Mama22beas

School term is almost over

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:05:00 +0000

And yes that means Bea1 will enter Standard 2 in less than two months. I remember how jittery I was at the beginning of the year when she started Std 1. Time sure flies fast and it is not bad at all.

I promised to get involved in educating her, and I did just that. I did because I think any mom should do that and frankly I don't 100% trust the school;). And please don't say that I should send my kids to private school. For some reasons (money definitely one of them), that is not an option for us.

Anyway, I'm trying to avoid of having that "my-kid-is-doing-well-because-of-me" feeling. Bea1 did well throughout the term. No, I'm not referring to grades that she got, or her place in the class. She is developing and absorbing and looks happy with school and friends.

And while a friend already said 'Tak dapat no 1 lagi, siappp!" to his Standard 1 kid, I still can't bring myself to explain what the numbers mean to Bea1. I'm a little worried that she would get pressured. Or maybe at this stage she knows that already, I never asked;). Am I being too protective. But once she showed that she was having a peer pressure already. Peer pressure at 7 years old!

Anyway, I still want to take some credit. I still think that all the practises/reading that we did together has complemented what she receives in school. And I also can't help it but to blame myself when she didn't really do that well in Pengetahuan Ugama. The reason was while her hand-writing is better than mine, I'm not patient enough with her Jawi writing. So I didn't really go through the subject with her. My bad:(.

And that also does not mean I spend a lot of time with her, just everyday I try to make sure she finishes homework and after each test, we went through the sheets again.

At the beginning of the term, I remember she memorised my phone number. Thought of some day, I might teach her to use the public phone. But before I did that, she surprised me one day and it was so good to hear her ecstatic voice from the other side. Then, she called me every recess and the moment she finished classes in both schools.

Think I could go on and on about my complain on the education system. But now, I change my mind, the system is ok but maybe not the people who are implementing it. For example, Bea1 was already asked what colour change happens on a tree if it is not being exposed to the sun. All are given in textbook but no experiment...yilek, nothing! I don't know if they would do it later on, but at this stage think kids are required to memorise. The same with the box with a hole (it is about light, they put some objects, and see through the hole with the lid on and off), taste (Bea1 knows bitter gourd is definitely bitter but she got confused with seawater and mango, ripe mango of course sweet, she said;)).

And one question that I would ask the teacher come the Open Day "Does this mean that all the experiments must be done at home, supervised by the parents (kalau macam tu buat apa saya hantar anak saya pegi sekolah...cikgu buat apa ya????).

Luckily, we had some withering plants at home that I have shown to my girl.

One of the teachers once boasted that the school set a higher standard for the students. Even my babysitter agreed with that when she looked at Bea1's test papers. I still can't assure myself if that really is a good thing.

Am not going into that any further and I'm still grateful for a year full of adventure for Bea1 and myself;). Now, I start to get jittery whenever I think about2011 when Bea2 will join her too. And in 2014, Bea1 in Std 6, Bea2 Std 4, Bea3 Std 3, Adel Std 1 and Atef in kindy....pengsan!!!!

But being a muslim, one thing I must remember Allah will provide;).

Doing it the 5th time around

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:39:00 +0000

I mean expressing breastmilk so that I could continue giving the best food to my baby while I'm away. And that includes stocking up, a lot of sterilising, fighting for space in the freezer, worrying about not enough stock and a lot of expressing-and-nursing simultaneously.

Actually I got tired when I even think about it. And it is almost like a must that I do it as long as I can. In my case till I got pregnant again, or till it actually hurts my boobs to keep on expressing.

That's why, with new pregnancies, I felt a bit relieved that I have a reason to get some 'rest' before doing it all over again in about a year's time.

And I must talk a lot about it too. Thought hubby normally does not really listen to my ramblings. I was surprised one day when he said, he told a female colleague who just got a newborn, that she needed stimulation to get the milk out. I quoted him "You need stimulation...get anyone to do it for you!". I almost yelled "Hey!!!...not just anyone la...the baby, of course!".

The moment I heard anyone having challenges to express, I'd volunteer to help, even to strangers. Breastfeeding and expressing consultation for free;). Not to say I'm an expert but hey, I'm doing it for the 5th time!

I used to have storage in plastic bottles, later thanks to a mom for her brilliant idea, I used ice-cream plastic bags. Now, thanks to Chanel, I have proper storage in breastmilk bags.

With Atef, I started leaving him at the babysitter's when I have about 60 oz in the freezer. During Ramadhan, I cut down on expressing due to just being plain lazy. At one time I had zero, yilek, zilch stock. Now I have about 9 oz and I'm working on to build that up.

Fortunately, I don't need a lot of stock as I see my baby during lunch (or anytime I like when I got no class and urgent matters;)). And it's me who make my own schedule for trips etc. Lovely job, I have here;).

I only use one breastpump for all 5 kids. I only changed the main body once as it cracked. Overall, so far I only spent about RM400 for it. RM400 to feed 5 kids for over a year each. Tell me which husband/father would not get proud of that;).

I know most of you may have heard and read about this over and over;). But in case, young moms are here and need help, just give me a holler. Or just find extensive explanation in mymomsbest.com, a place we the experts used to hang out;).

Tiring, yes but any mom would keep on doing it for their babies. It is like having to read Peter and Jane series over and over. Thought I would puke doing it the second time (with Bea2 now) but seeing her got so excited with her new 'skill' is all worth it. Thought of just leaving it to the teachers but it is a routine now that she must plonk herself besides me before bedtime, with P&J in her hand.

And this is the healthy breastfed baby, doing some acrobatics!

Samperit or Dahlia

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:57:00 +0000

Ok I know Raya is over but please bear with me. And I know you can just google and find hundreds of post about it. But this is my 'adventure' in finding the right way to bake Samperit.

But first, Samperit or Dahlia? I guess both are of the same recipe but different shapes. The one with the flowery shape is called with both names but the long, with grooves on top is definitely Samperit.

Previously it was always ignored by me. I thought it was just some kuih made of butter, sugar and flour.

Someone that I consider an expert at baking said she got her samperit to taste good but she was not happy with the look. I wondered, how hard can it be?
Then during Raya, my sister showed me the most beautiful and tasty samperit I have ever seen and eaten. She reminded me that it is also called Dahlia, made with mainly cornflour and we used to make a lot of it when we we were younger.

Then I have a little "walk down memory lane" moments. I used to be assigned to cut the cherries into tiny, I mean really tiny as they were just expensive. And how I just loved that. Now I can relate to what Bea1 feels;).

So, I just got to make my own. The look of course is determined by the mould, and we must not get the dough to rise. I have made it in 3 batches, using 2 sizes each of closed and open star nozzles, and two samperit mold that the babysitter lend me. I was not satisfied with the look on the first two batches but they tasted yummy. Hubby said he promised a staff in the office some kuih raya for a favor that she did, and I guess my samperit was representable enough and I brought some to the office raya party. My Iraqi PhD student brought home some, and she told how her kids raved about it.

I finally had it close to what I want the third time around. But with Adel keep on asking to eat the raw dough, I didn't get all of them to be nice. At least,I found Wilton 6B is the most suitable for me, so far.

As not to get the dough to rise, I didn't even sift the flour. I only add the soften butter bit by bit till I get soft dough, that I could just pipe it from a piping bag.

The recipe basically is for a part of cornflour (always use good quality one, I used Brown and Polson), you need about 1/4 of plain flour, and 1/4 of icing sugar (depends on how sweet you want it), egg yolk (when mixed with the flour and sugar, enough to make it like breadcrumbs) and finally the addition of butter (good quality also), just enough to make it soft dough.

I just use my fingers to mix, and I just love using piping bag for cookies. It makes shaping the cookie faster. Now, I officially include Samperit as a must-have for raya cookie baking;).

Seriously, baking is like a therapy and challenge now, not something that I do when I have free time. What a minute...I, where got free time wan?;)

A restaurant in the apartment

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:52:00 +0000

The kids love to play "masak-masak", and sometimes they pretend running a restaurant. But before I bought the play kitchen, they never had something this extensive. With the other toys and stuffs available, they come up with this:

At the back, castle tent is the restromm. That's a relatively very huge restroom for a restaurent;). The piece of white paper is a "tandas" signage. A peek through the door would show a chair in there as the throne;). On the kitchen high "cabinet", small books from the Ladybirb series are used as plates. There are also rolling pin, baking pan and a few other from the Ikea Duktid series.

That's Bea2 busy running the kitchen. Besides the two toy containers is our old TV stand, that I just so want to trash. They use it as an area to place the food before serving.

Food can be from anything...wooden blocks, parts of an aeroplane, small pieces of paper that they tear, rice/spaghetti from the kitchen, I mean MY kichen *sigh*.

The easel is where they paste the menu of the day;). And you can see more food waiting to be served. On the table, the purple thing is an activity table but without the legs. It is a cash register. Bea1 used to beg me to buy one, but the only thing I saw costs over RM100. With this, she stopped asking.

And on your right are the table and chairs for the customers. When they are really at it, each would take specific role: chef, cashier and waitress. Adel is always persuaded to be the customer. And he always can't sit still and that's frustrating to the girls;). The waitress is always Bea1, as she is the only one that can take proper order. And yes, it is with the right spelling in a small booklet.

A lot of time, they involve the parents too by coming to us and asking what we would like to have.

That part of the apartment is the messiest BUT frankly I love it when my kids play that way. So I don't really mind. They spend a lot of time here, and that always mean peaceful time for me to do my stuffs and no fight with papa over the TV remote
*rolls eyes*.

I plan to give this area a good paint and get their toys to be more organised but it stays as a plan for a long time. It really does not matter and the kids do not complain.

A few things are missing from my kitchen but I don't really mind if they don't touch my baking stuffs. And you may guess that 99.9% is Ikea in that restaurant.

And I even love looking at them playing. And I knew it, the purchase of the most expensive toy (the kitchen) is all worth it. Who knows one day, they decide to really operate a real restaurant and mama23beas can goyang kaki already...haha!

Look who turns 4 today!

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:05:00 +0000

I remember I cried buckets when I first saw the two lines that appeared on the pregnancy stick. I planned to have two first, and then concentrate on building up the career.

Career or no career, who really cares when one has such a cute baby! Bea3 is the beginning of the other 3 subsequent surprise pregnancies (one ended with a miscarriage). I just went "Oopsy...", no more tears, nothing only the fuzzy wuzzy feeling of yet having another chance at motherhood and being grateful.

It just happened that I really needed to practise swirling buttercream. So I made over 100 tiny cuppies to be shared with the whole kindy. Alhamdulillah for the bigger fridge, I managed to hide them from her. This pic does not really potray what she felt, she just didn't know how to act for the camera. She was so excited when I walked in with the huge box and yelled it's her birthday today.

This is more like it.

She is quite a handful. She goes "Hi pakcik polis" to some security guards or "Hi makcik kuih", "Hi kucing" everywhere. Despite the thought that she started talking a bit late, now she is a chatter-box. She whines a lot too. Her best friend is Adel, her worst enemy...yup, you guessed it, Adel. She calls him swiper. She treats Atef as if he is a doll. She loves books, is easy with food and eats kaya on its own;).

Ok or not my swirls?;)

I just love looking at kids with cuppies. They all went "I want green, green!", "I want pink!" over and over. It makes sneaking out of the bedroom at 3 am to whip some icing all worth it;). And of course, the look on Bea3's face is priceless!

Meringue pulak!

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:24:00 +0000

I have about 20 extra eggwhites from raya cookie baking, and they've been sitting in the fridge. I tried making meringue cookies last night and it is quite easy peasy;). Since I normally let the kids stay up as long as they can tahan on weekend nights, we had some colourful-meringue-sprinkling moments.

4 eggwhites and about a cup of sugar gives us about 40 small pink and blue cookies. I just piped them out from a piping bag. Took 21/2 hours to cook, and left overnight to cool in the oven. They are crispy to the bite and melt in the mouth. Kids love it, especially Bea3. Anyway, they are not something that you would give to your kids often as they are just too sweet.

I can still improve the look by making the batter stiffer next time. Anyway, they look lovely enough that I made the effort to fill some in a glass to snap nice pics;).

On another matter, a friend who is a silent and regular reader to my blog commented that I ranted too much in my previous post;) and she didn't finish reading. So I guess some do not read till the end as well. So I'm doing it again here. Please help Adam in his survey for his PhD and you will be donating to charity at the same time. It's easy and won't take you more than 15 minutes.

All in a day's work!

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:29:00 +0000

It was on Tuesday but the preparation (or rather the lack of it) started a few days before raya.

I got to know from my PhD student, J that a prominent biologist would be spending a few days in Malaysia. I just knew that I must get him to help in one of the sites in our research area.

It is a cave about 30 m above the ground and we needed a 4 meter scaffolding to reach a specific high part of the cave.

J was sceptical due to the short notice. Being a supervisor I must always show that we must be positive and stay focused, followed by a little lecture that she would not finish her thesis if she kept being sceptical (macam bagus...hehe).

One phone call was made to another guy, S who would accompany the expert, L. I just asked him if he (the expert) would have a few hours free to be with us. I didn't know that it brought so much excitement not only to the two of them but a few others, judging from emails being forwarded the next day.

I was like "Ohhh shoot, I must really get this happen!"

Dearest hubby said he could help getting a contractor for that. I believed him but days and later raya passed without anything convincing from him. I started to get a little panicky on Thursday last week as I had not anything confirmed, then.

Alhamdulillah, a caver gave me two numbers of some people he knows. And I talked to one of them on Friday. Told him the scaffolding should be up only a few hours on Tuesday and dismantled right after we finish our work. ONLY on TUESDAY! I repeated that many times.

And I would see the contractor on Monday to show him the site. That guy sound so convincing and I was happy!

On Saturday I received another call from another guy, F who asked me if it was ok for me to come on Sunday. I said Sunday was not good and he somehow agreed with the earlier plan.

On Monday, I drove alone for about 2 1/2 hour one way to meet him at 3 pm and was surprised to see him with another man that he introduced as the 'contractor'. I was a little shocked as I thought F was the man who would do the scaffolding. F said he is also a caver.

During the discussion, the contractor admitted he would have some problem. He said he got to know about that at 12 pm that day. I thought I was going to pengsan already but I was ready to get down on my knees and burst a dam if I need to (yeah...I can be that melodramatic).

He asked me to just drive back to KL while he tried to arrange for something and he would give me a call.

In the meantime, a group of 5 people including L and J were already in the hotel nearby, eagerly waiting for the next day's exciting new discovery.

I received a call at 6 pm, he said he still could not promise anything concrete. I tried to be positive and prayed hard. At that moment it just occured to me to invite my profesional photographer friend, J along to be with us the next day and he agreed. The team was complete.

At home, I waited for some good news. Called F and he said it could not be done. I knew he felt guilty and I tried rubbing salt on the wound;)... I was evil!

Called S and explained that it might not be possible after all. Without the structure not much can be done. He assured me that L is a very easy-going man and I should not worry too much. I told him maybe it was not so much about worrying what L would say, rather my own frustration as I have been hoping to solve that 'mystery' in the cave for the past 11 years.

Got another call from F at 11pm, he sound cool and said he would arrange for something. I could still sense that he really felt it was partly his fault and he was trying to compensate that. He kept saying he didn't know how he got involved;) as he was only a caver who tried to get a contractor for the job.

I left KL with J at 9 am, F mentioned that all the frames for the scaffolding were there and he was rushing to get it done on time. I sighed a relief, finally it was confirmed!

We fetched the others from the hotel, we got lost and wasted a good 1 hour to get out of the city and locate the cave;). I was just too excited, I guess. We were greeted by some workers who built the structure at the foothill and one of them quickly get my huge and heavy drill box to carry, and at the cave entrance I was surprised to meet a prof emeritus from Canada (who got to know about that from F), his assistant, and a reporter from the Star (who follows L around). All together there was 15 people.

I was about to explode with excitement but I just let the others up first. F said the structure was built by amateurs so he hoped it was ok. It looked wobbly but no one was really concerned but we did make some jokes about it.

J snapped some pics when I was not looking.

Up there, I thought to myself "I won't be up here if I think I have 5 kids at home" That thing was really wobbly and no body seemed to be ready to catch me if I fall. I even forgot the helmet...tsk!
The able-bodied workers did the drilling and knocking for us to get samples. It was funny when only two of them up there and about 10 of us down, giving instructions.

I love this pic. To me it shows a student (yeah will forever call myself that) with a 'tok guru', even this was the very first time I met him. I highly respect senior or retired (but still active) professors (or anyone) who I know spend their lives doing things they love, and later share their knowledge generously with other people. And L is also a British lord. I even got excited with that.

I got back at 10 pm after sending everybody to hotel/LRT station/home and fetching the kids from the babysitter and Bea1 from a neighbour cum colleague's house. I was so exhausted but still excited that I could not sleep. My boobs were about to explode too. Imagine this: 13 hours without nursing and expressing for a fully-breastfeeding mom to a 3-month-old. I was just too lazy to bring the pump, and later worry about getting a comfortable place in the cave to express. Manage to get 8 oz from a boob while Atef nursed on the other. I could still squeeze at least 5 if he didn't make a fuss to have me besides him on the bed. 13 oz equals to 4 feedings. Wow...that's how much baby food boobs can keep at a time;).

I digress.

We did some discussion today and that got me more excited, and again now finding it hard to get to sleep.

So, that's what I do when I don't teach;). I'm not comfortable sharing the details of our work now but when data is enough and everything is completed and published, I will give the link to more reading here, I mean if anyone interested to know;).

It was quite satisfying to see the confidence in Y after the trip. She was worried so much about a lot of things, and even said at a stage, she didn't know where she was heading. A lot of people who did PhDs experienced that, including yours truly;). They don't call it Permenant Head Damage for nothing...hehe;).

I spent the whole morning today with a headache due to lack of sleep, got a class summore. Tomorrow, I will drill two Masters students to work harder, faster and smarter, more discussion with Y and a trip to the hospital with Atef for his vaccination jab. That sounds an easy day to me, but I must get some sleep now.

Thanks so much if you manage to read this far. Just a little bit more. Please help by participating in Adam's survey for his PhD research. I just did. I've been reading his blog for close to 4 years now. Just click here and find out.

Biskut Raya

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:37:00 +0000

Finding time to bake is hard but I just got to do it.

On saturday while hubby went out for a few hours with Adel and Bea3, Bea1 and Bea2 played by themselves (after being convinced that they could help later) and Atef not asleep but just behaved very well, I managed to make around 280 pieces of almond london. Thanks to the experience of helping mom with her buah melaka or onde-onde every Ramadhan when I was little;). I can't believe how fast I was.

I let the the girls help with the sprinkles the next day. I had to put up with some chaos as the big boy also wanted to be part of it.

Ours are in pink paper cups, and decorated with white, pink and red sugar instead of almond nips and don't look really neat;).

I hate peeling pineapples and everything about making jam but since the tart is just popular, I forced myself to peel 3. Such a boring thing to do.

Only managed to do around 70 pieces. We went to my brother's place on Sunday for buka puasa and half of them gone. The rest would only last till tomorrow, I believe. I still have jam for about 150 more. Will do it soon.

I hope to make something that involves sprinkles again, just for the girls hopefully on Friday;). Thought of snapping a few pics of the girls doing it on Sunday but I was just too lazy. Anyway we caught someone sleeping on his job!

For that, sentimental mama must run to get the camera while praying dearest son would not fall off the chair. Think my boy just had chocolate overdose;).

More on hospital stay and some shortbread

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:09:00 +0000

Actually I'm still shocked by the action of some people protesting over something by kicking some poor animal's head. That's the reason for the delay in updating, seriously. It killed my mood right away, wish I could share what I really feel about it, but I could get carried away, I might speculate things, I might need more time to do research before I write something that I would regret later.

Anyway, I have decided that this humble blog was created just to share anything about parenting a bunch of kids;).

So let's move on...

Two cots and a bed in a two-bedded room. We had to squeeze in a single-bedded room for the first night before it is available.

They don't really look sick, do they?

Presentation of food is very good but the taste...well what can I say about hospital food.

Of course kids easily get bored. Adel would ask me or hubby to follow him around, to walk around the ward about 5634 times a day!
Bea1 found the CCTV and figured out how it works. She figured out the locations of the camera and took turns with Bea3 to do some 'performances'. One danced and sang, they other watched "rolls eyes".

Time for the medicine. Adel was fine with the drips but hated the neb, and it is the other way round with the girls.

The medicine, antibiotic, prebiotic that they had to continue taking at home....I got overwhelmed by the amount

... hubby created the schedule and pasted it on the fridge, so that no one got confused.

We had another check-up yesterday. Bea1 is officially asthmatic. So we need to watch out a bit. Luckily doc said we don't have to ban any food, just be careful when she shows any sign of allergy. She has to use the inhaler for 3 and is taking Singulair for 2 months respectively. She has stopped sneezing in the morning now, I have no idea how long it will last. She did fasting well on the first 3 days, stopped due to the hospitalisation and today she said she wanted to continue on Friday since she has finished some of the medicine. Awwww...my girl just knows how to melt my heart.

Anyway, my dad, a sister and a brother are astmatic. My sister-in-law just told me, one of my nieces also is. So, we are one big happy asthmatic family;).

*********

I move on to another topic now;).

I was hoping to embark on kuih raya project with the girls during the school holiday but due tothe hospitalisation, it had to be postponed. But they begged me to do something. So Idecided on something very simple, a shortbread recipe with only butter, brown sugar and flour. To get a good result, I believe the butter must be good.

I would like to share with you what I think is the best now:

Been using in for a few months now. It is American, it comes in 4 sticks and handy if you always follow American measurement. It is RM9.99 for about 450 g and that's not expensive compared to the other imported ones. I just read that American butter is graded such as AA, A, B...and so on. AA is the best and I'm glad that my judgement is right!

Anyway, for the shorbread recipe I added some rice flour to get crispier texture and salt (as my butter is unsalted). Since I have girls helping out, they must put some colours on it.

Simple but my girls prefer it over the famous ole Danish cookies;), I mean those sold in the round tin.

Now kids are up, running and kicking, I really must find the time for serious biskut raya baking.

Oops...I have forgotten to wish my wonderful beautiful Muslim readers. Ramadhan Kareem to all, let's make it better than the previous ones.

3 out of 5 admitted!

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 05:59:00 +0000

It's a long story, but I make it short.

Despite trying hard to get kids away from crowded places (due to the dreaded flu). Bea1, Bea3 and Adel had running noses on Sunday and fever on Monday. Temperature ranges from 37.5 to 35.8 C. I was not overly concerned.

But after sahur the next day, I could hear Bea1 wheezing when I pressed my ear to her chest. Off to the emergency in a hospital right away.

X-rays showed all 3 had pneumonia and they had to be admitted. They didn't really look sickly, and got all excite about the hospital stay "roll eyes".

I was worried sick at first but the doc said it was not that dreaded flu but they must stay for a while as they could have lung infection. Rounds of drips and nebulisers followed.

The doc asked if Bea1 was ever asthmatic as her condition is the worst among the 3. I was not really sure how to answer that.

A bit of history...Bea1 as a baby had severe skin rashes. As she grows, rashes gone but she always has dry skin and depends on the likes of SebaMed and QV for skin care. I knew about tests for allergy but I never took it seriously as think Bea1's case was not serious. Except for certain fish, we allow her to eat anything.

But she must has some early morning sneezing (that could be due to dust mites) especially when it is cold. But it goes away shortly after she gets dressed and she is ok the whole day.

She had pneumonia once when she was 3 years old and admitted for 3 days. I was stupid to give a low dosage of paracetamol (a lot younger and less experienced mom that was worried about overdose), the fever didn't go away and she got it after about two weeks. After that she is just a healthy kid, and the last time she had a fever was a year ago.

I was surprised on how fast it develops into pneumonia this time. The doc said she must have shown symptons such as coughs and flu before that but seriously I didn't see that. She went to school as usual.

We have the family history, so the doc said she will decide if Bea3 has that too in these few days. Both Bea3 and Atef were discharged yesterday but Bea1 had to stay a couple of days more. Really hate the thought that my baby is asthmatic. Will that mean there will be no ice cream for her? Will she depend on medication for a long time? What have or have not done? I have a lot of questions but no time to do research yet, hate to ask the doc yet as she already asked me to wait.

The last few days were spent at the ward. Both of us had to take emergency leave and hubby spends the nights here. When Adel napped, I left to see Bea2 and Atef at the babysitter. I then returned with Bea2 to have buka puasa with huby here. After that, we left, fetched Atef and returned to a quiet home.

As a mom, of course I want the kids to be healthy but I just could not help it...part of me is asking if the hospitalisation is necessery especially to the youngest two. They no longer have fever even on Wednesday.

Anyway, Alhamdulillah it is not that flu. I'm with Bea1 now as hubby went out for the Friday prayer. The two kids, I'm sure are giving the babysitter a hard time. They had been too spoiled by the nurses in the hospital;).

One thing that I dread to see now is my own face. It must look horrible with the lack of sleep and care...but seeing the kids ok surely puts a smile on it, always.

Will get back with pics!

My two-year-old Adel

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:33:00 +0000

After 3 girls in a row, I began to wonder if hubby's XY (those that supposed to make boys) swimmers could really compete with the XX. Adel cleared all doubt;). Even when he was a small baby, a lot of people commented that upon first look they knew he was a boy. A kembang mama would say "Oh yes, he is!".

But by having 3 sisters, he could not escape from things like this

and he has no say on the choice of colour for his new stroller.

By his first birthday, people started to ask "All four girls?", "Such a cute baby, how old is SHE?".

We knew he needed a haircut badly. Both papa and mama were with him at the barber's, but he just held on to dear mama throughout!

He loves balls. He began kicking even before he walked. He pushed a ball near somewhere he could hold on to, got up and kicked it. Now he begins to show interests on cars.

He started to show signs that he was ready for solid food at 4 months old but mama must wait for him to turn 6 months. And due to a trip to Danau Toba, it was further delayed a few more days(for mama's convenience of course ;)). This is his first solid food experience. Poor baby, he had waited for too long.

He is such an affectionate boy. He would hold my head with both hands, and press my lips into his cheecks with all his might whenever he needs hugs and smooches.

Before Atef is around, he slept with his hand around my neck.

He makes me think my hands are magical, from soothing the pain when he bumps his head to getting the toys that he wants from Bea3 to scratching itchy feet.
He asks questions now "Apa tu?", "Buat apa?" over and over.

Though he is not as clingy to nen-nen as the sisters, he still helps himself to it now and then. And when he does, he would gaze intently into my eyes.

And he never shows jealousy towards new baby bro, not just yet;).

He turned 2 two weeks ago but papa was away, so celebration was postponed. On the day that he was supposed to cut the cake, he scratched some skin off his big toe at the bedroom door. He needed to rest, according to the doc. So cake-cutting was further delayed and rest, he did.

We finally did it on Saturday. After 8 years of mothering and 16 kids birthdays later, I decided that I would finally make the cakes myself.

Not much decorating skill needed to surprise a two-year old. Some determination, stuffs from ICCA and lots of love;).

Tired of excitement and dozed off!

Just like how all moms in the world think about their babies, I think Adel is the cutest...so are the other 4, definitely;)

And Alhamdulillah, the joy of being a mom is simply undescribable!

Childhood relived

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:14:00 +0000

I always wanted it for my kids even before I have kids. The feeling was stronger when I had Bea1 and Bea2. But firstly it was just too expensive, secondly the common ones in the market are those made of hard, colourful plastic. I prefer wooden type that resembles the real thing more.

I had fogotten about it for a while until last year I got some ideas from the net. A DIY version. Since then, I kept thinking about making it myself with whatever I have at home. BUT that involves a few trips to carpenter shops, DIY shops and some tedious and dirty painting work. Ok la I admit, I'm not much of a DIY type and hubby won't not get involved in that kind of project.

It had been postponed and on and off forgotten until I saw the catalogue of gifts for credit card point-redemption from shitty...ops I mean citibank;). There was one there, the hard plastic type. Tired of waiting, I thought I just redeem it and showed the catalogue to Bea1 and Bea2. They were so excited and Bea2 could not stop asking when they would get it.

But flip-flop mama still thought she was not really into the plastic one.

Still, I could not get it out of my mind. I just got to have one!

And yesterday, during my weekly Ikea trip I saw it and my heart just missed a beat, followed by adraneline rush and I thought I was going to get a stroke (ok, I'm exaggerating). I didn't see it on the first day of sale (17th July, it's Atef's 41st day, I must celebrate end of confinement there;)), and I didn't go to the children section during our trip on previous Friday.

I moved towards it, gazed lovingly and ran my fingers on every inch of it. My heart melted just like cold butter on some warm scones.

What followed was like the scene from "Confessions of a shopoholic" when Rebecca Bloomburg saw the green scarf for the first time.

It would hurt my wallet...I shouldn't. Then again...I have always wanted it for years. But kids don't really need it,maybe...then again Bea2 has been asking everyday. I could just DIY it, if people in the net can do it so can I. Then again...they may not have a small moody baby and the image of me sweating and most probably cursing over some stupid drill etc is not so pleasant.

BUT it is still expensive, and as a new product it's not on sale and to wait for it to be in the As Is would be too long...then again, I'm Ikea Friends member, make a total purchase of RM500 and I can pay it over 6 months, with no interest.

Finally I sighed "I'm taking it back, YES, YES, YES!"

Something struck my mind and I looked at the time "Shoot! Bea1 will finish school in 5 minutes". Alhamdulillah for the neighbour cum colleague that is always helpful, one call and she would fetch her.

I grabbed two reading lights that are on sale for Bea2 and Bea3, and some light bulbs and made my way to the warehouse. With some helps from the staff (I was not capable of pushing the trolley and Atef's stroller with only two hands;), I managed to get it to the car.

At home we loaded the rather heavy flat-packed (two boxes) on the stroller and Bea1 helped to push. I was watching Nur Kasih (I can't believe I watch this!) while watching my kids play. They looked ok without the new toy and I started to have a doubt if that was worth it.

Anyway, once the smallest 3 went to sleep, we started assembling it. Both girls looked like they would explode with anticipation. I took some time and had a break to feed Atef and asked the girls to go to bed as they were just fighting not to doze off. I got up again and finished working at 3 am *yawn*

Tada....

Tell me, which girl would not fall for this. And the moms too! It is just like a mini real thing, and the birch and white match the other furniture in our house and the kitchen too. Lovely!

Look at the induction hobs, they are battery-operated. The hobs light up when on. The girls were delighted. Something I would not have if I make it myself. Bea2 is so happy, she said now they have a proper kitchen for their masak-masak and restaurant pretend play;).

Check out the DIY/hack ideas in ikeahacker. If you don't know already, it is an awesome blog originated in Malaysia and started by a Malaysian. This is what I call "Malaysia Boleh", not some 'kuih kapit terpanjang di dunia' and such...hehe!

I'm sure girls (big and small;)) would drool on them especially those in pink. I still think some of them look even better than the piece from Ikea and I also believe Ikea designer got the ideas from there;).

Anyway, I'm glad Ikea has it for sale. It gives a lot less hassle to people like me.

And why there is no mention about the big guy in the family? He is away on a business trip to Bangkok for a week and will be back this evening and be surprised;).

Having said all the above, I admit the play kitchen is more for the mom to relive her childhood;), then again the kids love it to bits. So, it is all worth it! (Ada sikit nak sedapkan hati juga...;)). Preparation for Raya this year will be minimal, for sure.

Some simple ideas from a kedekut mama

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 06:33:00 +0000

What would you do to a romper that still fits your girl but it is just too short that you can no longer fasten the buttons? Like the one worn by Bea3 (left) here:

Make it another layer under a dress when the day is a little cold and blowy, just like this (left):

Here's another one:

No one would know...;).

Of Tahnik, some scones and butter prawn

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:36:00 +0000

Firstly Tahnik.

I wish I could do more research before writing this in my blog. I only got to know about the word during the weekend when we had it for Atef at my parents place. Hubby went "tsk, tsk..." when I told him I knew only about shaving head (or bercukur) but not tahnik.

Anyway, I digged this out:It was reported that Abu Moosa said: “I had a baby boy, and I brought him to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). He named him Ibraaheem, did Tahneek with some dates and prayed for Allaah to bless him, then he gave him back to me.” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5150; Muslim, 2145). Tahneek means putting something sweet, such as dates or honey, in the child’s mouth when he is first born.

Atef is all ready.

But besides sweets we also use other things for the event. I was told that all are symbols to 'introduce' life to the newborn. Besides rubbing the dates on baby's palate, others are slightly touched on his lips. On the plate at the top, there are gold and silver rings (represent wealth, maybe...I'm hopeless hehe), sugar, salt and asam keping (aiseh, what you call it in English?). Dates and other dried fruits on the next plate. Zam-zam water and finally some talc powder that is meant to be used if head is fully shaven. But I'd preferred to keep my baby's hair;).

Dad just invited some folks that did a jemaah prayer at the mosque, so it is a small do actually. After tahnik, they did selawat with Atef being shown to everyone and everyone gave their blessings.
This time everyone was easy with kids, so it was done with curious kids observing the whole process...nice!

So that's how we do it. I know a lot of people do aqiqah at the same time, and for folks from Johor, they do berzanji and some involve the 'buaian' thingy. Seriously, all these are common but I never experienced anything done outside the family. I'm a bit curious actually.

Now, the scone!

With a small baby in tow, I find it harder to bake these days. Yesterday, I made some scones but I didn't manage to even knead the dough. I just quickly roll it into balls while Atef giving me warning that he would shake the condo anytime with his yelling.

But, I'm blessed with kids that are very easy with food. They got excited with anything fresh from the oven. I was only left with only two pieces (out of 20) that I hoped can be savoured peacefully while Atef naps, with some butter and tea.

And finally, butter prawn...or rather butter prawn that is not quite like it still!

After trying a few times, yesterday I followed instructions shown here to make the egg floss. I thought I almost got it, but suddenly I had a lot of foam in my wok that I could not see the eggs anymore. I finally got what looks like a drier version of scrambled eggs. What was wrong? The fire not hot enough, or I didn't stir hard enough? Any tips, please?

Slowly getting back to the routine

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:45:00 +0000

Three weeks is all I got from mom and sister. I was surprised that mom managed to stay 2 out of the 3, knowing that usually she can only tahan spending only one night at our place.

Anyway, for the whole of last week, hubby went out with the girls and Adel in the morning, firstly to send Bea1 to KAFA and later the rest to the babysitter before the office. A helpful colleague cum neighbour fetched Bea1, sent her home and later to the school.

Last Monday is my 31st day. Ok, mom-in-law insisted 30th but I consider the birth day as the first day;). I can't tahan already, Bea2 and Bea3 had missed kindy for 3 weeks. So I decided that's it, I drive!

The whole week was spent dropping off and picking up, but once Bea1 is in school and the rest at the babysitter in the afternoon, I have all the time for myself and Atef. Bertungku is so draggy but I try to do that at least once a day. I also still continue with the bengkung at night.

The new term also started this week, and I singgah the office in between to send teaching materials to a prof who is taking over my classes. And also to show off Atef;).

And I baked too! I modified a recipe on Thursday to do something to dates from last Ramadhan. I must finish them before the next one comes, which is about one month away.

I cooked 15 dates in boiling milk to soften them. After cooling them, I removed the seeds, blended them with the milk and 3/4 cup sugar. Later I mixed with 1/2 cup oil and 1 cup sifted self-raising flour.

Pic is horrible, bila la nak beli micro-lens ni hehe

Bea1 just loves them. A better way to eat dates besides munching them on their own. They are just too sweet for me. And the cake is eggless, mom would not freak out if she knew that;).

Thought of decorating them with choc icing but I didn't know what I was thinking, when I whipped castor instead of icing sugar with the rest of the ingredients. Gave up I just dumped the mixture in the fridge.
Yesterday, I found that it was hardened. Not to waste it, I added some hot water to it and mixed again. Added 3 eggs (at 36th day, mom is ok with me taking some already), 150g flour, some baking powder and coarsely chopped pecan nuts.

It turned out to be a cross between a cake and brownie. A little fluffy moist texture but with crispy top, and not too rich. The kids love it too, and I got motivated to have some fun with the icing!

Isn't that wonderful when you don't know what you're doing by just dumping whatever comes to mind and it turns out to be good.

With all the activities, now I found myself stop counting the days when the confinement will be over;). I still try to rest a lot anyway, and I have not touched the broom yet!

Yesterday, hubby brought the girls to a bowling competition that his company organised. Later they watced Ice Age. I spent the day with only the boys and took some pics!
My comot boy...

and another one!

Food I can't eat

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:51:00 +0000

It's the 24th day of confinement period for me, only half way through. Time just passes so slowwwwwwwly to me.

I miss my regular food tremendously and I decided to share some of the pics of them with some story.

Two types of meals that we always have for quick dinner. Something I can whip up in 15 minutes.

Fried meehoon and cream-based pasta, preferebaly with lots of seafood and mushrooms. Yummm....why can't eat now? Too oily and fattening and seafood (except certain fish) and egg are on-no. They don't look beautiful but they stuff the whole family well for dinner on normal hectic working/schooling day.

My Iraqi student shared a quick recipe with me: marinate chicken, sliced potatoes, union and tomatoes in lemon juice, yogurt, salt and pepper for 2 hours and grill for about 1/2 hour. Simple food again and I just lurveeee it!

Why can't eat...lemon is citrus, mana boleh! Besides that's dark meat there. I'm only allowed white one.

But before I even cooked that, the student already did something for us. He came to see me just to pass this:

He said, he cooked for 5 people. It was soooo good but too much for the two of us and 4 little tummies. I wish he used lesser spices for the rice and pasta though. Mom would surely comes out with a reason for me not to eat this, I don't know what but she just got to have one! She might say, we don't exactly know what the Arab put in it, something that a mother in confinement should not consume...well something like that!

This one is just sinful. Dalca, a combination of beef, potato, long bean, tomatoes in curry. Look at the fat on the beef, that's my faourite....yum!

Mom always scares us with this story of a lady who ate a lot of that kind of fat during confinement. She (the lady) had her thing down there wet and smelly all the time till she got pregnant, gave birth and did the confinement properly all over again. And the long beans and brinjal must be avoided at least for 100 days.
Er...this one I never cook myself la, too much work for a mom with 5 kids below 8. Mom made this and I tapau from kampung one day.
I don't know if the fat really cause the smelly thing, that's mom's story and I hope I don't scare anyone
Look at this...sambal bilis and petai. A great combination with Dalca and hot rice.
Hubby does not really like petai in bilis, so that's another excuse I never made this also. This is also from mom.

Well not for me now as it's too oily again!

And petai reminds me of another dish. People say those who believe that "A way to a man's heart is through his tummy" should aim a little lower (I just love this joke...hehe). Even with that, in trying to be a good wifey, I just do whatever he likes in the kitchen...no matter how weird it is.

That's cili kampung, belacan, flesh of deep-fried fish (preferebly kembung) with some lime juice. Ok, sambal belacan is not weird but why must the fish be pounded together. I still don't get it.

And he must have this with raw petai, that's my man's favourite. With belacan, definitely not for me, but well I don't really miss it anyway;).

My teeny weeny effort to get my kids to read

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:22:00 +0000

There a lots of pics of my kids with books but I only found this one. An old pic of Bea2 when she was about 2 years old. She insisted to read while having breakfast.

Kids associate snuggling in parents arms, with a book with fun or maybe attention. I used to have my girls lining up in a queu, with a book in each hand the moment I lay the praying mat to pray. Think to them, it is nothing like being wrapped in the telekung on mama's lap and embarking in yet another adventure/laughter or whatever the books bring. I just love that.

Anyway, for this entry, just for the sake of recording and sharing (especially with moms with younger kids), I decided to blog about how I teach Bea1 to read. Nothing special about it, anyway.

Firstly, Bea1 always loves books since she was a baby. Being the first one, I had more time reading to her. Later with the other kids, I found it harder to have one-to-one session but I always try to read with them but not every night like most good parents do;).

Her kindy uses Peter and Jane to start off with serious lessons, so I just followed that at home. They only start using those books for 5-year-olds and only used the first two series and continue with other books. Yes, very late some of you may think. Not to get Bea1 to be bored at school, I also waited for the kindy to start with it. Ok, think I was also lazy;).

I'm not really proud of the way I did in the very beginning. I remember I was confined in a hotel room in Kota Kinabalu with 3 young bored kids. We followed hubby to his outstation trip. It was just a wrong timing but I decided to start off.

I ended up yelling at her (think it was more from the stress of being confined). I thought, how come she had just easily forgotten words that I just taught her seconds ago. I didn't think about the right approach, never made even a little research on how to teach 5-year-old etc.

And I scared my little girl that day. I still remember the expression on her face vividly now. And frankly I feel so bad about that.

Community message from mama23beas: Never engage in a serious teaching when you are under stress;).

I then took some time off. Even though she was taught in kindy, due to our hectic schedule we were late almost everyday and she missed her reading lesson and only attended other activities later.

So that made me think that I must do more at home. Then, trying to be relax, we resumed our reading session and I tried to take things easy.

Bit by bit, she finished series 1,2 and 3 before she turned 6. At series 4, she told me that the wordings were too small and she didn't like it. Nothing was wrong with her eyes, she just thought it took her longer to finish and small letters were too overwhelming.

Being a lot calmer, told her it was ok, we just continue with other books. We didn't touch P&J for half a year. And she made the first move to get back to them.

Now halfway through Primary 1, my girl is almost done with series 7. Yes, I know some kids finish all the 12 series at much younger age but seriously I don't have specific goal/aim. I just encourage her to read and it's up to her how fast she wants to do it.

She displayed some symptons for dyslexia when she was younger and I was always on the lookout if she would have a problem reading.

I noticed then, especially when she read fast, she would pronounce 'of' as 'for' or vice versa. And 'no' as 'on', and when I asked her to slow down and look again at the words, she got them right. She also wrote mirror images of some letters and numbers.

Called up a so-called expert and she advised me to get her to be evaluated. I was surprised when she said at that stage Bea1 should be able to read and understand instruction in Primary 1 books while a lot of people told me that in the first few months schools normally do some repetition of what is taught in kindy. After talking to another expert, friends and her teachers, I decided to wait. I was lazy also to spend some time for the test, but she has improved and looking at her progress in school now, think she is ok.

That's for English. For BM, the kindy starts even later (compared to others), halfway through kindy 2. In other words the kids have about 6 months to prepare for Primary 1. I was not too concerned about BM, thinking that it is easier BUT later found out that Bea1 needed my intervention hehe:).

In Nov last year, she still can't get all the two-letter 'sukukata' right. We did a little 'latih tubi' for about 1/2 hour a day during the school holiday in Dec. I bought a book that emphasizes on phonic and was meant for dyslexic kids (according to the author). One book that she really likes is a Malay-English-Mandarin picture dictionary.
I was surprised on how fast she caught up. To me it's all about constant effort. Frankly, this made me all 'kembang' as that's my effort too;).

Those of you who are familiar with P&J must know that the system emphasizes on memorization first, in the first few series. Later only, phonics come in.

I remember one day, she saw the word 'soon' the first time and took some time to read it. I asked her what she was thinking, she said she was trying to make the sound and had 'moon' on her mind. That was before I taught her phonics, and I was just glad that she was getting used to read new words on her own.

And before Atef was born, she must have all 3 books from a series of P&J and the dictionary just besides her pillow and read one page of all books before going to sleep. That's only for bedtime, she also reads other books at other time. She made her own schedule. Those 4 books on weekday nights, other books and computer games during the weekend;).

Now, our routine lari a bit lah with the new baby but I'm sure we will get back to it soon;).

Now with Bea2 think it's much easier. Normally younger kids will follow whatever the bigger one does. She was not much into books when she was younger, more into pretend-play but now she just follows kakak. She is now reading series 2, and when she got excited with new words that she could read she can finish a book in one go.

The thing is, it's the mother who can't tahan doing the "This is Peter, this is Jane.." over and over. Tried to create a buddy-system, asked (and bribed;)) Bea1 to teach Bea2 but they ended up fighting!

Anyway, Bea2 and Bea3 reach kindy on time now for the lessons. That makes my work easier lah but Bea3 has not started proper lessons yet!

One more thing I can't tahan is whenever a kid comes to me with a book, the other kids would also jump to me each with a book. Then they got into a fight for a place besides mama. Sounds familiar? A lot of times, I just gave up. That's why I'm happy with about two hours that I have with Bea1 during normal school day. At home, a lot of times when one or two kids nap, I would ask the other to get a book and read peacefully together.

Besides what I do, I also let the kids learn from some websites on the net.

Sometimes I wish I have geniuses. I watched this on Discovery or Nat Geo channel, a two year old girl asked her mom to read to her the same book for two weeks everynight and viola...she just broke the 'code for reading' and was able to read right away. Anyway that's some silly thought, there must be reasons why my life is not that easy;). Besides, of course moms to geniuses also have their own challenges.

For those of you that may wonder why I choose a kindy which is late in everything;). Well, that kindy is the first in Malaysia, been around for almost 40 years, the first one to use Montessori, has the most toys compared to the others that I've seen around here. It's very old obviously and run with heavy subsidy from the U but kids are fine with it and I'm fine with it too! And it's cheap;)

This post is like never ending...haha. Before I stop, some updates on the wee one.

It was only two years ago I held a 3 kg baby in my arms. With Atef, I had kind of forgotten how a 3 kg baby should look. I thought Atef was just too small and fragile. Now, after more than two weeks, I can see he's growing fast. Wrinkled skin all smoothen, chubbier cheeks and heavier! A pic of him with some milk drool, lovely!

Boredom kicks off!

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:37:00 +0000

Once during one of the confinements in my hometown, I received a call from hubby who was in PJ. He said without us around he didn't know what to do esp. during the weekend. He tried to drive around but ended up just driving around with no specific destination. The house was just too quiet. He could not hang out with friends as at this stage they also have families of their own.

And I also hated that, being away from him. And that moment I wish I have all the help to have my confinement at our place. And now with Bea1's schooling we have a reason just for that. At the moment mom and a sister are with us and I'm so grateful for that.

But still...my mind is constantly thinking about work. I planned to leave the office as if I'd only return two months after that. I was sure that I would at least have another week in the office.

My ob said, I was just in denial and just brushed all the symptons as false alarms. I think she was right, I just had too many things to do!

Planned to get everything done and return to a very tidy office. Now I even dread thinking about entering it.

After I settled down from the surprises and the excitement of having the baby too early, I thought I was getting a nervous breakdown whenever I thought about the way I left a lot of things undone. That also means I need to get a lot of helps from a lot of people and I hate asking for help.

I sent hubby to my office room to get things but with the mess, it's just hard to instruct him to get everything I need.

I even feel sad when I saw my extra buttermilk expiring in the fridge. I planned to bake another cake with it.

I have a colleague who asked what she can do to help a few times. I received an sms on conference day from someone, telling me that my presentation will be taken care of. He didn't know that I had earlier begged another guy to convince him that he would be ok doing it and I managed to prepare the presentation right after coming back from the hospital.

I also asked a colleague to fetch Bea1 from KAFA and send her to school, and my sister to send and fetch her to/from the condo front gate. No choice for Bea2and Bea3, they have to skip kindy.

I finally gave a call to my student on Friday and asked her to come over to settle a few things. I'm supposed to submit a paper for publication to a prof for the first review on last wednesday, but I only have a few diagrams to edit and I don't have a particular software in my laptop. I may ask her to come again to get it installed by someone in the office.

And today, I reluctantly made another call again for some help. I was totally surprised of how helpful some of the staffs after knowing about my condition, even though we didn't know them well. And I was told to get more rest for the 1567th time today;).

And I think I have had enough rest and I start missing my routine again, no matter how busy it is. That combined with the unsettled works (and baking stuffs in the kitchen are tempting too) make me yearn to move around again.

But then again, once I start working...I'm sure I'd miss being home with the kids too. Normal for working moms, I guess;).

Even though mom and sis help, I still find it hard to ask them to do this and that. Mom won't be here for too long and my sister is waiting for a reply from a job interview. If she gets it, the other kids will go to the babysitter and I hope by then mom would allow me to walk up and down to the gate to fetch/send Bea1...or better still, DRIVE on my own!

See, confinement to me is like being half-paralyzed. Anyway, no matter how bored I am now...I remind myself that there are always things that make me feel grateful!

And we finally have a name...we were stuck with a routine again. Thought of sticking to Adel as first name, but I love Rayyan too much. And I don't really like the idea of calling the baby with the second name. After a few days of arguing, hubby gave Saturday as the dateline and we finally came out with this: Atef Rayyan

Atef means kind, compassionate or caring. And again Rayyan is the gate of one heaven.

Some progress: after birth till right now, he has not established a specific routine except for from 12 to 5 am, he would wake up to nurse 4 times *Yawn!*. He is just busy gulping milk and growing!. He has no problem, pooing 4 times day, never resurgitate (except for amniotic fluid at the hosp, I never put on any minyak telon and such on his tummy...I will surely kena if mom-in-law got to know about this, and the babysitter too!). He hates being bundled too.

Finally the pics of my sunny side up baby!

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 14:25:00 +0000

Fresh from the oven and weighing at 2.935 kg

He stayed awake for 3 hours after birth and observing surrounding with lines on forehead, just like Bea3 at this stage.

Macho kan, he resembles Charles Bronson, dulu-dulu punya cowboy actor but without the mustache. He must be wondering what's the black thing (the camera) that used to be mama's face.

That's the biggest he can do!

Blissfully home and...

being admired by big sisters

It's cute but can be challenging as they just can't leave the baby alone. Big bro Adel does not look like he is threatened by the wee one. And he can pronounce 'baby' now.

Some progress on nursing. He latched beautifully about 1/2 hour after birth. He didn't ask to nurse and also was not interested when I shoved in the nipple till about midnight. He just got distracted by sounds or movement around him. Then as if he had forgotten, struggled with me to get the latching right till about 2 am. Today, he nursed like a pro and I'm also already blossoming with milk. Nice!

Sunny side up baby!

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 06:46:00 +0000

I have everything ready to keep me occupied in the hospital...laptop, broadband, a camera, the baby;)...but hubby has forgotten the cable and jakun me does not know where to jolok the camera memory card..so no pics at the moment still.

But I must tell you...baby is gorgeous, and a fighter too. That's what the pead told me, in a way to say that we have a heathy baby, Alhamdulillah.

But first...where were we?

Ok...the contraction that I had was constantly 10-min apart till about 6 am, and I was 5 cm dilated. Wheeled to the labour room.

If you think what happened this far is dramatic, wait till you read the whole birth story.

Around 7 am, even with tolerable short contraction I was dilated to 7 cm. I thought 5th baby kacang aje la...or maybe I was having mild contraction for a few days that my body was slowly preparing for the birth. I was calm and just recited prayers and doa.

Ob came for a while and said it was such a good timing, as she would be flying for a holiday in the evening. I just joked good timing for her, not really for me.

The nurse urged me to push whenever I felt it. 7.30 I was already 8 cm and started doing the pushing. Pain became more intense. She kept telling me I didn't push right and was not helping the baby. Then she pressed a certain area down there and asked me to push specifically on that area (that's what the instruction sound to me) but she pressed so hard that it was too painful that I could not concentrate on my pushing. That happened several times and I started to behave my worst.

8.15 am and she said baby didn't budge with all my pushing. I told her to just get the vacuum. She said baby was still too high so it was not possible. She stopped pressuring me and asked me to wait till 8.30.

No progress and I told her to get the doctor. I retaliated to the situation by just screaming at every contraction, I was no longer a cool soon-to-be-5th-time mom, I felt so frustrated, I was tired of pushing too much only to be told I was not doing it right. I never experinced something like this. I hated looking at hubby too.

The moment I saw the doc, I felt a bit relieved. Just upon a glimpse she said baby's face was facing up (that's why sunny side up), his head collided with my lower backbone (don't know the specific name) so he would not go down without some help no matter how hard I push.

She used the vacuum to turn his head while encouraging me to push. I thought it was never ending, I almost cried, I begged the doc to just make it fast but I co-operated by gathering all my strength to give the push that they all wanted.

The pushing ended at 9.19 when my baby was finally 'released'. I just felt so relieved and was a bit shocked with the new experience.

Doc mentioned later it that happens to first-time mom, she would easily end up with a c-sec.

While I thought it was all over, doc asked the nurse to give me the laughing gas as she said my womb contracted quite fast after delivary and now my placenta got stuck inside pulak. She has to 'dig' manually to make sure the womb was empty. Hate it but I kept looking at the baby throughout the whole process and that helped a lot.

I was just so exhausted but managed to get baby to latch on for an hour. I tried to get some sleep while hubby fetched the kids from the babysitter. He decided to balik kampung just after getting the kids see me for a while.

It was a short and sweet reunion. Bea3 made a joke by shifting my shirt to look at the baby (as she always did) and said "Baby dah takde!" as she knew the baby in the basinet was the one from mama's tummy. Adel looked a bit surprised but happy to see me.

I was a little worried that hubby only had a little rest but they safely arrived around 4pm. From two calls, I got the indication that kids are having so much fun and everything should be alright.

My parents, sisters, bros, in-laws came to visit. Mom will stay for a week at my place. I hope hubby will get enough rest. They will be back tomorrow and with mom around, we will somehow get the help to quickly settle down. In the meantime I will just enjoy being alone with my sunny side up baby and take as much rest as possible.

I reflected on how I behaved while welcoming my baby to the world, and was not really proud of it. Anyway, it is an undescribable feeling when it was over. I just love looking at hubby saying the adzan and iqamat at baby's ears, I thought I was floating in the air. Or maybe it's the laughing gas;)

Enough for now...thanks for all congratulatory smses. Be back with hopefully pics;)

Baby decided no kenduri for me!

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:53:00 +0000

And definitely bye-bye to the conference too!

Besides having mucus plug twice on Wednesday night and Friday morning, I had mild contractions in different intensity (of pain) but still manageable.

We were supposed to balik kampung in the Friday evening but I was not really sure about that. But I was moving around getting ready, and also cleaning up. Between 8-9 pm, I had contractions at rather constant intervals.

We loaded everything in the car as if balik kampung was still on, but I told hubby I was not really sure. I suggested we jst drove to the hospital to have someone have a look.

I was strapped to monitor the contractions at 11 pm while hubby and kids waiting in the car. At 11.30, the vaginal exam was done and the nurse gave the ultimatum "No kenduri for me!" as I was already 3 cm dilated.

I was told my ob/gy will still be around till tomorrow afternoon so she will attending to me.

I felt really guilty when I called the babysitter. She was so surprised as I didn't give her any clue that it was going to be this early but she would definitely take all 4 kids to spend the night at her place.

Hubby sent them there and got home to fetch my things while I was being admitted. He was here for awhile and now is out to get some food.

Being in labour is no fun, I'm having it every 10 minutes now, again of different intensty but more painful than what I had at home.

And I miss the kids, esp. Adel. This is the first night that he is away from me. I hope everything is ok there.

I tried to go to sleep but I just can't and decided to blog;). The only available room is 4-bedded and it is full. The staffs are moving in and out bringing babies to their moms for breastfeeding.

My parents are on the way from my kampung to originally attend the wedding;). I just pray that it is going to be fast.

I want to have my baby to be safely in my arms, see my other kids again fast, hopefully can be discharged tomorrow. And hubby still have the time to attend the akad. He told me that even he is the wali, it is ok if he is not there as the matters are all settled earlier but I feel bad if that happens.

The kenduri is on Sunday. I don't mind if I have to stay here longer and letting hubby and kids be in kampung the whole day. Adel will be ok with his papa. We will see what's the best thing to do.

For now, I must concentrate on my new baby. Been telling him I can't wait to see him and praying hard that everything will be smooth.

I can't believe that I'm blogging in labour. I had planned to bring back the laptop to kampung to prepare for the presentation and asked hubby to bring it to the ward.

I hope to be back with some pics soon;).

Counting down....

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:20:00 +0000

..to the birth of our 5th baby, I realise more and more that time just passes us so fast. I wonder if I have enjoyed this pregnancy to the fullest, being always busy running around the other 4 rascals.

According to LMP, my due date is 10th (I feel jittery whenever it comes to mind), the first few scans when the baby was only a bud estimated 25th, 26th but the one done around 10 weeks, said to be the most accurate gave 20th. The docs agreed to follow that.

But even with that, I have never had 3 EDD before...and they are quite far apart. What to do, listen to the docs, it is 20th then.

I've also never been so unprepared before. In early Monday morning, I had some contraction, no specific intervals but it was a long, worrying kind of thing. In between sleep, I thought I might give birth at home as it was just too early to disturb the babysitter.

But it's gone when I was up. I decided to take the Tuesday off.

First I went to my regular ob/gy, bringing with me a reference letter from UMMC. She was surprised to see me (or rather my tummy). The last time I saw her was when she suggested D&C for the miscarriage and I asked her to give me a reference letter as I wanted to do it in UMMC to save some money.
She was flipping my files when I explained everything. I miscarried naturally eventually and didn't do D&C. Had only a period and that's it.

She laughed and said "Kalau dah subur tu, tak sempat nak buat apa-apa".

At this late stage, scan would only show the growth of the baby and we just stick to the 20th dateline. She said she would not be around from 6th to 11th, and I said it didn't matter. If the baby decides to be early, I will think of other plan. Being a mom 5th time surely makes me cool somehow.

It's not a good pic, but it's baby's face, he looks like he's sucking thumb. He also looks good and big, to me. Already 2.88 kg while I only gained 10 kg so far, enough to finally reach my ideal weight. Judging from the previous pregnancies, 70% of it will be gone a week after the baby's out. The rest will stay as breastmilk!

After the check-up, I went shopping baby stuffs, finally. Cheap but good stuffs definitely. After moving around the Curve, I have decided FOS is fine with me. I bought 3 long (1 for Adel, can't let him feel left out right?;)) and two short rompers for RM40. Good material and I can't see any defect. Love them! Got some Barbie shirts at 70% off for each of the girl too. Followed by a baby blanket. A little over RM100 gave me 10 items, this is the kind of shopping that I like!

To me, each new baby must have everything new at least when she/he returns from the hospital. But we have too many caps, mittens and booties that I just don't feel like buying them anymore, plus after a while we don't use them anymore. We have one set (of all the 3) that we used on all the kids at the hospital, and new baby will have that too. It is a routine now;)

Later, I did what I like most...moving aimlessly in Ikea alone, had my favourite Baked Salmon dish. So happy that they are having it now, normally only in Dec. I had that 5 times then. I just had my sweetest time alone, but I admit I missed the kids too.

I want to do a little bit more shopping if we have the time but in the meantime, I'm relieved at least baby won't have hand-downs from Adel as his first clothes.

Even with the 5th, the look at this rompers melt my heart. I don't know I was just attracted to yellow this time.

I have a lot of things to do still, hopefully before baby's out:
1. SIL's wedding this weekend
2. A conference on Mon and Tue. I will be presenting a paper. Hubby asked why I must have a presentation very near my due dates all the time. Told him, I committed myself after getting the first due date;).
I will dig in the hotel food as much as I can before my long, boring with lots of grilled fish (and only grilled fish for the first two weeks) diet confinement.
3. Spring cleaning for the apartment, and re-organise the kitchen. Off course I will get two helpers for this, hopefully next week
4. Continue writing for papers as much as I can
5. Bake as much as I can
6. Eventhough I planned to take early leave (as it is allowed now), think I will continue working till I pop

..and off course, the normal activities with the kids esp. now its school holidays.

Updated on Friday

I've been having brownish discharge or mucus plug. Suspen sungguh....still hoping baby's out at least after the wedding or the akad nikad as hubby will be the wali. It's 2 hours drive from kampung to the hospital. I can plead a colaborator to do the presentation for me at the conference. The rest can always wait.

I'll be bringing two cakes to kampung

The first is for the hantaran, and definitely not my own work hehe. It is from Lyza. The second is German Choc Cake that I baked yesterday.

Wish me luck!

It's all about grades!

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:26:00 +0000

It's the best time of the year, work-wise to me. The campus is quiet now that students are on holiday. And with the school holiday, lot less fetching and dropping for me and these few days will be spent writing papers for publicaton and a conference that will be held next week.

But something's just bothering me and think I just take a few minutes off to share with you.

We finalised the exams result last week. I have two students asked me "I got F for your subject, can't you at least make it a D?". Followed by their stories of how difficult the course for them, of how the F would effect their results overall...bla, bla, bla.

But neither challenged me (that's what they supposed to do), or asked me to go through their answers and discussed, or argued that they deserve better etc. And without that, I just have to leave it at that.

If for the students it's a matter of F to D, for Bea1's school teacher it's B to A.

But first, even before I met her to get the report card on the school Open Day last week, I really don't care about the grades. I know my girl is doing fine and I'm so grateful for that.

While going through the result, she actually apologised (to my surprise, really) and mentioned that she has tried to look for that one more mark to give my girl an A for one particular subject. Maybe because she thought that would spoil the rest of the results as Bea1 got all A for the others.

On second thought, maybe the reaction/treatment from other parents has made the teacher so defensive.

Anyway, I looked into the eyes of the young teacher, just like I do to my students when I'm dead serious. I told her that she didn't have to apologise as it didn't matter to me, and I mentioned as a mother I knew my girl is doing fine.

Then, I went on and on and on about my two students who just ended up asking for better grades without even doing anything to justify their request. About how we maybe stuck with the grading system that it must be all about grades or rather about As, even for kids as young as 7.

What is more important is a passion to learn (and indicated to her that she has a major role as a teacher to instil that in the young kids), or doing things with enthusiasm. Success will come maybe even before you realise it and maybe not in the form of straight As (Now it is obvious that I was not a straight As student...haha).

I was not really sure if she was ready to hear that lecture. My students hate me and now I probably made my girl's teacher hate me too. Great!

I hope I'm making sense here and those who read this knows what I'm talking about. I just wish I can write better. Anyway, I'm teaching hundreds of future-teachers in a year here. I'm sad to know that for most of them, being a teacher is the last resort. So question like "Will they teach with passion?" is always in my head. And the thought that I have let these people to teach my own kids give me a shudder sometimes. My consolation is the thought that I'd always actively involved in educating them, besides what they get in the formal school.

Anyway, read what a headmaster got to say about something related to what I wrote here. I could not agree more with him.

Ok, back to work now.

Simple cuppies, but they kept me awake till 3 am

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:16:00 +0000

I hope you can read "Happy Teachers Day" on first look. I only got to know about the Teacher's Day party today at the kindy, and tried to make do with whatever I have in the kitchen.

Thought of making mini cupcakes but I run out of the mini cups. Then later I forgot that I don't have a container (or box) big enough to have all the letters nicely arranged.

I planned for something fast and simple. Everything was easy except for getting the alphabets done. The instructions sound so simple. Just could not get the fondant to be very thinly rolled. I need more gadgets, maybe. Arghh...if I have more gadgets, I would spend more time baking...and less time for other thing. Dilemma!

Anyway, I hope Bea2 and Bea3 will be happy with them. Just a little extra than just thanks to the teachers tomorrow. Yeah I know I need a lot of improvement, but this is only the second time I play around with the fondant. Besides I never claimed this is a food blog;).

Tomorrow will be a busy day, hubby will be away for most part of the day leaving me without the car, Open Day for both Bea1's schools , piles to do at the office, feeling jittery as I have a feeling new baby will make his appearance sooner that the due date and I just hope I won't get too exhausted due to lack of sleep.

My motivation is hubby and I (YESSSSS...alone!) will catch the Terminator after work!

Excited over cheesecake

noreply@blogger.com (mama23beas) — Mon, 25 May 2009 03:47:00 +0000

For the past few sundays, I kept myself busy when Adel napped with a few cheesecake recipes.

When I first saw the pic of Bull's eye cheesecake, I fell in love and tried making it right away. The first recipe is from thelazychef, second from the creator of the Bull's eye pattern and tired of rich cheesecake I tried a light one from here

With the first recipe, I omitted the blueberry topping but mixed melted choc in half of the batter. I felt so excited that the thick and non-stiff texture of cheesecake batter made it possible to create the bull's eye pattern when you pour cream and choc mixture alternately.

I had the infamous crack on the surface, according to the expect due to overbaking. Also patches of dark spots, but still happy with the look. It also turned out to be too sour, that's why the blueberry topping was suggested there.
This how it looks after being sliced, from the side

Tried the second recipe, the batter turned out to be more runny and feeling more adventurous I tried to make thinner line on my pattern. Still didn't get the perfect pattern but I still love the look after it was sliced. The taste is also better (judging from the servings hubby had, and he does not really like rich cake), and no more crack.

Feeling more adventurous, I thought of making the bull's eyes in tiny cupcakes, with some pink colours since I have 3 girly girls. But this time using the light cheesecake recipe. Got no colouring at home, used Ribena and it turned out to be pale purple. With the addition of beaten eggwhites, the batter was more stiff, so no bull's eyes created for this one. But to compensate that, I decorated with some butterflies. It was a hit among the kids.

Tried again using the first recipe (as I found it most suitable to create the bull's eye pattern), in bigger solo cups. The choc mixture turned out to be too thick, and since the cups are a bit deep, it was just hard to get nice pattern but at least the girls got excited with the colours.

Tired of the pattern, I finally decided to bake the simpler light one, with some blueberry topping. Of all the recipes, I love this one the most and will bring some to the office to share with the colleagues.

I baked the cake in water bath as suggested, it is said to be a way not to get crack but I still got one. Think the water was not deep enough.
For the rich cake, the expert says cake is done when you don't see it shiny on the surface already and the batter no longer jiggly. I managed to avoid that the second time around. But think it does not apply for the light one as the batter is different, in this case more stiff with the addition of beaten eggwhites. That makes it lighter and fluffy, anyway.

Nah...this is for you. Enjoy!