Serene Skies

Bina masjid

2012-01-20T10:01:00.001+08:00

For a year or so now, I’ve been reading Prof Kamil’s blog. Just before I went for umrah, I bought his books too. Something about the way he writes, touches my heart. When reading his entry, most of the time, tak sedar airmata mengalir.

I know I don’t have that many readers, but I thought something this great should be shared even with just one other person. So I’m copying this from Prof Kamil’s blog, in case any of you are interested.

Masjid KRTS

Pelancaran Tabung Masjid KRTS

Jika anda sudi menjadi 100 penyumbang RM100/sebulan selama 24 bulan, sila maklumkan kepada saya di mki@muhdkamil.org bagi tujuan rekod dan peringatan yang anda mempunyai komitment.

Tuan/puan boleh membayar RM2400 dengan sekali bayar atau dibayar setiap bulan.

Bagi mereka yang lain, sumbanglah setakat mana yang termampu. Di takdirkan saya meninggal dunia, Roza akan meneruskan usaha-usaha ini – insyaAllah – sehingga berjaya.

Saya mohon dimaafkan.

Sumbangan boleh dibayar melalui akaun maybank Raudzah Roslan: 112102080097 yang sudah kosong dan dikhaskan untuk projek ini semata-mata.

Jumlah Terkumpul 19 Januari 2012: RM4800

Sasaran: RM300000 (19.1.2014)

Lokasi: Di kawasan yang sangat-sangat memerlukan sebuah masjid yang akan ditentukan kemudian.

Semoga sumbangan kita, banyak atau sedikit akan memberi manfaat yang berpanjangan. Amin.

Khamis is Thursday.

2012-01-12T21:42:00.000+08:00

Mariessa: Mama, hari ni hari apa?
Mama: Hari ni hari Khamis, sayang.
Mariessa: Ooooo.. Khamis tu Tuesday eh?
Mama: Bukan, Khamis is Thursday.
Mariessa: Oooo Thursday! Lepas Khamis, hari apa pulak?
Mama: Lepas Khamis, Jumaat.
Mariessa: Jumaat tu... Friday?
Mama: Yes! Very good. Jumaat is Friday.
Mariessa: Lepas Jumaat?
Mama: Lepas Jumaat, Sabtu. Kakak tau tak Sabtu tu apa in English?
Mariessa: Tau tau tau. Sabtu tuuuuuu Saturday!
Mama: Good job! Lepas Saturday hari apa?
Mariessa: Hmmmm... Kakak rasa, lepas Saturday mestiiii lah Sunday kan Mama?
Mama: Pandai!
Mariessa: Tapi Sunday tu hari apa?
Mama: Sunday tu.. Ahad.
Mariessa: Lepas Ahad?
Mama: Lepas Ahad, Isnin. Isnin tuuuu...
Mariessa: Kakak tau, Kakak tau, Kakak tauuu! Isnin tu Monday! Lepas Isnin?
Mama: Lepas Isnin... Selasa.
Mariessa: Selasa tu Tuesday kan, Mama?
Mama: Ye sayang. Lepas Tuesday?
Mariessa: Lepas Tuesday Kakak tau. Wednesday! Sebab Wednesday Kakak boleh pakai baju sukan pegi Little Caliphs kan, Mama?
Mama: Ye sayang. Pandai anak Mama.
Mariessa: Wednesday tu Rabu kan? Lepas Rabu?
Mama: Lepas Rabu, Khamis!
Mariessa: Ohhhh... Dah Khamis lagi sekali rupanya. Hmmmmmm.. Lepas Khamis tadi hari apa pulak Mama?

Adoih! :p

If it's not because I was rushing to send Afiq to school pagi tadi, I'm sure we would have repeated the conversation at least 3 more times! :) . That's so Mariessa. :)
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

Rahmah

2012-01-11T10:00:00.001+08:00

Rindunya hati, Masya Allah.

Jabal Rahmah on the background.

Mengikut sejarah, Jabal Rahmah merupakan tempat pertemuan semula Nabi Adam dan Hawa di dunia setelah sekian lama terpisah. Maka, ramai yang berdoa di sini agar dipertemukan dengan jodoh yang ditentukanNya. Doa saya, semoga jodoh kami berkekalan hingga ke akhir hayat dan semoga dipertemukan semula kami di Jannah. Amin.

I’m wearing exactly that to the office today. Have never done it before as I’d usually pair the jubah with a coloured tudung. Tak tau kenapa hari ni terasa nak berpakaian serba hitam. I started to love wearing like that then, and I love it even more now. It makes me feel liberated. Semoga ia sesuatu yang dapat berterusan, InsyaAllah.

Cerita sekolah

2012-01-10T15:45:00.001+08:00

Mariessa normally goes to Little Caliphs berlenggang kangkung. But last December when we went shopping for Afiq’s school bag, she insisted on one too. So we bought her one. Yesterday I let her bring her bag to LC.

At noon when I called her…

Mariessa: Mamaaaaaaaaaaa… (kalau meleret leret ni, mesti ada maknaaa)

Mama: Haaa… kenapa?

Mariessa: Kakak kan… tadiii…. Kakak tertinggal lah beg Kakak dalam van Uncle! Macam mana ni???

Mama: Hmm.. OK lah.. Nanti Mama bagitau Aunty Liza, suruh simpan beg Kakak

(Aunty Liza is the owner of the van, Uncle is the driver).

So, the whole night last night and this morning I reminded her to take home her bag. Ayah punya la menyakat dia, toksah nak kata lah!

Today at noon when I called:

Mariessa: Mama!! Mama!! Kakak BERJAYAAAAA dapatkan beg Kakak balik! Yessss!!!!

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

Last night Afiq started her KAFA class. Mariessa goes for Qiraati class at the same place too. Afiq’s KAFA class is 8 – 10 pm while Mariessa’s Qiraati session is 8-8.30pm. When we picked Mariessa up from her Qiraati class, I asked her how it went.

Mariessa: Best, Mama! Ustazah kata Kakak pandaiiiiiiiiiiiiii. Peh tu (lepas tu) ada kanak kanak lain jugak baca Iqra’ macam Kakak! Tapi ada sorang tu kan Mama, dia tak bawak buku Iqra’ dia sendiriiiii… Nasib baikkkk Ustazah ada banyak buku Iqra’, boleh la dia guna Ustazah punya buku Iqra’! Lepas tu kan.. Ustazah ajar semua kanak kanak, lepas tu Ustazah penat, Ustazah garu2 kepala.

Hahahahahhaah.

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

Afiq looks like he’s enjoying school so far, Alhamdulillah. Everyday bawak bekal ke sekolah. He’s not a nasi person, so dia tak heran dengan nasi lemak or bihun goreng sold at the canteen. Bekal2 dia so far: tuna sandwich, egg sandwich, hot dog, nuggets. Benda2 simple macam tu. For tomorrow he wanted something new though: Gardenia’s waffle. :)

I gave him RM2 as duit belanja everyday. From Day 1 lagi he told me he would like to buy drinks. I told him iced drinks are not good so he negotiated and told me he would buy the drinks on alternate days instead. Last Thursday was his buying day.

That Thursday night, I checked his wallet and true enough tinggal seringgit aje dalam wallet dia. So I put another ringgit in.

On Friday, (I have totally forgotten about our alternate days deal) I asked what drinks he bought at the canteen. He said, “Kan Abang dah janji Abang satu hari beli… satu hari tak beli? Semalam kan Abang dah beli… jadi hari ni Abang tak beli lah”. Aahhhh….such innocence. :). I am sure glad he’s sticking to his words.

That night

Afiq: Mama, Abang rasa semalam Mama dah tersalah lah!

Mama: Salah? Salah apa?

Afiq: Mama kan kata Mama bagi Abang two ringgit kan. Tapi Abang rasa semalam Mama bagi Abang three ringgit lah!

Mama: Kenapa Abang rasa macam tu pulak?

Afiq: Sebabbbb… semalam kan, Abang kan beli air tu kan. Air tu kan one ringgit? Jadi two ringgit minus one ringgit, mestilah tinggal one ringgit je. Habis, kenapa dalam wallet Ben 10 Abang tu, hari ni ada two ringgit pulak? Jadi, Abang fikir… mesti Mama semalam bagi Abang three ringgit sebenarnya.

Mama: Ohhh.. bukan.. malam tadi, Mama tambah one ringgit lagi dalam wallet Abang. Tu sebab dia jadi two ringgit balik.

Afiq: Oh… He he he.. Abang ingatkan Mama tersalah bagi semalam. Kenapa Mama tak bagitau Abang Mama tambah duit dalam wallet Ben 10 Abang? Buat terkejut Abanggggg je.

January 4, 2012

2012-01-04T22:59:00.001+08:00

Alhamdulillah, I turned 34 today.

What a milestone for me – seeing my first born going to school today. Time really flies, I know I keep saying that. But it’s just so true.

Started the day early as the 4 of us : Shahril, Afiq, Mariessa and I headed to Af'iq’s school. I decided Adreena is too young to join us, so she stayed home with Bibik. Arrived at the school at about 7.15 and straight we went to the assembly area. As soon as I sent Afiq to where his (temporary) classmates were lining up, there was an announcement telling parents to clear the area and wait at the canteen (which is just a few metres away) instead. Let me just say that it’s ‘interesting’ to see how stubborn people are. Even after three of the same announcement, there were only probably 20 of us at the canteen. The rest 60 or so were still at the assembly area. It makes me wonder, how can we expect our children to listen to their teachers if we’re showing them otherwise?

Anyway, it was quite a long assembly. My just-turned-34-yr-old-and-pregnant hormones were acting funny. I was tearing at the simplest things, like hearing the national anthem! I can’t even remember how long has it been since I last heard it live. It reminded of the time when I used to be the one standing in front. I also realized that it was my first time hearing the Selangor’s song. They were 2 other songs, one of which was the school song. The other one was the Gemilang song I think. Quite interesting song if I may say so.

While waiting for the assembly to end, we had nasi lemak at the school canteen.

The portion was big for a RM1 nasi lemak, but the sambal is oh so pedas!

Dipendekkan cerita yang panjang, the standard one students were later divided into new classes based on the test they took yesterday. It was called Ujian Diagnostik. When I asked Afiq yesterday,

Mama: Macam mana test tadi, Abang?

Afiq: Senanggggg je Mama. Semua jawapan Abang betul!
Mama: Eh? Mana Abang tau jawapan Abang betul?

Afiq: Sebab Abang semak semua jawapan Abang!

:). Gotta love that confidence, eh? ;)

Afiq on the orientation day. “Hari ni memang terbaikkkkk lah, Mama” was his exact words. :)

I have to admit that I was nervous to find out his new class. During the taklimat given by the headmaster yesterday, we were told that 1X will be the ‘weakest’ class. I’m not sure if the other 3 classes were ranked too, but as far as I am concerned, I was just hoping that Afiq will not be in 1X. First the teacher announced the list of names for 1W. No Afiq. Next was 1Y. Still No Afiq. (I was getting paler and paler). Then the teacher announced the names for 1X. Alhamdulillah, No Afiq. :) Afiq is put in 1Z (bukan nama sebenar, of course) along with some of his Little Caliphs friends. I could breathe properly then. :). I might be exaggerating it, but I am a mother. That should explain it. Kan? :)

Next was looking for a bus that would send Afiq home. Alhamdulillah, dipermudahkan semuanya. Found Pakcik Fuad, introduced Afiq to him and let Afiq took the bus home while we tailed the bus very, very closely. :D

Fast forward to 8pm, Afiq was supposed to start his KAFA (long story why we enrolled him for night KAFA class) tonight while Mariessa starts her Qiraati at the same time, but when we went to the school, we were told KAFA and Qiraati will only start next week. So Shahril took kids and I to McDonalds instead.

Parking was full, so after dropping us off at McD’s entrance, Shahril parked the car by the roadside.

After 45 minutes or so at McD, we decided to go home. Sampai aje kat Savvy, Shahril saw that tingkap belakang Savvy kena pecah! Mungkin sebab beg sekolah KAFA Afiq was on the back seat, agaknya pencuri ingat beg notebook agaknya. This is the first time for us (hopefully the last), so naturally we are a little shaken by this incident. Alhamdulillah, aside from the bag (a very simple bagpack, nothing fancy), a writing pad and a pencil case (2 pencils, a ruler, a sharpener and an eraser inside), nothing else were missing. Alhamdulillah.

I didn’t realize how badly kids (Afiq and Mariessa) were affected by this until we got home. Afiq was shaking when he asked for a glass of water. Mariessa was really pale and didn’t want to go anywhere by herself. Sedih bila tengok anak2 ketakutan macam ni. It’s a gentle reminder I know, semoga Allah sentiasa melindungi kita semua dari sebarang niat jahat, InsyaAllah.

So that was how the day went. It wasn’t just filled with good things, but it was full of emotions: pride, sadness, happiness and fear which makes it as a whole – bittersweet, thus perfect. Thank you for all your wishes (mostly via FB) and doa. I truly appreciate each and everyone of them. Hopefully with another year added to my life, I have and will continue to strive to be the best that I can, in everything that I am – a muslimah, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, an employee, an employer, a neighbour and a friend.

Random thoughts

2011-12-30T10:20:00.001+08:00

It’s been an interesting week. Road is clearer than usual in the morning, but I see accident almost every morning. Langgar sampai bumper jatuh, kemalangan maut on Grand Saga on Wednesday morning and a flaming van on Cheras roundabout this morning.

Today is the last day of work for year 2011. Not that it makes any difference to me, really.

I am turning 34 in exactly in 4 days, InsyaAllah. A year wiser, Amin! :)

Orientation for Afiq’s primary school will be held on January 3rd. There’ll be some kind of an assessment test as well. I am naturally nervous about this. People told me not to worry. Akak told me I’m just putting pressure on Afiq, hehe. Isn’t that what mothers are supposed to do anyway? Hehehe

So far, we have only brought 2 pairs of school uniform for Afiq. Itu pun beli kat Jelebu. Lepas tu konon2 nak tengok harga kat KL (Mydin/Tesco etc). Tapi bila tengok, jauh lebih mahal. And what’s the hype about Canggih? The ones I bought at Jelebu cost me only RM8.50 per piece (white shirt) and RM17 for a dark blue pants. Cotton of good quality, can’t remember the brand. Bila tengok baju2 lain RM20 and above, rasa tak berbaloi nak beli. So, we’re going back to Jelebu tomorrow to buy 3 more pairs. Boleh ambik buah2an sekali.. I don’t eat durian, but Shahril, kids and Bibik love it.

Mariessa will resume at Little Caliphs on the 5th of January. Agak risau nak bagi anak dara sorang ni naik van without Afiq. But what can I do, kan?

We have successfully transferred Adreena to sleep in her own room since 2 weeks ago, thanks with the help of a baby monitor (thanks MomsterNins !). Dah 3 orang anak.. baru la nak invest in a baby monitor. Hehe. 2 nights after that, we transferred Afiq to his own room, separating him from the girls. His only complaint is, there’s no air-cond in his room. Looks like an air-cond (or 2 – one for the living room, hehe. Alang2 kan?) is making a comeback into our to-buy-list.

Oh, we are now Unifi-ed! :D TV has been on Boboiboy Youtube almost non stop, except last night. Shahril watched Maharaja lawak. :P I was happily and peacefully watching Castle on Astro downstairs. Yey

On the work front, I am recently given a new jobscope. One that’s finally making me feel more useful – as I said to the new boss. I hope to achieve what is expected of me (and more). At least when I leave, I’ll leave happy. (This leaving topic, is another matter that shall be discussed on another day. :) )

A question for mothers who have schooling children: What do you give them for bekal, if you do…and how much duit belanja do you give them? Can I just bekalkan Afiq with.. say a corn bun, an apple and bekal air? Kat kantin sekolah jual apa and what is the price range for kids’ food these days?

Another question: Anybody knows where I can donate clothes? I have plenty tapi tak tau nak hantar ke mana.

Hokkaido Milky Loaf

2011-12-23T10:08:00.001+08:00

Dah 2-3 hari, mood utk me-roti tiba2 datang balik. Tapi since whipping cream is an item I don’t normally have readily at home, makanya niat agak terbantut la sikit. 2 days ago, bila pegi kedai, ada yang 1L aje. Punya la banyak, resepi guna 150ml je. So tangguh lagi sekali. Semalam bila singgah di Giant, baruuuu la jumpa. A small box of 200ml.

The recipe is everywhere on the net, actually. I copied mine from here.

Hokkaido Milky Loaf
original recipe taken from Angie

1. 540gm Bread flour
2. 60gm cake flour
3. 10gm Instant yeast (the packet I used was 11gm)
4. 30gm Milk Powder (cilok susu Adreena, hehe)
5. 80gm sugar
6. 9gm salt
7. 1 large egg (since I dont have large ones, I used 2 small ones but the 2nd egg yolk I kept for the egg wash later)
8. 250gm fresh milk( I used Low fat Milk)
9. 150gm whipping cream.

I dumped everything into the breadmaker. (Always starting with the liquids followed by the flour etc). Just remember not to mix the yeast and salt together as this might affect the yeast. At least that’s what I read. :). What I usually do is, put the yeast at one corner and salt at the other corner. Set the function to no 8 on Kenwood BM and wait for 90 minutes.

After 90 minutes:

Seronok tengok doh dah naik kembanggggggggggg macam ni. Bangga, bangga.. walaupun sesungguhnya saya tiada kena mengena dalam proses pengembangan tersebut.

Lepas tu, keluarkan. Tumbuk2 untuk keluarkan angin2 and bahagikan kepada 6. I actually weighed the whole thing first so senang nak bahagikan. Kalau by visual aje, mesti ada terkecik terbesar kang. The whole dough beratnya 1200g.. so senang la nak bahagi. Congak, jangan tak congak. :P

Then roll and fold it as shown in this link.

I put the first 3 portions into a loaf pan, like so:

Yang lagi 3 tu.. since I only have one loaf pan, kena la letak dalam bekas lain. I divided them further into 6.. and rolled/folded macam tadi, and arranged them like so:

The next thing to do is wait until the doh naik double, that takes about 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, gini la jadinya.

Lepas tu, sapukan dengan egg wash (2 tablespoon of milk + 1 egg yolk, kacau2 sikit)

Ni dah di-egg washed kan. :D

Pastu masukkan lah dalam oven (yang dah dipanaskan terlebih dahulu). 180 C for about 30 minutes, kata resepi.

I set mine at 170C.

Tunggu lagi 30 minutes sambil tengok James Bond. :) By the way, I still think Pierce Brosnan is the most handsome Bond ever.

Bila oven dah bunyi ‘ting!’.. cepat2 la lari ke dapur and take them out.

Bukan lari sebab takut hangus, tapi sebab excited and sementara Bond tengah berhenti for iklan.

Take them out and biarkan sejuk sebelum diuji kesedapannya. Sabar…

Bila agak2 dah sejuk.. ataupun tak sabar lagi dah… sila lah jenguk ke bahagian dalam roti untuk tengok betapa menjadinya roti tadi. :D

And finally, when sliced.

My verdict – sedap! Lembut, although mine did not really turn out as cottony as the recipe said it would be, but still soft. In fact, I believe this is the softest bread I’ve ever made so far. I would prefer it kalau manis sikittttt lagi. Tak tau la kalau kurang manis tu mungkin sebab saya guna Low Fat Milk instead of Fresh Milk ke.

The next time I bake this, I’m thinking of putting in perasa butterscotch and maybe add some raisins. Kalau benar lah apa yang di fikirkan, maybe la nanti ada rasa2 Gardenia’s butterscotch yang sedap itu. Bila plain mcm ni, it tastes more like Potato bread. Yummy nonetheless!

Begitulah seadanya. ;)

It’s a…

2011-12-21T12:24:00.001+08:00

So on Monday Shahril & I went for the prenatal checkup.

I was more nervous and excited than usual, because at 21 weeks, it was highly possible that we would be knowing the baby’s gender. We decided not to bring the kids with us this time sebab 1. we anticipated ramai org and 2. if it’s going to be a girl, I KNOWWWWW I have a lot of explainations to do to Afiq and Mariessa time2 tu jugak. Haha. Karang make a scene pulak tak pasal2 dalam bilik doktor.

We were finally called at about 8.45 or so. Dr A starts her duty at 8 but the first patient took so long, I think she was with Dr A for more than half an hour! We were the 3rd to be called in.

Masa tgh buat ultrasound:

Dr A: Kita dah tengok gender ke last time?

Me: No, not yet. I’m hoping we can see it tonight.

Dr. A: Ok…. let me see…..

………………

Dr. A: Ok.. that’s the heart… let’s measure the head first….

Dup… dap… dup… dap…

Dr. A: Haaa…. can you see that? Do you see what I see?

Me: Is that what I think it is?

Dr. A: I think so. See? That thing sticking out?

She then proceeded with other measurements…

Me: Doctor.. Confirm ye? Are you really, really sure?

Dr. A: Ok.. Kita check lagi sekali ok? I’ll show you..

Me: Yes please..

Dr. A: Haaa.. tu… that one is the tali pusat…. yang niiiiiii… definitely a penis.

Me: Alhamdulillah…

Agaknya sebab saya 2-3 kali tanya sure ke tak… bila nak print the image out, siap Dr. A tuliskan XY lagi. Hehe

Can you spot the XY?

Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. I almost cried then. We are truly, truly blessed. I looked at Shahril and I swear he was beaming!

رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِي أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيَّ وَعَلَى وَالِدَيَّ وَأَنْ أَعْمَلَ صَالِحًا تَرْضَاهُ وَأَصْلِحْ لِي فِي ذُرِّيَّتِي إِنِّي تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَإِنِّي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ

“Ya Tuhanku, tunjukilah aku untuk mensyukuri nikmat Engkau yang telah Engkau berikan kepadaku dan kepada ibu bapaku dan supaya aku dapat berbuat amal yang soleh yang Engkau redhai; berilah kebaikan kepadaku dengan (memberi kebaikan) kepada anak cucuku. Sesungguhnya aku bertaubat kepada Engkau dan sesungguhnya aku termasuk orang-orang yang berserah diri”. (Q.S. Al-Ahqaf : 15)

By the time we got home, the kids were already asleep, so tak dapat lah nak share the news. The next morning baru bagitau. Their reactions?

Afiq: Baby boy kan, Ma?

Mariessa: Mestiiiii lah baby boy! Kan Kakak dah cakap kat Mama? Mama dah tau ke nama dia apa?

(Agaknya dia ingat boleh nampak nama baby sekali apa, dalam perut Mama tu? :P)

Kesimpulannya, their reaction was something along the line of “tell us something we didn’t already know” lah sambil roll eyes. Haha. Mama je excited nak break the news, padahal in their minds, they had no doubt that it’s going to be a baby boy. :)

Indeed

2011-12-20T16:40:00.001+08:00

“…Kemudian apabila kamu telah membulatkan tekad, maka bertawakallah kepada Allah. Sesungguhnya Allah menyukai orang-orang yang bertawakal kepada-Nya".

"…When you have taken a decision, put your trust in Allah. Indeed Allah loves those who rely (upon Him)"

[3:159]

If only...

2011-12-19T23:39:00.001+08:00

Normally on the nights that we have prenatal checkup, Shahril & I would have our dinner before seeing Dr. A but tonight we decided to postpone our dinner until after.

So after the checkup, we went to a kedai mamak and I ordered cheese & garlic naan with tandoori chicken while Shahril asked for nasi goreng kampung.

My order arrived about 10 minutes later, so we shared that first. Tiba2 datang sorang makcik jual kerepek2. Without really looking at her, I gave her my default reaction which was geleng2 kepala and cakap terima kasih. Entah kenapa, malam ni lepas buat macam tu, terasa menyesal pulak. Tapi by the time nak panggil makcik tu semula, she had disappeared.

So I silently prayed: kalau sungguh la rezeki makcik tu and mine, I prayed that she would come back to our table.

Shahril's order came very late. Naan dah habis 10 minit agaknya, baruuuu la nasi goreng sampai. Shahril habis je makan nasi goreng tu, tiba2 makcik tu datang semula. Alhamdulillah, sukanya hati saya! Cepat2 saya panggil makcik tu.

She came to our table...bila saya pandang aje muka makcik tu, MasyaAllah! Berderau darah saya!

Ummi!

There was something about her face that reminded me of Ummi. I don't know what it was exactly. Maybe it was the way she smiled or the soft way she was talking to me or maybe it was her sad eyes. For a few seconds, I just looked at her, mesmerized.

With tears in my eyes, I handed her some money for the kerepek I bought.

Then it hits me: today is December 19th, which means tomorrow would be Ummi's 63rd birthday.

Semoga Ummi tenang di sana, Mi. Doa Uda tak pernah putus putus buat Ummi.

Al-Fatihah.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

The hand that rocks the cradle…

2011-12-17T22:19:00.001+08:00

Tonight, earlier than her usual bedtime while I was watching TV Adreena came to me, rubbed her eyes and asked for “fufuk” (susu). Ini kira menyerah diri untuk tidur lah ni.

So, I made her ‘fufuk’, took her upstairs and laid beside her waiting for her to finish her milk and fell asleep. As always, I just closed my eyes, pretended I was asleep. Kalau tak buat macam tu… panjang la sembangnya Adreena ni. After 5 minutes or so, I turned towards her, saw that she was just playing with her hands.

Put on my hand on her forehead, caressed her hair and then her eyes just closed and she fell asleep.

And that, makes me feel like I have superpowers or something. :)

A week @ 443

2011-12-14T09:43:00.001+08:00

We sent the kids to 443 last week for them to spend time with Atok and their cousins. They were really excited about it, tapi Mama as usual terlebih nervous. Hehe. Ayah cool lah macam biasa.. :P

Between the 5 of them (Kitreena, Edrick, Afiq, Mariessa and Adreena) and the two Bibiks, they had PS2, PS3, 2 IPods and Disney Channels all ready. Kids these days eh? Itu pun sempat diorg demand Uncle Lang belikan 2 bijik bola lagi! On the very first day they were there pulak tu. Macam2.

We sent them to 443 on Sunday and promised them we’ll come and pick them up the next Saturday. Baruuuuuuuu aje sampai kat 443.. Afiq terus tanya…”Mama, bila Mama Ayah nak balik Kajang?” Hish, tak sabar2.. kecikkkkkkkkkkk hati Mama.. :P

Shahril and I arrived in Kajang at 5pm, then it rained sooo heavily sampai Astro tak available. Out of boredom, I cooked dinner, lepas tu dah tak tau nak buat apa. Shahril tido. Men! :P Tinggal la saya sorang terkebil2…baru je sekejap dah mati kutu.

So that was a longggggggg 5 days for us. :) Sempat lah tengok Ombak Rindu (the 2 of us), Breaking Dawn (just me) and a few James Bond movies lama2 now playing on HBO. I have to admit that I’ve never watched any Bond movies earlier than Pierce Brosnan’s time, so they were actually… entertaining. Kelakar la tengok movie orang dulu2. Macam kartun pun ada, haha.

I called the kids a few times a day when they were at 443. One time I called at 8.30am, Afiq picked up the phone and told me that dia belum mandi lagi pagi tu which was quite surprising sebab selalunya pukul 7 diorg ni dah siap mandi. When I asked why…”Afiq sibuk main la Mama.. Mandi tu kejap2 lagi lah”. Hehehe.. Entah apa yang sibuk sgt entah.

On the 3rd night, Mariessa asked, “Mama.. Mama nak ambik Kakak hari ni ke?” Mama pun berbunga2 lah hati kan, anak rindu kat Mama… Bila I told her it’s going to be another 3 days… she answered, “Ohhh.. lagi 3 hari…Kakak ingatkan hari ni. Nasib baik bukan!” Nasib baik okay? Haiiii lah anak!

Adreena je la yang rajin nak cakap ngan Mama nya. I don’t understand most of what she’s saying but that’s not the point. :). By the 5th day though, her first question would be..”Mama, Mama nak apaaaaaa?”. Hehe

Adreena practising batu seremban coached by Atok.

They had a tournament on the 2nd last day they were there organized by ‘anke yam’ (Uncle Lang). :)

I’m glad we decided to send the kids over to 443. They obviously had so much fun! Tapi limit memang 5 hari tu lah, kalau lama2 sangat nanti jemu (Mama yang tak tahan sebenarnya, rindu!) Now that they’re back in Kajang, the house is alive again Alhamdulillah. :)

Big boy

2011-12-13T17:14:00.001+08:00

Afiq trying out his new school uniform. Big boy sudah. :)

Baby Junior

2011-12-01T11:34:00.001+08:00

Afiq called.

Afiq: Mama… Abang ada satu idea lah.

Mama: Idea? Idea apa?

Afiq: Mama nak dengar tak idea Abang?

Mama: Mestilah Mama nak dengar. Idea pasal apa ni?

Afiq: Biar Abang terangkan. Pasal nama baby.

Mama: Oh… nama baby. Hari tu kan kata nak letak nama Alex?

Afiq: Ha-ah. Tapi Abang dapat idea baru lah. Tak nak lah nama Alex.

Mama: Ok.. so idea yang baru ni, nak letak nama apa?

Afiq: Hmmm…. Boleh tak…. kalau kita letak nama baby……………Junior?

Mama: Haaa? Junior??

Afiq: Ha-ah la.. Junior. Sedap la nama Junior tu!

Mama: Mana abang dapat idea ni?

Afiq: Hehehehe.. Adaaaa lah!

For the record, after much persuasion, I found out where he got the name Alex from. At first I thought it was Alex of Madagascar… (that’s the only Alex I know anyway)

Wrong!

Rupa rupanyaaaaaaaaaa…….

Alex from Nada Cinta.

Aiyayaiiii…. Hehehe. I’ve never watched Nada Cinta ni, I think budak2 ni tengok sebab Bibik tengok. It’s a musical drama, so byk2 nyanyi.. suka la diorang. Ngan Adreena2 sekali terlopong tengok selalunya. (Nasib baik hensem. Muahaha)

Junior ni.. tak tau la mana dtg ideanya pulak. :)

Gambar selingan.. Adreena mmg suka nyanyi2.. This is her imitating an Idola Kecil contestant. Hebat tak hebat microphone dia!

Chocolate cake for Adreena

2011-12-01T09:54:00.001+08:00

I made this cake for Adreena’s birthday last weekend (the entry on that soon, InsyaAllah). The cake turned out to be really good, so I thought I should put the recipe here so that I’ll have a reference for next time. (I’ve been so disorganized lately with my recipes. *sigh*)

The cake recipe is from TTM who got it from Mak Lang Azie. :)

BLACK BEAUTY CHOC. CAKE

Ingredients (A) :
2 cups flour (I used self raising flour)
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

Ingredients (B) :
2 cups castor sugar ( I reduced this to about 1.5 cups)
1 cup evaporated milk (I used fresh milk)
1 cup cooking oil or melted butter
1 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon chocolate emulco
3 eggs

Method :
1. Sift together all ingredients in A. Set aside.
2. Mix well all ingredients in B.
3. Pour ingredients B into A and mix well.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Oven temperature and time of baking may differ.

Note: The mix is pretty ‘cair’ for a cake. I contemplated on adding some more flour but in the end decided not to. Nasib baik! The cake turned out just nice and moist. :)

For the choc sauce, I used this recipe (sebab senang and malas nak gi beli krim macam most choc sauce recipes require)

Utk choc ganache:

150gm coklat masakan
1 sudu besar susu pekat
1/4 cawan air panas/susu cair
1 sudu besar butter

Untuk membuat choc ganache: masukkan coklat masakan yg dipotong kecil2, susu pekat dan air panas/susu cair kedalam periuk dan masaklah cara double boiler hingga cair. Padam kan api dan masukkan mentega. Kacau hingga mentega cair. Biarkan seketika supaya ganache tak terlalu cair masa curah atas kek.

Errr.. I didn’t wait long enough masa nak curah ganache tu.. Tu la cair semacam.. pastu sayang pulak nak transfer ke bekas lain, sebab ganache tu sedap. Hehe

Amateur baker, mcm ni la. :P

17th week checkup.

2011-11-25T10:03:00.001+08:00

We don’t usually bring the kids with us for the prenatal checkups since it’s done on Monday nights – their bedtime is around 8.30pm and I don’t like to change their routine unnecessarily, plus I treat it like a date night for Shahril and I. :) But since it’s school holidays, we brought them along last Monday night.

Went to register first before Maghrib without the kids, so that we could get an early number and lucky us, we were the first for that night. Lepas register, went for a quick dinner, solat… and went back to KPMC. kebetulan pulak Dr A came early too.. so we were called in at 7.45 instead of 8pm.

Afiq and Mariessa were excited to have a look at the baby, Adreena looked rather scared. Takut kena cucuk kot. Hehe.

Bila Dr A checked blood pressure:

Adreena: Mama… Mama akit tak? Mama otey tak? (repeat 3 times) :P Penat Mama jawab.

Bila Dr A suruh baring for the ultrasound.. she looked really scared. Ayah dukung pun tak nak. Last2 nurse yang tolong dukung, dekat2 ngan Mama

Adreena: Mama.. Mama otey tak?

Mama: Mama ok, sayang

Adreena: Mama… Mama owait tak?

Nurse: Apa dia cakap tu?

Mama: Dia tanya.. Mama alright tak.. Heheheh

Nurse: Wah… dah tanya ok.. tanya alright ke tak pulak. Hahahah

Adreena: Mama.. Mama … … … … …. tak?

Mama: tak lah!

Dr. A: What did she say?

Mama: Entah doctor, saya pun tak tau. Saya jawab je.. hehehe

Afiq just looked at the screen, transfixed.

Mariessa looked at me, worried.

Alhamdulillah.. semuanya OK. Blood test result was ok, so was the urine test. Alhamdulillah. Next checkup will be a week before christmas, InsyaAllah.

Balik rumah,

Afiq: Mama.. Abang tak faham la tengok TV ada baby tadi! Abang tak nampak pun muka dia!

Mama: Memang la sayang, baby kecik sgt lagi.. susah lagi kita nak tengok

Mariessa: Mama.. baby gerak2 tak? Mama sakit tak?

Mama: Tak.. baby dah tido kot.

Mariessa: Kenapa baby asyik kena tidoooooo je? Dia tak boring ke asyik tido je dalam perut Mama?

I foresee many many more questions coming in the next 6 months. :)

Nama baby

2011-11-24T20:31:00.000+08:00

Mariessa: Mama, apa nama baby dalam perut Mama?
Mama: Baby belum ada nama lagi, sayang.
Mariessa: Haaaaa? Kenapa baby takde nama lagi?
Mama: Sebab kita belum tau lagi baby ni girl ke boy.
Afiq: Mesti lah boy! Abang dah tau dah nak letak nama apa kat baby boy.
Mama: Iye? Abang nak letak nama apa?
Afiq: Alex!
Mama: Alex?
Afiq: Ha-ah! A.L.E.X ejaan dia, tau Mama?

:)
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

Afiq’s last day at LCPS

2011-11-18T12:21:00.001+08:00

Today marks the last day of Afiq at Little Caliphs. I kinda overlooked this fact, so malam tadi baru kelam kabut beli kertas elok2 sikit for the kids to make Thank You cards to be given to their teachers.

Told him that it’s going to be his last day today at Little Caliphs. He just shrugged..”Abang tau.. lepas tu Abang cuti forty one days kan? Lepas tu Abang masuk Sekolah Kebangsaan kan?”. So I reminded him to make sure he salam2 all the teachers and his friends today before coming home. (Mama yang melancholic semacam, anaknya rilekkkkk je)

He called me kejap tadi…

Afiq: Mama.. Abang dah faham. Abang dah last day kan kat Little Caliphs? Lepas ni Abang tak pegi situ dah kan? (He actually sounded a little mellow)

Mama: Ya sayang. Abang bagi tak card tadi kat teachers?

Afiq: Bagi… Mama.. Abang nak tanya, boleh? (When he said ‘tanya’.. sometimes it doesn’t necessarily means he wants to ask a question, it’s just his way of saying he wants to say something)

Mama: Boleh….

Afiq: Tapi Abang rasa sedih sikit lah.

Mama: Kenapa Abang sedih? (Mama syahdu dah time ni)

Afiq: Tapi nanti Abang tak dapat la jumpa semua kawan kawan Abang… Abang takde kawan lah macam ni! Nanti Abang boring tau?

Mama: Takpe la.. nanti bila Abang masuk Sekolah Kebangsaan, boleh kenal ramaiiiiii kawan lagi, k?

Afiq: Hmmmm… OK lah, Mama.

I guess, it finally dawned on him eh?

My little caliph. :)

Harimau vs Ayam

2011-11-17T09:58:00.001+08:00

Last night while going through Mariessa’s writing book,

Afiq: Mama… Tulisan Kakak ni macam cakar harimau kan?

Mama: Cakar harimau? Hahahahahahhaha…… Bukan harimau lah sayang….

Afiq: Eh silap! Cakar ayam kan, Mama?

That was really funny, if only he knows what cakar harimau means. :D

Afiq’s bahasa has always impressed me, albeit a little ‘text book’. I didn’t know he has started using peribahasa though… so his attempt at cakar ayam was an impressive one nonetheless. Of course, this should not be too surprising coming from a boy who says sentences like:

1. Biar Abang beri penjelasan pada Mama…

2. Boleh tak Mama terangkan kat Abang…

3. Terlalu sedap lah, Mama…. (referring to cakes or muffins made by Mama, ehem!)

Selingan: a cake I made yesterday. I wanted a plain butter cake, Afiq insisted on a chocolate cake. So I told him, let’s compromise! ;).

He loves it! Ate 2 slices right after I took it out from the oven. (He wanted more, I said No. :D)

4. Sempurna! (after we sent his bicycle for repair)

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Adreena is talking a lot more too. Kadang2 rasa terkejut, from just some random baby’s babbles, now she has moved to almost full sentences.

Contoh terbaru this morning, I went to the toilet just before leaving for work. Dia pun sibuk laaaa ketuk2 pintu & panggil “Mama! Mama! Mama wat pe tuuuuuuuuuuuu”. Terbantut hajat Mama tau! The moment I stepped out of the toilet je… terus dia tanya..

Adreena: Mama uti? Ape Mama uti? (Mama potty? Kenapa Mama potty?).

Mama: Mama sakit perut la dik…

Adreena: Mama uti.. akit yuyut?

Heheheh.. Still la abundance of ‘y’ nya..

boya = bola

koyah = sekolah

tutah = susah (when asked to do something too difficult for her, or she’s just too lazy to do it.. :P )

abiuuuu = i love you

A few days ago, while she was sitting on my lap

Mama: Macam mana Deena sayang baby?

* she immediately bent down and kissed my tummy*

Deena (buncitkan perut ke depan, point to her tummy): Mama… tayang baby!

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I’ve been wanting to write about Little Caliphs’ concert last week, but there are just too many pictures to choose from. :) Will get to it soon, InsyaAllah. In the meantime.. let me just put a video of Mariessa’s performance on that day. One that took us by surprise, sebab we didn’t know she was going to co-lead the performance. The quality isn’t so good, though so please bear with it. Enjoy the show!

For days she was telling me she was going to do a ‘bey-han’ show.. but I could not figure out what ‘bey-han’ was. Bila tengok the agenda of the concert baru lah tahu… “Bey-han” = Bear Hunt. Hehe

Perginya seorang sahabat.

2011-11-15T10:45:00.001+08:00

On Friday morning, while most people were making a big fuss about the date 11.11.11, I was at home ‘nursing’ my nausea (among other things) which didn’t seem to lessen eventhough I’m already in the (much awaited) 2nd trimester. At about 10am, I received a frantic call from a colleague…

A: Ainil, ko dah dengar berita belum?

Me: Berita apa???

Terduduk rasanya bila dapat berita yang memang tak disangka sangka. A dear, dear friend passed away while in labor that very morning due to birth complications. Her baby – her 3rd child, the first girl after 2 boys, didn’t make it too.

She was my ‘pumping’ buddies. I was pumping for Adreena back in 2010 while she was pumping for Luqman who is a few months older than Adreena. Our similar pumping schedule gave us plenty of time to talk about everything under the sun – juggling kids without a maid (I didnt have one then), pasal lecehnyaaaaa kena lipat kain…. issues of breastfeeding, breastpumps.. etc. She was a very easy person to like. In fact, there’s nothing not to ‘not’ like about her. Always smiling. Whenever I go to the surau to pump, mesti check dulu kasut dia ada ke tak kat luar surau. There’s just something about her.

I stopped pumping when I got pregnant in March this year. By then she had stopped pumping too. So, our ‘gossip’ sessions ended too. We seldom see each other in the office, she was seated at the other end and later transferred to another block. When she first found out about this blog of mine, she got very excited! Told me she spent days reading old entries. She loved it when I wrote about my children and told me I inspired her to write about hers too, so she can read about them when they grow older.. but she didn’t know where to start. I’ve never asked if she eventually wrote anything.

I last saw her a few months back. We bumped into each other at the printer (of all places. :) ). She was already pregnant then.

I last spoke to her sometime after Aidilfitri. She called just to catch up, and she was among the first person I shared my news of this pregnancy with. She was of course very happy for me and told me that her doctor had told her she’s expecting a girl, as she had hoped. That call lasted almost half an hour but I certainly didn’t think it was going to be our last chat.

The whole last week I thought of giving her a call, knowing that she’s due in November. I regret not picking up the phone to call her. :(

When I read her FB wall, it’s just amazing to discover that my thoughts of her is very much similar to what her other friends think of her too. Always with a smile on her face, an easy person to work with… and sangat2 menjaga silaturrahim. MasyaAllah… all the qualities I am very much lacking of. There’s a lot to learn from her.

I was told that there were sooooooo many people during her funeral. At the surau and at the kubur. Berpuluh2 kereta! Itu lah tanda2nya bila orang yang baik pergi meninggalkan kita, kan? There were a lot of people yesterday too, when the office organized a ‘majlis bacaan yasin & tahlil’ untuk arwah after work at the office.

It was heart breaking, but I think Allah has given her one of the best endings a woman can have. Mati shahid ketika melahirkan, di pagi hari Jumaat – penghulu segala hari… dan ditemankan puteri cahaya iman (Nurul Iman) di dalam kubur. Semoga roh mereka tenang dan ditempatkan dikalangan orang orang yang beriman. Semoga suaminya Hafidz dan dua anak lelakinya Ikhwan & Luqman dikurniakan kesabaran dan ketabahan untuk menempuh ujian yang sangat hebat ini.

You are and will always be missed, my dear friend.

Al Fatihah buat Allahyahrmah Rozi Hartini Binti Abdul Aziz dan puterinya Nurul Iman.

Her friends wrote about her too here, here and here.

Art Attack!

2011-11-04T21:38:00.001+08:00

So one day Uncle Fik came over to surprise the kids with one box of crayon each. Suka lah hati masing2 nya…

The first day after receiving the crayons, I came home to Adreena yang kat muka pun penuh dengan contengan crayon nya! Leher pun segala warna ada. Biru? Hijau? Merah? Meriah!

The next day, lepas park kereta depan rumah je, nampak Adreena dah excited kat sliding door.. “Mama, nuk ni! nuk ni!” while pointing at something on the floor.

Masuk2 rumah je… nin dia…………..

Habis carpet jadi mangsa!

Crime took place righttttttttttt in front of Ayah yang sedang membaca suratkhabar, jangan tak tau! :P

Not only dia mengaku menconteng tu, malahan proud of it some more! Hai lah anak.

Tengok tu, makan muffin pun bawak crayon ok?

(Ya, tanda ‘peace’ masih belum menjadi)

Gambar selingan. Choc chips muffin. Comment from muffin boy: “Sungguh sedap sekali, Mama!” :)

Growing pains

2011-11-03T16:38:00.001+08:00

On Friday last week, right after I left home for work, Afiq fell off his new bicycle, luka kat lutut. Besar jugak la lukanya, ada la dekat2 besar coins 50sen rasanya. I did snap a picture of it, tapi sendiri pun ngeri tengok, so tak payah la letak. :)

On Saturday Shahril & I took Adreena alone with us during our monthly shopping trip at Mydin USJ. We figured the kids sometimes need one-to-one attention so Saturday was for Adreena. A few hours after we came home from the shopping trip, Adreena panjat katil, entah mcm mana terjatuh and kepala terkena side table. Meraung tok sah nak cakap la, Shahril pegang2 kepala dia… tiba2 kat tangan ada darah! Huiiiiii.. menyirap darah saya! Panik! Check check check… tengok it was her ear. Luka terkena bucu side table tu agaknya. Tuam sekejap dengan ais, took out our First Aid Kit, put some ubat.. letak kapas and lekat kan kat telinga dia.

Lepas habis nangis, minum fufuk sebotol terus tertido

Ni petangnya. Melantun dah. Tu nampak tak terselit lagi kapas kat telinga tu? Dia tak bagi Mama usik telinga dia lagi masa ni.

Teddy bear tu Ayah baru belikan utk Adreena, advanced birthday gift. Ke hulur ke hilir dia usung “Eddy” (short for teddy bear). Bila nak tido pun, dia tepuk2 Eddy dulu suruh Eddy tido. :P

Ahad turn Afiq & Mariessa pulak for some special attention. I sent the boys to watch Real Steel as I feel it was a good father and son movie. (I watched it alone on Friday lepas ambik report card anak2, hehe). Oh Hugh Jackman! :P

Mariessa & I went out for some fun ourselves. Mula2 she requested to go ‘main’. So yang paling senang and dekat… bawak aje ke Playland @ Tesco Kajang.

Berseri seri mukanya. RM 5 well spent!

Then I took her to Pustaka Rakyat in Bangi, since she loves books so much. Kalau ikut dia, semuaaaaa buku pun dia nak beli. “Yang ni Kakak boleh baca ni, Mama.. Yang ni pun boleh… Ni pun sama…” :P

After an hour or so in the bookstore, Mariessa looked tired. I asked if she wanted to go to the clinic sebab the previous night dia mcm demam sikit, padahal baru je 2 minggu sebelum tu demam and doctor dah bagi pun antibiotic. So we went to the clinic. Told the Doctor that I thought she was wheezing the night before, which is something that has never happened before. Doctor checked and true enough, she was wheezing a little. Terpaksa la guna nebulizer for the first time in her young life.

She looked tired, kan?

Kids, sementara nak besar, ye tak? :)

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Yesterday we took Afiq to the clinic pulak, sebab we need to determine his blood group – salah satu rekod yang sekolah perlukan. For Mariessa and Adreena, it’s written in their birth records, the ones that have their immunization details tu. Yang Afiq, takde tulis pulak. We went to the clinic, the clinic advised us to go to the blood lab instead, lagi cepat dia kata. Plus kalau buat kat klinik, kena ambik banyak darahnya. Kalau buat kat lab tu, they’ll just prick him a little. Nasib baik there’s one betul2 in Kajang town, so we went there.

Afiq rilek je masa ni. He’s very good bab2 kena cucuk2 ni. Unlike his Mama. Hehe

(Pictures are taken by Mariessa)

Lepas kena cucuk…

Mama: Sakit tak bang?

Afiq: Hmm.. Abang rasa macam kena sepit je Mama!

That’s my boy! ;)

Mariessa dah pucat dah masa ni, takut dia pulak next. Hehe. Ni memang ikut Mama bab2 kena cucuk.

Alhamdulillah, dah tau dah blood group Afiq. We now have all the info we need for the ‘Borang Maklumat Murid’, Alhamdulillah.

One.. Two.. Three… and then Four!

2011-11-01T12:45:00.001+08:00

Alhamdulillah, I am now entering the 14th week of my pregnancy. I’ve been wanting to share this news with the world, but considering what happened previously, I thought I should wait until it’s a little more ‘safe’ to do so – as babycenter puts it: “your risk of miscarriage is now much lower than earlier in pregnancy” – Alhamdulillah, it’s exactly what I needed to hear.

For the record, this is actually my 6th pregnancy: Afiq (I think I did write about it in my old blog. Unfortunately I don’t remember the URL. How silly. Who forgets the URL of her own blog? Aduh!).. Then miscarriage No 1, Mariessa, Adreena, and then miscarriage No 2. Although the ‘critical’ time is over, I am praying hard that this time it will be smooth sailing, InsyaAllah.

As this will probably be my last pregnancy (one can only plan, ;) ), I am hoping to jot down this experience as much as I can for my own remembrance. Better late than never, ye tak?

We found out about this pregnancy on the 2nd morning of Eid this year. I was waiting for the monthly visit towards the end of Ramadhan, but it didn’t come. It just so happened that our car’s battery ‘died’ on the 1st of Eid, so Shahril was forced to go to town to get a replacement. Alang2 ke town, I asked him to buy me the HPT kit, just to be sure. True enough, it came out positive. Alhamdulillah. So we shared the news with my family over breakfast. Nobody had expected it judging by the gaping mouths and momentary silence. Haha.

I’ve always said that I want to stop ‘producing’ by the age of 35 and Alhamdulillah I’ll be 34 next year. Cepat setahun pencen is indeed a bonus. ;)

Dalam pada cepat setahun pun, I feel really, really old this time around. My energy level during pregnancy is totally different than the previous ones. I am so lah lembiknya this time. Nausea is much worse than I remember and the fatigue? Oh my God, horrible! Of course this convinces me more that this will and should be my last.

We started seeing the gynae at week 6. This time I decided to see Dr A and she has been as informative as I hoped, Alhamdulillah. She prescribed me with Duphaston as a precaution since the beginning and so far so good! :)

In the beginning, when people around me (mostly colleagues) started knowing about my pregnancy, their reaction would be. “Hah? LAGI?”… followed by… “Yang kecik tu umur berapa?”… and lastly..”oooo… dah 2 tahun, ingatkan kecik lagi”. The most dramatic reaction was from a guy.. When told that I am expecting, he slumped in his chair and said..”laaaagi? Hui! Pengsan!” I have absolutely NO idea why he feels the need to pengsan though.

Anyway, last night was my 3rd checkup with Dr. A. I, who gets nervous and excited for all petty reasons possible, was of course nervous and excited. :P. Ye lah, Dr A in the last checkup herself said… “Kalau by 14 weeks nanti semua ok, InsyaAllah… everything will be alright”.

So, here’s baby A.. at 14 weeks.

Dr A measured the head, the backbone and also the hip. Everything looks perfect! Alhamdulillah.

The calculated EDD given by Dr. A is May 4th 2012. Kalau awal 3 hari, that would be our 8th wedding anniversary. If earlier than that, looks like Baby A will be joining April babies: Abang Afiq & Kakak Mariessa. :)

Please pray that this journey will be a smooth sailing one for us, InsyaAllah.

LC’s Report Card Day

2011-10-31T10:32:00.001+08:00

So we (a very cool Shahril (as always) and a very nervous & excited me) went to LC to collect the kids’ report cards. I thought we would be the first to arrive since we got there at 8.30 sharp, but I thought wrong. Dah ada 5-6 kereta dah pun parked outside the school. Guess I was not the only excited parent around hence that makes me normal. Hehe.

Since Mariessa’s class teacher was available, we went to see her first. Mariessa’s results:

Bahasa

Integrated – Basically Pendidikan Agama Islam. Lupa pulak nak ambik gambar contoh2 soalan.

I don’t know why she wrote her name twice though. Too much time? Hehe

Ni lagi best, sampai 3 kali tulis nama. Looks like kena berlatih Maths byk2 ngan Ayah. :D

Overall comments.

I am impressed with her reading ability, Alhamdulillah. It’s not surprising though, because she IS very hardworking. She reads all the time be it story books or Iqra’, usually dengan suara yang kuattttt sekali sampai Abang tension sebab Abang tak boleh nak concentrate tengok TV. Difference between boys and girls eh?

Afiq pulak:

Maybe kena hantar pegi private tuition dengan Aunty Mas or Aunty Nid. Hehe

Whoopsie. Ini kena tuition ngan Mama. Sebab Mama lagi garang daripada Ayah.

When I asked him why banyak salah, he said, “Soalan yang coins tu Mama, susahlah. Penat Abg fikir!”

Note to self: Kena let him play with coins more. :)

Alhamdulillah. This is probably his strength right now.

When I saw this ( I saw this last, after seeing his Maths & English results), the first thing that came to mind was “Aaaa…. ada harapan nak jadi Doctor lagi ni!”. Can’t blame me, I AM afterall a mother. :P

Overall comments. Alhamdulillah.

Afiq has a natural ability to lead, said the teacher. I hope Shahril and I can find a way to enhance his strength and work on his weaknesses, slowly in time.

It’s a learning process, as much for Afiq as it is for us.

Semoga anak2 MamaAyah akan termasuk dalam golongan cerdik pandai yang beramal soleh, InsyaAllah.

Amin.

No more High 5.

2011-10-21T11:23:00.001+08:00

I wrote an email to High 5 last month:

To whom it may concern,

I purchased a few of High5 bread products yesterday (September 14th 2011) from a grocery shop in Jenaris, Kajang Selangor. Among those that I purchased were 2 packets of Ikan Bilis bun with expiry date of 18 Sep 2011.

This morning (September 15 2011) when I opened one of the packets I noticed that the middle back of the bun was slightly gooey. I tore it apart and it smelled foul.

I opened the other packet that I bought, and it was the same. Stale and the smell was really off!

I sincerely hope you can investigate this matter and prevent this from happening again in the future.

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

This actually happened last month. I wrote to High 5 immediately, complete with pictures and everything, and guess what? No reply from them. It’s not like I expect them to ganti rugi ke apa… after all ‘my loss’ was just RM1.80. But a reply would have been nice. At least say something along the line of ‘we’ll look into the matter” or “we will make sure this will never happen again”. Even if it’s just an empty promise. By not replying, I take it that High 5 simply doesn’t care. Arrogant almost. Baru hilang sorang customer kan, ada ramai lagi.

I was lucky that morning, for some reason I had the hunch to take whole bun out of its packaging and inspect it before muching on it. I don’t usually do that. Selalunya saya bukak aje paket tu… and bite the top terus. I believe most people does this too kan? Kembang tekak mengenangkan if I had not done that. Eyyyeeeewwwwwwww……

Needless to say, I will never, ever, EVER buy any of their products again. EVER!

A reminder

2011-10-19T15:30:00.001+08:00

Just before I went home yesterday, I received the news that one of Afiq’s classmates’ mother had passed away.

Berderau darah saya. Macam macam yang terlintas di fikiran.

I cried all the way home. I don’t know Arwah personally. We might have met during LC’s events, we might have not. But that’s irrelevant. The fact is that she had a son of my son’s age, and I could have been in her shoes. So I cried.. mengenangkan suami dan anak kecil yang ditinggalkan.

I know I’m not ready – dari segi dunianya.. apatah lagi dari segi akhiratnya.

When someone dies, it serves as a reminder that sooner or later, our time will come. Tak kira tua, tak kira muda, tak kira yang sihat ataupun yang sakit. Takkan tercepat atau terlambat mahupun sesaat.

Setiap yang bernyawa akan menemui ajal, dan sesungguhnya akan disempurnakan ganjaran kamu pada hari kiamat. Sesiapa diselamatkan daripada neraka dan dimasukkan ke dalam jannah (taman/syurga), maka sesungguhnya dia telah beruntung. Dan kehidupan dunia tidak lain melainkan kesenangan yang memperdayakan.

Everyone shall taste death. And only on the Day of Resurrection shall you be paid your wages in full. And whoever is removed away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he indeed is successful. The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception (a deceiving thing).

Al-Imran 185

Semoga kita berada dalam golongan yang beruntung, InsyaAllah.

Al-Fatihah to Alif Q’s mother. Semoga Allah mengampunkan dosa-dosanya dan meletakkannya di kalangan orang-orang yang beriman.

Adreena’s vocabulary

2011-10-14T10:25:00.001+08:00

For the record, Adreena’s now 22 months & 21 days old. At the recent checkup, she’s 13kgs in weight and 87centimetres tall. The pediatrican said she’s a little on the ‘montok’ side.. (well, well) and she’s also quite tall. (Ayah cepat2 mengaku.. haaaaa tu ikut Ayah tu! :P)

Anyway, her vocab so far…

Anggi bird = Angry bird

Astag wo ajinnnnn = Astaghfirullah hal azim

Ita owoh = Insya Allah. Referring to Maher Zain’s song. Her current favourite. One day she woke up and started singing.. Ita owohhhhh… Ita owohhhh…..

Ayah, Mama, Bibik.. itu standard. Kalau panggil Bibik sekali, Bibik tak nyahut… dia akan sambung… Ohhhhhhhhhh Bibik…

Abang… sometimes kalau nak marah or nak cepat.. Apik aje! :P

Tatak = Kakak

Awiz = Uncle Reez

Mai = Aunty Mas

Ninid = Aunty Nid

Na = Kitreena

Edik = Edrick

Titu = Cikgu (babysitters at nursery haritu)

Pis Ayah = Please Ayah… used when she wants something from Ayah..

Oyon ya… = Tolong lah… when ‘pis ayah’ doesn’t work in obtaining whatever she wanted.

Miyo = Milo

Oya = Bola

Uku Oyak = Buku koyak (nampak benor suka koyakkan buku)

Wuwun = Turun

Oti, ushuk = Potty, busuk! Siap dengan aksi hidung penyek.

Nom = Jom

Nak akan = nak makan

Nanak = Taknak

Mama, nuk ni! = Mama, tengok ni (overused phrase when excited about something or nak ngadu pasal Ayah/Abang/Kakak)

Aneh= Paneh = Panas

Abehyaaa = Habis dahhhhh

Scenario 1: When she’s not occupied with something, and in a good mood

Mama: Deena… meh sini kejap sayang.

Adreena: Otei Mama (Okay Mama)

When she’s occupied with something, or mood not so good.

Mama: Deena, meh sini kejap sayang.

Adreena: Japppppppp… (sekejap)

Mama: Deena.. come la….

Adreena: Kojappppp (kejap, half nogorian la katakan)

Scenario 2: When she looks a little tired

Mama: Deena penat ye?

Adreena: Onekkkk (Ponek.. (Penat)) – Ayah ajar

Scenario 3: When someone does something they’re not supposed to do, like tumpahkan air.. or koyakkan buku (sapa lah lagi).. Abang/Kakak will say.. “aaaayok, tak tauuuuuu” while pointing finger at the person.

One day, Adreena tumpahkan air betul2 depan Mama… buat muka terkejut… dan tanpa rasa bersalah, tunjuk kat Mama and said..”Ta ta yokkkkkkkkkk”

Afiq dulu2 panggil susu = Nini

Mariessa dulu2 panggil susu = Ng ng. When she suddenly had a change of heart and wanted chocolate flavoured milk instead, she calls her susu Milo. Not to be mistaken with the real Milo. Itu “Milo sedap” according to her.

Adreena now panggil susu = fufuk. Sometimes uhuk.

Creative people, these kids.

Istighfar

2011-10-12T20:49:00.001+08:00

Sampai2 kat rumah je, Bibik cerita that...

Adreena woke up from her afternoon nap, sat down, gosok2 tangan kat seluar dia, realized that it's wet and said "astag wo ajinnnn" (Astaghfirullah hal azim)...
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Exam blues

2011-10-11T15:16:00.001+08:00

Yesterday was the 1st day of final exam at LC, so when the kids got home, (I was on leave) I immediately asked:

Mama: Macam mana exam Abang tadi?

Afiq: Sangat bagus, Mama!

Mama: Alhamdulillah… Kakak, Kakak punya exam macam mana?

Mariessa: Alaaaaaaaaaaaaa.. Kakak tak pandai lah! “Minus” tu susah la Mama… Cuba Mama ajar Kakak, nine… minus three…. becomes..?

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

This morning, before going to work I wished them both luck for exam.

Mama: Afiq, buat exam nanti elok2 k? Jangan lupa baca doa ye?

Afiq: Abang tau… Mula2 baca Robbish Rohli kan.. lepas tu.. Oh Allah, Open my heart… Doa yang tu kan Mama? Mama doakan la Abang dapat one hundred!

Mama: InsyaAllah, Mama doakan.

Afiq: Kalau semuaaaa Abang dapat one hundred, boleh beli kereta Flash and Dash lagi tak Mama? (notice the ‘lagi”?)

Mama: Hmm.. Abang dapatkan dulu semua one hundred k, nanti kita tengok macam mana. *jeling kat Ayah*

Mama: Kakak, nanti kakak jawab exam elok2 k?

Mariessa: Ok Mama. Kakak dah tau dah hari ni nine minus three becomes six! Mesti kakak pandai!

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

Called them this afternoon to ask how the exam went.

Afiq: Ok je Mama. Bagus mcm semalam.

Mariessa: Entahla, Kakak dah lupa!

Heheheh

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

Adreena yang makin nakal. Brought her for ‘cucuk 3 serangkai’ on Sunday. She didn’t even flinch!

Mama tukang pegang yang lebih2 dup dap dup dap. Esoknya, Mama yang tak larat pegi kerja! Eh?

Today would be it

2011-10-07T12:18:00.001+08:00

If I could skip one day, just ONE day of the year… today would be it.

Al-Fatihah…

Paling sedap dalam dunia. :)

2011-10-03T12:45:00.001+08:00

I was having a very lazy Sunday when Mariessa approached me at 6pm and said:

Mariessa: Mama.. Kakak rasa dah lamaaaaaaaaaa Mama tak buat Donat.

Mama: Ha-ah kan..

Mariessa: Boleh tak Mama buat donat esok? Kakak dah lamaaaaaa tak makan donat.

Mama: Hmmmm…. (nak mencari alasan not to say yes)

Mariessa: Boleh la Mama… Donat Mama buat lah yang paaaaaling sedappppppp dalam dunia tau?

Mama: * cair*… Ok lah.. nanti Mama tengok dulu bahan2 dia ada ke tak k?

Mariessa: Kalau takde, kita suruh Ayah pegi beli kat kedai. Kedai bukak lagi ni, petang ni

Amboi boi boi…..

After checking that all ingredients indeed ada…

Mama: Ok lah.. nanti malam Mama buat… esok pagi Kakak boleh makan k?

Mariessa: Ala… Mama buat lah sekarang…..

Mama: Pulak dah? Tadi kan cakap nak makan esok?

Mariessa: Ye la.. makan pagi esok… tapi Mama buat la sekarang Mama, Kakak tak boleh nak sabar dah ni. *blink blink blink buat muka kesian"*

Mama: Ok lah, Ok lah… Mama buat sekarang…

From 3 cups of flour… I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again… Raised dough makes me happy! :)

Before goreng. I love them small like this. Easy for the kids.

This morning…

I made half of the dough into this: Burger Malaysia, that’s what we call them, kan?

Pukul 10 malam tadi baru buat sambal ikan bilis.

Kanak2 riang dapat donat.. Nampak tu siap nak bawak bekal ke Little Caliphs. :)

Rindu Ramadhan

2011-09-23T17:59:00.001+08:00

A few minutes ago, Afiq called.

Afiq: Mama.. ni dah habis Ramadhan bulan puasa ke?

Mama: Laaa.. kan dah lama habis? Kita dah raya, kan?

Afiq: * suara sedih * Tapiiiiii….. abang baruuuu nak puasa!

Mama: Oh… tahun depan kan Ramadhan ada lagi..

Afiq: Oh ye? Yey!! Ok Maaaa…. bye!

Semoga kita semua dipanjangkan umur untuk menemui Ramadhan tahun depan, InsyaAllah. Amin.

18 Syawal

2011-09-16T19:10:00.000+08:00

It's 18 Syawal today.

18 Syawal 2 tahun yang lepas Ummi pergi menemui Penciptanya.

Time does not heal all pain. That much I now know.

Semoga Ummi sentiasa tenang di sana, di kalangan orang2 yang beriman.

Al-Fatihah buat Ummi - Siti Rokiah Binti Mohamed.
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Sesungguhnya dia anak saya.

2011-09-10T22:31:00.001+08:00

(Best tak tajuk? Hehe)

Sejak dulu lagi, saya ada satu habit yang saya rasa agak pelik, iaitu kalau saya susah nak tidur, saya akan terbalikkan posisi tidur saya (kepala di kaki katil, kaki di kepala katil) dan selepas tu InsyaAllah saya akan tidur lena.

Errr, sebenarnya ada 2 lagi habit saya kalau saya susah nak tido. Dulu lah, skrg dah tak lagi.

1. Saya akan baring dgn kaki saya ke atas dinding. Maksudnya kedudukan kaki saya 90 darjah dengan badan saya. Bila saya fikirkan balik, heran juga mcm mana saya boleh tidur dgn keadaan mcm tu.

2. Saya akan baring di bawah katil. Tapi pinggang ke bawah saja yg di bawah katil, pinggang ke atas di bahagian luar katil.

Aaaaaanyway, point saya bercerita pasal habit tidur ni adalah: Dah 2 malam saya perasan Adreena buat benda yg sama. Dia demam dan selsema skrg ni, jadi susah nak tidur. Tiap kali saya letakkan kepala dia di atas bantal, dia akan pusing pusing pusing.. sampai kepalanya di kaki katil, lepas tu dia tidur lena. Untuk menguji teori saya, bila dia dah lena, saya betulkan balik kedudukan tidur dia. Sekali lagi dia akan pusing pusing pusing, sampai kepalanya di kaki katil, lepas tu dia sambung tidur. :)

Pernah tak anda notice habit anda dibuat oleh anak2 anda?

P/s: saya pun menaip entry ini dgn posisi tidur terbalik. Seisi rumah demam, batuk dan selsema. Sungguh menyiksakan.
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Eid 2011

2011-09-09T17:35:00.001+08:00

Hope it’s not too late to wish everyone

Selamat Hari Raya

Maaf Zahir & Batin

(or as Mariessa would say it: Maap Zahid dan Fatin!)

Doa Dhuha

2011-08-19T10:31:00.001+08:00

Ya Allah sesungguhnya waktu dhuha itu dhuha-Mu
Kecantikannya kecantikan-Mu…Keindahannya keindahan-Mu
Kekuatannya kekuatan-Mu…Kekuasaannya kekuasaan-Mu
Perlindungannya perlindungan-Mu…

Ya Allah jika rezeki masih di langit, turunkanlah
Jika di bumi keluarkanlah…Jika sukar permudahkanlah
Jika haram sucikanlah…Jika jauh dekatkanlah

Berkat waktu dhuha
Kecantikan-Mu keindahan-Mu kekuatan-Mu kekuasaan-Mu
Limpahkan kepadaku segala yang Engkau telah limpahkan kepada
hamba-hamba-Mu yang soleh

...

2011-08-18T08:35:00.001+08:00

The ‘situation’ at work is surprisingly taking a sharp turn, which looks promising.

But I keep thinking... How do you mend a broken heart?

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Afiq’s Milestone

2011-08-15T15:12:00.001+08:00

I’ve been trying to persuade Afiq to try puasa ‘penuh’ instead of half day since day 1, but it’s a little difficult when I’m not at home. The first weekend in Ramadhan, we went back to 443 and he managed to fast until about 6pm. He couldn’t ‘tahan’ anymore and I ran out of patience. Isk2…

Now I realize that to train a child to fast needs as much patience from the parents as well as from the child himself.

Ye lah, selang 10 minit je..

1: Mama… lagi berapa minit nak Maghrib ni?

2: Mama… Abang dah tak tahan sangat dah ni, Mama. Abang lapar!

3. Mama… Kenapa Mama tak bagi Abang makan? Mama tak kesian ke kat Abang?

4. Mama… Kenapa Abang je kena puasa? Kenapa Kakak dengan Deena (Adreena) tak kena puasa?

5. Mama… Abang dah tak boleh fikir dah Mama… Abang asyik teringat makanannnnnn je!

Hui… Sampai pening lah kepala saya nak menjawab banyak2 kali.

Alhamdulillah, last weekend we finally did it! (Mama menahan sabar, Afiq menahan lapar! :D). As a reward, Shahril and I took Afiq to the pasar Ramadhan in Kuala Klawang (Jelebu). I told him to choose anything he wants. Before pergi ke pasar Ramadhan tu, I asked him dia nak beli apa… he said, “biar Abang tengok dulu apa yang ada kat pasar Ramadhan, nanti Abg bgtau Mama”. Wahhh.. bunyi macam banyakkkk je hajat dia tu.

Berjaya!!!

So we brought him to the pasar Ramadhan – just him, Mariessa & Adreena tak ikut to make it extra special for him. :) In the end, he wanted watermelon (for me to make watermelon juice) and ayam goreng.

Afiq: Mama, tapi ayam goreng tu abang nak four boleh tak?

Mama: FOUR? Banyaknya Abang nak makan? Boleh ke habiskan? Tak baik membazir tau?

Afiq: Bukan four untuk Abang la, Mama. One Abang punya, one Kakak, one Sufia (his cousin), lagi one untuk Deena!

Ahhhh… sejukkkk hati Mama dengar. Dalam lapar2 pun, ingat jugak kat adik2 dia. :)

Maghrib tu, dengan penuh bangganya dia berbuka lah dengan jus tembikai & seketul ayam goreng. That was all he ate! Nak suapkan nasik pun tak nak dah, dah kenyang. Lepas makan je terus ajak Ayah pegi surau, solat Terawih. Semangat betul, padahal tak solat Maghrib pun lagi. :)

That was on 13th Ramadhan. Alhamdulillah he did it again on 14th Ramadhan. So, setakat ni, dapat la 2 hari berpuasa penuh. Good enough for a start, I think.

Semoga anak Mama membesar sebagai mukmin yang sentiasaaaaaa bersabar & bertaqwa hendaknya, yang menjadi contoh kepada adik2, InsyaAllah.

Amin Ya- Rabbal Alamin.

Travelog Umrah : The Etihad experience

2011-08-11T12:14:00.001+08:00

Our boarding passes stated that we’ll be sitting at 38H and 38K. I was anxious about this as I wanted us to sit together (but of course!). Logically H doesn’t sit beside K, but I was hoping that they have a unique (funny?) way of sorting alphabets.

Turns out, they DO! Imagine my relief when the stewardess told me at the door (after inspecting our boarding passes) that Shahril’s seat is next to mine, before showing the way to us. So yey!

I have no idea whether it was Boeing ke Airbus ke. I just don’t digest that kind of information, hehe. The seat arrangement was 2-4-2 and it felt spacious, so no complaints there. Apparently A sits beside C, H sits beside K.. Yang 4 kat tengah tu ada E ada F.. lagi 2 I’m not sure. Hehe

One thing that really stood out for me is that, before the plane took off, after the usual safety video, there was a do’a recital. I thought this was a nice touch. Little thing that differentiate one from another. It would be nice if MAS can do the same, kan?

Just before we took off, the head stewardess announced (announcements were made both in Arabic & English) that the they have among the crew who can speak Arabic, English, Malay, Hungarian and also Chinese. I remember thinking: I didn’t know Hungarian is THAT common. :). That’s kinda nice too, I think. But this is probably more common than the do’a recital. :)

Eventhough by then I realized that it was really happening, that we were really going for Umrah, I was still as nervous as before, if not more. So nervous, I didn’t even bother to check what movies were available for example. Banyak nasihat2 yang saya baca pun bagitau yang we should utilize the time to do zikir etc, preparing our minds basically. I tried reading the do’a book provided by the TA but I couldn’t seem to focus either. Rasa macam last2 minute before exam, try baca buku tapi tak masuk apa2 kan.. haaa macam tu la lebih kurang. (Nampak sgt biasa buat last2 minute baru nak baca buku untuk exam. Muahaha)

There were a few strong turbulences along the way as warned by the pilot, but other than that it was OK. Dinner was yummy (we chose chicken curry with rice ) and despite rasa kematu ponggong (ni baru 7-hour flight!), we managed to get some sleep. Next thing we knew, we were about to land in Abu Dhabi.

* Pictures are either from Mr Google or Etihad’s website.

*Next: From Abu Dhabi to Jeddah

Of raising girls

2011-08-10T11:24:00.001+08:00

This morning while I was applying my makeup, I realized Mariessa & Adreena were both watching me with much interest. (My idea of ‘applying makeup’ is restricted to applying compact powder, lipstick and recently - blusher. Rasa dah advanced sgt la tu ada blusher tu, hehe).

Mariessa: Mama, bila Kakak umur berapa Kakak boleh pakai semua-semua ni?

Alamak.

Turned to my left, Adreena was pretending to apply lipstick on her lips using her finger.

Double Alamak!

These girls really do start early! Macam mana ni? Panic Mama!

* For the record, I was a really late bloomer when it comes to things like this. I bought my first lipstick when I was probably 23 or so, tu pun sebab dah start kerja and as I said earlier, my interest in blusher only started a few months back. Agaknya macam mana la nak melayan anak2 dara saya nanti.

Travelog Umrah: The departure

2011-08-08T15:34:00.001+08:00

One week before we were scheduled to leave, we attended a class organized by the travel agent on Umrah. Alhamdulillah, the class really helped in boosting our confidence before going. The HQ of the travel agent (TA) which we were registered with is actually in East Coast, but they do have a branch in KL, therefore we attended the class in KL. (I shall not name the TA, takut nanti2 ada cerita2 yang menjurus ke arah komplen2. Hehe. Kalau dah buat statement macam ni, maksudnya, ada lah kot tak? :D. Not necessarily… takut2 je.. ;) ).

The day I was eagerly waiting for… but at the same time dreading, finally arrived. Our flight was scheduled at 8.30 p.m. that July 11th, but we were told to be at KLIA at least 3 hours prior to the departure time. The Group Leader (GL) whom Shahril has been in contact with, was also travelling from East Coast and he told us that the group from East Coast will be at KLIA as early as 1 p.m.

I woke up that Monday morning feeling excited and nervous. At 11 a.m Shahril and I went to Little Caliphs to collect Afiq’s & Mariessa’s report cards. I was nervous about that too, first time ambik report cards anak2 lah katakan. :). The ‘report card’ day was actually going to be held the coming Friday and Saturday, but since we were not going to be around, the teachers were kind enough to let us come that Monday.

Shahril’s younger brother was going to send us to the airport together with Mak & Wan. Shahril and I decided that we won’t let the kids come to the airport to see us off, as I feared seeing us off might be a little traumatic for the kids (and for me, to be honest). Takut nanti tengok diorg nangis, tak senang hati saya 2 minggu. (Kemungkinan untuk saya berdrama swasta di airport juga sgt tinggi kalau anak2 ikut sekali).

So we performed solat Zuhur, had our lunch and got ready to leave. Dari pagi tu sebenarnya dah berapa kali ntah air mata saya berjurai. Tak pernah tinggalkan anak2 sampai 2 minggu. Tak pernah jugak both of us takde at the same time. Kalau pegi outstation pun setakat 3-4 malam paling lama, and at least one of us is at home. Itu la yang rasa berat hati sangat2 tu.

Bila salam dengan anak2, air mata saya dah tak boleh ditahan dah. Macam empangan pecah la agaknya. Mula2 dengan Afiq dulu. He was upset that we didn’t let him come to the airport together with his cousins (Shahril’s younger brother brought his sons along). Hilang lah kisah sedih sekejap, as he was upset and I had to pujuk him.

I have to say it was Mariessa’s reaction that surprised me. Seeing that I was crying, she struggled to control her own tears. When she hugged me, I could feel that she was trying her best not to cry. She said nothing… but just held on to me. When I let her go, she quickly wiped her tears and went to the sofa and sat there. Only after I went out the door, I saw her putting her face in between her knees and sobbed. :(

Leaving Adreena was the hardest. She’s too young to understand, but I was afraid 2 weeks might just be a little bit too long being apart from us (vice versa).

So we left home at around 3.30p.m. as I wanted us to be at KLIA at 4.30 so that I have one hour (from the agreed 5.30) for the unexpected.

Seeing that I was (still) crying in the car, Mak cakap.. “Jangan risau la Nil… Mak ada tengok budak2 tu. 2 minggu tu kat sana… kejappppp je nanti ko rasa. Orang pegi haji 40 – 45 hari pun… bila nak balik tu ada rasa tak nak balik..”. :)

We arrived at KLIA at 4.30 Alhamdulillah. We went to look for the GL to introduce ourselves and at 5 after performing our Asar prayers, we began checking in.

We were scheduled to leave via Etihad Airways on EY 411 to Abu Dhabi at 8.40 p.m. and to arrive at 11.45 p.m Abu Dhabi time. As the time difference is 4 hours, that means it was going to be a 7-hour flight.

I have never heard of Etihad Airways before, to be honest. So when we first received our itinerary, I quickly googled to find out. I even made a comparison between Etihad and Emirates upon finding out that Etihad is the National Airline of the United Arab Emirates (I always thought Emirates is). Bila dah baca2 tu, rasa lega la jugak. :). Transit in Abu Dhabi Airport will be for 3 hours before we leave for Jeddah.

Alhamdulillah, checking in was a breeze eventhough the queue was very long! We met the rest of the group there. It’s a small group of 16, with only 4 ladies (myself included) and 2 children. Nak kata budak pun tak.. teenagers pun tak sgt, the girl was probably around 10, and the boy 15. Agaknya lah. :)

After checking in, Mak, Wan and Shahril’s brother left. I was feeling a little hungry (masa lunch kat rumah, takde selera sebab tak senang hati mengenangkan anak2) so we sat down at KFC and shared a burger while contemplating our trip. I called home to check on the kids, Afiq was no longer upset Alhamdulillah, but Mariessa refused to talk me and I could hear her crying on the background. :(.

We then took the aerotrains to Gate C12 for boarding. It was almost Maghrib when we arrived at the gate so we went for our Jama’ prayers at the surau nearby first. Just before boarding, I called home again and this time Mariessa was done with her crying Alhamdulillah and was her normal self again.

Makanya, we boarded the plane dengan rasa senang hatinya, Alhamdulillah.

Next: Our first Etihad experience.

Travelog Umrah: The preparation

2011-08-04T16:10:00.001+08:00

The first thing we were told to do was to get the mandatory meningococcal vaccination before submitting our passports to the travel agent.

So on Monday night, I called 3 clinics / hospitals in Kajang to ask about the charges. 2 out of the 3 places I called told me the charge is RM155. The third place I called told me I need to make a booking for the vaccination and that it will cost me RM250 not yet including the consultation. I have no idea why this particular hospital is charging so much more than the rest. It could possibly be the validity of the vaccination. I was told that there are 2 variations, one that is valid for 3 years and another one for 5 years. I am not so sure about this. But we decided to have it at the clinic nearest to us: Klinik Kita in Saujana Impian and the charge was RM155 per person.

(It doesn’t hurt, trust me. Hehe – This is more like a note to myself for next time, InsyaAllah. Since yang penakut jarumnya saya lah)

The vaccination is made compulsory by Saudi government in order to obtain our Umrah visas.

Well, that’s basically all we had to do actually.

Fortunately for me a few friends just came back from Umrah as well, so I quickly emailed them asking for tips. Thanks Ghose, Ija, Figette & Azlan! I find their tips very helpful. Lots of reading and googling helped too of course.

For self preparation, the advice I normally received are nicely captured here.

During the 2 weeks before going, I felt extremely nervous and scared. Rasa tak percaya pun ada. People who knew kept congratulating me for being ‘invited’ and I was thinking… “betul ke ni?”, '”layak ke?”, “ilmu & amal sangatlah tak seberapa… boleh ke?”. I am lucky to be going with Shahril ( I won’t have it any other way. :) ). So our nights were usually spent talking about our upcoming trip: about how it was going to be our longest trip so far, about leaving the kids (sapa yang nangis nanti Mama ke anak2?), about the umrah itself etc.

One thing that keeps coming to mind is this: Ever since we got married, I have always persuaded Shahril to go for a holiday abroad. Tak kisah la pegi mana pun.. Perth ke… Gold Coast ke.. London ke, Bandung ke… but every single time, Shahril will give me the same answer: kalau boleh, biarla our first trip nanti pegi ke Mekah dulu.

Honestly, I’ve always thought this was a nice way of Shahril trying to silent me on my persuasions (it worked everytime). Tapi, betul lah Arwah Ummi selalu pesan..”kata kata tu do’a!”.

A few days before the departure, I was already feeling the ‘heat’ of leaving the kids. Cakap pasal anak2 je, mata dah siap2 berair. Tengok anak2 tido pun, hati dah sayu.

Next: The departure day

Travelog Umrah : Kids’ reactions

2011-08-04T12:34:00.001+08:00

Even before we received the confirmation, my MIL has volunteered to come over to Kajang to ‘supervise’ Bibik and my kids while Shahril and I are away. Alhamdulillah, we are lucky that we don’t have to worry about the kids. Bibik is reliable and having my MIL to supervise her is exactly what we needed. I am a little worried my MIL would be bored staying in Kajang – she is afterall a very active lady, ayamlah, kolam ikan lah, berkebun lah, macam2 activity kat kampung. Kat Kajang where got ayam ikan? Tanah sekangkang kera kat belakang rumah tu, tanam pokok pandan & kari je dah penuh. :) But she assures me she will be fine and it’s comforting knowing that she gets along very well with Bibik too.

So among the first things we did after knowing the date was breaking the news to Afiq & Mariessa. Adreena was there too of course, but si kenit ni belum faham apa2 lagi. :)

We told them that we would be going for Umrah, and that Madinah and Mekah is very, very far that we will be gone for fourteen days.

Afiq (mata terbeliak): FOURTEEN days, Mama??? Laaaaamaaanyaaaaaaaaaa… * menung *

Mariessa: Mama, kenapa Mama dengan Ayah kena pegi Umrah?

Mama: Sebab.. Mama nak pegi solat kat sana.. Mama nak berdoa kat sana. Mama nak doa utk anak2 Mama… Mama nak..

Mariessa: Mama nak doa untuk Opah?

Mama: *tersentak & terdiam*.. pause.. Ye sayang, Mama nak doa untuk Opah

Mariessa: Ohhhhhh….

Afiq: Fourteen days, Mama??? (still in shock, hehe)

Mama: Iye.. Nanti bila Mama Ayah takde, Wan datang sini tolong Bibik jaga Abang, jaga Kakak, jaga Adik ok? Nanti Wan hantar Abang and Kakak pegi sekolah. Kena dengar cakap Wan tau?

Afiq: Ok!

Mariessa: Tapi…. Wan tau ke macam mana nak pegi Little Caliphs?

Afiq: Takpe, nanti Abang tunjukkan jalan kat Wan! Abang tau jalan!

Alhamdulillah, so they took it well. I was actually amazed by how well the took it. Except for Mariessa’s initial question as to why we are performing the Umrah, they never asked why again, after that. It’s amazing how they could ‘understand’. I had anticipated at least one of them to wail ‘nak ikut’ or asking why the both of us have to go at the same time, but Alhamdulillah they didn’t. I think it helped knowing that their Wan will be there to look after them. Of course they also know Wan is not as garang as Mama and Ayah lah kan, and that Wan will layan their requests more! :P

Next: The preparation

Travelog Umrah : The news

2011-08-03T12:18:00.001+08:00

*This was written early July*

At this moment, I’m writing this for my own keepsake. I am still not sure whether or not I’ll publish this. I would really love to share this, but deep down ada sikit rasa takut. Takut dalam keseronokan nak berkongsi tu, terselit unsur2 takbur dan riak. Nauzubillah. When I asked Shahril about this, Shahril kata, tunggu dah balik nanti, baruu tulis pasal ni. So that’s what I’m going to do. Tulis sekarang, since my memory is short termed.. and when we come back, InsyaAllah, will publish this.

Let me just begin by saying this: Allah surely knows best and at times, He works in mysterious ways.

A couple of months ago, I was feeling extremely down. Career-wise that is. After a few years of waiting, I was not among those who were promoted at work. During 8 years of my service with the company, I have only been promoted once and that was almost 5 years ago. With the change of subsidiary, different job scope altogether from the previous one, the newly obtained professional certification, I honestly thought I was coping excellently and have been doing it right. At least good enough. So when I did not get it for reasons I find hard to accept, I was crushed.

This, coupled with the miscarriage in March brought me to the lowest point in life I’ve ever been.

One day, sometime in May, Shahril came home and told me that his boss (let’s call him En.D) is sending us both for Umrah.

Alhamdulillah. Sayunya perasaan saya masa tu, memang tak boleh nak digambarkan dengan kata2. Rasanya, tak terkumpul segala obstacles in life for us to be rewarded sebesar ni. Truly when He closes one door, He surely opens another.

Maka yang mana satu di antara nikmat-nikmat Tuhan kamu, yang kamu hendak dustakan? - Ar-Rahman

Finally, on June 27th we were given the confirmed date. Exactly 2 weeks after that date we would be leaving.

I would be lying if I say all I felt was excitement. The truth is, other feelings were so overwhelming that I was beginning to worry about not feeling as excited as I thought I should be. Does this make any sense? Although we knew we were going, it wasn’t until that Monday (when we got the confirmation) that we felt we were really going. That it was for real. (Maybe I should say ‘I’ here, instead of ‘we’ as Shahril was as calm as always. :P)

Next: Kids’ reactions to the news.

We’re back.

2011-07-29T11:10:00.001+08:00

Alhamdulillah, syukur kepada Allah, atas izinNya, Shahril & I are back from what must have been the most significant trip of our lives thus far.

If and when time permits, InsyaAllah, I’ll be writing on our experience … for now I’m just trying to break the ice. It’s been so long! ;)

Estima & Bumi

2011-06-30T12:12:00.001+08:00

This morning, 5 minutes after she woke up:

Mariessa: Mama, nanti bila Kakak dah besar, Kakak nak beli Estima lah! Boleh tak, Mama? (Mimpi Estima kot malam tadi?)

Mama: Bolehhhhh…. Nanti Mama boleh naik tak Estima Kakak?

Mariessa: Bolehhhhhhhhhhhh.. Tapi, Mama duduk belakang je. Sebab masa tu Mama dah ketua dah. Biar kakak reverse!

Ketua = tua.

----------

A few nights ago, during bedtime. Afiq yang dah baring, tiba2 duduk semula. Dengan muka serius:

Afiq: Mama, Mama rasa Bumi ni selamat lagi tak?

Mama terkedu.

Mama: Hmm.. kenapa Abang tanya macam tu?

Afiq: Saja je! Abang cuma nak tau.. selamat ke tak Bumi ni?

Mama: InsyaAllah, kita kena la selalu doa k? Kita doa, mintak Allah selamatkan Bumi ni… Kalau kita banyak2 doa… InsyaAllah selamat.

Not the best answer, I know. Would anyone share with me how to answer this best?

Little Caliphs’ Sports Day 2011

2011-06-24T17:10:00.001+08:00

I’ve been wanting to blog about this since the very day, but ilham tarak mari. Tambah pulak.. patah hati entah buat berapa kali. (Hey that rhymes). Tak habis2 patah hati. * sigh *

Untuk mengcover kebuntuan saya, biar saya letak gambar banyak2 k?

Anyway, LCPS (that’s Little Caliphs Prima Saujana) had its first Sports Day on 18th of June this year. 4 LCs combined and made it a much bigger event.

The theme: Fostering Ukhwah Through Sportsmanship

Afiq and Mariessa (especially Mariessa) had been practising the school cheer for weeks before the day. So much so, sampai Adreena pun dah reti cheer!

We were told to be at Padang Uniten at 7.30. As expected, kecoh la pagi tu to get everyone ready. Time tu lah Milo tumpah kat baju la… dah nak keluar pintu baru nak ‘chin’ lah.. Macam2. Stress Mama! Hehe

We managed to get to the venue on time. Tak tau la masa tu siapa yang lebih excited, Mama ke anak2.Ayah konon2 cool.. :P

LCPS was the red team that day. Gooooo chilli!

We were in red too! Ni cheerleader paling riuh!

Before the parade

It was an emotional day for me. Rasa macam cepat sgt anak2 membesar. Baruuuu je bersalin.. eh, dah sports day?? Before everyone marched in, saya dah tersebak sorang2 dah… Then it was announced that the red team is led by Afiq Naqiuddeen.. Huii.. tak reti lah nak express apa perasaan saya. Tiba2 je berderai air mata. Ada la terasa poyo sikit… but what to do??

Mariessa tengah bergosip ngan kawan baik dia. Sempat lagi tu!

The first event was for 4 year olds.

Laju ok, Mariessa lari!

Seriussss je tunggu 2nd event.

Afiq pun masuk 2 acara.

In this game, Afiq was the last runner, hence the ‘selepang’

Ni 2nd game. Pass baton. Afiq was the 2nd last runner. Teacher pun lari sama! :D

Overall, LCPS won the first place, Alhamdulillah! Afiq represented the school at prize giving ceremony. (ok, ok, saya ngaku.. masa ni pun ada airmata..:P)

Afiq receiving the medals for LCPS

Doing the school cheer

Happy dapat medal, but happier with her goodie bag. :P

Ready to go home

For full story… here and here

Graffiti

2011-06-23T16:15:00.001+08:00

Pada suatu hari…. ada budak telah terdiscover bakat terpendam beliau.

Hasil seni beliau adalah seperti berikut:

Terlalu abstrak untuk ditafsirkan

Twinkle2 little star?

Nak kaler apa? Kuning? Hijau? Macam2 ada.

*Mama pitam

Setelah ditarbiahkan barang seminit dua… dan ditepuk (manja) sikit tangannya oleh Mama….

“Ayaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……. “ pastu sembam muka kat sofa!

Ayah: Takpelaaa… nanti bila budak2 ni dah besar, kita cat je balik dinding tu.

Mama: Better still, bila budak2 ni dah besar, kita pindah rumah lain je la ye? :D

Aksi meniru gaya Mama marah! :P

Haiiii lah anak…

Kenapa kita kena makan?

2011-06-20T17:05:00.001+08:00

Last week:

Afiq: Mama.. Abang bosan lah!

Mama: Bosan? Kenapa Abang bosan?

Afiq: Sebab Bibik tu sukaaaaaaaaaaa suruh Abang makan. Sikit2 kena makan! Abang tak suka lah, Mama.

Mama: Bibik suruh Abang makan apa? Bila?

Afiq: Ye lah, hari2 Bibik suruh Abang makan nasik! Abang tak suka makan lah Mama. Kalau Abang nak sesuatu, kena makan dulu. Kalau tak makan, nanti Bibik tak nak bagi. Kenapa kita kena makan, Mama? Boleh tak kalau Abang tak nak makan?

Aiyo!

* Sesuatu refers to fruits or vitagen or calci-yum or cakes or whatever we have at home yang bukan nasik. :).

Selalunya balik sekolah je, Bibik akan suruh makan nasi dulu.. then baru lah boleh apa2 yang lain. That’s the deal. Anyone with the same situation?

‘Yang’

2011-06-20T10:27:00.001+08:00

Last night:

Ayah: Ainil nak makan tak?

Mama: Tak la Yang. Kenyang

Mariessa: Hihihihih… Mama panggil Ayah, Yang? Hihihihi..

Mama: Kenapa Kakak gelak?

Mariessa: Ye la.. macam panggil Nyang (moyang) je. Hihihihihihiihi

Mariessa’s 1st Award.

2011-06-17T11:36:00.001+08:00

Last year, I wrote about Afiq’s first Award at LC.

This time around, it’s Mariessa’s turn. Alhamdulillah.

All pictures courtesy of LCPS. Full story here.

Best Hafazan : Afreena Mariesa

Pre- Readers 4 & 5 yrs

Alhamdulillah.

Allhamdulillah. Syukur pada Mu Ya Allah.

Kuching… Part 3. Flying without wings

2011-06-17T11:00:00.001+08:00

Before I went to Kuching, dalam kepala dah plan macam2 nak buat kat sana. Nak baca buku, nak tengok TV… and paling penting… nak TIDUR! To have uninterrupted sleep lah konon. Dah tak payah bangun buat susu or tukar diapers kan? This is my.. 5th.. or maybe 6th time in Kuching, so takde la rasa nak berjalan2 sgt. Plus, at this point of time, rasa ‘me’ time tu lagi precious dari nak jalan2. :).

Ahhhh… so that’s what age can do to you. ;)

Realitinya.. The first night there pukul 1 baru dapat lelap. Pukul 3 terjaga, pukul 5 terjaga lagi. Pastu terus tak dapat sambung tido dah. Rasa sunyi sgt pulak, walaupun TV tu sentiasa ON kan je. Sekali tu, terjaga sebab terasa2 macam Adreena panggil, mintak susu. :)

The 2nd night, slightly better lah. Fell asleep sometime around midnight, pukul 6 pagi baru terjaga. But I felt like I didn’t sleep at all. Camano tu? Myybe sebab penat sgt 2nd day tu agaknya. We concluded the audit at the first operation office at noon and continued at the 2nd office which runs a totally different operation right after lunch hour until about 5.30. Penuh sesak dalam otak rasanya. Ala2 tepu la kira. By the time we reached the hotel it was already 7pm as it was raining cats and dogs, so the traffic was nothing unlike KL’s traffic.

The highlight of the 2nd day was this:

Can you believe this? Can you?

Taking off.. errr ke ni time nak landing? :D

Airborne.

I tried the simulator which the company is maintaining. Mula2 tu konon2 tak nak try pun. Tapi lepas tu naik sheikh. Hehehe. Syokkkkk rupanya. Crashed it once or twice. Itu pun rasa macam dah nak tercabut jantung! Serius! Kecut perut dibuatnya. Melilau cari runway nak landing. Echewah.

Pastu terfikir… pilots semua tak confused ke eh bila diorang bawak kereta?? Lainnnnn ok! Saya yang test 10-15 minit tu pun, sendiri terfikir.. nanti bawak kereta agak2 kalau tarik steering tu kereta boleh naik ke atas dak? Heheheheh…

pilot wannabe... NOT. ;)

Kuching… Part 2

2011-06-15T14:51:00.001+08:00

My colleague and I were on the first flight out to Kuching from KL on Monday. It was my first time onboard the Firefly. Dah lama rasanya tak jejak kaki kat KLIA. Asyik gi LCCT je.

Busy even at 6 am.

I think KLIA should consider besarkan the surau.

It was by far the noisiest flight I’ve ever been in. Engine wise AND passenger wise. Macam directly proportionate gitu. Lagi engine kuat, yang bersembang kat depan pun makin kuat. Pakkal lah ada 2 row je kat depan pun! Bersembang sakan cik main! Tak habis2 idea diorg sejam empat puluh lima minit penerbangan tu. Aiyayai…

Food was OK although if I were to compare, I think nasik lemak served by AA is way better. :)

Sampai kat Kuching, dah ada staff Kuching yang tunggu. No, I didn’t do any “grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr” action, but it made me smile la imagining it. Hehe.

We were first brought for breakfast Kuching style! Dah la dah makan dalam flight kan, tapi since diorg ajak, how could we say no, ye tak? We went to a gerai called Mom’s Laksa on Jalan Astana. Jangan tanya lebih2.. that’s all I know. :).

I’ve been to Kuching a few times before, tapi tak pernah rasa Laksa Sarawak yang sedap. So, selalu tak faham kenapa ada kawan yang sukaaaaaaaaaaa sangat dengan Laksa Sarawak. This time around, since the guy who took us there kata that one mmg sedap, saya pun tabahkan hati la order. Dah terfikir2 dah, macam mana nak buat muka ni, kalau tiba2 rasa tak sedap. How meh? Kang kecik hati pulak diorg kan.

The stall was full! Orang bersilih ganti.Heran jugak rasa, tengok orang breakfast makan laksa. Not long after we ordered, the laksa arrived. Berdebar2 saya scoop kuah dia, rasa sikit.

Wallawehhhhhhhhhh…. sedappppppppppppppppppp!!!!

Takde gambar, sebab den sogan! :D Nampak naaaaa pelancongnya. :D

Petang tu after work, we were sent to our hotel – Harbour View. OKlah, nothing to complain about the hotel. Baru je sampai bilik, my phone rang….

The room

The view from my room on the 11th floor.

Afiq: Mama… Mama dah sampai Kuching?

Mama: Dahhh…Mama dah habis kerja pun hari ni. Esok sambung lagi.

Afiq: Ohhh… Mama dah sampai hotel ke?

Mama: Ha-ah.. Mama kat hotel. Abang pegi sekolah ok tak hari ni?

Afiq: Ok… Tadi banyak berlatih untuk sports day!! Bestttttt!. Tapiiiiiiiiiiii……………

Mama: Tapi apa?

Afiq: Tapi… Abang rinduuuuuu kat Mama.

Mama: (cair)….

Afiq: Kalau Mama ada kat rumah, kan best!

Mama: Mama pun rinduuuuuuuu kat Abang. Lagi 2 hari je Mama balik k?

Afiq: OK Mama..

Afiq the day before I went to Kuching. Baru lepas potong rambut. :)

Ada lagi cerita on the first day.. To be continued la ye? :D

Kuching… Part 1

2011-06-13T14:29:00.001+08:00

I broke the news to the kids yesterday that I was going to ‘kerja jauh’ for 3 days starting today. Afiq was concerned about the fact that I was going to be away for three days. “THREEEEEE days, Mama? Lamaaaa nya! Kenapa kena pegi kerja jauh2? Kat ofis Mama tak boleh buat kerja ke?”

Mariessa, well.. terbeliak mata dia when I told them I was going to Kuching. Cepat2 saya tambah, Kuching tu nama tempat. For the record, I am terrified of cats. Teramat-amat! Nampak kucing, dada saya ni berdebar debarrrrrrrrr je rasa. No joke. Siapa je yang tak tau pasal takutnya saya pada kucing.

After a few minutes of silence…

Mariessa: Mama, bila Mama sampai kat Kuching nanti, Mama buat macam ni tau….Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (sambil buat badan gaya Incredible Hulk!). Nanti kucing semuaaaaaaa lari. Mama jangan takut k?

Tak cukup nafas saya gelak malam tadi!

So….. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!

A chocolate affair

2011-06-08T10:34:00.001+08:00

I’ve never, ever baked a chocolate cake before since I’m not into chocolate. (Thank God!) OK, once my SIL gave me an instant one, tinggal nak kacau ngan air panas je but that doesn’t count. :D So when my brother asked me if I could bake him a chocolate cake, I took the challenge (<- ayat2 standard kat resume ni.. almaklumlahhhhhh) and cepat2 cari resepi on the internet.

After looking at soooooo many chocolate cake recipes, I decided to try the one I found here. First because I’ve been following forum @ cari.com.my for years and I trust the blog owner’s recipes. Don’t you just hate it when you try a recipe and it doesn’t turn out macam orang lain buat? Well, the recipes I collected over the years from that forum has never disappoint me. Secondly, the recipe looks easy enough to follow. No pelik2 ingredients and the biggest point is, tak payah bawak keluar mixer. Hehe. The only thing that makes me nervous is the fact that it’s a steamed cake. Steaming makes me nervous.

For easy reference, here’s the recipe:

(Copied bulat2 from http://dapur-digital.blogspot.com/2011/01/kek-coklat-kukus-munira-super-moist.html)

Kek Coklat Kukus (Munira)
Bahan-bahan: - akak guna loyang bulat 9"
1 cawan gula pasir - akak letak 3/4 cawan aje
1 cawan serbuk koko
1 cawan susu cair
1 cawan susu pekat
1 cawan minyak masak - akak guna minyak jagung mazola
1 sudu kecil serbuk nescafe - yg ni akak tambah
semua bahan di atas digaul sebati dan masak atas api perlahan sehingga gula larut.
Rehatkan sekejap bila dah sebati
Bahan B:
3/4 cawan tepung gandum
1 sudu kecil (sudu kfc) soda bikarbonat
1 sudu kecil (sudu kfc) baking powder
semua bahan di atas diayak
Bahan C:
4 biji telur - diblender (tapi akak pukul hingga kembang)
Cara membuat:
Satukan bahan B dan bahan C ke dlm bahan A secara berselang seli dan gaul dgn senduk aje. Bila dah sebati masukkan ke dlm loyang yg digris dan dilapik kertas kalis minyak. Kukus selama 1 jam atau sehingga masak. Jgn buka pengukus semasa proses mengukus 45 min yg pertama takut kek jd mendap.

Note: I did exactly as K.Noor did i.e. gula 3/4 cawan je.. tambah nescafe & only after 55 minutes of steaming baru saya berani bukak tutup pengukus. Dengan penuh debaran sekali!

Recipe for the chocolate ganache:

(also found online tapi tak ingat sangat sangat kat mana saya jumpa. Will link once I remember)

300g whipping cream

400g cooking chocolate

1tbsp butter / margarine

2 tbsp honey

Masak whipping cream atas api sederhana sehingga keluar buih. Masukkan cooking choc yang dipotong kecil2. Then masukkan butter & honey. Kacau hingga sebati. Done!

The outcome?

Ada orang dah tak sabar2 nak makan.

Tension sebab Mama asyik nak ambik gambar je. Hehe

Alhamdulillah. Lega rasa!

This one I baked for my brother, who wanted to surprise his girlfriend for her birthday. He wanted a colourful one. :)

Alhamdulillah, they loved it too! Phew!

Lebihan choc ganache tu.. saya salutkan lah kat donut, pagi tadi..

Comot2 sebab nak cepat.

Alasan je tu sebenarnya, kalau bukan sebab nak cepat pun.. comot jugak. Hehe

The size is actually just a little bigger than a 50sen coin. Senang anak2 nak makan, sekali ngap je!

Kungfu Badak. ;)

2011-06-07T15:03:00.001+08:00

A week or so ago while we were in the car, I asked Shahril whether we should bring the kids to watch Kungfu Panda 2. Afiq overheard us from the backseat and asked, “Mama.. bila kita nak pegi tengok Kungfu Badak?”

Apa lagi… seminggu lebih la tu jadi modal Ayah dia nak menyakat! :D

So, dengan penuh excitednya, we went to TGV Cheras Selatan on Saturday morning. Lucky I made online booking a few days earlier as the line was really really long!

Mariessa was entirely clueless about going to the cinema, this being her first time. Macam2 dia tanya:

Cinema tu apa Mama?

Kenapa kalau nak tengok Kungfu Pada.. kita kena pegi tengok kat ‘tei-ko’ (Jusco, interchangeably with Tesco) ni? Kenapa tak boleh tengok kat rumah?

Kenapa Mama bawak sweater Kakak?

Kenapa Adeena tak boleh ikut?

Kalau tengok Kungfu Pada kita boleh makan pokcorn eh Mama?

Belum apa2, Mama dah pening.

Masuk aje dalam tu, alamak! tengah preview Harry Potter. Member apa lagi kan?? Pucat terus la muka! Kata nak tengok Kungfu Panda, apsal keluar citer seram? (seram bagi dia lah kan?). Duduk kat seat dia, muka cuakkkkk je. Dah la on the screen citer seram, keliling gelap pulak tu. I let her be. Kang kalau cuba nak comfort dia, lagi dia jadi takut. So biar dia settle herself down dulu.

Lepas habis preview Harry Potter, preview Puss in Boots pulak. Baruuuuuu lah bercahaya sikit muka dia (saya jeling2 tengok dia). Then baru lah dia bersuara, “Mama, Kakak tak takut!” Maksudnya sebelum tu takutlah tu. Heheheheh.

Dah habis takut tu.. apa lagi.. bertubi2 la soalan keluar. “Mama.. kucing pun boleh cakap eh dalam movie ni? Kakak tak takut kucing tu!” Heran jugaklah saya dengan statement tu.. padahal kalau tengok kartun kat Disney Channel pun, haiwan mana yang tak boleh bercakapnya, ye tak?

Unlike Afiq, Mariessa ni tak suka tengok TV sangat pun kalau kat rumah. She prefers books. Reading (style dia la).. colouring… So I was a little concern she might not enjoy the whole thing.

She watched the movie quietly for the first 20 minutes or so. . Lepas tu dah agak restless. Bangun kejap.. tengok orang2 kat bawah… tengok2 orang kat belakang. “Mama.. lagi best duduk kat atas ke… kat bawah?”. “Mama… kenapa semua orang suka nak tengok citer ni?”

Then, dia complain sejuk pulak. Lama2 saya riba & peluk dia. Diam lah sekejap… after 10 minutes… “Mama.. kakak nak tido lah.. tapi bising sangat!”… “Mama tak bawak Milo kakak eh?”

Anyway, as expected, the movie was very, very entertaining. Meriah sungguh dalam cinema tu pun. Afiq clearly enjoyed himself.Gelak pun kadang2 terlebih panjang dari orang lain. Orang lain dah habis gelak.. tiba2 ada sorangggg je dalam cinema tu belum habis gelak lagi! :D

One happy boy. Hilang terus demam!

Mariessa tak nak ambik gambar ngan poster tu. Tak tau la kenapa.

Nak cepat punya pasal, kepala Po pun tak masuk! Hehe

Dah jauhhhhhh baru nak. Tu pun sebab dapat cekak rambut baru!

Probably when Kungfu Panda 3 is out, our little angel No 3 pun boleh join sekali.

(judging from the ending of the movie, macam ada sambungan kan?)

This morning, while I was getting ready for work, terdengar Afiq dengan Mariessa bersembang.

Afiq: Kakak, hebat kan hari tu kita pegi tengok Kungfu Panda!

Kakak: Ha-ah kan. Sejuuuuukkkkkkk tempat tu!

Afiq: Panda tu kungfu dia very good kan?

Kakak: Ha-ah! Tiger tu pun terror kan? Kakak lagi suka tiger tu! Dia kawan dengan Pada tu kan. Tapi dia pun hebat!

Afiq: Masa Panda tu lawan2 tu pastu dia lompat tinggi tu pastu ada letup2 tu.. whoa! hebat kan?

Kakak: Yessssss!!! Tapi kan, dalam cinema tu gelappp kan? Pokcorn tu pun sedaaaaappppppppppppppppppp!

Afiq: Pastu last last tu bapak Panda tu kata anak dia hidup lagi kan? Nasib baik!!!

Kakak: Ha-ahhhh.. Nanti next time Deena dah besar Deena pun boleh ikut kita tengok mubi kan?

It amazed me how they can have a conversation yang nadanya bersambung sambung, tapi jalan cerita nya takde kesinambungan langsung! Hahahah. Nampak sangat their focus is different kan? Afiq was into the story, Mariessa (except for the tiger who obviously has made an impact on her) was into everything else but the movie! :)

Tigress: I hope this turns out better than your plan to cook rice in your stomach by eating it raw, and then drinking boiling water.

Tigress: Where's Po?

Mantis: How can we lose a guy that big?

Po: The only thing that matters is what you choose to be now

‘cuti’ solat.

2011-06-01T10:32:00.001+08:00

Mariessa loves asking questions. I love that about her. Afiq asks a lot too, but Afiq is much, much more easily satisfied than Mariessa. With Afiq, I can explain something, he’ll accept the answer and try to digest it on his own (probably that’s what a 6-yr old does?). Most of the time he’ll come back to me after a few minutes if he’s still in doubt. With Mariessa it’s different. She asks and she expects a satisfactory answer pronto! Until she gets it, she’ll just keep asking.

I am now having a difficulty trying to explain to her why sometimes Mama cannot perform solat. We usually perform solat Maghrib berjemaah, so it’s of course very obvious during the time of the month when I can’t. So far I’ve tried these:

Mariessa: Mama, kenapa Mama tak solat sama2 ni?

Mama: Mama cuti sayang.

Mariessa: Cuti? Solat pun ada cuti? Kakak pun cuti lah!

Mama: Kakak takde cuti lagi, bila girl dah besar… baru ada cuti.

Mariessa: Tak nak lah.. kakak nak cuti sama Mama.

Mariessa: Mama.. kenapa Mama tak solat?

Mama: Hmmm.. Mama tak bersih, sayang. Mama tak boleh solat.

Mariessa: Ohhh… Mama go lah mandi! Nanti Mama bersih lah!

Mariessa: Mama, kenapa Mama tak solat?

Mama: Mama tak sihat, sayang. Mama tak boleh solat

Mariessa: Kalau Mama tak sihat, kenapa Mama tak pegi clinic? Nanti kan doctor bagi ubat, Mama sihat lah!

Mama: Hmmm.. Mama sakit lain. Girl dah besar je sakit macam Mama, tak boleh solat.

Mariessa: Tapiiiiiiiiiiii… kalau sakit, kita kena lah doa kat Allah! Nanti Allah bagilah kita tak sakit dah. Kalau nak doa, kena lah solat!

Haaa… So how?

Anyone can help me with this? She’s only 4, so it’s not yet time to tell her all the glory details ye tak? That will probably scare her! :). But at the same time I don’t want to mislead her too. Help, please? :)

bake… or break.

2011-05-31T15:46:00.001+08:00

I am quite convinced now, that whenever I’m under a lot of stress, I bake. Or at the very least, I THINK about baking. Thank Goodness I don’t eat (that much of) those things I bake as much as I love baking them, kalau takkkkkkkkkkkkk huiiiiiiiii.. tak tauuuuu lah nak kata!

Anticipating the school holidays, I baked these over the weekend:

Chocolate Chips Cookies.

Yesterday, all throughout working hours, all I could think of was to go home and bake something. Anything!

This is weird, but looking at dough makes me happy.

Of course, I’m happier when it came out looking like this:

(Kebetulan Afiq demam malam tadi. I hope these buns will make him happy).

I ran out of sausages and tak de apa2 yang boleh dibuat inti. (Malas sebenarnya). So ni konon2 attempt to be creative.

These too. Korek2 peti ais, jumpa a slice of cheese. Potong2 and letak je atas bun tu and sprinkled with sugar. Yang bulat2 tu letak chocolate rice. Terbayang kalau dapat makan cinnamon roll, bestnya lah!

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

Cepat sangattttttttt budak kecik ni membesar. Sabar2 la dik, jangan cepat sangat!

Nampak je macho budak ni… beriya2 panjat. Dah sampai kat atas tu, dia tercegattttt kat situ 5-10 minit, tak gerak2. Gayat! Nak berdiri tengah2 line tu jugak2. Nanti bila dah besar, jangan drive tengah2 lane k? :P

Ni malam tadi. Mariessa nak baca buku. Mama ngelat, nak tengok Bones. :P. So Abang yang demam volunteer jadi cikgu.

Bila Mariessa dapat ulang balik apa yang dia ajar…”Mama, clever lah dia ni! Abang ajar sekaliiiii je, dia dah tauuuu dah!”

Tersengih-sengihhhhhhhhh la anak murid, dapat pujian daripada cikgu. :)

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

Called rumah kejap tadi:

Mariessa: Mama… Abang demam, dia tido. Adik pun tido sebab dia dah susu. Kakak dah Milo dah, tapi tadi Kakak dah tido, sekarang Kakak dah jaga, Kakak tak nak tido dah. Bila Mama nak balik? (Try saying all that in one breath!)

Mama: Mama balik petang nanti, sayang.

Mariessa: Ok. balik cepat tau?

Mama: Ok, InsyaAllah.

Mariessa: Mama balik pukul tujuh tau?

Mama: Haaa?? Kenapa pukul tujuh?

Mariessa: Eh! Pukul tujuh tu awal ke tak awal? Mama balik lah je awal, nanti Kakak bagi Mama tengok TV cerita Mama k? Biar Kakak habiskan tengok cerita Kakak kejap!

(Haiiii lah Kakak. Nanti kita tanya Ayah, kalau Mama tak nak pegi kerja langsung dah, boleh tak? :D)

اللهم لا سهلَ إلاَّ ما جعلتَهُ سَهلا وأنت تَجعَلُ الحَزنَ إذا شِئتَ سهلا

Maksudnya: "ya Allah, tidak ada kemudahan kecuali apa yg Engkau mudahkan, sedang yang susah itu bisa Engkau mudahkan, apabila Engkau menghendakinya"

Mati itu pasti.

2011-05-31T10:33:00.001+08:00

Nak masuk ke kawasan rumah saya tu.. ada pondok guard. Guard2 ni boleh kata agak baru jugak la. Guard2 yang lama kebanyakannya Indonesians and Malays (judging from their looks and accent), tapi rasanya ada kes2 yang tak best didengar agaknya (salah satu kes tu.. ni lah! Huh! Bila ingat je terus rasa marah! Grrrrrr!!!)

Aaaaanyway.. guards sekarang ni, from my observation semuanya Indian except for one chinese man. Agak baru jugak la this guy. Tapi saya selalu tengok dia ni macam pelik sikit la. Ada sekali tu, pakai uniform guard tu elok2, tapi dengan seluar pendek. (Kelakar pun ada!) Kalau guard lain, bila diorg tertido, diorg cover2 la sikitkan. Tapi dia ni, bila tido mmg tak sedar dunia langsung. Dia tido atas kerusi betul2 tepi jalan pun, kita lalu ngan kereta mmg dia tak sedar langsung, ni kan pulak nak angkat tangan like the other guards do.

Malam tadi, masa saya sampai kat guard post tu, Azan Maghrib baru je habis. On duty, was an Indian boy (he looks young.. maybe not yet 20.. or maybe he’s just awet muda. Hehe). Then a few metres away, nampak the Chinese guard walking in casual attire. A shirt and a pair of shorts. Bila saya lalu tepi dia, dia buat gestures menilik ke dalam kereta saya, saya fikir sebab hari dah gelap, kereta pulak tinted glass, so dia saja menilik nak tengok lah. I slowed down, angkat tangan. Dia angkat tangan, then buat mcm suruh raya berhenti kejap. I stopped lah, thinking maybe dia bagitau apa2 ke. Then he knocked on my window. I opened the door slightly (sebab tingkap Waja tu dah uzur.. proton kan….. ).. Tiba2 dia cakap:

Apek: Takdak mati oooo.. Mana ada mati! Lu ingat hari hari ada mati ka? Mana ada mati? Takdak mati punya!

Oiii… berderau darah saya rasanya. Takut ok??? Saya terus tutup pintu and blah cepat2.

Tak tau nak fikir apa. Dalam banyak2 topik, dia cakap pasal mati pulak tu! Macam2 la saya fikir. What was he trying to say? Errr… petanda ke apa ke kan? Ke dia ingat saya nak langgar dia tapi dia tak mati ke apa?

Masa dinner baru la saya bgtau Shahril. Masa tu dah kurang sikit gabra. Shahril kata…”mabuk kot Apek tu!”

Hmm.. tak terfikir pulak pasal mabuk. Agaknya la kan? I must speak to their management lah soon kan? Before dia merepek ntah apa2 kat sapa2 lagi. Mabuk, tak mabuk ye tak?

-- Sesuatu yang bernyawa tidak akan mati melainkan dengan izin Allah, sebagai ketetapan yang telah ditentukan waktunya. Barangsiapa menghendaki pahala dunia, niscaya Kami berikan kepadanya pahala dunia itu, dan barangsiapa menghendaki pahala akhirat, Kami berikan (pula) kepadanya pahala akhirat. Dan Kami akan memberi balasan kepada orang-orang yang bersyukur. (QS. 3:145) taken from http://soni69.tripod.com/txt_003.htm

Kantoi!

2011-05-26T21:08:00.000+08:00

My kids mostly speak bahasa and a little English at home, so whenever Shahril & I want to talk about things we don't want the kids to know about we'd use full English.

Tonight, out of the blue:

Shahril: Would you like to watch Pirates tomorrow night?

Afiq: Hah?? Ayah ngan Mama nak pegi tengok Pirates esok?

Hehehe. Kantoi! Looks like we have to learn a new language lah macam ni. Time to brush up my nihon-go yang dah berabuk ne?

Oyasuminasai!!!

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

Tak ta-an

2011-05-26T16:15:00.001+08:00

Called home this afternoon.

Mariessa: Hello… Sapa ni? (macam la ramai naaaa orang nak call rumah tu)

Mama: Mama ni.

Mariessa: Ohhhhh… Maaamaaaa….

Mama: Kakak tengah buat apa tu?

Mariessa: Kakak tadi nak pegi chin! Tapi Mama telefon, Kakak tak boleh la nak pegi chin!

Mama: Ohh.. Kakak dah makan?

Mariessa: Dah.. Kakak makan nasik, dengan sup, dengan ayam.

Mama: Very good! Adik buat apa tu?

Mariessa: Adik tengah minum air, tapikan dia minum dengan botol Kakakkkkkkk.

Mama: Eh? Kenapa Adik guna botol Kakak?

Mariessa: Entahla dia tu, Mama. Dia suka pulak botol Kakak.

Mama: Hmm.. Abang buat apa?

Mariessa: Mama.. Kakak dah tak ta-an la ni. Kan tadi Kakak kata Kakak nak chin! Kakak letak telepon dulu k?

Mama: ok ok ok. :D

Sawah, Orange Cake & Adreena

2011-05-25T09:42:00.001+08:00

Punyalah takde idea nak letak title. Another random post. Takde cerita menarik lah sekarang ni. :). (Tapi kan, selalunya kalau org kata “saya takde apa nak cakap….” lepas tu mesti dia cakap berjela2 kan? Hehe.. Let’s see…)

A dear, dear friend lost her father on May 17th. Al-Fatihah untuk Abah Aba. Semoga rohnya ditempatkan dikalangan orang2 beriman InsyaAllah.

I went on a day trip to Alor Setar on Monday to catch up with Aba. Spent the day bersemmmmmmmmmmmmmbang tak habis2. It was really, really great. Thank you ber, for the hospitality. Tengok2 tiket untuk pegi Kuching k? Hehe

Hui, tak tau la bila last time saya tengok sawah padi. Syok! Ni betul2 kat luar airport. Saya suruh Aba berhenti kat tepi jalan semata2 nak ambik gambar ni. Tambah pulak dapat tau ada orang tu hari tu, pegi Alor Setar, tapi tak dapat nak tengok sawah. Muahahah.. Kesiannnnnnnnnn En. Pirate. Rasa bahagia bila kiri kanan dok dengaq oghang cakap loghat utagha. Bila balik KL, eh tersasul loghat utara pulak. Echeh.

On Saturday, saya try buat orange cake ni… selepas tergoda tengok kek tu di blog kawan saya, Ina. My first attempt at frosting a cake. :) Tu sebab ambik gambar sipi2 je tu, tak la horror sangat nampaknya. The cake itself is really really good. And nak buat pun terlampau senang. Alang2 cerita pasal cake ni, baik la saya terus tepek resepi dia kan… Terima kasih tak terhingga pada Ina. This one’s a keeper!

(Saya copy paste terus from Ina… with a little modification )

* Resepi kek ina amek dr my resepi..

Bahan-bahan ( loyang 9 inc )
1 bji buah limau
1 cawan minyak
1 1/2 cawan gula halus – Resepi asal was 2 cawan. Ina suggested 1 1/2 je, saya pun letak 1 1/2 je. Just nice. tak manis sgt.
3 biji telur
2 cawan tepung gandum*
1 sb baking powder* ( *diayak bersama )

- yang ni saya tambah sendiri : about 1/2 cup of toasted almond nibs – put in the bowl together with the flour

Cara-cara
1. Cuci buah limau,potong dan buang biji dan urat putih di tengah2.Potong lagi buah limau kecil2 bersama kulitnya sekali.
2. Masukkan kedalam blender bersama,minyak,gula dan telur dan kisar hingga halus.
3. Tuang bahan yang dikisar kedalam mangkuk dan masukkan campuran tepung sedikit2 sambil dikacau sebati.
4. Tuangkan adunan kedalam loyang yg beralas dan gris.
5. Bakar pd suhu 170C selama 40 min hingga 1 jam atau hingga masak.

yg cream cheese frosting plak

a) 125g cream cheese pukul smpi gebu dgn 30g butter
b) then masukkan 1/2 – 1 cup of icing sugar (yg ini leh adjust ikut manis sndiri tau), pukul lg smpi gebu jugak
c) masuk plak 1tsp of air, pukul smpi sebati

Haaa.. see? Sooo easy one! Tak yah guna mixer pun. Blend aje. Mula2 saya sgt ragu2 lah kan nak bubuh dengan kulit2 buah oren tu sekali… Takut pahit. But surprisingly, rasa pahit sikit pun takde.

On Sunday pulak, saya buat mini donat. Gambar tak yah letak la kan, dah banyak kali ulang tayang. Tapi kali ni separuh daripada adunan tu, saya buat pau goreng. Ada setengah orang panggil Burger Malaysia. Haa.. yang ni boleh letak gambar. :)

Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Chewah!

One thing I notice kan, selalunya kalau on weekend saya ter rajin nak buat apa2, tiba2.. mesti ada orang nak dtg rumah. Contohnya, 2 minggu lepas saya cuba buat pau sardin. Tujuan utama ialah nak test steamer yang Shahril baru dapat free. Hehe. Tepung Pau yang saya beli berkurun lama pun dok ada dalam kotak lagi. Nasib baikkkkkkk belum expired. Tapi saya lupa nak ambik gambar. Alhamdulillah menjadik.. separuh saya letak inti sardin, separuh lagi letak inti kaya untuk anak2.

Nak citer apa tadi sebenarnya? Oh… yang saya notice tu. Saya baruuuuuu je letak the first batch of pau dalam steamer, tiba2 sorang kawan telefon tanya ada kat rumah ke, kalau ada dia nak datang bawak wife and baby yang saya belum pernah jumpa since diorang ada kat Bangi masa tu. Langkah kanan sungguh, Alhamdulillah. TQ Amri for coming!

Sunday baru2 ni pulak, tengah2 menggoreng burger malaysia tu, tiba2 adik bongsu saya telefon bagitau dia nak singgah kat rumah saya sekejap, nak ambik barang. Selang a few minutes, another friend called to ask if she can drop by.

Arwah Ummi selalu kata, tetamu tu rezeki. Saya seronok bila ramai2 orang kat rumah saya… tambah2 pulak bila saya tengah buat experiment masak memasak ni. Kalau tengah malas, orang nak datang kan haru, tak tau nak hidang apa? :)

Cerita terakhir… (kan dah kata dah.. panjang jadinya kalau merepek ni)

Dah setahun setengah si kenit ni.

Sekejappppp je masa berlalu kan? Perangai pun dah macam2. Cakap pun bukan main dah. Antara kita faham tak faham je. Suka mengajuk orang. Pagi tadi saya tengah duduk nak minum, dia dtg nak duduk atas riba saya (mmg pe-el dia dah skrg ni).. Abang & Kakak belum mandi lagi masa tu, so saya pun nak suruh la pegi mandi. Adreena dah siap mandi, lawa dah.

Mama: Kakak… go mandi please. Pegi sekolah!

Adreena: Tatak…. kolah! Apit… tolah!

Ada pulak skrip tambahan tu! Kakak memang dia panggil tatak.. Abang Afiq kadang2 dia panggil Aba.. Kadang2 dia panggil Apit. Ikut suka dia je.

Dah hampir2 sama besar pun dengan Kakak.

Oklah. Sekian.

cerita seminggu

2011-05-19T10:18:00.001+08:00

The card Afiq made for me on Mother’s Day. :)

Was going thru pictures from the camera and found this:

They must have been playing with the camera and Afiq took this shot. I love this picture!

Afiq was showing me some of his Aikido moves. Adreena didn’t want to be left out. :)

Adreena demam + batuk + selsema, so I came home early one afternoon and brought her to the clinic. Tak nampak macam budak demam pun kan?

When the doctor checked, her temperature was about 38 degrees masa ni.

The latest ‘output’ from my kitchen.

When I was about 10 or so, my sisters used to make this cake every Eid. Back then we didn’t have the mixer, so either Akak or Ngah (I cant remember which of you yang rajin buat kek ni. Hehe) would whip marjerin + sugar guna sudip kayu until dia kembang. :). Not long after that, I took over the task every Eid. Macam kek wajib untuk raya, for us. It became easier of course once we bought the hand mixer and my youngest brother Fikri will be my ‘official’ hand mixer guy. :D

It has been a few years since I last baked this actually. Entah kenapa, even masa Raya pun dah tak buat kek ni lagi. Tapi baru2 ni, asyik teringat. Mungkin sebab rindukan Ummi. Rindu nak berramai ramai kat dapur 443. Dari dulu, rumah di kampung tu… besar ke sempit ke.. dapur la jugak jadi tumpuan bila semua balik. Nak makan dah tentu kat dapur… nak bergosip pun kat dapur. So, dari rindu tu.. terhasil lah kek ni. :). The kids liked it so much, Mariessa is demanding that I bake another one for her to bring to school for her teachers.

Mariessa: Mama, Mama tau tak.. hebat la sekarang!

Mama: Hebat? Apa yang hebat?

Mariessa: Birthday teacher kan Mama, semuaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa hari ni! Mama buat lah kek ni lagi, Kakak nak bagi Teacher, kesian Teacher semua birthday, tapi takde kek pun!

* Teacher’s birthday = Teacher’s Day. Hehe

Afiq, after 2 slices of the cake:

Afiq: Mama.. terlampau sedap lah kek Mama buat ni!

(needless to say, I was up in the air lah kan, kena puji)

Shahril, taking a slice.. makan2… senyap…..

Me: sedap tak?

Him: Hmmmmm.…. rasa macam kek!

(Yup, back to the ground!). :P:P:P

sitting in a corner

2011-05-16T11:21:00.001+08:00

It’s inevitable I think, that once in a while, nothing can seem to cheer you up. Although I hate to admit that it’s happening more often that not these days for me. I’m trying my best not to let it drown me but I have to say today is one of those days I’m feeling so down, I don’t even want to be picked up. Just yet.

*all pictures googled. Yup, I got a little overboard in googling pictures that reflect how I feel today.

Mother’s Day.

2011-05-15T21:26:00.001+08:00

* I wrote this on May 12th, but didn’t get to publish this until today as blogger was down for a few days. *

I was in the surau today, waiting for Zuhur while listening to a few kakak-kakak telling each other of how they celebrated Mother’s Day last Sunday. One kakak brought her Mom to Sogo and let her mom shopped. (Her mom wanted a new handbag). Another one bought a super yummy cake from Secret Recipe to celebrate. The other one.. errr I forgot what she bought for her mom. :). Can’t help but to wonder what it would be like for me if Ummi was still around.

My sisters & I visited Ummi’s resting place on Mother’s Day this year.

Rumput tengah panjang kali ni.

I don’t usually bring Afiq & Mariessa, but on Sunday decided to let them come with us. After reciting do’a, Mariessa seemed very confused. “Mama, Mama kata kita nak pegi tengok Opah?”

I think it will be a few years before she can grasp the idea of death, visiting the grave etc.

Sesi mengeteh lepas ke kubur.

The day before, we visited the latest addition to the 443 clan…

Aqil Faqiheen Mohd Aidil Sufqy. 7th grandchild of Arwah Opah & Atok.

- Today is my parents 40th wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary, bah! -

Cerita from LC. :)

2011-05-09T15:35:00.001+08:00

All pictures are courtesy of Little Caliphs Prima Saujana.

Alhamdulillah, he’s now one of the members of “1st Batch of Elite Readers 2011” (fluent readers in Bahasa Malaysia)

My heart swells with pride looking at this picture. Alhamdulillah

Full story here.

Afiq trying out his Aikido attire.

(No idea where Mariessa is, hehe).

In action. This is during trial class I think. The one that terrified Mariessa. :P

Full report here. ;)

Merapu

2011-05-06T14:55:00.001+08:00

Saya nak merapu ni. Nak tulissssss je apa2 yang terlintas di kepala saya. Sebabnya, fikiran saya caca marba sekarang ni. Not here nor there. Bila kat rumah, teringat pasal kerja (sikit je la, x banyak. Ingat je, x buat apa2). Bila kat ofis, dah tentu lah teringat rumah (Ini banyak).

Disebabkan keadaan di ofis yang tidak begitu ‘conducive’ sekarang ni (bagi saya dan perasaan saya), saya jadi macam di awang2an gitu. Pergi kerja macam biasa. Buat apa yang saya patut buat. Habis waktu, balik. Takde perasaan. Suka pun tak, tak suka pun tak la sangat. Orang patah hati memang macam ni agaknya kan? Patah hati ke…. tawar hati? Mana lagi teruk? Saya rasa saya dua dua. Mula mula hati tu patah dulu. Lepas tu tawar. Tak boleh undo. Tapi cakap banyak pun tak guna ye tak?

Tengah sedih2.. dapat tau one good news. Belum confirm lagi, jadi belum boleh nak share. Oh tidak, not in baby making department.. :P. Bila dah confirm, InsyaAllah saya share di sini.

Betullah… When Allah closes one door, He opens so many others. Ada yang related. Ada yang tidak. Harap2 saya dapat masuk kat pintu2 yang lain tu. The sooner the better. Amin.

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

Dah lama tak tulis pasal anak2. Nak tulis pasal satu kad yang Afiq buat untuk saya di Little Caliphs, tapi gambar yang diambik tak upload2 lagi. Lupa. Nantilah. Kadang2, saya rasa heran kenapa cepat sgt dia membesar. Bagila 3-4 tahun lagi agaknya, dah lebih tinggi dia dari saya. Maklum juga, saya pun tak la tinggi mana to begin with. Dah pandai petik jari walaupun mula2 asyik frustttt je, sebab petik2 tak bunyi. Tapi hari2 practice, sekarang dah boleh dengar la bunyi sikit2. Bersiul pun dah pandai, walaupun saya tak bagi. Selalu merajuk. Sikit2 merajuk. Kadang2 saya pujuk, kadang2 saya biarkan aje. Masih tak suka makan nasi. “Mama, kenapaaaaaaa kita asyik kena makan nasiiiiiiii je?”. Kalau Mama kata nak masak spaghetti, baru berseri2 muka. Roti tak boleh tak ada kat rumah. Itu makanan ruji dia. Kalau dah habis.. merajukkkkkkk lagi. Baca buku “Bacalah Anakku” dah habis semuanya. Baca “Read Easy”:”Abang dah baca buku sixxxxxxxxxxxx, Mama! Hebat tak Abang?”. Hari Khamis belajar Aikido. Bila Mama balik kerja petang Khamis, confirm dah tido.(Eh, that rhymes). Penat! Pernah sekali kalahkan ayah main PS2 (ntah main Naruto, ntah main lumba2 kereta). Bangga seharian, bersinar2 mata! Ayah ajak main lagi sekali, kalah. Ayah pulak bangga. Merajukkkkkkkkkkkkkkk lagi.

Mariessa.. Hmm… Lagi banyak songeh :P. Hari2 telefon, pesan kat Mama, “Mama, Mama balik petang tau”. Nanti la Kakak, Mama dapat kerja dekat2 rumah nanti, confirm cerah2 Mama dah sampai rumah (tapi Ayah tak bagi Mama kerja ngan Ayah.. :P:P). Selalu menangis. Cannot say No to her. Mama tak kisah, Mama cakap je No. Ayah la lembut hati. :P. Suka berebut ngan Adreena. Half of the time Kakak dah kalah dengan Adik. Suka pakai tudung. Pakai dress sleeveless, knee length pun, tup2 nak pakai tudung. Rajin menyanyi (wat aaa pen po… – what are friends for). Rajin ulang2 surah2 yang belajar di Little Caliphs. Dah banyak yang dia hafal, pelat2 pun. Ayah panggil dia ustazah. Bila dia tanya soalan apa2, tapi jawapan saya tak menepati cita rasa dia.. dia akan cakap. “Mama cakap la betul2”… Sammmmmpai lah jawapan saya selari dengan skema jawapan dia. Sekarang, hari Khamis bila Afiq berAikido, dia duduk tepi je, tengok. Bila balik, dia lagi banyak cerita Abang buat apa masa Aikido daripada tuan punya badan sendiri. Ayah punya komen.. “Mama eh ex cadet police.. Ayah eh ex ROTU. Anak eh… Aikido pun takut.. camano tu?” Saya jawab.. dulu2 seganas2 saya masuk kadet polis pun (ganas ke?), saya ada ‘soft’ side saya jugak. Suka menyanyi… suka tarian melayu. Mungkin Mariessa ambik side saya yang sebelah tu je. Adreena kot nanti ambik the other side tu. Ketokohan bab ganas dah ada.

Adreena? Huiiiii… makin nakal. Selang 3 saat panggil Mama.. Pagi tadi for the first time dah panggil kakak… So skrg, dah panggil Mama.. Ayah… Bibik… Abanggg.. Kakak… Amaaaaaah (Aunty Mas).. Awwiiizzz/aaawiiiii/kaaayihhh (Uncle Reez byk variations) and Ooooyaaauuuuu / Oyammmm (Moyang). Suka makan sayur. Kalau Mama puji “cantiknya Deeenaaaa” lepas mandi.. terus tengok badan sendiri, nak tengok pakai baju apa! :P Orang bercakap, dia pun nak bercakap. Suara dia paling kuat, tapi tak tau la dia cakap apa. Pejam celik.. sikit lagi dah setahun setengah. Gigi dah 8 batang. 4 atas 4 bawah.. ada 2 batang lagi macam nak tumbuh.

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

Satu hari tu..I was listening to the news on my way home from work. During its market share segment (which I don’t really understand), the newscaster said, “cooperland bla bla bla bla….”. Then.. “bla bla bla… cooperland…. bla bla bla…”. Lepas 2-3 kali dia, then I realized what she was saying. It’s KUMPULAN! cooperland, cooperland!

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

Esok kami nak balik kampung di Temerloh. Dah lama tak jumpa Abah. Rindu. Dah lama tak pergi kubur Ummi. Lagi rindu. Nak tengok anak buah baru juga. Aqil Faqiheen namanya, adik kepada Aqilah Musfeerah (harap2 ejaan saya betul). Anak kepada Aidil Sufqy iaitu adik saya. Hehe. Dilahirkan pada 29 April, di saat jutaan orang tengah tengok tgk Royal Wedding, yours truly included.

Afiq’s reaction bila tau baby boy Uncle Teh dah lahir…” Haaaa.. Mama.. Uncle Teh pun dah ada baby boy… Bila kita nak ada baby boy ni?” Aiyayaiiii…. Pressure Mama, pressure! Tak lah.. saya tak tertekan pun.

Mariessa’s reaction bila saya bagi tau pagi tadi yang esok nak balik kampung Atok and nak tengok baby boy Uncle Teh. Dengan muka sangat confused: “Mama.. tadi Mama kata nak balik kampung Atok.. Tapi lepas tu.. Mama kata nak pegi tengok baby boy. Mana satuuuu ni? Mama cakap la betul2”. Padahal rumah Atok dengan Uncle Teh tu 15 minutes apart aje. :P

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

Hmm dah la.. panjang dah merapu. Seronok jugak. Nak kena sambung kerja. Kerja rajin2… tapi……………………………………………………………………………………………..

(masih tak habis ‘bitter heart’ saya).

7 years.

2011-05-03T12:42:00.001+08:00

Shahril and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on Sunday, Alhamdulillah. That is if you can call going fishing together celebrating lah. :) Cliche as it may sound, it was exactly how I wanted to celebrate it – spending quiet time together reflecting on the last 7 years together. Of course what makes it more wonderful was that we managed to catch 3 ekor ikan tongsan and a few more ikan talapia. Yay us!

The 2 of us… May 1st 2004.

The 3 of us.. 2005

The 4 of us… 2008

The 5 of us… 2010. :)

To my beloved husband.. Thank you for the 7 wonderful years together. Thank you for truly accepting me the way I am, during my good times and especially during my moodiest, grumpiest, ugliest times. Thank you for telling me that everything will be all right when I didn’t think it was possible, and thank you for always reminding me to calm down when I was boiling with emotions (which is often, given that I am a very emotional person. :D) and thank you for keeping my feet on the ground whenever I crazily thought I could fly (which is often too, me being emotional, ambitious and all that). Thank you for lending me your ears when I needed to vent out,necessarily AND unnecessarily, thank you for lending me your shoulders for me to cry on with reasons and half of the time without any, and thank you for telling me what I wanted and needed to hear and sometimes what I didn’t want but needed to hear anyway. I am forever blessed to have you in my life.

I love you, Abang.

Kisah kasut.

2011-04-27T21:34:00.000+08:00

Saya memang notice yang Mariessa ni has a thing for shoes, particularly high heels and wedges. Boleh kata tiap2 pagi sebelum saya pergi kerja, mesti dia mintak nak try dulu wedges saya. Minggu lepas pun, masa saya bawak dia pergi ke kedai kasut, niat saya nak belikan dia sandals baru. Masalahnya, bila dah tengok macam2 jenis kasut, jeling kat sandals pun dia xnak. Saya tak berkenan masalahnya tengok budak2 pakai kasut2 yang bertumit ni. Kalau ikutkan saya, biar pakai sneakers or sandals je. Senang kan, diorang mana la reti berjalan.. Berlariiiiiii aje kerjanya kan?

Anyway, saya ni jenis yang tak reti nak ada kasut banyak2. Kalau dah sedap pakai, gi mana2 pun pakai kasut yang sama. Bila dah nazak kasut tu baru la kelam kabut cari yang baru. Baru2 ni wedges kesayangan saya dah jatuh nazak.. Makanya terpaksa la saya cari kasut baru. Cari2 wedges, takde pulak yang berkenan.. Last2 beli aje court shoes. Tapi tak berapa sedap pulak. Alang2 ada discount, ternampak pulak sepasang flats putih yang cantik. Beli pulak flats (my first ever flats). Flats putih tu ada bling2 sikit kat strap dia.. Sukaaaaa la Mariessa nak menerai!

Kebetulan hari ni, masa saya jalan2 kat Wangsa Walk (nak beli paper shredder kat Popular sebenarnya, untuk buat kerja saya yang 'non-value added' tu kan (still bitter, obviously), terrrr masuk lah satu kedai kasut kat situ. Ada pulak satu wedges yang berkenan di kaki. Maka saya pun beli lah terus kasut tu, terus pakai pun! :D. Retail therapy at its best!

Saya balik ke rumah lambat hari ni, sebab pegi mengeteh dulu dengan kakak saya, sambil saya mengadu domba pasal kekechiwaan dan kelukaan hati yang tak terperinya di tempat kerja. Pukul 8 baru sampai kat rumah.

Baru aje saya nak turun dari kereta, sebelah kaki baru keluar.. dah dengar suara tegas Mariessa memanggil saya. Saya ingatkan dia nak "sound" saya sebab saya balik lambat.. tapi rupanya...

Mariessa: Mama! Kenapa Mama beli kasut baru lagi? Asyik beli kasut baru je Mama skrg ni. Beli baru, lepas tu tak pakai, lepas tu beli baru lagi. Kenapa Mama?

Tajam tak tajam mata dia bila tengok kasut! Esok pagi confirm dia nak try wedges baru saya tu.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

from the bottom of the wheel

2011-04-27T09:26:00.001+08:00

I’m feeling down. Upset. Broken-hearted. List all the negative emotions one can have, chances are.. I feel them. It’s only natural, one doesn’t go through life happily bouncing all the time, kan?

What’s different this time is that, I don’t see a way up. Not here, not from below this wheel I’m currently crushed under. And that’s plain sad. After 7 and a half years I thought the wheel on which I ride up and down and up again and again would never let me down. Not this bad. But it did. It just did. It doesn’t really matter, how long I’ve been here. It does’t matter how I’ve worked my arse off taking up new challenges and make every single one of them work (at least I thought I did, obviously). At the end of the day, it comes down to pleasing some people that matter. “Unfortunately”, pleasing people is something I am clearly not good at.

So, this is it – the third day of my realization that I shouldn’t stay on. Hopefully the day will come sooner than later for me to hop off… and move on. Allah knows best. Of that I’m sure.

O Allah! Make the beginning of this day good, the middle prosperous, and the end successful. I ask You to grant me the good of this world and of the Hereafter, O Most Merciful of all Who show us mercy!

O Allah! Give my soul piety and my conscience purity. You are the Master of my soul and the Guardian of my conscience.

O Allah! I ask You for a resolute mind and firmness in following the guidance. I ask You to make me thankful for Your favour, to be good service to You, and to grant me a sound heart and a truthful tongue. I ask You to grant me what You know to be good and to give me refuge from what is evil, and to forgive me – and You are the Knower of the Unseen.

O Allah! Inspire me with good conduct and save me from the evil of my selfishness. O Allah! I ask You to guide me to the doing of good deeds and abstaining from bad deeds and love those who are humble, and to forgive me and show mercy to me. And if You wish a trail for Your servants, take me to You before falling into it.

O Allah! I ask You for Your love and the love of those who love You, and for the love of every action which will bring me closer to Your love.

Allah! I ask You the best of the request for the best in my supplication, for the best success and the best reward. Strengthen me, make heavier my balance of good, confirm my faith, elevate my rank, accept my worship, and forgive my mistakes, and I ask You for good beginnings, good endings, the totality of goodness, from the first to the last, from within and from without, and I ask of You the highest ranks in the Garden.

O Allah! Grant us the best of outcomes in all our affairs, and save us from disgrace in this world and from punishment in the Hereafter.

O Allah! Grant us such fear of You as will come between us and acts of disobedience to You; such obedience to You as will bring us to Your Garden; and such certainty that the calamities of this world will be made easy for us by You. Let us enjoy our hearing, our sight and our faculties as long as You grant us life, and let it be the last to be taken away from us. Avenge us from those who have wronged us and help us against our enemies. Let no calamity be fall our religion; let not worldly affairs be our greatest care or all about which we know; and Let not those who have no fear of You and who do not show mercy toward us rule over us.

extracted from http://www.ramadaan.co.za/d_oh_Allah_i_ask_of_you.html

Teka teki

2011-04-26T09:32:00.001+08:00

Was talking to Afiq over breakfast this morning.

Afiq: Mama, cuba Mama teka Abang dengan Kakak berebut apa?

Mama: Hmmm.. Abang dengan Kakak tu semua benda nak berebut kan. Banyak sangat Mama nak teka.

Afiq: Ala… Mama cuba lah teka.. Try aje.

Mama: Ok…. Hmmm.. toys?

Afiq: Bukan… Lagi?

Mama: Books?

Afiq: No…. Lagi?

Mama: Basikal?

Afiq: Tak.. Abang kan dah ada basikal baru.. Kakak tak pandai naik basikal baru Abang.. Mana boleh berebut basikal.

Mama: Betul jugak… Hmm.. Mama tak tau lah Abang berebut apa dengan Kakak.

Afiq: Ok… biar Abang bagitau.. Mula2 start dengan ‘b’

Mama: ‘b’?? Ala… Abang bagitau je la kat Mama…

Afiq: Baiklah… Baby boy!

Mama: Haaa? Baby boy pun nak berebut? Kalau ada baby boy, bukan sapa2 punya.. kita semua punya sama2 la ok? Jangan berebut2…

Afiq: Tapi, Abang yang doakan kita dapat baby boy. Kakak ada doa ke supaya Allah bagi kita baby boy?

Mariessa (dari depan TV tengah minum susu): Ada lah!!!!! Kakak doa lepas kita solat malam tadi! Betul!!!!

Mama: Kita sama2 lah doa, ok? Nanti, kalau Allah bagi baby boy kat kita, kita semua sayang dia sama2 ok?

Afiq: Ok…. Mama! Abang nak tanya Mama sesuatu..

Mama: Sesuatu? Ok.. apa dia…

Afiq: Kalau gajah terbang nampak apa?

Mama: Gajah?

Afiq: Ha-ah.. Gajah… Elephant tu…

Mama: Gajah mana boleh terbang??

Afiq: Ye lah! Habis, kalau gajah terbang nampak apa??

Mariessa (Still nyusu): Pelik!!!!!

Afiq: Betul!! Gajah terbang nampak peliklah Mama! Hahahaha (muka sangat bangga)

Mama: (cannot stop laughing)

Afiq: Upin Ipin yang cakap macam tu.. Gajah terbang nampak apa?? PELIK!!!!

Afiq took this shot himself. ;)

and THAT is the first ever teka teki from Afiq. :)

Freedom

2011-04-25T17:51:00.001+08:00

Maher Zain - Freedom ( Official Lyric )

Gathered here with my family
My neighbours and my friends
Standing firm together against oppression holding hands
It doesn't matter where you're from
Or if you're young, old, woman or man
We're here for the same reason; we want to take back our land

Oh God thank you
For giving us the strength to hold on
And now we're here together

Calling you for freedom, freedom
We know you can hear our call ooh
We're calling for freedom, fighting for freedom
We know you won’t let us fall oh
We know you're here with us

No more being prisoners in our homes
No more being afraid to talk
Our dream is just to be free, just to be free
Now when we've taken our first step
Towards a life of complete freedom
We can see our dream getting closer and closer, we're almost there

Oh God thank you
For giving us the strength to hold on
And now we're here together

Calling you for freedom, freedom
We know you can hear our call ooh
We're calling for freedom, fighting for freedom
We know you won’t let us fall oh

I can feel the pride in the air
And it makes me strong to see everyone
Standing together holding hands in unity
Shouting out load demanding their right for freedom
This is it and we're not backing off
Oh God we know you hear our call

And we're calling you for freedom, freedom
We know you can hear our call ooh
We're calling for freedom, fighting for freedom
We know you won’t let us fall oh

And we're calling you for freedom, freedom
We know you can hear our call ooh
We're calling for freedom, fighting for freedom
We know you won’t let us fall oh

We know you're here with us

F.R.I.E.N.D

2011-04-22T22:23:00.001+08:00

What are friends for? (Lepas tu tak tau apa dah…) Haha.. Enjoy the show!

Silly me

2011-04-21T18:22:00.001+08:00

I am often absent-minded, sometimes clumsy but rarely careless. But today…

Flashback kejap.

Semalam….

I needed to ‘PosLaju’ something to 2 friends and ‘PosExpress’ something else to another friend. So yesterday, after a quick lunch at the office cafe, I rushed to the post office in Carrefour Wangsa Maju and:

1. waited 30 minutes for my turn, only to be told at the counter that to purchase the Pos Express envelopes I didn’t need to take a number.

2. realized that to send those things via PosLaju, I need to wrap them up first!

Terpaksa la bawak balik everything dulu and come back the next day.

Today…..

So at lunch time today, I went again. Thought it was my lucky day since the PO was practically empty unlike the day before. Before reaching the counter, saw the PosExpress box first, so I quickly put in the PosExpress Envelope, and then proceeded to the counter for PosLaju process.

Happy that everything took less than 10 minutes, I went to have my lunch. Ordered chicken rice, was about to sms the friend who I ‘PosExpress’ed to, when I realized…

OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO………………..

I.had.put.the.PosExpress.envelope.into.that.PosExpress.Box.WITHOUT.writing.

ANYTHING.on.it!

Tak tau la nak describe apa perasaan saya masa tu. Could literally feel muka jadi pucat!

So, I quickly gobbled the chicken rice in fact tak sempat nak habis pun, makan separuh je.. dah takde selera.. And rannnnnnnnnnn to the post office. (Ok, I lied.. I didn’t run lah… I walked very very very quickly je.. nanti orang heran pulak tengok perempuan pakai baju kurung lari lintang pukang).

Went to the PO counter, told encik kaunter what the situation was. Encik kaunter kata, “Puan kena tunggu posmen datang la puan.” When I asked pukul berapa agak2 posmen datang (Kat kotak tu ada tulis: Kutipan terakhir pukul 2 petang), Encik Kaunter kata..”hmmm selalunya dia datang pukul 2 lebih dekat2 pukul 3”

Alamakkkkkkkk…

What else could I do, kan? Smsed my boss telling him that I was in a ‘situation’ at the post office and that I would be back as soon as my problem is resolved.

So I waited. It was 1.45pm. Masuk kedai BATA tepi PO tu dulu.. (Best jugak selection kasut2 kat kedai Bata tu). Tapi hati tak senang kan, nak shopping pun tak boleh. Kejap2 jeling PO.

So, berdiri je lah saya kat luar kedai BATA tu.. eyeing the yellow Box while hoping that every guy with a bag who passes by was the postman. (Tak tau la kenapa saya bayangkan dia bawak bag).

2.30pm…. no postman.

2.35pm

2.40pm

2.45pm… penantian itu satu penyeksaan. Seriously!

2.55pm

3.00pm.. Aiyoyo..

3.05pm…. By this time I was on the verge of tears dah. Tension dengan diri sendiri. It’s the worst feeling ever, having done something sooooooooo silly

(and have no one else to put the blame on).

3.35pm.. I saw a man, in red baju pushing a trolley. Huiii.. berdebar2 dah masa ni! It was INDEED Mr Postman! Yeeeehaaarrrrrrr (Serious, rasa nak je belanja dia ice cream masa tu!)

So I approached him and told him I had put an envelope into that yellow box without writing the address. He looked at me and asked “ohhhh.., lupa nak tulis alamat kat belakang tu ke?”

“Errrrr.. tak… kat depan pun tak tulis!”

Terbeliak mata dia tengok saya. He must be thinking..”apa ke poyo perempuan ni?” Tapi lepas tu dia cepat2 la cover muka terkejut dia.. and said.. “ok, ok.. kita cari envelope tu… besar ke kecik?”

Cari punya cari… jumpa laaaaaaa satu envelope yang tak tertulis apa2 tu.. :P

Makanya… harap2 selamat la PosExpress yang “dijamin sampai esok’ tu sampai ke pangkuan kawan saya..

Aba… kalau dalam pakej tu bukan barang Aba… errrrr…… tak tau la nak cakap apa! Sob Sob..

thinks it high time for that much needed holiday. *hint! hint!*

Afiq is 6!

2011-04-19T17:19:00.001+08:00

Mariessa’s birthday comes exactly one week after Shahril’s and Afiq’s birthday comes 2 weeks after Mariessa’s.. so understandably, Afiq has been very anxious waiting for his birthday to come. He got upset too a few times, not understanding whyyyyyy his birthday comes so late after Ayah’s and Kakak’s.

Afiq: Mama… KENAPAAAAAAAAAA Mama lahirkan Abang dulu masa sixteen?? (referring to 16th of April). Lambat sangatttt lah Mama, nak tunggu sixteen!

When Little Caliphs threw a birthday party for April babies short 3 days before the 16th, he even refused to acknowledge that he was included as one of those celebrated ones, saying “Birthday Abang sixteen… Hari ni belum sixteen lagi. Abang belum six lagi, Abang masih five!” (Yes, he said MASIH). :D

So 16th finally came. Berseri2 bangun pagi tu. We didn’t plan anything for the day, so in the morning I asked him what does he want for his birthday.

“Abang nak………………. Hmmmm…. Abang nak adik boy lah Mama”.

Aiyak. Why lah dalam banyak2 benda.. he’s asking for something I cannot buy at the store? :). But I thought that was very sweet of him. It took me a while to find the right answer to that.. but I finally told him we’ll keep on praying.

Afiq at 1. Of them three, he was the most difficult for us to train on the car seat.

Once (about this age), frustrated that we ignored his crying, he took his shoes off and threw them to the front!

I always had to bring spare baju as when he stopped crying je, he would definitely throw up on me. Every single time!

Garang little boy.

During his 3rd birthday party.

4 year old Afiq and 2 year old Mariessa.

Last year, right after his Myringotomy & Grommet op just a few days after he turned 5, in his baju ‘hensem’.

Ayah surprised him with a new bicycle on his birthday, this year.

(He got upset yesterday after falling a few times, still trying to get use to the bigger bicycle.. I told him with practice, he’ll get better. He answered, “Baiklahhhh… Abang akan terus mencuba!”)

Happy 6th Birthday, Sayang Mama. Semoga membesar jadi anak yang Soleh… yang boleh membimbing adik2, InsyaAllah. We love you soooooooooooooooo much!

When you can't get the answer right

2011-04-16T19:09:00.001+08:00

In the car

Afiq: Kakak.. Empat campur dua, jadi berapa?

Mariessa: Tiga!!

Afiq: Bukan! Salah la Kakak. OK, kita cuba lagi sekali. Two plus four becomes?

Mariessa: Three!!

Afiq: Nooo... Salah lagi! Ok ok.. Abang tanya lagi sekali. Hmmmm... Satu campur dua jadi.....??

Mariessa: Tiga!!

Afiq: Yey! Betul! Pandai Kakak!

Mariessa: Haaaa.. Kan Kakak dah kata, Kakak dah pandai!!

--
So guys, when you cannot get the answer right, you get the QUESTION right instead. OK? ;)
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

Mari membakar bersama saya

2011-04-15T12:51:00.001+08:00

Di atas permintaan ramai.. (kalau lebih satu.. kira plural.. ramai lah tu kan?), ni saya ceritakan sikit proses2 macam mana terjadinya roti (di rumah saya). :P:P

Ok.. sebelum tu… ni lah resepi yang selalu saya guna (sausage bun ke.. sambal bun ke.. sardine bun ke.. saya guna resepi yg sama):

BUN MANIS
Disalin dari Blogspot Mat Gebu <- sgt famous ini blog. Kalau puasa, jangan tengok blog ni.. BAHAYA! :P

Bahan-Bahannya :
400 g tepung roti (high-protein flour)
100 g tepung kek (mat guna tepung Hong Kong – saya pun ikut Mat juga.. :P )
100 g gula halus
5 g garam halus
20 g susu tepung (kadang2 cilok je sikit susu anak2.. heheh.. tapi most of the time guna susu tepung yang kedai jual khas untuk roti2 ni)
1/4 camca teh bread improver
1 biji telur gred B, dipukul sedikit
11 g yis segera
40 g shortening (lemak sayur)
250 g air
Inti kegemaran secukupnya
Cara membuatnya :
Satukan semua bahan diatas kecuali inti dan lemak sayur. Gaul rata hingga menjadi doh. Tambah lemak sayur dan terus menguli hingga adunan menjadi lembut, anjal dan elastik, kalau guna mesin uli 10 - 15 minit dan 20 minit kalau gunakan tangan. Alih ke dalam bekas yang besar, tutup permukaan bekasnya dengan plastic cling, dan biar doh naik 2 x ganda, kurang lebih 45 minit.
KAEDAH LAIN :- Masukkan semua bahan2 diatas kecuali inti ke dalam breadmaker, pilih setting untuk doh, tekan "on" dan biar hingga siap.
Keluarkan doh, tumbuk untuk buang udara dan uli sekejap. Timbang 60 g untuk setiap bahagian (menghasilkan lebih kurang 12). Isi inti kegemaran pada setiap bahagian, bulat2kan dan susun dalam loyang yang telah disapu mentega. Buat hingga siap dan rehatkan hingga naik kurang lebih 30 - 45 minit.
Sapu permukaan roti dengan bancuhan telur dan susu dan bakar dalam oven yang telah dipanaskan pada suhu 200C selama 20 minit atau mengikut keadaan oven masing2.
Mat tak sapu telur, cuma lepas masak, mat sapu permukaan roti dengan mentega dan mat bakar roti pada suhu 180C selama 20 minit...

Saya guna ‘kaedah lain' tu bila buat roti.. sebabnya… tangan saya ni tak kuat.. Betul, tak tipu. Nak perah nyior pun sampai lenguh2.. ni kan pulak nak menguli! Suatu masa dahulu, pernah jugak saya cuba menguli.. aduh… penat! lepas tu.. roti tu.. kalau baling kat dinding, dinding pun retak! Kechiwa tau, patah hati!

So, after years of membelek2 harga (padahal harga tu sikit pun tak berubah).. and much persuasion..(ehem!) dengan ayat2 memujuk ‘best ooo makan roti homemade.. besttt nanti rumah bau roti… etc…”, makanya pada suatu hari yang bersejarah beberapa tahun yang lalu.. tiba2 Shahril offer nak belikan breadmaker! Yey! I lap you lah laling!

Ni lah rupa BM saya. This is Kenwood.. errr apa ntah nama model dia. Kenwood 250 kot

When Shahril bought me this, it was RM499 kalau tak silap. I think the price is about the same now.

Mula2 Puan sekelian.. masukkan je bahan ikut resepi tu dalam BM.. pastu tekan sampai function no 8 (untuk menguli je, tak bakar sekali) dan tekan GO! Tips yang saya pernah baca kat mana ntah dulu… masukkan barang2 basah dulu (air ngan telur).. pastu tepung.. pastu segala benda2 lain.. and seelok2nya jgn campur adukkan semua benda. Eh, mcm mana nak explain ni eh? Mcm ni.. Hmmm.. lepas taruk tepung tu.. nak letak pulak gula, garam.. yis. apa semua tu kan… saya tak lah dump semua benda campak2 je. Gula saya letak kat one corner.. garam kat another corner.. yis pun lain corner, gitu. Ada rational dia, tapi saya tak ingat la.. something about nanti yis tu tak betul2 ‘naik’ kalau kena garam ke gula ntah. Entah betul entah tidak.. tapi saya buat je la camtu. :P

The dough in motion.. ni selepas 15 minutes or so.. rasanya. The whole process termasuk dia nak kembang apa semua in the BM takes sejam setengah je pun. Sementara tu boleh sambung tengok TV.. no hal!

Ni lah rupanya selepas sejam setengah! Bangga oooo bila tengok dia naik mcm ni. Tak tau la kenapa bangga, tapi saya selalu rasa macam tu! Heheh

Lepas dia dah naik camni.. ambik dough tu.. tumbuk2 sikit.. pastu ambik sikit (dalam 30-40g utk sausage size normal.. or 10g untuk cocktail sausages mcm yg saya guna kat bawah ni).. lilit2 kat sausage (yang dah dicelur).. pastu biar lagi dalam 30 minit untuk dia mengembang lagi.

Lilit orang tak pro mmg mcm ni.. kejap pusing kot kanan.. kejap pusing kot kiri. :P

Lepas 30 minit.. masukkan lah mereka2 ke dalam oven…

Tat taraaaaaaa!!! Harum semerbak rumah masa ni!

Kalau nak buat donat pun sama jugak prosesnya… resepi dia lain la tapinya… Alang2 saya kasik resepi ni kan.. ni saya kasik resepi donat sekali:

DONUT
Sumber: Sifu Suria
Bahan A:
3 cawan tepung
3 tbsp tepung susu

3 tbsp shortening
3 tbsp gula pasir halus

Bahan B:
200 ml air suam*
2 tsp instant yeast* -

20 ml air - sbg tambahan jika perlu
Cara menyediakannya:
Bancuh bahan B*, masukkan ke dalam bahan A. Masukkan air tambahan. Uli 5 minit, terus terap atau buat bulat-bulat, letak cheddar cheese di tengah-tengahnya. (utk 1 cawan tepung, saya dapat 8 donut & saya guna sliced cheddar cheese; 1 keping bahagikan pada 4 @ 6 @ 8 bahagian - ikut sukalah ye..).
Perap (selama lebih kurang ½ jam) then boleh goreng dengan api sederhana.

Cara2 saya buat pun sama macam roti tadi.. masukkan everything dalam BM, and let the magic happens! ;)

Lepas dah siap dalam BM tu… buat la bentuk donat gini (ada acuan dia.. ).. ni mini donat ni… besar sikit daripada duit syiling 50 sen je. Senang kalau yg kecik2 gini.. sekali ngap je!

Kasik dia kembang jugak dalam stengah jam lepas kita bentukkan dia tu… See, this one kembang already?

Pastu goreng….. and bubuh la gula ke.. glaze ke.. glaze2, saya tak pass lagi lah.. Nanti saya buat experiment lagi ok?

Ni lah hasilnya.. :) Kalau yang kecik2 gini… dengan resepi tadi tu.. dapat dalam 100 lebih mini donat. :) Saya buat ni sebab Mariessa nak bawak ke Little Caliphs.. Ada 60 students rasanya.. so dapat la merasa sorang satu gamaknya.. Ye la.. orang kat rumah takkan nak makan sorang satu je kan? :P

Begitulah ye Puan2.. kelas masakan (errr.. kalau cooking class – kelas masakan.. kalau baking class? kelas bakaran? :P) kita pada hari ini ye? Sehingga berjumpa lagi di lain waktu… Selamat mencuba!!

Aikido kids you not.

2011-04-15T09:32:00.001+08:00

So yesterday was the trial class for the aikido lesson at Little Caliphs. I was (as usual) excited for the kids.

Came home excitedly to know how it went. Reached home at 7.30 pm and tengok2 Afiq dah tertido kat depan TV. Dari the night before memang dah mula batuk2 pun Afiq ni, and tambah pulak dengan Aikido class agaknya.. penat. So I asked Mariessa.

Mama: Kakak.. hari ni kat sekolah ada belajar Aikido tak?

Mariessa: Adaaaaaaaaaaaa….

Mama: Ramai tak kawan2 kakak belajar Aikido sama2?

Mariessa: Tak pun.. Kakak dengan kawan kakak.. semua ada 3 je Mama! (sambil tunjuk 4 jari..:P)

Mama: Eh? Kenapa tak ramai?

Mariessa: Orang lain semuaaaaaaaaaa tak nak!

Mama: Laaaa.. ye ke? Best tak Aikido tu? Dia ajar macam mana?

Mariessa: Entah la Mama. Kakak dah lupa!

Dah agak dah.. :P

Afiq woke up at about 9, so I asked him then.

Mama: Abang, best tak class Aikido today?

Abang: Besttt!! Sangat hebat lah Mama, orang yang ajar tu!

Mama: Oh ye? Yang ajar tu laki ke perempuan?

Afiq: Ada lelaki, lelaki, perempuan.

Mama: Ohhhh… Ramai tak kawan2 yang belajar Aikido?

Afiq: Ramai!

Mama: Abang suka tak belajar Aikido?

Afiq: Sukaaaaa.. nanti Abang pun boleh jadi hebat!

Then he showed some movements he learnt. :)

This morning, Mariessa was shocked to see I was getting ready for work.

Mariessa: Eh! Mama nak pegi mana ni?

Mama: Mama nak pergi kerja, lah!

Mariessa: Hari ni kan cuti?

Mama: Mana ada! Hari ni Friday kan. Friday sekolah. Esok, Saturday baru lah cuti!

Mariessa: Tapiiiiiiii.. Kakak tak nak pegi sekolah!!!

Sejak masuk LC, ni lah pertama kali dia tiba2 tak nak pegi sekolah. Heran la jugak. But the kids are all not feeling too well pun sebenarnya. Afiq dah batuk2 and mula selsema sikit.. Adreena sah start demam pulak semalam (she’s teething), so I guess Mariessa’s catching the bug jugak lah ni. Told Shahril to try pujuk2 jugak Mariessa tu since I don’t want her to get the idea that she can just skip school whenever she wants to, kan?

At 8.30 Shahril called to tell that Mariessa refused jugak2 to go to school. Beriya2 menangis. So last2, Ayah hantar Afiq sorang je la pegi sekolah hari ni. I called home to check:

Mama: Kakak… Kenapa Kakak tak pegi sekolah ni?

Mariessa: Sebab… Kakak nak duduk kat rumah!

Mama: Cuba Kakak cakap betul2 dengan Mama.. kenapaaaaaa Kakak tak nak pegi sekolah.

Mariessa: Ye lah… Kakak tak nak pegi sekolah, sebab Kakak nak duduk kat rumah lah!

Mama: MARIESSA!

Mariessa: Ok ok.. Kakak tak nak pegi sekolahhhhhhhhhhhhh… sebaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaab…. Kakak tak nak buat tu!

Mama: Buat apa?

Mariessa: Yang semalam tu.. yang ada orang ajar tu!

Mama: Aikido??

Mariessa: Haaaaa… Aikido tu.. Kakak tak nak! Kakak takut!

So.. tu lah rupanya kenapa dia tak nak pegi sekolah hari ni. Ish2. Looks like I have to enroll Afiq first and see if Mariessa changes her mind along the way nanti.

Dinos Alive!

2011-04-14T23:07:00.001+08:00

I wanted to blog about this while I was in Melaka… but niat terbantut sebab hotel tu tipu! :P In the website, terang2 tulis Free Wi-Fi for all rooms.. Tapi when I called the receptionist to ask about it, she said it’s only available at the Lobby. Huh! And no remote for the TV in the room? Booooo!!! Troublesome ok, getting out of bed just to change the channel! :P

So anyway.. we went to Pusat Sains Negara on Saturday morning. Adreena was left at home with Bibik as I don’t think it’s going to be much fun for her. When we got to PSN, it was only 9.30 a.m (it opens at 9), parking was still ample but there were already a few buses of school children there. Tickets were sold for RM10 for adults.. and RM5 for kids above 4. But we bought the family package ticket: 2 adults + 2 kids = RM25. Jimat la RM5. :)

We went straight into one of the halls and saw this:

My favourite colour & my little angels. ;)

Then.. masuk dalam lagi… and saw this pulak:

Masa ni 2 beradik tu dah mula nervous dah, I could tell! Mariessa kat sini pun dah pucat!

Afiq ok lagi masa ni.. Mariessa refused to go anywhere near the dinosaurs dah!!

Then we went into the Dinos Alive Exhibition Hall. I can understand why it’s a little scary for the kids lah. It was dark.. dengan bunyi2 from dinosaurs tu.. and seeing that they ‘move’ too… I guess it’s a little overwhelming. It was really good, just a little scary.

See how Mariessa berpaut kat Ayah tu? Hahaha..

Once we were out of the exhibition halls tu, terus OK je diorang. Kalau tak, pucat2 muka masing2. Muahaha.

I think they had the most fun here.

My astronauts! ;)

My transformers! (Nampak sgt yang paling hujung tu la paling excited) :P

Ni muka lega… sebab dah nak keluar. :D

See how big that fish is? It’s just as big as that guy!!

One before we head home. It was fun!

As soon as we got out from that place, Mariessa asked..”Mama… boleh tak kita pegi tengok elephant pulak?” :O

The exhibition is only until the 31st of May, in case any of you are interested to go. I’d advice going early though (it opens at 9). By the time we left the place sometime around noon, it was really, really crowded!

Lawan tauke!

2011-04-13T20:17:00.001+08:00

Upon seeing both of Afiq's sippy cups in the bedroom:

Mama: Afiq! Kenapa ada sampai 2 botol Abang kat sini? Ni mesti tak bawak turun botol Abang pagi tadi ni!

Afiq: Alamak!! Abang terlupa lah Mama!

Mama: Ok.. Now go and take the bottles downstairs, please.

Afiq: Ok, Mama.

Mariessa: Haaa.. Tu lah Abang! Kakak pagi tadi dah caaaakap dah kat Abang, bawak botol sendiri turun bawah, tapi Abang tu tak nak dengar cakap Kakak! Pagi2 bila bangun tidoooooo.. Kena lah bawak botol turun! Abang tu kan dah six! Dah besar, kan! Tak dengar lagi cakap Kakak, kan Mama dah marah!

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Afiq dan bahasa

2011-04-12T21:18:00.001+08:00

I am always amazed at how formal Afiq speaks in bahasa.

--------------
The night before we went to the National Science Centre, I told Afiq that we were going to see the dinosaurs.

Afiq: Dinosaurs, Mama? Hmmm.. Dinosaurs tu besar2 kan Mama? Tapi Abang akan PASTIKAN (dengan tangan 2-2 genggam and pushed forward) Abang berani esok!

---------------
I was asking him some questions on mathematics.. Like 3 plus 5 becomes...? Or tiga ratus campur lima ratus..? He hesitated at one question,

Afiq: Abang kurang pasti lah Mama.. Biar Abang fikir dulu!

--------------
He came to me while I was still baking sausage buns, wanting to salam me and give me a goodnight kiss. After the kiss:

Afiq: Mama, Mama tak habis lagi buat roti? Mama TERLALU banyak bekerja lah Mama!

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

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Awww...

2011-04-12T15:12:00.001+08:00

I'm on my way back from Melaka to Kajang after spending one night there. I have to admit that although I missed Shahril and the kids terribly, I am also thankful to be given some 'me' time too.

Before I left home yesterday morning, I told Afiq and Mariessa that I won't be back for one night.

Afiq: Aaaaapaaaa?? (His bahasa is soooo formal, it's endearing!)

Mariessa: Ok.. Tapi nanti boleh tak Mama belikan Kakak hadiah?

Chis! :p I said no, of course! :p

Anyway, for some reason I'm very indecisive today. I first stopped at R&R Ayer Keroh, thinking I should solat and get something to eat and after that terus aje drive sampai Kajang. I did stop, solat Zuhur, saw nothing interesting to have for lunch and decided to check R&R Seremban later. Sempat beli belacan tho kat R&R Ayer Keroh tu, and some tempe-chips (have never come across this) and errr.. another kind of chips made of tapioca (opak opak?)..

Sampai kat R&R Seremban, too crowded lah pulak.. So now I'm finally having my lunch at Hentian Nilai. :)

Oh anyway.. The initial reason why I'm blogging from this place is this:

I just saw a Malay man, I'm guessing he's about 50 years of age, parked his white Honda Stream, came out from his car.. Went to the other side of the car, opened the door for (I'm assuming it's) his wife (she looks to be around his age), took her hand and they walked hand in hand to the kedai2 makan.

All together now...

Awwwwwwwwwwwww.....

Ok.. Time to hit the road again! Have a big 'sausage bun' project to do tonight!
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Jumaat!

2011-04-10T20:05:00.000+08:00

Mariessa just came out from the toilet and asked me to 'betulkan seluar dia yg terbalik' before she can put it on again.

Mama (mode: membebel) : Kakak, kan dah banyak kali Mama ajar Kakak mcm mana nak betulkan seluar Kakak. Kakak kan dah four... Kena la pandai betulkan seluar sendiri, betul tak? Bila Kakak nak pandai betulkan seluar ni?

Mariessa: Jumaat!

* Tak jadi Mama nak marah *

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Aikido Kiddos

2011-04-06T12:32:00.001+08:00

InsyaAllah Afiq & Mariessa will be joining the Aikido classes held at Little Caliphs starting next week. I am super excited on their behalf. Thought I’d share this information here. :)

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Is-Aikido-a-Good-Martial-Art-For-Kids?&id=3152430

Adults may practice Aikido for stress reduction, relaxation, self-defense, its many cardio vascular benefits, or a host of other reasons. But these are concepts that most children don't even think about or care about. So why is Aikido a good idea for kids? What can it contribute to their lives and yours? (assuming you're a parent)

Below are 10 of the reasons to give Aikido a try if your son or daughter has shown any interest in physical activity and specifically, martial arts training or if your child has exhibited signs of Attention Deficit Disorder or ADHD.

1) Aikido is a "non-aggressive" martial art. What does this mean? Basically that the main principles of Aikido don't encourage self defense at all costs. Generally speaking, Aikido classes aren't taught with a mindset of kicking and punching your way out of conflict. In essence, you don't really start a fight with Aikido - but you can certainly finish one. Aikido doesn't encourage kids to emulate the Power Rangers or Ninja Turtles punching and kicking their friends, siblings, dogs, and cats. Aikido technique starts when someone else "breaks the rules", i.e. attacks. More importantly, Aikido teaches kids that fighting is a last resort for dealing with conflicts.

2) Aikido emphasizes remaining calm, relaxed balanced. Of course, kids can't, and shouldn't, be calm all the time. But Aikido teaches them that they have a choice. If they need to sit still at school or concentrate on homework or focus during sports, Aikido teaches them the fundamentals of "going within" and gives them tools to help when being calm is necessary. This is entirely different from keeping their emotions bottled up. On the contrary, Aikido calmness feels good and, in fact, the study of Aikido is the study of communication.

3) Aikido teaches kids "practical" self-defense. I put quotation marks around "practical" to indicate that practical for a child is completely different from practical for an adult. Striking arts like Karate and Tae Kwon Do, although very good for health and well being, give children one primary tool for dealing with conflict: aggression. If your child only knows how to kick and punch their way out of a conflict they will have a lot of difficulty dealing with the more prevalent "attacks" life deals out: stress, bullying, verbal abuse, and disappointment. You see, if the real attacks in life don't look like or behave anything the attacker in dojo or dojang, your child will not have the proper tools to identify and then most effectively deal with the situation.

4) Aikido gives kids a positive world view. It teaches that in order to create something worthwhile you have to have goals, a clear picture of the intended outcome and then practice, practice, practice. Aikido teaches the law of reciprocity or, what goes around comes around. If you start trouble, you've lost. But if your mind is correct, calm, and positive, you can make something good out of whatever life hands you. In fact, Aikido training for kids teaches that its each persons responsibility to actively look for ways to make something good out of every situation.

5) Aikido teaches to enjoy every experience in life. Children have it difficult enough with increased homework, peer pressure, demanding standards and increased dangers all around. A serious approach to life doesn't always feel good and it usually doesn't yield the best possible results. Aikido works best when you relax and feel light and having an outlet for your child to "let go" and be a kid while learning valuable life skills can be a tremendous character building experience.

6) Aikido helps kids in, and at, school. By training in Aikido kids develop a calm, clear, and balanced mind. As a result, they absorb knowledge easier and can think and focus with greater clarity. Aikido emphasizes developing the full human potential and since children spend the bulk of their formative years in school, it is one of the most important places for this potential to be realized.

7) Aikido for kids helps with sports. Aikido classes focus on the very things almost every sport requires: stamina, sport specific strength and skill, relaxation, focused mind, proper breathing, centering, and being able to visualize the outcome. Unfortunately, most youth sports only emphasize the narrow sport aspect of whatever game is being played. While most youth athletics encourage having fun and team work, very few amateur coaches (typically dads and moms) have the proper educational training to teach children the other, more important, fundamentals mentioned above. Almost all of the parents of the youth that train weekly at the Aikido Grand Rapids/ Toyoda Center facility remark at some point of the amazing transformations that occur over time in their sons and daughters that they directly attribute to the Aikido for kids program.

8. Aikido is for everyone. Aikido does not require specific athletic talent or skill. In fact, athletic prowess can sometimes be a hindrance to understanding and executing Aikido techniques. The key to making progress in Aikido is simply relaxing, effortlessly moving, helping others and cultivating positive mind. Is there a better message for children?

9) Aikido works for people of all shapes and sizes. Since Aikido does not rely on size, strength, speed, weight, or reach, it can be effectively applied by children on adults. In fact, it can be quite surprising how much power your children can muster when throwing adults! Some of the most effective and powerful Aikido practitioners have been the slightest of individuals. Aikido utilizes an understanding of basic universal principles and emphasizes non-contention of force. Aikido teaches that there will always be somebody bigger, faster and stronger and not every "attack" will come in the form of a bad person. Aikido for kids gives them a large tool box of skills to draw on in a variety of situations for the rest of their lives

10) Aikido class for kids is good physical activity! Plain and simple, we tire them out! Children that have ADD and ADHD show surprising results when they leave an Aikido class tired.

Mariessa says...

2011-04-03T19:03:00.000+08:00

Mariessa is confused on the usage of 'drive' & 'reverse'. For example sometimes when she calls, she'll ask.. "Mama tengah reverse ke ni?" Padahal she wanted to know if I was driving.

So today while waiting in the car for Ayah, she asked,

Mariessa: Mama, kenapa bukan Mama yang reverse?
Afiq: Bukan reverse la Kakak. Drive lah!
Mariessa: Betul la Kakak kata, reverse!
Afiq: Reverse tu kalau nak pegi belakang je la. Kalau drive, kita pegi ke depan!

Ayah came in, and reversed the car a little to go out of the parking space

Mariessa: Haaaa.. Kan Kakak dah kata.. Reverse la ni!!

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

Right before the 'reverse' conversation...

Seeing Ayah coming towards the car,

Afiq: Haaa.. Tu ayah datang.

Mariessa: Ayyyah Alas solaaaah.. Ayyyaah alas solahhhhh...

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

Recalling the characters in Mickey Mouse show:

Mariessa: Ada Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Craaaazyyy..

Afiq: Bukan crazy la Kakak! Daisy lah nama dia!!

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Happy 4th birthday, Sayang Mama

2011-04-02T22:58:00.001+08:00

On 1st April 4 years ago, I was feeling anxious. It was a day before my due date and in the morning I noticed a little spotting. It was Sunday and one month earlier, we had just moved into our new home. A few hours and a trip to the hospital later, I was still pregnant and found myself strolling in Jusco Cheras Selatan, looking for Laksam. :D.

Mariessa was (finally) born exactly on the due date: 2nd April 2007, at about 4.45pm weighing at 3.10kg.

Didn’t know 4 years can fly so quickly as it did.

Enjoy the pics! :)

Happy 4th Birthday, Sayang Mama..

We love you oh so much!

Mama balik petang

2011-04-01T14:45:00.001+08:00

Called home at 1pm today.

Afiq: Hello, sapa ni?

Mama: Ni Mama la sayang.

Afiq: Oh Mama… Mama nak apa ni?

Mama: Aik? Kenapa tanya Mama macam tu? Kenapa Abang tak telefon Mama pun hari ni?

Afiq: Abang tengah tengok TV ni. Abang lupa la nak telefon Mama hari ni.

Mama: Ohhh OK.. Takpe. Abang dah makan?

Afiq: Belum… eh… dah… Takpelah.. Mama cakap ngan Kakak k? <--- ni ikut perangai sapa ni, khusyuk sgt kalau tengok TV? Hint… pls refer to previous entry! :P

Mariessa: Helloooo Mama!

Mama: Hai sayang…

Mariessa: Kenapa kan.. Mama tu cakap hai sayang?

Mama: Sebab Mama sayang Kakak lah…

Mariessa: Oh ok…… Mamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…

Mama: Iyer…

Mariessa: Eh.. kenapa Mama tak jawab iyer sayang pulak??

Mama: Oh ok ok.. Iyer sayang…

Mariessa: Haaaa… baru la betul! Mama, Mama balik la kejap!

Mama: Eh, kenapa pulak? Kan Mama kat ofis lagi ni, belum boleh balik lagi.

Mariessa: Mama balik la kejap je sekarang! Mama tengok la sendiri Kakak dengan Abang dengan Adik naughty ke tak. Lepas tuuuu, kalau Mama nak pergi kerja balik, Mama pergi lah!

Mama: Tak boleh la sayang… Ofis Mama jauhhhhhhh.

Mariessa: Oh…. Ofis Ayah yang dekat depan situ tuuu?

Mama: Ha-ah… Ofis Ayah dekat.. Ofis Mama jauh….

Mariessa: Ok lah.. Kalau macam tu.. Mama balik petang tau!

Mama: Ok.. petang nanti Mama balik la.

Mariessa: Bukan petang lambat tau? Petang awal tau? Kakak kata Mama kena balik awal, Mama KENA balik awal tau! Mama cakap kat boss Mama macam tu!!

Errr… bosss…. nak balik awal today, boleh?