Coffee Break With Me

Pengalaman yang sedikit mengerikan!

2013-05-17T15:51:00.000+08:00

Semalam lepas ambik Khayla kat sekolah dia, aku bawak dua adik-beradik ni jalan-jalan kat Prima Sri Gombak. Nak beli laundry net bag yang baru memandangkan yang sekarang zip nya dah rosak beyond repair dah. Huhu. Pastu, aku nak belikan seluar pendek untuk si Khayla pakai kat rumah sebab sekarang ni cuaca panas. Khayla ni jenis yang cepat berpeluh bila pakai seluar panjang kat rumah. Tidur dalam aircond pun boleh berpeluh-peluh jugak! Heee… macam la dia lahir kat London!

Anyway, lepas je parking dan dukung Khadeeja keluar dari kereta, mula-mula aku decide nak cari seluar pendek Khayla. Tapi lepas tu aku berubah fikiran pegi kedai barangan rumah kat seberang jalan dulu cari net bag.

Dengan dukung Khadeeja sebelah tangan dan pegang tangan Khayla di sebelah lagi, kami pun terkedek-kedek la pegi masuk kedai tu. Lama jugak aku cari net bag tapi tak jumpa. Last-last aku cuma beli benda lain je. Khayla pulak pantang masuk kedai je mula la berlari sana-sini. Ambik satu barang pastu letak kat tempat lain. Ambik pulak barang lain. So agak lama jugak kami kat kedai tu (padahal tak jumpa pun benda yang aku nak).

Lepas setengah jam, kami keluar pergi ke kedai baju di seberang jalan. Hubby kata kedai ni jual baju murah, tapi bila aku masuk takde jual seluar pendek untuk budak perempuan. Pembantu kedai tu bagitau mungkin kedai sebelah ada jual.

So kami pun masuk ke kedai sebelah. Senyap-sunyi je kedai tu. Kat dalam, ada dua orang pembantu kedai perempuan tengah borak-borak. Aku cari seluar pendek tapi sama jugak, takde. So kami pun keluar dari kedai tu dan pegi pulak kedai jual barangan bayi kat sebelah.

Dalam kedai tu, ada la jumpa seluar pendek yang aku berkenan. Ok la not bad harganya, RM19.90 sehelai. Time pembantu kedai tengah tolong Khayla cuba seluar tu, dua orang lelaki masuk kecoh-kecoh tanya perompak naik kereta Wira hitam ke?

Tak lama lepas tu, bunyi siren kereta polis dan polis pulak yang masuk soal siasat kat dalam kedai. Sebabnya pembantu kedai barangan bayi tu yang nampak jelas kereta perompak tu dan jugak rupa paras perompak tu.

Aku terpinga-pinga. Apsal citer pasal perompak ni? Alkisahnya kedai kat sebelah yang aku baru je masuk sebelum tu kena rompak tak sampai setengah jam sebelum tu. Bulat je mata aku tengok Khadeeja dan Khayla. Nasib baik terdetik hati aku nak pergi kedai di seberang dulu sebelum pergi kedai baju tu. Kalau tak, mungkin kami akan jadi mangsa rompakan jugak!

Syukur alhamdulillah, aku dan anak-anak aku terselamat dari bakal bencana. Walaupun kedua-dua pembantu kedai tu tak diapa-apakan, aku rasa mesti gerun jugak bila berhadapan dengan perompak.

Moral of the story, ada hikmah bila Khayla naughty-naughty main sorok-sorok kat dalam kedai barangan rumah tu. Hehe.

My first Mother's Day celebration

2013-05-16T23:44:00.001+08:00

... Is not really a celebration. I've been a mom for almost 3 years now but for the past two years it was just a day to wish my mom Happy Mother's Day and forgetting that I'm a mom too.

Before I proceed I hope it's not too late to wish my blog readers (if there's any) Happy Mother's Day & Happy Teacher's Day! :) Hope you had a good celebration with your kids / students too ;)

Anyway this year I had a pleasant surprise from my baby girl Khayla. I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary when I fetched her from school last Friday. As usual when I arrived, I honked to let the teachers know since I couldn't leave my baby Khadeeja unattended in the car.

From afar I saw Khayla's teacher helping her put on her shoes and holding her hand as they walked to the school gate. Khayla was holding a red piece of heart-shaped paper in one hand which I assumed was her school project. In the other, it appeared like she was holding a small branch.

When they stepped out of the school gate, it turned out she was holding a bouquet of carnations, which the teacher explained with a smile, is a Mother's Day gift from the school. But she quickly told that Khayla also has her own gift - a Mother's Day card which she made herself!

My first Mother's Day card from my two-year-old

My heart swelled so much as I took the card from my baby girl (she's only two years old, peeps!) and then her teacher took a photo of us. Awww…

Being a mom is not always easy for me. When I had Khayla two years ago, I was so overjoyed to receive the much-awaited child of ours that I overlooked a lot of the challenges of being a mom. Khayla was a clingy baby but I did not notice because I was as clingy to her as she was to me. When Khadeeja arrived, although I was as thrilled to welcome my second baby and love her as much as I love my firstborn, that elated feelings sort of toned down considerably with experience of raising a baby before. I began to see things in a more practical manner, and being practical is just so… exhausting.

Having a precocious toddler and an active baby means I have to do everything quickly and fit things around their clocks. For example, cook three dishes in less than 15 minutes. Accompany Khayla in the toilet and while waiting, wash Khadeeja's dirty diapers. Read my study notes while they are busy playing (5 minutes tops before Khadeeja wails to be picked up), breastfeed her while feeding Khayla.

Sometimes I did not even have time to take my bath, then I would have to rush to Khayla's school without a shower. Sometimes I have to sacrifice my studies to put the kids to bed for their afternoon nap (the girls would sense that I was not sleeping and would stay up till I settled down and napped with them). Sometimes when the girls fight over toys I just want to throw the toy out of the window just to stop the loud cries and screams. Always, my house is messy because I just do not have the time to tidy up or because I know it would stay tidy for just half an hour. And you know I have this obsession for organisation, so this stresses me out a lot :(

But every time I thought I just want to throw up my hands in surrender / exasperation, the kids will do something to remind me how lucky I am to have them around, even though nothing much gets done and I'm living in a pigsty.

Things like flinging their arms around me in a tight hug. Mouth-to-mouth kisses. Khadeeja's wild chuckles and bright eyes as I make funny faces or sounds, or tickle her. Khayla's very adorable gwiyomi acts and just the way she says 'Ma-mak'.

To this, I wish myself 'Happy Mother's Day' because it is just that - being a mother is a happy experience, every single moments every day.

Ole-ole dari Bandung

2013-05-15T19:24:00.001+08:00

Dah hampir seminggu aku tak berapa sihat. Demam selsema yang berjangkit daripada anak-anak yang dah menular ke aku, sekarang dah upgrade jadi batuk pulak. Perubahan cuaca yang kejap2 panas, kejap2 hujan pun menyumbang kepada faktor tak sihat ni. Hmm. Sabar je la, semoga penyakit ni menghapus dosa aku yang berkoyan-koyan ni!

Anyway, walaupun tak sihat aku gagahkan jugak pergi kelas sebab semalam ada presentation. Cuaca buruk menyebabkan aku terpaksa bawak sekali anak-anak ke UM sebab takut terlewat.

Presentation berjalan lancar walaupun aku terpaksa cut banyak point sebab tak nak markah kena potong. Lepas abis presentation aku mintak excuse nak balik awal dengan alasan tak sihat. Nasib baik lecturer ok je.

On the way balik tu, terperasan whatsapp Kak Ret pesan ambik brownies Kartikasari yang dia bawak dari Bandung. Dalam hati, I loike, I loike! Hehe. Even sebelum aku beranak lima bulan lepas aku teringin sangat nak brownies Kartikasari ni tapi takde pulak sapa2 yang pergi Bandung masa tu. Aku suka bangat (tetiba accent Indonesia pulak) brownies ni. Sedap dan ada lapisan flaky kat layer atas brownies yang sangat la heavennn!

So malam tu jugak aku pegi ambik brownies daripada Kak Ret. Ingat nak bayar harga brownies memandangkan aku pesan kat dia, tapi dia tak nak pulak, katanya memang dia plan nak bagi kat kawan-kawan pun :) Heee... Mesti lagi sedap bila orang kasi ^_^ Thanks Kak Ret!

Ni la rupa menatang brownies yang diidam-idamkan tu...

Sampai kat rumah aku tengok Kak Ret bukan setakat kasi brownies Kartikasari ni, tapi dia ada bagi a few stuffs jugak:

Terima kasih Kak Ret! Love the souvenirs especially brownies tu :)

On being a full-time mom

2013-05-13T23:36:00.002+08:00

Sedar tak sedar, dah lima bulan aku ambik cuti tanpa gaji. Time flies fast. Perasaan? Entah la. Mixed feelings inside.

First of all, aku suka spend time dengan anak-anak. Suka dapat menikmati masa yang tak terhad melihat Khadeeja membesar di depan mata sendiri. Menjaga dia sendiri. Menyusukan dia sendiri. Compare dengan sebelum ni, aku takde problem stok susu berkurangan. Bila dia nak menyusu, aku susukan. No wonder supply susu yang dipam pun tak berkurangan jugak dalam freezer. Tapi most of all, aku happy melihat dia membesar dengan happy jugak.

Masa Khayla baby dulu, aku memang struggle sikit nak maintain production susu sebab kat ofis aku memang busy dan stress. So susu pun berkurangan. By the time dia 5 bulan, aku terpaksa beri dia makan sebab kalau tak, confirm tak cukup susu yang aku bekalkan kat nursery hari-hari!

Dan aku suka mendengar celoteh Khayla setiap hari. Menjemput dia dari sekolah. Melayan aksi manja si kakak yang mengalahkan si adik. Bawak mereka pergi ke playground. Ya, aku rasa ni ialah part yang paling best tentang unpaid leave ni.

Lagi satu, aku dah tak stress fikirkan masalah orang lain (masalah kakitangan atau masalah kerja). Aku cuma fikirkan masalah diri-sendiri je. Yalah, bukannya aku ambik cuti tanpa gaji ni untuk bergoyang kaki je. Hopefully aku dapat habiskan MBA tahun ni, supaya lepas ni aku dah tak payah fikir pasal assignment, exam, thesis. Dulu aku mungkin sanggup nak melaluinya sebab fikirkan rezeki anak lambat lagi. Tapi bila dah jadi macam ni, takkan aku nak berpatah balik kan? Aku tak suka buat kerja alang-alang. So sekarang ni, my biggest stress ialah nak siapkan assignment je. Kalau tak siap, setakat hilang markah tu je. Tak de la kena maki-hamun atau kena jawab kat boss, atau kena potong gaji pun!

Tapi at the same time, ada kekurangan jugak bila tak bekerja. Pertama, most of the time aku cuma ada anak-anak untuk layan aku bercerita. Kadang-kadang, aku call mak (tapi lately, dia selalu busy dengan aktiviti kemasyarakatan merangkap sosial dia. Tak boleh salahkan dia jugak, sebab dia pun bosan jugak duduk kat rumah). Ada masa jugak, aku catch up dengan kawan-kawan lama macam Kak Za. Tapi takkan la aku nak call dieorang hari-hari kan? So, kesimpulannya bila jadi full-time housewife kehidupan sedikit lonely.

Nasib baik ada jugak geng ofis / team lama aku yang kadang-kadang akan berhubung melalui Whatsapp, bertanya pendapat dan bercerita tentang berita dari ofis. At least tak de la aku macam kera sumbang sangat.

Secondly, aku dah terbiasa ada duit sendiri. Masa bekerja, aku tak payah fikir panjang kalau nak beli baju ke, toys ke, makan kat restoran mahal ke, pergi spa ke, atau pergi bercuti sebab ada duit gaji sendiri untuk buat semua perkara-perkara tu.

So bila duit gaji bulan terakhir aku dah habis dibelanjakan, aku rasa sedikit meroyan jugak la secara jujurnya. No more makan kat luar. No more keluar jalan-jalan sebab keluar je, means duit pun keluar jugak. No more pampering my kids dengan baju baru, toys baru. No more. Even semalam selepas sebulan terperuk kat rumah akhirnya kami keluar ke KLCC, bila makan kat food court yang paling cikai tu pun aku rasa sangat mahal. Eh, camane aku boleh makan kat sini hari-hari ye? Aku terfikir. Beli air je dah RM5!

Dan akhir sekali, ya. Walaupun aku kadang-kadang rasa bosan jugak kerja dengan syarikat berprestij (biasalah, syarikat besar bermakna birokrasi pun besar dan karenah manusia pun macam-macam), tapi tak dinafikan ada imej tertentu jugak yang perlu aku bawa di depan kawan-kawan dan keluarga. Family aku especially mak aku bangga sebab aku kerja dengan syarikat ni. Pernah kawan aku bagitau dia nak anak dia ikut jejak langkah aku - belajar rajin-rajin dan kerja dengan syarikat terkemuka. Aku sendiri pun tentulah nak anak aku jadi orang yang berjaya jugak.

Masalahnya, aku sendiri ragu-ragu sama ada definition berjaya tu ialah apa yang aku alami sekarang. Berjaya ke kalau kerja di syarikat terkemuka tapi sentiasa rasa tak de life dan tak suka dengan kehidupan kerjaya sekarang? Adakah aku perlu ubah definition berjaya tu atau ubah attitude aku terhadap kerjaya sekarang? Kalau aku teringatkan adik ipar aku yang dah belajar bersungguh-sungguh dan cuba dapatkan kerja di tempat aku tapi tak berjaya, aku rasa insaf sekejap. Maybe aku take for granted je kerjaya aku ni, padahal ramai orang yang menanti peluang yang aku dah dapat. Tapi… mungkinkah ada peluang yang lebih membahagiakan di luar sana?

So entah la. Sebenarnya aku buat keputusan ambik cuti tanpa gaji untuk tahu apa pro dan con kalau aku berhenti kerja dan jadi full-time mom. Kesimpulannya, aku masih lagi berbelah-bahagi. Kalau takde masalah kewangan, mungkin aku tak de la kalut sangat kot nak buat keputusan dari awal lagi. Sometimes terfikir jugak nak buat perniagaan sendiri supaya aku boleh sentiasa dengan anak-anak aku. Cuma… bila aku tengok kehidupan orang business ni, kadang-kadang lebih dahsyat daripada orang makan gaji. Aku jadi tak yakin pulak.

Oh hati, moga diberi petunjuk bila cuti dah nak berakhir kelak!

The Value of Money

2013-05-09T00:34:00.001+08:00

... Is going down the drains. Seriously.

Yesterday I thought of baking home-made chocolate chip cookies using a recipe that I found online. So after fetching Khayla from her school, I drove to a baking supplies shop nearby Giant Batu Caves.

These are some of the stuffs I picked - self-raising flour, brown sugar, chocolate chips, butter, sugar sprinkles (so we could have more fun baking the cookies), a packet of Oreo cookies which Khayla asked for, and cake mix (I was thinking of baking red velvet cupcakes as well) that costed me RM7.50 a packet.

When I brought those stuffs to the counter, the girl who minded the store calculated everything and told me that the total price was RM44. Naturally, I was shocked! It wasn't that many items and only to bake one type of cookies, and I spent almost RM50.

At first I thought she had done something wrong like scanning a few items twice. When I reached home and checked the receipt, I noted that everything was in order. Apparently home-made cookies cost more to bake nowadays, it's cheaper to buy them from stores (the Oreo cookies are just RM3.50).

Then this afternoon, I noted that I've run out of cooking oil, milk and eggs. Again, I went to the nearest grocery store to get these staples and also a few other groceries namely:

1. 1 liter Ribena drink

2. 1 liter mineral water

3. A carton of juice

4. A carton of ready-to-drink green tea

5. 350ml bottle of Coke.

6. Milk (I chose the lower price between two familiar brands)

7. Cooking oil

The checkout counter told me that everything was RM37. Again, it reminds me of how little the value of money nowadays.

I remember when I was small, we could buy nasi lemak for 50 sen (complete with fried anchovies and half a boiled egg) or even 30 sen (the kind of nasi lemak sold in small plastic packets complete with sambal, a quarter of a boiled egg, and a slice of cucumber, and you meshed it together and ate it right from the packet). And with RM1, you can get 3 pieces of roti canai.

Now a standard nasi lemak (no chicken or whatsoever) will set you back by at least RM2. And 1 piece of roti canai is the same price of 3 pieces of roti canai back in the early 90s.

So basically a budget of RM500 per month for groceries at present time is a very skimpy budget. There's very few things that those RM500 is going to get you. Maybe if you consistently ate rice with eggs and dried or salted fish, this amount can last you that long, no problem.

I can't figure out how some people can be super-rich and spend their time shopping for the latest clothes, shoes, makeup and handbags while just living off their husband's income. Their biggest worry is probably which smartphones to choose or which place to go for vacation.

Here we are on the other side of the world worrying about how to stretch the value of money so that we can last till the end of the month comfortably.

I can't imagine how it is for families earning lesser income than ours and with a lot more children than we have. God bless them. No wonder people are mostly unhappy nowadays.

Sports Day at Khayla's School

2013-04-30T00:35:00.001+08:00

When I was in primary school, Sports Day is probably the most dreaded and miserable time of the year. My parents probably thought it was an exciting time because they showed up and took pictures of me holding a balloon (which I was supposed to burst by sitting on it) while standing in line with my classmates.

I didn't understand why, but fast forward to more than 20 years later, I couldn't help feeling the same excitement when I received a memo from Khayla's school that they were having Sports Day!

So yesterday, even though I went to bed late the night before, I woke up early to prepare some food to bring for the potluck session after that. I also ordered some pastries from Uli-uli (they bake the fluffiest, softest, freshest and most delicious eclairs and cream puffs I've ever had) to be delivered to the school by 8.30am.

Like me when I was seven years old, Khayla also did not understand why we were super excited about going to school on Sunday. She cried because she was woken up earlier than usual, carried to the bathroom for a shower and then told to eat breakfast.

Parents were already gathering at the school compound waiting for the event to start. The principal greeted everyone and led everyone to sing the national anthem 'Negaraku'.

Starting the event with 'Negaraku'

Then the kids had some warm-up 'sing-and-dance' session led by the teachers, including the popular 'Gwiyomi' song! Now I know why Khayla is such a fan of 'Gwiyomi' ^_^

Unfortunately, my kid is the type of person who prefers routine and gets uncomfortable with new or unfamiliar experience. She refused to sing and dance because there were unfamiliar faces of parents and siblings around! She kept whining and then clinging to her father, and even crying when I took her hands and tried to make her dance :P

Khayla's class being the most junior class (N1) was the first to compete in sports. The game/competition was really easy. In the first game, the children have to run and put on 'rabbit-ear' hairband, then run to a bowl filled with flour and dab the flour on their cheek before running to the finishing line. The boys ran first, followed by the girls. In the second game, the children have to pick up one half of a picture then ran to the end of the line and fitted that half to the right half of the picture.

Khayla was not so keen to participate, so she refused to let go of her dad's hand at all! She was better than a boy in her class though, who cried so hard when the competition started that his father had to bring him out of the track :p Can't blame him, this must be his first Sports Day too.

Running while holding to Daddy's hand

Not looking pleased at being asked to run early in the morning!

Of course when she set her mind not to participate, she then refused to run. Rather, she walked, and then let her father picked up the item or dabbed the flour on her cheek, and then had to be dragged to the finishing line! At least she did not cry.

Khayla watching her seniors participated in their games

Khayla did not win any of the games but we did not mind because we were there only to have fun watching our girl participate in school activity.

She had more fun playing slides and swing at the playground though :p

'Can we go back home now?'

Letter to My Girls: Khayla (28 months) & Khadeeja (4 months)

2013-04-26T00:46:00.000+08:00

Dear Beloved Daughters,

Another month has passed - my little babies once the size of a peanut in my tummy, are now 27 months and 4 months old respectively!

Dear Khadeeja,

This month you have started to be more contented to be left on your own longer. I first noticed this when I was checking on you during one of your naps. Instead of raising the alarm when you woke up like you normally do, you spent the time inspecting your two tiny feet. Probably wondering where did those extra hands come from? LOL!

But no matter, your feet have become one of your source of entertainment and exploration since you can lift both high enough for your chubby hands to grab. Whenever I put you on your back, the first thing you do is to raise those chunky legs and grab those pudgy feet! Then you try to put your toe (sometimes both of your toes) in your mouth, which more often than not, is a failed attempt. So you will be preoccupied trying your best while I get some extra minutes doing a zillion things until you managed to conquer this feat and get bored.

Another thing that you realise this month is your own voice. Oh yes, how you love to hear your own voice, sweetie. You experiment with various intonations - ranging from normal pitch babbles, to high pitch shrieks that had me hot on my heels because I thought something bad happened to you!

Sometimes I giggle when I catch you babbling and shrieking to your own reflection in the mirror. Those giggles will turn into guffaws the moment you tersengih-sengih macam kerang busuk to your own reflection. Hehe.

Practising her range of pitch

My Deeja-licious babe,

Earlier this month, I brought both you and your sister for lunch at a nearby restaurant. You were dressed in the dress below, purple with white polka-dots. Needless to say, you attracted quite a number of admirers from a group of aunties and uncles (who are actually Mak Yeng's age). They practically melted when you excitedly gurgled and made impossibly-adorable noises trying to catch their attention!

That's you, my precious gem. Always so friendly and ready to give everyone a smile so sweet you can give us diabetes.

Sweetest baby on the block

My buah hati pengarang jantung,

So many things fascinate you at this age. You like watching me going about doing housework. In fact, you like to be a busybody too. When I have you in the baby sling and trying to wash the vegetable, you tend to grab the vegetable and make my work difficult. You also can turn your body to see what I'm up to next. And when I put you in the rocker, you get easily tired of the hanging mobile and want a more complicated entertainment or you will shriek to be in the baby sling again!

Turn this here, twist that there. Genius at play.

Last but not least, like your sister, you love to be brought out of the house. Whenever it's time to fetch your sister from school, when you see me put on the baby sling and then my head cover, you squirm in delight and your face breaks into a HUGE grin - that made those moments the best part of my day - any day.

And to my firstborn Khayla,

If Adik made some huge discoveries of her own body parts, you also started to learn about your own body parts.

You can name your own body parts and point to it too. 'Nose!' while pointing at your button nose. 'Mouth!' But when it comes to eyes, you get it mixed up with 'forehead'! LOL!

A few weeks ago, your teacher wrote in the communication book that you refused to join in painting classes. You told your teacher that paints are dirty and flatly refused to get in contact with it. Seriously, you can be very quirky and funny!

Refused to join splashing in the pool because you hate to get splashed by others

I am glad that you show some progress and are joining painting activity in school now, but secretly wondered whether you pester your teacher to wash your hands every minute, like when I engaged you in our own painting activity at home (and you keep asking to wash your hands).

Little Picassa

In terms of your possessiveness, this is something that you have to overcome. You seem to view Khadeeja as a competition, and hate it when we give her toys to play - everything belongs to you. So when you see Khadeeja grabbing anything (from stuffed toys to books), you get agitated and will take it away. Any resistance will be met with loud cries and drama!

Bapak is your daddy only, not Khadeeja's

My adorable tot,

You still love to imitate my actions, and getting good at it. One day I was standing in front of a mirror while staring sadly at my bloated tummy. You observed me patting my tummy three times, and you followed suit. Needless to say, I forgot all about my misery and roared in laughter!

What would my life be without my entertaining copycat, God please tell me…

Sayang,

While you seem to be growing perfectly fine and making wonderful progress of your skills and knowledge, there is one area that concerns me deeply. Your social development. You hate people touching you (you will cry if anyone dares to touch you) and when I fetch you from school, I rarely see you acknowledging your friends or teachers despite their best attempts to communicate to you. Your principal even commented of how 'cool' you are towards people, which made me wonder - is this something that I should worry?

Nevertheless, despite your strong protest at being touched or even looked at by Khadeeja, at times you do show your affection towards Khadeeja, and vice versa. Khadeeja adores you, I can tell by her smile and how she loves watching you.

The two of you are starting to develop that sisterly bond. Sometimes after coming back from school, while I carried Khadeeja in my arm and you trailing behind, you will call out cheerfully to her, 'Khadeeja!' and Khadeeja will giggle and squirm excitedly at being acknowledged by you.

Loving the big sister moment

Maybe some day both of you will learn to love each other, just like your Wa Liza and I love and look up to each other.

Grow well, my beloved stars. Thank you so much for giving me plenty of TLCs every day of my life.

Love,
Mak

Birthday Dinner at Alexis, The Gardens

2013-04-13T19:50:00.003+08:00

Yesterday my dearest life partner turned 34 years old :) Happy birthday my man! When we first met, he was 25 years old and it has been 9 years since then. How time flies.

Anyway, I decided to have a special dinner celebration for him - just the four of us. Of course it would be fab to celebrate with friends as well just like what I organised a few years ago (surprise makan-makan at Bagan Lalang) but we would have to make do with a small-scale celebration since I'm not working and earning any income this year :p Besides Mr Hubs actually rather not have any celebration like he always does, but come on, how often does one turn 34, right? Besides it gives me perfect reason to get out of the house occasionally.

I've been reading a few blogs that raved about Alexis' menu especially its dessert (Pavlova, tiramisu, fruit meringue among others). Plus, many seems to think it has the classy yet cozy ambience so I decided to give it a try.

We arrived at Alexis around 9pm and were immediately ushered to a table with comfortable cushion seats. I have a good first impression of the service at Alexis mainly because when we arrived with a tandem stroller, one of the waiters helped us to lift the stroller as the dining section was slightly elevated.

We were also given the menu immediately after we settled ourselves at the table. By the way, Khayla could not stay still and kept wanting to climb the seat armrest and leaned over the divider!

For starter, we ordered their seared scallops and button mushrooms (we forgot to take a photo of the button mushrooms though):

Seared scallops and asparagus

The seared scallops flavour was nicely-balanced and the chilli condiment goes perfectly with it. I ate most of it because halfway, Khayla insisted to go to the restroom and Mr Hubs has to bring her! LOL

The baked button mushrooms were served with toasted garlic roll. The mushrooms itself were soaked in creamy sauce and sprinkled with parmesan cheese (I think). It was also quite nice but a bit salty for me.

For main course, I decided to try their Carbonara pasta while Mr Hubs ordered his favourite, a lamb dish:

Carbonara pasta with beef bacon bits (right) and Moroccan style lamb rack with roasted aubergine and pomegranate salad (left)

There is nothing special to shout about the pasta - it's creamy, slightly salty (again) and quite filling (I didn't manage to finish mine). When I asked Mr Hubs about his lamb, he could not say whether it is delicious or the opposite. He cut a piece and fed it to me and I understood why. Suffice to say, it's not your ordinary Western lamb dish because obviously, it's Moroccan-style! :p The Mediterranean spices really overpowers your palate when you try this dish.

We also ordered mashed potato for Khayla, but it never arrived (thank goodness!). We were so full by then that we wondered whether we would have room for dessert. Luckily, it was just a slice of Pavlova and Pavlova is light enough, right?

Since it was Mr Hubs' birthday celebration, I asked them to serve the cake with a lit candle to mark the celebration. While waiting for the cake, Khayla had climbed the cushion seat and suddenly fell backward and bumped her head on the table! She cried loudly, of course. Hish, budak kecik ni…

So she sat sulking in the stroller, but when the cake arrived complete with a lit candle, she forgot her misery (and painful 'benjol'!) and wanted to blow the candle, of course! Hehe.

Me and equally-active Khadeeja

Budak jatuh pastu benjol kepala with Mr Hubs

I have to say the cake presentation was quite pretty even though it arrived with half of the cake falling! I had high expectations (and anticipation) of the much-raved cake, but it turned out quite disappointing. This was not my first Pavlova, but it could not compete with the Pavlovas that I had before. The creamy filling was too thick and rather bland, thank goodness for the white egg outer crust. Even the black berries were tasteless! Hmmph.

Overall, we had a pleasant dinner, but the meal was really quite ordinary. The service was fast, and the waiters were helpful.

On the other hand, perhaps you might want to repeat the orders with the waiter who take it because like I said, we did not get our mashed potato (which luckily did not appear in our bill). Also, when the bill arrives, it's good for you to check carefully. When I checked mine before signing it, I noted that they included hot water in the bill even though we did not order it. Since it's FOC, I did not bother to raise it to the waiter.

My rating would be 7/10.

Happy Birthday, Hubster! Love you and hope you enjoyed my treat ^_^

Monday, welcome!

2013-04-08T22:09:00.001+08:00

Lama sudah tak merepek dalam bahasa Melayu. Terasa jakun dan awkward (muntah darah!)

Anyway, Monday selamat datang! (diterjemah secara terus). Eh, tak penah-penah menyambut hari Isnin dengan sangat ceria kan? Selalunya I hate Monday. Tapi Monday kali ni ialah cuti semester. Suami Terchenta tak ada kelas malam ini. Horey!

Pagi tadi agak kelam-kabut. Menyiapkan princess kesayangan ke sekolah. Malam semalam dia tidur lewat kerana menemankan si emak membuat kerja sekolah. Akibatnya pagi tadi berlaku sedikit drama sebab dia enggan bangun dan enggan mandi. Merajuk di sofa. Huhu.

Oleh sebab Monday ialah hari membawa snek ke sekolah, maka saya pun terpaksa la bangun awal jugak. Berdiri di tengah dapur, berfikir snek apa yang boleh dibawa. Oooh, cucur lemak manis! Syukur emak saya ada membeli tepung cucur lemak manis Adabi. Maka saya rebus sebiji telur dan bancuh tepung cucur.

Si Khayla suka bangat! Biasanya pagi-pagi dia pandang sarapan pagi sebelah mata je. Hari ni dia boleh telan 3 biji cucur. Amazing!

Telur rebus sepatutnya dikupas panas-panas dan terus dimasukkan dalam acuan pembentuk 'teddy bear'. Tapi sebab saya sibuk, saya cuma kupas bila dah suam-suam kuku. Akibatnya, telur itu berbentuk aneh. Heee…

Malam semalam sebelum tidur tergerak hati menyemak buku Chatbook. Buku chatbook ialah buku komunikasi antara ibubapa dan guru. Nasib baik saya semak, sebab cikgu nak gambar binatang / benda yang bermula dengan huruf 'D'.

Lalu dengan mata yang mengantuk saya membelek majalah lama, mencari gambar yang sesuai. Akhirnya terjumpa gambar 'Drink'. Cepat-cepat gunting dan masukkan dalam buku sekolah Khayla!

Khadeeja kesayangan juga bangun awal sebab malam semalam dia tidur pukul 6.30 petang sampai esok paginya! Dia memang bayi yang sangat baik, sangat heaven bila bayi tidur awal tau! ^_^

Khadeeja, 115 days. Bayi yang awesome.

Oleh sebab terlalu asyik makan cucur, Khayla terlambat ke sekolah. Tapi sebelum keluar rumah, seperti biasa dia bersalaman. Selepas itu melambai-lambai tangan dan memberi 'flying kiss' beberapa kali sampai la saya tutup pintu. Heaven punya anak-anak macam Khayla dan Khadeeja!

Semoga minggu ni berterusan dengan sangat bahagia seperti hari ni, ya Allah. Amin :)

Weekend Getaway: Planetarium Negara

2013-04-07T22:48:00.001+08:00

Salam everyone!

Just like everyone who is working, weekends are the time that I look forward to. Yes, yes, I may not be working this year but my other half is, so weekends are the only time that we can spend bonding as family. Now that we have two kids, an outing sometimes is a must because our elder daughter tends to get restless being cooped at home all day. Even the 3-month old will get 'tergedik-gedik' (over-excited) whenever we prepare her for an outing and practically drools at the sight of the stroller!

So this weekend after doing a little bit of research online (keyword search - budget-friendly attractions, kids-friendly attractions, free admission. Okay you get it. Suami Terchenta said since this month we have to fork out A LOT of $$ to renew our car insurance and road tax, we can't go somewhere expensive so shopping mall is a no-no T_T), we finally settled on Planetarium Negara (National Planetarium). Not only it is nearby, the admission to the gallery is free and 3D theatre film is at nominal fee (RM6 per adult for Malaysians / RM12 per adult for foreigners, free for kids aged 2 years and below).

Of course in our family nothing ever happens without some drama. Before we began the journey, I checked with Suami Terchenta:

Me: Do you know where's the Planetarium?

Suami Terchenta (dengan nada yakin / with an air of confidence): Yes.

So off we went to the Planetarium supposedly, I was breastfeeding Khadeeja and watching Madagascar, therefore not paying attention to the route taken by Suami Terchenta. When Khadeeja finally fell asleep, I looked out the window and realised that we were on the way to Damansara. Soon we reached a place and...

Suami Terchenta: Here we are. Pusat Sains Negara!

Me: ????? We are going to Planetarium! Not Pusat Sains Negara!

Suami Terchenta: Isn't it the same thing?

Me (outrageous look at him): No, it's different!

Suami Terchenta: Well.. I figured because of the domed roof…

Thank God for GPS afterwards.

NOTE: Pusat Sains Negara is not the same as Planetarium Negara, people...

Anyway…

We reached the correct place half an hour later. Planetarium Negara is a blue-domed structure situated on top of a hill. Getting there requires a bit of walking from the car park which is located down hill. Since we have two small kids, the security personnel allowed us to drive in for drop-off at the entrance. The place has a funny design where the car drop-off is not exactly at the main entrance since visitors have to climb stairs to get to the main entrance. When we realised that there is no ramp for strollers, we were a bit put off - until another security personnel approached us and told us to drive further up to the authorised parking area, where there's an entrance to the building for people using wheelchair.

I seriously think the management should incorporate more wheelchair- and stroller-friendly amenities because most of the visitors are families with young kids. Otherwise, they should provide self-explanatory signage informing where to enter if visitors bring strollers because we saw a group of foreign tourists having to lug their strollers up the staircase because there was no one around to tell them the same thing when we arrived!

Activities at the Planetarium Negara are limited to browsing the gallery and watching 3D documentary in the dome theatre. According to the official website, there's also observatory with telescope and accessories, viewing galleries with binoculars and other stuffs but we could not find those areas. Plus, like I mentioned earlier, the place is not stroller-friendly as some areas are only accessible by stairs.

There was only a handful of staff around and most of them are working in the theatre only. Unlike the Petrosains, there was no guide to explain some of the exhibits and visitors are left to figure out / read the exhibits by themselves. This place is in bad need of marketing strategy to rejuvenate and entice more visitors to come! Wait a minute *check the organisation chart*, they don't have marketing director. No. Freaking. Wonder.

Khayla was not so thrilled at the gallery (probably because she's too young to appreciate the displays and information?) and was only interested in the anti-gravity room because there is a slide exit :) Our girl loves the slide and can play on it endlessly if we didn't stop her.

At the gallery. Khadeeja couldn't care less.

Nevertheless, it was not entirely a waste of time coming here. The key highlight of the trip is watching 3D film at the dome theatre. It was awesome! They have 5 films which they played at interval slots - the one we watched at 2pm was 'The Sun, Moon and Earth'.

Camwhoring before the movie started - my face looks huge!

It was interesting to watch large format film played on the dome because it feels like we were on the outer space ourselves! Unfortunately, Khayla got dizzy after a while and started to cry while Khadeeja who was fascinated watching moving images played on the roof began to get startled every time there were loud sounds!

Eh. Looks like only the parents syok sendiri with the theatre :p

After the theatre, we spent some time going through the exhibits at the gallery and spent most of the time at the section where there is a "mock-up of the interior of the International Space Station showing the sleeping and toilet arrangements" (quoted from malaysia-traveller.com).

Entertaining Khayla with the buttons at the experiment side. Why does this blouse looks so loose? Ececey...

We spent an overall an hour and a half at Planetarium Negara. Overall, I would say it's a good place to go with older kids who would appreciate the scientific displays and everything space-related. Actually this was my second trip to Planetarium Negara. During my first trip more than 10 years ago, they even had this training rotating equipment where you sit strapped to it and a staff will spin you 360 degrees to give you a taste of how it feels to be in space. I almost puked after that!

We saw the same rotating equipment but it was only for display (too bad, I wanted to spin my husband hahahaha!). Furthermore, some of the touch screen displays were out of order, like the equipment to detect pulse rate. So it was really disappointing.

Before we left, we took a family photo at this booth:

The Junaidi clan :)

So that's how we spent our weekend. Hope you have a happy weekend too :)

Letter to My Girls: Khayla (27 months) & Khadeeja (3 months)

2013-03-31T23:17:00.003+08:00

Dear Daughters,

At the moment I began writing this letter, I can't help smiling. One is singing at half past midnight and the other is fast asleep since 9pm - as always. Khayla and Khadeeja. Like night and day. The same pod actually produced different peas, who would've guessed?

I've been late again at this letter. I'm supposed to write it on the day you both turned a month older - but come to think of it, how could I say - 'Khadeeja flipped over at the age of 3 months' when you just turned 3 months, right? So please bear with the delay, sweeties. Besides, it's more fun watching both of you grow up before my very own eyes!

Dear Khadeeja,

Happy 3 months, precious child! What can I say, I've never seen anyone so generous with her smiles, so eager to reach out and tug at people's heartstring! Remember the visit to your pediatrician where you were busy being super friendly towards all the nurses including to the doctor? And then you amazed me when you didn't even cry when the doctor gave you a jab because you were too occupied with flashing the biggest grin to the doctor. No doubt both you and your sister were equally adorable at this age but when it comes to the title Social Baby With The Most Smiles, you win this hands down.

Smiling even after the 3rd month immunisation jab

Basically that's the biggest description about you, munchkin. But that's not all. You are also pretty independent. I can leave you in the cot after a round of feeding and you will fall asleep on your own. No comfort nursing, pacifier and cuddling required when you are really sleepy. All you do is just suck your own thumb and close your eyes.

Adorable sleepyhead...

Talking about thumb-sucking, this month you discovered the joy of having a pair of thumbs. It was an accidental discovery, you were rubbing your eyes and somehow your fingers ended up in your mouth. But then you learnt to just put your thumb in your mouth and the next thing we know is you making such a noise slobbering over your own thumb!

Engrossed with enjoying your thumb

Of course this made me feel really upset - I have bought almost all kind of pacifiers for you but you merely spat them out and then continued sucking your thumb. Sometimes in the midst of breastfeeding your thumb also got in the way because you love your thumb so much!

My little chocolate sundae,

I should've guessed that this month you will start shoving things into your mouth when you started salivating almost all the time. You grab anything that you can wrap your fingers around - toys, blanket, plastic bag, my shirt, your sister's hair. I hope it wasn't intentional though, because it upset your sister to no ends whenever you managed to pull her hair. And I also hope it is not the beginning of hair pulling fights between sisters either!

Once you managed to grab the thing, you find it a must to experiment the taste. Does that rattle taste like Mommy's milk? Does this blanket taste yummy? So off everything goes into your mouth!

My toy is yummy!

Khadeeja my adorable baby girl,

Unlike your sister, you showed a keen interest in books at this age. When it is reading time, your eyes lit up in deep interest at the sharp contract of colours and patterns in the baby book. You would lean forward to bat at the book pages. I hope that this interest in books will be a lasting one, and you will grow up to be like Mommy - a bookworm!

While busy with being a happy-go-lucky baby who loves thumbs, books and falling asleep, you did not neglect other developmental milestones - like chuckling! Hey, you chuckled, you little babe! When Daddy lifted you up and brought you down, you made gasping sounds that turned into chuckles, and you almost suffocate me from too much cuteness! And not to forget, you can flip over from back to belly, and sometimes the other way around. Yeay!

And now to my darling Khayla.

Dear Khayla,

This month you learnt a few words in two different languages (Malay/English) that basically means the same thing. It is 'Finish' that means the same as 'Habis', and 'Monyet' which is 'Monkey' in English. You also tend to ask things and then translating it, like, 'What's that?' followed by, 'Apa tu?' You enjoy altercating between two languages, showing that your vocabulary prowess is getting a lot better. The only thing that you still don't grasp is that 'Mommy' is exclusively another word for 'Emak', and thus you happily call everyone Mommy. Makyeng = Mommy. Usu Farah = Mommy. Wa Liza = Mommy. Even Bapak is called Mommy sometimes!

The adorable but exasperating thing about 2-year-olds are how they understand things but deliberately get it all wrong. For example, you are aware that 'Finish' is pronounced 'Finish', but you still say, 'Nimish!' You know that I want you to pick up your toys which you leave all over the house, but you simply stare at me and then walk off pretending that you don't understand a word. You also know that certain things are wrong, like scribbling on the sofa with crayon or spilling milk on it, but you still do it!

Therefore, I am beginning to introduce you something called 'discipline'. When you do something naughty (which both you and I know is something wrong), I will put you in a corner for a time out so that you can think about (not) doing it again.

Time out corner

Another thing we have to talk about sweetheart, is the term 'sharing'. You get upset when Khadeeja gets hold of a toy even though it's hers, and want to take it away. Each and every time. When are you going to realise that you are now an older sister, and older sister shares toys with little sister? When you managed to prise the toy from her fingers, you would walk away and hide the toy. Although it amuses me, I know that this behaviour needs to go. Bapak can't afford to buy two of everything! So you have no choice sayang, but to learn to play together with your sister ok?

My bubbly little parrot,

One of the amazing thing about being this age is how powerful is your observation skills. You like to repeat our actions - be it using fork and spoon while eating, or shush-ing Khadeeja, or flushing the toilet. A few weeks back, I caught you opening my purse and taking out a few notes from it. You then walked over to the fridge and began to push those notes, one by one, between the fridge doors. I laughed then, because I didn't know that you were observing me buying drinks from the vending machine, and now you thought you can only get drinks from the fridge if you inserted money in it!

I'm buying drinks from the fridge, Mak!

Another time, you grabbed Daddy's car keys on the table and then tried to insert it in your ride-on car because you observed Daddy when he started the car engine. See how your brains are making connections between real car and ride-on car, or between vending machine and fridge?

My beautiful angel,

Once upon a time, I used to worry about your development. As a baby, you disliked books (the moment we settled down with a book for reading session when you were a baby, you would yawn and then doze off, nor did you show any interest in books whatsoever), you were lagging behind with flipping over, crawling and walking, and you made no attempts to be friends with any of the kids at your previous daycare.

But now, you are nuts over books (be it for looking at pictures in it, or for scribbling!), you are ahead of others your age when it comes to motor skills (jumping, drinking from a cup, running) and last week, your teacher told me that when you reached school, you greeted a friend and that cheered him up. You are turning out to be a bright, active and cheerful little toddler - the source of my joy and pride!

My little cupcakes and sugar candies,

Whenever I think about how in some countries, people value boys over girls, I couldn't help thinking that they must be nuts. Because little girls like you are made of sugar, spice and everything nice, which is why I keep referring both of you as my comfort food for thought!

To the two most beautiful little girls in the world,

You both rock my world in the way no one else can.

With lots of love and kisses,
Mak

The Cloth Diaper Story - Khadeeja's Experience

2013-03-25T00:19:00.001+08:00

Hi peeps!

Today I'm gonna talk about cloth diaper experience. Ever since my friend introduced me to cloth diapers, I have been a huge fan of it for numerous reasons. One, because I love the environment. Do you know how much landfills are made up of dirty diapers? Can you imagine inheriting those landfills to your kids? I can't. I want them to have a clean, good environment to live in when they grow up. Two, because in the long run it saves us a lot of money. Three, because it's available in various cute colours *coughcoughpurple* Four, the modern cloth diaper is designed in practical manner and can be used from newborn to toddler age. Last but not least, it's so easy to use and to clean - gone are the days when cloth diapers need to be hand-washed separately to remove the soils and urine.

Basically, switching to cloth diaper is not tedious at all and therefore, suits my busy lifestyle.

Khadeeja wearing cloth diaper by Lunatots brand

Ever since I was pregnant with Khadeeja, I've made up my mind to use cloth diapers on her on daily basis. The disposable diapers are only reserved for long outings (which I intend to change soon and try using cloth diaper exclusively).

I chose Lunatots cloth diaper (CD) because I love their practical design that enables the CD to grow with the baby - their adjustable buttons are the trick. Isn't that clever? Secondly, most diapers are designed to have inner inserts. Lunatots Premium CD have outer inserts that are easily removed for cleaning and only need to be clipped onto the outer layer for use. Read more on my reviews of their CD here and here.

Starting the cloth diaper is neither hard nor expensive, once you have decided to be an environmental- and price-conscious mom. These are some of the initial reservations and how I handled it:

1. Cloth diapers are expensive! Disposables are cheaper in the short-run. Do I really save a lot if I switched to cloth diapers?

For moms who find the initial investment quite intimidating (the premium cloth diaper's price sets you back by RM69.90 per set), do not lose heart. It may look intimidating now, but the savings that you make in the long run especially when you start early is worth it. For example, after I decided to use CD exclusively, we never found the need to re-stock Khadeeja's disposable diaper since a month ago. That saves us RM75/month. If she used CD till she's fully potty-trained at the age of 36 months old, we would save roughly RM1302.

Some people will say, 'Oh, it's not that much savings! Only RM1302 for 3 years. What's the big deal?' If we put that RM75 to her savings every month, she would have more than that amount since she'll earn dividends and whatnots, don't you agree? Furthermore, if you have two kids using diapers, you can save around RM2k with the same initial investment. Double the savings, parents!

2. But I don't earn that much! How can I buy enough diapers for daily use?

I thought of the same too. But since I found out about my pregnancy, I started to purchase the diapers in small quantity every month. I bought at least one diaper per month, and towards the end of my pregnancy, I had collected 20 CDs of the same brand (including those I bought for Khayla before I knew I was pregnant again). The CDs are used by my firstborn before Khadeeja's arrival, and now that Khayla is most of the time diaper-free, Khadeeja uses the diapers daily :)

3. Does it leak? I doubt it will last as long as a disposable. I might have to change it sooner than a disposable.

Mothers, what are thinking? Do you wear the same sanitary pad all day during your menses? No, right? Why practise differently when it comes to your baby? Disposables might not leak because they have chemical gels to lock the urine, but as it absorbs more urine, the gel will soon get in contact with the baby's bottom and baby ends up with diaper rash. Diapers need to be changed on regular basis whether it's "full" or not anyway.

By the way, so far I change the CD every 3-4 hours for 3-month old Khadeeja (unless she poops, of course). That is roughly the same duration of using a disposable. And since the outer layer is water-proof, the CD doesn't leak. Therefore in a day, Khadeeja wears 5 CDs (at night, I put extra layer for her comfort).

Besides saving me a lot of disposables, it also means less garbage for us to bring down to the garbage bin, especially since we are living in an apartment!

4. Five CDs in a day? So in 4 days, she'll run out of clean CD and that means more laundry, right? How troublesome.

When you are the type that sends dirty clothes to a nearby laundry instead of doing your own laundry, yes. When you don't have a washing machine and instead, hand-wash your clothes, yes. For the first type, having a kid is not advisable. For the second type, get a washing machine! What's wrong with you?? Let the machine do the job while you bond with your kids.

For me, every time I change the diapers, I will put the soiled CD in a pail. When the pail is full, I dump everything in the washing machine, fill it up with water and detergent, let the diapers soak for an hour or two before starting the washing mode. If Khadeeja poops in it, I just remove the poo in the toilet bowl, give it a bit of a rub to remove the excess soil, and soak the insert in detergent and just a little bit of bleach overnight before adding that to the washing machine. Remember, I'm mom to 2 kids, and I've done this since I was working and studying, while looking after a young toddler and pregnant at the same time! What's your excuse?

At the same time, I do advise you to wash the CDs once the clean ones are down to a day's need so that there's ample time for the CDs to dry and you will have more clean stock to last you for the next few days :)

All in all, considering the huge benefits of using a cloth diaper, it was a decision that I don't regret. Of course nothing is ever perfect - for example after a while the outer layer velcro tapes tend to wear out and don't stick as good as before. This is because I don't use the mesh bag when laundering the CDs. Lunatots also have another option of buttons instead of velcro tapes. Furthermore, I'm informed that they can help you to change the velcro tapes at a fee if you bring the CDs to their shop. You can even change it yourself.

I hope more and more mothers will make the decision to use cloth diapers because saving the environment is not a job for only one mom. I've done my part, so please do your part as well, won't you?

Help me grow up in a clean environment, people...

The Potty Training Journey

2013-03-23T19:11:00.000+08:00

Happy Saturday peeps!

I've been wanting to document the story of Khayla's potty training because in no time at all, I'll be potty-training Khadeeja for all I know! Seriously, these kids grow up too fast. One minute Khadeeja is just a wrinkled, day-old baby and now she's rolling on the mattress and turning herself from back to front! Sob, sob… I wish I could freeze time and spend more time with their baby selves, you Moms out there know what I mean right?

Ok. So back to potty-training journey.

Before I gave birth to Khadeeja, we found out that Khayla's awesome nursery is closing shop and suddenly, we are back to square one - taska shopping! I tell you, this is one task that I hate to do because it involves major transition and nerve-wrecking, trust/relationship-building all over again. What if Khayla can't fit in? What if she cries every day? What if the new place is not as good as the old ones? Eh, eh, why am I writing about taska-shopping pulak?

Anyway, soon we found the best school in Sri Gombak to send our 2-year old daughter. The moment I stepped into the school, I just love the environment, the syllabus, the friendly kids of which some attended Khayla's previous nursery so she won't be too lonely after losing her one and only best friend.

The only problem is - okay there are two problems. One, she was not 2 and a half years old yet. She just turned two. The school only admits 2 1/2 year old kids to 6 years old for some developmental milestones reasons and because their concept is not a nursery but a kindergarten. Two, because she wasn't potty-trained yet.

We are back on the potty-training story. Yeay!

It was then I decided that she should start to be potty-trained so that she could try out at the school because developmental wise, I'm confident my Khayla is quite an independent spirit. She just needs to lose the diaper and she's as good as any 2 1/2 year old kids. Hehe.

The moment I got back from my maternity leave in Bintulu, we straightaway got down to the potty-training task.

WARNING: 'Accidents' WILL happen during this process. My friend warned me to put away carpet and put water-proof layer on my sofa which I didn't heed (and later regretted). Always ensure mop is available and plenty of rags to wipe up the pool of urine! Occasionally, you might also need kitchen towel to pick up faeces. So make sure you put your kid on a regular diet and NOT introduce something that might IRRITATE his/her tummy during this process!

TIPS: When can you start potty-training? Studies show that starting too young is not really beneficial (except it saves you on diapers, probably?) because kids will learn to control their bladder / bowel movement around 18months or as early as 15 months old. Therefore, even though you start training them at few months old, they will only master the skill at around 18months old and maybe even later. Another suggestion is to start potty-training once the baby/toddler could communicate to you of her/his need to go to the toilet.

Step #1: Buy a training pant

I purchased this Bambinomio training pants

The purpose of wearing training pant is to avoid accidents but at the same time the waterproof layer makes the toddler feel wetness on her bum area. Bambinomio has these pants in various cute colours :) For more info, go to Bambinomio.com to check out the details.

For the first few days, Khayla looked puzzled and kept stopping to feel the pants because it must have been weird that it isn't as heavy as wearing a diaper! LOL! I still put this on her as her underwear at home because sometimes she gets engrossed in her play and only realises she needs to go to the toilet when it's too late :p

Step #2: Buy a potty chair

I thought of potty-training Khayla ever since she turned one so I bought a potty seat, you know the one that you just put over the toilet seat so that kids will not fall into the toilet while using it. But then I fell pregnant with Khadeeja and just didn't have the energy to potty-train a toddler with my constantly sick condition.

Potty seat similar to the one that I first purchased last year

Why I bought this? First of all, it's less than RM10. And the practical me thought - let's skip the whole potty chair thing-y and get her used to using the real toilet because I don't have to clean up the potty after she does her business. Ladies & gentlemen, that is one dumb thought. Most toddlers find it terrifying to sit on a toilet for the first time because they feel like they will fall into the toilet bowl. My Khayla is no exception.

So I bought a potty chair that resembles the toilet for her to use. She thought it was great fun lifting up the lid, sitting on it and then pretending to flush it for the first few days.

Kids' potty chair

Oh yeah? How did she figure out the whole steps? Through observations, of course. There's no such thing as privacy when you become a parent!

Step #3: Scheduled toilet visits

This is the second most tiring part after wiping and mopping urine off the floor. Basically every 30 minutes I had to call her and bring her to sit on the potty chair whether she really wants to go or not. I will stand by the door making 'sheee-ing' sounds while she gave bewildered stare at me. This lasted between 10-15 minutes and then she was free to step out. The next minute I knew, she made this sound, 'Ahhh… Shee-shee…' and I have a pool of urine to clean up!

T_T

Step #4: Free, free as a bird!

With cloth diaper and training pants are not producing any exciting behaviour modification just yet, so I decided to heed a few people's advice of letting her loose without any diapers. Just shorts, or even in just her t-shirt sometimes. The first few days were nightmares - I was screaming non-stop whenever she had her 'accidents' on the carpet / sofa / bed / floor. Especially on the carpet! I know it's not her fault for not telling because she's still not used to it, but I couldn't help ranting at her for making me wipe the carpet / floor / change sheets / etc.! This continued on for the next 3 days.

By the 4th day, she was kind enough to let me know by saying, 'Ahhh… Shee-shee!' while she had her 'accidents'. So I ranted at her again ('Why must you tell me AFTER you have done it???') for the next 2-3 days.

By the 2nd week, somehow it got through her mind that she must tell me before she went, so she said, 'Shee-shee?' and off we sprinted to the toilet together, me cheering her on and giving praises for her thoughtfulness!

Talk about positive and negative reinforcement!

Step #5: Let her be involved in the process

Since Khayla loves to imitate my actions and loves feeling like a grown-up, so I let her empty her potty after she has had a go, then flush the toilet. This is the part that she loves doing the most and thankfully, she has gone through the transition from diaper to potty within just 2 weeks without much fuss (and lots of exercise for me of course).

In fact, she became so used to being clean and dry all day that she even refused to wet her diaper pant when we go out, but instead will make a noise that will escalate to frantic noises if she has to go to the toilet! Sometimes at night, she also wakes us up to go to the loo. It was kind of amusing at first, but now we look back in nostalgia at those times when we had a good night sleep!

Khayla also became confident enough to use the toilet itself whenever she has to do No. 2, much to my relief. She learnt to rest her feet on the potty chair lid so having the potty chair was a blessing indeed.

So there it is. Khayla's potty-training journey. I hope that Khadeeja's journey will be as smooth and turbulent-free as this one!

Letter to My Girls: Khayla (26 months) & Khadeeja (2 months)

2013-03-13T03:05:00.000+08:00

Dear Khayla & Khadeeja,

I'm sorry that this has been very much overdue darling daughters. I am not sure what is wrong with Blogspot because I've typed a lot of words lovingly to depict the progress made by both of you and I've no idea where did all those words gone to! Grr… Perhaps I should switch to Wordpress now, eh? EH?

Ok, sabar… I'll give Blogspot another chance this time.

This month both of you turned a month older. A month is just another month for grown-ups like Mak and Bapak, but for both of you, it means one of you can sing Twinkle-twinkle Little Star in a more coherent manner, and the other has outgrown a lot of those cute little one-sies.

Khadeeja my chubby-licious baby,

I'm just so madly, deeply and irrevocably in love with you, sayang! For a two-month old baby, you are quite advanced in terms of social development. Perhaps because my pregnancy hormones this time were less raging and I was not such a dragon when I was pregger with you? I don't know, but I'm so enjoying you right now. Why you ask?

First. There's your chubby cheeks, just asking to be kissed and smooched all the time. Then those chunky arms and legs, making me feel so 'geram' and always asking to be picked up. Your eyes, always lit up with joy whenever you see me approaching. And the highlight of my day, your beautiful smile that you bestowed so generously on anyone who greets and coos with you.

Those lovely coos. Have I not mentioned those cooing sounds you started making this month? You are one very friendly baby, sweetheart. When I bathe you, when I pick you up and when I cuddle with you, you are full of coos. Sometimes we ended up engaged in deep conversations where I asked you questions about your day and you answer me earnestly in coos. I know that your day has been so damned great when you coo so much to me.

'Let's coo, Mak...'

My diamond and precious jewel,

Whenever we go out, I can't help feeling extremely proud when people pass remarks of how cute you are. The most notable remark is probably your shockingly thick hair which you inherit not from me. Hehehe. As I fondly told others, if I did not witness you coming out of my tummy with those abundant hair, I would not believe that I have given birth to such a beautiful baby either.

Dear Khayla,

Last month was the first time you were away from me. Since I had to stay in KL until I had my urut session, you went back with Makyeng alone and I was racked with worry and pangs of missing my firstborn daughter. On the first day, I called Makyeng and pestered her with a lot of questions like, 'Did she cry? Did she ask for me? Did she ask for her Bapak?' But mom assured me that you are not at all thinking of us, but are delighted to find a house full of cats and hey, your tricycle from last August! Over the past few days after that, your grandmother had been keeping me updated with your new explorations and discoveries, and various outings in the Kancil that you tremendously enjoyed.

This month you started going to kindergarten after three months of staying at home. I was worried that you would not be able to adapt yourself back to school life. The first day was rather an anxious moment for me, and as we left you at the very posh kindergarten (of course, nothing but the best for you) you were bewildered and started to cry. But those cries were not for long. When I picked you up from school, you were all smiles. The next day, you looked forward to going to school again because they had so many toys I guess? LOL. Teachers told me that you have been wonderful and even better than other newcomers. Not only you did not cry, you also can drink from a cup unassisted and joined in with class activities. Did you hear that? You, the youngest of them all, top them by not crying on your first week at school!

I'm beyond proud - I feel like shouting on the rooftop that I have the best babies in the world!

There. That's what being two years old is all about. Boundless of energy, and SINGING. My goodness, there was never a moment when you did not sing. You sing and hum all the time, and you memorise all your favourite nursery tunes namely TTLS (Twinkle-twinkle Little Star), OMHAF (Old McDonald Has A Farm, IBS (Itsy-Bitsy Spider), and even throw in an occasional Row, Row, Row Your Boat and the rain song (Rain, Rain, Go Away).

In addition to singing, you have started to show strong interest in scribbling. Give you a crayon and a colouring book, and you are one happy toddler. So happy that you also scribbled my very expensive cabinet surface! *pengsan*

My sweet pumpkin,

So many things that you have achieved this month - you are like this super-absorbent sponge soaking up new words, new actions, new songs and everything in very short time. One of your most delightful new skill is going from diaper-wearing to using the potty. It took me 2 weeks to put you on the potty and waiting for you to do your business while you made puzzled expressions at me making 'shee'-ing sounds, pulling out my hair giving you earfuls when you forgot to tell that you need to go to the toilet, mopping the floor and wiping the carpet endlessly train you to use the potty and when you finally did it and learnt to tell us when you need to go, I felt that the achievement was way beyond winning the Royal Award and Deans' List award.

Khayla & Khadeeja,

Both of you are my greatest achievements. Thank you for brightening up my day.

Love you both with every beat of my heart,

Mak

Khayla & Khadeeja

2013-02-02T00:04:00.001+08:00

Mula-mula ada adik.
Khayla tak heran.
Mungkin sebab konsep adik terlalu asing.
Mungkin adik seperti tetamu yang akan pergi bila-bila masa.
Maksudnya, adik is not a permanent family member.

Tapi lama-kelamaan Khayla sedar.
Adik tak akan pergi ke mana-mana.
Dan akan sentiasa dalam dakapan emak.
Sejak tu Khayla mula menunjukkan perangai cemburu.
Merengek. Tolak adik. Tarik baju adik. Tendang adik.

Khadeeja apa kurangnya.
Sama-sama tak nak beralah.
Tak padan kecik.
Tendang si kakak. Merengek. Menangis kuat-kuat.

Ok fine.
Adakala aku team Khayla.
Ada masa aku team Khadeeja.
Tapi sebolehnya aku cuba berlaku adil.
Supaya yang kakak tak rasa terasing.
Dan adik tak rasa terabai.
Cinta triangle.

Tapi lately perangai Khayla makin menjadi-jadi.
Mula cemburu bila Khadeeja menyusu.
Mula pandai memukul adik.
Emak tidak suka.

Walaupun ada masa Khayla pun sweet.
Menepuk adik tidur.
Pujuk adik jangan menangis.
Tolong buang diapers kotor.
Memberitahu emak bila adik menangis sorang-sorang dalam bilik.

Tapi bila bab gaduh pukul-memukul mak jadi tidak suka.
Tapi yalah. Apa sangat lah nak dimarahi budak sekecil Khayla.
Lalu aku cuma boleh memujuk Khadeeja yang menangis.
Dan beritahu adik supaya mengalah.
Berikan ruang untuk kakak mengadaptasi.
Menjadi kakak ialah anjakan paradigma.
Yang tak boleh berlaku semalaman.

Malam ni.
Khadeeja bayi yang baik.
Dia tidur diam-diam bila kakak mula meragam.
Tak beri emak peluk Khadeeja.
Cuma boleh peluk Khayla seorang.
Emak layankan je si kakak.
Sampai dia tertidur.
Barulah Khadeeja bangun.
Lalu mencari susu ibu.

Ya. Beginilah motherhood.
Ada pahit. Banyak yang bahagia.
Terima kasih ya Allah.
Kerana beri aku kesempatan untuk merasai
Cinta Khayla dan Khadeeja.

Letter to My Girls: Khayla (25 months) & Khadeeja (1 month)

2013-01-15T22:30:00.000+08:00

Dear Khayla & Khadeeja,

Wow. Time sure flies fast, dear ones. I am now mother to two beautiful baby girls since a month ago! What an exhilarating feeling it is :)

Let me start with Khadeeja, my younger child.

Khadeeja - Day 3

Khadeeja my precious,

My second child born on the first day of the second month in 1434H of the Islamic calendar (1.2.34). Also, the second child of ours to be born on our wedding anniversary (15 December 2012). You are named after Saidatina Khadijah R.A., the beloved wife of Rasulullah S.A.W. She was a wise businesswoman as well as a strong and loyal woman who stood by her husband. Khadeeja, my strong little one who was a survivor since you were a teeny-weeny embryo. Haha! Remember that rough trip into the jungle when you were just a little over 4 weeks in my tummy? With you, I never had to worry about your survival, not even the hardest of bumps can faze you! Roarrr! Khadeeja, the warrior!

Khadeeja - Day 4

With that kind of strong determination to survive, you also show a strong character to match. You came out screaming as loud as a baby could cry the moment my gynae pulled you out of my open tummy. It's like you were complaining, 'What abomination is this to disturb my slumber in my warm cocoon?' It's no wonder - you came out a week or two earlier than you were supposed to so I get your utter indignation, child. But let's not dwell too much on it, ok?

If that is not enough proof that you are one fierce dragon (born in the year of dragon, perhaps that's the reason?), you have no qualms about turning your cries several octaves higher until you were shrieking in total fury whenever you were being ignored. Like, 'I want milk now please? Now, now, NOW, NOWWWWWWW!!!!' 'A minute, please wait, I need to pee, I need to drink first, or any other excuses are not tolerated AT ALL. Phew. Khadeeja, can we work on that temper of yours when you realise that Mommy is the one with the ultimate power?

I woke up on the wrong side of the crib this morning...

My darling baby,

Despite your strong character, you have the loveliest smile with the cutest dimple on your right cheek. Courtesy of Mommy, of course! Now I can understand the adage, 'When you smile, the world smiles with you'. You are that cute that I have two people telling me that looking at you make them feel like having a baby of their own!

Khadeeja - Day 19

My pumpkin pie with a dash of chilli powder,

Now let's talk about your milestones this month. Today marks your first of the many more birthday months. Happy one month old, sweetheart! Throughout this month, you've learned to:

1. Lift your head briefly when on your tummy and a lot longer when you are in upright position (yeay, baby!)
2. Gaze around you in interest for a few seconds before starting to look for Mommy's nipples to suck on for the umpteenth time
3. Coo when your sister teased you or when you don't agree with our complaints about your constant need to be carried and nursed
4. This may sound unbelievable but you can flip yourself from your side to your tummy position when you notice that I get too far from you. First attempt is to stretch your body, then bat your hands to reach out to me and finally all the stretching and batting will result in the body flip. Hey, aren't babies supposed to flip from back to front when they are around 3 months old?
5. Recognize who is not mommy.

Being fascinated with your fist (Khadeeja, Day 29)

Today, after sending off grandma and sister to the airport, you had your first month checkup and the doctor gave your health a clean bill and also your first month jab. You glared at the sweet doctor, screwed up your face and wailed! Ah, life with you will be an adventurous one for me, Khadeeja.

Khadeeja - Day 32

Now to my firstborn, Khayla.

My dearest Khayla,

You have been a big sister for a month now. Your first reaction to Khadeeja was total indifference, like, oh a baby. I'll just play a bit till the baby goes away. So it was kind of amusing to watch you when you realize that the baby did not go away but instead went home with us to stay permanently. That's when you started to show your jealousy.

Practising to be a big sister a day before Khadeeja was born

You tried to push her away when I nursed Khadeeja. You shouted, 'Hey, kennen!' (Translated - 'hey, cannot!') to protest that she slept on the bed with us. You demanded to be breastfeed also. And everything that is Khadeeja's now belongs to you e.g. her toys and her pacifiers. Especially her pacifiers.

Refused to let Khadeeja lie down in the cot and claiming her pacifier as yours

Then two weeks later, you realized that she wasn't going away. That she is part of the family now. That's when you start to show concerns and care towards Khadeeja. Like calling us to pick the baby when she cried. Or shushing the baby yourself. Or even shoving a pacifier to her wailing mouth. Or trying to feed her with a bottle of milk (yours or hers, whichever first you laid eyes on). Or helping grandma to throw away Khadeeja's soiled diapers in the waste bin. Welcome to the world of big sister, Khayla!

Big sister and small sister!

My lapis lazuli,

The day Khadeeja was born you seemed to grow up overnight. No longer we see you as a small and fragile little girl, but of a boisterous and funny two-year-old that you are. You can understand a lot of things now, except when we said 'Cannot!' Or 'Pick up your toys!'

Your vocab also grew with you. You can call Mak Yeng, say bye-bye, orange, bubble, bear-bear, nenen, Mak, Bapak and a few other words which mostly you mimic from us.

One day we were playing bubbles and they burst. You turned to me, hands spread apart and said the first complete sentence, 'Abis dah bubble!' (Bubble is finished!) Girl, not only you stringed together words to form a sentence, the words were also in perfect order, not all jumbled up! Bravo!

Entertaining your baby sister

Not only you can speak in full sentence you can sing to a tune from Babytv. Twinkle-twinkle little star is your favourite (and mine too). You know 80% of the words and will sing along to the song. You can understand the cartoons on Babytv and will laugh at the funny parts. The other day you also identified out loud a cartoon character called 'Yum-Yum' from 'The Cuddlies'. I secretly wondered whether a gear that got stuck in your brain had suddenly become unstuck and that's why you have been soaking up all the new knowledge overnight!

You love going out especially for car rides. You cried if ever anyone went out the door without offering to bring you out. You excitedly shouted, 'Walk-walk!' Then ran over to the cabinet where your shoes were kept, opened the cabinet yourself and put on your shoes on your own. Most of the time you put on the shoes correctly.

Saying 'bye-bye' because you wanted to follow Mak Yeng 'walk-walk'

And you are very funny at this age. You love being chased by Daddy. You love mimicking people's sentence, you are just like a parrot! You also have a fake laugh to make others laugh!

Often you insist to be treated like a big girl

Khayla my not-so-baby-anymore baby,

All-in-all, you provide me with the light side of life and a whole lot of sanity when things get exhausting.

Khadeeja my fierce but adorable little baby,

You reminded me that I am awesome, and worthy to be loved, by you.

To both my girls,

I love being your mother. What's life without you both, but a colorless world? Thank You, Allah for these two girls.

Khayla & Khadeeja - my precious gems

Love you both millions of time,
Mak

The Pre-Birth Story - Khadeeja

2012-12-23T19:59:00.003+08:00

Hahaha. I'm a lazy momma. Been a week since I gave birth to my beautiful second daughter and I only posted her announcement. Eh, what to do la, being a mom to a newborn is not free-and-easy. Nowadays, pantang also sendiri jaga, my Mom only helps out with the kids. Fair enough la, it's not like she's the one getting me pregnant *jeling at hubby*

Anywaayyyysss...

This is the birth story of Khadeeja Binti Junaidi, beloved daughter of yours truly and Encik Junaidix.

My last day at work was on 7 December 2012. I remembered feeling so relieved that I could finally look forward to a week-long break while waiting for my baby to pop out, either through induced or natural labor. Having GDM sucks, because my obgyn flatly refused to let me carry my baby till Week 40. But I was still hopeful that by going for long walks (albeit in shopping mall and year end sales) and daily swims, I could stand a chance of triggering my own labor, just like all my friends recommended. Besides, I was hoping that this baby will be born on the same day of our wedding anniversary and her big sister's birthday - 15 December. It was what I told her every night, to hold on and only make appearance on that day. Haha. HAHAHA. Next time, be careful when you make a wish huh.

10 December 2012 (Monday) - No such luck. Went for my weekly check up and was horrified to be told that I have to be admitted by that night so that I could be induced the next morning. Reason? My baby seemed to not gain any weight - 2 weeks ago, she was 2.62kg, and this week, she was 2.66kg. My obgyn said it could be due to placenta insufficiency. No amount of persuasion and tears could change her mind (some more go and scare me by telling me that if I delayed further, there's a risk of baby starving inside).

11 December 2012 (Tuesday) - Early morning, I was given a dose of prostaglandin, the tablet which was inserted through my vajayjay to ripen my cervix and start my labour. Then I waited. And waited. Around 10, I felt strong pressure on my tummy and... went to the toilet. Was disappointed that it was not labour yet. At 4pm, started to feel contractions (it was like menstrual cramp at this point of time) and I got really excited. OMG, I'm going to deliver my baby and it's going to be a normal birth! Kept my friends and family posted via FB (what to do, I've got to do something to distract myself from the discomforts!). As the night progressed, so did my contractions and by midnight, the discomfort turned into pain (felt like being slowly drilled down there). Nurses kept checking in on me and asking whether I would like to have something to relief the pain (but at this stage, I could still bear the pain and politely rejected their offer). Had to go through another vaginal exam (VE) to see how dilated I was but was hugely disappointed when told that I had not even opened to 1cm. In total, I had to endure 3 VEs in one day. Tough luck.

12 December 2012 (Wednesday) - Second tablet given as the first tablet was insufficient to start labour. Another VE (I was sick to the back of my teeth already having my vajayjay poked each time!). The thing about VE is it is only a minor annoyance if it was done by a gentle midwife, but it could be worse than the contraction itself if done by a midwife who had poked too many vajayjays to care about the patient's feeling by then. Eh, I'm not exactly expecting any foreplays before having my vajayjay poked but a little TLC could help to alleviate the stress!

So, anyway. Renewed my hope that perhaps I would deliver my baby on this beautiful date (12.12.12). By afternoon, my contraction pains are becoming harder to ignore and at the same time, I was doing my best to follow advice by the nurses i.e. to walk around and see whether it could help to open up my cervix. Hubby tried to help by giving me back massage, foot massage and we even studiously pored over the 'Beautiful Birth' book to look at the various positions and touch points that could help baby to descend. It is worse than taking final exam, we even have to study for it!

I wanted to go for a walk outside of the room but the midwife on duty did not allow me to leave my room because she was scared that my waters would suddenly break (which is soooo not happening!). Secretly, in my agonised state, I thought she just did not want me to scare other pregnant ladies with my groans and moans whenever the contractions hit me. So back in my room I went, pacing up and down.

By 3pm, I was begging my baby to 'pleaseeee... be good and go downnnnnn...' My hubby had given up on giving me weird looks every time I stopped in my tracks and muttered to myself. I even tried visualising my baby going down the birth canal every time the pain hit me. It was not easy to relax my pelvic floor when the pain built up and hit me full-blown. At times I thought I got it, but most of the time, I ended up clenching up as tight as a clammed-up shell.

My obgyn came again to check on me, did another VE, and regretfully informed me that I was not even dilated to 2cm. Excuse me??! I thought I had been making some progress forcing myself to pace, squat and lean over to help my baby descend, not to mention all those coaxing and visualisation. I wanted to cry already but was too exhausted. By 8pm, I was in so much pain that I wanted to just be angry at anyone - at my hubby who apologetically had to leave for his class (wth? I'm in pain and all you care about is missing a class??! Where's the 'we're in this together' spirit?), at my mom who kept praising God every time I was hit by the strong contraction pains (I know she meant well, but a little empathy please? Saying 'thank you for the pain' by someone who did not suffer the pain, did not sound good to someone who actually felt the pain!) and even at my daughter Khayla for making too much noises. But I felt most anger at my obgyn who convinced me that I need to be induced immediately and it was already the second day, where's the urgency that you kept telling me???

Ok, I was not rational at that time. Pardon me for being racked by the most painful pain that makes most women leave their sanity temporarily.

And so, 12.12.12 came and went, and still no baby. I was beginning to think that the baby is not going to come out anytime soon. I was not ready, she was not ready.

13 December 2012 (Thursday) - Obgyn came to check on me first thing in the morning. She's not a morning person, I guess. After two nights in a row of being in pain, I was exhausted, stressed and not able to think much. When she told me that I could try for a third cycle of prostaglandin and risk uterine rupture and / or another failed induced labor and ended up having to go for C-sec, or I could be rational and just go for C-sec considering that the previous two full dosage of prostaglandin did not even succeed in making my cervix budge open - I mean, my cervix remains fast shut and baby remains well, inside. Or, I could go find another doctor.

At this grim reality, I wanted to break down and cry. I had endured contraction pains for more than 48 hours, and to be told that I could not have a normal labour was a bit too much for me. The only cheerful news was that my baby did not seem to be stressed by all the stress that I had to endure, her fetal heartbeats seemed to be normal.

Only after talking out to some people and also the midwife on duty (who is such a nice motherly lady who after sharing her insights and previous cases she handled, also told us to go for a walk at KLCC to release our tension of the non-progressive labour), we finally decided that we did not want to continue with normal labour seeing that the possibility of it being successful was reduced to just 30% or less.

Before we went out, we met the obgyn again to tell her our decision and then asked whether we could choose to deliver the baby on 15th instead of tomorrow? She immediately called the OT to check on OT room's availability on that date, and we were relieved to hear that OT room IS available at 7.30am on 15 December 2012. The date I told my baby to make her debut appearance and the date I had been dreaming to give birth to my second child.

Spent the rest of the day happily buying birthday gift for my Khayla, watching movie (Twilight Saga) and dining at KLCC. Still felt contractions now and then but was in a much better mind frame.

14 December 2012 (Friday) - still felt hopeful that I could suddenly go into labour. But began to look forward to celebrate my second daughter's birthday on 15 December 2012, along with my wedding anniversary and firstborn's birthday. Oh, and birth did not happen on this date.

15 December 2012 (Saturday) - D-Day. Will continue this in another post ^_^ Hehe.

Our Second Baby Arrived on Our 6th Wedding Anniversary!

2012-12-17T22:05:00.000+08:00

A bowl of TLC...

2012-11-23T23:30:00.001+08:00

Having to control what I eat is certainly dampening my spirit lately. I can't enjoy my chocolate treats, nor drink Milo, or anything that will threaten to shoot up my blood glucose level.

So to cheer me up and also because I want to reduce my rice intake, I decided to make a delicious, hearty yet healthy soup that packs a punch of nutritions from a variety of veggies, minced meat and a dash of macaroni pasta for the carbs (because carbohydrates are still needed but in smaller quantity for a diabetic). This soup is really a complete meal on its own and a delish pick-me-up on cold weather like now.

It's none other than my favourite minestrone soup:

Minestrone soup for lunch and dinner

Minestrone with Macaroni

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

3 oz (75 g) shortcut macaroni

1 oz (25 g) butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 oz (50 g) minced beef

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, washed and finely chopped

6 oz (175 g) carrots, washed and finely chopped

2 fresh or tinned tomatoes, chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

2½ pints (1.5 litres) Beef/chicken Stock

1½ tablespoons fresh torn basil

8 oz (225 g) leeks, washed and finely chopped

6 oz (175 g) green cabbage, washed and finely shredded

1 level dessertspoon tomato purée

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

salt and freshly milled black pepper

Actually, I modified this recipe slightly to make it simpler and because I don't normally have olive oil, basil and parsley at home. Also, I skip leeks because I don't really like its strong flavour. For protein, I add in minced meat. For those who don't have liquid chicken stock, you can also replace this with the chicken stock cube and just add water.

This recipe is ridiculously simple and quick to prepare - thanks to my new food processor, the chopping and shredding of onion, celery stalks, carrots and cabbage take only 5 minutes. The first thing to do is to melt the butter (you can substitute it with margarine for a slightly healthier version, or you can skip this altogether and just use vegetable oil) and add oil to sauté the minced meat until it's brown. Then add in the onion and crushed garlic, sauté until the onion caramelized before adding in celery, carrots and tomatoes. The vegetables are then left to 'sweat' under covered lids for approximately 10-15 minutes (or until the tomatoes soften) before adding in water and a cube of chicken stock. Leave to simmer / until the vegetables are tender before adding in tomato puree for that sweet and sour punch. Add in salt, blackpepper and for me, dried Italian herbs. Leave to simmer until the flavours blend well. The final step is to add in the macaroni. When the macaroni is cooked, that's when the soup is ready to be served!

Even Khayla enjoys the soup (but she only takes the soup and not the macaroni or any visible veggies!) which is a good way to get her to eat up her veggies. Perhaps it has something to do with the tomato-based soup that makes it yummy to an almost 2-year-old like her!

P/S: After having this soup for lunch and dinner, I'm pleased to say that my blood glucose level is below 7mmol/L! ^_^

GDM - Monitoring My Blood Sugar

2012-11-22T12:39:00.004+08:00

Somehow, just weeks before I'm due, my gynae is convinced that I have gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). After admitting me last weekend to monitor my blood glucose level, I was referred to endocrinology specialist, Dr Dato' Faridah.

As a result, I have to monitor my blood glucose daily at home. I'm not so pleased with it, but I am not one who dare to go against doctor's order because I know they have my best interest at heart. So I had no choice but to purchase the blood glucose monitor device:

The hospital recommended Accu-Chek Performa as it is the most accurate

This device can be bought at any reputable pharmacy. It comes with 25 test strips (where you deposit the blood sample in order for the device to read your blood glucose level), a pen device which is the pricker (you can set the prick level - the pharmacist recommended that I used the lowest level which is '1' as it is less painful), 10 refillable needles (I have to change the needles after 3 times due to hygiene and since the needle may not be as sharp as before after prolonged use) and of course the device itself. I bought mine at RM199 at a pharmacy in Prima Gombak, nearby my house. I also have to buy the alcohol swabs (RM6.90) to sterilise my finger before I prick it (it seemed scary the first time I have to use it).

At the point of purchase, the pharmacist helped to set the device and explained to me on how to use the device even though the nurses at the hospital have explained to me before I was discharged (after all, it is the same equipment). Somehow, I find the explanation useful as at the hospital, the nurses helped to change the test strip and the needle pricker used was different from the pen device in this set.

Initially I did not dare to prick myself so I asked Suami Terchenta to prick me. To my surprise, it did not hurt (unlike when the nurses did it at the hospital). I guess it has to do with the prick level set by the nurses. Since level '1' already draws sufficient blood from my finger without pain, I stick to that level until now.

So, now we come to the blood glucose reading.

Although I am not fond of doing the tests every day, it is interesting to read the test results. I have to do the test 6 times a day - before/after breakfast, lunch and dinner. My pre-breakfast readings (fasting) normally hover between 5.4 - 5.5 (my doctor claims this is borderline), while my pre-lunch readings are lower at 4.2- 4.7 (maybe because I don't snack in between breakfast and lunch, and I walk to the food court to buy lunch). My pre-dinner readings are higher - between 4.8 - 5.4. I guess because by night, my metabolism slows down even though I'll be busy in the kitchen preparing dinner.

My post-breakfast readings tend to be consistent if I only have a bowl of oat for breakfast. But if I add muesli, nuts and fruits to my breakfast (as recommended by the dietitian), the reading will be above 5 and even reach 7 (but still within the targets for control for non-fasting condition). Post-lunch and dinner are even higher - average is 8.6.

So during doc's visit to my room today, she took a look at my blood glucose journal and noted that at above 8, she should be prescribing me with insulin shots to manage the blood glucose level. Luckily, I also jotted down my food intake in the journal so she agreed that maybe this week the insulin shots can be postponed if I reduce my rice to half portion instead of one portion and reduce anything cooked with soy sauce.

She also asked me to continue with the oat breakfast and incorporate a bit of walking (around 10 times going back and forth at home) but not to overdo it in case I start my early contractions again. I immediately like Dr Dato' Faridah again because unlike the dietitian, she gave me a more practical advice that I can easily follow.

Some mothers can enjoy food to their heart's content before they deliver but unfortunately, that's not the case for me. Apa nak buat, for the sake of the baby and to avoid being stuck with diabetes at a later stage of my life, I have to control what I eat and become vegetarian (huhu...). Caiyok Carneyz! Only 3 more weeks to go (plus 60 days of confinement food!) \O/

False Alarm!

2012-11-21T22:00:00.000+08:00

This morning I was woken up by a strange sensation on my lower back, tummy and pelvic. Before that, I had gone to the toilet 3 times where else normally I take only one nightly trip to the toilet (I usually empty my bladder before going to bed).

After going to the toilet for the third time and feeling somewhat uncomfortable by the strange pressure on those areas (the lower back started to throb and ache constantly), I sat on the edge of the bed massaging my back and tummy.

To be honest, I've never felt this discomfort before. My first baby was delivered 3 weeks before her due date due to placenta praevia and via c-section. And my miscarriage incident that had me induced happened more than 3 years ago I forgot how it felt like.

The discomfort somewhat felt like menstrual cramp minus the pressure on my cervix during those heavy period flow. It felt so surreal that I could not decide whether the pain was real or I was just over-analysing the feelings.

I almost smiled when I remembered the hilarious conversation that took place in my head as I was internalising the whole situation:

Optimistic self: Oh come on, if it's real labour, you don't have to think too much about it. Just go with the flow! If a horse can do it without all these natural birth plan and hypnobirthing and whatnots, why can't you?
Desperate self: We don't know what the horse is thinking during labour! Probably it would ask for pain-reliever if it could talk!

Somehow even though I was just quietly sitting and massaging my tummy and lower back, Suami Terchenta woke up and asked, 'Why? What's wrong?' I hesitated before replying, 'Umm. I just feel somewhat uncomfortable around my tummy and back area.'

He immediately woke up and asked,

'Is it contraction?'
'I don't know. It doesn't feel like it.'
'Is it symptoms of labour?'
'I don't really know.' Which was an honest reply.

He got up, touched my tummy and then decided to find one of my pregnancy reference books to find out (time2 macam ni baru la dia nak baca buku2 tu!). After leafing through the pages, he concluded,'I think it could be it. Shall we go to the hospital now?' By then, I detected a hint of worry and concern bordering panic in his voice.

I crawled on the bed and lay down on my right where my lower back was not painful. 'Not yet. But can you massage my back? It hurts.'

He was on his feet and emptying the luggage from our last trip to the hospital on Saturday. He stopped and helped to massage the affected area, which brought relief to me. I started to fall back asleep when Khayla woke up and cried for milk. Then I had to turn to my left so she could snuggle against me.

By 7.30am, I started to notice the contractions. I was walking down the hallway and immediately felt a pulling sensation on my lower abdomen as it tightened. The pressure was so intense I held on to the wall and clutched my tummy. Suami Terchenta looked at me with a frown on his face.

'It's contraction right? Time to go to the hospital?'
'Um. I don't think so. It doesn't appear frequent.' I was still reluctant to rush to the hospital over a few tinges because I was scared that my doctor will ask me to be induced. Ouch!

I continued to the back area to get my work dress when I was stopped mid-way by the same intense pulling sensation. This time it made me moan.

'That's it. Let's go to the hospital.' Suami Terchenta made the decision.

In between the contractions (which started to appear at regular intervals), I managed to iron my cloth and tudung, laughed at the absurdity of the painless pressure yet so intense it made me pause while I was walking, and get ready. I texted my boss to inform that not to worry, but I need to get checked out because I'm having unexplainable discomfort which is getting persistent.

We dropped Khayla at her nursery and then drove to the hospital. I started the contraction timer. Everytime I suspected it was contraction, I pressed the button and then endured the uncomfortable sensation. Some of the contractions were mild, but some made me clutched Suami Terchenta's arm in agony. Each lasted between 30 - 50 seconds with 10 minutes apart:

My contraction timer apps

When we reached the emergency entrance, the hospital staff seeing me tottering in awkwardly, greeted me at the door.

'Are you feeling labour pains already?'
'I'm not sure...' I explained where the pains were and informed that this was my first experience of 'labour pains' (if it was what it was).

She immediately brought me to the labour ward at 6th floor using a wheelchair (because I started to groan and almost double over whenever the contractions hit me).

When we reached there, the labour ward staff took over and had me settled on the bed to strap on the CTG scan. Then Suami Terchenta appeared and sat next to me watching my every expressions. Occasionally he held my hands when the discomfort was so intense.

The CTG scan displayed the fetal heartbeats (which was steady between 130 - 170+) and the contractions (true enough, it appeared every 10 minutes, averaging at 68 which is already moderate and the more intense ones reached 104, which is already considered as strong contraction).

After half an hour, the lower back pain on my left transferred to my right. When the nurse staff took the CTG scan output, she asked me to remove my pants as she wanted to check whether I'm dilating. At that point, a very intense and stinging pain overcame me on my upper right tummy that I had trouble breathing. I gasped, grunted and stared incredulously at Suami Terchenta as I was suddenly reminded of the same pain I felt when I was induced during my miscarriage 3 years ago!

Mine was between 4 - 9, I think

Nurse asked me to take a few deep breaths (and boy, it was hard to breathe properly when the intense pain was overcoming me!) but I managed to control my breathing and finally sat up. Then I lay down again for the exam and although I read and heard many people said the exam was painful, it was not that painful to me.

Nurse then proceeded to give me injection to help the baby's lung mature in case I really go into labour. She cautioned me that the injection will STING. This time I agreed with her.

Then my gynae popped in and confirmed my worst fear - yes, I'm in real labour and those are regular contractions. If I continue to be having those contractions and already dilating by tomorrow, she will start the birthing process even though my baby is still 2 weeks shy from being considered as full-term! That certainly got me alarmed, thinking that I am not prepared at the prospect of looking after a preemie.

Suami Terchenta had to leave my side to register my admission and I paced the room and swayed my hips to relieve the contraction pains. I also decided to update my FB status just so I could distract my mind from the pain. After a while Suami Terchenta reappeared and we waited to be transferred to a normal ward to wait out the labour.

I even received a call from work,

'Hi. Are you on leave today?'
'Um. I'm in the hospital, having contractions.'
'I just need to check something. Blablabla...'
'The latest status is, blablabla... Urghhhh....' Contraction hit me and I grunted in pain.
'Err... Never mind. I'll just call your boss. Take care!' My colleague sensing my discomfort immediately ended the call.

After we were in the normal ward, I continued to pace the room and sitting on the sofa to ride out the pain. Lunch was delivered. I ate half-heartedly but finished my meal thinking that I might need the energy later should I ever required to be induced today (although I was still praying that it's not time yet and the whole thing will stop).

After lunch and exhausted from enduring the pain and endless pacing, I decided to try take a nap. I slept for 2 hours clutching my tummy.

Then my prayers were granted.

I woke up when a nurse came in to check my blood pressure. The first thing I noticed was I wasn't in pain anymore. Sure, it still throbbed where the pains were, but it was just a faint and mild sensation. Even the contractions were very mild it felt only like Braxton-Hicks!

The pain gradually went away and by night I wasn't feeling them anymore. This was confirmed when the nurse took my CTG scan again - I occasionally had tightening due to BH but the rest was normal. Alhamdulillah! :)

CTG scan showed that contractions have gone away for the moment!

So now I'm hoping to be discharged tomorrow after my gynae and specialist who is monitoring my GDM give the clearance.

Until now I'm wondering what could have triggered the early contractions - maybe because the night before I had pineapple soup for dinner, or because I let Khayla have the boobs to calm and settle her down (although she only suckled for maximum 20 minutes before she dozed off). Or work is driving me crazy. There are a lot of possible reasons but none really makes sense.

Hmm. Anyway, now that I know how labour pains feel like, I HAVE to make some changes to my routine and definitely need to catch up on exercise to prepare me physically for the labour when the time comes. And practice the whole breathing and positions to cope with labour pains. Lots of things caught us unprepared during this short experience, and I need to read and practice more. So does Suami Terchenta. Well, I hope he'll take it seriously as well! :p

2012-11-18T16:26:00.000+08:00

Firstly, I must say Alhamdulillah this pregnancy has been pretty much smooth-sailing and stress-free most of the time compared to my first full-term pregnancy experience.

I did not suffer from swollen and achy feet, nor constant backache. I'm also mercifully spared from the internal heat and eczema that made me most of the time miserable and irritable during my first pregnancy. I still remember how I often broke down in tears because my feet and tummy were so itchy when I'm hot and back then, we didn't even have an aircond to relieve my heat! The eczema problem was equally distressing because the cream and soap the hospital prescribed did little to help.

Except for the episode of non-stop vomiting during my first trimester that had me admitted in the hospital due to dehydration, my 2nd trimester and half of my third trimester has been trouble-free.

So I was not expecting to be admitted to the hospital again before delivery until I had had the OGTT. A week later, my doctor called to inform that my result was not so good - my reading was 11.1 mmol/L. Okaay.... Since I already expected that my blood sugar will be on the high scale, I did not really take serious notice when she asked me to see the dietician. Furthermore, I was on MC, I had a sick little girl to look after and also I had to work even during public holiday this week. So, making an appointment with a dietician who is going to ask me to eat brown rice instead of white rice (I'd seen dietician during my first pregnancy) was definitely not one of my top priorities.

Finally last Friday, I had an appointment with my gynae. As expected, she was not happy that I had not make the effort to go see the dietician immediately despite my reasons. She told me that she had a patient who lost her baby at 38 weeks because of uncontrolled GDM (gestational diabetes mellitus) and she is not taking that risk again. Before I can say, '...but!' she had written a note to have me admitted immediately that night so the hospital can monitor my blood sugar (or known as the 7-point test).

Salam Maal Hijrah

2012-11-16T00:39:00.001+08:00

Just wanna say... Salam Maal Hijrah 1434H to all Muslims all over the world. May Allah SWT bless us all this year :)

Those weeks everyone was not feeling well...

2012-11-15T14:08:00.000+08:00

It's the time of the year again. The season full of the nasty flu bug.

Remember when I told that I had accidentally detoxed myself two weeks ago? Turned out that I actually caught the flu virus from someone and all those headache, muscle pain, blocked nose and severe coughing were NOT because of detox whatsoever.

These couple of weeks turned to be very rough and challenging for all of us in the family. As soon as I caught the flu, my whole family became infected with it as well. Hubby had it too, but he recovered fast, which is within 2 days. It's the pregnant lady and a fragile baby who struggled to fight against the virus.

Let me tell you, coughing non-stop while being heavily pregnant was a very unpleasant experience. Every time I was having cough attack, I had to clutch my lower tummy because it hurt like hell!

My medicines

But what's more horrible is being pregnant and having to care for a sick baby.

Khayla couldn't sleep well because she was having high fever (38.8 degrees Celcius people!) and because she couldn't breathe properly due to runny nose. Since she had to breathe through her mouth, several times she woke up with dry mouth and throat, so she became cranky again. My poor little girl!

Her fever lasted more than 6 days despite her taking antibiotics. When her temperature rose too high, we gave her the suppository that has to be inserted through her rectum.

It brought her relief for a few hours but after that the stubborn fever returned and we had to give her paracetamol again. And cold med. Cough mixture. Something to relief the phlegm. There. So many medicines that she hates but had to swallow.

Night time was a nightmare for us parents. In the middle of the night she woke up crying and kicking up a fuss because she only wanted to sleep on my arm. Most of the time I had to refuse because in the morning I'd wake up with backache from leaning too far on my side. Another reason I had to let her down is because she got annoyed with my growing tummy that gets in the way. She'll kick my tummy so much so that I have to wake hubby to pass her to him.

To sum up the past few weeks we had little sleep taking care of Khayla. Both of us were jaded and weary.

Daytime was no better. Her runny nose was worse, and she cried a lot. She only wanted to be cuddled up and became upset when we wanted to do something else like prepare lunch or do laundry. However after giving her meds, she settled down on her rocking chair and slept. She looked so tired with black shadows under her eyes. It just breaks my heart!

The sick little girl

Another thing that made us so miserable during her sickness was her lack of appetite. She ate one or two spoonfuls of rice with chicken soup and then she was done. She refused her milk and balked at the idea of taking plain water (usually she doesn't mind drinking plain water). So it's no wonder that her body took a long time to get well because she was not getting enough nourishment.

I tried giving vitamin C tablet. She was only interested in them for a couple of days, and after that she refused that too. Then I have to force her to eat Scott's Emulsion to boost her immune system. So far she is still taking that supplement.

I'm thankful that now we are feeling generally better, although all of us still haven't fully recover from coughing. Hoping that we'll be in good health by the time the baby arrives - dear germs, please go away!

Month 23: Khayla

2012-11-07T21:14:00.001+08:00

Si kecik ni, walaupun dah nak masuk umur 23 bulan masih amat manja.

Tidur, mau dalam dakapan emak. Kalau tak dapat, mulalah tayangan drama. Cebik2 bibir, lalu berguguran air mata dari mata buntangnya.

Lalu sang emak tak sampai hati. Diangkat dan diletakkan di perut yang sudah sarat. Si adik menggeliat dan menendang tanda protes. Apa dia peduli? Asal dapat tidur dalam dakapan emak. Walaupun posisi tak seselesa tidur di atas tilam sendiri.

Hakikat nya sang emak tak sampai hati sebab lepas ni si adik bakal keluar dan perlu perhatian. Lalu si kecik ni akan dipaksa membesar lebih awal dari usianya. Dia kan masih bayi, bayi berusia 24 bulan. Nanti dipaksa berkongsi perhatian dan kasih sayang dengan si adik. Tiada lagi 100% perhatian untuk dia seorang.

Lantaran itu sang emak sedaya-upaya memenuhi permintaan si kecik. Biar perut sudah membesar - jika dia mau didukung, mau tidur di lengan atau di perut, mau cebik2 bibir lalu mengamuk, mau sekotak kismis - sang emak tetap akan melayan kehendaknya.

Kerana dia masih lagi satu2nya buah hati pengarang jantung walaupun untuk sebulan lebih ni sahaja.