Raya and Dina at 1.

everybody is in raya mood today and to me, it's 95% raya mood and 5% no mood to work. hehe.

so all has gone home and as i wait for paphoop to pick me up this evening, i decided to fill my time by looking thru dina's pics from birth and i really am amazed at how different she looked then compared to now. who would have guessed that such a puny baby girl will blossom into an adorable cheeky-faced munchkin.... sigh....

Before, at birth....

And after, as a 1 year old toddler....
selamat hari raya dina phoop! mama and papa sayang dina always... mmmwahhh!

Baby D.E.I.N. 's Numerology Readings.

Enjoy reading but remember 'The Secret', 'Happy Pocket', and 'Sciences of Getting Rich'. Take the good, release the negative.

D.E.I.N

D - Dina
E - Emmil
I - Ian
N - Nia
(heheh - rings a bell, eh?)

p.s. Thanks again to a very kind colleague of mine aka numerology expert extraordinaire, Datin Anggun (not her real name, obviously) for the readings.
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Dina Alicia Azli
6 September 2007

She's a born artist, loves art and beauty. has a pleasant personality, charming and full of enthusiasm and energy. Is lively and interesting. She is vivacious and has vitality so a bit difficult for people who are conservative. Loves beauty, music, dancing, poetry, luxury, money and happiness. Bright and attractive. Loves to spend on rich clothes, jewellery, perfume and all beautiful things. The loving type, considerate and very helpful to others. Loves the family and home (like mama and papa nie). Dreams of making everyone happy at home. Financially not attracted towards wealth accumulation. Loves to attain pleasure. A loving and devoted wife and mother . Is always saved by minimum comforts of life. Good position as an interior decorator, architect, jeweller, musician, painter/sculpture or chef. Lucky stone is emerald. Lucky numbers are 1 and 6. Lucky dates are 1, 6 and 9. Colors that brings her luck are green, pale blue, rose or pink. Should avoid orange or violet.

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(guess what? Ian and Emmil's readings are the same? how about that?)

Emmil Haqeem Faizal
9 February 2008

Ian Iskander Azran

27 February 2008

He is born under the influence of Mars & Jupiter. He will have pearl like teeth and a majestic appearance. He has both physical & mental strength. Has great ideas and expresses them bluntly. He excels in putting questions to others and making people work under him. He will speak about falsehood. He will undertake big projects and gives livelihood to many people. He works with the principle of honesty & fair-play. Sometimes he may get angry too much but later he will regret it. He is very attached to his country & religion. He is hardworking and his ideas are crystal clear. He rarely smiles. He is strict in his behaviour and assists his dependants at the right time. He is respectful of his elders and wise people. He will face a lot of difficulties in his youth but will reach a high position later in life. He always strives to improve his status. He should be encouraged to travel far and wide, esp, to distant lands as this experience will enrich his knowledge and to learn new biz tactics & methods. He will go very far in the military or become a top businessman, industrialist or a high-ranking officer. He must avoid the colour green.

Emmil's full name (as above) is a very lucky name. Please address him as Haqeem.

For Ian to excel and have great luck, he should be addressed using the second name, Iskander…

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Last but not least...

Nia Maesha Azhan
22 September 2008

She looks majestic in appearance and is well-to-do. She must be careful about what she eats as she has a tendency to grow fat. Wants to complete all work quickly. Hates slow workers. Has great memory. Gets angry easily if people do not understand her ideas. She is a great talker and travels frequently. Liberal hearted. Spends money freely for the sake of others. And helps others without caring of the consequences. Loves to plan huge projects to earn much money and works hard to achieve those targets. Has a noble heart and is friendly to all. She will easily attract others under her influence. She is bold to oppose anything she dislikes. Although she has a shallow knowledge of things, she will talk about it in such a grand manner, that others would praise her as a Miss Know It All. When she lacks money, she becomes irritable and angry very quickly. She will enjoy all kinds of habits and addictions but will not become addicted! She must avoid wearing black, red or coffee colour.

For great luck, please address her as Maesha…

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well, that's all folks! This is just for fun yah. :)

And Nia makes 3 !!!

Wheeee.... my sis in law Nana has delivered her baby girl last Monday night approximately 11:32pm, Sept 22 bersamaan 22 Ramadhan 1429H. Named Nia Maesha.

(pic on right, showing Papa Arn, Mama Nana and little Nia. Arn is my hubby's little brother - pic courtesy from neer's blog hehe.)

Wow Nia is a libra baby then.....

Just for fun, here's the scoop on Libra women in general.

Libra Women (got this from a website. pardon the language errors, if any).
A libra woman has an egg oval facial shape. She has a nice smooth skin and a good figure. She will spent so much efforts to keep her skin clean and pretty. She can be easily allergis to cosmetic and make up, but taking care of her face to avoid wrinkles is her hobby.She is good at it and tend to look younger than her age.

She can be very naughty like a little boy, but yet be fully 100% woman.She looks nice in either Jeans or night gown. She thinks woman is equal to man. Sometimes she can think faster than you, but she will not leave you far behind. She will try not to make you feel like you are competed or defeated in any games she plays with you even she is winning.

She is a little flirt even she has no idea what she wants. She can not decide what to do, and what not to do, so she can not set her schedule very well in all cases. She is gifted with how to dress, and how to match her dress. She likes to dress in black and wear perfume. She likes a mild flowery scent.

In any argument, she can really argue. She can argue for hours, and mostly win the argument. If it is not a serious argument, she could argue and once a while give you a smile also. She will make a good politician, because she can tell which party will win the election.

She always has a good reasons ,even she likes to contradict herself. She can not decide what is right and wrong for her, because everything has a good side and a bad side. Woman in other Zodiac might not care what other people think, but Libra woman care what other people ,or what you feel as much as her own feeling.

She can adjust to her environment very well, so at work she will be at the ladder up. She likes team work in doing things. If you ask her for help or advice, she will help you except if she does not like your guts. She can change you and make you think you change by yourself without her influence.

Good side of being with Libra woman is that she never interferes with your privacy. She will not make you loose face in front of your friends.Even she cares about how much money she has left his her bank account, she will never forget to let you know how much she cares for you.

She thinks taking care of the house is a woman's job and she can do it well. But if you expect a Libra woman to fear you, then you are wrong. She is a strong woman even she looks at you with that sweet innocent pairs of baby looks and may loose you (let you win) in a few poker games.


to the Azhan family, CONGRATULATIONS on Nia's safe arrival. We are so happy for you!

(makes me feel that i want a second one right away! hehehe...ok ker Paphoop???)

Baby fiesta!

hello y'all.

just to let you know that this month and the next, we'll be expecting the storks to deliver 2 baby girls into our family. no . im not pregnant or adopting, but to tell you the truth, my sis-in-law, Nana AND my beloved twin sis, Afida @ Mok Da, will deliver their first born. ooohh i cant wait! i love babies and just looking at their innocent pudgy babay faces melts me.

Fida's baby girl will be called Sophie while Nana's will be Nia . OOPS! there you go folks. i've let the secret names out! but what can i do , im so excited , i just cant wait. maybe got the spelling wrong here and there but both mommies have got themselves pretty prepared.

both joined this hypnobirthing class which tells you about the naturalness of giving birth. natural means you dont get yourselves induced or anything. its the kampung style. no pricks here or there. au naturale. the secret is to be happy all throughout your preggy months and think happy thots about giving birth to take the pain away. so far so good. nana have withstood time by passing her 40 weeks of pregnancy . infact she is into her 41-week period already. Fida will do just the same. what can i say, this is the way child birth is supposed to be. I fully support this since i didnt get to go natural with Dina. says that the pregnant body will naturally ready itself for delivery day and the baby will come out when it's time. had a joke with PP about this. he said, what if the baby doesnt come out at all? that it wants to stay in there forever? LOL! what la papa nih. biler buah tu dah masak, dia meletup la. tho i cant recall any buah that can meletup at the moment. haha.

ok , here is my salute to both wonder mommies who will stand their ground and not let 'evil' (wink) doctors or relatives influence them to 'cepatkan beranak' or succumb to modern medication in order to get them to 'meletup'.

May you both have normal childbirths to perfect and normal baby goils!

Mama Nana with Papa Arn and Dina. They will get their baby girl soon, Yay!

Mok Da with Ayoh Gah and Dina (at 4 months old). Happy that my twin will finally get her baby too!

happy birthday soon, to Nia and Sophie!....

OPS MAKAN

Selangor went on holiday due to Nuzul Quran on Wenesday. so PP brought Dina to Dr Musa (DSH) for her 1st year shots. (i wasnt there with her for the first time. Sowi mama wasnt there for you, dinaphoop.)

PP reported to MP that doc said dina was a bit underweight for her age. (guessed her weight just went to her cheeks kot!). so PP went out of his way and bought lots of food stuff to fatten up lil dina. she doesnt take formula much, so doc said she could start on normal full cream milk which she really loves. there were also quacker oats and nestum for her. maybe dina is tired with the runny bubur nasi prepared by Tok Mummy. so bubur can be channeled to baby yeyen and emmil ya.

Info from babycenter.com says that toddlers can be picky when it comes to types of food and that they loved variety. hence food must have more texture to chew on as they grow bigger.

anyway, i decided to come up with a special recipe for dina after surfing the net for toddler recipes. one good site is http://www.annabelkarmel.com you can also get her recipe book at MPH. one recipe had to do with mashed potatoes and bacon. seemed yummy but of cos, needed a bit of modification.

So here goes:

Mashed Potatoes with Minced Beef (a recipe for 1-4 year olds)

3 medium-sized american potatoes
3 tablespoons of minced meat (beef)
3 tablespoons of butter (i used buttercup)
1 cup fresh milk (i used dutch lady uht milk)
a dash of pepper.

Method:

1. peel the potatoes. boil them till tender.
2. in a pan, saute the minced beef with 1 tablespoon of butter about 4-5 mins on medium heat.
3. once potatoes are done, drain the water and mash the potatoes with a masher
4. add remaining butter to the potatoes and continue to mix.
5. blitz the cooked minced meat in a blender till you get a fine texture
6. add the blitzed minced meat and pepper into the mashed potato mixture and mix well.
7. pour millk over the mixture and mix again till you get a smooth mashed potato texture.

the outcome? Dina finished about 6 tablespoons of it and knew she liked it cos she was jumping up and down in her walker for more. motive was to have variety of food for dina.
made about 6 batches and stored them in small rounded containers for freezer storage. tasted it too. wow ... delicious!.

but of course... i'm a great cook, remember? :P .....hmmm maybe i should start cooking again...


note:
PP - papa phoop
MP - mama phoop

A Night with the Kiddies

Paphoop's office organized a buka puasa gathering at Restoren Melayu, Jalan Conlay last Tuesday. it was to celebrate breakfast with the lil kiddies from Rumah Anak-anak Yatim Hulu Langat. paphoop introduced me to his staff and showed off lil Dina.. yes. we brought Dina together with Nor , our indonesian nanny.

a happy paphoop with Dina phoop

the food was great, the ambience was too. as usual, the place had performances on stage for guests. but what was most interesting and delightful was the company we had at our table. three little 10 year olds all sat together, eating silently . they were a bit shy i suppose.

paphoop as usual , cracked a joke to break the ice. the kids laughed. soon, we were exchanging riddles or teka teki with the kids. no doubt paphoop took out his best jokes but the kids got better ones. "Bilik apa yg boleh nampak?", one little girl asked. we gave up easily, purposefully. "BILIK I.C.U - laa", she exclaimed...and all three girls laughed with glee, clearly enjoying the fact that they duped two crazy adults . We laughed with them.

i scanned the crowd. people or rather some of paphoop's staff were staring at us. was thinking...why werent they mingling with the kiddies at their own table? some sat quietly while some others were talking amongst themselves. not really making attempts to involve the kids with something. anything. only a tiny few socialized with the orphans. whatever. there are no accidents. anyway, i dont really like to call them orphans because the word itself symbolizes sadness. loneliness. call them anything but. i'll stick to kiddies for now.

the kiddies clearly enjoyed our company and this caused a chain reaction in which kiddies from other tables came over to join in the 'fun'. jokes, riddles and most of all, Dina. The kiddies were so taken by Dina. you name it, they carried her, kissed her chubby cheeks and took photos too.

Dina looked a bit dumbfounded with all the attention!

To the precious lovable kiddies, a poem i picked out from a website

A Child's Heart - Danille Hollister

A child's heart is full of love
Bearing all the burden

Holding on to every promise
Even the uncertain..

A child's tears happy or sad
Are real from within

The cry's come from their souls
Brought on by confusion..

A child thinks of only good
No matter what has happened

They love their mom and dad
But their souls will never mend..

Hold a child oh so close
Don't ever let them go

A gift from the all mighty
Like the first fallen snow..

Unconditional love
Is all that they say and more

To take advantage of that
Is to tear at God's core..

A child's heart is full of love
Not to bear the burden

But to love life to the fullest
Ever so certain..

Alhamdulillah.
thank you God, for blessing Dina with a family that will always love and care for her.
thank you...
thank you...

Happy Birthday Dina - Part 2

Weee....another bday celebration for Dina over at my parents' house. This time the cuppycakes were Mickey and Minnie mouse-themed. Ordered from Mama Min as well. Gemmpa made his famous mee hoon sup which i really love for buka puasa. the secret to this recipe is lots of chopped garlic, and huge dollop of oyster and chilli sauce. Fry some fishballs and fishcakes as condiments. Oh , dont forget the cili api kicap and tomato sauce for a taste that lingers.
( ooooh...my tummy grumbling.. fasting kann...)


Dina looking quite matured in this pic, dontcha think??? with mama, papa, as well as nieces Junie and Anya.

(Thank you to Mok Da aka Auntie Fida & AYoh Gah aka Uncle Guz :) as well as Auntie Anim for the birthday gifts for Dina! Oh yes, thanks too to Gemma and Gemmpa for the money packets :)).



(Right pic) - Dina with mama.
Dina looking quite intently at the toy - bday gift from Mok Da and Ayoh Gah. Dina absolutely adores the toy as it rings out a cute 'HELLO' followed by a giggle. Dina's imitating the giggling to a T now. LOL! Another small-scale 1st birthday celebration for our one year old sweetie pie.

Dina Alicia is One!

phew... the past weekend was all about Dina's bday.

Saturday - celebrated her Birthday at my in-laws in PJ.

Got the Pocoyo cuppies from Mama Min and Dina's CD. we decided to treat all to nasi padang - absolutely the best. this is the nasi bungkus that my dad regularly bought for us when my sisters and i had to stay back for activities during our CBN primary school days. the taste is still the same after so so many years (not revealing how long here case you'd know my age ;)) the nasi padang stall is right across SOGO kl, situated in an old kopitiam shop together with a rojak stall and a vegetarian chinese outlet. it is near the tudung shop called Turquaz. typical lauk to choose would be masak lemak nangka, ikan goreng sambal, daging rendang padang and sambal belacan and more! Yumm!

So everybody got to buka puasa with the spread and the Pocoyo cake (top right)!
oh yes, the slideshow was excellent in a way... as my sis-in-law says - so touching.

Dina Alicia, the birthday girl....on her 1st birthday.

Happy Birthday sweetie...


...lots of love, mama & papa.

One day to Dina's bday!

An update on my Dina's 1st birthday preparations.

ok. i've decided on two things:
1. get a Pocoyo cake for Dina (Dina loves Pocoyo on Playhouse Disney Channel on Astro)
2. get a friend to devise a flash media slideshow showing Dina's pics from birth right up to her 12 month.

i've been thinking of making the slideshow just to add a bit of difference to a small-scale 1st birthday party for my baby dot. yes, i've finally decided to have a small one after consulting with a few been-there, done-that parents. important thing was that it must be memorable for Dina. I mean, what could be more memorable than taking photos of the party, right?

anyways, got the idea for the slideshow from yahoo.com. thought it was a novel idea cos i love taking photos of dina and i have tons. selection was swift. have many favourites but need to be fast enough so that my photog friend can complete the project and pass the cd to me. his deadline is tomorrow by 4pm , since Dina's bday only starts after buka puasa. I also had a headache in choosing background audio for the slideshow. Googled for songs for baby girls and got a whole list. another hour or so of choosing and finalizing, i decided to narrow it down to 3 songs: Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder, Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog (The Muppets) and What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. Downloading the songs from the net was Pa-phoop's job. the mp3s were passed to me during lunchtime earlier. Good teamwork, Papa. Love ya to bits.


As for the cake, went and surfed the net for online Malaysian homemade cakes and there are so many out there, people! one was this site , cuppacakes by wondermillk. Very, very delicious and expensive. definitely good value for money. my sis-in-law bought the cupcakes from the shop in SS2 for my birthday. Deee-lisshh! So i called them up but they couldnt make Pocoyo cupcakes at the last minute. Bummer! i blamed myself for thinking of this at the last minute too. surely i could get someone to bake some for me. Since i was really chasing for time, i got hold of this site, http://mamamin.wordpress.com/

Was very impressed by her work as depicted in her website. She wants to be called Min. Initially wanted her to bake a cake with Pocoyo characters sitting on top but the price quoted was way too much for a one-year old bday cake. one has to be economical these days. after some discussion with pa-phoop and a few more negotiations with Mama Min, we finally decided to get Pocoyo cupcakes with the characters. She cautioned that the characters were going to be 2D and not 3D. 2D means 2 dimensional. the only thing was that we had to get the cuppies from her home over in Bukit Antarabangsa. was too late to nego, and plus knowing that Mama Min has to burn the midnight candle to bake the cuppies , it was not a problem to get them from her. The cuppies will be ready for pick-up by 3pm tomorrow.

Plus we were going to meet my photog friend for Dina's slideshow CD. btw, he has a wedding photography biz, so here's his blog if you're interested: http://www.azahariroslan.tk/ he's a Malaysian wedding photographer wannabe, i reckon. good rates too.

Oo-kayyy, with the photos selected for Dina's slideshow covered and the cake ordered, mama phoop feels everything will be good to go tomorrow. Hope both items will be ready on time.

They will....

and Dina will love them....

... cos they're made with love... for her very 1st birthday.

BirthDay Plans for DiNa

yikes! just a few days away from Dina's 1st birthday and i'm still scratching my head thinking of what to do for her birthday. surfing the net has been good but not helpful enough to help me decide fast enough. you really get lots of ideas... from organizing big celebrations with clowns to simple family get-togethers.

hmm... maybe i'll just do a simple one... or not...cant decide yet but time is running out to invite outsiders. Tok Mummy's been asking whether to hold a party or not, by inviting relatives and so on. Pa-phoop said no cos Dina wouldnt appreciate the crowd. there is truth there. www.babycenter.com says that it is suffice to organize birthdays on a smaller scale for 1 year olds. this being the fact that they do not take to strangers. well, i think it is really up to mommies in knowing their own babies. as for Dina, she seems quite friendly with people in general. but it depends on the her mood too.

well, enuf said, i'm still clueless in terms of what to do for Dina's birthday. should i buy helium balloons and have party streamers hanging here and there? what cake should i get? i know Dina likes Pocoyo but likes Mickey too... help!... need to make a decision before Saturday arrives!

Some tips from the website:

General tips

• Have somewhere clean, handy, and well-equipped for diaper changing.
• Breastfeeding moms may appreciate somewhere quiet and private to nurse.
• It's crawling, walking, and climbing time — safety gates and other childproofing devices are essential.
• Stow away precious ornaments and breakables.
• Keep pets well out of the way (for their own protection!).
• Keep a watchful eye on the party area for hazards, such as forks and small swallowable objects, and clear them away quickly.
• Babies will play alongside each other, not together, so keep a variety of toys available within a large, safe floor space.
• Relax — let your baby and her guests set the pace.
• Make sure you have a willing volunteer to take plenty of photos or unobtrusively wield a camcorder. You may be too busy, and you don't want to miss those shots of your baby digging into her first birthday cake!


babycartoon pic courtesy of http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/1650142/2/istockphoto_1650142_baby_birthday.jpg

Reminiscence of Ramadhan

Happy Fasting Everyone!

today is my 3rd year fasting with papa phoop and 2nd year fasting with dina phoop. well, did not actually fast the whole of ramadhan last year cos lil dina came into the world. so gotta pantang and everything. still can remember how the whole pre and post delivery episodes went. looking back, it was really exhaustive but equally fulfilling. Sigh... life becomes complete when you are married but even more complete and satisfying when you become a whole family. Alhamdullillah. feeling so grateful now.....

A picture of my babies on the left.... when Dina was born on Sept 6, 2007 - Damansara Specialist Hospital. About 3 wks into Ramadhan. Papa looking sleepy tho. (love them to bits.)
i had a c-section, hence was not really able to move around the house as quick. hence in-laws came to the rescue. mummy with lauk pantang for me and paphoop came home during his work lunches to help me out with dina. thinking back, was lucky to have helpful in-laws. buka puasa was often over at my house and all loved to do so cos there's dina to love and cuddle... '1st cucu' for my in-laws and the 3rd for my parents.

have to thank nana and arn, nadiah and adek, as well as faizal and neer for swinging by the house to deliver pre-packed food or just keeping me company with dina, while paphoop went out for his biz mtgs at nights. love you guys lots.... mwahh!

It's NeVeR ToO LaTe....

hello everyone... yes, i'm finally blogging. didn't think that i would one day but i am doin it at last. this after lots of deliberation eg. no time, privacy sake bla bla bla made this life changing decision cos i'd thot it'd be great to chronicle my life the moment my lil dot Dina turns 1 this September 6th. why didnt i start earlier? hmmm...maybe i wasn't interested or i just didnt have the TIME! with PhD studies (3 years ago) and then work, lectures, plus one papa and a baby girl to jaga (but mainly work), my diaries became barren from life jottings 'cept appointments for meetings, projects etc. life just went routine-like. .... but this is an exception.i'm blogging cos i think it'd be fun! Life should be full of happy moments so i'm starting anew.... i'm jumpin on the bloggin band-wagon, y'all!
Anyway, this blog is dedicated to the loves of my life, Papa phoop and Dina phoop. (and more little baby phoops to come ;))