Wednesday 31 December 2008

One Tree Hill

I'm a sucker for love theme movies or any tv shows that relates to lifes, freindship ...oh !!! all the mushy mushy things !!!! So I'm addicted to this One tree Hill newest season which is currently screening at one of our tv channels... I didn't follow much the earlier seasons... But the latest one which was after their graduations was suddenly a hit with me and made me stick like glue to it..

I guess this current season running on tv reminds me of my own life after SPM..not that it resembles much of my own life ...but somehow u can relate to the story easily... Of how all of us search for that one true love ...the search for soulmates... And it is interesting when u are looking for it at a young age of early twenties or almost twenties... Normally this is the age of immaturity as we are still young.. In general not all of us have reach that level of maturity at this age...Maybe because of our surrounding and upbringing..



Guess I need to get the whole episodes in one complete volume from the VCD store quickly!!!

btw: I'm busy watching it via youtube now!!! ;)

Tuesday 30 December 2008

Family holidays cum Anniversary Gift

Somehow this year the need for a family vacation was so strong. It could be also because the last few years were not a suitable one . Not when there were so many things happened in the family.

As December too was our wedding anniversary month, it gave more meaning to go for a vacation. Plus, this was our very 1st family holidays tooo with Arissa.

We had choosen Langkawi as it was last minute plan ... I was so busy with my work and not having an internet access at the office too didn't help much in my planning .. So imagine having to check out for any free internet access when doing your work... Not an easy task to juggle work and getting travel & flight info at the same time..

And how was Langkawi? Not bad actually when u are taking any child below 12 years old.. Who would have thought that Langkawi can offer a real life interaction with animals. I have to say that my daughter is budak bandar @ city kid as she was not born & raised in kampung area.
With that, she hardly sees or have much interaction with animals , minus the cats & monkeys from the forest behind our house!

So we went to the Wild Animals & Birds life park & Underwater world. Of course for those who have been to Singapore's own birds park& underwater world will be dissapointed with the latter.
But not to the children innocent eyes. Those two places gave so much adventures, life experience and exposure to Arissa. For she got to feed all those cockatoos, deers, monkeys, parrots, ducks, flamingos ,rabbits and even ostriches ... Did u guys know that cuckatoos pandai makan kuaci? And also eat oranges?

I had been to Langkawi countless times during my unidays and for company's trip too. But I never did go for the suspension bridge at the top of mount mat cincang ... This time around I had Arissa to walk with me on the bridge.. Mind u that the bridge was a bit shakey as it was more than 600 mtr above sea level ... The view from the top was beautiful and splendid.. But to walk at the bridge, u need to walk through some jungle tracks first..Going down would be easy.But walking up to the cable station on top of the mountain will be strenous.. U definitely will see those yang pancit & short for breath along the tracks.. Me? Alhamdulillah i was ok..Guess going to the gym did help alot ! ;)

Hotel? We prebooked room at Langkasuka Beach resort which is just a short 10 minutes rides from the airport. It's sister hotel Helang Hotel was just a walking distance from the aiport. At least now we know how near Helang hotel is to the airport. Of course I did my research about the hotel from internet. And read so many reviews on it.But me & hubby went there with low expectation. We just didn;t want to be so upset with the real outcome if the the reviews were truly true..

The pool was ok and not murky looking and dirty. Maybe the stone tiles flooring gives the pool a murky & brownish look. But it was splendid for the kids and teenagers too.. The beach was superb. I dont know if the fine sand is really natural or imported from Thailand..


As for breakfast, it was the same menu everyday. Thus, it is better & cheaper to have breakfast outside either at Padang Masirat or Pantai Cenang. U can easily get RM1 nasi lemak at any stalls in pantai cenang. Somehow , there are only 2 mamak stalls there.

For dinner, we tried the Rasa restaurant at Pantai Cenang. The food is superb.. Of course it was a bit pricy for satay.But the taste was authentic and better than Samuri Sate kajang. From the meat to the kuah kacang. Memang sedap. Even the mee mamak was better than the one in mamak shops.

And I did plan to go for the pasar malam at Kuah Town. So we were in luck when there was one. Only in Northern pasar malam can u find this sweet kuih that is sold along with apam balik. I think it was called kuih manas. I used to eat it during my unidays at UUM.. And seeing it again after more than 10 years was trully sweet..

Arissa slept early during the 3 nights we were there. So we would see her dozing off before the dinner meals is served. We dont blame her for being tired as we were up very early and she didn't even have her afternoon nap. It wasn't easyfor her to fall asleep during the day as everything excites her..
She was singing & talking non stop during the 4 days trip.

And car! U really need it when u are in Langkawi. Somehow Myvi is very limited for rental. So u either get sentra , vios, or waja or saga or wira..

Pictures? Still in the camera!

Friday 12 December 2008

December 2008

It common for me & hubby to have things to do or go during the Saturday or Sunday .. But I have never seen a packed weekends in one same month.. And December 2008's weekends is just so packed with this-and-that events for us.. Every weekend in this entire months will we us at different places for different events.

Two weddings and two family outings. Come this Saturday 13th , hopefully all the 3 of us will be at Istana Budaya for Sinbad. I said InsyaAllah as we never know what may come on that day that will hold us from being there. Marriage life is TOTALLY different from your solo life ... Why? Because u have your partner family's events & gatherings to be considered. And normally, they will be on top ranking..

And the much looking forward of our family holidays cum anniversary treat in the 4th week of December 2008. It will be our 1st family holidays . This will be Arissa's 1st time being onboard of the plane... As usuall, I had to be the holiday planner as hubby just don't have the luxury of free time to search & surf the net ...

So Alhamdulillah, we got the flight tickets and accomodations booked & paid. And I sorta got the info list of interesting places to visits already.. Not forgetting the Myvi that has been prebooked . However , we are still undecided on Pulau Payar trip. We are just unsure if the expensive fees are just worth the experience that Arissa can feel, touch and see. Mind u that our daughter is just 3 years old. Moreover ,she is way too young for snorkelling. So we are still 50-50 on this marine trip.

On things for this island vacation,I've bought the sun screen lotion and anti-mosquito spray too.. Little tiny Mr Mosq just love to bite on my daughter's skin. Sandals?Still looking for that beach sandals and some island clothings too...

Weddings? Simple to say that i have to lend an extra hand in these two weddings. My GM & my CEO is having the kenduri kahwin for their children. Thus, we the employees have to help around with the events..

I did share with them some info on orang-curi-barang-waktu-kenduri and bankers-of-day..
It's so common hear that the host will lost his/hers expensive/important things during kenduri kahwin... This uninvited guests cum robbers will rob whatever their hands can get during the short time they have ... It can be gold jewellery, handphone, camera, watch or even passport. They can sell the passport for thousands of ringgit!

Banker-of-the-day simply means those who are incharge of taking care of the money given by the guests to the host. This is common for a malay wedding done at house rather than at hotels.
U will need one person to be incharge of taking care of the money gifts..Normally this person will carry a handbag with her where she can help the host/es in keeping the money. I did this for my sister's & brother's wedding.

And i'm trying to get my life back in balance again... In fact this was the paper that I'm currently taking for my e-learning .. what is e- learning? This is something to do with my KPI actually.. Lazy to explain more on it..

Having my life back in balance means being able to do my bodyattack, body steps , high&lo and steps classes at Fitness F1rst.... These are my energizers. But it's not easy for me to make this decision as i have to come home late.. And that is why I am ever thankful for having my MIL to stay with us.. Do I feel guilty having to come home late? Yes. Now and then I will feel this.. But going to the gym is something that makes me feel good & happy. And I just have make sure i pay my dues to my daughter by giving her all my utmost attention & time& energy when I am at home... It is never an easy role being a working mother..


And the drain, well, I'm working at it....

Thursday 11 December 2008

Bukit Antarabangsa

How would u feel when u see the houses and the roads that u used to see in the 4 years of your stay there? Numb? Sad? Relief? Thankful? Pity?

Alhamdulillah that we were not staying there anymore. We could have been there during the landslide as there were so many problems in getting our new house ready for move-in.. In-fact we did delay our 1st plan to move into our new house. But after that 1st delay, we just couldn;t put it on hold anymore... So, alhamdulillah .

Pity because my neighbours especially those with babies & small kids had to climb the hills when they were told to leave their houses .

Numb because really don't know what to say when I looked at wrecked & sunked houses.. I always passed those houses on my way in and out from my house to work/shopping .. And to see that grey colored house buried inside the earth, mmmmmm...
And what about that house with huge windows with so many cars parked outside the house? And the maid always vacuum cleaned all the cars on weekends...

They said we never learned from the past. True. If not this landslide wouldn't happened . Not after the Highland Towers tragedy.. And I dare to say that the 3rd one will happen too as I still see those virgin hills around Bukit Antarabangsa area being cleared for housing developments..

Tuesday 2 December 2008

Smiley Moon



This was what I missed last nite on Dec 1st , 2008. Only knew about it this morning after reading emails from my fellow DH. And since I missed it last nite, my only chance to see it will be in another 5 years to come!!!


Checked from the Net, the "smiling moon" was caused by Venus, Jupiter and a three-day-old crescent moon aligning at the right spots to form the Smiley.


You know I can't smile without you

I can't smile without you

I can't laugh and I can't sing

I'm finding it hard to do anything

you see I feel sad when you're sad

I feel glad when you're glad

if you only knew

what I'm going through

I just can't smile without you



a song by barry manilow
note for me: why did I missed it? I was busy getting Arissa to sleep. She won't be sleepy once she passed her bedtime.. Thus, it's important to get her in her sleepy mood and mode..

Monday 17 November 2008

SCI Kitchen again

The guy from SCI who supposed to come today to install my glass shelves & do other touch up plus fix my 6 kitchen drawers DID NOT show up today. I had to make several phone calls to the factory just to find out if he is coming as promised earlier. And I even try to call that guy since morning . But as usual, he switched off his handphone. And only when I called the salesperson that I made the deal/sales with, did i finally know that the guy was on MC. How could the factory people didn't tell me about this early is the morning. Normally employees will inform their office if they couldn't come to work on that particullar day. So don't blame me for thinking that the SCI people doesn't give a damn about fixing my paid RMXX k kitchen cabinets!!

The guy actually promised to come on Saturday Nov 15, 2008. But he didn't come on last minute notice . Imagine today & Saturday, we had to wait for them. We had wasted our precious time just to have them fixed our kitchen cabinets.

So when are they going to come again? Well, according to the salesperson there A!N! , she will reconfirmed on the next date. Imagine how would u feel when she said that the next available date is Saturday Nov 22, 2008! Meaning to say I have to wait for almost a month just to get my drawers fixed, my glass shelves to be install & loose handles & doors to be fixed and all the other touch-up that they are supposed to do..

Gosh!!! I can only pray to HIM that this things wont be drag on much further.

Wednesday 12 November 2008

New house with new neighbours

I know it is still early to say this. But I'm kinda thankful and like my neighbours. The wives especially. Since the Malay families are the minority in my housing area community, we the ladies of the house have formed a email circle group. Thus, we will be replying & forwarding emails on a daily basis so far..

Of course there are one or two who are not so freindly & warm in personality. That can't be helped and avoided in any neighbourhood. But I am surprised to see that most of my DH ladies are really freindly and warm and easy to talk too. We all know how us women can detech straight away another person's personality during the 1st gathering or meeting. It's so easy to tell if that lady is bitchy or gatal type just by judging the way they talk and their body languages. For men it will be a different thing. Exclude my hubby pls :0

Last Saturday , one of the malay neighbours had a kenduri kesyukuran & house warming cum raya open house too. The food was home cooked & prepared by closed friends & neighbours too. What make it interesting was that we the ladies came to help on the night before the kenduri day.

It was interesting to see us busy talking about that event via emails on Friday. Imagine working ladies eager to come to that neighbour's house just to help with the cooking. It's like gotong royong for a kenduri at kampung! And yes, that was what the atmosphere was like at our neighbour's house on that malam Sabtu hari Jumaat.

There we were cutting onions, potatos, kunyit etc. It was so like mcm at kampung ... And it was a bit strange too as not very often we will experience this in this city life! For someone like me who used to grow up in kampung, all those things sounded so familiar to me.. It was so goood!!
Even my DH ladies too were having fun ...

What else do I like about my DH ladies so far? Well, at the very moments, Rini is busy checking for flight to Bandung. Yep! The DH ladies are planning a shopping trip to Bandung sans husbands & kids. It will be a 3 days 2 nites trip .

Am I going? Yes! That is after discussing it with my other half.. Only after much talk and discussion, did I decided to go. It's has never been easy to leave hubby & Arissa behind. And I always be feeling like this whenever I had to go for a business trip outstation. Will Arissa be ok? Will he be ok? Those are the kinds of questions that will go spinning inside my head.

Dearest hubby said take this as like a mini get-away for me . To relax and unwind and simply to enjoy myself with the other housewives. Shopping theraphy? I don't think so. Most of the time, it's me who end up not buying anything whenever I go shopping with others. How my sis and my friends will complain about this for making them spend so much !

Btw, what is DH? Well , I thought it was for D' Harmonives ... But it was actually Desperate Housewives!!

Tuesday 11 November 2008

My life today

Lunch was at Biba's Cafe today . It was a business lunch with our bankers.. Main reason on why we choosed it was because of the location which is near to my office. Plus we never had eaten at this hotel before.
So how was the buffet lunch? Not worth the money that our bankers paid for.The food spread was so biasa2 aje for a 5 star hotel like MO. I was suprised to see the food there. To give it a Japanese appeal, they had the sushi station there. But small section only and limited choices too. And as usual they have the salad bar. The rest of the other food can easily be found in any other 3 star hotel or one like in Istana Budaya.
And as usual , I got stomachache whenever I ate the oysters. I had TWOOOO!!! Unlucky me.
And thanks for blogging thingy, I came across one familiar face that I sometimes see at Elin's blog. I'm sure it was your hubby la dear..

Tuesday 4 November 2008

SCI Kitchen

I'm soooooo fed up with this kitchen cabinet company. They have not finished installing my cabinet since August 2008. Imagine now is November 2008 . And they have not yet finished doing my kicthen cabinet.

Dah lah it's like day light robbery for me as we have paid full payment for the kitchen & wardrobe cabinets. They said its the policy for customer to make 60% payment after closing the deal. And balance of 40% payment need to be maid a week before the installation process.

My misery started when they sent us the cincai installer to install the cabinet for the kitchen & wardrobe. That installer just wanna get his work done & be paid straight away without doing it properly. So imagine now how one of the top corner kitchen cabinet is not alligned & senget. Even the finishing work of this 1st intallers was bad & lousy.

This kitchen & wardrobe installation too made me to apply unneccesaary leave . I had exhausted my limited & precious leave just for the sake of them. Have u heard kitchen installation that took one month to intall? This is minus all the touch up of sharp corners & edges.


Another things that I hate most about this SCI is the staffs itself. From the lorry drivers to factory workers to the big boss himself( i heard it is a lady boss ) . The lorry driver will just park the lorry suka hati dia at your porch. With that, one of our tiang porch dah ada holes & scratched. And the staffs who punggah the piles of barang for installation just punggah sukahati dia. They dropped the kayu2 with a big bang on our newly tiles floor. And our grills also was scratched by their carelessness.

The staffs? Well, don't even think la if they will call u as promised . It happened to me till today. I had to call them when they didn't call me back as promised. Come on la...

And another things that just irk me is that the staffs will blames other staffs & come up with all excuses when we asked why the call was not made as promised.

U can figure it out yourself how much me & hubby have paid when we had the SCI to do the whole house cabinets. 3 rooms cabinets. And one 22 feet long kitchen cabinet! Our hard earn money being daylight robbed by SCI.

What about the big boss of SCI? That person also promised to call us. But did he honor his words? NOPE!

So please, please ! try not to use SCI if u can avoid it. The we chosed them in the 1st place was because it has been in this business for 10 years. But that doesn;t match up with its poor quality of workmanship & customer service. Of course the price is one of the affordable one.. And u may be tempted to use them judging at the look of their advertisement be it in the leading English newpapers & impiana & dapur magazines.

They still owe me my glass cabinets. I've been calling them since Friday last week. Yes. Again they promised to call me back to arrange on the installation. But no phone call until they close their shop on that Friday. And yesterday, I called them again. Same promises were made by them to me. I had to call the salesman whom I deal with for help. So? Did any of the SCI customer service staff call me before the day ends yesterday? NOOOOOOO !

And after 2 months, my kitchen drawers surface dah tertanggal! It should have been screwed but they only stappled it!!! Yep ! They stappled it!!!! And I only put my fork and spoon there which only enough to cater 12 peoples only... EEEEEEEEE! Geramnya!

Of course to non meticilous eyes, my kitchen & wardrobe cabinets look pretty . But if u really look at the details inside out, it is badly done. And our hard earned money!!!!

More to come next: MACY..

Saturday 1 November 2008

MPH warehouse sales







What do I see from my shopping trip to the MPH warehouse sales? Less of Malay facess! ;) How my own race was the monority buyers over there when it comes to books. Rugi diaorng tak datang.

The book sales was good actually. Infact me and hubby spent alot on that day. We got great books at a very low prices. Imagine spending spending less than RM200 for almost 12 books?











And what i like most was one book that i accidently found inside one of the many boxes on the floor . Books inside the boxes were sold at a very low prices. So founding that book was like me winning a treasure hunt!!!


Yeah, it's a foot reflexology book. That is why i put up the photo upthere... It's worth it to learn about foot massage. Why? For simple reason : we can massage our spouse's tired body! Refresh the body via foot massaging .






Friday 31 October 2008

Natural Benefit

It's not easy for me to really fall head over heels with makeup foundation. But today, I did. Some kind-a gorgeous deep! The best part is i dont see the powder on my face.
Went shopping today at KLCC. The plan was to check out the face foundation. All this current & sudden urge was due to the seminar that I attended for the last two days. Corporate Image Seminar! I must say that was the only seminar from so many seminars that I had attended that had me really glued to my chair and to the presenter.
Back to the foundation. I bought it because its a 2-in-1 thing for me.. I need something quick & fast to be applied in the morning. So this foundation fits the bill. And why this brand? My friend has been using it for ages. And with that I give it a try at the makeup counter.
Another reason was that it make me look pretty in a natural way. It didn't hide all my flakey spots . But it did give that natural silky refresh & young look.. !
No wonder it was picked as Elle Top 5 products & 2008 best beauty buys by The M'sian Women's weekly mag!

Friday 24 October 2008

Choosing your dream house

Today's entry is more actually based on the my talk with my sister. At that time, I haven't move in yet to my new house. But we have bought it la..

We were talking about my new house. And I remember her words " I didn't think of that ( reasons) when we choosed this ( her ) house ."

What made her say those words? Well, it was a response to me saying of my ( me & my hubby) reasons on choosing our house.

I told her that that the house was chosen for its location. This new house is near to my late BIL's house, near my eldest BIL's house too, near to my sister's house and not far also to my brother's house too. Infact, it will be easy for us to go back to my hometown which is in Seremban. Plus it will be easy to balik kampung my hubby's kampung too. We would have choosen Bukit Jelutong or Kota Damasara area if our kampung is on the northern states. So the locations of our kampungs & our relatives & siblings' house are some of the main factors we considered when choosing our dream house.

As expected, it's easy to visit our siblings & relatives when all are staying around the same neighbourhood. Previuosly we were staying in Ulu Klang. And it was quite a distant & journey especially when the traffic is heavy.. MRR2's bad traffic is unpredictable at any time of the day.. So, staying at the current neighbourhood is a good move for us .

On top of that, another reasons why we choose this house is because of the surrounding facilities it has. We have the Giant hypermarket where we can do our groceries shopping. Tesco & IOI Mall are just in the same area. And schools for the children.There are a few primary & secondary schools nearby. This will make task of sending off the kids to school easier for us. Imagine having an option of not having to rely too much on the school bus. Plus, the kids can be home from school early too !

And for swimming, there's a golf club nearby. And another main reason too is the mosque. It will be easy to send the children for religious education i.e mengaji and easy for us to do terawih & sembahyang raya.

Yes, I had my sister terpikir balik of her own reasons on why they didn't think of all these important matters.

What about the housing developer? Alhamdulillah, I&P is a well known & reliable house developer. So the chance of the house to be delayed in constructions is minimal la..

So u have me thinking why most people never put on their thinking hat when choosing & buying their dream house. Buying a house is a big investment in term of money and time too. Of course not all of us have loads of cash to put for house deposits. But, doing some homework before buying our dream house can actually save us a in terms of money & time later in the future.

Thursday 23 October 2008

In love with Daisy


At the moment I'm love with daisy. Gerbera Daisy actually. Saw it during my company's raya open house with DPM as our main guest.. I never thought that the real daisy would cost around RM14 per stalk. And the artificial one will be around RM10 per stalk..



Just by looking at it, you can feel your mood being lift up & refresh too.. In fact it brightens up your working cubicle too..

Tuesday 21 October 2008

My weekends

Thesedays my weekends are always full of things to do.. I know that we are still in the Raya month. And there will be one or two raya open houses to go . Not forgetting birthday parties too..

So here I am , together with my hubby and our loyal companion Arissa @ our daughter la roaming around Klang Valley , looking & searching & buying things for our new house.. All for one solid reason to beautify our new house. Which reminds me of Miss Fluffyhead: how's with your new house dear? Fully furnished ?

Almost every weekend we are out . Imagine having to juggle our time with family gatherings too. On last Sunday we went to my SIL's niece 1st birthday party. Hubby did ask who else from my family side are coming. I said only us as my sister couldn't make it & so was my parents and my eldest brother who is away in China.. My eldest SIL cooudn't come as it was raining heavily back at her place. But hubby know that it's important that we show our faces there as they are my parents' besan. And when else can we gather again if it's not during birthday party. With that, thanks dear for your willingness to attend the birthday party.

Last weekend too we went to Sungai Buloh to buy pots and plants for our small garden. And we still need to go there one last trip for the water feature dear! Infact we couldn't buy more stuff on our last trip due to limited space in the car.. Mind you, we don't own an MPV yet la...

Of course I had to read this & that gardening magazines & other endless house decor magazines. All to get some ideas on what type of plants suitable for my small garden. I must say that the Laman magazines is quite helpful too. How easy to buy plants when we know how it looks like as printed in the magazines.

How was the garden now? I don't know what others will say. In fact my MIL who is staying with us is away on Raya trip to Jakarta . If she is back, at least we can get the virdicts. Well, all me & hubby can say that our garden looks better than before.

Next mission will be the furnitures!

Monday 20 October 2008

Black Magic , Sihir

For the 1st time in my working life , I have never been so worried & afraid & distraught about my working environment. No doubt I have heard & read about sihir . But I have never thought it can happened in my office.

Yeap, right under my nose! And to the most shocking news that I just can't believe is the person who did it. How would u feel if one of your own collegues resorted to that . Using sihir @ blackmagic to another collegue all in the reason of hatred.

I only get to know what was happening at the office when the victim told me of it.. She was reluctant to tell as not to make others afraid . A few of my collegues including my boss knew of this. Yeah, as usual I seldom get to know most hottest office news . My reason is simple: I hate to be busybody or kepohci about unimportant matters. That's why people dont share office gossips with me . Most of the time, I will be a few of the last one to know..

I can understand her reluctantness as this news can make everyone fear about their safety. The obvious things that will happen in office is that most of us will be extra carefull & cautious about free food . People in my office like to bring or buy food to be shared with others. Food like goreng pisang, cekodok or even fruits ( if it was local fruit season ) are there on the table of the empty workstation.

So how did the victim get to know that she was under evil spell? Well, in one fine night, a religious & pious man @ ustaz came to her house to see her mother. The victim was there when the ustaz suddenly asked her about her health. Was she having such an itchy skin near her ankles that there were now scratch marks on it? So many question that the ustaz asked her that I'm sorry i just can't write it here.. But at the end of the nite, she got to know who did it. When the ustaz describe about one of the villain's peculiar character, i found myself conforming to it.

And the most shocking news is that the victim wasn't the only one kena sihir by that villain. There are others who dah terkena. And so far my boss managed to stay away from it.

At the end of the day, what comes to my mind is that how does the villain's best friends feel about this if they knew of his/her evil act? Wouldn't anyone think that they could be under evil spell too?

Friday 17 October 2008

Cerebral palsy

Below is an article that I found very easy to read about cerebral palsy. I do know that most of the time , it is not easy to come by an article that able to explain certain things in laymen method. So , here's for sharing :

Definition:
Cerebral palsy (CP) is the name given to a collection of movement disorders. Movement disorders are conditions in which a person's muscles do not respond normally. CP is also known as static encephalopathy (pronounced in-seh-fuh-LAH-puh-thee). It is caused by brain damage that occurs before, during, or just after birth. A person with CP is often also affected by other conditions caused by brain damage.

Description:
If a person is affected by CP his or her muscles may become either rigid or very loose. Sometimes an individual may lose control of his or her muscles, resulting in problems with balance and coordination. The condition may affect the legs only, which is called paraplegia (pronounced par-uh-PLEE-jee-uh) or diplegia (pronounced die-PLEE-juh); the arm and leg on one side of the body, which is known as hemiplegia (pronounced hem-i-PLEE-juh); or all four limbs, called quadriplegia (pronounced kwod-ruh-PLEE-jee-uh).

Other problems experienced by someone with CP include visual or hearing problems, mental retardation (see mental retardation entry), learning disabilities (see learning disorders entry), and attention deficit disorder (ADD). Some CP patients experience no problems beyond their movement disorder.

CP affects about 500,000 children and adults in the United States. About 6,000 new cases are diagnosed in newborns and young children each year. CP is not a genetic disorder, and there is currently no way of predicting which children will develop it. CP is not a disease and is not communicable, which means it cannot be passed from one person to another.
CP is a nonprogressive disorder. That is, it does not become better or worse over time. However, some conditions may appear to become worse. For example, when muscles are rigid for a long period, arms and legs may become deformed. In such cases, additional treatments may be necessary.

Causes:
  1. is caused by damage to brain cells that control the movement of muscles. When those cells die, signals can no longer be sent to muscle cells. This loss of muscle control results in the symptoms of CP.

Factors can cause brain cell damage:

  1. lack of oxygen (asphyxia, pronounced az-FIK-see-uh),
  2. infection example: rubella ,toxoplasmosis (a blood infection), toxoplasmosis (a blood infection)
  3. trauma (shock),
  4. malnutrition (poor diet),
  5. drugs or other chemicals, or
  6. hemorrhage (bursting of blood vessels).
  7. In most cases, it is impossible to discover the exact cause for any one person's CP.
  8. Premature birth is regarded as one important and common factor.

Most researchers now believe that brain cell damage occurs before birth. This damage is also responsible for other conditions that tend to occur along with CP.

Symptoms : usually not noticeable at birth. Instead, they begin to show up during the first eighteen months of a child's life.

Normal children pass through a series of developmental stages. At each stage, they learn how to perform one or more common tasks. Infants with CP have difficulty performing these tasks. Such difficulties may indicate that an infant has CP.

The tasks considered to be milestones in normal development include the following:

  1. Babbles (6 to 8 months)
  2. Sits well with support (8 to 10 months)
  3. Crawls (9 to 12 months)
  4. Walks alone (12 to 15 months)
  5. Uses one or two words other than dada and mama (12 to 15 months)
  6. Eats with fingers; holds bottle (12 to 18 months)
  7. Turns pages in books; removes shoes and socks (24 to 30 months)
  8. Walks up and down steps (24 to 36 months)

Because children develop at different rates, using these milestones to diagnose cerebral palsy (or any other disorder) must be used with great caution. The fact that an otherwise healthy child does not reach one of these milestones at the suggested age is not necessarily a sign that the child has CP. He or she may just be developing at a slower rate. In addition, problems with vision or hearing may cause such delays.


Five forms of cerebral palsy are recognized. They are defined according to the kind of muscle damage and the location of that damage:

  1. Spastic: Muscles are rigid (tight), posture may be abnormal, and the ability to do delicate work is impaired.
  2. Athetoid: Muscular movements are slow, twisting, and involuntary (beyond the person's control).
  3. Hypotonic: Muscles are floppy, without firmness.
  4. Ataxic: Balance and coordination are impaired.
  5. Dystonic: Any combination of the above symptoms.
  6. Cerebral palsy is also described according to the parts of the body affected:
  7. Hemiplegia: One arm and one leg on the same side of the body are involved.
  8. Diplegia: Both legs are involved; in addition, one or both arms may also be involved.
  9. Quadriplegia: Both arms and both legs are involved.

Treatment:

Cerebral palsy cannot be cured. However, the physical and other problems it causes can usually be managed through planning and timely care. Treatment plans depend on the type of impairment as well as associated problems the child may have, such as learning disabilities. Many CP patients require the help of physical and occupational therapists only. These professionals help the child learn to deal with loss of muscle control. Other specialists, such as speech-language therapists, special education teachers, nutritionists, and neurosurgeons (nerve specialists) may be needed to help with problems related to CP.

The above article is taken from this site.

Thursday 16 October 2008

Baby's IQ : can be boost before conception.

I know all the special & unique abilities that we have is given by Allah. But at the same time, I always wonder whether we parents, women especially , can contribute more to boost our children's IQ right before they are born . Meaning is it possible that we boost our children's IQ before conception?

Answer to that question , Yes! And there are more things we women can do actually for the benefit of our children. Infact we should be doing it before we get ourselves pregnant. No wonder the doctors advise us to get our body in better shape for pregnancy 3 months before conception of the feotus. It's all about the food that we eat, the lifestyle we have to change ( both us & our partner too ) , our surrounding/environment , everything!

I was shocked to read that smokes could reduce fertility of baby boys! Yikes! Imagine they blaming us mothers on this thing later in life!Also when mothers smoke during one pregnancy and not the other, the baby exposed to maternal smoking has a lower IQ than the one not exposed. Smoking not only lowers the IQ but mothers who smoke during pregnancy have a 50% greater chance of having a child with mental retardation. OMG! Scary isn't it?

Second-hand smoker? I dont think we want a lower birth weight for our unborn children, do we?Low birth weight and being small for gestational age are two leading risk factors for cerebral palsy which means a collection of movement disorders. ;(

And we have to be stress free! Doesn't matter if we are working women or not. The main point is that no stress for pregnant women. A bit of stress is no good for our baby's IQ. And when our baby's IQ is lower, so is our children's language development. Even moving to a new house is not a good idea at all for pregnant women. We may say that we have engaged the housemovers to do all the necessary packing & transfering our stuffs. But we still be thinking this & that of the whole process of moving into a new house. There will always be reasons to worry about ...

What about caffeinated drinks? Like what this website said :

When you're pregnant or trying for a baby, experts recommend that you cut down on the amount of caffeine you consume. This is because studies have shown that having more than 300mg per day appears to be linked to an increased risk of having a miscarriage, a low birthweight baby or an infant with birth defects.

I know it's hard to be caffeine-free as its in our tea, coffee, chocolate, cola, energy drinks and even cold remedies and painkillers. But it wont be that hard to avoid when we put our children future language development close to our hearts. It's better to act now then feeling regret later .

Fish and seafood? Eat oily fish like salmon, sardines, trout and mackerel, ideally at least 2-3 times a week during pregnancy. Avoid eating shark, swordfish, tilefish and Spanish mackerel and you’ll be fine. And try to limit our seafood intake during pregnancy so as to avoid trace contaminants of toxins like mercury. Research did show that the risk is negligible, but avoiding seafood risks your child having a lower IQ and problems with social development.

I guess the key here is moderation .We either stay away from these food or lower the intake..

Wednesday 15 October 2008

Sweep it under the carpet

Apart from being busy with account closing for last month financial period, I'm in no mood to post up a new entry actually. It's hard to gather oneself when the feeling is down and gloomy. Macam hari nak hujan aje. :(

But then again, life have to go on.. And we can't just sit there feeling down all the time. So I'll see myself sweeping under the carpet all the unhappy thoughts that I have on my mind. Yeah, it's unhealthy & not a positive thing to do when one should sort out all the messy stuffs. Not that I dont talk about it with my hubby . I do . But sometimes , that act of sweeping seems the best thing to do after talking.

So how was my Raya 2008?

I must say it was one joyous & happy & much look forward raya for me. Why? Because I had not been able to eat freshly made lemang & rendang on the eve on raya for two consecutive year. I like to eat my lemang & rendang on the eve on raya. Why? Because that is the day when the flavour is at it's best to eat.

My mom will always make rendang ayam, daging , limpa & hati. And the sweetness of the meat juice are gone by the next day. No doubt we will have it to be reheat. But the sweetness is not there anymore. My dad & me always told my mom about this as she can't understand why we prefer to eat it on the day the rendang is cooked and not on the next day which is 1st day of raya la... And lemang... Alhamdulillah, we wiill still get to eat the delicious & berlemak lemang so long as my mom's cousin is cooking it. The lemang is still prepared in using the traditional recipe & methods. Infact, I don't think Lemang Pak Ali ( famous in Ulu Kelang) can beat my mom's cousin's lemang..

Thesedays, lemang are 1stly precooked using the rice cooker. The cooked glutenious rice will only be transfered into the buluh lemang to bake it so that the lemang can have the original round shape. Actually this method is the fastest way but not the best & original way to cook lemang.

So there I was happily eating my lemang & rendang... I ate alot. Every day. Do I feel guilty about it? Nope.. Makan lemang sampai terlupa nak makan nasi impit kuah kacang ..
And me & hubby was craving for coke. yeah...we had coke from the eve of raya till the 4th of raya.. Free flowing... That was something we never done it before..
Unhealthy as a matter of fact..

Wednesday 17 September 2008

Kedekut

Heard this story when I was in the office surau yesterday. One of the Kakak's was sharing her story of how she would bring back with her food supply i.e Milo, flour, rice,anything food that her family will need when going back balik kampung. Reason was that she doesn't want to burden or taxing her parents' food supply . Not that her family eat alot .But her common sense tell her not to burden her parents with food supply . And some of the kakak agreed with what the 1st kakak did. But what she said after that made me joined her conversation.

They talked about how some of married siblings with kids in tow, would happily finished the whole food supply and never bother to chip in buying food. To make it worst, some of the siblings would not lift a finger in helping to prepare the food. All that they know is that food is served for them. Be it for breaskfast, lunch, dinner or tea time. And do they bother to buy some kuih muih for tea? Nope at all. To these people, balik kampung is the time they get to be served by FOC maid who are actually their own family member. Mind u , some of these people are actually adults and not some children.

I don't deny that this is happening in any family gatherings. It doesn't matter if u are rich or only average in income earnings, these people like to take advantage of their own family members. Reason lies in the personality, characteristic & behaviour . Doesn't matter whether they are SPM holders only or have degree from some Ivy league univercities. These people just cukai orang lain.

Take a look at ourselves. Did we bring any buahtangan for our grandparents or parents when balik kampung? Imagine u did this when u are in your twenties & have earned your own salary.
Some of us may not do it . While some might. Why? Coz some of us will say it's only our Atuk& Wan and it's only our Mak&Ayah. Plus, our parents have their own money & can afford to buy that buahtangan of buah-buahan or kuih-muih. Or that they don't eat oranges, dragon fruits!

Actually it doesnt matter if our parents or atuk/wan can afford to buy as they have trillions of money. Remember the saying "It's the thoughts that count". So imagine how happy they would be feeling when getting some buahtangan!

And talked about giving some pocket money to our parents. Do u remember the times when we were schoolgoing children? Remember the daily pocket money we used to get from our parents throughout our school years? And if we add up all those money, we have had actually received thousands of money from our parents. So does it cost much or taxing too much on us to simply give RM100 or the least RM50 to our parents each time we balik kampung?

I just don't get it why we can think that giving away RM100 notes or RM50 notes a month is way too much when they are only our parents. To me, the more we share Allah's nikmat/gifts to us, the more we will get in return in the future. Even if it is only RM10 notes.

But then, people just don't wanna grow up and learn. Just remember, what goes around, comes around. We may be treated like that when we are old as our children can easily copycat our own behaviour. And this is happening without us realising it. Right under our own nose!

Tuesday 16 September 2008

Decorating my house




I'm on photo frames hunting these week..
So many projects to beautify the new house. And how so busy & less time my hubby has for these projects. He is travelling again next week. How nice if I was a SAHM and get to follow him.. :)

Monday 15 September 2008

Motherly common sense tips

Some more tips are :

Bottle brushes: Hopefully no one will simply pick up any brushes without thinking will it scratch the inner wall of the plactic bottles. Ask around from anyone who may have bought brushes that leave a scratch inside the bottle. Once scratch, it will be easy for bacteria , germs to contiminate milk.

Bottles & tits liquid cleaner : Any baby bottle & tits cleaner will do.. Even soaking them in salt water too will kill the germs. However, pay more attention to the way we clean the bottles & washing bowls or sinks. Just make sure the surrounding is in clean condition. This will save you from having to rewash it again should you accidently drop or touch the clean bottles around that washing area.

Powdered Milk: For those who have stopped breastfeeding their babies ( best once baby is 2 years old), it is to our children benefits that they continue drinking milk until forever. There's more goodness to milk than any other drinks which is available out there. Strong teeth & bones & a good health too. So which one ? It depends on your baby actually. But try to give the best brand that have better quantity of additional ingredients. From my own research, Neslac 1 & 3& above which is under Nestle brand, is the best powdered milk. Why not Enfagrow? Its far more expensive than Neclac right? So it should be the best milk compared to Neslac. Unfortunately, it lacks in the quantity percentage of its ingredient. No doubt the contents are all the same. But the percentage is far more important than the milk brand.

Breastpads: For those who have no idea what it is, well, its one thing we breastmilk feeder can't live without. No more breastmilk stain on our shirt when our breasts( fulled of milk) suddenly leak milk occasionally. I've tried so many brands. From the expensive ones to the cheapest one. And I found one which is economicall in cost & high in value too. Bebe breastpads. This you can get from Jusco & Guardian pharmacy. However, be reminded that this is based on my own experience an. It may not suit others.

Baby clothings: This is only applicable to those who wants to buy the unexpensive brands that we can get from Jusco and any other shopping complexes. One thing for sure, Baby Kiko has the best fabrics quality. The clothes wont looked so worn out after hundredth of washing. Better than Anakku which I find it to be a bit low on the quality even it it highly priced.

Baby cots: I noticed that not many parents-to-be are aware that baby cots size does matter. Of course all cots look the same. But not the width especially. Most failed to see this. It's better to invest in bigger cots width as it will give your baby more space to toss & turn .

Bottles : If possible, try not to use the hand-me-down bottles that have scratched inner wall. No point in trying to save some money at the expense of our baby's health.


A gentle reminder that all these tips are merely from my own experience. Thus , please use our own common sense when making the final decision . Always put your baby's best interest above anything else. Insya Allah, everything will be fine.

Thursday 11 September 2008

Hello Old Baju Kurung Size!

Last nite, just as I was about to go to sleep, my department head smsed me. Texted me to wear something nice for our raya card photo shot. So I browsed my collection of officewear baju kurungs displayed infront of me inside my new wardrobe cabinet.( I love the cabinet color that we have choosen so carefully & with much thoughts put into it!).

This old baju kurung which size was tailored to my size-before-pregnant, caught my eyes. I thought why not I slid into it and see if it fits me . And to my surprise, it fits me just like the good old times! Voila!

I'm just so happy this morning. Happy that I'm loosing weight and that all my losing weight plans is working on me.. Alhamdulillah! All the effort joining the bodystep, bodycombat, basic step classes & jogging on the threadmill has paid off. And I must say that it's not an easy job to cut down & limit your food intakes. Especially staying away from all those sinful food! I don't really cut it out from my food intakes. I merely limiting the quantity & frequency of eating it.

There are still a few more kg to lose actually... And yes, it does help to read other people's success in losing their bodyfat. I remember feeling so motivated to lose weight when I read Zizie's success story. Her method may be different than mine. But the end result is something I'm slowly catching up with her.

Tuesday 9 September 2008

It's like waiting for doomsday

Somehow this morning, the urge to visit our former PM was just so strong. I had wanted to visit it since permatang pauh election day started. But office workload was just too much,and no free internet line was available at office.

What our former PM had said in his blogs really depicted the feelings of rakyat malaysia. Be it the rich folks or the middle income folks or the lower income folks. And true to what he wrote, rakyat malaysia have expressed their dissapointment, anger, frustration about the current PM & goverment by voting the opposition. True to that, PKR DeFacto leader won in the permatang pauh recently.

I cannot not to disagree with what his had written in his blog. Why? because it is so plain & simple to see that everyone is only jaga peruik nasi masing2. They dont care about the rakyat. They don't care about the future of our country nor do they care about one another. Yep! Racism. Like it or not, history of May 13th can easily be repeated.

I dont know why our leaders are so selfish! True that most of the UMNO member are not loyal or have strong love for the party itself. They only love themselves. Of course they have been like this during the leaderships of previous presidents. But those time, the love for UMNO was stronger than now. Why do I say that? One just need to read the papers availables at the papers stalls to conclude the perception of one;s selfishness.

I'm worried. So worried. Worried of what will happened to my anak cucu country. The things we do and don't do today will have an impact on the future generation. Sooner or later we can be controlled by the US. Not impossible to happen.

And I believe that Dr Anwar Ibrahim will one day be Malaysia's next PM. It's possible when no one in the current government cares about the future of Malaysia.

Wednesday 6 August 2008

My Lil Tigress


I shouldn't be surprised when Arissa wanted to do face painting at Ezz's birthday party. That's what my hubby told me as our little girl is not a timid person. She may be quite during the 1st few minutes when meeting people. But after that, she will just be the confident, outgoing & cheeky person she is.

I'm glad that we came to Hanna's eldest son's birthday party last Saturday. Actually our times were tight on that saturday as my SIL too were throwing out her son's 5th birthday party.

We decided to attend Ezz's party 1st as it was held early. Plus it was near to our home. It was nice to see some of the mommies blogger again. I rarely be able to go and get invited as most of my weekends were always full of family activities. And less invitation as I don't get to blog & visit so many other mommies blogs as much as I could. I know there are many of them who able to this as they have easier internet access compare to mine which is only limited to office pc. It's sure different to see people in flesh rather than in photo.

Yep! Arissa was the 1st customer for the face painter. She had flowers design painted on her left arms 1st. I'll put up the picture in my next entry k.

Did she bother with the attention she got from people when we were at the 2nd birthday party? Nope at all.. Infact she roared at some of the curious people.. Older people & mothers were obviuosly like the painted face as they said how comel she looked. But babies, they got scared by her face.

Arissa, u sure had one of your best day outing last Saturday. U ran , jumped, slided down at Kidsport.

p/s: picture is courtesy of Hanna

Wednesday 30 July 2008

An entry for Syafiah Arissa

This entry is specially for u sayang..

So what’s up in the world of Syafiah Arissa thesedays?

One: Your favourite aunty is definitely your Mak Lang Sonia. No doubt she is our new family member but u have taken a great fondness of her in a very short period, dear. She will be the one to feed u food whenever we are back balik kampong in Seremban. You will insist that only her to feed u on any meal. If she is not around, then u will want Kak Siti to feed u. And what happen to your bibik Wati? Suddenly she is not your best buddy whenever we are in Seremban.

Two: Last night I scolded you for playing with the lip gloss that I bought especially for u. I’ve told you to keep it back inside my handbag. But u didn’t as u were so excited to show it to your bibik. So what happen next? U scolded me for scolding you! U had your jari telunjuk kanan pointing at me with your left hand resting at your waist! How am I not to hold my laugh.. I quickly retrieved my laugh in a split second. Sayang! Sayang! How easily for u to imitate us. I know that I used to do that with u.. And I’m trying to lessen it down and also all the other bad habits that I have. ;)

Me : Why are u angry at me?
Arissa : I’m angry because Mama naughty.
Me : Why do u say that mama is naughty?
Arissa : Because u scold me. ( airmata meleleh ni)
Me : Do u know why I scold u, Sayang?
Arissa : ( keeping quiet )
Me : I am angry at you because u were playing with the lipgloss. I don’t want it to be broken. We can’t use the lipgloss dear if it’s broken. U wouldn’t like it if its get broken , wouldn’t u?
Arissa : Yes.


Three: Sharing is caring! Your baba & mama understand that kids around your age doesn’t understand much about the sharing concept. Thus, that is why we are using that tag line with u sayang. Do u know who said it to you ? Its your Kak Shira. Somehow this tag line works with u . When u want something for example a certain food that is not good for u, you will utter this tagline. So smart of u sayang! And we will let u get a small bite .

That all for this entry Sayang. Mama will post more entry next time k..

My pray for you, may u be anak yg soleha, sihat walafiat, baik budi pekerti & bijak . Amin.

Tuesday 29 July 2008

My lucky Hubby

How would u feel when your soulmate told you that he had dinner here? Envy right? That was what i felt when my dearest hubby told me that... Yikes! I've never set my foot there. And he has. Thanks to people that he met there during his Abu Dhabi trip, hubby got to set his foot inside this famous & magnificient hotel.



And security is tight there. It seems that only paid guests can set their feet here. Meaning no jalan2 makan angin & ambil gambar percuma like that lor!



I guess they did this because the hotel has become like a tourist spot . And the guests who stayed there must be annoyed when they don't get the highly expensive privacy that they should get when staying there.



Lucky u dear!

Monday 28 July 2008

Jada Kyra

When u just have to do something, u really just have to do it straight away.

That was what happened to me last Monday when I got BeskotKeras's sms. She had just given birth to a healthy baby girl the night before. I was doing my work when the sms came through. Surprise surprise, She wasn't supposed to be due last week actually. But then, I guess, Allah knows better than most of us, especially the Doctor.

So I told myself that I have to pay them a visit. And it must be done by that Monday itself. I just can't afford to delay it till weekend as my weekends it so tight up with so many things to do for the new house. Infact I'm still tired today . And now I'm down with a bad sore throat and gonna be down with fever too. No voice for me today either.. ;(

Have I seen beskotkeras before? Yes, from blog & facebook.No , from real life. Jada, your parents are exactly like what i saw from the blog. And they are the same as what I have in my mind. Sorry I didn't kiss u as much as I wanna too. I had so many germs on my hands when I came to see u & your mommy.

It's nice to be able to see someone whom u have been corresponding with via internet. For me, I just had to visit her as I shared a lot of info on pregnancy & breastfeeding with her. In a way that I can't or hard for me to explain, I feel I owe it to myself to visit her when she has safely given birth . And I'm glad I saw her and her one that day.

Talk about gift for new mom & baby, people always tend to give gifts for baby. Of course the newborn baby is the VVIP after that delivery. And I agree with that. But part of me also says that the mother is also the VVIP . And normally , we mommies didn't get much meaningfull & usefull presents. Yeah, it is nice to get flowers. But flowers can't be keep for too long.

So I bought for her some toiletries from M&S , and got the Memory Lane's people to pack it up in a paper bag. Of course I did not forget lil Jada or JK( are u sure r going to call her that ? ) . For her a small teddy bear was packed together in that small paper bag.

For beskotkeras, I just wanna give her something that she can used later. Why this thoughts? well, my hubby's former boss gave me Cr'bT'ee toiletries when I gave birth to Arissa. I know it was his wife's idea. But that gift made me thinking. So many people give presents to Arissa. And I did get my flowers & balloon. But none actually gave me something that I can really use for myself. From that day on , I told myself to give the new mommies meaningful gifts whenever i can.

So beskotkeras, i do hope u like my gifts for u and for lil Jada too.

Thursday 24 July 2008

Our Children's Memory makers

I read an interesting article on NST’s online paper today. This writer wrote about the process of memory making for our children. I have to agree that this small act is normally goes unnoticed by most of us, as parent to our children or even we as children to our parents.

It is the small things that each & one of us do out of our responsibility to our children. And it was also what our parents did for us when we were growing up.It can be such as sending and picking up the children to/from school. Or reading storrybooks before bedtime.Actually it can be anything that we do for our children. No matter how small the act is.

Only after reading that article do I now understand why my mind always remember my mom's special routine during my growing up years. This special routine was actually her memory making for us.

My mom was a primary school teacher. Her teaching period was always in the morning session as she was teaching Standard 1 & 2 pupils. Every weekdays' morning ( before subuh ) without fail, she will get up early to cook the lunch dishes. This things was done regardless we have maid or not. She herself will prepare every single cooking . And mind you, the routine dish was always gulai lemak kuning . Use whatever fishes or vegetables with fresh coconut milk but the dish will always be gulai lemak kuning . It’s my dad favourite dish up to this days.

During those growing up years and while still schooling at non-boarding school, this act was nothing special to me. To me, she was just doing something so that we have food on the table when we get home for lunch from school.

It does sound simple, ain't it? Which made me thinking. There are times when we do complain about things with our children. Maybe we grumble a bit here and there. Or scold them too. And most of the time we didn't realize the impact we have made on our children's memory. It's humane I guess. But just bear in our thoughts of wouldn't it be nice if our children can have good & positive memories to remember throughout their lives?

Wednesday 23 July 2008

Single Parent Again

Me & Arissa sent our breadwinner to KL central last nite. Again, I am a single parent to Arissa for 4 days & 3 nites. Last 2 weeks I was a single parent too. Hubby is so busy thesedays. I pity him as he still has no official assistance i.e staffs to help him with office work. Of course he does get help from other people's staffs.But it's different if u can have your own staff to help u rather than using others.

So where he is now? My other half is in Abu Dhabi today for one nite. Then he will put a nite in Dubai. The 3rd nite will be in Singapore. His days will be spent in meeting rooms. Actually there should be 3 persons going for this trip. But the person whose news of upcoming wedding was out in the paper last weekend, decided not to go for this trip. What an unprofessional last minute decision he made. And my hubby's CEO hates to cancel the trip as it would be unfair to the investors. True la.. So ladies, the most( is he? ) eligible bachelor in town with a datukship to his name is finally taken by this TVthree newspresenter. Will we get invited to the wedding? We shall see la kan in the next few weeks.

After dropping off hubby at the KL central, we girls headed to Mid Valley. Just minutes we left the place, Arissa cried in the baby carseat. I asked her why. And true to my hunch, she was already missing her Baba. More teary eyes she got when I hold her hand while waiting for the green light. She was ok when she got to speak to her baba afterthat and when I gave her to listen to her favourite song 'ketahuan' by Matta.. So Arissa sayang, yes. That was your fav. song when u will be 3 years old next month in August.

Looking back at the scence of my daughter missing her baba, i just hate the fact of how our works take the most of our times from our kids. Sometimes I envy parents who have lotsa money and have ample time to spend with their kids. Not that I am not thankful for what I have. And not that I hate my job. It's just that I hate it when we have to stay back after office hours. How nice to be able to be home by 5 pm.

Btw, tomorrow is J-Card day at Mid Valley. I'm still thinking whether do I need to go there and what things do I need to buy.

Friday 11 July 2008

When everything is 1st time experience. Young and old.

How to react & feel when not a single person in the wardroom ( except myself) know how to change dirty nappy of a newborn baby? A pity sight tight? That's what I feel on Wednesday nite .

Remember about my entry two days ago where I had to pick up my hubby from KL central? Well, my hubby texted me about his friend R'd who just dapat( sorry, I don't know the best word for this in English ) baby boy . Since we were not far from DSC Hospital, we decided to pay the newly parents a visit.

What a delighted news for me when R'd's wife told me of their plan to breastfeed their baby. U know how I'm into this one hundred percents! Thus, I shared with her my two years experience of breastfeeding my child. I even asked if she had a problem with latching on as this is common for 1st time mothers. Thank God, she had a good latch. With that I reassured her that she had passed the 1st hurdle of making a successfull breastfeeding. I tried to shared as much as I can with her during that short visit.

And yes, I remind her & her hubby to be strong when there will be people who will suggest giving powdered milk to their baby. The nearest attack will be from parents & family.

Soiled nappy? YEah, her MIL & her mother was there in the room. And the hubbies were outside the room. They called the nurse to help them change the dirty nappy. I can't blame them much as this is the 1st granchild for her MIL. As for her mother, maybe this was also her 1st expereince as R'd's wife is the only daughter in her family. Thus, it is expected neither all of them know how to handle a baby. In fact they were surprised when I told them the baby could be crying because of hunger. I put my cleaned & washed finger which I did before touching the baby into his mouth. Boy, was he hungry as he sucked my finger.

Before we left the hospital, me especially , advised R'd to be his wife number one supporter in breastfeeding. Actually I told him so many things also from what to do if his wife expereince engorgement, the benefits of breastmilk, the hiddened benefits of night feeding, milk production and so on.. When it's time to go, I told him to ring my hubby as he too knows most of these things and other things too about baby care & breastfeeding.

I hope things will go out smoothly for them.. Amin.

Wednesday 9 July 2008

London Trip

It's been a long busy week at office. Today is the same like yesterday. Waiting for sms from hubby informing me that I can now leave office. Why? I'm going to pick him up at KL Central. He has just arrived from UK on a short business trip with his CEO la.. For me, the trip looked like "balik kampung" alltogether. He left on Saturday nite last week. How I wish I could follow him but timing was not on my side. I had my own outstation trip to go early last week.

Did I tell him to get for me anything from London? Nope. How I wish I can think of something of so many things actually. But my mind had been so occupied with office work. Not fair kan..

I'm trying to fit it so many things to do this weekend. There's a birthday celebration on Sunday. And on Saturday, there's a small reunion for Convent Seremban girls.. And there's stuff for our new house to look & buy.. Yikes! I'm going to have a busy weekends for this month.

Gotta go...

Tuesday 8 July 2008

Right in front of my eyes

Last Monday morning I saw a baby in a babycar seat whose age is less than 1 year old left alone inside the car. My car was parked next to that car. The father was inside the Petronas petrol shop withdrawing his money from ATM machine. Then I saw a guy walking near the car. My heart start beating nervously when that guy took a look at the baby. Thank god he walked away and stand just near the car while his eyes drifted into the petrol station. A few seconds later, the baby's father walked to that guy and gave him some money.

I just can't believe that this act of irresponsible is happening in our society. Don't they learned from what had happened to others as reported in the newpaper. Kids are an expensive commodity thesedays. There are people who are willing to pay through their nose for this. And yet we never learnt.

I shouldn't have sit inside my car when that incident happened.I should have stand outside the baby's window. I regret for not having the quick impulse reaction to do something that is right at that time. I may get scolded by the parent but at least that baby is safe from harm.

Wednesday 18 June 2008

Sekolah Menengah Convent Seremban


One of my exclassmates from 3 Opal pasted this precious photo in Facebook. How it brings back loads of memories. How Shila can remember all the girls' full name. Amazing! Most of us are happily married with at least one child.One of us is a single mother . And one of us is no longer here with us.
I used to think what happen to most of my Convent girlfriends. There are a few of them that I still keep intouch now and then. But to those that seems so farfetch and out of reached, my heart misses them so much. At one point of my life, I dreamt one of my girlfriend when I was pregnant with my 1st child. I don't know why I wanted to see her so bad. It could be because her last address was in Bukit Damansara which is just here in KL la. I did try to look for her house with my hubby way back before Arissa was born. But somehow we didn't find it.. Funny how that area is not that big and yet we couldn't find it.. I even try searching for her in the world wide web. But no luck too. Now, I'm lazy to try to look for her again.
Another friend of mine that I managed to find via WWW doesn't want to be contacted.Ouch! I have a few of my closest friends that just want to be left alone. Hubby told me to ignore them and respect their wishes. Of course I'm hurt and angry with them.But I slowly learn to let them go. Life is too short for all these silly unimportant things. You see, I have a very good skill at ignoring things. Swept them under the carpet. Yeps! But from him also I learnt how to differentiate things that is suitable to be swept under the carpet.
Until today, I still have this hope to bump into my old school friends. Friends that I have lost contact with. But still luck wasn't on my side. Why can't I bump into them when I used the LRT or at any shopping complexes be it in KL or Seremban? Where did they all go?
I hope there will be a another school reunion. Not many of us made it to the 1st reunion held at Alson Klana Seremban couple of years back..

Thursday 12 June 2008

Prevention is better than cure

Today I had lunch at Istana Budaya. The same familiar things happened there while me & my collegues were eating our food.

On the next table near to ours, sat one young couple with small toddler that could be 1 year old. They had finished eating their meals. Then the father got up to get some dessert and queued up to pay. Suddenly the mother got up, walked to her husband, leaving the child alone in highchair. Maybe the father was short of cash to pay. Me and my girlfriend looked in disbelieve when we saw the child unattended. Mind u, the mother left the child twice.

This act of irresponsible parents just irk me to my bones. It is so hard to swallow that these parents who claim that they really love their children yet who are also toying with their children safety. The child that I mentioned earlier could have easily fall from his highchair. One fallen, he could easily have brain haemorrhage.

We often sees fathers happily smoking infront of their children. It doesn’t matter if the child is a baby or kid . I beg to differ that these parents doesn’t know the bad impact of the cigarettes smokes on their children and people around them. We had enough information on the side effects of these smokes being displayed right under our own nose. Thus, why do these fathers still smoke in front of their kids?

We also have read in the newspapers of how one child got scalded. It’s a known fact that kitchen is a red zone for toddlers. Yet, some parents are happily allowing their children do play in the kitchen or enter the kitchen when they are cooking. I do know they are some mothers out there who have no maid to help them cooking. But we can always leave our kids to play in a safe place that is not far from our sight.

Another annoying habit is children on the moving escalator. We often see those cute hands playing with the moving handrail. And the parents just look at these things maybe thinking it’s a harmless act. Don’t they know that the clothes can get stuck and suck with the moving escalator? What if it was those cute little hands? Yikes!

It’s sad feelings when children get injured due to their parents own selfish behaviors. Until to day I still don’t understand why those circumstances above keep on happening. Aren’t we the entrusted guardians to our children?

I see some generalize thinking out there on how we embrace parenthood. Most parents just put their feet into that parents’ shoes without adding or improving their parenting knowledge. Most of us have zero parenting knowledge. Who says we are born with parenting skills. But that shouldn’t stop us from enriching ourselves with parenting skills. It should have clicked to our minds to have it enriched when our spouse is pregnant.

Have u heard these phrase “ Just go with the flow.” ? I guess that is what most parents out there are doing. If not, those avoidable accidents won’t be in the news. These accidents can be avoided easily. It’s not about raising our children in a rigid way. It’s more about raising them up in a healthy and safely environment. Sometimes it pays to be extra careful when dealing with our children surrounding. All we need is some rational thinking rather than a complacent one. At the end of the day, it is our own fault to be blame when these accidents happened as it is us who put our children life on a pedestal. Its easy to prevent things from happening that curing it once it happened.

By the way, the food at Istana Budaya café is so delicious. From the main dish to the kuih muih and the drinks. The teh-ais is just rightly prepared. Do go there if u can and when u want to eat masakan kampong. Price is reasonable.

Wednesday 4 June 2008

A test on Love & Marriage

Yesterday I visited my friend's husband who was in ICU at Ampang Puteri. I had to go that evening after work as I just dont feel good about it. So many of my friends during my university years had come during the weekend. And constant emails about my friend's husband just bugged me later that evening. Thus, I told myself that I had to pay her a visit. Besides, my office is in the same area and even my house too is not that far from the hospital.

Alhamdulillah. Pak Wan's ( my husband's friend) condition has improved since last Thursday. He can open up his eyes. But what lies instore after this is truely a test of love & marriage for my dear friend Suzy. A test of Allah for the more than 10 years of marriage.

Imagine having to teach our soulmates how to chew food, how to talk, how to grasp & hold things, how to walk and write. Imagine that your physically-able hubby is now like a newborn baby to you. And the food that he can take now is EnfaGrow.Berat mata yang memandang. Berat lagi mata yang memikul.

Alhamdulillah, Suzy is still the same person that I have always known. We may not be that close but still we share the same circle of friends. For that, I felt the need to come & give her moral support. With this test from Him, she is still that strong person. I saw that in the way she hold her husband's hand and in the words she said to him. U can catch a smile from her face now and then. And that was at the ICU and just a few days of recovery.

As I was driving back home from the hospital, my mind start thinking about Suzy & Pak Wan. This is really a test from Allah. A test of how strong their love is for each other. Earlier their marriage have been tested ( and still I think) with no sign of children for them yet. And now another test from Him.

We all had & have been tested from Him in so many forms. It can be in the form of no children for us yet. It can be in the form of how our hubby is being wooed by another woman.Be it a pretty woman or not. It can be in the form of having busybody inlaws. Or be it in the form of our breadwinner losing his work.

All of this is just to test how strong is our marriage love-bond. Do we split our ways when things get tough? Or do we stay together to face what-come-may till death do us part?

Monday 2 June 2008

Indiana Jones


Honestly speaking, I never thought that i will have a great weekend last week. Sometimes, we can never tell what will be instore for us even when we have made plans.
My hubby & I made plans to watch Indiana Jones last Saturday. And I succesfully booked the tickets. So there we were on friday feeling happy and looking forward to watch the movie at Seremban2. But that happiness wasn't long for after I got a phone call from my dad. They got a wedding invitation from a dear friend . And the reception will be in Tropicana. So, Ayah asked for my help as he is clueless on how to get there. And knowing my dad, I know he will get lost even I have given them enough info. Plus, none of my 3 siblings were free to drive them there.
Thus, the movie date got cancelled. Of course hubby was feeling frustrated at first. But then, we just looked on the positive side of things. And make do with what we have.
If I didn't send them to tropicana, I wouldn't have had a chance to eat at Uptown again. So, there were we enjoying ourselves eating at the same placewhere we used to go during our coupling years. Emmmm! Tony's kuehtiaw still taste the same. And the tauhubakar. And the cendol. And Sulaiman's Limau Asamboi Ice Special! I dont think u can get that drink from any other stall. It's really a pick-me-up & refreshing drink.
So there was I & hubby. Eating & talking & eating & talking. How I feel like we were still dating each other. Going there after office hours.
The crowd over there changed a bit. Maybe because it was school holidays. Thus lotsa moms&daddies with their kids. Looking at the crowd made me think, do any of the peoples from my dating times have ever come back to this place again?
The next morning, me & hubby went to watch movie at Seremban2. Yeah, I left Arissa to play with her cousins. Somehow I managed to book Narnia's movie ticket even though it was 2 hours before movie time. But then again, something good was instore for us again.
Alhamdulillah. Hubby managed to buy the Indiana Jones's tickets. Luck was definitely on our side. The cinema operator had just opened a new hall for I.J. when hubby asked for any available seats.
Looking back at yesterday , I'm just so happy with how things turned for us. Not only did i get to help my parents, but me&hubby got to watch I.J. Oh, yes! our dinner at Uptown too.

Tuesday 27 May 2008

The Book



When I was pregnant with my 1st child, my friend gave me this book. The Complete Book of Breastfeeding. It may looklike a heavy reading book . But the information is just amazing. And it has helped me to understand what breastfeeding is all about.
Thus, feel free to read the reviews on it at Amazon. Trust me. Once we mothers have the knowledge about what breast & breastfeeding is all about, a succesfull & meaningful breastfeeding will be ours.

Cool Bracelet for Breastfeeder Mommies



This stuff just make breastfeeding so cool!
Don't you think so mommies? I accidently found this bracelet while busy netsurfing for breastfeeding book.

  1. Here are the plus points of this special bracelet:

1 Help to keep an accurate log of your baby’s feeds without the hassle of breastfeeding diaries, safety pins or switching bracelets from arm to arm


2.Allows the mother to know which breast to be use when starting a breastfeeding session

3. A time tracking device which can be used for many different purposes includingRecording the number and times of feeding sessions in a day.


4. As a reminder for mothers of what time the baby's last fed and when another is due.

5. Help to record the number of soiled nappies.

6. Helping the mother to wean her baby by tracking the number of feeding sessions and then eliminating them one at a time.

I don't know if we have it here in Malaysia. Sometimes I get frustrated when we can't get so many cool baby's stuffs & preggy mommies stuffs from here. How nice if we can have more options when it comes to maternity clothes. I do know that we have a few shops be it online or not that are selling maternity clothes. It's just that the selections are not that abundant as in other countries like Australia , or UK or US.

Maybe that is why we see preggy mommies wearing informal maternity clothes that are not suitable for office environment actually. Even I had to make my own office attires tailormade when I was preggy. Somehow , there were not many sales during my preggy time. Thus, I hate it when I saw all those maternity sales when I'm not pregnant! Why la like that?

Wednesday 21 May 2008

The 2nd time I was away from her

I'm in my lazy mood. Even lazy to go for my bodyattack class. But had to write this thing down in my blog so that Arissa will know what happened when she was 2 years & 10 months old. Also for my own memory when I'm 20 years old from today.

So, I was away for the 2nd time from my daughter. 4 days & 3 nights. From 16-19th May 2008.

My company was having its annual company sport camp. This year was held in Kuantan. I didn't get to go last year as Arissa was still below 2 years old and that I was still exclusively breastfeeding her. Yeah, again I put my child's needs first and foremost.

The 1st time I was away from her was from Mac30th, 2008 to April 1st, 2008. I had to go to Pasir Gudang for company quaterly stocktake.

So how was Lil Arissa when I was away from her?

Hubby told me that on the 1st nite ( this 2nd trip) she woke up crying looking for me. Just a short cry as hubby managed to pacify her. She is used to have me sleeping next to her .And how I still put up with her special request of me having to dukung her when she is at that sleepy mode.

But my phone call on Sunday morning made her cry on the dot. I think she was holding on all the while since day one from missing me. But came the 3rd day I was away from her, I think her defense came all tumbling down. I guessed I said the key words " I miss you !" Again, hubby was right beside her. I felt like crying when I heard hers. But minutes later, I told my self that she will be ok.This was just part and parcel of us being away for the 2nd time.

I'm glad that our decision for hubby & her to stay at SIL's house was the best solution while I was away. There were more than 2 people to keep our lil angel busy. MIL was there,big Khuya Adam was there and SIL too to . My maid told me that Arissa played all day long with Adam almost everday. And there was that kenduri tahlil by Kak Min on Sunday evening to keep them busy.

During my stay in Kuantan, I did call them but limited it to twice a day only. I just dont want to bug Arissa so much.

Yesterday, I took EL as Arissa was down with fever since Monday . Missing me & non-stop of playing got her down with fever I think. Alhamdulillah she is back with her usual self today. But how she had me wrapped around her little fingers yesterday. And how emotional she was too. Crying now & then when she didn't get things her way.

I had these developed photos since her birth that I have not put it inside a proper album.. So yesterday we spent looking at all those photos. At one point , she cried wanting that soon-about-to-give-birth-mommy-lying-on-hospital-bed. She only stopped crying after I told her that that lady was me. Not long after that, she cried telling me that she missed her Baba. To pacify her, I told her to kiss her Baba's photo which she did.

Yesterday also, I was told by her not to kiss her. I like to shower her with inpromtu kisses. So, yesterday I was told off by her. Don't know why she told me not too. And I was to keep quiet when she was busy looking at the photos.

I guess my 2nd time of being away from her affects her in a new different way. I know soon all these things will be common to her..It's just a matter of getting her used to it..

So, Arissa. Mama hope that when you read this in years to come, not only will this be a special memory to you, But also to remind you of the sacrifices that I willingly and continualy will do during your growing up years.

Tuesday 29 April 2008

Love finally Found Her

I bumped into an old friend last week at my gym.. Was so happy to see her .It's not that we haven't met for a long long time. It's just that sometimes I get to see her and sometimes not. Career woman! haha!

So love finally found her. At the age of 33, she finally found someone who , InsyaAllah , will be her soulmate. I was so happy when she 1st told me many moons ago about this new guy in her life. That time, I was so happy for her as I hate seeing my solo single status friends not having their partner. I wish that they can experience the life of having a soulmate. And later having kids of their own la..

So again I was happy when she told me the good progress her love life is going at this moment. And InsyaAllah, marriage is not far from here.

Managed to persuade her to let me see his photo which I knew will be inside her handphone. Who would not keep pictures of their loved ones kan inside their handphone! And my my. Such good looking face he has! And fair complexion too..

And love is blind. In her case, inner beauty wins the heart of her guy. My friend doesn't fall into the beauty girl category. She is someone that is pretty inside than outside. And I hope that this guy is sincere in loving her. I'm sure most people will agree with me when I say love is blind once they see this couple. And I truly believe something good is instore from The Almighty to them if they are really meant for each other.

So here I am. Still feeling happy after seeing her last week. This year I have received wonderful news of friends tying the knot and expecting new additional family members. But I am really feeling thankful and most happy whenever I hear my friends finally found their soulmates. For me being a couple is far better than being single. There is so much to be gained and experienced when we found our soulmates. And if they choose to get married, even more so they will gain.
I hate the idea of growing old alone . Alone without friends and family.

On that note, the last wedding reception for my family side is here at last. My mom thought it will take place on 05.05.2005 as that was my brother's birthday. But somehow it didn't happen. My bro had been joking all this while whenever we ask him about getting married. Thus, all of us didn't believe it when he finally told us of the big news. We thought he was joking as usual.
Even I didn't take it seriously when my sister told me about it.

My sister only started to take it seriously when my bro showed the merisik ring. Even my mom too only believe it after she had seen that ring. Alhamdulillah. My bro is finally going to tie the knot on this May 1st. So u can imagine how busy my labour public holidays will be up till Sunday May 4th.

Something special about the wedding on my family side is that cendol will be served on the wedding day. It started from my wedding. It didn't happen during my eldest brother's wedding. I think that idea of serving cendol didn't cross my father's mind those time. So, cendol was on the menu for my wedding and my sister's too. And I think it will be there too on this last wedding reception for our family.

By the way, it's cendol Kuala Pilah folks.