.


So will I be feeling the same thing when I have my 2nd child? I hope and pray , YES! And I will still be taking photos and videotape. But will try harder to make a set of complete album for all my children..

Ada Cinta

Ucapkanlah kasih
Satu kata yang kunantikan
Sebab ku tak mampu membaca matamu
Mendengar bisikmu

Nyanyikanlah kasih
Senandung kata hatimu
Sebab ku tak sanggup
Mengartikan getar ini
Sebab ku meragu pada dirimu

Mengapa berat ungkapkan cinta
Padahal ia ada dalam renai hujan
Dalam terang bulan juga dalam syahdu sedan
Mengapa sulit mengaku cinta padahal ia terasa
Dalam rindu dendam hening malam cinta terasa ada

A song by Acha & Irwansyah taken from the movie LOVE IS CINTA. Yeah, I'm a sicko of love theme movies.. From Sleepless in Seatle, Nothing Hill, You've got Mail to Chinese Movies such as City of Glass. I dont mind wathing these movies over and over again. In fact , I used to be able to recall the lines in the movies..But now, I seldom got to do all these things.Not like when I was single mingle la..

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2fmxy_love-is-cinta

Lesson I learnt from loosing someone to death

About 3 month ago, I lost my 30 plus y.o BIL to leukemia. Though we were not related by blood ties, but we are related by my marriage to his younger brother, my husband.
Why the impact was so great on me when he is nor the friendlier or talkative person? Reasons are we have had always a good relationship before his death. More so ever, we lost him within a short span of time . He left us after 5 days of knowing he had leukemia.

There he was , on Friday afternoon , talking on the phone from London to my hubby . He was telling us about the diagnose he just received that morning . He went to the hospital a day before, just to check up on the abscess@bisul he has been having since a few days back. Yeah , he had a bisul but end up with a leukemia.

Anyway, I’m not going to tell more on that. What I wanted to share with everyone out there , especially all the wives, is the life experience that my late BIL’s wife went through upon losing him.

For the living, life has to go on… And there were so many things to be quickly sort out with regards to the assets & liabilities left by my late BIL. Alhamdulillah, my SIL are in great hands . She has my husband and eldest BIL to help her. My late BIL was the 2nd child his family of 3 boys.

We wanted to quickly sort out every things for her, but lacked of information was holding us back. My SIL has NIL info on so many important stuffs like how many bank accounts does arwah has, which bank account is the active one, what type of insurance do they have, what are the monthly payments , how much money do they have and so on..

I can still remember that day. All the 5 of us sitting down on master bedroom floor. She was crying when she was unable to tell us more. We couldn’t blame her much for not knowing all this things as it was the late BIL who took care most important things .

My SIS led a life where all things ie. savings and paying bills are done by my late BIL. She doesn’t need to worry about whatsoever documents or bills to be paid. Hence it was difficult to gather more info from her about important documents & info. My hubby & eldest BIL had to start from zero. What worry them the most is the outstanding bills that will incur additional interest soon. In the end, we did got the necessary info but through a difficult & time consuming way.

So, to all the ladies out there, especially we , the wives, DO WE KNOW our husband’s bank account, joint accounts, house S&P documents, husbands’ EPF number and amount, etc.?

In my case, this scenario teach me to know & have more info about importants stuff like that. What I know so far is only little or blur. Is not that I don’t know much but I tend to ignore sometimes. Why? Coz I thought my hubby will always be there till we both old and frail. But now I know he may not be there …

My wish by sharing this story with you all is that Let not one of us needs to go through what my SIL had gone through.

This Sunday 17th of June 2007, is Father's Day.. Wishing a warm happy father's day to all the fathers outthere .
And to my soulmate and Baba to my kid, love you loads as always.
Thank you for being the best person you can be to us.
As to my Ayah, just like in every doas I wish for him after each prayers, may you be blessed with good health and never ending rezeki.

Mental illness

Are we to be blamed for being a rich person? Either born rich or suddenly rich as blessed by The Almighty ? My says is never blame a person for what he has that we are lacked with. This is because we will never know we may end up in that person's shoes in the near future.And yes, how easily for us now to say "ooh! I wont be a show off person when i'm rich", " Not like so & so !". We can never say like that because people DO change when they are rich or have power. Examples? Well, it's everywhere around us. Just pay a little bit of attention on what's going on around us, and BAM!, we know who that person is.

Do I get jealous on other peoples' rich life? Yes. But it's not me to judge what she/he did is wrong. I normally ended praying to God to bless my life with good things ie. health and never short of money..I wouldn;t want HIM to take away all the good things HE has given me so far, would I ? No please!

So , it's sad for me to read other peoples' criticism on another person. Sad enough when this kind of people doesn;t actually know the other person well enough. Yet, they can easily post a bad comments based on one's picture or behaviour. And that is why I branded them with having a mental illness.

Late or Early , Who cares!

Is a big deal if your child starts talking earlier than expected? Or can walk before the average age of walking? For me, all these things are not important so long as my child has a good physical & mental development that is not on the alarming stage. That is why I feel irritated when people like to make comparison between his/her child development with mine. More irritated when they boast how fast their children can speak or walk when theirs was at the same age of your child.

I am thankful that so far my child started walking & talking earlier than the average age a child is. In fact, me & husband are surprised when she can comprehend what we said to her.. There were times when I wish she wouldn't grow up so fast as I want to savour every minutes of her growing up.
But, then again, time and again I reminded myself to be thankful for all these things as there are some parents out there who are not so lucky as me.

So, if your child is a late bloomer, just be happy & thankful that you have a child that is healthy & well.