the day before my last day

sedih pulak rasanya..


well, i will only be working TOMORROW Wednesday Dec 14th for the final , last time.

and i feel sad as i look at the time now. It's 5.07 pm. Office ends at 5.15pm. Eventhoough i still have one last day to work , to serve as an employee here at my company, I feel sad ...

dah la sibuk ngajar orang lain mcm mana nak buat keje..

I still have not received the approval letter to my unpaid leave application. I am applying for a  2 years of unpaid leave. Only managed to see my CEO yesterday petang . I got to know this big jakarta news on last monday petang pun. And my CEO wasn't around last monday petang.

So now , I am just waiting for the important news .. Either i get it or not, I will still have to follow my hubby to the new country which is just our neighbouring country.

the race is on

i can barely breathe for this week..

all because of that one big important news that finally came through.. and it came earlier than expected.

Kudos to dearest hubby for doing an impressive job so far since last September.. for that reason la we got the news early..

and for that reason la this week is one hectic week it has been for me.. Plus, i am busy with account closing. And to make it more hectic, this is my 1st week of work after 2 month of maternity leave.. last monday was my 1st day at work..

and around 4 pm today as i was busy going through my costing report, dearest hubby called.. we need to get Alya's passport done ASAP!

and i was like " what?" .   the sooner we have it done, the better and easier it is for the HR people to process & proceed with other important things relating to our move there..

While driving back home, my mind was already thinking this and that..planning this and that.. I can't afford to take leave tomorrow or any other day in this week. Dec 7th is the closing day for us. And after that, i need to settle other work related matter to account  closing too.

Which was why I decided to take Alya's photo tonight. Everyone had to follow. The girls did not want to be left behind. And judging at the time, we need a driver to drive us as parking would be impossible at that  hour.. it was 630 pm when we left home..So my MIL did the driving. And my maid followed too as she will take care of the two big sisters..

The 1st shop that we went did not do baby photo.Actually they dont know how to take one. This i realised after we drove to another photo shop located in another place.

I had to hold Alya against the blue back drop. And the photographer assistant who is the photographer's mom was busy distracting Alya with a rattler. Why? coz alya was crying at that time.. We got a nice photo of Alya with her eyes open. The old lady did tell me that it's fine if the baby's eyes are closed. But me just being worried as all this thing is new to me, asked his son to take another shot..Alhamdulillah , one of the shots was better..

and later i found out from fb posting on this matter that it's all fine if the baby's eyes is closed. The imigration staff will accept the photo..

and i have not managed to inform my head of dept about this.. why? too busy to sit down with her..maybe will talk to her tomorrow. any how, she is aware and has been informed of this possibility of me moving to jakarta..

tired i am ...i just have to follow my list ..

Fireworks

Make your own fireworks !

That was what came into my head when my single friends go on holidays..

For me, single people should not stop from creating and making their own fireworks. While we married people have our own fireworks that is created from being married , single people should have theirs too.

Of course for married people our fireworks can come from our children & spouse that we have. Even from the spouse's relatives too..

But for single people, these are not attainable for them.. Thus, going on holidays are one of them.. I hate when single people just live their live between work and home only.. It should be about exploring other things too.. Going places that you have never been.. these are fireworks in life..

My PDA baby

Alya is a P.D.A baby since birth. May it will close eventually .The sooner the better. Amin.


Even after birth, she does not have the signs of a PDA baby. She feeds normally . She breathes normally too. Thus, even the nurses at the Special Nursery centre where she was warded for jaundice were surprised to find out that she is having PDA.

Even until today, I am so thankful to Allah that it was  Dr Azizi who detected this  on Alya. Even though he did not hear it during Alya's first few days of her life, I am still thankful that it was detected during her stays at DSH.

Any doctors stand a chance of not being able to hear the echoes or murmur in the baby's heart. This is because one needs to be able to listen to it deeply & focus. One can not blame the doctor for failing to detect it in the first place because of our hearing capabilities. Only an person with sharp hearing would be able to detect it . Which is why for some baby, this condition will go unnoticed until sign of illnesses crop up later in the future. So don't be curious why doctors will check your baby's heart on each hospital or clinic visits.

And I am comforted by the fact that Alya's progress is being monitored and assessed by one of Malaysian most qualified doctor in that field..

How I wanted to break down & cry my heart out again when we went for the 2nd visit .. The 3mm hole is still there. Somehow a part of me told me to seek out more information on Alya's condition from Dr Zul . And I am glad that those information comforted me 99% . And that 1% of worry will be there until we see Dr Zul again in Feb 2012.

As for the moment, we are monitoring Alya's health based on the information we learned from Dr Zul on PDA baby.

Happy Days

•      It'S A HAPPY DAY TODAY EVEN THOUGH IT WILL ONLY BE TO DAY AND TOMORROW.   ALL BECAUSE HUBBY IS BACK FOR ARISSA'S CONCERT & GRADUATION.             

3rd and future labour

I feel the urgent need to share what I knew from my tukang urut .

All labour are different between one woman to another. And we as the owner of our body, should pay serious attention to what is happening and what is felt inside our body. This I meant post labour.

Certain pain that we are feeling  are due to how our labour was. It means did we have an easy labour or a tough and  complicated one where certain medical equipments like vacuum needs to be used .

During the berurut session, we can easily feel any pain when our body is being massaged. In fact , we can feel the pain when our feet is being massaged. Remember foot reflexology? If one have read a book on it, one will know that our foot hold the secret of our internal body's state.

Thus, if you feel any pain when your feet is being massaged, do inform your tukang urut. A good , realiable and knowlegable tukang urut will tell u what the pain is reflecting to.. And it should be correlated to the pain you are feeling with your body.Which is why I prefer to have my tukang urut who inherited her skills from her family's descent.

As for me, the pain that i felt when my feet was being massaged reflects the pain that i feel within my body. And when i rely another pain that i was feeling, my tukang urut explained to me how i got the pain. And I have to say that her explaination matched my story.

So ladies, open up and dont be shy to tell your tukang urut on any internal pains that you are feeling and having. By doing this, we are actually helping our body to recover fast.

My tukang urut also  share with me a  some  common bad experiences that happened to a few ladies who neglected their pantang/confinement. Upon hearing those stories, I must say how thankful I am that I am in control not to let it happen to me. All I need to do is just do serve my confinement in a moderate way that I can .But certain things like eating food/vegetable should not be taken lightly or ignore at all cost. Vegetables & fruits are important for a good bowel thus keeping constipation at bay.  Nevertheless, substitute certain vegetable that is best to avoid during confinement with another good vegetables. And keeping the intake quantity at moderation level is the best methods for us.

Have u heard sound like fart coming out from our vagina & not from our anus? Well, this is actually happening to some married woman outthere who has given birth. And what about certain  part of the vagina came out ? Well, all these can happen to us woman if we take our confinement lightly and ignore any pains that we might have felt after giving birth.

I have taken bertungku & berbengkung lightly. But I did not ignore berbenkung at all. Alhamdulillah, i use bengkung during my 1st  and 2nd confinement. But only during my 3rd confinement do I fully aware the benefits of bertungku & berbengkung can do for me.All because it's my 3rd pregnancy &  labour. Imagine me doing my own bertungku now eventhough my urut session is done. hahahha... I want to live long and have a happy meaningful marriage!!

My tukang urut also gave a good resemblance of our uterus as kain perca.After baby is born, our uterus is like kain perca. Which is why we need to berurut or what we call sengkak peranakan. And these need to be done properly. If not the uterus wont get back to it's shape. And if we ignore it, then our next chance of getting pregnant may be small.

As our vagina & uterus has done it's job in delivering the baby out from our body, thus eating certain kind of food and not eating certain kinds of food need to be paid attention. Which is why now I understand why we need to eat food that can keep us warm inside and heal the wear and tear inside our vagina & uterus. And why eating food that is in the cold category is best to avoid during confinement.

And bertungku will help to keep our uterus warm from the outside. Not only that, bertungku also will help to shortened the days of our darah nifas.. Kira tolong kluarkan darah nifas dengan cepat la .. And berbengkung plus putting some heating cream or param will also keep our uterus warm from outside.

Bertangas also is good. But best not to skip bertungku. And as for me I like to do my confinement in a moderate way. All because I am breastfeeding my child and that I need to eat a healthy & balance food to get well soon.

So ladies, suddenly berbenkung, bertungku and bertangas and serving  your confinement make sense in the end right?

Allah Maha Mengetahui

I can still remember what my bidan urut told me 2 years ago when she was massaging my body during my confinement days in Seremban. And so are what other old people were saying about my next/3rd child's gender. They all said that if i ever give birth next , meaning 3rd time pregnant,then my 3rd child will be a boy.. They said this based on what they saw at my 2nd child's thigh.. I can only smile at that time upon hearing their views. It's hard for me to believe it as all i know that might not be true.

So here we are 2 years from that day.Allah Maha Mengetahui. Me and my husband got a beautiful baby girl this time. She looks more  like her eldest sister Arissa. They have the same nose and same skin complexion. As for the eyes, Alya got the same big lovely black eyes like her 2nd sister Aisyah.

Back to what my tukang urut said two years ago.. Even towards the end of my pregnancy, I was only 99% sure that it will be a baby girl. Even as my gynea had confirmed  the baby's gender via scan, i was still 99% . I hate to be so 100% confident on my baby's gender.Not that I was hoping to get a boy .

But more of Him. Because in the end , He knows what is best for us. For me , the most important aspect is the baby's health and physical.

I guess I know why people have a strong views on why i was carrying a baby boy.  As usual, my tummy always look like i was carrying a baby boy inside of me. So were my two previous pregnancy. In fact , one indian grandma who i always see at the park said the same thing about my baby's gender.. I replied back by saying it that my tummy always look like that when i am pregnant. And that the doctor said it is a girl..But they couldn't believe it due to my tummy ..hehhehe..old wives's tale!

Noble & compasionate

Name: Alya Syafiqah
D.O.B : 6th of October 2011

Our 3rd princess was born at 440pm.
All my three princess were born around evening ..

Website

Eventhough  I was only looking at the photos of this international school in Jakarta, good feelings are suddenly felt by me.

Of course the real stuff may be different from what is displayed online. But I must credited the special human touch effort embedded during their school website creation. In Photo gallery, so many school events from kindy level to Secondary level were put up on display. So are the school's PTA  events & meetings. And the I like also the photos of the teachers & school management teams. It easy to tell from a person' smile. And I must say most have a pleasent smile that looks natural not superficial.

I do hope all these are the same when I visit this school .

36th/37th Week & Engaged

Yup..We are in engaged position and THE HOSPITAL BAG  is ready & are in my car now..

Went for my weekly  maternity check-up last Thursday. Got a shock when my gynea delivered the latest result of my baby's position.. Engaged!!

I am in 35th/36th weeks and baby is engaged already.. And from what my gynea said, labour is possible within these next  2 weeks..

On my way home from hospital, so many things crossed my mind all of a sudden. I have so many ( actually a few ) stuffs to settle ...

1. The hospital bag is not ready..
2. The 2nd batch of newborn/0-3 months old clothes need to be collected from my sister ASAP.
3. My work need to be settled for whatever is outstanding. And i neeed to clean up my pc ...
4. The kids wardrobe chest of drawers need to rearrange to make way for the baby's clothes.
5. The baby bath tub needs to be cleaned.
6. My room needs to be cleaned & vacuumed..Thank goodness I have cleaned the windows of my bedroom 2 weeks ago..Yep, I cleaned it myself on the day hubby left for Jakarta..
7. Food stock for the house need to restocked. For me during my confinement period & kids too
8. Cat's food & litter sand need to be restocked..

So today, I am happy & relieved that most of the items up there are settled.. Alhamdulillah..

One of her favourite clothes

This chocolate brown dress with printed ice cream motif is one of Aisyah current favourite clothes!!! She will asked us to put it on her each day. Even for night wear and sleep wear too she would request for this...
Alhamdulillah. She did not make a big  fuss whenever I reasoned it out with her on why it can't be worn again after shower or for going to bed.

Oh yeah! This cute dress was bought by her Tuk Umi  from Bandung ..

36th week and counting

At this pregnancy stage, I noticed that I will feel so sleepy once I get myself tired.

It happened yesterday . I was buying food from the pasar tani cum pasar malam at my neighbourhood. Due to standing for so long while waiting for the seller to pack my sate, I felt so tired & sleepy once I reached home.

At 730 pm , I just want to have a quick dinner and go to bed as soon as I can.. I tried not to get angry with the girls when I am tired. It is easy for me to be irritated or angry when tiredness swept by ...

And today, here I am feeling sleepy after being on my toes for my office raya open house. I was busy making sure the food were always being replenished. It wasn't my duty but I feel its the right thing to do ..Some of my collegues are busy entertaining our guest while some joined to make sure that food is always available for our guests..

It's 15 minutes past 4 pm. I am all tired and sleepy now..

When I looked back at my 1st  & 2nd pregnancy, this 3rd pregnancy is surely a new & different experience alltogether.. I am thankfull to Him for this 3rd pregnancy... There's my asthma attack, my high fever & food poisoning during fasting month, the 3 kilos that I lost due to lack of appetite/ high fever/food poisoning,  and latest how sleepy I can get when I am all tired!!

Oh yeah! I notice how my right ear are easily get blocked right after I drank a bit of cold water!

Duit Raya

I just do not understand how some parents & kids who like to open up their duit raya packet  right in front of the giver. Isn't it rude to do that!

More over, they will start making faces especially when the amount is little & not what they expected to receive! Aiyoh!!!

We give duit raya because we want to give it..Thus, the amount is not significant & unimportant. The act of giving is more noble than the amount itself.. Beside it is hari raya...

But these kind of parents  & kids just do not see that moral & reason behind it. Money is more important than the spirit of Hari Raya...

I blame the parents for showing this bad example to their kids .. Because kids copycat whatever words & body language that they seen from their parents...

In Five Weeks Time

I have only 5 weeks to go before this little bun in my tummy popped out!!!

And yet I have not got all stuff ready for the big event ! Yikes!

So far I have managed to bring back from my parents' house to KL are new born baby clothes, muslin wrap and barut for baby.. Some of the cothes belong to my sister and some belongs to me.. Had it all washed already...

Not forgotten I managed to buy the baby's laundry detergent too..

As for myself, today I printed out the hospital bag check list..Come to think of it, I always do this for each of my pregnancy as I have forgottened on what is essential & a must to be pack inside the labour/hospital bag... Printed out 3 types of list from the internet!!!! hahahhah

And during lunch time, drove to mothercare in KLCC to buy the cheapest nursing breastpad in town... It's RM0.39 cents for one piece of  nursing pad! And the quality is as good as Bebe, Avents, etc

More stuff that I need to buy for myself & for this baby too actually.. All needs to be bought ASAP  ..I am giving myself up to  24th of Sept to get all stuff ready..

Baby names? We still have not started on it  either!!!! I am due for my check up this Saturday... If the baby is still being shy about his/her gender, guess me & hubby will just have to prepare two names for our baby.. For our 3rd child, I prefer to have  a name that is short & easy to pronounce.. Of course it needs to have good meaning too as each time we said the name, it is equivelent to a prayer .. Which is why we are discourage to shorten our children beautiful name from Khadijah to Katy or from Mohammad to Mad!!!

Play your legitimate roles!

Things likes this would not have happened if husband & wife know their responsibilities & roles that they should do in a marriage.


All these while, I read this happening in the magazines .Magazines that always features this kind of articles are Mingguan Wanita.. Thus I can’t believe it when it happened to people I know..

In Islam, a husband main roles, duties & responsibilities are to provide everything, from A to Z for his family. This including providing a maid if he can afford one la.. And it is encouraged & ok for any wife to share & spend any amount of her own money for the well being of her family.. Meaning, a wife are given free option to share her money to buy food & pay for it for her family needs. But it’s not a right given to husband to demand for this from his wife..

Thus, if there is a mutual understanding between husband & wife on their legitimate roles to play, the marriage will be smooth sailing when it comes to spending money for the sakes of the family well being..

Even in other religion too this concept is widely known..I mean both husband & wife should shouldered the same responsibilities in their marriage..

But when a husband especially forget his roles & responsibilities, that is when a harmony marriage turns to be unharmonious one..

I just could not understand why a husband does not want to pay for the family food and other utilities too… The weirdest part is when the husband expect and even asked the wife to find a new job that can offer a higher salaries.. Shouldn’t it be the husband’s roles to find more money for his family? It is good enough that his wife is working too and willing to pay for food & utilities.. But asking her to get a new job is just too much la…

Want to know why this is happening? Based on stories that these ladies shared to me is that these husbands get too complacent once their supportive & kind hearted wives pay all the food & utilities bills… At the early stage of the marriage, these wives were eager & happy to help out with households finances.. And there are husband too that give monthly allowance to his wife to settle all the bills…

But things started to change for worst when these husbands started taking these things for granted… Suddenly the monthly allowance is stopped and the wife has to fork out everything from her own salary… Does not matter if the wife’s salary is lower or higher than the husband’s salary..It is still the husband’s roles & responsibilities to pay some or all for the house expenses..

More pity when this involved the well being of their small innocent children… Don’t these husbands want to give the best education for their own flesh & blood?

I get headache (slightly) when I think of these marriage illness… Sometimes I looked back to ones’ religion faith… I always believe a good knowledge of religion will help to shape one’s personalities & characters. Faith & religion will help to curb these marriage illnesses from happening…

I looked back at level of faith & religions of these husbands have…Sad to say that is NIL…

Again I hate it when people get too cosy & complacent of ideas & concepts of marriage.. I know in general, people like to use this concept of “just go with the flow” for their marriage. They apply this to husband & wife relationship. They even apply this concept when raising up their kids.. When it comes to kids, that is why we will see these obese kids due to poor eating habits low nutrition, kids with poor behavior who does not know to salam , respect others, kids who does not know how to behave in other people’s houses etc…More pity when these kids are not guided in their educations..

Argh!!!!

26th day of Ramadan 2011

Insya Allah, we may be celebrating Raya on Tuesday 30th August.

And with that, we have 3 more days of Ramadan..

Meaning 3 more days left for us to make full use of this holy month. Which sometimes I feel like I have not done enough ie praying, donate, & read Al-Quran.

I read somewhere of how things can be difficult for us at the time when we want it to be easy.. For example, donating..There will always be people from different kinds of organisation standing at the bazar ramadan or pasar malam , asking for donation from passer by . We can either choose to ignore it or donate some money to them.. Sometimes, we ignore because we are in a hurry to buy food & stuffs. But most of the time, we ignore their presence for no reason at all..

There will be some like me who ignore them at first encounter and thinking that we can donate to them later once we are done buying our stuffs.. But it never rings in our mind that the opportunity to donate especially in this holy month of Ramadan may not come true the minute we really want to donate... Meaning Allah take that chances away from us as we have been taking it for granted countlessly..

This crossed my mind last night...I saw my hubby putting some money into the folded part of his kain pelikat at his waist. I knew that that money will be donated at the mosque after he is done with terawih... So it crossed my mind will I ever get that chance to donate tomorrow.. What if Allah take that opportunity & chances away from me?

Three days left for good doings in Ramadan.. I know some of us will be feeling sad . And think will we ever get to see the next Ramadan?

I know I will always be tired at night after putting my girls to sleep early..But I hope I will be able to do my terawih & read Al-Quran & donate in these next 3 days left of Ramadan..Insya Allah..

6th & 2nd Birthday



This fasting month is also a birthday month for Arissa & Aisyah..  15th of August  2005 and 7th of August 2009.

Aisyah was excited  when I told her that we were going to eat birthday cake that Monday night. Soon we heard her singing happy birthday ( in her own words) ..

Cake was chosen by Arissa. We dropped by at the cake house after picking Arissa up from her Enopi class.. I already though this cake will be picked by her as soon as i see the gummy sweets on it..

As usual, it  was  a simple but a sweet birthday celebration just for us..

Asthma cough

I thought it was only a normal cough..Little that I know that it is an asthma cough..Even the normal GP that I normally go near my house could not tell the difference. Only my Gynea was able to tell the different between normal cough & asthma cough..


My lungs are normal. And so is my throat..There is no sore throat either…However, my cough is very chesty & watery & phlegm too..

And the only remedy for this is to increase my asthma puff. And to stay away from drinking cold drinks!!! Thanks goodness this is the fasting month and my appetite is still not so great… I can’t imagine if it is not fasting months…

I know the temptation to gulp down that glass of cold air mata kucing, or cincau or air kedondong or air limau asam boi is really great when one is fasting… And I had gone that road during this fasting month. ..And yet, my cough & phlegm did not go away even though I have my puff daily.

Seeing this and feeling afraid of getting my lungs infected by virus, I am staying away from cold drinks…

I hate having this cough as I can’t have a good night sleep…Almost every other night I was coughing & flushing my pleghm down the sink bowl…Plus, this cough make me vomit also… There was one sahur where I vomited soon after finishing my sahur food. I only had a few kurma after that to compensate the food that I vomited. And Allah was great..I had a easy puasa for that day..Was feeling afraid that I might be feeling weak and having stomachache too…

Eversince I increased my puff and staying away from cold drink, I can see the improvement on my cough… To be honest, I am just wanting a safe labor when October comes. I am praying this 3rd labor will be an easy one like my previous two labor. Have heard stories about how tough the labor will be if you have an asthma attack on the same day. It happened to one of my staffs..

It’s better to have an asthma free labor if the possibilities of me going into labor without my hubby at my side is there..

Sometimes when I looked back of what had happened during this holy Ramadan, I am just thankful that He gave us strength to go through it..And that we did not even complained a bit about this ..All I know, how we all just pray that all will be over and that we are given chances to make full use of Ramadan by reading more Al-Quran, doing Terawih and donate more..

Ramadan 2011

This Ramadan has been one challenging fasting month for me & my family.


The 2nd week of Ramadan had seen us all down with high fever which is caused by some virus.. Arissa got it first on the first Saturday of Ramadan. As the fever did not subside by Monday morning, we took her to see our pediatrician along with Aisyah who all of sudden caught the fever bug too.

Came Tuesday , it was hubby’s turn to get the high fever. By this time, Arissa was well. As for Aisyah she was all ok by Wednesday. But came Thursday, Arissa’s high fever came again and were only gone on Saturday .. While for me, I only have mild fever on Wednesday & Thursday. Alhamdulillah mine was gone fast as I did not fast for 2 days.

Anyhow, this fever lasted longer on Arissa & hubby. Both were having the same symptoms. Both will be shivering and so weak when the paracetemol is almost finishing its effect on their body. But as soon as they have the next dosage of paracetemol , hubby & Arissa will be ok… I remember how hubby told me that he was shivering in his air conditioned office. And in fact, he did not even turn on the car air conditioned when driving to & from work.

3rd week of Ramadan sees us all attacked by food poisoning… Again, Arissa got it worst. She was so weak and keep on vomiting … Aisyah only had minor watery poo poo .Thanks goodness she was her normal self. As for me, I was still losing my appetite to eat… Due to this, I lost 3 kilos which I hate it..But thank goodness, my baby is growing healthily. My bowel was still in watery conditioned too up to today.Just not as bad as Aisyah .

And now we are all ok in this 4th week of Ramadan.. But the side effect is still there within us..Our bodies are still 10% weak actually. In fact, my MIL is the last person to get diarrhea. Even though her is just a minor one, but it is still not good on her as she is not the type to drink lotsa water.. Her water intake is never 5 glasses of water daily…

I guess all of us will remember this Ramadan forever…In fact this is my first Ramadan as a pregnant fasting woman. And I did not fast for several days not because I was hungry but because of my sickness..I am glad the 1st week of fasting was an easy one for me..But the 2nd & 3rd week was so challenging… In fact right now I am still having my asthma cough ….I hope it will go away ASAP.

Have a blessed Ramadan everyone..

Baby's gender

I know that almost everyone that I known had wish & shared the same view on our 3rd baby's gender.. They are all hoping it will be a baby boy as my eldest & 2nd child are both girls.

But to me and my hubby, boy or girl is not an issue for us.. The most important thing is that our baby is healthy and free from any physical & mental deformities..

Actually why we care less on our 3rd baby gender is because of the fact that there are so many married couples out there who yearn to hold and hug their own baby but still could not..

There are so many people around our life , be it among my hubby's surrounding and mine too, that are still childless. They are childless not by an option. Some of them have been married for  more than 5 years and still trying to conceive...

With that reason, me & hubby are just thankful to Allah for his precious gifts to us... To tell you the truth, I too was afraid that I would not conceived our 2nd baby as the gap was 4 years from my 1st pregnancy. And even for my 3rd pregnancy, I still had the same fear of not being able to conceive .... Alhamdulillah we are lucky.

No words can describe the feeling a parent can feel when holding & hugging  a child of our own flesh & blood. And no words can describe the longing look of those childless couples wishing to be in our shoes..

With that, any parents should be gratefull and honored to have a child or children of their own..

091011 or 101011 or 111011

Went for my monthly maternity  check-up last Monday..

As  I will be 7 months preggy by end of this month, me & husband asked our gynea on the exact date of birth for our 3rd child... So  it can be either 091011 or 101011 or 111011 or can be any date on that 2nd week of October 2011..

Guess who was  excited upon noticing the dates? Well, my gynea la.... Hubby said that it was  the same response  from my gynea when I delivered my 2nd child on 070809..  I think maybe because she had some patients who had asked to have their babies delivered on nice dates like that...As for us, any dates will do for Allah knows when is the best & right time for our baby to be born into this world..

So our baby is expected to be born  roughly 2 weeks earlier than the actual date if based on the conception date. This I have already anticipated earlier tooo.. Aisyah was delivered 2 weeks earlier too.As for Arissa it was one week earlier.. Thus, our 3rd baby will have the same probability as her sisters too!

As for our 3rd baby gender, our baby is still being shy about it.Our gynea could not confirmed on the baby's sex as our baby is always hiding it... It would be nice if the sex is confirmed  as I want to start preparing the clothes...

Thus, we are assuming our baby is a girl ...

Asthma Attack

Last Tuesday night I got my asthma attack which I have not gotten for almost 5 years . And for once in my life, I fear for the life of little baby inside of me and for my life too..I have no asthma medication with me when it happened as the last attack was 5 years ago.

It all happened when I was having runny nose and constant sneezing at office the whole monday at office & home. Came Tuesday, I was having short of breath .It was ok if just sit down at my office table. But walking to and back from the ladies room will leave me with short of breath . And it got worst on that night .

This happened after I bathe my two girls after we got back from the park. By the time I had finished bathing my eldest daughter ( i bathed the youngest one first) , my breathing was worst. I had to sit down long so that i can breath better and not gasping for air.

I got panic attack & fear for life of the little baby inside of me when while waiting for dearest hubby to come home from work. Arissa had this worry look on her face throughout the whole time when we were eating dinner and waiting for her baba to arrive home. Of course I did explain to her that I was having difficulties of breathing due to my cough & that how i need to move slow when doing things. It think it was weird for her to see me short of  breath and how hard it was for me to breath. Aisyah just nod her head when i said that I was sick.

The only medication I took was a cough mixture. That too I had after consulting my dearest SIL & BIL who are both doctors.Things got a bit better that night but I could not sleep well. I was awake now and then. In fact hubby got worried too when he took my pulse reading. It was fast than normal rate.

So come Wednesday morning, I just told myself I need to see my gynea. Eventhough my breathing has improved but I dont want to feel fear & panic again. Not having medication on my hand is not something I want to go through again.

Unfortunately, my gynea was on leave on Wednesday. So was my gynea's next choice of gynea to be seen if she was unavailable. After consulting my SIL, we decided to visit another chest & respitory specialist at the same hospital who happened to be my SIL & BIL's friend.

The doctor ran a few asthamtic test on me .One of it it was I had to blow through this small tube and see how far I move the pin on top of the tube. I blowed 3 times and the pin did not move much. In the end it was confirmed that I had an asthma attack. Told him too of my asthma history.

I felt better when the doctor put me on the inhaler mask straightaway. Soon I was able to blow and move the pin better than my earlier attempt.

Actually I am supposed to be hospitalised as I need to rest a lot. But the doctor gave me option either to stay home and rest or choose to be warded for  a  few days. No wonder I was asked earlier by him on wether I have a maid at home and how many children I have . At first his questions on this did not make sense to me. But now I know whys

So I am given a 6 days on medical leave. Doctor's advice is to rest a lot. And my next appointment will be on next Monday.

However, i got a scold from my dearest hubby last night. Why? All because I did not rest enough and still busy to cook and attending to the children. I was not supposed to take them to the park that evening. Me feeling a bit better after having my medication, thought it was ok for me to take them there.

But today, I just told myself to really put up my feet. I listened to my body . And yeah I am not that 100% well . I am still short of breath and walking around too much in the house still leave me tired and gasping for air a bit...

Being pregnant for the 3rd time at the age of 36 years old, definitely sing a different song to me..

Baba's girls

I have to say that my two lovely girls are baba's girls definitely.

At the moment my hubby is away on his business trip where the location is popular as one of Thailand's holiday destination. I just could not understand why his company can choose a popular holiday spot like for it's top management seminar...How i wish I could go!!!

Back to my point , my girls are missing their baba tremendously. Aisyah was already asking for her baby , wanting her baba to hold her in his arm, right after we dropped my hubby at the airport. And during the night, just as me & aisyah were lying on bed getting ready for sleep, she would asked where is her baba. And in the morning, the first thing Aisyah would asked me was where is her baba.

Same goes to Arissa. She would asked  me if she can call baba or send sms to his baba. Alhamdulillah, she got to talk her baba and how happy she was.. Another thing that i can sensed how Arissa is missing her baba company is her attitude. There will be moments when she is just clingy and sometimes feeling so sad ...

Which is why I too dont like it that much when my dearest hubby have to be away on his business trip.  Hubby likes  to play with them. Something that i am not good at.. Maybe fathers are like that.

With baba it is play time for the girls. It can be a rough one like father & sons. I called it like wwf wrestling. The girls can punch as hard as they can with their baba. They can even land themselves on top of  their baba. My hubby would always remind them not do this with me as their mama is not as strong as baba! Phew! They play rough like a boy ok!

Sometimes, just as Aisyah was about to doze off  at night, she can just be as fresh and alert the minute she sees her baba entering our bedroom. All of a sudden, a smile will light up at the corner of her tiny mouth. Soon she will be wanting to play with her baba who was just got back from work!

With Arissa, she will choose baba instead of me to put her to sleep. Eventhough I will stay with her first to put her to sleep, in the end, she will always ask for her baba to put her to sleep. hemmmm.. Sometimes how i pity my dearest hubby who is sometimes feeling so tired after coming back from office.  But he always put up with the girls demands... this i salute him most eventhough sometimes i wish he wouldn't.

hemmm..one more day to go..My girls' baba is coming home tomorrow...

100% wean off ?

Is she finally 100% wean off from my breast milk? I presume yes.


Is not that she did not ask from me to latch on or to breastfeed her..She did. But somehow she can accept my explanation of how big girl she is and that she can drink milk from her cup.

This weaning process just happened like that... I had stopped breastfeeding her and feeding her my EBM somewhere last month. And whenever she asked to be breastfed, I gave her the same reasons as above. Of course there were moments when she just want it & sometimes cry too when I refused to breastfeed her..Somehow, Allah is Great. That she can accept my reasons wheneverthese happened. Alhamdulillah.

I know she is missing it still of this special bonding session. In fact I too am missing it. But I had to take my chances of making it happened (wean off) as i am due for labor end on October this year. I just hope i am doing the right thing by weaning her off 3 months soon from the original plan.

My worry now is of her reaction when she sees me breastfeeding her new baby brother/sister. She may be tempted to breastfeed from me as the craving might be there..

Working Pregnant Hijab Woman

Everyone’s know ( do they?) that Jusco is the best place to get affordable price maternity wear. New designs are always being put on the shelves. Thus one need only to visit Jusco now & then to get new maternity design.


And of course there are also Motherclub , Modernmum, MikiMum & other online brand that can accommodate the demands for maternity wear. But when it comes to hijab lady,the task can be a bit harder. Especially to pregnant hijab woman like me who prefers long sleeves rather than short sleeves match with an inner blouse.

I really don’t favor at all the trend of using inner blouse that comes with long sleeves to match with either short sleeves or sleeves blouse/shirt/t-shirt /spaghetti strap blouses.

And being a working woman, it is best to keep your office wardrobe color to plain color only. This is because you can match one colored shirt with various designs of shawls & tudungs. You will have less tudung/shawls options on hand if the fabric of your office wear is flowery, stripes & with motifs.

Sometimes I just wish that there are enough available designs on the market for pregnant hijab working woman like me. I had tried googling for it in the internet and the effort is fruitless.

Maybe I can turn this problem into a marketable business idea!

Among the things i am gonna miss: If it's truly happen la

I was browsing the latest Isetan Sales e-brochure ( sales are up to 70%-80% discounts) when sadness overcome me...uhuksuhuks!

Gosh! If "that thing" really happen, then I am gonna miss my Isetan sales big time!!!

Doctor's Advice

Doctor's advice : Exercise More & drink lotsa water

Oh how i need to exercise more for this 3rd pregnancy! I dont deny it that I am not super fit for this pregnancy. I dont go to the gym anymore . Eversince Aiysah's birth 22 months ago, I have been coming home straight from work. Main reason was because I was breastfeeding her & bath her morning & night. 2nd reason is because of Arissa .Since i leave for office early in the morning, I try to make a point to come home as early as I can. And then take them to the park. So my only form of exercise is by walking my girls to the park and walking around the neighbourhood.  

And exercise is so important to 3rd time pregnant mothers like me! Why? Because it will reduce the pubic bone pain and swelling of blood viens or varicose veins.. You wont be getting all these during your first or second pregnancy.

And  only now did i understand the purpose of using maternity back support belt. My gynae suggested that i start using one. And Oppo maternity back support belt it is. I tried one at the hospital. And yes, it is comfortable but i did buy it . But I am considering of getting one and have started googling it in the internet.. Found a cheap on too from our local online shop.

And water! Just so happened that i drank less water the day before my monthly check-up...hehehh..

Online tudung purchases.

Eversince I wear tudung/headscarves, I have been buying almost 99% of my tudung collection online.


For a working mother like me, it’s the most convenient way as I don’t have time to shop for it during weekends. My weekends are always full of family activities. Plus, it is not a good idea to shop with toddler and kids. How on earth are we going to make the best purchase out of our hard earned money?

So I never shop for myself during family shopping trip. I normaly save that for weekday shopping which I did during lunch time.

Back to this online tudung shopping, I hate it when the colors of the tudungs were not as what I had seen online. This happened when those pictures were taken with some lighting effect. How I wish those photographer can make the photos as real as it can be like what the tudung really look like. At least it will make the purchasing a happy experiences. Nobody likes to receive ordered items wrongly colored…

Thank goodness this only happened like 1% only. And I can still accept the tudung as I still like the design.

When shopping online, it’s important to choose a good & reliable online shop. This to ensure that every cents you have paid worth every single of it. Plus not all material are the same even though when all online shop are selling the same fabric.

For example all tudung online shops claimed that their inner neck( covered/uncovered) are made from top quality lycra cotton. But the truth is, even the lycra cotton has it classes. And what irks me most is that these sellers are selling it at the same range of price ( difference by RM2-Rm5 ). Shouldn’t this different type of inner neck lycra cotton are sold at a different prices?

Recently I made a purchase of covered inner neck from a new online shop (not my regular online shop). I did reconfirm with the seller on the quality of lycra cotton that is being used to make the inner neck. Satified with their answer & placed my order.

I was happy to received my parcel. But was disappointed when I saw the color. And more sad when I touch the quality of lycra cotton used to make the inner neck. Price wise, it was the same as those inner neck that I bought from my regular online shops. So I was disappointed with the quality that that online shop owner had said …

Well, no more buying from them la…

His Morning sickness

Two months back hubby was complaining about his late night hunger that was making him feel fat ..I told him that it could be because i am pregnant.

And since last month, he started to feel nausea and somtimes wanting to vomit...And I told him  the same reason that I told him two months back..

If you asked me if all these are true, well, honestly I really dont know for sure..Could he really be having my morning sickness eventhough i was into my 2nd trisemester?

But i did share with him  the story that happened to a guy who was working next door to my office. That guy was feeling nausea & vomiting  when his wife was pregnant... And when i asked other ladies in my office building on this syndrome, they said that it had happened before to some guys whose wives were pregnant...

So, this syndrome can be true I think...Anyway, I feel pity for my hubby ...hehehheh

My soon to be 6 years old girl

Is it only with my girl or all other girls her age are like that?


I left my 22 months old finger toothbrush at my parents' house . This happened when we went balik kampung yesterday. So I had to shop for a new finger toothbrush at lunch time today.

While looking for it at Isetan, my eldest girl called me. Asked me what was i doing. Thus I told her i was shopping for Aisyah's toothbrush as I have left the existing one at her wan's house.

Next she asked me what if it happens again .Meaning what if the same thing happens again with the new toothbrush. I said that it wont happened again. But again she said " But Mama, what if you forgot again ".

Now she got me all cornered up! Not able to think what is the best answer plus that i was in a hurry, I simply said " Then, I will have to buy another one "

It wasn't the best answer to a kid. As she will start to think that for everything that is left behind can be easily replaced... I hate being in that position.Wished hubby was there to help me...

Enopi

While i am writing down this entry, Arissa is attending her first Enopi class today. I truly hope she will have fun & that this Math class will help her on her maths skills.

Why Enopi & not Kumon? Simply because me & hubby believe that the critical thinking maths classes will be an advantage to her thinking process and benefit her in the future.

Moonjar piggybank

I think all parents want to teach our kids the concept of money . Be it for saving & spending. It will benefit us parents actually as our children will understand why they can't have new toys, clothes etc each time we go out shopping. Also why they need to save money .

So today, i googled about Moonjar . This happened after one of my FB's friends posted in her status asking all her friends on how to teach her son the value of money. And one of her friends suggested Moonjar.

Googled & read it. And I think it'a a doable approach that we can teach our kids. Basically Moonjar teaches our kids the 3 concept of money  by saving, spending & sharing. They are using 3 colored box/piggybank to keep this money. I have googled it and found this. Sorry I am just cut& paste it here ( i linked it to their blogsite)... happy reading parents!

MOONJAR

For more than eight years, Moonjar (www.moonjar.com), the leading international provider of children’s financial literacy tools, has helped children and families learn the three basic principles of money management: saving, spending and sharing, through a line of creative products aimed at helping parents and children take the first steps towards a healthy financial future. We must not forget that our as role educators, business leaders, and parents is to provide students with the best of both worlds: a strong and challenging academic curriculum, and a full infusion of the 21st-century skills students will need to succeed.




Starting a conversation about money with kids can be tricky. We have developed six tips for parents to teach their kids to save, spend and share their allowances—even at a young age.


1. Start with a visual tool. Most children, beginning at age 4 or 5, are visual learners, so using a hands-on tool like the Moonjar Moneybox, a bank with three compartments—one each for saving, spending and sharing, can better help them learn responsible money management through critical problem solving.


2. Make money a “yes” conversation. Use pictures to help your kids visualize their goals and then prioritize what they are saving for, what they want to spend their money on, and with whom or with what they want to share their money.


3. Discuss wants vs. needs. As you set goals, identifying objects that represent “wants” and “needs” helps to overcome the desire for instant gratification.


4. Allow mistakes. Children, like adults, learn from making mistakes. From time to time, allow your child to buy a toy you believe will not be enjoyed very long, for example. Sure, they may be disappointed in a few weeks, but many lessons can be learned from this experience. Encourage them, without guilt, to plan their future purchases, weigh the cost and the benefit of their choices and to think twice next time, even sleep on it.


5. Encourage philanthropy. Help your children understand that they are part of a larger world community through discussions about sharing their money and/or donating time to causes of their choosing. Volunteering as a family is a great activity for all to participate, learn and grow.


6. Be a good role model. Make sure your children see you doing the things that you are teaching them. Let them in on your bill paying, savings and investment plans and charitable giving. Discuss your attitudes and philosophies about money and tell them your dreams for how your money can fuel your passions.

Bonding sessions

Aisyah is 21 months old. And I bet soon she will wean off from me sooner than I expected.

As much as I want to breastfeed her up to 2 years old like her eldest sister, all these is beyond my control. I can only assume that whatever is going to happen next is for the benefit of us all.

One thing for sure, I can easily wean her off from breastfeeding. No need to think of any solutions of how to wean her off like what other breastfeeding mothers went through. Of course I do feel sad that our intimate bonding session is going to end soon. But I should be thankful that I have it easy on this matter even with my eldest. More reason to be thankful is because I am pregnant now.

I did my research on tandem nursing. But do not know how it will be for me . So it’s good if Aisyah is wean off earlier than my labor day.

These days, she often ask for her powdered milk that she affectionately called “susu cup”. She can’t pronounce the word ‘susu” . It will sound like “bubu” . Don’t know if she is lazy to say it correctly or that she really can’t say it yet. I have tried pronouncing it ( susu) repeatedly to her…but she will still say it “bubu cup”.

So even though I am at home, she will ask for “bubu cup” . Be it during the day, or when I am home from work, or just before going to bed or when she wakes up in the morning. Bubu cup is the 1st thing she will say to me when she wakes up around 6.15am in the morning.. So off we go to the kitchen for her bubu cup..

Of course sometimes she will still ask from me her “bubu mama” which means she wants me to breastfeed her. But it’s beginning to be like a sudden crave for her . So what I do these day is to offer her bubu cup quickly whenever she ask for bubu mama!



3rd time preggy

At first it did not rhyme in my head that I am actually having a no-appetite  at this stage of  16weeks pregnancy. So I was surprised to hear from my gynea doctor about my blood test result. My borderline iron level result was something i did not expect to found out from that test.

I only realized that i am actually having a no-appetite eating mood last weekend. Of course I ate my breakfast, lunches & dinner. But the intake is not increaseing at a rate of what a pregnant woman should be eating. And taking pre-natal pills & oil fish pills & calsium pills are not enough also if i want my baby  weight to be above than average weight.

So here I am reading through & refreshing my knowledge on what iron rich food to eat as well as other vitamins & minerals rich food too. Theseday I will reminding myself to eat meat dishes for lunch. As for animal internal organs, I am having in it in smaller portion and on irregular basis. Too much of it is not good for the baby & for myself too.

I still can't believe of my blood test result. But then again, what's so different about the each pregnancy being different from another. And yes, i find it a bit weird when i am to remind myself to eat more. Eat more in the sense of healthy & well balanced food. I really do not want to gain fats only... Of course I can easily shed those fats off during my confinement period. But being overweight during pregnancy is bad for my health being & movement tooo! 

But once a while it's nice to indulge in ice creams & chocolate ice-blended!!!





Mid year school holidays

I am done with the hotel booking for this upcoming mid year school holidays... As usual, I had to do the searching & bookings  for this holidays. Can't leave it to hubby as he is busy with his work ..Not that he couldn't help.Just wrong timing.

As usual I did a lot of surfing to get the best hotel room rate. And how these online hotel room booking quickly sold out their best available rooms within a week! However I managed to book the lowest & best rate in town for the type of room we had choosen. Beach, swimming pool, location are the main factors for the choosen hotel. Thus i just booked for a standard room type with limited views. Views or no views are not important to kids as much as swimming pool. And having a nice beach would give them extra activities to do in the sun..

Now, i am so much looking forward to this island holidays. Nasi kandar here we come!

Obese Children :Parents' faults

So yeah.. They wanted to ban junk food from being sold at school canteens . Of course it is a great move . But to curb obesity , the parents also should have a change of mindset. After all , those children didn't turn obese in one night. Some may be obese from age 1 year old.

Just ask ourselves and observe our own family members & relatives & neighbours too. One can easily see how some of us parents just feed our innocent & naive children with junk food. Not only junk food but also too much of processed food. How many of us make it a point to feed them home cooked food that is is also nutritious & delicious?

If parents control their children's junk food intake, none of those kids will be obese . Sometimes I wonder ,  do these parents ever think what will happened to their obese kids in terms of health, peoples' perceptions  on these innocent children?  We do know how children likes to tease & bully & look down on fat children. I myself do not want my children to go such a  sad childhood  especially those school years.

I guess if one day these obese kids blame their parents for making them obese, the parents should accept it without pointing fingers to other than themselves. After all, it is those parents that brought them up into this world in the 1st place.

Anuar Zain

Eventhough i had been to his show, watched how he sings with that great vocal of his , took picture with him after the show & had him signed my red goody beg with  "love you", I am still not a big fan of AZ.

I really had a great time that afternoon . With a crowd that is 100% AZ's big fans, i found myself joining the crazy crowds. I was one of them who went standing near him just to watch him closely. I even joined those people who kneeled down in front of the stage when he took video of us.. Hahha...how i was like a teenager that afternoon.

SPM results

Can't blame the IT when  SPM students can check their results via sms thesedays..


If its were available during my time, I dont think I'll be using that service. Maybe this is because I had a wonderful time at school eventhough my click of freinds are not glamorous  or pretty or even those smart elite students.

I guess, only those who doesn't like his/her school or batches of students will opt to use the sms. More concrete reason because you dont want to meet those who treat you bad in school ..Am i right?

Well, we can't blame this student but only feel pity for them for having to experienced those dreadful moments in school.

But then, again, even if you had great time in school and still want to check your results via sms, I still think that these students are missing one of the best moment in lives. Doesn't matter what your results will be , it's great to share the moments with your friends of 5 years. Of course later on you can share the news with your family. But to shout & jump or cried tears of happiness or sadness with your friends is something worth remembering.

Orphans of the Japan Tsunami

Sitting silent in their classroom, the 30 children whose parents have not come to collect them after tsunami swept away their town




Everyone who read this article will only be feeling sad for those children at  Kama Elementary School  in Japan. Even I can't imagine what is going inside those children's minds. And to think of how to break the death news of their parents is so unthinkable and hardest thing to do. I can only think of if what this were to happen to my own flesh & blood.
 
I do hope these children have relatives that they can turned to. Can't imagine if they have none.
 
Sometimes, when things like this happened, I really would like to know how these children will grow up to be .But then , no one I think will trace back at these children and do some documentary on how the tsunami have shaped their minds & lives  in the years to come.
 

Birthdays are for kids actually

On our way back from 1U yesterday, my eldest child could not help from smiling at me.. When I asked her why, she said that it was nothing.. Actually I knew what had happened earlier on when me & her Tuk Mi was waiting for them at the Home Fix shop. However, I hate to spoil the fun. Thus, I pretended not to tell her that I know what was on her mind..


It’s good that Arissa was able to keep the secret until today’s morning. We all know la how excited kids can be with birthdays even though it was not theirs!



Yeah! I smelt something fishy about them ( hubby + Arissa) being late to meet us at Home Fix. They said they were only going to drop by at the Sticky candy shop for a short while. So me & my MIL waited for them at Home Fix. But when a few minutes turned to be longer than expected, my mind suddenly think that they were up to something… Well, it’s not hard to conclude that it had to be something related to my birthday as today is my birthday…

And this morning, I could see how excited Arissa was when she gave me my birthday card. Little Aisyah gave the small silver box present. She was too young to understand what birthday is all about.Thus she was all curious with what was on this morning at the dining table. Even when Arissa was saying good bye to me this morning, I can still see her happiness about birthday!!! I bet if there was a birthday cake this morning, she would be the one who wanted to blow all the candles!

And as usual, my hubby the Mr. Planner had done it again . The birthday gift was thoughtfully choosen and bought by him. Of course Arissa had been explained reasonably on why that present was selected. This I presumed la… Since I just bought a new low-key brand car, it had crossed my mind to get a new key chain that was practical to use ie wont easily leave a stratch on my car..

So I never thought that they will get for me a glow-in-the-dark mentol shaped key chain as my 36th birthday present. I can imagine how easy it will be to find my car keys in the dark after these!!!

Missing Singapore

Yeah! here i am missing my Singapore vacation cum balik kampung also for me & my family. Last Dec 2010 , me & my family vacationed down south for a good old 7 days .Before & after Christmas.

Why balik kampung?  Because my MIL was born & raised in Singapore. And all the siblings & relatives are still living in Singapore. Plus also my FIL's relatives. So you can imagine why we need to spend like a week and nothing less than that! Our itinery was like this: Daylight - touring & Night - visiting relatives

And yeah, having a relatives there does help to easen our trip budget. We saved a lot on accomodation as we stayed in my MIL's sister house .

hem....my clock is showing it's almost 5.15 pm now..Happy Chinese New Year everyoone..

p/s: i'll continue this wonderful singapore trip in my next posting.. Sentosa is marvelous!

The Three Ladies in My Live

Who welcomes you back home after a long day at work everyday?

In my case it definitely will be my MIL, my 5 year old girl( come August 15th , 2011 she will be 6 years old ) and my  18 months old baby girl. And no matter how tired I am  feeling or  how I'm in no mood to chit chat long, I just know that I have to layan them.  By this I'm not implying negative meanings for I know talking to them is something I have to do each time  i come back from work.

Why? Because if I were in their shoes, I too would be like them. Imagine being at home for the whole day eventhough my MIL do sometimes go out with her ever loyal kaki-jalan cum cousin and that my eldest daughter goes to school in the morning. But  who will they get to talk about things that happened to them during the day when  me & hubby are out working ?None right.

Which is why i said earlier that i owe it to them to be that listening partner. And one thing that I notice is that how happy they are  whenever i show interest in them..Actually most of the time, i don't need to be the 1st person to initiate it.

So I will be hearing shouts of my names from my two lovely girls the minute I stand in front of our house gate waiting for them to open it for me. Or I hear it the when they see me walking towards them who will be standing in front of the gate while their granny is busy tending to her cactus.

And yes Aisyah can say mama! and with other words too!

Scones & Muffins

It all started with me getting clueless on what to prepare for breakfast. The breakfast menu needed to be revamped or given more live too. It has always been either nasi goreng or mee/mee hoon goreng, or home recipe pancakes, or roti boom, or bread & jam or half boiled eggs or cereals or baked pasta or quick quiche.

Thus I googled la. Scones? Muffins?

And that what got me started baking scones & muffins. As a matter of fact I am quite amazed that I baked it. This is because; I have never eaten a scone in my entire life even though I always go to CBTL, SF or Starbucks. In fact, I don’t know what to use as my point of reference for my baked scones. It would be different if I have tasted it before.

The funny part to confirm if my baked scones were a success comes from my dearest hubby’s comment. He commented that my baked scones were a bit dry. I don’t think it was dry as I found the middle area of the scones a bit soft. However, his review contradicted with his action when he ate a lot of it. So which is which this time? Anyway, my chocolate chip scones were a hit with Arissa.

Nevertheless, I baked another version of scones using the same recipe. This time it was cheese scones. Guess who requested for this 2nd one? Well, dearest hubby la..And Arissa too as she wanted to bring it to school.

Muffins! I am sure others have baked this numerous times than me. And some will say that it gets easier these days to bake one with those pre-packed muffins recipes which you only need to add in water, cooking oil & eggs.

But I hate that version. Even though I am not a super duper cooked or baker, I still prefer the old way of doing it. I don’t mind preparing & measuring all the ingredients. I used to think how hard & difficult it is to mix the butter and flour with your hands so that it turned into something like breadcrumbs. See how amateur I am that I don’t even know what’s the name of this process!.

Difficult no more as I watched it at you tube. It helps a lot to see other doing it. At least I know what to expect & watch out for. And I normally baked & cooked my breakfast the night before. A hassle? Not when I am doing it for my loved ones! In fact , the maid is there to help me to clean up. Easier isn’t it.