chocolatecherrybrownie

Being 'doula' and witnessing a live,natural birth

2011-06-30T15:38:00.010+08:00

Things to do before I die – assist a woman give birth. Certainly was not in my list of to-dos but who am I to say, yes? I was the birth companion or ‘doula’ to my brother -in-law’s wife, Nana and for this, I feel truly blessed and proud. For the life of me, I would never have thought that I was going to witness a ‘live show’ of a pregnant woman giving birth, in my own house, further more , the courage to assist her.

It all started when I had a successful homebirth myself. Both Nana and I were so into hypnobirthing especially after I went to Wai Han’s classes. There would be endless sharing and discussions on the topic whenever we meet. Whatever I learned at Wai Han’s class, I’d extend it to Nana later. Nana was already a hypnobirthing believer herself as she used the method to birth her first child, Nia. So she was more ahead than I was, especially on Marie Mongan’s popular book.

After my homebirth using the hypnobirthing techniques, I was totally psyched up to tell or rather convert every pregnant person to , first, use hypnobirthing techniques, and second, have a homebirth! I knew for sure that I was casually influencing or rather, coaxing Nana to do the same and she certainly had no issues about having a homebirth herself. Nana was even more convinced upon seeing how my husband and I managed our homebirth without any complications. She was still unsure about the idea when one day, during our usual birth chats at MIL’s house, I just exclaimed to her,

“Nana, just do a homebirth! Just go for it-lah! I can be your doula!”

Instantly, her face lit up and said, “ Are you sure? … OK!”. At the time, I was not even really thinking. Only later that night that it dawned upon me, “Can I really do this?”. I must confess. I had so many thoughts in my head then , ie “Will I faint upon seeing blood?” or “Can I be a reliable coach to Nana?”. I was not nervous or anything, just a bit unsure of my skills as I am not a qualified doula or birth companion. My aim was to support Nana with my own knowledge and experience of a natural homebirth. As Nana’s EDD approached, I told her “Make sure you talk to baby to come out before Aunty Fiza starts work, so that she can help being doula!”. My two months maternity leave was about to end when God answered Nana’s prayers. She birthed her baby on a Saturday and I had to report for work the following Monday! God bless! I cast aside my feelings of awkwardness towards the impending birth and I remembered telling myself “Just go with the flow, babe. Just go with the flow..”.

When Nana arrived at our house that Saturday midnight, I instantly knew she was having strong surges as she would shut her eyes and let out a slow but very recognizable moan. Her body would become still and her breathing very laboured, from the surges – all too familiar feeling. I knew from experience that I needed to be as gentle as possible to Nana as I led her to the ‘birthing room’ , that is the ground floor bed room, to prepare herself. I prevented myself from talking to her when she was experiencing the surges. Although Nana was in control of herself, I still assisted by telling her to breathe and relax because that was what I remembered and appreciated acutely from my birthing companions during my own homebirth. Nana wore a shirt which was slightly short so I suggested her to wear one of my husband’s old work shirt that passed her hips. This was practical to protect her modesty a bit as there would be some picture-taking of the birth. Nana’s husband did a great job in faithfully applying the light touches on Nana’s back and encouraging her softly at the same time. ( Go to Nana's home birth story of Tia Ayesha)

Somehow, in between Nana’s surges, we managed to set the stage for the birthing of Tia Ayesha. We had the plastic table cloth laid out on the foam mattress on the bedroom floor and the lavender oil incense burning nearby. My husband conveniently played Marie Mongan’s affirmations on the laptop. AT times, I would head upstairs to let Nana and her husband be alone together. I had to check on my Andy anyways. I had just nursed Andy upstairs and was on my way down when I suddenly heard Nana’s loud cry of agony. I saw my brother-in-law ran across the living room to get me and upon seeing me, said “Water bag’s burst”. I quickly went to Nana’s side and told her to assume a comfortable birth position because she might not want or be able to budge from that position till the end of the show. Nana was moaning harder than usual by then and I quickly send a message to Wai Han, to which she replied, “Apply counter pressure on lower back and do birth breathing”. OK. Did I panic? No, I did not actually. I was feeling very relaxed and super-calm as I coached Nana to do the birth breathing. I still am amazed at myself whenever I think about it. Nana was kneeling against the bed and most of her upper body was supported on the bed . She had her knees rested on the foam mattress on the floor. I looked at the wall clock. 2 am. Right, she will birth Tia by 3am, I told myself. Nana moaned softly as the surges came and went. Whenever this happened, I applied the counter pressure on her lower back. Basically, I pressed both my palms down and hard on her back, stroking her up and down. I remembered this from Wai Han who did the same to me when I birthed my baby in my bedroom. This really helped elevate the intensity of the surges. Initially, I was kneeling behind Nana but soon my knees got tired, so I changed position and sat next to her on the bed. All the while, I kept telling her to breathe deep and through the nose only. Mouth shut.

I made a point to ensure that my instructions to Nana were constant, clear and specific. A birthing mom will follow every single instruction given by her birth companion. So it was important that I gave her the right guidance through the words that I chose to say to her. I also ensured that my voice was soft and reassuring yet firm and confident. I say firm and confident because the birthing mom will sense everything she sees or hear. So if my voice was shaky as a result of nervousness, Nana might sense this and this would affect her focus as she was in her most vulnerable state and, dare I say, relied totally on me to help her birthing. I remembered how happy I felt when Wai Han instructed me to “Breathe slowly, mommy. Just breathe and relax, ok, mommy. You’re doing fine, mommy”. These words gave me a sense of direction and confidence because a one hour birthing can feel like hours to the birthing mom. Now and again, I made a point to tell Nana to breathe slowly, relax and do the ‘birth breathing’.

“Ok, deep inhale. Short pause. Then long exhale ok Nana”

“Baby’s coming down slowly now when you breathe”

“Just relax and breathe…”

I repeated this again and again when needed to keep Nana reminded. The counter pressure massage did not stop as each strong surge needed it.

I also realized that my brother-in-law was very silent when all this was going on. He was readying himself to receive the baby as he was seated behind Nana. I thought he looked quite tired as it was already close to three in the morning. On the contrary, I was totally awake and alert as I was getting really excited about it . I knew that baby was coming out when Nana suddenly said “Baby’s coming”. Feeling a renewed rush of excitement, I repeated my instructions gently and constantly to Nana. She did the birth breathing perfectly as I saw beads of perspiration on her forehead which I helped wipe. She was indeed ‘in the zone’ as she had her eyes closed most of the time. As I was doing the counter pressure, my brother-in-law suddenly became very alert. He was at Nana’s rear end he was looking at it intently. He took the camera from the table nearby and as he held the camera, I saw that his hands were shaking. Brother-in-law was nervous. Ok, time to reinforce confidence, I thought. I promptly said to both of them ,

“Ok, mommy, daddy. Tell Tia to come out soon ya. Help mommy to help you come out, Tia. Come out soon, Tia”.

and so on. Nana immediately began talking to her baby while brother-in-law tried to but I only heard a faint encouragement. OK, Tia’s papa is REALLY nervous, BIG TIME! He asked me to look at a picture he had just taken. “What is that, Kak Fiza?”. I looked at the picture and to my surprise, I saw the top of Tia’s head or rather, her hair at the opening.

Instantly, I mentioned to Nana in a soft, sing-song voice, that her baby was near and that it would be over soon!

“Wow! Ok, mommy, … we see Tia’s hair, mommy”

“She’s coming out now. Breathe deep ok mommy. Tia’s coming out now”

“Wow mommy. You’re doing it - p e r f e c t l y… Just breathe deep ok…”

“Relax and breathe deep and slow ok”

“ Don’t push ok mommy. Just relax and breathe…Take your time…”

At this point, my brother-in-law was already cupping his hands as if ready to catch a football! I was seated next to Nana on the bed, with one hand massaging her back and the other holding the camera which was in an awkward angle facing Nana’s rear end. I could not see what was happening from my angle but from the look on brother-in-law’s face, the baby was surely on its way. I remember snapping away pictures although I could not really tell if the camera was focussed correctly. In a matter of minutes, as Nana let out her final moan, I saw with my own eyes, Tia Ayesha being birthed straight into her father’s awaiting hands. I remembered hearing Nana saying ‘Alhamdulillah’ as the baby came out. Praise be to God, indeed.

What happened next was a whole buzz of activities. Tia’s cord was rather short so I instructed my brother-in-law to pass Tia in between Nana’s hips gently while I helped Nana move from her birthing position. I momentarily left Nana and brother-in-law for a private moment alone with their newborn baby while I headed upstairs to freshen up. I just felt so elated and proud of myself at the time. I just could not believe that I helped Nana birth her baby in my own house! What a wonderful, empowering feeling! I told Nana that I would come down as soon to help her birth the placenta and reminded her to use the same breathing technique if it happened without me. My husband had also heard Tia’s cry and helped make sure that everything was ok with the happy parents. Luckily, my Dina and Andy were fast asleep upstairs.

At around 4am, I went downstairs to help with the birth of the placenta. I saw my brother-in-law fast asleep on our couch in the living room and Nana was nursing Tia, although Nana looked really sleepy. Talk about birthing in the wee hours of the morning! To cut the long story short, Nana birthed her placenta at around 8am. That’s about 5 hours of waiting. I’d told her to change her position from lying down to her original birth position or even sitting up as this would allow gravity to pull placenta downwards and Nana could easily birth it. When nothing seemed to work, I suggested to her to sit on the toilet bowl just in case this would condition her mind to pass motion/urine, and henceforth birth the placenta. I called up Wai Han for advice and was told to use the remaining surges to birth the placenta. If this failed, we had to head to the hospital, which was not in the plan. When I told Nana this not-so-good-news, she looked a bit devastated. She told me that the surges were still there but very few and quite faint. I went out of the bathroom to call Wai Han again for advice, but as soon as I talked to her, I heard my brother-in-law shout from the bathroom, “Placenta’s OUT!”. I told the good news to Wai Han, who just laughed out loud. It seemed that telling the birthing mom that she would have to go to the hospital and be subjected to the doctor’s mercy was enough a scare tactic for Nana to birth her placenta! I hung up the phone and went to Nana , who was looking very happy. “ Wonderful! Ok, you need to scoop it out”, I told my brother-in-law. “Huh???”, he said and looked at me in bewilderment. “Yes, you have to scoop it out”, I said. He did not look thrilled at the thought of submerging his hands in a toilet bowl which belonged to someone else I supposed, Haha. “Ok ok, do you want me to do it?”, I asked and as quick as lightning, my brother-in-law said ‘yes’ and was grinning from ear to ear. Scaredy-cat! :D

Lifting out the placenta from the toilet bowl was not gross or anything . I think I was just unsure of scooping the huge chunk of bloody ‘meat’ out as it was simply slippery, which was why I only managed to do it after three tries. Into a small pail it went and we laid both Tia and pail down next to each other on the clean bed. The sweetheart was asleep the whole time. Such a calm baby. Later the room was cleaned thoroughly and all the bloodied towels binned as both Nana and I were too lazy to wash them later. My maid came out of her room and I saw her gagging, obviously very put off by the smell. If anyone were to ask me whether I smelled anything from the birthing, I would say not really. I did not detect any kind of smell that was too overpowering. Blood smelled like metal, of course. Nothing new. I was actually amazed at myself that I did not faint or feel icky when cleaning up all the bloody and gooey mess on the mattress and the floor.

I am still reminded of the experience every time. It is a personal achievement for me as a birth companion - to Nana and brother-in-law, which cannot be exchanged for anything. I am thankful especially to them for their confidence in me because I myself felt confident in guiding them that day. I suppose, if you are looking for a birth companion or doula, you should make sure that you feel comfortable with them and confident of their skills.

Because of the strong belief I had with my own body to do a all-natural homebirth for Andy, I closely related the sensations I felt during my homebirth and used them to help Nana in birthing Tia.

All‘s well that ends well.

A birth companion MUST-HAVES, through my eyes: *

1. Strong belief in God as the creator and mastermind of ALL things (especially that woman can give birth NATURAL LY as intended by God)

2. Sound knowledge of hypnorbirthing/gentle birthing (PRIORITY!)

(Read also the book by Rhonda Byrnes called ‘The Secret’ – to reinforce your confidence so that you don’t fear or hate anything)

3. Very high level of confidence, self-belief, patience and alertness.

4. High tolerance towards blood, mucous, pee, stool (or anything icky)belonging to the birthing mom J

5. Good heart and loving soul

6. Respect for and conformity to the birthing mom’s wishes and needs (positive ones!)

7. Giving comfort and reassurance to birthing mom –ie. massages, verbal encouragement, drinks, food etc.

*NOTE: These are only based on my experience as birth companion to my sis-in-law in a single birthing process. Other requirements may be needed as practiced by doulas worldwide.

the wonderful world of Andy

2011-06-24T16:30:00.015+08:00

It occurred to me that it was just about 3 yrs ago when i cared for Dina as a baby and so it should technically be a snap for me now that i have Andy. well, easier said than done! the things that i've forgotten or rather need to recollect my mind on can be as simple as choosing a good diaper brand to scheduling my stocking up of breastmilk for him.. ive forgotten half of the knowledge of caring for a baby..duhh! Also, ive not been able to update my blog ever since and it's now almost the end of my maternity leave. SOB! SOB! Shows how occupied i am with a new baby in the house ^^.

This time though, I'm more and more informed (since joining some FB groups on parenting, breastfeeding etc ie mamalink.org, gentle/home birth groups)... I'd thought that being part of a group is like those weight watchers people and didnt think it was great to say the least. sort of artificial? biased at first but a total convert at last. joining the FB groups have really made me more knowledgeable about a lot of stuff like having a gentle and calm homebirth (great support group, i must say!), using disposable diapers vs cloth diapers (not to say im a total convert yet but we'll see...), vaccination and so on. Oh yes, the people i've come to know too on these groups have been awesome in their support...always ready to help in advice and in need etc. there's so much love in these groups as they are not profit-oriented, and more of sharing and caring.. i love ALL of them..

so back to re-educating myself on baby caring for Andy. i used to dress Dina up to the tilt whenever we wanted to go out.. with socks and shoes on etc. but with Andy, his feet sometimes get lonely as i often just dash off and leave out his socks and shoes. lol. he can be incomplete at times lah. Sorry Andy. Mommy will remember next time.

Caring for Andy has also been a new experience especially when I'm not quick enough in blocking his lil digit :D from squirting me all over :D. Must say that hubby's got more accidental squirts compared to me. Haha. Based on my observation, whether it looked chubby or crumpled, never be deceived as IT CAN SQUIRT a good deal! So must be quick to block it with the diaper on. Since Andy's quite the milk chugger, and I sometimes am too lazy (or too sleepy) to change him in the early hours of the morning (bad momma), he would wet himself (and the bed!). Thus, the use of the disposable surgical mats on the bed where he sleeps. It occurred to me to use them cos we had leftovers from my birthing and with Andy, they came out handy (hey , it rhymes).

Sleep time though, can be the same like Dina's. Andy needs to be rocked, and held at times to help him sleep. Otherwise he'll just complain in his own baby ways.. loud but cute! Since i practiced co-sleeping with Dina, I'd thought I would NOT have to do so for Andy. Reason - he is a boy , so boys should sleep away from mommy so that later there'll be no embarrassing issues or whatever. So we'd set up the cot (dina's) again in the other room and that was supposed to be Andy's room. Mommy would go to his cot and take him out of the cot and feed him. then put him back when he's done and mommy will sleep on the bed next to the cot. OF COURSE, THIS WAS SHORT-LIVED when i realize that i'm a career woman and SLEEP is PRECIOUS to me. So co-sleeping it is for Andy too. Heh heh. Little did i realize, i was changed back into the stealth-mom - walking or crawling E-V-E-R S-O S-L-O-W-L-Y A-N-D Q-U-I-E-T-L-Y on the bed next to him when he's asleep. Each movement must be soft and light and in slow motion almost to a freeze-mode , fearing that Andy would stir to a sudden creak of the bed due to my clumsy weight. Sheesh, I seriously have sound knowledge of that spring-coil bed like nobody's business! funny thing is, that bed creaks at the leg end but not at the headboard. so AVOID leg end side and float , mom,

F-L-O-A-T on the bed - this is my term for stealth-crawling-moving-on-bed-when-baby-is-sleeping-on-same-bed. i float and freeze many times... had some unsuccessful attempts to head to the loo when Andy 'caught' me red-handed but there were good times which i got away with. hah.

of course, one needs to be quiet when there is a baby is in the house. it doesnt help when hubby dearest closes the door loudly ( i say, he banged the door, but he says, that wasnt banging...whatever! it definitely awoke Andy!..) and who's got to pacify Andy when he got awakened? Yours truly lah. i even put a sign up the door that said, "Please close door softly"...being careful not to put it in the negative "Please don't bang the door". All in vain. Hubby says Andy will need that training once he's put as MIL's house with noisy cousins around. OK, ok! but my argument is, CONSIDERATION , okayyy??! i know u dont mean it PP.

Our daily routine is different now. Dina has gotten so attached to her papa since 'Adik' Andy arrived into our family - reason being that mommy's now sleeping in the other room to take care of 'adik' , hence papa takes time handling 'kakak' Dina. kakak will need her dose of Barbie & Disney cartoon movies on the laptop before bedtime as now mama cant read to her bedtime stories. She has now memorised ALL Barbie movies' songs and understands why cartoons are not real ie. Ratatouille is a rat and in real life rats don't get to be chefs! And it's easier to get Dina to taste new food now that she understands that each type of food would taste different and good? Remember that Ratatouille moment with all the flashing , colorful lights?

Days can be pretty hectic even though we have a maid. my maternity leave is all about taking care of Andy AND kakak Dina. Dina couldnt stop kissing her baby brother - i mean, its total adoration here. She sings to him lullabies and talks to him like he could understand her. She just needs to be told - that sometimes Andy needs to sleep so she needs to keep it down. " But MOM, Andy sleeps too much. why is he always sleeping?".... cos he is a baby, darling. "oooh, that means he is growing right?"...Yeahh, she gets it now, thank God! mommy can put Andy to sleep in peace.

Andy's nearly 2 months old now. and he's already talking gibberish, makes bubbles with his saliva, straighten his neck and kicks and boy, can he kick! Owh... he is HEAVY too!.. and ive got my neck and shoulder pains to prove it! :D

:: "Whoa!!!... I was born in THIS bedroom, mom?" ::

:: "THAT'S SO COOOOL!
I can use this story to pick up girls! "

:: " How you doinnn?
I'm a homebirth baby, you know...." ::

Oh yeah, i've got my pre-pregnancy weight back. My secret? Handy Andy. ;)

till next time, babes....

Dear Andy...

2011-05-15T15:02:00.004+08:00

"He's my baby brother, mom, and he's so cute, mom!" - Kakak Dina.

It's been abt 2 1/2 weeks since i gave birth to Andy... and for that short time, i'm still reeling with the same feelings i had when i successfully birthed him at our very own home...in our very own bedroom :) ... Every time i look at him, tears would just start falling down my cheeks... I cant explain it... God just helped me that day... He answered my prayers for an easy birth... a safe one too. ..I guess i have to say that i fainted twice after the birth that day ... Maybe because i stood up too fast.... had some loss of blood... PP panicked... i passed out for 30 secs, PP said. I found myself on the floor on PP's lap. And i said to him, " how did i get down here?" ..heh heh heh... Not funny, huh? ... but I was not sacred. God was with me all the way. PP was a bit though. I told him, i wasn't worried nor scared even for a sec... cos i BELIEVED.... believed that God is /was by my side that day... I was strong because Andy kept moving in me as he was ready to be born and something in me (possibly Andy) was telling me to JUST DO IT! PP cant stop saying how proud he was of me, for braving it after a long prodormal labor at home... Well, luckiy it was all at HOME! Otherwise, it was probbly going to be another cut... lucky me. (alhamdulillah!..)

======

MP: What were you thinking when I fainted, sayang?

PP: .... I was worried sayang.... cos you're the love of my life... You're , my life...

MP: ( ouch! how sweet!....sigh!)

======

Andy Malik, our son, has been nothing but a calm and easy baby. He only cries when i'm late in feeding him 'mama milk'. Well, that's a baby boy for you! Not even a single yelp when bathing or changing diapers... only once or twice when they intervene with feeding time! Even the nurses during jaundice treatment complemented how he's such a good baby... a good indication of intervention-free birthing ie. no drugs, pitocin etc. I LOVE IT! It simply proves how pitiful (or painful) it was for Dina to have had all those intervention during her birthday or rather , delivery aka c-sect day... sad huh. She was crying a lot in the first few months. But that happens when you start meddling with God's work. Too bad. So no meddling in the future for me :)

Anyway, Kakak Dina's been loving every moment with Andy... absolutely adores her bby brother... She's a great kakak. She fusses about whenver Andy cries, saying he needed a diaper change or mama milk. Always hurrying me to go feed him... "Mom! Quick mom! Andy wants milk!" ...hehe... Kakak Dina makes a wonderful big sister to Andy.

:: after shaving his head at granma's::

:: Mommy's handsome lil boy! :) ::

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My dearest Andy sayang mama,

Thank you for waiting for mama to be ready for you. You came perfectly into this world and nothing will ever be more special than the experience of your birth at home.

I promise that I will do everything I can to prepare you for what you will face in your life. I promise that I will never desert you, that I will always be here for you, no matter what hardships you face. I may not always give you what you want but I will always do my best to give you what you need.

I may not always be the best mommy but it won’t be for lack of trying. Above all else son, I promise that I will love you and do my best to make sure that you have everything you need. I hope you will always know how much I love you and your sister. You are our second miracle. The first was your sister, Dina.

You and your sister are both my treasures. Never forget that.

I will always pray that you will never settle for anything less than what you deserve; greatness and abundance.

I love you and your sister more than you will ever know.

Love,

Mama.

My HVBAC Hypnobirth story

2011-04-29T23:44:00.012+08:00

Wednesday 27 April 2011

Time was irrelevant. The surges were getting closer together... I had Marie Mongan’s affirmations CD put on... Some lavender incense burning made my bedroom smell soo calm and nice... Sighhhhhh!... Towels all laid out and surgical waterproof sheets nearby. We were ready to birth our son in our bedroom :) How surreal is that? I was attempting a Home Vaginal Birth After Caesarian (HVBAC) and I know I can do it! :)

I had earlier visualized that my active labor would be 6 hours. That started at 1pm. My surges were really going on strong. My Hypnobirthing (HB) practitioner, WH arrived close to 1.30pm to help us with the birth. I must say using the HB method was the best thing ever. The baby was out within 45 minutes after a long 4 days of prodromal labor! ^_^

There was just me, PP and WH....just the three of us and no one else in the house... peace and calmness....no beeping of monitors, no fussy nurses coming in n out of the room, no drips, no artificial intervention.... but letting nature, letting God...

A Fast HB Experience:

At the final hour of birth, I decided to go on the bed and assumed an upright on-the-knees position. I completely focused myself on my 'berak breathing' - a deep breathing used for passing motion, something we learned during HB class.... hehehehe. So I closed my eyes and breathed deep and slow while listening intently to Marie Mongan's CD playing in the background. PP was on his fours on the bed in front of me and as I placed my hands on his back in my upright position, I slowly breathed down baby. And could you believe it??? It took me only 2 deep breaths to get baby out! I just couldn’t believe it! In the first breathing down, I literally felt the baby's head move down into my cervix with a soft click! I actually felt it go down the 'stations' - at each level!

My goodness! I was so extremely happy at that point of time as I was finally doing the HB method correctly!!! I could feel the baby's head as it slowly descended south and as I breathed deep, his head crowned!... I said softly to PP' "The baby's coming, sayang"... And WH quickly reminded me to breathe slow as to not tear and to tilt my pelvis forward. Then, all I could hear was PP saying "Oh my God sayang, the baby's coming out... The baby's coming out... Oh my God sayang!... Sayang, I can see him!.....". You know what? When I heard how happy PP was saying those words, I ACTUALLY SMILED from ear to ear as the baby's head slowly emerged. WH was saying things like "Ok... I can see the eyes.... Now the nose.... Upper lip.... Lower lip.... and now the chin.... Ok the head's is totally out now... Slowly.... Slowly.... Breathe slowly....".

A second deep breathing helped the baby's body to slide out ever so slowly... I could feel every point of my baby's body... His shoulders, his elbows, his knees as they steadily pass through my birth canal. I can’t describe how thrilled I was to feel those sensations and NOT FEEL ANY KIND OF PAIN AT ALL!... Masyaallah! Subhanallah!!! I was so into the zone of HB now and the rush of it all was so GREAT!!! I was smiling all the way! LOL! if only there was a cameraman to capture my smile as I birthed my baby...

The next thing I heard was PP saying again and again "Sayang, baby's out! Oh my God!... Baby's here sayang... Baby's here!"... And all the while I had my eyes closed and for the first time, when I opened my eyes, and looked down , there he was, my baby - all of him - pink and intact - right in front of me as he was received by his own PP. Tears ran down cheeks instantly.

::PP , so thrilled to have received his son with his own bare hands....
Happy Birthday, Andy Malik ::

Totally totally AWESOME!!!.. I was in a state of euphoria!!! W-O-W.... I was already seated so PP placed baby onto my bare chest for the vital first skin to skin contact.... And right away I ushered baby to latch on which he did immediately! Clever boy! About 2 hours later, I birthed my placenta - again, it could have been sooner but I was busy cooing at my son to notice the time :)

ALHAMDULILLAH. I DID IT! I HAD A HVBAC!

So for those who are skeptical of home birth or birth using HB method, my advice is DON'T BE. I did it and it was PAINLESS!!!! I feel like telling the women of the world to go for this course and use the method for birthing. Damn! I never knew that birthing could be so relaxed, fast and EASY! I do however, want to leave some really important tips / advice for future mom using HB method for birth:

1. Stay steadfast and positive in your decision to use HB wherever you give birth, be it home or hospital.

2. Use the deep breathing technique - the one you use to pass motion.

3. Focus on calmness and relaxation while listening to the HB CD. You really must zone out to experience a total relaxation of the mind and body.

4. Tilt your pelvis as you birth to channel the energy to the vagina and not to the anus.

5. Your birth companion MUST, MUST , MUST remind you of the keywords for relaxation, and breathing. if the key word is 'berak breathing' then, use it, cos you are birthing, you may tend to be disoriented and confused as you are experiencing strong surges.

6. Sip lots of water during the whole birthing episode. This keeps you hydrated.

7. Talk to baby to come out gently - "Work with mommy to come out, baby".

8. MOST IMPORTANTLY, based on my experience, you and your birth companion must be relaxed and calm while staying true to your decision to birth using this method. I kept thinking to myself that 'I can do this!' and I never felt worried or scared, even when I was bleeding a bit during the process.

SO MOMMIES, GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR BIRTHING AND USE THE HB METHOD. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!

I TOTALLY LOVE MY BIRTHING EXPERIENCE THIS TIME! NO DRUGS!

(amidst those strong surges, i was still able to do the things i like doing ie, baked brownies, watched re-runs of Friends,....basically be in my most comfortable place on earth, that is - home.)

:: An overjoyed Kakak with her adik ::

ps. my gratitude to my birth companions that day - hubby dearest and WH.... :) and most of all, God Almighty for hearing my prayers throughout the journey.

Prodromal labor was i?

2011-04-29T21:35:00.004+08:00

Ever since going to the Hypnobirthing course (and making new friends on our Gentle/Home Birth group on FB, both PP and myself felt more and more determined for a natural and calm birth of our son. so when 39week came, we decided for a last medical check up at the gynae. seemed that doc gave the OK that both mine and my bby's vital signs looked positive. my BP was ok and i could attempt a vaginal birth after c-sect (VBAC). doc said this could be a possibility so we were glad. we were not glad when he wanted to get me admitted on the first day of my 40th wk and then gave only 1 day to see if i was progressing. the next day was to schedule a c-sect! No way! so both of us just nodded for the sake of agreeing. no point to argue when we already knew what was going to happen *wink*. We are going to wait it out! Bby gonna come when he's ready. Doc gave a week of medical leave mainly cos i was already experiencing aching back and discomfort at lower groin area to be able to go to work.. ... so 39th week was all rest plus walking to help with birthing later.

WEEK 40
(Sun, 24 April 2011) -
PP went to Kuantan yesterday and will only be back later in the day. I went to meet my Gentle Birthing friends that morning only to realize that labor has started! my surges were getting stronger and there was a birth show! stains of blood mostly. yippee, things were starting to progress. :). Sunday was supposed to be my EDD but we told bby to come out on April 27...and to wait to PP to come back from his trip :))

(Mon, 25 April 2011) -
Surges got stronger and stronger. Just breathed through them. Sleep was very much impossible and my back was hurting even more. Pressure was very intense and i had to moan tru each one as it came My tummy felt so tight , like an inflated balloon waiting to pop!... some mucousy discharge was evident.

(Tue, 26 April 2011) -
Seemed like bby was gonna come any time now. I may have been experiencing Prodromal labor now as the surges got stronger and stronger but i still havent popped my membrane. Prodormal labor happens to VBAC moms but can happen to 1st time mothers too. Here is a good source http://thebirthteacher.blogspot.com/2008/12/prodromal-labor.html
This was insane! Even my maid was kept in suspense downstairs as she listened to my agonizing moans and groans.... LOL! i told her , i needed to let it out as it felt good! most of the time i was on the bed, curled up as i breathed through the surges.

oh yeah, that night, we decided to go to Fatty Crab for dinner... heheh. PP thought it would speed things up for me! So off we went to eat delicious crab, my fav was to dip the toast in the gravy! Yummmm!. ppl who saw me that night must have thought that i was either enjoying the food or having a spat with hubby dearest! Cos every time strong surges came, i would tune out, shut my eyes, and breathed slow. the surges lasted 1 minute each and were like that since Sunday. and were about 8-10 mins apart. People wouldnt have known that i was already approaching labor! LOL! That was a dinner to remember! :))

(Wed, 27 April 2011) -
Today was THE DAY!. i was so sure of it!. Sleep was impossible through out the night before and at around 9am, as i was breathing and moaning thru the agonizing pressures and surges in my tummy, i literally felt as if a cork was pulled out from my tummy and i felt something trickling down there. My water bag broke ! and luckily i was wearing a pad too!. instantly the pressure ceased and i was able to walk to the bathroom only to be proven that it was time! I called PP to relay the news and braced myself for birth! i suppose i was dilated about 2-4cm that morning. Imagine, laboring since Sunday! 4 days of labor...wow and now the real deal!...

continued in next entry - the home birth!

When is adik coming out???

2011-04-10T13:28:00.002+08:00

"When is adik coming out, mom? " - That's Dina, the already assuming 'big sister' or 'kakak' asking me ever so often lately. hehe. since Dina sleeps with me, she sees me getting 'bigger and bigger' at the tummy... she understands when she wants milk at night, i will need to go to the toilet first to ease myself and then come back to her for her 'one hold bottle, one hold tetes' routine. every night without fail.

Dina insist on us all to call her 'kakak'... and not 'kakak Dina'. it's just 'kakak' since she IS the kakak in on my MIL's side. she loves it when i tell her that she has to 'teach' her lil bro or 'adik' later on how to cycle, how to eat with a spoon or even how to bathe. she will say things like ' adik cannot eat yet, becos he is still small. he only drinks susu mama'. she kisses my tummy or her 'adik' beofre going to sleep, before going to school and whenever she sees me. i will be the one assuming the voice of her 'adik' and talk to her like role play.

Tesco is her fav joint (actually kids her age really loves going jalan2 even if it's just for grocery shopping at the nearby Tesco). She''ll go to the aisle selling baby's stuff ie shampoos, bathwash etc and open the bottles to smell them. she says it's for adik later. 'Pink is not for adik, cos he is a boy. he only likes blue', she'll say. We have TMNET's Unify channels on tv and BabyFirst channel is for adik, she says. and if i try to change the channel, she''' be very cross and say 'MOM, thats for adik to watch'.... so there goes my day of watching BabyFirst cartoons... ok , ok, kakak. for adik.

She knows she has to sleep with PP when adik comes out... cos MM has to sleep near adik in the room nextdoor. it's ok, she says, cos adik will cry and cry for millk and kakak wants to sleep. She'' roll her eyes and shake her head, 'adik ni naughty lah'... hehehe... i think she's been having dreams of her adik as i caught her a few times waking up in the mid of the night, talking to herself 'adik cannot drink bottle cos adik drinks susu mama ok'... and she'll doze off again.... CUTE!

:: playing a game with PP at kid's corner at TESCO, her fav stop over::

MM: Adik will come out soon, sayang....

Disney CARS birthday cake

2011-03-07T23:55:00.003+08:00

Had fun recently making a Disney CARS birthday cake for my nephews, Emmil and Yeyen. it's their 3rd bday so thought it'd be nice to start baking again as it has been a while since i last baked a bday cake. MIL bought a printed CARS- Happy Birthday on edible paper already , so i didnt have to be too creative lah.. unlike the one i did for Dina and Nia's bday. might as well use the edible paper on the cake... and then add some pizzazzzz on it! :))

initially wanted to make a red velvet cake for the kids, but later thought that it wouldnt go down well as red velvet is mostly for special exclusive occassion... then decided on a rainbow cake but mama yeyen wanted a more masculine cake... so i finally narrowed on orange butter cake as the base... dunno if that is a masculine cake lah.. :P

baked the cake on friday night as it'd taste so much better by Sunday... basically a butter cake recipe in which i later added rinds of 4 navel oranges... the yummy recipe is here. Try it! made a layered orange cake with vanilla buttercream frosting...

i didnt capture the stages of making/decorating the cake but the outcome was this ->

i made the stars, lettering, checkered black and white flag and flag motif from fondant icing. took me about 4 hours to do all this and actually finished at 1am Sunday morning and 8 mths preggy at that ! (thanks PP for the company... mwahh!) ... really enjoyed every bit of the process cos tis my passion :)) baking really let my creative juices and endorphins flow massive time!.. it's something that i truly feel free from any problems in the world... LOVE it!

(Note the left side of the cake with the black square a bit senget- itu Yeyen punya keje yerr :P )

And some of the piccas on the children - (more updates here)

:: birthday boys - Yeyen and Emmil ::

: Yippee! me got a party pack ::

last but not least... the half-eaten cake which tasted so good put in the fridge and eaten the next day! Yummmy!

A great birthday party!

Finale to Hypnobirthing class

2011-03-06T19:37:00.014+08:00

had our final class on HB recently with Wai Han.. as usual, the class instantly was in hysterics - PP and Syed (Sofia's hubby) crackin jokes (mostly lewd ones , BUT related to the lesson lah...Sex Education 101... heh. " Eh bro, you come over la, for back-up, you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours... " . EE-EWWW! LOL! Bengong la diorg.

anyways, the class was short of one couple, Jayden and Sze Ling and to our suprise, Wai Han told us that they birthed their baby boy a few days prior to class!!! so they missed the final class too! hahaha... but best thing was Sze Ling only endured 2 HOURS OF LABOR!!! something she had wished during one of our self-hypnosis session. WOOW! really lucky girl. Funny too that all of us took our chance to sit on the very spot Sze Ling had occupied tru out the lessons - for luck.. Saja ambik berkat so that we too could have a short labor! :D... tho i cant remember whether she had an episiotomy or not..hmm. nonetheless, kudos to them for the successful natural birth using the HB method. (now i gotta get PP to do the self-hypnosis thingy again to me - cos i'd wished for a 6 hour labour! Eeek! must re-do /re-programm myself. Duhh!)

that day, we continued doing the labor massage in which the mommy has to go on all fours and the daddy presses the ball of his palm on to mommy's lower back near the end of her spine - sort of putting a slight pressure there to elevate the labour pressure or surges. oh yeah, we had unexpected guests that day - couples who had unplanned home birth and another daddy who told us how his wife birthed naturally at the hospital... Great case studies by real parents!

One thing no one asked was about the smell! if you choose to have home birth, you got to receive your own baby with your own bare hands, right. SO PP asked, " how's the smell?"... The couple who came for a visit ie. the wife said it smelled like your menses blood but much worse than that. the daddy said he hated the smell cos he was the one who had to clean the bathroom after the birthing.... ERK! Sofia said the placenta smelled bad but cos we women are so used to our own period smell, we can take it and most imporantly, it's part of you, so we dont go Eee-YUCKKK!....

fairly confident that i can do home birth cos how else can you imagine those sorry girls who throw away their babies by giving birth in toilets / bushes / etc ?? they did it all alone and bravely enough at that, :O .... So insyallah, i will let my baby decide when he wants to come out, but im telling him to give me an easy and calm birth... plus daddy must tahan the smell haaa!

oh yeah, just for fun, i baked a batch of fudge brownies and shared with our HB pals... YUMM!

:: what was left ::

:: Wai Han herself - giving a thumbs-up to my brownies::

WH : " How did you get the top layer so crunchy and yet the bottom is moist and fudgy?"
Me: "Oh , it's the ingredients." (Yaa- as if im gonna tell you lah my secret recipe... kidding) ..LOL!

:: one for the album - L to R : Wai Han, Nadia, me, Sofia and
daddies from L to R : Rizal, crazy PP and Syed ::

So , to the first-time mommies and daddies of our HB group, hope you have the best , natural birth experience soon ... may everything go as planned but remember to BREATHE and RELAX! think positive always... and KEEP IN TOUCH! It's been great knowing you guys :)

And most importantly, thanks Wai Han , for your advice and tips and so much more! Giving birth has never sounded so easy and enjoyable! :) .. im gonna call WH when the time comes just for moral support... but NOW we all know she's not gonna come over lah! "Yah, Im on the way... ". Yaaa, right! haha! :)

Apple cake, brownies and rosemary chicken

2011-02-27T20:03:00.010+08:00

Just an update on what i cooked up in my kitchen lately :)

One was a healthy, apple almond cake. i totally forgot where i stashed the recipe but the cake was definitely YUMMMY!!!.... the roasted almonds on top did the trick and it came out of the oven smelling sooooooo gooooood! :) Something different for change cos i rarely make time for fruit-based cake. but this one went down well with custard cream sauce if you can make some or even vanilla ice-cream. if i can locate the recipe, ill post it here as soon!

This next one is a keeper recipe. i searched high and low for a perfect brownies recipe and got it from allrecipes.com . modified it a bit especially on the sugar and cocoa portion and Wallahhh!, it came out just PERFECT and the whole house smelled like chocolate heaven.... made these for Dina really as she just digs my chocolate cakes etc...anything chocolatey but cake :) i opted the walnuts and pecans out as Dina doesnt like em... but i bet will taste mush better with nuts in them.. planning to make these for my hypnobirthing class this weekend. :) graduation day!

Oh yes, and last but not least, last Saturday was beloved PP's birthday!..

Happy Birthday my Love!.. a Sunday lunch menu became a Saturday lunch menu..

Roasted rosemary chicken, baked potatoes and steamed veges. i looked up Saturday Kitchen's website for the onion gravy sauce and tweaked it a bit ie... added couple of spoons of brown sugar to it and hubby LOVED it so much that he practically lapped it all up!... (made it sweet as he's got Kelantanese blood in him :P ).. thot of adding some yorkshire pudding but tak sempat cos that afternoon got to hurry to Hypnobirthing class :)

Recipe for Homemade Onion Gravy

2 tablespoon of butter
1 whole onion - chopped
500 ml of chicken or beef stock
2 tablespoon white flour
3 tblspoon brown sugar
Some black pepper and salt to taste

For the gravy, melt the butter in a pan and saute the onions. Spoon off any excess fat from the chicken roasting pan and deglaze the pan with a bit of the stock. Pour the liquid into the onion mixture. Sprinkle in the flour to make a thin paste, then add the remaining stock, stirring all the time. Strain the gravy through a sieve into a clean saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for five minutes, season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper and keep warm. Serve with the roasted chicken, potatoes and veges.

P.s
Got a birthday cake to make this weekend too... so im thinking a good surprise in store for the birthday boys ;)

5 years of bliss....

2011-02-24T06:01:00.002+08:00

Each Year I Fall In Love Again With You

When I first met you all those years ago,
I fell in love so fast, I knew right then,
You were the one and only one for me;
I'd never have to look for love again. Each anniversary finds us happier;
You are my light--my moon, my star, my sun.
You show me what real love is all about,
You fill my life with pleasure, joy and fun. As time goes by, our love grows stronger still.
You're the most amazing man I ever knew.
I prize our anniversaries because
Each year I fall in love again with you.

Happy Anniversary, my sayang....

love you always , abang.... my hubby, my friend, my companion... and my life.

Babies remember their birth? (Hypnobirthing Pt 3)

2011-02-20T21:55:00.002+08:00

ive not written that much on my darling dot Dina... but the latest Hypnobirthing class gave us much thought on her behaviour....

Our HB teacher mentioned that everyone remember how they were birthed into this world. For instance, im the silent one compared to my twin. and this may be due to how i came out from my mom's womb. you see, when the my mom delivered my twin first, she was already out of breath when the doc exclaimed "There's ANOTHER one!"...i supposed my mom or the doc didnt know that it was a twin birth... so i nie macam tertinggal kejap inside the womb and my mom pushed me out 6 mins later. so maybe i felt that i was forgotten then so my behaviour is that i dont talk much unless there is really something to talk about with my mom or i dont ask from her that much unless i really need something . hmm... dunno-lah.

But coming back to Dina, she was a c-sect baby.The first thing she saw or met was the gynae's hands suddenly scooping her out from a calm and dark tummy into the bright world of the O.T. SIGH... then she was rubbed down, and with mucus being forcefully sucked out frm her nose etc before passed to me. the only contact i had with her was a cheek-to-cheek kiss which was not long enough for bonding to take place (SOB!) Shian anak mama. (Damn , i could have waited more and gave birth naturally had i known - acc to hypnobirthing class lah)

so only after 3 hrs was i able to nurse Dina, that is, i was still in and out of grogginess due to the epidural and other drugs..hmmm... Dina doesnt like to be left alone.always wants to stare into my eyes (or PP's) for quite a length of time.... likes to be swaddled in a towel or blanket evrytime after bath, as if she remembered that was her position /condition in the womb before being yanked out... she absolutely loves this...hmmm if Dina's behaviour is due to her remembering how she was birthed, i dont mind at all. no wonder she is so manja but then again a first born can be manja anyways.

on a better note, she is getting more and more grown up now that she's going to school and all. Her fav past time is to try out her pink, new Clarks shoes for school. she'll wear em without socks of course, and walk about the house, naik atas turun bawah, and at times, will do a ballerina spin and tippy toe on the floor. she will also do the tumble / somersault on my bed and then land on her feet with a 'TA-DA!' pose at the end... :))

just last night i was negotiating w her - that she needed to wear her socks with her shoes , unless it is her CROCS or sandals... she said, " no , mom. i dont wear socks with my shoes". "Why Dina?", i asked. "Because i dont like it... it is not com-ti-ble". "You mean - comfortable? It's not comfortable?". " Yes, mom. It's not. It's not comfortable." "how come darling? It should be comfortable if you have socks on, right?". She replied, "no, thats not right."... " Why not?". "Because.... it's not right la mama. I only wear socks to work".....
i said, "oh you mean to school."
" Yes, mommy. to school."
" Oo ok then, you wear socks to school with your shoes , ok."
" ok mom.... Thank you, mo-mmy".
"You're welcome, sweetie". (i looked at PP and both of us rolled our eyeballs, smiling)
( so to her, wearing shoes is for formal occasion only like school. and if worn to malls or short trips, it'd be unnecessary.... geez.... )

-------

So that's how she reasons nowadays... At times, she can be very persistent as in she wants things NOW... ie. she likes to stay at hotels... SO, she'll say ,"I want to go to hotel, mom". "Ok sayang, we'll go nanti , ok?".
" but i want it now!".
"We cant go now because it's already night time, sayang."
" No, thats not right".
"Why not, Dina?"
" Because Dina naaak NOW".... Which is when i will take her in my arms and reason to her that there are things that you cannot have there and then. i'll ask her to look at me in the eye when i explain , saying, that we havent packed our stuff yet, and then there is school tmrw and papa and mama need to work the next day.... so she'll listen and understand fast... thanks to BabyPlus conditioning, i guess. she listens and remembers well.

Anyways, since i'm in my 3rd trimester, i can get pretty emotional at times... and Dina at times, doesnt want her mama or papa. She'll just say 'no' to our advances even if it can be for a cuddle .... (mood takde la tu bcos she might be sleepy already)... So one time she didnt want to brush her teeth and said "no , i dont want you"... so the PP heard this, and apa lagi, raised his voice lah.. with a boomin big voice, PP reprimanded Dina,
"Dina, mama wants to help you brush your teeth, we do this every night, as usual. if you dont want mama, you can get another mama. You have only one mama, if you dont want mama, then you dont have a mama anymore, because all you will ever have is one mama."....

Suddenly, tears gushed down my cheek cos i didnt think PP would reason to her like that... Such impact!.. But that impacted Dina alright, cos she saw me sitting at the edge of the bed with my tears streaming and she quickly ran to me and gave me a big hug ! PP then said " So Dina nak mama or not?"... Dina seemed scared of what PP had just said, and quickly said , "nak mama"... she stared at my face and my tears so intently that she hugged and kissed my cheeks few times, while wiping away my tears... so sweet and heartrending. :)

I guess being pregnant and having a toddler who wants attention or not at the same time, can be quite of a challenge.. but nothing that's too hard a challenge.. it's gonna be part of my life with the second baby coming so, i'll concentrate on PP junior's gentle birth....

Every night before bed time Dina goes: "Goodnight adik. Close your eyes, think of someone you love and how much you love them" and kisses my tummy.... * Sweet * :)

My Birth Plan (Hypnobirthing course Part 2)

2011-02-20T12:53:00.001+08:00

"When you change the way you view birth, the way you birth will change."

-Marie F. Mongan

My Birth Plan
(only in special circumtances, otherwise, i'll go for natural, drug-free, home birth)

Labor

I wish to be able to move around and change position at will throughout labor.
I wish to have a quiet ambience, curtains closed and airconditioning on.
I would like to be able to have fluids in my mouth throughout the first stage of labor.
I would prefer to keep the number of vaginal exams to a minimum ( to be asked for my permission prior to).

Monitoring

I do not wish to have continuous fetal monitoring unless it is required by the condition of my son.

Labor Augmentation/Induction

I do not wish to have the amniotic membrane ruptured artificially unless signs of fetal distress require internal monitoring.
I would prefer to be allowed to try changing positions before Pitocin is administered (pitocin not desirable even)

Anesthesia

I do not want any kind of anesthesia offered to me during labor, though I would like it available if I specifically request it.

Episiotomy

I would prefer not to have an episiotomy unless absolutely required for the baby's safety.

Delivery

I would like my husband and/or nurses to support me and my legs as necessary during the pushing stage.
I would like a mirror available so I can see my son's head when it crowns.
Even if I am fully dilated, and assuming my son is not in distress, I would like to try to wait until I feel the surge to push before beginning the pushing phase.
I would like to have my son placed on my stomach/chest immediately after delivery. NO rub down.
I do not wish for nurses to urge me to 'PUSH'. i want to breath the baby out.

After Delivery

I would like to have the cord intact until the pulsating stops.
I would like my husband to cut the cord when the pulsating stops.
I would like to have my son examined and bathed in my presence.
If my son must be taken from me to receive medical treatment, my husband or some other person I designate will accompany my son at all times.
I would like a private room if available.

Breastfeeding

Unless medically necessary, I do not wish to have any bottles given to my son (including glucose water or plain water).
I do not want my son to be given a pacifier.

Photos

I would like to take pictures of labor and/or the birth.

Other

My support is my husband I would like him to be present during labor and/or delivery.

A natural birth wish (Hypnobirthing class Pt 1)

2011-02-13T12:56:00.003+08:00

Ever since i knw that i was pregnant for the second time, ive started to imagine or visualize a natural, drug-free birth for my son ( oh yes, it's a BOY! scanned and re-scanned! hehe). reason being that ive never experienced a natural birth as i had a c-sect with Dina in which i was all drugged.. sadly.

:: scanned and confirmed... it's a B-O-Y! see his birdie ? ::

my SIL spoke of hypnobirthing when she gave birth to her daughter, Nia . She then used the method to birth her baby. you can read all abt it here. for those who dont know about this approach, here is the link and info on courses available.

Basically , hypnobirthing is giving birth using self-hypnosis which is to let yourself really really be in deep relaxation and calmness. the class i went to yesterday was the 1st one of 5 saturdays of 3-4 hrs each. i got a free Hypnobirthing: The Mongan Method paperback along with plenty of handouts in a folder. there were 4 other couples present including one celebrity... safe to say she starred as one of the leading ladies in the hit local drama 'Nur Qasih' and is a Eurasian. pretty too! anyway, the class started at 2.30pm but me n PP arrived 10 mins late cos we were searching for Wai Han's house for the first time. Wai Han is the HB practitioner and trainer who led the course in her own home (can read all abt her and her HB biz in the link i gave).

So, when we arrived, there was a TV crew who was there to film the first few mins of the session bcos the celebrity was going for the class. Hmm...and they said they are coming again for the 4th class to film again. ERkk! ada la muka i dlm prog tu nanti kot.... they said it will be featured in new TV3 prog/talk show hosted by Chef Wan. Dunno lah...tak kisah sgt pon.... hehe kalau kurus takpe lah....ini dah masuk 8 bulan preggy so sure dlm tv nampak bulatttt! :D

the first class was an intro to HB , and Wai Han talked to us about how to build a Positive Expectancy, how the uterus works, what's wrong with labor as we've come to know it tru media and stories passed down to us, how fear can affect labor, origin of pain concept and the best of all was watching real life videos of moms using HB while birthing. one of the best thing i found so far in this class was the fact that Wai Han was so well-versed in her field. she answered all of our questions to explain what FEAR is really about... she is also a very funny person which made our class lively and enjoyable. The other couples were great too , cracking funny lewd jokes and stuff... particularly the celeb and her hubby...kelakar orangnya...lebih2 lagi my hubby was there too ..hmmm mmg la riuh bangat! later we had a hypnosis session which was really cool. It is also about the law of attraction ie the more you fear, the more it hurts! Wai Han also knows abt LOA so HB approach made more sense

The couples were all expecting their 1st child making us the only ones there using HB for the first time for our second baby... i told them how lucky they were to know abt HB and use it on their first pregnancy. we shared our thots and opinions on pregnancy and birth matters...i related to them my vision to have a natural home birth knowing my experience at the hospital during the birth of Dina.

im really looking fwd to the classes and reading the HB book and handouts. meanwhile, i have abt 2 months to go to practice the relaxation and breathing techniques for my second baby.. so im doing tht now :)

more updates on HB class later ya!

* visualizing a natural, home birth, free from special circumstances *

7 days of preschool so far...

2011-01-15T12:03:00.000+08:00

Promised to update on Dina's kindy choice, right?? (Did you know that kindergarten means 'children garden' in German?? Ehem...). OK! So..... we chose Qdees in the end... but one which is nearer to our home... reasons being:

1. Easier to send and pick up Dina... a mere 5 minutes drive - at first didnt know that there was a Qdees nearby our house... so apa lagi kan?....

2. this Qdees is the headquarters of Qdees - meaning the building (it is actually a building!) or school is purposefully built for Qdees... so all the facilities are tip-top condition.

3. it has an indoor swimming pool (heated some more! i loike! cos no hassle to get the teacher to apply sunblock for Dina... YAY!)

4. spacious classrooms with big LCD screen tv (unlike the other Qdees with small 12inch screen computer monitor for multimedia)... i like again!

5. each classroom has its own bath cum toilet - miniature-sized toilet bowl with mini sink placed at toddler's height (i very like!)

:: Dina's classroom - nice murals :) ::

6. ballet classes which you can pay for if you wanna (which i know dina will surely love as she is a natural dancer - pantang dengar lagu, dah joget! lol! so we've decided to just put her in just for fun laa- no hajat to make her a professional ballerina.. of course, she loves the tutu too!)

7. the PRINCIPAL! - oh yess, when we met the principal of this Qdees, we were just attracted to the fact that she was so motherly and said she love kids.. she didnt have to tell us this as she was always saying hi and bye and blowing kisses to kids at the school. i liked her instantly and instinct just told me that this may be the kindy for dina.

also, i couldnt stop wondering about the principal herself - she looked so damn familiar but i just couldnt put my finger on it - i even told her ' you look so familiar -lah , have we met before?' sampai balik rumah i was still thinking about her and SUDDENLY, it came to me!
i shouted - " Papa , she is the twins! the IDEAL SISTERS! group tu, yg from Singapore tu... yg ada lagu raya. Twin dia Junainah yg kawin dgn M.Nasir tu... but passed away due to cancer... he later married marlia musa ".... nama principlal tu pon Junaidah. Ish ISh!!! - no wonder laaa she lookd so familiar... aiseyman!

(for those of you who dont have a clue to what im talking about, it's ok (including PP. apa raa...). but nanti bila lagu raya popular dia keluar radio, i'll point it out, k! --- goes like this ...

'Seee-lamat, selamat hari raya, pada yg miskin atau yg kaaaa-yaaa....
hari yg menyatukan kita semu-a,
untuk bersyukur kepada yg Maha Esaa...
mari semua kita gembira, menyambut hari yg berbahagia...
menyambut hari yg berbahaagiaaaa!'

:: the Ideal Sisters - S'pre pop group in the 70s , Principal Junaidah is on the left, i think! ::

:: here she is with me and Dina, probably umur dah late 50s kot dia nie ::

Sungguh teruja i was to meet her...hehehehe... later when we registered Dina at the school, i said to Junaidah - "you are ideal sisters, right?" to which she replied "yah ... itu semua dulu dulu tu... my daughter pon tak percaya i was singing in my early years...' heheh... fancy that? i just said to her ' i love your lagu raya by the way'.... well, that's the only song i knew by the girl group, LOL! padahal byk lagi lagu dia.
....she strikes me as someone very kind, gentle and again, motherly. When she saw Dina, she instantly said ' Is that Dina? Oooh you are so cute... ' terus hugged dina and kissed her on the cheek. 'I nak bawak balik lah Dina nie. Geeraammm!', she added ...hehehe... well that's a good start! :D. she is someone very hands-on and compassionate... tak kisah kissing kids of different races... sangat2 best!

SO WHAT HAPPENED FOR A WEEK AT KINDY???

DAY 1 & 2(Orientation day, 8.30-10.30am):
Dina didnt cry at all. Here she is all ready and excited to go to school with the new Qdees bag...

DAY 3 (still orientation day):
Cried on Day 3. but i managed to leave her with teacher Sue and didnt look back. (shian anak mama...). she as ok for the rest of the day. phew!

DAY 4 (Full half day, 8am-12noon):
till now, we will have our usual dialogue with her day in and day out and it somehow goes like this "

MM: Ok Dina, you're going to school today sayang. Your friends are waiting. (looking into Dina's eyes)
Dina: Dina tak nak go to school.
MM: Why not?
Dina: Be-cause.... Dina tak nak go to school. Dina nak mama.
MM: hmmm.... but at school you have lots of toys and friends. There's a swimming pool and dance and music... and your friend Shan En who helps to open your water bottle...
Dina: I know. but Dina tak nak go to school. Dina nak mama.
(time for PP to come in for reinforcement)
PP: Dina, mama has to go to office. PP has to go to office too. Dina pon pegi office school. PP will come back k. ... Papa will always come back to fetch you. Always kan?
Dina: (Nodding her head)... and later relented to go to school.

and this has been goin on every morning of school day. on good days, she'll let go easily and sits down in her class... but on not so good days, she'd break down and cry and wont let go of my hand... alaahaii...

DAY 5:
Teacher Sue reported that Dina showed her dance moves (jumping, hopping and moving her bum to the music) and told he friends to 'come, come and dance'....lol, biasa lah anak mama ni...

Teacher also said that Dina sometimes didnt eat the snacks provided during break. i guess this was normal as Dina rarely have breakfast... her breakfast is usually a bottle of milk... still adjusting , i guess....

just earlier today, dina actually went up to her teacher and said " teacher, can you feel me (pionting to her forehead) - dina demam. dina feels nak muntah "... which caught her teacher by surprise tht dina actually told her that (PP and myself were surprised too!). later i got a phone call from the teacher telling me of dina's fever and asked permission to give dina some panadol syrup which i agreed. hmm... shian anak mama nie... but at Dina's age, to inform some one else of her condition was quite remarkable, if i can say so myself! it is a reflection of Dina understanding her body and a sense of independence about her to inform her teacher.... WOW! im amazed! hehehe.

Anyway, i pray that Dina can withstand going to school.... she is alone there so being independent is something she needs to get used to, i guess... sigh!....

~~~~~~~~~~~~

To our darling daughter, Dina -

mama and Papa are very proud of you
and feel blessed to have you in our lives...
be happy always, sayang! mmwahh!

Love you lots and lots,
mama & papa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pre-school decision woes...

2010-12-27T18:18:00.000+08:00

Dina is starting PRE-SCHOOL this January 2011!!!

.... well , she should have started when she turned 3 but somehow that didnt happen. and now we've decided to enrol her in kindy... well, luckily im on my annual leave this dec end so used the days fully to scout 4 pre-schools near Tok Mummy's hse in PJ as easier for uncles to pick her up if we're not free...

so all in all, ive looked at REALKids, QDEES, Little Inventor, Tadika Al-Husna, Tadika Aladdin, Lil Qaliph (online only) and Genius Aulad (online again)... yg mana sempat-ler. anyway, id never thot id have to go tru this phase in life so soon... time flies quick and b4 u know it, ur kid will already be in std 1!

to me, REALKids near SS1 is a bit smallish and expensive too... altho has a swimming pool.
Little Inventor is a bit Chinak ;Tadika Al-Husna is a going to be an Islamic Montessori by Jan 2011 so really the mgt hasnt settled the new fees yet so we cant decide on that either;
Tadika Aladdin is really spacious and nice - a dejavu of my kindy years with big play hall and many louvre windows - airy and bright... they even have those solid metal playground slides and train swings etc... like the old days... compared to the plastic slides and stuff being all worn out in the sun, the metal or rather the thick steel ones are solid and much better.... just that kids should be extra careful when stepping on them (on anything actually :P)...
Lil Qaliph and Genius Aulad are just too far away - so have to forego that!

Lastly QDEES - hmm....we went to 3 centres - one in SS3 KJ, another in SS2 and lastly near Tmn Bahagia...First, i observed the facilities and fees. they all have the same fees. The SS2 and Tmn Bahagia have swimming pool which is a plus point! KJ doesnt have one. SS2's is a 1-storey bungalow with oldish looking interior. toilets were clean BUT they didnt replenish the toilet tissues fast enough (as we were there and Dina had to pee , so prihatin la skit and check whether tissues are already there or not for guests...haiyaa!) Plus it didnt smell hygienic like Dettol. So i was a bit miffed there. Tmn bahagia's is a big 2-storey bungalow with a big living room entrance as the gym hall. i LIKED that! they have big classrooms altho the toilets are adult-sized. (REALkids had kids-sized toilet bowl tho, kewl!). KJ's the same too - a big semi-D but the living room IS the classroom for 4 yr olds and a bit smallish if u ask me... hmm...beggars cant be choosers.

then i look at the principals - KJ's is a very matter-of-fact kinda woman who likes to be frank about EVERYTHING to a point of not being sensitive to her prospective clients... interpersonal skills pretty low... id wanted to ask if they allowed monthly installments (the other two QDEES offered this) . But she went on and said "Parents nowadays both have jobs so they can afford to pay termly...", WHATTT !!!??? Ada ka start sentence mcm tu?? DUHH! then why they HELL am i asking laa?? SHeesh! then only she continued, "but if there r parents with financial constraints, we will consider." she could have said a simple "sure! no problem. we understand that very much." GRRR! then when she saw Dina , she went on and COMPARING her to a little girl called 'Shakirah' whom she said cried and didnt want to board their bus on a trip one time. WHATTT????? AGAIN???? Giler ke apa pompuan nih? Parent rule no 1 - never compare children and YOU are the PRINCIPAL! cos she said Dina looked so cute and chomel and manja hence maybe clingy. I was DUMB-STRUCKED ok! i really wanted to laser her ! nasib baek the teachers there were DIFFERENT than the principal - very friendly and caring... one teacher Jothy immediately talked to Dina and coaxed her into playing picture cards and held out her hand to Dina - which Dina took to instantly. hmmm...if i were to analyze principal tu punya speech /discourse, mmg tak pass la interpesonal skills - punya tak sayang mulut or tak sedar diri. NOT EVERYTIME YOU NEED TO BE FRANK, especially with customers! (she says 'let me be frank aaa" -so many times). oh yeah, she couldnt wait to butt in when we said something- ada jer nak defend. no need to be that defensive la maam.

anyway, the principal of QDEES SS2 was so down to earth. from kelantan, she has a Bachelor in Education from UPM. she talks and talks about the kindy education scenario and problems they will face when primary/secondary educ starts the malay medium again when QDEES is English-medium. she looks nice and has good interpersonal skills. PP likes her but im so and so only lah.
the third QDEES' principal was antisocial. here we were listening to her teachers explaining about QDEES and the principal simply lalu jer depan we all. If i hadnt hold out my hand to salam, she wouldnt do it to us. haiyaa! lepas tu, blah jer mcm tu. bukan nak check us out if we were fine or what!...Grrrr satu lagi! luckily one teacher was talking and playing with Dina so nicely and dina instinctively held hands with the teacher who took her to play on the slides.

:: Dina trying out QDEES dress - so cute as she tries to button herself ::

SIGH! that night PP and i analyzed all of the info and yes, we cant have them all PERFECT for Dina cos we dont want Dina to be PERFECT either! we know kindys all have constraints but as Aunty Nana's mom said "in the end, it's not the program content or the infra that matters much. Instead it's the CLASS TEACHER as Dina will spend the whole year with the teacher hence the bonding much be good. the teacher must have all the skills pertinent to dealing with a four yr old... hmm. true true! PP decided to go and see QDEES at TTDI and tadika Dayana.. hmm we'll see lah who wins :P

As PP says to Dina that night..

"I dont want you to be the best student. Instead i want you to be the happiest student"....

words spoken like a true scholar, PP :)

*so sweet and me got teary-eyed pulak*

:: my little princess is all grown up now ::
(here she is in the giant Barbie's gown)

A short break in Nov.

2010-11-19T07:45:00.000+08:00

hello november!

is it close to nov end already??? how time flies and how little i've contributed to my brownie blog...uufff... been bz at work especially when it's getting closer to year end...got to meet those KPIs , people !

well, nov been swell too! got to present a paper at a conference in Penang last wknd and was surprised that i got best paper award! wheeehoooo! thanks to Allah for the hardwork...(good note for my appraisal too heheh! and to my research group... bravo guys!)

anyway, enuf of that... we stayed at Bayview Beach at Feringgi.. lovely hotel with very very clean beach and pool.... our maid didnt come along cos wanted some quality time with PP and Dina.. butt needless to say, i had a bad back and my legs were all lenguh2 having to take care of Dina on my own and 5 mths pregnant at that!... (betull nie...sakit pinggang sampai sekarang!)....

Dina is gettin pretty clingy nowadays especially the moment she knew about the new baby coming... is this normal??? but she absolutely loves her 'adik' and never fails to kiss and cuddle my belly..hahah...cute lah! so most of the time spent at the hotel was swimming at the pool... and bathtub!... PP had a mtg on Saturday so i had to take care of Dina all alone.... and boy oh boy... she was so manja and clingy that it was quite unnatural of her....

:: my little bump showing already :) ::

:: on the ferry on the way back to mainland ::

Dina: " mama.... dina sakit perut, nak manja"...she'll say everytime... worst was when her 'manja' is asking me to carry her like a baby!...adeehhhh patah pinggang ni haa.... heheh...anything for my lil munchkin...

Baking with Dina

2010-11-01T09:55:00.001+08:00

while watching Teletubbies with Dina one day, there was a section that showed 2 little boys attempting to bake bread... of cos it was all messy in there but the boys really seemed to have so much fun doing so... and i got the idea to do this with Dina... so i talked to her now n then about getting her to help me bake cakes... ooooh! and she couldnt stop talking about this ever since and she remembers!

so yesterday at Tok Mummy's, i got all the ingredients for baking a nice, simple moist chocolate cake that Dina could also help out... we used Tok Mummy's baking utensils etc...

here she is sieving cocoa powder using a plastic siever... we couldnt use the aluminium one that professional chefs use cos Tok Mummy's was a bit to big for Dina to hold, hehe... well she loved this red one nonetheless :) and i loved the look on her face when she saw all the ingredients and utensils in front of her :))...

:: mom's lil' assistant! she'll inherit my baking expertise and Kitchen Aid ;) ::

:: Dina trying her hand at breaking the eggs... she crushed it tho..hehe ::

:: she is singing to herself here while folding in the flour.. cute! (happy la tu!) ::

:: Mom! it's TOO LOUD!
- hehe sori daling, kenwood mixer lama nie mmg ler bingit...LOL! ::

After we put the cake to bake in the oven, my little kitchen helper, with a big smile on her face, happily skipped out of the kitchen while singing to herself :) Sigh!... happy that she could help her mommy out i reckon ...hehehe... too adorable !

:: the cake - sooo deliciously moist that it melts in your mouth !
EXTREMELY YUMMMYY ! ::

If you want the recipe, it's the recipe i've been using for years now (click here for recipe).... courtesy from ALLrecipes.com.

For the wicked chocolate frosting, i used:

1 bar of cooking choc
1 can of nestle cream
half teaspoon of nescafe (mixed with a bit of hot water)
half a can of sweetened condensed milk

METHOD:
Melt choc bar in microwave and then mix all the rest of the ingredients together. Pour generously over cake and eat with fresh strawberries!... to die for!
ENJOY! cos i did! (wink!)

ps. pics not so good cos taken using phone cam :P

i cook to eat

2010-10-24T14:36:00.000+08:00

Good news!!! Dina is now officially potty-trained! yippeee!... i make her wear panties and this eventually made her realize that she wasnt wearing pampers hence the need to pee in the loo. Yay!... well done, darling daughter!... the thing is , we still have to 'catch' her quick when she needs to pass motion as she does it when we least observe her... like in the mornings when im putting on my make up to go to work, she'll silently be doing her biz in one corner.. of course, with a diaper on!! :) oh well, lets keep it slow n steady.. and i beleive she'll get there :))

on a different note, my morning sickness has slowly abated . yayyy! i know now that this time its so lain from my first born. this time round, my sickness went into the 4th mth of pregnancy and i'd still vomit if i ate too late... i find out that my tummy rumbles and growles for food every 2-3 hours! so weird and shocking! i find it strange tht i just ate a plate of chicken rice and almost 3 hrs later, my tummy rumbles as if it is empty!... even when i burped and the after-taste was still of chicken rice..yuck! and if i dont fill up fast, acid and gas will build up and anything i put in, will surely get vomited out.. urghh!. so i now know tht i hav to fill up , tak kisah lah biscuits or bread or nestum all-in-one ker... i must fill up. .. and that did the trick to curb my loya-ness tho i still gag when something i eat and my tummy doesnt jive... hmm... dunno if this is gonna be a boy or a girl... but if its a girl, then i know for sure she wont have problems eating anything... unlike Dina.

I had problems eating when i carried Dina tht now she is a picky eater most of time.... lecehh sometimes cos i can run out of ideas cooking for her... anyway, as for me, i have started to cook
again...

the smell of saute'd onion or garlic doesnt make me faint anymore... among the simple dishes i managed lately was ayam masak sambal, sotong masak hitam, simple masak lemak kobis and macaroni goreng (for Dina too)... sampai my maid pon cakap lama tak makan masakan 'puan'.. i think she likes my cooking cos i dont put sugar in it..hehe.. unlike at my mom-in-law's.. sorry mummy!.

feels great to be able to cook again...AND EAT normally again... hooray for me!

Searching for the perfect half-boiled egg...

2010-10-11T12:55:00.000+08:00

of late i find myself fancying half or rather 3/4 boiled eggs... cos when i cant eat anything proper... the best to curb a rumbling-morning-sickness-prone tummy is to douse it with protein...and what faster protein can you get but the egg... this one is 3/4 boiled eggs..

usually malaysians eat or order 2 eggs at eateries like kopitiams or nasi kandar/roti canai restaurants... and we break them open in to a small bowl and mix it with soy sauce (salty) and white pepper (to even out the eggy smell)... i went to several joints and i can say that i have not eaten that many eggs in my entire life!.... this for my 2nd pregnancy too!.... i cant recall liking it during my first.... hmmmm....

anyway, it's always a good anticipation (or expectation) of cracking open the eggs to see whether they restaurant has got it right... i mean, the fact that we wanted the eggs to be perfectly 3/4 boiled.... the texture should be almost near solid with the yolk not bursting into runny yellow liquid in your bowl.. yuck...this is almost like eating raw eggs which i dont like obviously! the white part should be slight intact but not to a point of hardness... it should still be soft that you could mash it up nicely...

:: this one is from village cafe.. which is almost to our expectations::

if it doesnt meet my (of PP's ) expectations, we'd order a new set... and usually the waiters dont mind cos runny egg is not 3/4 boiled eggs , you know!... you must specify that you want a 3/4 boiled...otherwise you'll get not so good ones...when i was in primary school, i remember mom got us to eat 1.2 boiled eggs for breakfast ...EEEE -YUUUUCKKKKK!.... hated it everytime... and never ate it since.... except when i got married to PP and he liked to order this at Pelita... guess your spouse's ways sorta rub on you eh.. heheh.

anyway... this is just a story about searching for the perfect 3/4 boiled eggs.... and i finally found a place that did it the perfect way... Head to Uncle Lim's Kopitiam at The Curve.... PERFECT! :)

A Pink & Chocolate Bday Party!

2010-09-24T17:02:00.000+08:00

Always wanted to have a pink & choc bday party for Dina and we finally did one!.... some pics of the fab party!

:: Dina getting ready for her bday party that evening - she was just so excited! ::

:: The cake! ::

:: The birthday girls ::

:: the birthday sing-a -song...::

:: one for the album::

:: ... having good fun...::

:: for me, for me! ::

:: a life-sized Barbie for me! wow!!! ::

Fondant Dina & Nia Figurines

2010-09-21T12:06:00.000+08:00

This year, i teamed up with Aunty Nana for a double bday celeb for Dina and Nia! YAYYYYY! bukan apa, senang sikit nak manage things... i was responsible for the bday cake and other desserts...while aunty nana covered the decorations and party bags...

we decided to celebrate at Tok Mummy's hse and invite only close n immediate family members ...that is my parents and siblings and same for Nana. we had tok mummy cooking soto ayam , rendang n kuah kacang since Sept 17 was still second wk of raya... :)

so, as for me again, i took so long to think and decide what bday cake was good for dina n nia.... initial plan was to just order from mama min a shaun the sheep cake... i got this fabulous idea of putting shaun and the gang together on top of the cake having a bday party with balloon while bitzer ,the farmdog pal , will be busy holding a camera takings pics... the cake was gonna be covered with light blue, green and brown fondant icing for the ground and with pretty flowers everywhere to depict the picnic scene.... like this one i found on the net!

neat huh??....i just salivate looking at this kind cake... the quotation came back and all i can say was tht it was way over my (and Nana's) budget :(.... it was already 5 days to the bday celeb and i had to think fast!... another cake maker said she only does 3D cakes like this for orders above RM500 ...YIKES!...too ridiculous la pulak! aiyaahhh....think think! soooo.... after so many undecided moments... i finally took it upon myself to make the cake... this at only 4 days to occassion! ok ok...so seeing my fondant icing is aplenty in the cupboard and i didnt think i could bake the cake, i decided to just order a chocolate moist cake with pink butter cream icing all over with no decorations on top...thought i will settle the deco myself lah. to cut story short, i got all the necessities and set to work!... :))

now how do i make a 3D figurine eh?... i googled the net and looked up 'how to make fondant icing figurines' on youtube... and wow! i got so many ideas from the videos...(i must remember to thank the contributors cos the figurines i made were based on youtube tutorials !!! yeaa for youtube!)

:: pic not so good ...but here me making the final touches to a figurine of Nia :) ::

:: A nearly done Dina figurine - i did her curly lock piece by piece...fuhhh! i love the outcome altho' masih beginner level jer ..hehe::

:: A finished Dina & Nia figurine :D - the girls will wear the same dress for their bday party
and the theme is a tea bday party..yayyyy! ::

ps. took me nearly 4 hours just to get the skin color right , to really roll the fondant to make it pliable and for me to finish a Dina- Nia took me only 2 hrs sbb dah pandai skit...hehe... couldnt wait for the party!!!

Selamat Hari Raya!

2010-09-17T16:04:00.000+08:00

Selamat Hari Raya everyone!!!

How was my raya??? Pretty much nothing special really :(( Sob Sob!
with my morning sickness kicking in since mid-puasa month, i really cant say that i have enjoyed my raya this year ... not to mention my tailor who task was to produce baju raya for me and Aunty Nana, failed to do a good job...

i went to pick up my baju raya from him 2 days prior to Raya day which - in my entire life, has never happened before to me... so i called him saying i was there for pick up... i couldnt meet him cos i was feeling nauseous and stayed in the car while dearest PP went to get the bajus...
PP came back to say everything was done except for Nana's kebaya top!!!...

i went BERSERK!!!!.... Dahlah baju orang, and id reminded him many times to siapkan baju raya only, and he went on to say (i called him there and then from the car) things like, his worker lari from the bazaar raya stall lah, this and that lah... (oh yeah , PP called me from the shop for me to talk to my tailor ) apa lagi,
i literally SHOUTED into the phone,

" THATS NOT MY PROBLEM! SHIT! I TOLD YOU , I TOLD YOU, SIAPKAN BAJU RAYA DULU. YG LAIN2 TU TAK PAYAH SIAP PON TAKPE !!"
(err...i actually swore in the phone..erkkk)
it was unlike me to react that way but i was mad becos it's Nana's baju tht he failed to deliver hence i exploded lah...
DONT MESS WITH A PREGNANT LADY!!! SHEEESSH!

So after much apologizing from him ( which i ignored!) i simply ended the call just like that without saying gbye but he knew i was extremely unhappy >:(
PLUS he never ever saw me in that manner before cos i was always the nice & sweet customer ... bengong kepala i masa tu...hishhh!

i called Nana to reveal the sick news and felt terrible sgt that it was her bj raya . thank god Nana was fine but of course let down lah... (i know Nana, so sorry again). so i simply took back Nana's kain ( i got PP to do this of coz, crazy mom cant go and get it from tailor cos tailor can get HURT... really H U R T :P)

to make matters worst, he only started to tailor my kebaya on Sunday ( the following Friday was raya already)... ho i knew this? cos he sms me saying this and yet i told him i was preggy and asked whether i could do a refitting cos i think ive expanded -chest area. :)
he told me 'kain dah potong dah'....so i was sure tht i couldnt fit in my kebaya raya... but dina's matching kurung was fine. SO later tht nite, i tried my kebaya n true enuf, it didnt fit me at all.... cisssss!

SO to cut the story short, i managed to locate a nice batik bj kurung tht was of the same shade as PP's bj melayu and wore this for raya.... Dina couldnt match me but we got a kurung from granma that matched a bit ... a shade of green we were for this year's raya.... not bad lah cos ada bj spare for emergencies like this... who couldve known!

ta-daaa! nothing special but i really like PP's bj melayu colour.

this bj kurung raya of mine was reserved for my senate procession at this year's convo but since im not going to convo due to my unpredictable nausea and vomiting , so ok la to wear...

i didnt get to eat rendang or anything that was spicy cos i'd vomit... but hey this is my first raya being pregnant... so its not tht bad lah... all in the name of a second baby in the family ...

so how was your raya? :)

An Elmo treat for Dina's 3rd Bday!

2010-09-07T08:44:00.000+08:00

i'd plan this very early... Elmo and the gang came to town and we got tickets for the show... together with Nia and her mama & papa, off we went to Bt Jalil.... it was fasting month...
so we had KFC for breakfast before heading to the stadium...

on with d showww.........!

:: the stage... not that big...only half of stadium occupied ::

the show started with BigBird (BB)'s voice saying " We will start in 5 minutes. Dont go away!"... which caught DIna by surprise... she was so excited by now as she'd recognised the voice alright....and i kept telling her that this was the 'surprise' for her 3rd bday....."SURPRISE, DINA!".... and when BB came on stage with ELMO, everyone shouted and screamed!.. wow! talk about muppet celebs here! heheh.... i too shouted ok..... excited of course..my first time watching em LIVE!... i love the look on DIna's face... she was SMILING from ear to ear....couldnt stop smiling actually... she knew what the whole thing was all abt... PRICELESS!

:: Dina watching the show intently::

:: wished i had a DSLR camera now...::

:: with nia and Aunty Nana & Unc Arn::

:: Elmo and Mr Noodles too!.. i loved this! ::

By now, Dina was singing and dancing to each song... it was really nice to see that she enjoyed herself... actually, only Dina was dancing to heart's content..the other kids merely stuck to their seats... I truly think that Dina should get a surprise gift from the organizer that nite for being the most active kid who danced!!!..haha!

:: The End.... phewwww... it was really fun while it lasted::

Dina was already a bit cranky by 9.30pm...the show ended then actually... it was really fun thin to do for Dina as she could relate to sesame street so much.... the seats were okay... we didnt get the Tier 1 seats which were right in front of the stage... of course, the characters were all there... they came down from the stage and shook hands with the kids ... we couldnt cos we were at Tier 2...and there was a gate to curb us from running to the stage and hug those adorable muppets.... SIGH!... maybe next time, we get the front row seats OK!... probably Dina and Nia would be afraid of the life-sized muppets coming down at them to shake hands... soo....lets just wait till DIna and Nia are big enough k...

PS... i was already having my morning sickness by now... and the KFC didnt help much! uweekkk.... i was feeling tired and nauseous by the end of the day..... but good stimulation for lil'baby in tummy huh!?

I'M PREGNANT AGAIN!

2010-08-28T15:48:00.000+08:00

YES, I'M PREGNANT..... AGAIN !!!!!!!
YIPPEE!!!

What a wonderful AND blessed thing to happen in Ramadhan this year! :))

actually I didnt think i was.... and with d fasting month and all, my menses didnt come on time as usual.. i seriously thot it was because of not eating hence my body went haywire... i tested myself a week later but it came out negative... so i really didnt think much of it then..

it was on 24 August towards break fast time when i noticed a lil spotting and thot there goes my puasa that day! but at home later that night, i somehow wanted to test myself again, just to be sure u know....dunno... instinct i guess told me to do it... and to my BIG surprise, there were 2 lines !... I BLINKED MY EYES many times to make sure whether i was not seeing things haha. i was alone in my bathroom and just took a few mins of solitude to let it sink in..... smiling and laughing to myself alone actually....hehehe.... crazy woman... :)

i went out from the bathroom to where PP and Dina were , the two were happily watching Shaun The Sheep on the computer...n i waved the stick in front of PP's face... "What? What? What do 2 lines mean???" "YOU'RE PREGNANT KE SAYANGGG?"... was all that came out from PP's mouth....
i laughed and said, "YES, sure looks like it, daling!!!"
LOL!

hmm... got to start teaching dina to love her 'adik' from now...

WOWEEEEE! I really LOVE being pregnant....... feels surreal n so HAPPPY!!!
i LOVE IT :)

alhamdulillah.... pray tht this pregnancy will be a safe n happy one.

ps. hoping for a boy! hehe. dina kissed my tummy tht nite...saying ' i love you, adik'....
so sweet-lah... sigh.

im gonna enjoy this pregnancy as much as i did the 1st time, if not more!
:))

Salam Ramadhan...

2010-08-12T13:13:00.000+08:00

August is here and it's Ramadhan... so....

as usual, PP wants his ayam goreng goreng kunyit biasa with rice for sahur... he can take this at every sahur :O ... Me? i just have a mug of milo 'o', and curi sikit PP's ayam... i tell Dina that it's puasa month and when asked if she wanted to puasa, she nods her head everytime... 'puasa tu apa ma?".... cute! hehe.

Happy fasting everyone!

aunty nana, can u pls make this dress ?

2010-07-26T07:03:00.000+08:00

saw this on gap.com website.... nice! also bought some cotton pieces from kamdar... thot i'd post the pic of d dress here... so cantikk!!!

aunty nana, can u pls make this dress for dina.... :)) please ???? hehe...

Vision of a happy childhood

2010-07-22T11:01:00.000+08:00

i read an article recently in the Star by a reader. she is a mom to 2 children and her lament was on how she was bringing up her children... she basically doesnt want to be like her own mom in terms of rearing her children cos according to her, she had a 'depressing and negative childhood experience' and 'would get punished if her grades were not up to expectations'... Erkkk!.... to tell you the truth, i remember that my own childhood was as such too....the latter lah...

My mom used to have the rotan or ruler by her side whenever i brought home my report card... if i had a red mark in it, then i would get the dreaded swat of the rotan or ruler on my hand... :(
i too feel that i dont ever ever want to be like my mom in that sense... i want to love my children unconditionally... not really like my mom. to her, everything has conditions and i felt that it was not right when i saw my own friends' parents who were not like that at all... not to mention, my own husband's. dont get me wrong, for all its worth, my mom has taught me to be independent, resilient and some other good qualities that i am now... so that is fine really...

but what im talking about is i want to be a mother who is happy when she sees her children happy and not to be selfish by putting too may conditions in life when all you want is to be happy together... that is to be a better mom than my mom :)

So, I very much like the advice given by the columnist to the mom who wrote in. Below was the advice :
-----------

We learn to be parents from our parents. Many parents today lament that their childhood was not a happy one. They carry the emotional baggage to their own family.

There are mothers who are angry that they were abused as children. Instead of letting their anger destroy their chance of happiness with their own families, these mothers decided to set things right and correct the mistakes made.

Your daughter is making a lot of mistakes because it is part of her learning process. You are now aware of what is good for your children. All you have to do is apply what you know. Children do better in school when their parents are involved in all aspects of their lives.

Be available to your children when they need your support and help. Express pride in what they can do and have the confidence that they will become respected and responsible adults. When you focus on the small efforts your children put in, you will realize how marvelous they are in what they do.

Savour your children’s childhood and start creating happy memories for you and your family. Take charge of your life. Happiness can be created by your own actions. (I LIKE THIS :D)

Harvard University found that successful mothers who did well in raising children with positive attitudes were secure, reassuring, and communicative. These mothers knew just what to organise in their children’s lives. They knew when to make time for themselves as well as their families.

They allowed for moments when children needed comforting and answers to their questions. They did not expect their children to be in top form and at their best behaviour all the time. They were firm in disciplining their children as well as showing them affection. You are your children’s first teacher and mentor.

You can have fun with your children without losing control. They will learn better when they see you relaxed and happy. Your children will be open to the values that you want to hand down to them when you talk, eat, pray and read together.

Instead of using words like “Don’t” and “You can’t’ to your children and yourself, you can try looking at the present situation and find words that can positively describe it. Here are some encouraging phrases you can use: “You are trying your best to learn this new skill,” “I know you can walk slowly and carefully indoors,” “You can help me with the dishes,” and “Soon you will feel better.”

----------------

I like this advice ... i know i wont be like mom who feels that love is conditional... Dina is turning 3 this year and im learning more and more from her in term of her 'unconditional love'... i realize tht Dina loves me unconditionally too! because that is all she knows...

So at the end of every day, I count my blessings with my children and am grateful for having her in my life... :)

mama loves you very much, Dina...

Building a child's self-esteem

2010-07-21T10:02:00.000+08:00

this is a good article from babycenter.com on How to Build Your Child's Self-Esteem

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Give unconditional love. A child's self-esteem flourishes with the kind of no-strings-attached devotion that says, "I love you, no matter who you are or what you do." Your child benefits the most when you accept him for who he is regardless of his strengths, difficulties, temperament, or abilities. So, lavish him with love. Give him plenty of cuddles, kisses, and pats on the shoulder. And don't forget to tell him how much you love him. When you do have to correct your child, make it clear that it's his behavior — not him — that's unacceptable. For instance, instead of saying, "You're a naughty boy! Why can't you be good?" say, "Please don't throw the football in the house. A football is an outside toy."

Pay attention. Carve out time to give your child your undivided attention. That does wonders for your child's feelings of self-worth because it sends the message that you think he's important and valuable. It doesn't have to take a lot of time; it just means taking a moment to stop flicking through the mail if he's trying to talk with you or turning off the TV long enough to answer a question. Make eye contact so it's clear that you're really listening to what he's saying. When you're strapped for time, let your child know it without ignoring his needs. Say, "Tell me all about what happened at soccer practice, and then when you're finished, I'll need to make our dinner."

Teach limits. Establish a few reasonable rules for your child. For instance, if you tell him to wear his helmet when he rides his bike in the driveway, don't let him go without it at his friend's house. Knowing that certain family rules are set in stone will help him feel more secure. He'll start to live by your expectations soon enough. Just be clear and consistent and show him that you trust him and expect him to do the right thing.

Support healthy risks. Encourage your child to explore something new, such as trying a different food, making a new friend, or riding a skateboard. Though there's always the possibility of failure, without risk there's little opportunity for success. So let your child safely experiment, and resist the urge to intervene. For instance, try not to "rescue" him the minute he's showing mild frustration at figuring out how to read a tricky word. Jumping in to say, "I'll do it" can foster dependence and diminish your child's confidence. You'll build his self-esteem by balancing your need to protect him with his need to tackle new tasks.

Let mistakes happen. The flip side, of course, of having choices and taking risks is that sometimes your child is bound to make mistakes. These are valuable lessons for your child's confidence. So if your child misses the school bus because he was dawdling in his bedroom, encourage him to think about what he might do differently next time. That way his self-esteem won't sag and he'll understand that it's okay to make mistakes sometimes. When you goof up yourself, admit it, says Daniel Meier, assistant professor of elementary education at San Francisco State University. Acknowledging and recovering from your mistakes sends a powerful message to your child — it makes it easier for your child to accept his own difficulties.

Celebrate the positive. Everyone responds well to encouragement, so make an effort to acknowledge the good things your child does every day within his earshot. For instance, tell his dad, "Peter did all his chores today without prompting." He'll get to bask in the glow of your praise and his dad's heartening response. And be specific. Instead of saying "Good job," say, "Thank you for setting the table for dinner." This will enhance his sense of accomplishment and self-worth and let him know exactly what he did right.

Listen well. If your child needs to talk, stop and listen to what he has to say. He needs to know that his thoughts, feelings, desires, and opinions matter. Help him get comfortable with his emotions by labeling them. Say, "I understand you're sad because you can't go to the sleepover." By accepting his emotions without judgment, you validate his feelings and show that you value what he has to say. If you share your own feelings ("I'm worried about Grandma. She's very sick"), he'll gain confidence in expressing his own.

Resist comparisons. Comments such as "Why can't you be more like your brother?" or "Why can't you be nice like Evan?" will just remind your child of where he struggles in a way that fosters shame, envy, and competition. Even positive comparisons, such as "You're the best player" are potentially damaging because a child can find it hard to live up to this image. If you let your child know that you appreciate him for the unique individual he is, he'll be more likely to value himself too.

Offer empathy. If your child compares himself unfavorably to his siblings or peers ("Why can't I throw a football like Nicholas?"), show him empathy and then emphasize one of his strengths. For instance, say, "You're right. Nicholas is good at throwing a football. And you're a fast runner." This can help your child learn that we all have strengths and weaknesses, and that he doesn't have to be perfect to feel good about himself.

Provide encouragement. Every child needs the kind of support from loved ones that signals, "I believe in you. I see your effort. Keep going!" Encouragement means acknowledging progress — not just rewarding achievement. So if your child is struggling with a math problem, say: "You're trying very hard and you almost have it!" instead of "Not like that. Let me do it."

There's a difference between praise and encouragement. One rewards the task while the other rewards the person ("You did it!" rather than "I'm proud of you!"). Praise can make a child feel that he's only "good" if he does something perfectly. Encouragement, on the other hand, acknowledges the effort. "Tell me about the game. I saw you really hustling out there" is more helpful than saying, "You're the best player on the team." Too much praise can sap self-esteem because it can create pressure to perform and set up a continual need for approval from others. So dole out the praise judiciously and offer encouragement liberally; it will help your child grow up to feel good about himself.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From Dina to Mama, with love....

2010-07-17T17:08:00.000+08:00

..... thanks to PP, Dina gave me a bday card this year... again. :D... so sweet... sigh. cair hati mama...

Surprise! Happy Early Birthday, Aunty Fiza!

2010-07-16T17:56:00.000+08:00

Got an sms from Aunty Nadia which read something like 'Celebrate bday Adek tomoro night. Kak Fiza balik esok'..... well, i was in Alor Star so i knew Adek's (Yeyen's papa) bday was on 13 july... and mine was on 17 th!... hmmm... adakah mereka akan buat surprise bday for me too?????

heheheh! that day i had a terrible stomach ache and migraine... bcos makan salah i think... but boleh lagi PP bawak pi tgk Toy Story 3 -3D....the movie was ok - loved the metro-sexual Ken... LOL! it was actually a tussle between toy story and eclipse!...sorry, i'll catch ya later, Edward.

So Yes!, the surprise bday cake came as usual..heheheh.... seperti yg di sangka2, lampu dipadamkan dan lagu Happy Birthday pon dinyanyikan oleh ahli keluarga PP dan yg sewaktu dengannya... :D

:: dina posing yg amat ::

:: singing happy birthday, happy birthday...::

:: i like this pic !.. ian looks sooo...... calm :P ::

Thanks everybody, cake amat lah sedappp... Aunty Nana pilih... im 25 this year... not getting any younger...heh heh ;)

My horoscope for 17 July 2010 says -
"You feel most comfortable at home right now, and you may want to ensure that you can stay there for a little longer than usual -- cancel an appointment, call in 'sick,' or do whatever it takes to nest."

How nice!....

I love swimming pool, mama!

2010-07-10T14:04:00.000+08:00

Swimming with a toddler should be an enjoyable experience for both parent n child... If your toddler is not used to being in the water it can b a strange and slightly scary experience for them....so tis important to follow your toddlers lead and let them get used to the experience slowly... i too, hv found out that Dina does pools rather than the beach... when thot that my lil toddler who enjoys time in the bathtub may not necessarily adjust quickly to swimming in a pool... i was entirely WRONG! Dina LOVES pools and altho swimming is a different environment than a bathtub at home , dina doesnt take a long time to get used to it :)

i decided to bring Dina and her cousins, Juni and Anya to the famous Desa Waterpark .... somewhere on the outskirts of KL... after all these years staying quite near to this park ( my mom's house) i never really did care about it... of cos until you have a toddler who loves pools!
so that day, i went out to OU to get her a full swimsuit so that she wouldnt get too cold playing in the water park pool... actually got one her size, price was under RM50.00 so it was ok.. i really hoped dina would like the suit cos i'd meant to surprise her with it. to cut the story short, the minute she saw the suit, she insisted on wearing it immediately! :D... it was around 3pm saturday and when we eventually left home to head to Desawater Park to be exact... dina was lounging in the house with her suit on... hehe... she just loves her 'baju baru'.

we reached the place at 4pm... the website said it closes at 6pm but when we got there, the ticket counter girl said that we must be out of the water by 5.30pm! yikes! we only had 1 1/2 hours to play!.. grrrr..... o wht the heck! we were there so make the most out of it... especially for Dina...
so to get dina acclimtized to the play pools, i took her to the side of one pool ares... the water was SURPRISINGLY warm!... and weather was almost cloudy so it was PERFECT!

when i was telling dina all about the place, i felt a warm trickle near my feet... i looked down and YIKES! dina peed on me... hahahah! Dina, Dina!... ishhh. so after washing my foot in the pool (oopps!).. . all of us played and played.. PP wasnt around sbb ada mtg....

:: look mama, my new swimsuit! ::

:: take five! - bottle time! ::

luckily for me, dina had enough of pool time for about 1 hour and it was already nearing quitting time... so takde lah kena pujuk dia keluar pool... we had a quick shower at the bathroom facility there and headed to KFC for some chicken on the go!... the park was ok, but too bad for anya as the bigger rides were already closed by then... but i liked the fact that the water was always warm.. didnt expect that actually :)

so next time we can go again.. oh yeah, sophie came at 5pm to join us but the ticket girl said it was too late to admit anymore customers... well, rugi laa if masuk pon... so next time, sophie can come along k!

let's go to the beach

2010-06-21T06:25:00.000+08:00

hello again...
been dying to hit the beach after ....what....10 or more years???? erkk... so when the chance came, i quickly roped in close family to join the fun!

we took a few days of leave and stayed at Avillion Admiral Cove, PD, with just PP and Dina... no maid this time... must make a point to have some time alone with Dina and PP too, you know... shows that mama can handle things..heheh. (i can still do it !)

the hotel was just renovated and refurbished last Feb, so indeed the place was really nicely done! good ID and colors too!... we booked the superior room but PP decide to bump us up to n executive room... (Woo hoo! Thanks PP! i love u!) i'd wanted the room to face the marina (cheewah..marina sounds too grand! LOL)...i mean the boat berth or dock so dina could see the seaside and boats, yachts etc... just look at the pic above....i look like im in Monaco !!! LOL!

:: i want the rainbow ice-cream , mama!::

post-ice lolly pic - "mama, it's dirty...no, no!"...(ickyness written all over her face :P) dina didnt like the beach as this was her first time haha...

:: "Look Dina, mama's making sand castles!"... Dina : "err, mama, im not impressed.." ::

even when we went into the sea, she insisted on sitting on my lap so that her feet didnt have to touch the sand at the bottom.... think nia felt the same way too :) ... dina macam anak mat saleh with her ever-curly hair, hehe.

later tht evening, all of us had dinner in PD town.. nothing fancy like seafood or anything like that... we found a food court and ordered lamb chops and etc from Papa Grill. mama neer, emmil, tok mummy, nia and the two maids later headed to KL while yeyen and dina stayed back for another fun nite.. YAY! tomorrow swim swim at the hotel pool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pic of the day

:: one happy camper! ::

(i absolutely adore this pic!)

~~~~~~~~~~~

next saturday morning was a good day... we had a decent breakfast of nasi goreng, eggs and baked beans (the usuals) at the hotel's terrace restaurant and then headed straight to the pool... dina and yeyen couldnt wait as seen in pic below... happily singing together there.

Now this time, dina was so much friendlier to the water ... think she stayed in there with PP for an hour or so! she just loves the pool so much :) PP taught her to kick and paddle in the water and she was smiling all the way :D

:: one kiss from a happy lil toddler for her papa ::

:: best of cousins ... that is if Yeyen is not biting lah :P ::

We checked out by noon that day and drove to seremban for lunch. PP said he ate at this secluded looking restaurant called 'Hard Wood Cafe'...selling nasi campur but with lauk2 kampung... YUMMM! we ordered sambal sotong, daging salai masak cili padi, ikan keli goreng sambal and lots more... a total of RM70.00!!! but we finished everything cos we were so hungry by then... we'll definitely go there again ... the kampung like ambience really did it for us as the weather was not too hot.

a well-deserved short break from the hussle and bussle of city life... goin again to CHerating or PD next few weeks i think ...hehe!

bye bye for now!

Belaian jiwa....

2010-06-11T18:17:00.000+08:00

Seindah tiada lagi kau ku ingatkan
Sayang kau hilang
Menanti biar sampai akhir hayat ku di dunia ini
Kau tahu bertapa ku sayang padamu
Hanya bidadari sebagai ganti
Hanya takdir menentukan ia
Oh belaian jiwa

Oh angin, sampaikan lagu ku padanya
yang sedih pilu
Terimalah lagu ku jadi teman hidup mu
Untuk selamanya
Kau tahu bertapa ku sayang padamu
Hanya bidadari sebagai ganti
Hanya takdir
Menentukan ia
Oh belaian jiwa -

here's PP serenading to her darling lil girl.... best!

happy father's day, sweetheart! love always, your MP and Dina .

ChOo ChOo train!

2010-06-08T17:42:00.000+08:00

june has been a hectic month for me at the office... workshops, meetings, training.... more meetings.... phewwwww..!!! no wonder my blog's been L O N E L Y!... sorry blog.... there are times, you know...

Anywho... busy macam mana pon, i strived to make some quality time for my family... ie Dina and PP... even if tis so simple as going on the LRT for a ride :)))

this was on a sunday evening around 3pm... so didnt have to battle the working crowd... and it was Dina's 1st time on the train. we braced ourselves as we werent sure of how she'd react... takut ker, "nak out! nak out!" ker... you know...

Yes we took some pics for evidence sake... nemmil couldnt join us cos mama neer said he was terrified of trains!.. tapi tgk video Thomas on a daily basis! ish ishhh...
to continue, we bought return tickets only to stop at the next 2 or three stations ahead and come back.. but decided to stay on till after the tunnel which was a station i cant remember the name...urghh!.. sorry, me not a LRT stops expert here... mama yeyen should know better! we just stayed on the train and came back :)

to our happiness, dina L O V E D the ride on the train!!! yippeeee!... she sang 'Dinah train' song..

I've been working on the railroad

All the live-long day.

I've been working on the railroad

Just to pass the time away.

Don't you hear the whistle blowing,; Rise up so early in the morn;; Don't you hear the captain shouting,; "Dinah, blow your horn!"....

... and even sat right in front cabin window facing the tracks... :) Dina soo brave! hehe...

she saw the handles on the ceiling of the train and said 'nak gayut, nak gayut'... even if it was a short ride, it was a lotta fun because yeyen and nia ikut sekali besides aunties and uncles ... and i got to see a lot of things that i never did see before along the way... like the murals on the bank of the riveer Klang... they say the murals are meant to send good messages to the public... hmmm nice!.

so it was a good day spent for the kiddies... they loved the ride and dina even said 'nak lagi'.... O-Kay... we'll go again next time, dearie... this time we bring along emmil too! :)... simple fun :)

ps. wish the govt would upgrade and expand the transportation system in KL ... more LRT routes pls... i'd love to take the train any day if they do some extensive effort on this.

milestone getting easier

2010-06-08T17:15:00.000+08:00

These are some milestones i got from babycentre.com.

and Dina has over-achieved some of them , being 33 months old now.... and me so proud of her!

31 and 32 months
• Recites own name - (and a host of other aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, cartoon characters from Playhouse Disney channel, animals, colours, vehicles, buildings, my make up items and lots more)

• Draws a circle -(Dina drew a circle with a face and said that it was a 'mama')
• Puts on a T-shirt - (she takes it off faster than she puts on)
• Balances on each foot for a second - (yes... maybe 2 secs?)
• Recognizes ABCs - (yes, but recognizes numbers better.... future remisier)
• Brushes teeth by herself - (i tell her if she likes to put on a cute face and smile, she'd better BRUSH!)
• Uses two adjectives - ("mama, this is so much fun and nice!")
• Draws a cross - (she draws lots of things but usually they arejust circles and two eyes with a mouth)
• Points to objects described by use - ( i think she can get a phd already in this! :D)

33 and 34 months
• Names one color - (Dina knows 'magenta'!)
• Names one friend - (she points to the house agent and said that the person was 'mama's friend')
• Carries on a simple conversation - (so simple that will leave you in hysterics!... cakap cakap cakap! she talks like a grown-up.)
• Alternates feet going up and down stairs - (heh... graduated already this!)
• Uses prepositions (e.g., on, in, over) - ( also under, near, next)
• Speaks clearly most of the time (75 percent can be understood) - ( 75% is just about right - maybe 80% lah...hehe..)
• Stacks eight blocks - (.... ho-hummmmm !!!! NEXT! )
• Is toilet trained during the day - (getting diapers off in the day, but i just started, hence the one fine day, she peed while standing in PP's room. LOL! shian anak mama! takper... practice makes perfect and i wont push her...)
• Wiggles thumb - ( does wiggling your bum count?)
• Expresses a wide range of emotions - (yes... ooo yes!)
• Draws a stick figure - (usually a face but she can draw a worm!)

35 and 36 months
• Describes how two objects are used - (my compact powder - she puts it on me while describing what she is doing. Also she puts eye-shadow on my eyes and tells me how it should be done! haha!)
• Uses three to four words in a sentence - (Make it 10 words!...- chehhhh)
• Names two actions (e.g., skipping, jumping) - (she said 'somersault'...jumping, skipping semua elementary...LOL!)
• Hops and skips - ( double ho-hummm! :D)
• Follows a two- or three-part command - (more than you'll ever know!)
• Separates fairly easily from parents - (this one ada musim! normal la kan)
• Rides a tricycle - (she's riding her tricycle now - a Pink Raleigh!)
• Balances on each foot for three seconds - (hmmm.... maybe i should get to do this for fun!)
• Gets dressed without help - (not just yet....hehe)

May you become a good and happy child that you are... my lil cute and loving Dina....

curly curly curly hair....

2010-05-20T16:21:00.000+08:00

has been some time since i last reported on Dina's doings... my curly haired little girl has been showin a lot of new skills and language use over the past months....
she is officially 2 years and 8 months... eats sausages and sweets... LOVES to eat sweets actually... sweet tooth like PP dia... she digs mentos, fruit plus, m&ms etc.....
i kinda get buntu also when it comes to cooking for her... so one day i just bought the chicken sausages and turned it into sausage soup... with vegetables of course!... She LOVED it!!!
Hurray for another recipe for toddlers... i totally forgot that sausages are childrens' best friend! =) she loves ice creams too... thank god she understands that she must brush her teeth whenever she eats sweets etc and before bedtime too! she has her own toothbrush and will brush her teeth together with me every night... good training!

dina will normally eat really soft cooked rice with either chicken or certain type of fish... Oh YES!..she is eating lots nowadays... seems that her level of energy is pickin up and her vocab by leaps and bounds!... she is so talkative, which is really great =)

she completely understands instructions and can just get it right away... that day when PP taught her to clap twice and drum once. one time instruction was all it took :) clever girl !... one thing is to NOT praise everything she does by saying "Clever girl"... as she will tend to think that everything done is 'clever', when it is a skill learned already... Instead, say " Good job" or " Well done!" for accomplishment.

one thing i notice is she likes to hear new vocab or words... she will repeat the usage and apply appropriately... big words like 'different', 'strange' and 'probably'.... she can use them well now but sometimes not in correct context tho.... LOL!.. which can be hilarious! =D

Episode 1:
Tok Daddy’s Problem.
Dina:Tok daddy, what colour is this? (*pointing to a picture in her book*)
TD: Blue.
Dina: What colour is this? (*pointing to another picture*)
TD: Green
Dina:What colour is this? (*pointing to another picture*)
TD: Red
Dina:What colour is this? (*pointing to another picture*)
Tok Daddy: I don’t know Dina. What colour is that?
Dina:Hmm.. Tok Daddy ni problem lah…
(actually her new word that day was 'problematic') ....hehe

soon she will be three and god knows what she can say then =).... im calling her Dr Dina now... hehe... sajerr.... she likes it but when asked if she wanted to be dancer, she said yes!... ok laa... MD by day and dancer on weekends.. haha..

gotta go!

Stop and smell the roses, I must...

2010-05-04T16:51:00.000+08:00

Life is a roller coaster....ya ya.. cliche phrase... yes.... only if i think it as that... its already may 2010!... semester's over... taking a break... but not just yet... as another intake is due this weekend... flying into north state again.... day trip... then back to KL before i go to north again the same thurs.... pheww... has been like this ever since i landed the job.... zooming here and there... barely have time to pull at the brakes...

felt like it was only yesterday since i first met my UK-bound students at Kuala Nerang ...and now they are doing their exams and due to fly abroad this september... sheeshh... miss the noisy ones.... yeah, u know who u r.... one of the bestest bunch ive had when i do what i do best..

... i

got

to

slow

it

down

a

bit...

so... yes.

forget

what

others

are

running after....

just

stop.

anyways... so have time tomake time ya.... good idea to have time out with PP.....go watch some movies, will ya!....watched How to train Your Dragon and Iron Man 2.... both good but the former was much better...3D too!... ending was pretty predictable.... but hey, loved Downey's hair ...gorgeous!

:: want PP to make his hair like that ... can ah, pa ...? ::

how i miss the cinema!.... how long has it been since the last ..? nearly 8 or more months!... no joke.... no joke... sigh... time out with PP is what i gotta do.... even if its a simple (but delicious) time together ...eating cendol....not by the road side... but in the car... of cos. better rather than outside peluh2 in the hot afternoon.... cendol order through tingkap je , hehe. ...

a good cendol on a hot day really does the trick eh, pa...

.....

so stop and smell the roses... before its too late....
but never say never too late. hmmm.

My Monty's arrived!!!

2010-04-16T12:58:00.000+08:00

presenting ....

my latest acquisition.....

wanted something simple .... yet nice

got it through my boss who went to Paris recently.....
*wink*wink*

what a long wait it was..................

but it was worth the wait.................

because....................

it is ABSOLUTELY .............G O R G E O U S ! ! !

TADA !!!!

my Montorgueil PM ..... *sigh*...... LVOE IT!!!!

i asked for it...... attracted it... and i got it....

GOD is great!

Amin.

my 2nd LV of many more to come...hehe!

my lil 2 1/2 year old model

2010-04-07T13:41:00.001+08:00

Dina surprises me a lot nowadays....

ie. she strikes a pose easily and knows how to be pretty ... she pretends wearing mama's make-up... of course she has her own pretend make up kit and dora tote... cute :)
She knows she's cute.

So when i asked her:
Do you want to be a model, Dina?

Her answer was a straightforward, "NOPE!"

I tried.

:: pretty flower , with white dress and pink cardi.... she couldnt stop wearing this ! ::

:: oops... ternampak pulak beskal untuk yeyen blkg tuh... ish ish... ;) ::

:: love you, sweetheart! ::

just doing my duties

2010-04-07T08:53:00.000+08:00

..... being a 2 1/2 yr old cute toddler means i have more duties set upon me... and i love them!!!

i pray to Allah with PP, my telekung is not ready yet cos i think my mama will tempah from Aunty Nana :)

I love yeyen's hair cos it doesnt tangle that much compared to mine... but i know im cuter with my locks :)

Nia needs a bit of grooming too and she loves it!

having a maid around sometimes doesnt help much.. i do insist on washing the dishes... half-naked :D

PP's Surprise Bday Cake! 18SX!

2010-03-22T13:37:00.000+08:00

Me was thinking of PP's bday celeb right after came back from Kazakh trip... wanted it to be a surprise for PP as he is 40 this year... yep the BIG FOUR-O !

so i quickly called up my fav cuppy cake maker, Mama Min.. or Min, to make some cup cakes with a DIFFERENCE! and wallah!...revealing the surprise cuppies below...!!!

:: the surprise bday cake for PP...with all my love... :D ::

SURPRISED!... yep!.. PP was surprised alright and to the delight of my inlaws who joined in the bday makan2 at Taman Tasik Shah Alam recently.. :)... I SIMPLY LOVED THE OUTCOME OF THE CUPPIES!.... the base cake recipe was my fav recipe from my personal collection - chocolate peanut butter marble cake ! YUMMYLICIOUS!!!

ths deco on top of the cuppies are all of PP's fav things *wink wink*.. heheh.... ie: kite-flying (mr octopus and smiley kite), sushi, golf, Porsche, Beamer, boobis and butt and sexy lingerie (of course, it's about ME too! LOL! except for the MAGNIFIED boobies... LOL! ) Opps, jgn marah, PP! :)) ... the only bit was the horse shoe which was actually supposed to be a magnet.. but never mind lah! i must say the deco on the cuppies were so cool and best giler!... ANyway, the 18SX cuppies were great conversation piece ... funny and only for those who' ve got great sense of humour too! :)

:: the lingerie! Sex-XYYYY! ::

::of cos, Dina jumped for Mr Octopus first :) ::

:: PP's porsche ::

:: Nia got the smiley kite ... and she imitated it well too !::

:: Faizal, willingly confessed by choosing the exposed boobies... to the delight of wifey, Neer...wink wink! LOL! ::

Last but not least...

::.. me with my fav sushi and PP with his fav thing on me! LOL! Ooopss!!! ::

:: one for the album ::

Thanks to all who made it possible for us to celebrate PP's 40th birthday!

ps. Hope you liked the cuppies, PP! Love u always , MP.

truly talking Dina...

2010-03-11T16:15:00.000+08:00

Has been some time since i last posted an update on my little pumpkin Dina... well she has really grown... especially in terms of her speaking skills... and vocabulary!

last night's conversation in my bedroom...

mama: you are sleeping with papa, yes?
dina: nope. mama.
mama: you are sleeping with papa, yes??
dina: nope, ma-ma... with you!
mama: why:
dina: (smiling away)
mama: why do you like to sleep with mama, daling?
dina: because... because... erm... (sees story book)... owh! mama read with me! insect book ok?
mama: do you want to watch DVD?
dina: nope. mama read with dina together ok?
mama: dina read for mama ok?
dina: (reads to me).... insect live in forest... forest ada lots of insects... ada lizard... cricket... frog... snake... eee scary la... TA-KUTTT dina! (looking at the picture book with a frown on her face)
mama: it's ok. insects are only in the book. not real... not here.
dina: oo not real kan? takde sini, kan? in book sajer...
mama: yes. so you dont have to be afraid cos mama is here.
dina: mama here together with dina... jaga dina... (kisses my hand)... erm... i think i want to eat peanut butter, mama!
mama: why dont we eat strawberry instead? doctor says you cannot eat peanuts cos you'll get itchy, right?
dina: Oowhh! doctor give dina vita-meens...orange kan? very nice!... doctor says cannot eat peanut butter kan?
mama: yes.
dina: maybe strawberry jam , mama?
mama: yes you can eat that.
dina: ok let's go downstairs ok? ... mama let's go downstairs and eat together ok... come on!
mama: ok. papa is downstairs... go to papa , sayang...
dina: no. mama come together with dina ... mama eat with dina ok?
mama: but i'm sleepy sayang... can you go to papa... mama's tired.
dina: mama come together with dina... eat together and read story book..
mama: dina go down first ok... (by this time, i was dead tired and sleepy)
dina: mama come!... please maa-maa!
mama: (u oh, it's the 'please' word)... ok ok... i'm coming...
dina: (taking my hand and leading me to the door)... let's go.
mama: (shouting to PP)... Papa...!
papa: (as if on cue..) OK Dina! come to papa... let mama sleep ok?

by this time dina was downstairs and papa took over
(THANK YOU, PP! MMM-WAAHH)....

:: my ever so clever little girl ::

Breakfast on the snow! - Almaty Part 3

2010-03-08T17:35:00.000+08:00

can you believe it? having breakfast on the snow-capped mountains of AlBulak , Almaty ??? WOOWEEE!!!!

well, thats what we did! :) :) :)....

:: with Lyaziza, our generous host throughout our stay::

:: my portion ::

::and after that super-filling breakfast, we had a snow-ball fight!... the kazakhs way of ice-breaking :)... COOL, huh? :) ::

:: poking some fun at Gulmira, our pretty, soft-spoken, obliging Kazakh translator ::

:: with Gulmira, Siti, and Alina on the ski resort mountains... the Winter Olympics 2011 will be held here ::

:: what a wonderful experience! ::

Say 'neigh' to horse meat? - Almaty Part 2

2010-03-04T00:15:00.000+08:00

Sunday 28 feb - Dinner at host's residence....the kazakh way...

we headed to our host, Madam Lyaziza's house that night... a dinner invitation which we greatly welcomed :))..
we were greeted very warmly by Lyaziza and Alexander, her staff cum official photographer... i must say i raelly like her modern apartment . very tastefully decorated with bold and big prints for wallpaper and up-to-date furnishings... NICE!

the pic here is the great, great grandfather of Laziza, like Genghis Kkan , himself :)

the kazakh way of treating guests is like the malaysian way... meaning, very hospitable , treating them like kings the whole way... and this was how we felt throughout the trip!...and treating guests to a lavish home-cooked dinner is customary and indeed a traveller's dream come true especially when the menu was the country's best traditional dishes ... who wouldnt want this yeah?...

:: with the host herself, Lyaziza, a very warm & sweet lady, and my new friend from Uniten, Dr Siti... Laziza is preparing the dough to make pasta for the traditional kazakh dish, besh parmak ::

:: me attempted to help flatten the dough ::

:: ... or rather playing around with it to the amusement of Lyaziza :D ::

-----///-----

So are you ready for the lavish dinner menu??? Here are plenty of the dishes Laziza cooked and served us that night ....

FOR FIRST COURSE:

This is ' kazy' or horse meat with garlic, and black pepper. the meat is put in the horse's intestines and made into sausages.. they told me that you need to boil the sausage for 2 hours so that the meat is tender. the kazakhs eat horse meat only during winter as it has a heaty effect to the body...

My take on this? .... it was tender, it has a certain distinctive smell , different from lamb or mutton.... has a sweet taste. i was ok with it actaually!!! i can say im adventurous now.... heheh... wish i could bring this to malaysia and get people to taste it haha. :)

They had smoked salmon too... YUMMMM! my favorite! i had a lot of this :) some salads, gherkins, coleslaw on far left.

This is their salad, made from cucumber, tomatoes etc... no meat inside... but i'm telling you, they make the freshest, tastiest salads you could ever imagine !... bet mama yeyen would love this! i ate salads most of the time here too.

This one is salad with horse meat, liver, heart etc... everything meaty about the horse is in here!!! plus carrots, potatoes. tasted really good... i mean, i could actually swallow this... :)

aaa...this one is exactly like our malaysian cekodok or 'char koi'... its kazakh's traditional food... i LOVED this!

-----/// -----

:: this was my plate... a bit of eveything on the table, ::

Here im holding a bowl of horse milk... hehe.. horse milk is their traditional drink for the kazakh people... it taste like a cross between tairu and pulut tapai with a zingy after taste
they said that drinking this could keep you warm all night but it really depends if you could actually drink a lot of it... after more than 5 cups, you could feel a bit woozy...

<--- and there was entertainment too! this guy here is apparently the country's pop star but his genre is folk songs... he's playing the 'dubra', a two-string guitar instrument, which is the kazakh traditional instrument... like our gambus... i think, he entertained us with at least 5 songs and he can really sing!

-----///------

FOR MAIN COURSE

this is the famous kazakh traditional dish, the 'Besh Parmak'...
remember the dough i helped flatten earlier ??... the pasta seen here is the dough,which is boiled in meat soup with carrots and potatoes.... this one can be made of horse meat or beef... it is usally served in a bowl together with the soup... like our malaysian kuey tiaw sup... this is delicious especially on cold winter days..

----///----

FOR DESSERT

of course, me being me, i couldnt resist exploring my fav part of the house - the kitchen! :)

here , lyaziza has made 3 kinds of traditional kazakh desserts
...she is cutting the 'mederiy tart', a cake made of honey, the middle one is a pie made from nuts, like walnuts and almonds, and the last one at the far end is the apple pie....

we were all eating in the dining room and our host, Lyaziza, was actually cooking up a lot of things in the kitchen.. such a SUPER-WOMAN.... a banker, a mom of three kids and president of the university which she owns and legacy from her mom... her late mother bought the university years and years ago...

<--the picture of Lyaziza's late mom.....

<-- desserts galore... they love to eat dried fruits and nuts...and chocolates too!... they have this served to guests all the time... :))

Gosh!... i think we were so full that night, we couldnt even say 'nay' to the food that they kept on serving to us... i reckon that they too wanted us to enjoy their food as much as we malaysians love to 'jamu' or serve our guests... well, what can i say, the experience was wonderful and the hospitality shown to us was amazing! almost to a point of feeling so embarrassed if we couldnt finish our plates, which they insisted on filling up more! Dear me! :)

:: me with two lovely hostesses that night... blondie Indira, Laziza's niece and
Irgirim, Lyaziza's daughter ::
(Indira looks exactly like Matt's wife, Lizz, kan ?? Indira studied for her masters
in Management at Hull Univ. and was the translator that night )

PHEWW!.... we ended the night around 10pm which was 12 midnite malaysian time... it was quite a unique yet great experience to dine in the home of a kazakh family and talking to them about their customs, traditions and values... they value the home, family and guests...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To Madam Lyaziza and family, thank you for making my visit a wonderful and worthwhile experience....we feel so honored as your guests...
A very big 'rahmet' to you :) :)

p.s. NEXT ENTRY --> breakfast on the cold, snow cap mountains!!! woo-hooo!

Journey to Almaty, Kazakhstan - Part 1

2010-03-02T11:29:00.000+08:00

i left for kazakhstan on saturday nite... with a heavy heart leaving PP and dina behind :(

but this trip is work work and work.... the flight was just about 8 hrs... it was already midnight and i just needed to sleep... Air Astana served passengers a heavy late dinner which i refused to eat...
thank god i got a nice friendly passenger sitting next to me... she thought i was a kazakh at first...
boy! everyone on board thot i was a kazakh , even the steward and stewardesses.... i kept repeating, " sorry? i dont understand?"..... they said i looked like a kazakh hence the mistake which they apologized... do i really look like one?

-----

arrival at Almaty airport was a good one... my boss told me i look like a kazakh ! wahaat?.... sepet macam cina with big cheek bones... maybe lah descendent from my atok cina tuh... :) weather is super-cold!... menggigit2 sampai ke tulang... it was -2 degrees celsius of coz... there snow everywhere but it wasnt snowing... yet!

our correspondent picked us up from the airport and straightaway sent us to our apartment...
i was with another lady from Uniten ...so we ended up sharing the apartment...which was SO COOL and BIG!

the thing that striked me when i stepped into the apartment was the smell of UK!.... especially the bathroom!.... the smell of soap and the heater gave me dejavu moments...I love it!

later that day, we decided to go to a mall where i had to buy myself a pair of walking boots cos i was wearing my one and only pair of ankle boots that looks like a stilleto ...too uncomfortable to walk in especially when i have to walk here and there during this work visit to Almaty..

:: with a fellow kazakh escort cum translator , Gulmira,

to help me bargain for a good price for boots . ::

:: me super cute-looking pair of boots...i LOVE IT!!!... a suede blue at just RM200 after conversion, a timberland look-alike with the original trimmings :)) ::

NEXT ENTRY ---> HORSE's MEAT for Dinner ???? Are you kidding ME?

p.s i was missing Dina and PP badly this moment.... :(

HerWorld Photoshoot

2010-02-27T11:41:00.000+08:00

I got a call from HerWorld in early January. they'd wanted to do a twins photoshot... said that it was for the March 2010 issue on an article on twins being the same physically but not personally...

SO the pic came out, finally ---->

all my close friends and family saw the mix-up.... HerWorld fumbled with the print out...im the one in blue shirt but the description read Afida's... well at least the details about us they got it correct.... only 'pointed' at the wrong twin!!! :)

this one goes down in my resume!...lol!

HaPpY BirthDay , PP!

2010-02-27T00:09:00.000+08:00

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to my saa-yaangggg, Pa pHoops,

Happy Birthday to youuuuuuu!!!

Happy 40th, sweetheart.....
Kita celebrate after i come back from Kazakshtan, ok!!!

ps.

hapy beday to you
hapy beday to you
hapy beday to Papa
hapy beday to you.....

i love you, papa
you make me happy too!
thank you for being the best papa i could ever have.....

love, Dina.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MY DARLING, PP.

2010-02-25T12:05:00.000+08:00

To my darling dearest husband, PP.

Thank you for 4 years of happiness, laughter, joy and affection....

Thank you for being my friend, my lover, my soulmate, my life, my husband... and father to my children...

You are my DREAM come true...... and it's true what they said about you!

Loving you always and forever.

-MP.

very low reading

2010-02-17T17:40:00.000+08:00

lots of projects coming in... i probably attracted them... :)

but i also attracted somthing else... i was actually thinking to myself that i have been quite healthy lately and that i secretly wished that i wont get sick too!

what happened???

CRASH BOOM BANG!!!!

was struck down by fever, and bad sore throat for the past few days :P
... ok lah considering CNY and all...can rest at home...

but today, have to take medical leave cos went to see doc and my BP reading was 80/40 !!!! that is my lowest of my lowest reading, man! no wonder i felt a bit wengg....dizzy and all.... doc gave me a sleeping pill to make me rest better.... also told me that my throat was always giving me problems... doc said i seemed to have recurrent sore throats. and the ones that usually get to me are those yellow whistish matter that sticks to my tonsils... eewwww... and very painful! Doc also suggested that i buang my tonsils!!! oooh noo! like papa phoop!...yikes! 2 weeks of pain!...errr.... maybe not just yet kot.... caesarean ok but , throat pain, NOT OK, okaay?!

nak kata pregnant, tak pula (...but alangkah best-nyer if i was... hehehe )

doc told me to take caffein as quick treatment for low bp... ffuuhhhhhh..... talk a bout being bz.... health is most IMPORTANT!!!.... you better believe it, mamaphoop!

ABC and twinkle twinkle little star

2010-01-23T23:07:00.000+08:00

Dina singing her ABCs and Twinkle2 Little Star ...

priceless!

Homemade Baked Salmon with Dill Sauce

2010-01-09T15:09:00.000+08:00

Here's another ever so simple lunch recipe to make.... plus due to my cholesterol reading during my comprehensive medical check-up last Dec, i do do do have to monitor my food... but i admit that since i got married, i kind take my diet for granted... :))

sooo, it's been healthier eating these days y'all....

INGREDIENTS:

2 salmon steaks
1 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
3 lemons (sliced)

Dill sauce:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup low fat cream
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped small onion
1 tbspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon chopped dill weed
pepper to taste
2 tbspoon olive oil

METHOD:

1. Line a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan with foil. Place slices of lemon on foil. the place salmon on the lemons slices. Sprinkle with lemon-pepper and salt. Top with another layer of sliced lemon. Add dashes of olive oil. Fold foil around salmon and seal tightly.
2. Bake at 200C for 20 minutes.
3. Combine the sauce ingredients until smooth. Serve with salmon and steamed brocolli and potatoes.

Try it and you'll see why this recipe is a keeper! :))

Honey Mustard Asparagus Pastry Tart

2010-01-09T15:03:00.000+08:00

This recipe actually came up cos i had some nice asparagus and puff pastry in my fridge. hence decided to make this savoury tart myself... :))

INGREDIENTS:

1 square sheet of thawed puff pastry
some honey mustard (home made)
some grated parmesan cheese
washed asparagus
black pepper to season
2 tbsp of olive oil

METHOD:

1.Preheat the oven to 190°C.
2. Grease a baking sheet. Cut the puff pastry sheet into a 5 inch square, check that it can fit on the baking sheet.
3. Spread the middle of pastry with honey mustard and sprinkle with grated cheese, leaving a pastry rim around the edge of square.
4. Layer the asparagus spears over the pastry squares. Dash some olive oil across the asparagus spread.
5. Bake until the pastry is golden brown and risen. Serve warm from the oven.

can i get reviews from those who actually ate this, pls??? :)))

My own chicken pot pie

2010-01-09T14:31:00.001+08:00

yep... i simply love cooking, baking etc.... but not necessarily eating.... cos when i cook, i love to see people enjoy my dishes but i sometimes dont feel that way about mine... heheh...

so ok... i promised to share a few dishes i managed to cook the last few days...

INGREDIENTS:

1 sheet of thawed puff pastry
2 large chicken breasts (cut into bite-sized)
1 condensed can of mushroom soup
2 cups of baby carrots
2 cups of button mushroom
1 celery stalk
a teaspoon of mixed herbs (dried)
2 shallots
2 pc garlic
2 tbsp olive oil

Method:
1. In a pot, heat the olive oil and saute the diced shallots and garlic.
2. Pour the entire content of the mushroom soup, chicken and bring to the boil.
3. Cut the mushroom, carrots and celery stalk into bite-sized chunks and add to pot.
4. Stir in the dried herbs and bring to the boil on slow heat.
5. Once chicken mixture is halfcooked, turn off heat and pour content into a deep dish.
6. Cut the pastry sheet according to the diameter size of the dish to cover it.
7. Before placing the pastry sheet onto the dish, brush some milk along the rim of the dish to ensure that the pastry sticks to the dish when baking.
8. Place the sheet gently on the dish, pressing it onto the rim. Make a hole inthe middle of the pie sheet to vent out hot steam.
9. Brush the pastry surface with egg yolk for the golden finish.
10. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot or cold.

TIP: have some garlic bread handy to lap up all the extra chicken sauce leftovers!

The taste is simply yummy!!! Reviews please????

memori kita berdua....

2010-01-05T17:26:00.000+08:00

Season to be jolly (and have a break)!

2009-12-28T23:12:00.000+08:00

December datang LAGI!

This means Annual Leave for me (and my staff of cos!) but before that, habiskan mana2 keje yg patut ye takkk... so hari2 pon check gak email opis :P

This december really has a lot of off-days... the calendar shows all 4 Fridays in the month as public holidays (plus minus KL + Sngor state hols)

But Dec 21, 2009 was the date when i officially went on LEAVE! tapi kena jugak pi keje sbb ada mtg pagi and petang... but i definitely needed the break, u guys... the thing is, biler pulun tgh keje, takde lak rasa penat... but biler on leave, penat keje setahun tu datang berduyun2...(pardon my French.... erk!)....

What have i done lately eh? Actually nothing much but rest, rest and REST...aka TIDOOOO!!!... well, when dina sleeps with me every night, AND occasionally latches on, terganggu lah my beauty sleep and that has been the way ever since she was born... (notice the dark circles under my eyes ???)

I managed to catch up on my readings...of fiction of course.... but most importantly, i love the fact that i can catch up on my Dina! I love it that i can be with her till 9am and not leave her at 7.30am for work...sometimes i watch her sleep till she wakes up . and whenever she sees me staring at her...she will give me her biggest smile...and say 'good morning , mama..."... Priceless ya!? Semestinyaaa!

plus i managed to catch up on my cooking skills... ada laa try masak skit2...bought a few recipe books at MPH too... thinkin of making chicken pie... in my next entry!

Anyways, activity for Dina was to bring her to the indoor and outdoor playgrounds... with Nia only as the boys couldnt make it....

:: Haa...tgk saper yg 'over' sikit reaksi biler turun slide tuu... hehehe... Nia cool jer ::

:: Yeaaa... Dina dah pandai slide down on her own!.... bumped her cheek a bit on the slide and cried too...but was ok after that :)) ::

Other than that, did a bit of art session with her at home... we bought her non-toxic paints.... and she was straightaway the 'Michele-angelo'...hehe!

----------------------

but the latest was our cool trip to the Malaysian National Zoo or Zoo Negara!

So enjoy the pics below!!!

:: Dina was quite scared of the pony but even more scared of the friendly parrot perched on her stroller... sampai nangis ...adooii anak mama nie...::

:: Ian berlari sungguh keriangan... ::

:: waiting for the sea-lion show to begin! pose everyone....! ::

:: waaaw!....sea-lion jumps through the hoop, Dina! ::

:: Watching the show intently... ::

:: ... at the bear's den... tak larat sebenarnya dukung budak2 nie...dah berat !! ::

:: Ian was the bravest and most alert when it comes to touching the animals ... and Nia too! ::

:: See the giraffe?...far, far away....::

:: Hah! Nampak tak mascot bank Arab Malaysian kat belakang itu ???::

:: (left pic)Pp jangan letak tangan situ! itu suction hose power punyer! ::

:: Dina yg dah mengantuk teramat sgt... nak buat cute face pon tak larat ...::

:: one for the album ::

and last but not least.... the kiddies and their t-shirts yg i sponsor from Sarawak... menunggu masa yg sesuai utk dipakai jer....heh heh!

Fun (and not so fun) facts about our trip to the zoo:

FUN!
1. There are more trams and multicolored too!
2. Plenty of eateries now compared to the last time i went there (25 yrs ago, duhh!)
3. Zoo is CLEAN (dulu ada jer sampah sana sini)
4. Layout is up to date with clean toilets too!
5. Sea-lions, monkeys, giraffes, elephants, kerbau etc were awake and made their appearances.
6. The packed snacks we made and brought - fried chicken drummets, nuggets, sandwiches, beef patties, fruits etc ... sedap, cos we were famished!
7. Everyone managed to come together and make the trip! *tqs all*

NOT SO FUN :(
1. A few lion dens were empty except for one solo male lion yg tgh lepak jer.
2. The savannah walk was not so savannah lah... zebra was nun jauh di sana, giraffe was too far and pemalu... ish
3. The stinkin smell as we near the cages etc (but of coz!)
4. The sea-lion show (wish there was a dolphin! that wud be nice!)
5. Did not go to the aquariums and other places bcos we were tired!
hehe... and it was already lunchtime.
6. We were only targeting the big animals... tak larat.

Next time when kiddies are much bigger, can enjoy the entire zoo kayyy...
Next trip, JAPAN ZOO and TOKYO DISNEYLAND!!!!
(or Singapore zoo also can lor... :D )

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Jogging, jogging!

2009-12-18T10:27:00.000+08:00

i have been jogging almost everyday for the past week in December

i like it. in fact im really lovin it!

just 1/2 hr, 3-4 times /week should do the trick.

i used to hate jogging . preferred aerobics more . was once an aerobics instructor too! cheeeehhhh...show off la skit..hehe.

but i needed to sweat it out a bit.

found out that its not how fast you jog, but how far you jog..that gets calories burnin and heart pumpin...

found out that my way of jogging is the 'malas' way... ie. small steps... i did this one time and only managed to complete a half the perimeter of my neighborhood..tak larat so just did a fast walk...

as time goes by, i succeeded by jogging all the way along the perimeter of my housing area... the malas way of course....but i seemed to last longer joggin this way.

ps. maybe can get PP to join me too :) ..jomm PP!

Traveling with a toddler - Kuching Pt 3

2009-12-01T13:23:00.000+08:00

We decided to go to the Sarawak Cultural Village on one of the mornings...was told that 'tak sah kalau tak pergi cultural village kalau pergi Sarawak...ye ker ???

well...we did go there...and took the hotel van to Santubong... took us about 45 mins to get there, which was around 11am ... i feared that dina would not enjoy the place but luckily she did!... there was this live cultural dance performance at one of the theater houses in the village.... (luckily we got ourselves the light-weight stroller , hence used it to the full)

:: Dina and PP watching the show intently.... pic above showing the rows of seats where all had to literally sit on the floor to enjoy the performance...::

The only ONLY time when Dina was really excited was when the warrior dancer shot the balloons using the blown-arrow device for hunting... the warrior even joked with the audience and was seen targeting the weapon towards one audience...YIKES!..

after the show , when everyone went to explore the different types of houses in the village, we decided to head to the restaurant for lunch... good idea, PP!...get your grub b4 the lunch crowd arrive !! and was well after 12 noon anyway... the lunch buffet was very unique, in terms of taste lah... i took rice for dina, with a lil bit of what looked like chicken soup but tasted nothing like it , together with fried chicken which was reeally tasty but soft... Dina was really hungry by then i suppose, so she didnt resist when i fed her that...luckily the rice was very soft and not dry. Dina was able to eat a lot too... for myself, i packed away some mi kolok for later (only to realize later that it wasnt as nice if eaten cold :(...)

:: Hand-feeding Dina...she actually finished a whole portion of rice...Good girl! ::

--------------------

later at night, we decided to have a stroll along the riverbank... some peddlers were selling kek lapis sarawak...again, the area was so clean... there was even someone sweeping the pavements at night!... good stuff!

----------

thursday was the last day so we headed to the hotel's swimming pool after promising dina that we'd do that...and bcos our room had the pool view down below so she was constantly asking about it...

DINA THE DINOT having FUNNNN!!!

--------

All in all, our trip to Kuching was just ok... memandangkan the state is really just for the adventurous ie campers n hikers...not really suitable for toddlers...SIGH.. cuma it was a good idea to take Dina on board a plane for the 1st time.... and true enough, Dina was a good traveller on the plane...when plane was about to land and kids were crying away, lil Dina was busy playing with her little toys and the only reaction we got from her was a loud "WHOAAA!" when the plane landed with a rough thud! and then she wbusied herself again with her toys...heheh...we couldnt help it but laugh.... good girl, Dina!

We'll plan for another plane trip next year , ya!

Traveling with a toddler - Kuching Pt 2

2009-11-26T14:04:00.000+08:00

Day 2 in Kuching:

Dina was really excited that we were in a different place... she couldnt stop playing and exploring the room that we stayed in... view from the hotel below... Nice! cant remember the name of the mosque-like building at the back though :P

:: at breakfast, Dina insisted on eating an apple, whole... i'd cut it into tiny pieces for her but she wanted it whole... ambik laa...::

:: Bath time! Yippee! ::

Another tip to share: i realized that if i was a full-time mom, i really have to come up with a lot of creative and fun activities for my kids... PHEWW!... i do admit that at times i was really pooped out...i couldnt think of a simple game at all but it really can be as simple as filling empty milk bottles with water and emptying them again.... and THAT was one of the things Dina enjoyed doing with Mama...aiyaiyai!!

and for dinner later that night , we headed to the famous seafood food court called TopSpot... and Wallahh!... we ordered big butter prawns, kerapu sweet sour, some vege and tomyam... it was all GOOOOOODDD!!!!.... cost us around 50 RM..cheap!

:: Dina on the right - getting a lil bit antsy now... getting bored and sleepy too ::

:: a family pic for keeps , with cats in the background :) ::

funny, did not see any cats around at all... but Kuching is really CLEAN city...im impressed :) but i so love the seafood dinner we had...so fresh and delicious !

Another tip on traveling with toddlers - to have kiddy snacks at all times and fresh fruits help too... since Dina did not take to bottle this time round, we gave her boxed drinks like soya millk, or milo, and fed her sweet seedles grapes. i managed to grab some of these from the breakfast buffet.. good thinking huh... hehee...the waitress actually gave us some lah. some honey stars would be handy too.

part 3 coming up next entry!

Traveling with a toddler - Kuching Pt 1

2009-11-26T10:30:00.000+08:00

i had to attend a conference in Kuching from 15-20 Nov, hence took the chance to bring along PP and Dina... it was dina's first experience on board a plane! Yaayy! and it was our first time away from our dedicated maid... so it was just the 3 of us.

Prior to the trip, PP and i constantly talkd to Dina about the impending journey cos i read somewhere on the net on toddler traveling that one cant expect how the toddler would react to a first plane trip ... hence parents could buy a small toy plane and describe it to the child or buy a story book about planes ... i had minor worries too... that it had been some time since i last took full control in caring for Dina since the maid came... so i had to check with Nor about Dina's bottle feeding times and etc... not to look as if i was incapable without Nor , i simply questioned and checked with her on Dina's daily eating routine..heheh...

simply said, both me and PP were alligned to the fact that our solo trip with Dina would be FINE!
i took some tips on packing for toddlers from the net too...plenty out there... one even suggesting to add in WD40 spray- an grease spray to spray on bathroom/cupboard door hinges so that they dont leave a loud creaking/squeaking sound that will wake up the sleeping toddler... OF COS, i forgot to bring that BUT we stayed at the Riverside Majestic Hotel, hence THANK GOD, did not have hinges that squeaked! heheh... so after packing all the necessities, off we went....!

:: Dina having fun with PP at the KLIA plane playground ::

okei... the tips on handling toddlers whil on board a plane were aplenty... i brought along miniature toys, her fav storybook, color pencils and crayons, as well as her fav jellybeans... put them all in a 'fun bag' for dina... so the moment came when we boarded the plane... i was carrying her when she started to hyperventilate and cry loudly!!!... Dina was scared! and she kept saying "Nak OUT! Nak OUTTT!!!!"... o dear me!

Puas la distract her with her fun bag thingy, i had to resort to my last weapon... i whipped out my trusted 'mama milk' and Dina upon seeing this, immediately stopped crying and latched on... AND then went to sleep..... FUUUHHHHH!.... got me worried there and thought she would wail throughout the entire journey...but THANK GOD, she didnt!

:: Sleeping Dina::

:: Dina, awake and much more relaxed, after touchdown at Kuching airport::

Anyways, we headed to the Riverside Majestic Hotel in a cab. Cabbie was nice enough to stop the cab at the roundabout where the famous 'cat' statue was located...it was raining at the time so he said better take pics of the cat then as it was quite a distance away from the hotel...

:: The CAT ::

That night we decided to stay and dine in the room... called room service and ordered the famous 'laksa Sarawak'. I managed to bring along nasi lembik and lauk sardine i made in KL earlier that day so i'd asked the hotel to re-heat for me to feed Dina...

:: Our room... the best view of Kuching as it was a corner room...pics in my next entry ya!::

:: A goodnight kiss... nite nite, papa...! see what adventure lies tomorrow !::

Fun facts for Dina

2009-10-21T13:38:00.000+08:00

1. When the English settlers landed in Australia, they noticed a strange animal that jumped extremely high and far. They asked the aboriginal people using body language and signs trying to ask them about this animal. They responded with "Kan Ghu Ru"’ the english then adopted the word kangaroo. What the aboriginal people were really trying to say was "we don't understand you", "Kan Ghu Ru".

2. It is impossible to suck your elbow.

3. During historic civil wars, when troops returned without any casualties, a writing was put up so all can see which read "0 Killed". From here we get the expression "O.K." which means all is good.

Wash mama car

2009-10-21T10:50:00.000+08:00

Lets wash car, mama!

Find Your Bliss

2009-10-15T10:11:00.001+08:00

Of late, two very close persons in my life just got a divorce...

Hmmm.. my take on this ??? what can i say but , Congratulations.....! :)
There is always a reason for things to happen and let us pray that a brighter future lies ahead for us...

To put in the LOA mode, no doubt , we might have attracted the separation, but we have to also chase our own bliss in life...

Something that caught my eye, and something to share :

What Am I Looking For?

(from the website http://www.manifestyourpotential.com/en/work/worldofwork/hottopics/find_your_bliss.htm)

To find your bliss, you need to know what you are looking for. However, definitions of "bliss" rarely capture how you feel when you have found it or are in it. Here are a few of the ways we have personally experienced what it is like when you find and follow your bliss ...

your feel at one with the world, as if everything is in its rightful place and all interconnected
you feel totally alive, as if your body is resonating at a slightly higher frequency
you eyes light up and you feel like you could spend hours talking about the subjects you love
you see things more clearly, as if a mist has cleared or a fog has lifted and now you can see more clearly or deeply understand
you feel totally at home within your skin and so comfortable within yourself that you the ideas of who you are fade
time ceases to exist when you are following your bliss - whether that is researching at home or being on stage
you feel surrounded by kindred spirits when you find other people who are passionate about the same things
you have deep, insightful discussions with people you have known only a few minutes
you experience leaps of insight and the profound understanding of concepts and ideas that go beyond words
you find yourself creating at an extraordinary level far beyond your normal abilities
worlds of ideas and knowledge that you never knew existed open up to you
the world becomes a place where synchronicities start to make sense and form a subtle path pointing you to the things you need to discover
you find yourself (many times unknowingly) amassing a collection of resources built around your bliss
you feel the touch of unseen hands guiding you
you feel like a light deep inside of you has been turned on
days you follow your bliss start to feel a bit like Christmas morning, making you want to jump out of bed and see what the day holds
you surprise yourself by the things you say and do because they make you seem much smarter and gifted than you usually think you are

So, know that you have a few ideas of what it feels like to have found your bliss, are you ready to go find it? COS I AM and I'M THERE ALREADY! :)

a cartoon me

2009-10-09T18:32:00.000+08:00

a caricature that one staff at my office did... it was done for each and everyone of us at our department floor for the office hari raya open house...

hehe... i kinda like this image of me...
funky and cute!

chehhhh :P

Interesting law indeed...

2009-10-01T14:49:00.000+08:00

An interesting entry on one blog read recently....

Abundance does not happen when you ‘deserve’ it or when you think you are worthy of it. Abundance isn’t a reward to being good or doing a good job. Abundance is a state of mind and when you think you are abundant in many ways, you will become more abundant. When you give your time or your money selflessly and with the joy of giving, you will become more abundant as you give more. Abundance starts from within. When you have aligned with abundant thoughts and feelings your future will indeed be full of abundance.

from here :Beth and Lee's Blog: Law of Attraction (LOA) and Positive Thought.

I quote a true story by one LOA believer/reader/contributor to the blog above:

I don’t know how, except that I know that I totally attracted it.
I’ve been living The Law of Attraction for the last several months; I’ve been devouring everything that I can in this subject. I can never seem to have enough of it. I would like to share one very special story, if I may.
I am a 45 year old Brazilian woman, living in US for the last 21 years. I work 30 miles away from home, and the commute and gas price really get to me. Three months ago I seemed to have had enough driving my adorable blue beetle to work and spending between $95 and $120 dollars in gas every week. My car was getting old, already with more than 110.000 miles… I was studying The Law of Attraction and seeing tinny amazing results but not really trying. Very early one morning driving to work while dark still, I started thinking that I should probably work towards changing my car for a newer and more economical one. Suddenly I noticed that there were several Hybrid cars around me. More specifically, there were several Toyota Prius around me. I do live in an area where people are very aware of the environment and into ‘thinking and living green’, so it’s not unusual to see all kinds of hybrid cars around. I started paying attention to this car. They seemed to be all around me for a couple of weeks. One day listening to The Law of Attraction while driving, I saw a Prius and I said out loud “THERE GOES MY PRIUS!”… but it didn’t feel quite right because the word ‘GOES’ implied that the car was going away from me. Next car I saw I said “THERE IS MY PRIUS!” and a wonderful feeling invaded me like this amazing energy that I could not explain. Now, I had no idea of how much a car like that cost and my credit was far from perfect, so there wasn’t much on my side, and yet every time I saw a Prius I’d say out loud
“THERE IS MY PRIUS” or “I WANT A PRIUS AND IT’S COMING TO ME!”
Five weeks ago I decided to fill a car loan application online. Two days later I received a call from a car sales man from Toyota. We talked for a while and I was a little shy to say that I wanted the Prius, and couldn’t probably afford one because of credit. A few days later I spoke to the sales man again and now with more conviction I told him that I wanted the Prius, and that in fact that would be the only car I was going to drive away from their lot. I did a couple of minor things and then made an appointment to go to the Toyota dealership on a Friday morning, 3 weeks ago. Right after that call I started saying “THANK YOU FOR MY PRIUS” every time I saw a Prius on the road. And on the day I was going to Toyota I would repeat over and over again: “I AM COMING FOR MY OWN PRIUS!”. When I got to Toyota not just the sales man but each and every person I came across that worked there were cordial and respectful to me, in a different way, I cannot explain. The word “bad credit’ was never mentioned. No one tried to sell me or even show me a different car. In less than 15 minutes from me getting to the dealership, Mike, the sales man, got up and said: “Are you ready for the fun part? Let’s go look at cars”. I was amazed; I knew it was The Law of Attraction working at full power. I could feel the vibration going through my body, the same vibration I felt for weeks when driving my beetle and had all of the Prius around me and it was like all of the other cars on the road were gone, and I was in this magnetic field, attracting, creating something I wasn’t sure, but didn’t dare doubt. Well, 3 weeks ago, on a Friday afternoon, I drove away from the dealership in my 2008 Blue $28.000 Prius.

When I was on the road driving my brand new car just minutes later it downed on me: I filled an application online and yet I only got ONE call… Only Toyota called. And I understood that it was The law of Attraction all over it. I was so sure of the car I wanted, I was specific, there was no reason to talk to other sellers. Only one, the right one, the intended one was enough. I was amazed and still am. Every time I pass a Prius on the road I say “THANK YOU!”. I tell my story to anyone that listens and is trying to attract things to them. It almost sounds like a Toyota commercial, but it has nothing to do with the type of car, but to do with my power of creating exactly what I wanted.

.....................

GRATITUDE IS DIVINE.

My horoscope reading today...

2009-09-30T15:41:00.000+08:00

on Yahoo horoscope, my reading for today is:

"Sometimes the trick to having a good day is sleeping in. Today, do your best just to relax. Get up slowly. Stay in your pajamas. Make a big breakfast, but don't stress out about it. Yes, this is the life! And it's your life, just the way you want it. Now that's taking control."

~~~~~

Oh YESS PLEASE!!! .... everyday in fact! :))

Dina's raya years...

2009-09-28T15:13:00.001+08:00

Dina's raya over the years.... looking at how different she looked back then and now... how could one possible know that she was going to be cuter and cuter over the years.... (MP being very pompous...LOL! what mom won't..heh heh..)

i) Aidilfitri 2007/1428H (1 month old)

ii) Aidilfitri 2008/1429H (1 yr old)

ii) Aidilfitri 2009/1430H (2 yrs old)

Some of the things uttered by Dina:

Hello everybody! ....
mama look!
papa come here!
mama hold dina hands
nak go downstairs
sleep upstairs with mama
sleepy , papa...
walk together
what colour is it?
whasatt?
which one?
change another one.
where is mr ocpetusss.
why is broken?
nak kepookk!
mama, are you ready? are you ready, mama?
papa is sleeping... everyone is sleeping..
sour pickle face (when she eats anything sour)
can i have some please?
this not sweet (when she ate duku the other day)...
where the bunny rabbit?

she can also sing Barney's 'I LOVE YOU' song till finish. and twinkle little star , itsy bitsy spider, row row row your boat, heads shoudler knees and toes with all the hand and face actions goin on :)
......

Raya sakan!

2009-09-26T23:46:00.000+08:00

helos again.... we had a lot of fun going beraya this year.... raya sakan kata oreng.. still have 3-4 more houses to go to but since raya is sebulan, we decided to spread out the visits a bit to the coming weekends... (alamak, i only have this weekend and the last weekend of syawal to raya... there's my uni's convocation on 10 & 11 oct and im in the senate procession ..aiseh... have to cover as many houses la nampaknya.. :P)

2nd day raya - was at Tok Mummy's... we intended to go to Muar that day and do a convoy thingy with gramma but she called me up to say that the Seremban highway was at a bumper to bumper crawl... she'd pushed off from Sg Besi at noon and still hadnt reached Nilai an hour later... PHEW!... dont think that would do Dina good if the journey was too stretched yea...

in the end, we lepak at PJ house... with hubby's siblings and Aunty Nana's family came to raya too... and Tok Mummy made yummy soto ayam!...

:: me , holding Aaqil, Aunty Nana's nephew... he is 8 mths old but as big as Nia! :)... sedaaapp peluk dia nie ... macam bantal betull...ge- de-babbbb heheh..::

3rd day raya - went to Alor Gajah to visit PP's Mak Long... had a good drive as the roads were clear cos we used jalan belakang or A-road as we call in the UK... Dina got to use her new child car seat...at first , she resisted and only wanted to sit with me in front. but after a lot of coaxing and looking straight into her eyes (plus reasoning)... she finally relented. Thank GOD!

:: Dina, sleeping in her Maxi Cosy car seat (front facing)... nyenyak nyer dia... too good to be true? ::

Right after the above pic was taken, my maid, seated next to her, went and removed the book from Dina's hands. Apa lagi, terkejut lah Dina and melalak sekuat nyer... sigh... what happened next was, a whole journey with me cuddling a sleeping Dina while seated in front, and PP going at 100-120km/hr! oh yess, Nor got a scolding alright! >:| Grrrr!

the food at Mak long was great too. lots, like laksa, soto, mee goreng, rendang ayam, nasi impit and etc... i had enough of nasi impit so i just ate the rendang... Dina had lots of fun too... someone gave her a lollipop which she licked and licked with delight! susah biler orang tend to give her sweets.. DESSERTS ONLY ON WEEKENDS OK, DINA! mama cakap nie ...

oh well... later we visited PP's former teacher during his MRSM Terendak days... he calls her Cikgu Hajjah or 'Ibu'... the house was somewhere on the outskirts of Muar onto the Merlimau-Muar route... clearly PP was happy seeing his former ibu angkat...

:: one for the album... PP, Cikgu Hajah and me... ::

Dina was even happier cos there was this boy who really loved her and played with her constantly... well it's to Dina's delight lah cos ada org layan dia... as clearly seen below :)... rumah cikgu nie byk rooms , so they played catch or 'running running' in n out together sampai tak ingat la kat mama dia... lupa terus.

:: Dina with abg Aalif ::

Had delicious homemade sardine currypuff and kuih rokok (or known as kuih ketayap / love letters) , specially made by Cikgu Hjh and then i dgn muka tak malu nyer (no shame shame one) asked if there were more of the kuih rokok .."wow, sedap-nyerrr... susah nak dapat nie... ada lagi ker Cikgu.. bolee bawak balik" hehehe.... terus dapat 2 balang... hehe!.... it actually became Dina's favorite - she calls anything crunchy as 'kepok' , be it potato chips, keropok ikan, keropok udang TAM TAM, keropok serunding gulung etc ...

then twas already 9pm when we hit the seremban highway back to KL and lo and behold!...joined the Seremban/ KL jam ...oowh! so PP decided to stop by Petronas as R&R was too too packed with cars and ppl... we had good Maggi Mee Xtra Delicious dinner there while Dina's meal was heated with the assistance of the microwave in the store..

:: Dina: " Mama , you want ice-cream?" ::

:: Dina helping herself here... ::

4th day raya - was at Muar, my mom's kampong. we pushed off by 11am and had lunch at Dengkil R&R... took us a good 2 1/2 hours and Dina slept all the way yeaaay! I love the feeling of balik kampong especially at night when you could see all the pelitas light up every kampong houses' courtyards.. SIGH!... besttt...

Muar town has changed a lot since the last time i came... there's GIANT hypermart just before the Muar bridge near Tanjung Agas for some good shopping there... the old shops where i usually bought fireworks and stuff for raya were no longer there as we neared Parit Jawa... how things have changed..

:: Dina & PP at Kg Parit Gantong, Muar.... and playing congkak with Kak Kadijah ::

Well... Hope raya was an enjoyable one for you too! More stories n pics in my next entry!.... Ta!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri 1430H

2009-09-26T18:45:00.000+08:00

how was your raya this year, everyone???

hope twas great for you... cos mine was fantastic! :))

why? frankly speaking, we were and still am feeling and experiencing abundance... unlike last year ... things this raya were really plentiful and everything worked out just right... alhamdulillah...

anyways, enuf said, raya this year, we decided to go turquoisy blue.. and rupa2nyer semua on hubby's side pon pakai ala colour sama... hehe...

this raya, dina could already utter the words 'Selamat Hari Raya' to almost everyone . well , being 2, she's very much grown up already...

:: A happy raya for a happy family ::

:: cucu2 Tok Daddy beraya sakan (& struggling to get free) and Dina with her first money packet of d'day :) ::

:: Selamat Hari RA-YAAAAAAA!!! ::

:: sopan jer pose... unlike previous pic..hehe .... mana Aunty Nana niee.... lambat laaaa :P ::

:: bermaaf- maafan sesama kita....::

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND THEN , all of us headed to my mom's place for some makan2 raya! .... my hubby's adik2 followed too! :)

What fun!

:: Abah with 1 yr ol' Nia..::

:: my fav concoction - choc peanut butter cake...yumm!::

:: Raya wont be complete without a family pic... Abah not wearing baju melayu anymore cos was already close to 6pm... Aunty Fida raya Ipoh this year so not i n pic ;)...::

i must say i really enjoyed this raya ... the best raya since i got married... hehe :))

.... Living in abundance is goodddd.....

HAVE A HAPPY RAYA, PEEPS!!