BelangZ

When Kids Start Asking Tricky Questions

2018-08-15T09:23:00.003+08:00

This morning, while I was packing Kimi's lunch and washing the dishes, Kimi was eating his breakfast with his brothers on the bar, looking at me quietly. He usually has cereal but as we have ran out of milk, Kimi was dunking his biscuits into a cup of Horlick - not a popular drink here but one of my favourites, so much so that my mom brought it all the way from Malaysia - love her to bits!

Bought these bar chairs (Chairs&More) from Gumtree last weekend, made my morning routines so much easier. I can monitor the boys better this way.

Then, he suddenly asked:

K: Ibu, who I'm going to marry?

Me: I don't know. It's one of God's secrets. You will know when you grow bigger.
K: But I want to know. I think I'm going to marry a Malaysian girl.
Me: Maybe.
K: How do you know you're going to marry Abah?
Me: Because he was not lazy. So I thought to myself, I can marry him because he can help with the kids. Girls don't like lazy boys. So you better not be lazy. (See what I did there? Parenting through story telling - haha!)
K: Was I in your tummy the whole time of this story?
Me: Hmm... yes... (Now that's going to be a tougher conversation [O_O])

Baker Street this morning, after my tutorial session with Garry. Beautiful.

Arabic Letters - Jim, Haa, Khaa

2018-08-05T10:30:00.000+08:00

Every Sunday morning since early this year, I have volunteered to teach non-Arabic speaking children, ages 4 to 8, to read Arabic at our local madrasah. It has been a good experience for me, as teaching little kids is obviously waaay different than what I am used to. It also gives me the opportunity to meet up with other moms who volunteered, and make new little friends from different cultural backgrounds ;)

Saw this wild flower near the car park - pretty!

Beautiful Sunday morning at the mosque.

So every week, I have to plan ahead on the lessons which usually takes about 1 hour. Currently, I am teaching Jim, Haa, Khaa - I call them The Duck Letters - Jim with the dot on the wings, Haa is the funny one (Ha ha ha!) and Khaa is the angry one with the dot on the head. It seems to be working as after 3 weeks, the kids can remember all 3 quite well.

Learning the Ducks Letter!

I have made a worksheet based on this concept (using some of the images online) and anyone who would like to use this, go ahead, save the image below and print it for any little ones out there. Happy learning the Duck Letters (^u^)y

New Belang-Belang!

2018-08-02T22:52:00.000+08:00

After 8 years, I have finally decided to revamp my blog. Yes, I haven’t written much this past couple of years - with only 2 posts in 2017! Motherhood must have taken a toll on me. Juggling 3 kids with other things have taken my writing mood away. It is true, I guess, that stay at home moms have less time for themselves. The hours just seem to swoosh by so quickly.

Today, I would just like to preserve a screenshot of the old blog that I have grew to love. Bye-bye old Belang-belang. You will be missed.

And here is the new one. I am a bittt regretting my decision but gotta move on now!

My kids’ progress in mid-2018:
Anyway, now Afi is learning to speak like a big kid and Kimi has become my grammar Nazi - always teaching me the right way to pronounce words.
Me: I forgot to give your ‘vitamin’ (the Malay baku way)
Kimi: Haha! It’s vitamin (vytamin - the English way) Ibu!
Huh.. okay~~
Me: Afi, are you okay? Was it ouchy?
Afi: It’s ok Ibu. I’m not dead...
OMG!!!

Update: 19th August 2018
I wasn't satisfied with my previous header so I hand-drew this one instead. Now I am feeling happy and content. This makes more sense to me =D

Toys ‘R’ Us - Goodbye!

2018-08-01T18:49:00.000+08:00

I can’t believe that Toys ‘R’ Us will be closing very very soon. They just opened this store here in Toowoomba less than a year ago, and I was actually quite excited about it. I mean, more things to do with the kids. But now, everything is at least 50% off. The store was nearly empty last weekend when we visited for the first time, and probably for the last time.

The good news was, we found this shark toy from Animal Planet that Kimi had been asking for since December. We searched everywhere - both in Malaysia and Toowoomba but it was right here all along!! He probably saw them in one of those YouTube videos, where kids/adults review toys. Very influential advertising, I think.

Goodbye Toys ‘R’ Us. Had a vague childhood memory that involved browsing toys in its London store, and probably didn’t buy too many things due to the price. You will be missed...

Karipap Again - Also Ugly!

2018-07-26T20:54:00.000+08:00

Date: 21 June 2018

Karipap - It has to be one of the most favouritest Malaysian 'kuih' ever. Hasben loves it sooo much - he'll let everybody know (especially the Malaysian ladies) so that maybe, they'll remember to send some karipap over to our house if they ever made them (>u<) . For example, Kak Hani made some for him a couple of years back for his birthday, and most recently, Kak Ija gave a whole plastic bag of frozen karipaps - twice!

Okay, cooking is not my thing. But I had attempted to make karipap in the past and decided to give them another go. Made the filling - no problem, just a bunch of potatoes with curry powder. The dough was a different story. I mean, I mixed the flour + butter + water okay, but just not sure how to make them less sticky, so that I can actually shape them. I was so frustrated that I ended up just chucking them in the oil, regardless of how they looked like, just as long as the filling were completely covered by the dough.

Hasben visited the kitchen, checking on his karipap progress. He wasn't too happy. So, using his hidden talent for solving culinary problems, he patiently mix the dough, roll them into thin layers, and produced better looking karipaps. So apparently, the trick was to kneed the dough - a lot - with patience and a smile.

I was quietly impressed but did not want to look too obvious. He was already praising himself enough, claiming that he was a helpful little boy, always helping his mom make karipaps! Disclaimer: I made the fillers and everyone knows that they are the only thing that matters, haha!

Hasben's:

Mine:

I have eaten most of mine to remove all evidence of crazy-looking karipaps.

New Zealand: South Island

2018-02-13T16:21:00.002+08:00

Date: 10 - 15 October 2018

After 5 days in North Island - all about the North right here, we continued our exploration of New Zealand to its breathtaking South Island!

Our Itinerary:

Day 6: 10th October 2017

We rented 2 x 6-seater campervans from Star RV by Apollo to accomodate our 12-pax. As we landed at Christchurch Airport, a representative from the campervan rental company transited us to their office. The documentations and what-not took about 1 to 2 hours!

Our destination today was to Lake Tekapo, but first, we stopped by Mahan Supermarket & Halal Meat (about 20 minutes from the airport) to stock up on some groceries.

The view from the RV's window.

The trip to Lake Tekapo took about 3 hours and by the time we arrived at Lake Tekapo Motel & Holiday Park, it was already dark. We just had a bit of a glimpse of the lake at this point. The most memorable thing about this park is that, during our stay, the guys' bathroom was under maintenance, so we had to share the toilets and shower area with both males and females. I have never experienced a unisex bathroom before! We tried our best to minimise using the campervans' ensuite shower and toilet to avoid having to deal with any stinky outcomes.

My mom had a migraine, and I wasn't feeling too good either. Sitting at the back on the campervan was far from comfortable. The chair was too upright and the amount of swaying was a bit ridiculous. Honestly, I was not enjoying this part. Anyway, for dinner, my dad took the lead and together with the boys, barbecued some lamb.

Day 7: 11th October 2017

Woke up to the lovely view of Tekapo! After checking-out, we explored the breathtaking view of the lake right outside the park's gate. The water was crystal clear and I enjoyed just sitting by the lake very much ;)

A bit cloudy...

We visited the Church of the Good Shepard, and at this point, my phone was out of battery! Plain silly! I had to steal some pictures from the fam =D

Thanks Mak for this shot!

Had pizzas for lunch at Tin Plate Kitchen & Bar at Tekapo Village on the State Highway.

At a nearby souvenir shop, I witnessed the shopkeeper, an angry old lady, scolding so rudely to a couple of tourist boys who accidentally dropped some items. I have heard from friends about how the Kiwis in South Island can be aggressive and unfriendly, I have to say that is quite true.

Headed towards Queenstown, another 3-hour drive. Checked-in at Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park. My brother, Am bought our dinner from a halal restaurant, Pedro's House of Lamb and we ate them at the common room at the holiday park. This is a very nice park, clean and tidy with great mountain views.

Day 8: 12th October 2017

Woke up very early and waited for our pick-up van for our Milford Sound bus tour. We were gathered at their head office at the center of town. The journey took approximately 5 hours to reach Milford Sound, with 2 picturesque stops along the way.

1) Te Anau for a toilet break.

2) Fiordland National Park for pictures.

Mirror Lake!

We were very lucky with the weather because Milford Sound is absolutely stunning under the sunshine! We spotted seals sun-bathing on the rocks. You can view our trip to Milford Sound here.

Arrived home late in the evening and needed a full rest from sitting on the bus for too long!

Day 9: 13th October 2017

We had a quick walk around Queenstown in the morning. The campervans were sooo huge, we found it challenging to find parking spots for them. Another angry man (a bus driver I assume) was screaming at us for dropping off passengers at a bus parking spot. He thought we were going to park there. I don't know why the locals (especially those working in the tourism industry) were unable to talk nicely to visitors. *Shaking my head*

At Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park.

We bought some souvenirs here and interestingly, met an ex-Toowoomba sales lady at Kathmandu! She didn't remember us, but we took a photo with her anyway... Small world!

Stopped by Kawarau Gorge as my little brother Afian wanted to do the bungee jumping. Pressured Hasben to do it too, but failed... Haha! He's usually very keen to try these things... Hmm...

Very proud lad!

Back on the road again, this time headed towards Mount Cook. Bought some fresh salmon on the way and stopped by Lake Pukaki - another very very very beautiful lake! I have always loved lakes and dams, so never could get tired of them.

We reached Hookers Valley in the evening and planned to do some hiking (or walking, tbh) but the sun was already setting behind the mountains and the day was getting colder. Wouldn't want to risk anything especially with the kids.

And we jumped for no reason...!

So we checked-in at Glentanner Park Centre for the night.

Day 10: 14th October 2017

Took some morning pictures of the snow-capped Mount Cook. Wished we stayed here longer so we could do some hiking along the trails. Not sure if it is possible with all the kiddies though.

Headed towards Christchurch and again, stores were closing when we arrived - around 5PM. Unlike Asian countries, New Zealand's towns and cities are very quiet after office hours. Kuala Lumpur is alive up until 10PM, everyday! With the city emptying very quickly, plus the challenge of driving the huge campervans on the city's road, we decided to end our NZ trip by checking-in at our last accomodation, North South Holiday Park.

Kebab for late lunch at Christchurch!

It was a busy night, packing all our belongings and mom's extra Malaysian food (Brahmin, Maggie etc...), there was a whole luggage of them still! She had asked us to bring them all back to Australia. Anyway, packing for 3 kids + myself, needless to say, I didn't get much sleep...

Day 11: 15th October 2017

Dropped-off our campervans and boarded our Jetstar flight to Auckland. Here is my video of the ever-changing landscape as we flew from Christchurch to Auckland.

Waited for hours at Auckland International Airport for our Air Asia flight back to Australia. Coincidently, my family were also on the same flight which transited in Gold Coast before heading towards KL. Missing them loads!

- End of our New Zealand adventure! -

New Zealand: North Island

2018-02-06T11:28:00.001+08:00

Date: 5 -10 October 2017

Our ultimate 2017 trip was to New Zealand, both North and South Islands, bringing along 3 little (below 5) boys. Honestly, it was very tiring, especially with my 3 year old having bad eczema. So our adventure (or itinerary) for the 10 days covered Auckland City, Waitomo Caves, Hobbiton, Rotorua Maori Village, and the must-do South Island campervan experience that included Christchurch, Mount Cook, and Milford Sound. Here goes!

North Island, New Zealand

Day 1: 5th October 2017

Our 10am flight was from Gold Coast Coolangatta Airport to Auckland International Airport.

Arrived ahead 1day from the rest of the family who were travelling from Malaysia, purely a mistake during booking. Good news was, we had 1 extra day in Auckland City ;) We pre-booked our airport transfer online, this is a good tip as the van was ready when we arrived to take us straight to our accomodation. Link here.

Stayed at Bianco off Queen Serviced Apartments for this one extra night. Absolutely recommended as all the kids stayed free and the room was lovely for its rate.

Both Hasben and I were not feeling too well so we just rested for the rest of the day. Hasben walked to a nearby Asian Market to stock up some food while I ordered Domino's Pizza through their website to be delivered to the apartment. Since we did not have any transport yet, and Halal restaurants were not nearby, we ordered vegetarian pizza with gluten-free base. My son with the eczema, he is allergic to gluten, so we had quite little choice in food. The delivery costed about $10 I think, so yeah, not a bargain really.

Day 2: 6th October 2017

Checked-out from the hotel and left our luggages there to be picked-up later. Using the traditional paper map, walked our way to the city center for Auckland's Sky Tower. We had 2 strollers which are a necessity for all the walking we did. Our 5 year old was a champ, despite the occasional "Tired" whining, he did okay. On our way, stopped by the Central City Library for a toilet break.

Indian food for lunch at one of the malls along the way.

Enjoyed the city from above!

Walked back to our second apartment, Waldorf St Martin Apartment Hotel. The rest of our family landed around 4pm and picked-up our rented 12-seater van from the airport. Tomorrow, the road trip begins!

Day 3: 7th October 2017

Headed towards Waitomo to visit the glow worms. Made a few stop on the way, particularly Countdown (for groceries) and a halal butcher shop.

Toilet stop at Lake Ngaroto:

Arrived at Waitomo caves at 10am and joined the tour which was pre-booked online. All attractions in NZ can be purchased online, so we did not have to worry about all the entrance fees during the trip. This is highly recommended as some sessions were fully-booked when we arrived.

No strollers here as we will be riding a small boat through the caves. Prior to the boat ride, we had to walk for a bit in the dark cave while the guide provided some background information on the caves and glow worms. This part was a bit tricky as the kids got a bit bored and started making noises, which obviously was not welcomed by the guide or the rest of the visitors.

Lil Bro 1 with Lil Nephew 1 =)

Back on our van and headed for Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand!

Had some trouble with the accomodations, they were only expecting 2 people and was shocked to see 12 people instead! So, with Booking.com, we found a motel close by to accomodate us all. Truth be told, at this stage, I couldn't care less to remember the names of the motels we stayed in. It is a whole different experience when travelling with kids, you get tired easily, and this sort of made me forget to enjoy most things. I promised myself to try better next time! Anyway, once we have unloaded our luggages, it was already dark. The whole family went for a night stroll at the town center.

Waited for 12am to wake Hasben up and gave him his birthday present - North Face shoes that I successfully hid from him in my luggage (^u^) Happy 33rd birthday Babes!

Day 4: 8th October 2017

Mom cooked our breakfast in the motel, she was always worried that one of us was going to starve to death. After packing-up and checking-out, we had a bit of a stroll (again) around Lake Taupo Town Center and the stores nearby. It was mostly cloudy and rained a bit, so we couldn't really enjoy the view to the fullest.

Moving on, just a short drive later, we reached Huka Falls. We were not too adventurous to track the area, so the beautiful views are accessible with strollers. Love the emerald coloured waterfalls. Do be mindful of the children.

Back on the road, we headed for Rotorua for our Maori cultural experience. We did arrive a bit early and found ourselves a little Islamic Center to perform our prayers. We just needed to contact the person-in-charge (contact number displayed at the door of the center) for the passcode to enter the prayer hall.

Later, we visited Kuirau Park, New Zealand's only geothermal public park, meaning - it's free! So, if you do not have enough time or on a tight budget, this is a place to be to experience the bubbling geothermal activity (and its 'unique' smell) of North Island.

At 4pm, we reached the Tamaki Maori Village office, waited for the busses to arrive which brought us to the actual live village. It was a very good experience, to learn the Maori's culture and understand New Zealand better. There was a bit of walking throughout the tour and we found that small strollers were manageable.

After the show, we drove to Waikato and checked-in around 9pm.

Day 5: 9th October 2017

Woke up with a swollen eye and I blamed it on bed bugs! So here in Matamata, it can mean only one thing for us (especially Mom) - Hobbiton! We booked the 10am tour and arrived just in the nick of time, as the tour bus was about to depart to the movie set. We were praying hard that the rain would stop and thankfully, it did. However, a bit of sunshine would make the pictures more brilliant but, I'll take it! Definitely no strollers here and plenty of walking.

Our little ones did well, but near towards the end of the tour, Afi wanted to pee so you can imagine how Hasben felt as he had to rush straight to The Shire's Rest, interrupting his photo spree.

The toilet at the cafe was so adorable, a must visit LOL! (Ignore my deformed right eye):

End of our Hobbiton tour.

After the tour, it was straight back to Auckland as the next morning, we needed to catch our domestic flight to South Island. For lunch, we ate tandoori and naan at Tandoori Hutt, Mount Roskill, located very close to a mosque.

The boys also had a haircut with the Palestinian barber right next door.

We strolled around Auckland City after struggling to find a parking spot. Most of the shops were closed by then, so after a few pictures, checked-in to our accomodation near the airport.

That night, we celebrated Kimi's 6th birthday + Hasben's belated birthday + Akiff's and WinZie's advance birthdays. The birthday boy had a great time unwrapping his pressies. Love you baby!

Day 6: 10th October 2017

Checked-out from the apartment early morning. The ladies were dropped-off at the airport to proceed with flight check-in while the guys went to return the van at the rental office. The van hire company sent them back to the airport for free. Our flight was delayed so it was near noon that we actually took-off to Christchurch.

To be continued!

Eid Mubarak 1438H

2017-06-27T23:39:00.000+08:00

Date: 25 June 2017

Hi blog! Sorry for being away too long! Last entry was 4 months ago. Am not sure if anyone else is blogging anymore since the current trend now is Instagraming. Well anyway, currently 1 AM here. Everyone is sleeping and thought I do a bit of writing. And the obvious topic would be Eid-Fitr! Everyone in Malaysia is still posting the 3rd day of Raya pics, with beautiful matching coloured Baju Raya - flooding my Facebook - which I love to see. Happy faces and so many fun moments. My Raya was only on the 1st of Syawal, and then it's life as usual.

We hosted the Malaysian Raya this year, which makes it our 2nd consecutive year as hosts. Last year was at Gerda, and this year is at West St. Did I mention we moved? Probably not. Woke up after Subuh and was determined to join the Eid prayer. This year it was held at Centenary High State School. As usual, could not hear a word of the khutbah. Sisters love to talk I tell you (yup, dah pandai panggil muslimah - sisterrr, Mak Arab gitu).

The compulsory picture with Imam Abdul Kadir (for the brothers obviously).

After the prayers, went to Japanese Garden for our Raya photoshoot. Boys, they are just not interested with pictures. So hard to get a decent photo of everyone smiling, sitting still, not moving or running - therefore, no framable pictures.

Menggreget-greget tak reti dok diam.

Sun was too bright, but lovely weather!

My boys received maroon baju Melayu from kak Ramiza so that was our theme. I modified their clothes the night before and was glad I did it, they looked okay in pictures. Probably would have been better with songkoks as I had planned earlier, but just did not have the time to sew. Oh well. Just 3 Malaysian families this year. The rest had gone back to Malaysia, either for good or just for the school holidays.

Keluarga angkat Toowoomba.

Gemilang supermoms ;p

Photos credit: Muzammil

We did invite some other friends - there were too many food, might as well share them. We never learn from past lessons (or maybe just me) - always cook too much food as though the whole village is coming. Anyway, I cooked nasi ayam and bihun tomyam. Farah brought rendang ayam, nasi impit, pulut kuning, chocolate cake; and Ita brought nasi goreng, lodeh, kuah kacang, ayam masak kicap, kuih-muih.

Pelbagai juadah yang enak-enak belaka!

Photos credit: Muzammil

The Raya celebration ended at about 4 PM. I was suddenly exhausted and forced myself to pack the leftover food. Cleaning up can wait. So we slept early that night. Simple Raya indeed.

Selamat Hari Raya, maaf zahir dan batin. Semoga ketemu Ramadhan tahun hadapan, jika umur panjang, InsyaAllah.

My Anniversary Baby =D

2017-02-05T23:53:00.002+08:00

How time flies. I just can't keep up with my blogging anymore, mainly due to using iPhone 6 as it is near impossible to blog on this device, unlike my previous Samsung Note 4. So now we are entering the second month of 2017... which means my 3rd bundle of joy is about to turn 1 month old!

My pregnancy was not as smooth sailing as the previous 2. The effects of my low blood pressure was really obvious this time around, I could not even fast more than a week during Ramadhan. I had never faced any difficulties in fasting while pregnant before. Even my GP made this comment: I don't know why, but I feel your pregnancy is very long. He should know as he kept on sending me to the pathology for iron studies and a swab test due to an influenza infection.

During my third trimester, 5th December 2016 to be exact, I had my first iron infusion. This was supposed to help boost my iron levels and hopefully, will give me a better chance of not fainting during labour. I did nearly fainted but it wasn't too bad I suppose. Anyways, the nurses had to do about 3 attempts before successfully fixing the needle into my veins. The look on their faces were full of guilt until I explained that I am always facing this problem.

Iron flowing in - feeling a bit like Wolverine (or Ironman).

In my 34th week, I visited the birthing suite because I was a bit worried that I could not feel bub moving much. The baby was finally kicking when they strapped on those belly bands but the nurse detected a steady contraction and had done some tests to ensure that I was not going into early labour. All was good!

My 1 out of 5 visits to the birthing suite!

You would think that being my third experience, I would know how to detect those labour signs. But no, starting at 37 weeks, I started to be anxious and confused. I was so scared of going to the hospital at 9 cm dilated like I did with Afi that any strong contractions sent me straight to the birthing suite - with my bag all packed up! The midwife noted that the baby was very low and I was about 3 cm dilated. So I slept in the hospital for 1 night and noticed that the contractions were gone. My kids were at Kak Min's house because Mak's flight was not due until the 28th of December.

Kimi waiting for Opah at Gold Coast Airport.

To be honest, it was a bit embarrassing as I made another 2 more trips only to find out that I am still about 2-3 cm dilated. 3 weeks with no progress... drove me nuts! Finally, on the 9th of January, I felt those strong contractions that stopped me from talking. Even so, I was not too sure if I should go the hospital again. But I did, after Maghrib, before taking my dinner. Maybe I thought I might be sent home again so I was not bothered. The birthing suite was full so there was a lot of waiting. I was getting hungry and Hasben requested a sandwich from one of the nurses... This was a life saver because apart from the dates (kurma), they were the only thing to energize me for the whole night! The midwife informed me that I was still 3 cm... OMG! So I waited in the assessment room while the midwife was delivering someone else's baby. Waited and waited and waited.

Hasben napping while I snapped a wefie between contractions which were 5 minutes apart.

At nearly 12am:-

Midwife: You're not going anywhere.

Me: What? Still 3 cm?! So I have to go home or stay in the ward?

Midwife: No, you're 7 cm and you are going to the labour room.

FINALLY! So for the next 3 hours of waiting for my water to break - which never happened, the midwife, her name is Claire, suggested that she breaks it for me. Sure, sure. That speed things up. And at 3.30am, Baby Din was born! On the anniversary of our engagement day 8 years ago, and 3 days after we celebrated our 7th year wedding anniversary. So he is our anniversary baby =)

Baby Din is so tiny, only 2.5 kg. I expected him to be heavier than his brothers because I was so fat! Apparently, I was the only one fat. He was very skinny and was considered underweight therefore had to have his sugar level monitored through a lot of blood tests. So his feet were pricked so many times that they were a bit swollen.

The wounds on his little foot.

Those tiny arms reminds me of BBQ chicken wings ;p

Din even stayed in the special care unit for a few hours and was formula fed through his nose! He had trouble staying awake due to low sugar level and this was worsen by latching problems. My poor baby... Annndddd... again, breastfeeding newborns were always so painful to me, so hello Medela pump. We meet again!

It was very boring in the hospital and I had to be a vegetarian again. This time though, Mak cooked me special confinement food (mainly salmon and anchovies - my favourites!) so I was eating 2 times for lunch and dinner. I may have a problem loosing weight!

The hospital's desserts were awesome!

The last time I was here, the midwives and doctors were hinting me to go home but I wanted to stay longer. This time, I was begging to go home but they wanted me to consider staying a 3rd night to observe Din's breastfeeding progress. In the end, I convinced everyone that I can manage so at about 9 pm on the 11th of January, I was home with my new addition.

As usual, confinement means I am stuck at home, so I need to find something to do! My first sewing project for Din was this baby wrap made from leftover fabrics:

Oh, and since we are now Permanent Residents of Australia, we were entitled for the Midwife Home Visit Service. The midwives were so friendly and I liked having them over. There were a total of 3 visits until Din was 2 weeks old. They weighted him and checked his progress, which Alhamdulillah were all good.

The baby's hearing test was done on the second visit.

To my darling baby Din, hope you will always be safe, healthy and happy, forever in Allah's guidance and protection. May these tiny footprints grow to leave a mark in this world. Love, Ibu S2.

Aydin's

King Island, Qld, Australia.

2016-11-29T16:16:00.000+08:00

Date: 27 November 2016

We revisited Wellington Point for the second time, picnicking by the beach with Adam, Lin, Farah and Muzammail. Before that, we made our first trip to Kidspot's Baby and Kids Market at Nudgee, bought a few toys for the kiddos and feeling a bit disappointed that most of the clothes on sale were pinkish-girlish. Oh well, looking at the bright side, it's a good way to control our expenditure! But then, we went to DFO and grabbed myself another Skechers... So to date, I have 3 Skechers shoes which I don't wear as often as I should. Not feeling very proud of myself... *shakes head in despair*

Anyway, enough about shopping - the topic for this post is King Island. I was very determined to walk to King Island this time around, even if I have to do it on my own! So that means, Hasben had to entertain the kiddos with their sandcastles and sea-splashing, alone! Bye boys!

I walked along the sand pathway, only visible during low tide and was not sure how long it took. With my big belly, I was practically aching everywhere on both legs. It did not seem as close as it was from Wellington Point. The journey was 2KM round trip and provided me a month worth of exercise!

Walking towards King Island.

Finally arrived!

A perfect spot to dip me tired feet...

But I enjoyed the walk, with the lovely sea breeze and the alone time. Had a few selfies... And when no one was around, used the timer to take my own picture on the island itself.

So one of my Brisbane's Island Bucket List has been accomplished. I have many more to go. For now, I can tick off: Coochie, St Helena, North Stradbroke and King Islands.

Going back to Wellington Point, where Hasben was waiting to tell his 'adventures' with the boys.

Coochiemudlo Island, Qld, Australia.

2016-10-22T18:48:00.000+08:00

Date: 8 October 2016

Happy birthday Hasben! Let's go for a romantic island getaway... with the kids... which means, just an island getaway.. =p

Coochie, a short ferry ride from mainland Brisbane, cost $9 return per adult - is one of the cheapest island trip in Moreton Bay. So there's a big chance for us to revisit Coochie. The only downside is that camping is not allowed - so a day trip it is! We arrived at Victoria Point Jetty at about 10am and bought the tickets once we boarded the ferry.

10 minutes later, we arrived in Coochie. We planned to cycle around the island by renting bikes from the local company there. However, due to some new safety regulations, only adults' bikes were available. That was quite a bummer. There is no way in the world we could drag the kids on a bicycle adventure.

So plan B was to let the kids swim in the beach for about half an hour... while I just enjoy the view, sitting down. Not the adventure I was looking for, but that will do.

Jumping froggy.

Slapping on some sunscreen.

Beautiful view and such a nice weather.

Dead jellyfish - something of concern?

With the presence of the jellyfishes, we gathered the little ones, cleaned them up, and catch the next ferry back to the mainland. And ended up eating our lunch in the parking lot while both kids fell asleep instantly!

I was hoping to go to IKEA Logan just for a look-see but Hasben said, let's just find IKEA stuff on Gumtree - which honestly, has a higher percentage of purchasing success! Haha! So we bought a TV cabinet and coffee table from the PS range from 2 different sellers... and am very happy with the splashes of colours in our living room.

Tutorial: Toilet Mat - Refurbished!

2016-09-24T03:51:00.002+08:00

Viewer discretion is advised. Post contains toilet related issues.

I don't know why but being as frugal as I am, I find it very hard to buy a new toilet mat. Those fluffy luxurious ones can cost up to $20, and I feel that is better spent on my clothes/shoes/handbags. Heee~ My current mats are not very pleasant to look at, with holes and black spots all over the place. So I challenged myself to upcycle this blue one using only scrap fabrics. I am a hoarder of scrap fabrics, I have loads of them. Am not sure what I am planning to use them for - so Challenge Accepted!

1) This is actually very clean, freshly washed... Just a very ugly looking mat. So firstly, you need an ugly mat:

2) After much deliberation, I finally decided to use this blue fabric (it was previously a scarf). Covered the whole mat on both sides, and pinned them together:

3) Used a ruler and a pen to draw evenly spaced lines on the mat. With a sewing machine, sew on the lines, starting from the middle and worked my way to the sides.

4) Repeat with perpendicular lines, making square shaped patterns.

5) Combined rectangular shaped fabric to make a long ribbon. This was used to cover the seam.

6) It is all done! Ugly mat hidden beneath a layer of scrap fabric!

The back side did not look too good as I had to combine some small pieces of cloth to have enough to cover the whole mat. Frugal level: 100.

The 'new' mat on its first ever task:

This picture needs to be in black-and-white to hide any potential criticism on the cleanliness of my toilet, hahah!

New Sofa Cover!

2016-09-24T03:51:00.001+08:00

We bought our Ektorp corner lounge a few years back from Gumtree, it comes with washable white with blue flowers covers. Having 2 kids, washable means a lot but white is just too much work. The sofa looks more brown even though I tried washing them a couple of times.

Hasben was suddenly very excited in making over the house after watching some reality show on TV. He was keen on changing our lounge covers but finding out they cost $409 in Ikea, it was a bit of a let down. So we tried our luck on Gumtree and miraculously, we found this red cover in NSW. The seller was very nice and was willing to post the whole bundle to us! Mind you, the total weight was more than 8kg!

We waited excitedly over the weekend for the postie to arrive, and when he finally did, it was like opening a birthday present!

The lounge now looks awesome (Thanks Kelli!) and I even refurbished our old cushions. I combined 2 cushions into 1 to make it look more fluffy and bought this black-white furniture fabric from Spotlight ($6/m clearance).

I spent the whole afternoon today making the cushion covers and loved the end result. Hopefully, any chocolate stains will not be too visible against the dark red of our new lounge :) Our next makeover project will probably be the guest room... Hmm...

Wellington Point, Brisbane, QLD.

2016-08-12T08:18:00.000+08:00

Date: 7 August 2016

Since Hasben had a new mid-year resolution to spend most of his time in the office to complete his PhD, he promised to dedicate his weekends for short travels. A few weeks ago, we drove to Melaney, Sunshine Coast (maybe I will write about this later) and last Sunday, I Googled for the best beaches in Brisbane for kids, and Wellington Point is highly recommended.

The cosy town of Wellington Point looked very lovely as we passed by but we didn't have the time or energy to explore it. We went straight to Wellington Point Recreation Reserve, located at the tip of a little cape. The right side of the cape was exposed to the open water of Moreton Bay and the wind was very strong here. We were shivering as we walked on the dock. It may be a good spot for fishing as there were many people hanging out along the dock with their fishing rods.

On the left side, it was much less colder with a view of Brisbane across the water. The tide was low so we can actually walk to the little island.

The kids had so much fun and I didn't need to worry much because the water was very shallow, it did not pass Afi's knees.

Interestingly, coming from a much smaller town like Toowoomba, I was astonished to see so many people on their phones catching Pokémon! Literally, everywhere! Hasben caught 8 Pokémons while we were there. I didn't have any mobile data so was a bit disappointed, haha.

Not exactly Pokémons, but Kimi's dinosaur collection on my sand island!

Anyways, we spent the whole day there and witnessed the beautiful sunset. So many family and friends gathered near the beach, some even brought dinner while others setup their DSLR cameras. Yup, it was truly lovely!

Restaurant : Primitivo, Toowoomba.

2016-06-30T21:36:00.000+08:00

Date: 28 June 2016

It is the last 10 days of Ramadhan and this was our first time breaking fast at a restaurant for this year. Khadijah wanted us to join her to try the new restaurant, specializing in everything grill. It is owned by 2 muslim brothers, therfore halal, and provided us with more dining choice apart from Sofra and Nandos.

After Hasben finished his cleaning shift, we went straight to the CBD and arrived slightly after 7pm. Khadijah had ordered for us in advance so the food was ready for us on the table.

I ordered King Prawns but felt that it wasn't enough, I was still a bit hungry. There were only 3 prawns... So yeah... I will order something else in the future. However, Hasben's Lamb Chunk was a bit too much for me, it was a really humongous chunk!

After finishing our dinner, we went for ice creams at Gelatisimo across the road. The cold winter night did not stop us from having cold deserts!

My Little Hero and His First Blood Test

2016-05-18T18:18:00.000+08:00

Just got back from Brisbane and I am exhausted! Woke up quite early for an appointment with Bupa, for Kimi's medical check up. He needed to get some blood sample for a TB test. He acted like a champ, cried a bit for less than 3 seconds. Was so proud of him!

As a treat, we brought him to South Bank Parklands for some swimming fun. It was an unplanned trip therefore, the boys had to swim with their boxers - until they were shivering.

Later, we visited the Queensland Museum again so Kimi could see some dinosaurs. At this point, Afi had dozed off quietly on the stroller. So that sums up our day trip for today.

My little hero's bruise:

Dalby, QLD.

2016-04-28T08:25:00.002+08:00

Date: 20 March 2016

This trip occurred about 1 month ago. Back then it was still summer, none of this waking up to chilly mornings. (I am under the blanket right now).

We missed the opportunity to visit a cotton field last year, while celebrating Anzac Day at Jondaryan Woolshed. This year, however, we had Adam who was working on that part of Toowoomba to inform us that it was finally cotton season! I was not sure where the exact location was since there were not many information about cotton fields in the Internet. Using Zana's tips, we used the alternative Toowoomba-Dalby route, passing through Jondaryan Woolshed. This takes an extra 30 minutes to reach Dalby as calculated by GPS. After driving unsurely, we saw the fluffy whites of cotton and stopped by the road side for some pictures, wishing no one shoots us for trespassing.

After feeling satisfied with the pictures, we went to Dalby town, had a bit of a walk in the CBD, shopped at Target Country (Target for rural areas I presume) and took more photos.

Later, we had our picnic lunch at Lake Broadwater, the only natural lake in the Darling Downs. The best part was that we were allowed to swim in the lake. It would be a nice place to camp but there were not many people at that time. I would be a bit scared at night.

We headed home in the evening, and was presented with such a scenic sky view near Oakey. A super-duper huge cloud had gathered above the town, we could see the rain and rainbows, all the while the sun was still shining. Beautiful!

Cloth Diapering Lil Afi

2016-04-21T08:23:00.003+08:00

This love - hate relationship with CDs has been going on for a while. Lazy mom but feels a bit guilty everytime I imagine filling the landfill with my kids' diapers, which would probably take 200 years to decompose!

So I got these 2 CDs from Vinnies, a GroVia and an Issy Bear Nappies for $3 each. Suddenly, I became determined (again) to use them. Especially that Khadijah seems effortless with cloth diapering Maira. Semangat la konon...

At the moment, I am feeling a bit exhausted from the changing and washing every 2 hours! Arghhh! On the plus side, while hanging out the CDs, I had this beautiful sky to enjoy. :)

Blouse Perfection!

2016-03-23T16:26:00.002+08:00

Hasben has been astonished with my sudden urge of buying new clothes. He said if I wanted to help in saving up for our future, the first thing I should do is have some self-control! Haha! Fine!

So my new project is to upcycle my not-so-old clothes that I have some issues with, such as, not 'muslimah compliance' enough (as JuliZac would say). I have this blouse from French Connection, yup kids size, but comfy and I love it. The downside was that it's a bit too short and nearly gave it away to Vinnies.

I rummaged through my stash of fabrics and could not believe my luck! I have a black and white fabric (bought from Vinnies a loooong time ago) that I have never used before. It matches the blouse perfectly. And after adjusting the shape, I am quite happy with the final product. (Although honestly, it looks a bit like a nursing poncho, haha).

Another blouse is from Elle. Although it was made for teenagers, I felt it was a bit granny looking. This took the longest for a satisfactory transformation:

I have about 2m of that yellow fabric, so in the future, I might have matching pillow case/blanket/curtains, haha!

This plaid dress is from Target. Initially, it fits me perfectly in the dressing room but after the first few washes, it shrunk! The sleeves became too short so it is not exactly a long-sleeved dress, neither was it 3/4. So I extended them with a denim coloured fabric.

Now I actually feel like a fashion designer. So if I go to a shop, see a nice dress that wasn't perfect but had potential, I might buy it and asjust it later. Hmm.. Could end up spending more than I should.. And overloading my wardrobe!

Australian Army Flying Museum, Oakey, QLD.

2016-03-04T09:23:00.000+08:00

Date: 14 February 2016

Haish... have been so lazy with writing blog, journals, reports etc... Not a good start to the new year it seams. Partly to blame is Cities Skyline, a computer game (like Sim City) that I have been hooked on. But now that I have the most awesomest and richest city in the world, the excitement has died down thus here I am, writing an entry.

Anyways, we revisited AAFM in Oakey last month. This time Kimi was extra excited as compared to 3 years back, obviously the age makes a lot of difference. It's a nice little museum and wasn't too expensive. Great for little boys with planes obsession!

This is Skipper from the Disney movie Planes... According to Kimi anyway:

One of the first plane models I guess:

A play area for kiddies, the mini planes were too adorable:

The real thing out in the open:

When we got back home, the little boy was still on cloud 9, talking about planes, plane and planes. He even gathered all his plane collection, including helicopters and Chug the truck and made himself a miniature museum.

Kimi's very own airplane museum (^u^) :

Aqram's Wedding

2016-02-09T09:49:00.000+08:00

Date: 12 January 2015

It has been almost a month since we went back to Malaysia for my brother's wedding. Kimi was excited to be with his grandparents, aunties and uncles and of course, his many cousins! I helped Mak with decorating the hantaran. She had done most of the work, just needed some touch-up. So these were the products of mother-daughter creative minds:

We also did a little work on the groom's room (Bilik pengantin). The same bed sheet set for my wedding was reused. Mak bought this mosquito net (kelambu) for a more romantic effect.

WinZie and I spent a little sisterly time decorating this pelamin. No one was really impressed with our work, except for ourselves... Haha! And maybe Pak Long...

Anyways, this is Aqram during the akad. Apparently, they have a text now they can read from, so it's not as challenging as it used to be.. Hehe...

This was their reception at a hall in Hulu Kelang, the theme was dusty pink or Mak likes to call it, pink belacan. Afian, the best man even sang a song on stage. He was supposed to duet with WinZie but to cut the story short, WinZie was fired! Poor girl ;p

And this was at our home for the Majlis Bertandang. It was green pucuk pisang theme. Our family from Singapore really outdid themselves with this matching yellow-green combo. They looked awesome!

Anyway, congrats Lil bro and new SIL. Have a great honeymoon in Europe (which at this very moment, they are already in Venice, Italy).

Pyjamas Floor Mat

2015-12-10T15:12:00.001+08:00

You know when you have that certain favourite nightgown, you keep wearing it over and over again until it looks so hideous, and your Hasben keeps hinting you to buy a replacement while quoting some ustaz lecture on 'perempuan dengan baju kelawarnya yang satu', well I have about 5 of those. And I have loads of comfy old pants with loose waist bands that slip off easily when Afi decides to grab on my legs.

I had the blue pants since 10 years back (?!)

Well anyway, I ignored being sentimental and used these two as fabrics for making over this floor mat that Kak Das gave me. The floor mat had holes on them so I decided to fix it.

And now it looks cuter. But a bit slippery on the kitchen floor, yikes!

Kaki kecik merasmikan alas kaki

And another makeover was on a plain maroon cushion cover that was a very old project that I finally completed today. Now it matches my heart cushion (^u^) <3

Crochet Headband

2015-12-04T09:40:00.001+08:00

Finally finished my first baby headband made using crochet. Took me forever but was amazed that I could actually do it. Haven't got a girl model so opt to use this boy model instead, hihi ;p

This one is for baby Iman :)

Boreen Point Campground, Sunshine Coast, Qld.

2015-11-30T17:19:00.001+08:00

Date: 21-23 November 2015

Was supposed to bring WinZie for her OZ camping experience to Boreen Point 3 months ago but due to bad weather, we had to postpone this visit. So Hasben said that for my 31st birthday, the present will be a travelling package to Noosa, Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach. Furthermore, the 3-month-postpone duration set by the campground was nearly up.

After exploring Noosa National Park, we checked-in at Boreen Point at about 4PM. However, once we found our camping spot, bad luck ascended. Hasben hit a BBQ stand while reversing the car, breaking a bit of his rare light and dented the bonnet. That changed the mood a bit.

Anyway, we set up our campground as fast as we could, while the kids were sleeping in the car. Our site was located at the best possible location, very close to the toilets and shower, and just a stone throw away from the Lake Cootharaba.

All in all, it was a great place for camping with kids as the lake was superb! It is very shallow for miles and miles (didn't even reach our knees) and the sunrise view was awesome! Also, hot showers are free!

Now that we have started camping, our future travelling might be a bit cheaper with possible savings in the accommodation part! Hopefully.... (^u^)

Eid Al-Adha

2015-10-02T22:05:00.000+08:00

Date: 24 September 2015

After 3 years of living in Toowoomba, shamefully, I have to admit that this is the first time I actually went for Eid prayers. The reason was mostly because of the kids, but, oversleeping was partly to blame. However, this year, I was so determined to go that I bathe the kids before sleeping and prepared their jubah the night before. And yes, the whole family made it to the bowling hall in the CBD at 7.15am. As the mosque was too small, the Islamic society had to rent a hall for the Eid prayer.

With the imam.

I didn't cook much, just a simple dish of sate, nasi impit and kuah kacang. And I ate them alone. A very different environment than back home in Malaysia where Eid is all about feasting with extended family and friends.

Alhamdulillah, we performed akikah for Afi this year, slaughtered 2 lambs. While Hasben went to Brother Yahya's farm to slaughter the lambs (yes, he did it himself, very proud of him), me and the boys slept for 3 hours, after kimi finished his play date with Aish. Meriah sangat raya kami, haha!

Well, anyway, these are Hasben's pictures at the farm:

Hasben with his new second hand Aussie hat from Vinnies.

Dividing the meat for sadaqah at Hana/Jai's house.

As you may already figured out, we will be having all kinds of lamb based food for the next 2 to 3 weeks...

Starting with roast lamb:

Lamb curry:

Lamb soup:

Lamb pizza:

Lamb sate:

I think I need to take some break from lamb! Eid mubarak peeps.

Photos courtesy of: Amilin AJ, hanayorie & ezam_shah.