Afiq turned 3 on April 16, 2008. We didn't do anything special because we already threw him a party 4 days before that, combined with Mariessa's 1st.

Conversations with Afiq is definitely getting more interesting these days. He's very quick and sharp, and what's more interesting is that, he usually repeats words he heard only a few days after he heard them and not immediately. And usually it will be in the right context. He surprised us many, many times already repeating after us (and of course selalunya apa yg not so good tu lah dia dapat dulu...) Hehe.

Random facts about Afiq:

1. When talking to us (me & shahril) he usually refers himself as 'Afiq'
or 'saya' <- this, he got from the TV i believe. And lately i noticed he started saying 'kita' as well. That, definitely from anak2 jiran. Usual context would be: "bola ni kita punya lahhh!" or, "ini toy kita lahh" <- yes.. kita is more used when in argument. Hehe And the sweet thing is, he automatically bahasakan diri dia 'Abang' when talking to Mariessa. E.g. "Dik... jangan la ambik toy tu.. Tu abang punya!"

2. His favourite baju is the one that he wore during the bday party (refer previous post). Aunty Mas & Aunty Pet yang bagi. He calls it 'baju shen dengan merari' (that's baju Shell dengan Ferrari) sebab kat baju tu ada lambang Shell dengan Ferrari. His absolute favourite, that one. Bila dah pakai baju tu, mesti dtg to us and senyum simpul malu2... tunggu complimentlah tu maksudnya. I usually say.."wahhhh handsomenya Afiq".. that will do. He will senyum control macho, th
en lari gi main.

3. Favourite toys: Cars & bikes & ball. So very boyish. Now, sebab dah byk sgt toy cars, bila dapat cars baru je, bukannya main dah.. but he will tanggalkan the wheels first and then whatever yang boleh ditanggalkan. Life span toys dia usually ranging from 15 minutes to 3 days, depending on how kebal the cars are.

4. Last month we took him to the National Zoo. He can name most of the common animals there. Jibra (zebra), giraffe ('kenapa giraffe tu makan sayur je ma?"), tiger (tiger mandi tu sebab dia panas ke?"), birds, ostrich, monkey, turtle, and elephant. He was a big fan of elephants BEFORE we went to the zoo. So we were excited to introduce him to the elephant when we went there. But i guess he didn't expect the elep
hant to be THAT big, so he got scared. Now whenever we mention elephant, he'll say: "Afiq tak nak lah tengok elephant. Afiq takut. Soooo big!" So much for my macho boy.

5. He still pronounce piano as pinano!


6. Last week, Shahril had to go to Spore for a few days. Took him to the airport to send Shahril off. On our way back, Afiq asked me ("mama... kenapa se
mua orang punnnnn nak pegi sinopo?). And for the next 2 days, asyik cakap nak pegi 'sinopo' je. On the 2nd night, he took out a photo album, flipped through it, stopped at one page and said..."haaaa... ni pun Ayah!" I felt soo syahdu.

The next morning, the first question he asked me was: "Mama.. kenapa Ayah tak balik balik lagi ni?"
The night Shahril came home, we all went to KLIA. Took Afiq to the viewing area (anjung tinjau) to see aeroplanes. (He loves aeroplanes too.. OK, he loves ALL kinds of vehicles lah nak senang cerita. Trains dia panggil Thomas (for Thomas & friends the cartoon)). He pronounces aeroplanes: Epopolane. :D

I tried correcting Sinopo -> Singapore. Told him it's not sinopo, it's Siiiiiii ngaaaaaa pore! Lepas
tu betul la sikit : sinapo. 5 minutes after that, I asked him again: "Ayah pegi mana, fiq?" Dengan confidentnya dia jawab, as a matter of factly: "Ayahhhh, pegiiii Siiiiii ngaaaaa NOPO!!" Hihi..

7. Once he wanted something, and I said no, he said: "Mama ni... suka gaduh gaduh!" I have NOOO idea where he got that. Seriously!

8. One night, wanting to use some words he obviously picked up from TV, he asked me: "Mama, ni beg Mama ke ni?" (knowing very well it's MY bag). I said yes anyway. He said:"Ohhhh biar saya tolong ambilkan ye?" hihi.. sooo lah baku and TV-nya!


9. He loves Postman-Pat and Fireman-Sam series (Channel Ceria). Once
we passed thru the Petronas area in Kerteh (or is it Paka?) and he saw those whatever-you-call-it, yang berapi2 tu lah kan.. he said: "Mama look... tu terbakar! Nanti saya telefon Pakcik Sam!" Hehe. I hope he doesnt call the postman in our area Uncle Pat. :D

10. He remembers the full names of ALL our family members. Ada la salah pronouciation here & there kan.. like Aunty Mas becomes " Uuuujeypaaaa Tutura" :D. Cubalah teka apa sebenarnya tu. Hehe.

11. He expects me to call him every morning when I'm in the office. Kalau tak call, around 11 tu dia dah resah.. main phone. Or he'll just ask my maid to dial my number. Usual conversation will be, "d
ahhh.. Afiq dah makan dah... makan soshesh."or.."Afiq dah mandi dah, takde sejuk pun?". Or "Mama.. nanti mama balik.. mama beli calci-yum k? Calci-yum, dengan juice, k?"

12. His favourite song for now is... jeng jeng jeng.... "pertama kallli kuuuuu bejumpa dengan si diaaa" <- that, for those yang tak tau.. is a song by Datuk M. Daud Kilau ok? The one yang Zahid AF2 nyanyi dulu tuh! The reason he knows this song is that, as told by my maid, in Tom Tom Bak rancangan Aznil Hj Nawawi tu, ada one kid buat miming lagu ni. And for some reason, selaluuuuuu ulang this episode. He perfectly memorizes the first line! The unbeatable line would be his chorus"

"senyumlah.... senyumlah.. ahaiiiii cikcak molek" Muahahahaaaaa... (it's supposed to be cik mek molek). I'll try to get this on tape one day, complete with his gelek, and sunglasses!

That's My Afiq. :)


Afiq and his must-have-before-tido companion: Barney.
Just a quick update to share some photos, fresh from the oven. Will update more later.


These were taken during Afiq's and Mariessa's birthday party. Held on April 12, 2008.




Can't believe he's already 3! (Comot merah kat mulut tu sebab minum sirap limau... ke ni lepas makan kek? :) )

Lil' Mariessa...

Afiq's McQueen Car Cake.

Mariessa's Doll Cake

Shahril & his lil girl. ;)

Today, last year I was already at the hospital - it was my due date and I was in great pain. We've come to the hospital the day before but decided to go home again when the pain went away. We decided to let Afiq and my maid stay at my sister's place anyway. That night, we went to Jusco to jalan2 (konon2 nak senangkan labor) and sempat la makan kat Laksa Shack. Too bad the branch we went to didn't have laksam. Can't remember what I had instead.

4 a.m April 2nd, the pain became unbearable. I do not remember any pain at all during Afiq's time (honestly). Not until the doctors induced me lah at least. But this time, it was ohhh sooo painful! We went to the hospital right after Subuh, I was told that my gynae was on holiday, but the other doctor was around. I was a little nervous by that, but berserah je lah. And then the waiting game began.

This time, penantian itu is more more than satu penyeksaan, i tell you! When the doctor checked, i was only more or less 3cm dilated. 2 hours after that, it was still the same. But the pain? Ohhh myyyy.... it got more intense each time.

By 1 pm, (finally!) ada progress sikit. 5cm. I reminded the nurse that I want, want, want, the epidural. Ok, so my threshold of pain is very, very low if it exists at all. But really.. sakit ooooo.

So at about 2pm they wheeled me into the labor room. I dont know whether it was the aircond, or maybe it was just me, but i felt really really cold. And then I panicked! I was s
hivering like mad when the aneasthetist was about to give me the epidural jab. Shahril had to hold me real tight. That was, the scariest point of the whole drama actually.

When the magic kicked in, all the pain was gone. And waiting game no.2 began.. sans the pain of course. I was then told that my gynae is back from his holiday, (yey!) and he'll be the one receiving my baby. Alhamdulillah.

I don't remember much what happened then, mostly because i was already too exhausted by then. I remember almost falling asleep even. :) At 4 plus, the nurses told me that it was time and so they called the gynae to the labor room.


I'd rather not go through all the glory details of the labor, because frankly... still rasa ngilu thinking about it. So to cut the story short... after a few pushes (maybe 4-5 times) , and 4 times snip snip snip snip (ok, so this is part of the ngilu part i did NOT want to mention, hehe) and with the help of the vaccum thingy, suddenly.... woooossshhhh!!! there she was!!! I think the time was 4.43 or 4.45. (Have to check her birth cert)

I think at that time Shahril was momentarily stunned. Not by the baby, but by the 'wooossshhh!!' spill. Maybe 'wooosshhhh' is too gentle to describe it. Maybe it was more like a...'boooosshhhhh!!!' kinda thing. It was, after all, our first time on normal delivery. With Afiq, there was no push, so there was no booooosshhhh!!! In other words, with Afiq, it was less messy-lah. :). That, i can say is the major difference (for me) between Caesarian section & normal birth.

Annyywayyy.. my first thought when I saw her was... how she looks exactly like Afiq. :) Shahril thinks otherwise though. "She looks like Ummi! (my mom)" . My mom was of course beaming with pride when we told her this.

And today... exactly a year later, my lil baby is 1!


And to my darling Afreena Mariessa, you're everything I ever imagined a daughter would be, and more. I pray that I will be with you on many, many, MANY birthdays to come.


During aqiqah, and after dibotakkan.



Less botak - at about 4-5 months


Around 6-8 months.. can sit , & very chubby
Dah pandai senyum kat camera... 8-10 months
Gigi ada 6 batang now.. and flashes this cheeky grin everytime ambik gambar

Drama queen jugak.. if you look closely can see air mata ngada2..

Starts walking at 11.5 months. Terkedek2 but laju!

Happy 1st Birthday sayang Mama...


Bought this cute caftan with pants at Pasar Payang KT. Too bad they don't have any other colour in her size. Kalau x, dah sure borong 2-3.





I doubt there will be Part 3.. But anyhow,


The view from our room. This is my 2nd time in Awana Kijal. The first time was in 2006 when I had to do a simple system installation on a system in Kerteh airport tower. Overall, I think the hotel is OK.
Quote
"
A luxurious 5 star resort of international standard you'll treasure the experience."
Unquote.


BUT (kena la ada but, baru best). I truly don't understand why they just cannot provide the wifi for free at the lobby. I mean, c'mon!! We pay soo much staying there, you still want to charge RM15 per hour for wifi aaaa? Aiiieeee... so kedekut one! Really, I don't get it. I just can't get over it. Even now.


The Lobby..
(my pictures don't do justice to the place, so please your imagination. It's actually quite nice)

The lobby is huge, with open air concept. I remember having a welcome drink in 2006 while checking in though, but none was served this time. Hmm.. Cost-cutting measures maybe? Hehe.. Sorry, that maybe only applies in the company I'm with. Muahaha.. Everything also want to cut cost. Aiyaiyai!

Annnnnnnnnnyywayyy.. this is my room in the previous trip. This time around tak ambik pulak gambar bilik. Maybe because it's totally the same! I experienced a dejavu when I entered the room. Can't recall the room number in 2006, so i can't verify whether it's really the same room. Not that it's important lah pun kan?

The room, I feel, is a little run-down though. (And last time ada robe in the closet, this time takde pulak. Again, cost cutting measures?) And being a 5-star hotel, I think they should pay more attention to details, like the latch of the bathroom door is broken, and the door itself needs re-painting. And they have this sliding window at the bathroom. Ala.. susah nak explain, jap... cari gambar...

aaaa... This one... when it opens..


it's like this

I like the idea.. but the room we got that day.. the sliding window is almost stuck already! Bopoloh poloh (afiq speak) la nak tarik that thing to close. Like I said, it's nice.. but small things like that count.

Ok, moving on. Since we were going to stay there for 4 days, I told myself I will make sure I get to spend some time alone. Probably strolling on the beach ke.. read a book by the beach ke. Siap beli headphone for the (portable) DVD player lagi tu, so that I can enjoy watching DVD while everyone's asleep at night. And i proudly managed to do all that! Yey me!


Where I did my reading.

Feeling very d romantika d amour gitu! It was very windy (what do i expect?).. and the weather was rather funny. 1 second it was shining bright, then it was gloomy and then it was shining oh so brightly again. Didn't sit there for too long - pening kepala, kejap panas, kejap redup. But it was nice, yes.

My favourite, favourite sandal. (Can see from how worn out it is). The best I've ever had. Just to prove that I (or rather my sandals) was really there.

The book I was reading. A compilation by Reader's Digest. Quite a good read.



The swimming pool. Huge. There were a lot of people then, i think because it was school holiday.


Afiq & Mariessa (& Shahril too) had a really good time 'timin' (swimming).


I wouldn't mind going there again (especially under the same circumstances, you know... (shahril->work) + (me->holiday) = everything is paid for lah. Hehe).

Ok.. kira habis lah cerita Awana ni. Here's Afiq giving you one of his don't-mess-with-me look.
Be afraid... be very afraid!



Not that Mariessa cares that much about the look anyway.

This must be a record, isn't it? Sooo penat already!




Happy Birthday to the grrrrreatest guy in the world!!




Lots & lots of love:
Mama, Afiq & Mariessa

I know, I know.... bak kata the gorgeous Mrs.Curmudgeon, a picture is NOT worth a thousand words. Tapi tu lah, seksa betul nak mengarang2 these days. I don't know why. I'm having a permanent writer's block agaknya. Sungguh sadis sekali.

Anyway.. as fate has it.. (tragic betul bunyi nya).. baru je nak ada mood to write, duty calls lah pulak. (Dalam hati.. yey!! ada excuse tak yah tulis panjang2.. he
heh). Oleh itu, I'll leave you guys with some pictures of the kids (who else kan?) first ok?

Oh the title.. we went for a holiday at Awana Kijal last week and had a blast!. Much needed break actually, from my, ermm not so hectic work. Heheh... Correction, it was holiday for me & kids, work for Shahril.. Muahahaa.... Nanti lah cerita2 later k? Gotta run now.

Afiq was soo happy that we were going to the 'pantai' that he was smiling allllllll the way!!After a quick stop at kampung Atok to mandi2... masuk kereta balik aje, semua pengsan!!

Mariessa was really happy too... Dulu My sis a.k.a Aunty Mas used to complain that whenever we took pictures of Mariessa, mesti susah nak senyum.. Nowadays, she gives us this kind of grin everytime!

And it's really no wonder where she takes this grin from

See??

And last but not least..


Ok.. now i really have to run! Chiow!!










Just came back from a short trip to Port Dickson. Now I'm having post-holiday blues. :(

Especially for Akak, who suggested putting up the pic on this blog. Pretty or not?? La la la la laaa....

So… my birthday came, and went in a jiffy. Did nothing special in particular, but it was a special day indeed. Thank you so much for the all the wishes. We are, afterall, only as young (or old) as we feel, no? And I feel justtttt nice. Not too young, not too old either. I’ve lived for 30 years, and life has treated me well. And I pray that I get to live for more than another 30 years. :)


2007 was a very good year. Full of ups and downs, of course. But we pulled through. Every cloud has a silver lining, isn’t it? That’s what we keep telling ourselves when something bad happens. And when good things happen, we need to remind each other that we have to keep our feet on the ground, that ‘kesenangan’ is also a test from Allah.To see whether we would be grateful.


We moved into our new house on March 3rd. Alhamdulillah, the whole process of buying the house didn’t give us too much headache. Except the joker we were dealing with, the so called agent of the bank. I was 7 months along with Mariessa then.


End of March, our maid came to live with us. Alhamdulillah, so far, she’s doing OK. I hope she’ll stay that way.


April 2nd, exactly on the due date, Mariessa popped out. Not so easily though. A beautiful baby, just as beautiful as our first born, Afiq. This time I had a normal delivery with the help of epidural, and vacuum. Traumatic, really. Hehe.


As we were leaving the hospital, I remember Hubby received a call. It was then all the mess at (his) office started. Backstabbing issue. Hubby was hit hard. Stayed out of office for almost 3 weeks I think, and decided to go for another job. (Oh, sempat pegi cameron highlands dulu to wind down. Mariessa was only 2-3 weeks then, I think). Alhamdulillah, a month after it all started, Hubby started working for another company. We definitely learned a valuable lesson then. Your best friend could very well be your worst enemy. I pray that we don’t have to go thru this ever again.


Afiq turned 2 on April 16th. And on May 1st, we celebrated our 3rd anniversary.


I’m not good at recalling by the way. My memory is very selective, so I found out. And no, it has nothing to do with my age. :P


Work wise, there wasn’t anything much. After 3 years of contract, I was made permanent by the company. Was given salary increment. Although not much, it’s still better than nothing. :)


The last ‘event’ for the year was when Hubby was admitted for sinusitis on December 27. Stayed 3 days at the hospital and underwent a procedure to flush out the blockage. Sounds very simple, but heart breaking (for me) all the same.


(Kalau ada lagi..nanti2 tambah.. ;) )


What do I wish for 2008? Hmmm… I hope to lose ALL the weight I somehow managed to gain all these years, and more! That, of course has been in my list for as long as I remember lah kan, but what the heck. Who knows my determination will finally pay off kan ke?


I hope to spend more quality time with Hubby, Afiq & Mariessa. In short, I hope 2008 will bring us happiness, health and wealth. And I do hope we will always be in the right path. Ameen. :)

It’s my last day of being a 20-something. :) Come tomorrow..(yes, JANUARY 4th, everybody!!) actually, if we count right down to the minute, it’s only another 12 hours away from the time I’m writing this down, I’ll be 30!!


Kalau dulu-dulu, bila org sebut umur 30 tahun, rasa macam, ‘makkkk aiii, tuanya!”. Now that I’ve reached there, I don’t know how to feel. I mean, how do you feel ‘thirty’ anyway?


Am looking forward to spend some quality time tomorrow with my husband. We’re taking the day off from work and go jalan jalan. Yey!


While I’m at it, Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2008 will bring lots and lots of happiness of every kind!


Apit Kikudin – ‘apa nama afiq?” “Apit Kiiiikudin!” – Afiq Naqiuddeen.
Apina Maaa-ki-cha - "apa nama adik?” "Aaaapinaaa Maaaakiiicha!" – Afreena Mariessa
Otomen Tiga – His fav TV show – Ultraman Tiga
Cicakman – cicakman, could also be spiderman.
Wish – "Afiq makan apa hari ni?" "Apit makan wish!" – sometimes ‘wish’ is rightfully fish. Other times ‘wish’ could be chicken. This morning however, ‘wish’ was actually meatballs.
Nini – that’s what he calls his susu. I honestly think it’s cute and unique, so I don’t bother correcting him.
Abam – abang. – “Adik!!!! Ni toy abam apit punyaaaa!!”
Kancin – as in kereta kancil. He recognizes Waja, kancil and Wiga (Wira). Oh, pod too (Ford, as in the Ford Ranger).
Tututututos – you’ll never guess this. It stands for tomato sauce!
Totato – potato, interchangeable with tomato.
Kayet – took me a while to get this. It’s carrot!
Tokojut – terkejut. Mostly used in this scenario – Ayah bersin sekuat hati… “haaaaaaaachhhuuuuummmmm!!!!” Afiq goes, “ Ayahhhhh!!! Tokojut apit!”
Bopoloh poloh – berpeluh peluh. I reckon he overheard somebody saying this at the Jelebu kampung. Ayat would be like: “Mama, look! Apit lari lari, bopoloh poloh apit ni”
Air kocon – air kosong.
Timin – swimming
Peyde peyde – stands for pedal, pedal. That’s what we usually tell him to do, to ‘pedal pedal, kick kick’ when he’s ‘timin’

Will update when there’s more that I can recall. :)

Update: Just remembered 2 more:
Papin - muffin. He loves the banana-choc muffin. I love baking it, cause it's soooo easy.
Esssskuuuumii - excuse me. Example of usage: "Mamaaaa... afiq toot toot! Essskuuumiiii" Announce dulu yang dia toot toot tu yang tak tahan tu.



I usually call Afiq 2-3 times daily. Just to check him out. Yesterday afternoon, we "chatted" for quite some time. Well, you know the usual questions like 'Afiq dah makan?' or 'Afiq buat apa today'. The length of the conversation usually very much depends on his moods (NOOOOO idea where he gets his mood swing, seriously! ;) ). After about 4-5 minutes of talking, I guess he got tired.

Afiq: Mama, Afiq nak tingok Ultraman Tiga ni!!! Afiq tutup dulu k? I larrrr you!!!
(tutup – put the phone down)
(I larrrrr you – I love you)

Sabar je lah!

Today, angkat phone je,

Afiq: Mama!! Mama pigi mana?
Mama: Mama pergi kerja, sayang.
Afiq: Afiq nak pigiiiiiiiii hmmmmm….. A-kis mana?
Mama: Uncle reez kat Shah Alam.
Afiq: aaaaaaaa…. Afiq nak pigi tah alam! Nanti mama balik k? Nanti ayah balik k?

Demanding!

A-kis (actually it’s uncle reez) is my brother who’s studying in Shah Alam.

Any similarities? Afiq & Mariessa at about the same age.
I suddenly have this ‘urge’ to go shoe shopping. That’s kinda strange because:
a) I don’t usually go shoe shopping, unless I really, really, REALLY need a new pair
b) I only need a new pair if my current ones cannot be worn anymore.
c) My current pair of shoes are perfectly fine (a bit worn out, but fine nonetheless)
d) I totally HATE shoe shopping

Ok.. so what’s ‘wrong’ with me? Hihi..

Maybe I should make time to go shoe-(window)-shopping at least this weekend. Oh, and go for a sushi makan2 while I’m at it. Akak, Ngah, nak ikut? hihi



I just couldn't stop myself from taking this quiz. Hihi.. And don't ask me why I am soooo excited to "be" in the same house as Harry. La la la la la... Yey me!!


Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

It’s funny how I stumbled upon writer’s block just after.. errr 2 entries? 3? Oh well.. I’m definitely not meant to be a writer. Sometimes I just wish I can pick whatever it is that I want to blog about in my head, and put it on the blog, just like that.

Last night I noticed that Mariessa’s first tooth is finally showing, justttt a little. How comel! I remember Afiq didn’t have any, until he was about 14-16 months! And last night, while meniarap, she finally moved! And just like Afiq.. whatever movement it is, mesti reverse dulu. When he crawled, it was backward first! When he was learning to walk, it was like 2 steps backward and 1 step forward. J So it was not a surprise when Mariessa moved backward last night. An achievement nonetheless! Yey!

At work, things are suddenly pouring in. I’ve been running like a headless chicken between the sites doing stuff related to my system and also helping out other teams. It’s actually fun, but it’s better if we don’t have to travel so much. Going to and fro the same 3 destinations almost everyday is definitely not fun!

Last month the president of the holding company made an announcement that there will be a merger of 5 companies. One of them is the company I’m currently working for. It’s targetted to take place next March. So right now, things seem a little haywire especially at the HQ. I personally don’t feel anything (yet). But the way I see it, some people (mostly those at the management side) are worried for different reasons. There are a lot of higher ranking vacancies to be filled, and I’m guessing a lot of people are hoping for promotions. Us on the operational side, are not much affected. At least that’s how I see it, for now. Yang lecehnya, now they want everyone’s latest photos lah, latest job description lah. Macam2.

Thank God today is Friday. Can’t wait to spend the weekend with the kids and hubby of course who just came back from another trip to Pasir Gudang. Yey! Have a good weekend everybody!

Am playing around with the setting of the layout. So kalau senget sana, senget sini, pls bear with me. Al-maklumla.. dah lamaaaaaaaaa x masuk rumah, kena la sapu2 sikit kan? ;)

For the past few days.. Afiq has been saying that he wants to go to school. “Mama… Afiq nak gi kolah”.. Thing is, I don’t even know whether he knows what sekolah really is. So I don’t know what he really wants! Or maybe I’m under estimating his vocabulary. Maybe he really knows what sekolah is.


Latest phone conversation I had with him 10 minutes ago:

Afiq: Mama, Afiq nak pegi kolah

Me: Afiq nak pegi sekolah kat mana?

Afiq: Afiq nak pegi kolah kajammm (kajang)


* Pening *


I’ve been thinking about sending him to playschool. But I thought I might as well wait until January. Plus we haven’t had time to look around for one. (that’s a lousy excuse, really, I know). I should have made time for it. But isn’t he too small to go to school? Be it a playschool?


I’m also thinking of enrolling him in taekwando classes since he’s into all these pysical activities. Do they take 2 yr olds ek? Have to find that out too.


I did try out Tumble Tots once. But I felt (looking at Afiq), that it’s rather too ‘soft’ for Afiq. Have to find something more vigorous. Hence the taekwando classes idea. Hmm..


Afiq is also missing Hubby terrible today. He went outstation yesterday and is coming back later today. Afiq woke up at midnight yesterday, kicking, and calling for Ayah. And just now, Tri (my maid) said he woke up from his nap looking for ayah. When told that Ayah will be back later, he went to the door, waiting. Adoi.. Makes me wanna cry.

OooooooooK. So, where do I (re) start? My entries seem to have a pattern now. That is, everytime I start it will be something like… “it has been x months since I last updated” or something to that effect. And this time, the gap is only about 2 weeks shy from being a year since the last entry. Fuiyo. It’s a wonder why I bother to have a blog in the first place.


A LOT (of course) had happened since last november. I’d like to keep the happy memories, and do away with the sad (few) ones. The biggest happiness of course is the birth of our little princess, Afreena Mariessa. Interestingly, the remarks I get from my friends upon hearing Mariessa’s name will be..”Chehhhh nak jugak letak ‘reena’ tu kat nama baby” Hehe. Eh mestilah! At first I wanted to put “sufreena” terus. But then, I thot that is a little too unoriginal. Muahaha.. So, divert a little lah kan.


I’ll have a proper entry on Mariessa later. It’s only right. :)


About a month before Mariessa was born, we moved house, to Kajang. And it’s really a longggggggggggggggggggg story, that one. Things were really smooth at first. But RHB gave us a hard time later on. It’s lucky that I’ve never met the RHB agent who dealt with us. Lucky for him lah. I would have given him a good smack on his head if I had met him. He deserved it. Memang rasa merajuk sgt dgn RHB. The service was sooo slow. Oh well.. let’s not go there again, ok? Nanti luka berdarah kembali. Echeh. The most important thing is, we got the keys to the house (albeit a little late, and after MUCH persuasion. Well, ‘persuasion’ is too polite to describe it actually.. but anyway..).


So we moved to Kajang on March 3rd. Dengan my sarat condition. Alhamdulillah, everything went smoothly. Had the kitchen cabinet installed about 10 days after that… and some other stuff done to the house. It was not all sweet of course. Like how our pakistan-contractor chose really ugly tiles for our porch.. That’s a long story also lah. I don’t want to go there, really. But overall, we’re pretty satisfied with the house.


A week before Mariessa was born pulak, we took home our maid. That’s also a longgg story how we got her, but that’s not really important lah (now). Hehe. What’s important is that, she’s OK. She’s not perfect of course. In fact, if I were to compare her to Ngah’s Bibik.. oiiii… jauhhhh bezanya. Tu sebab tak nak compare. Plus, IF, IF lah I were to compare pun, I should also compare her gaji with Bibik’s gaji kan? So, I’m thankful for what I have. Yang penting, she’s handling the kids OK-ly. Yang lain2 tu… boleh la pejam mata sebelah. Makes me happier that way rather than dwell on her weaknesses. Ye tak?


Moving on. On 2nd April, right on the date predicted, Mariessa was born. Details, later lah. Kan nanti ada special entry nanti about her? ;)


Went back to 443 several days after that.. only to go to jelebu pulak a few days after that. Again… Longggggggggggggggggg story. This one, I don’t want to recall. Let bygones be bygones. Yg penting, everything & everyone is OK now. Think happy thoughts.. always! OK?


Then.. 60 days of maternity leave came and went. Sekojap yo! Went back to work, reluctantly of course. Alhamdulillah, this time around I am able to breastfeed my baby. Didn’t succeed with Afiq, so in a way, I was much much more prepared (mentally) this time. And until today, I am proud to say that Mariessa is still exclusively breastfed. Alhamdulillah. It’s an overwhelming experience, although in the beginning I felt like I was nothing but a feeding machine of some sort. Rimas ooooo. But that phase is long gone. Now she does not need to be fed 2-hourly. In fact since she’s started solid food, I’ve began to feel a lot like a ‘normal’ person again. Yay!


OK.. apa lagi? Tadi rasa byk sgt. Hmm.. Afiq? Oh… Afiq turned 2 exaclty 14 days after Mariessa was born. Kesian dia… tak dapat buat a proper birthday party for him. We did 2 small ones anyway.. so it should be ok, right? I promise (myself) that we’re going to have a VERY proper party for Afiq AND mariessa come April next year. It would probably be birthday party cum house warming cum whatever else. Hehe. InsyaAllah. Semoga dimurahkan rezeki. :D


At first Afiq didn’t care much about Mariessa. And then he became jealous… and now.. he still gets jealous sometimes.. but loving most of the time. I can rely on him to look after Mariessa while I run to the bathroom.. or whatever short breaks. And he reports everthing that Mariessa does too. “Mama… adik tarik rambut afiq!”…. “ Mama… sakit! Adik buat”… “ Mama.. tengok adik ni”…. Macam2..


These past few days… he’s been wanting to go to ‘kolah’ (sekolah = school). I have NO idea if he knows what sekolah really is. I do plan to send him to a playschool maybe next year. Haven’t had time to go around asking, though. Hmmm.. must find time. Must!


And Afiq is obsessed about Ultraman Tiga. (There are a LOT of ultraman version right? Ultraman Taro.. Ultraman Ace.. Ultraman Lexus).. Channel Ceria is showing Ultraman Tiga now. (I don’t subscribe to Disney Channels, so Ceria is Afiq’s only cartoon channel). Pose raya pun macam Ultraman. If he’s still interested in Ultraman.. I’ll make sure his bday cake next year will be an Ultraman Cake. Oh and he’s been practising singing Happy Birthday song, complete dgn tiup lilin everyday now.


Hubby? Oh… he has some interesting stories on his own too. We were hit by a BIG wave right after Mariessa was born. Again, this is not something I would like to recall too. But it was a BIG mess. Lucky for us.. Hubby is not the type to ‘melatah’ tak tentu pasal. He kept his cool. And although the situation was really bad at that time, neither of us really felt THAT bad. I personally felt that it was a test in so many ways to us. And alhamdulillah he came out of it a better person. We all did. As a person.. and as partners. Doa2 orang teraniaya kan dimakbulkan? If anything, this episode taught us how careful we should be, that your best friend could easily be your worst enemy. And in business, you probably have no ‘real’ friends, anyway. I am only thankful that it didn’t take too long for the truth to come out in the open. Alhamdulillah. I’m glad to get rid of people like that particular guy.


So now, Hubby’s back with our old Company. And things are looking real good, alhamdulillah. Seeing that ‘green’ building in Shah Alam surely brought a lot of memories. Hehe. After all, that was where everything started between me and him. I think it was meant to be.




OK. This is getting too long. Since I’m in the mood (at least today lah), I’ll probably post some entries today.. <-- this of course could just be ayat hangat2 tahi ayam. But we’ll see. And I’m planning to finally ‘reveal’ this blog to my sisters, (who had started blogging themselves) and some other friends. Sorry for not letting u guys know much earlier. I’m much too shy! I’m sure you guys know that. Muahaha.


I hope my next entry will not be in November 2008. Hihi. Let’s see.

A lot has happened since i last blogged. Some happy and proud moments, and some very, very sad ones.

1. :) We bought our very own house! - We've been planning, and dreaming about buying a house we can call our own. And we have found the perfect one. But, we keep on delaying buying it for no reason really. And finally we decided, although the design and the price is pretty perfect for us, the location is just not practical. Hubby's office is moving... and me? Well.. I was on a contract.. and can't be too sure if the company would require my service after these past 3 years. So, after looking at Hubby's new office's area.. we thought it's only right to buy a house there, so at least one of us doesn't have to travel so far to work. Looked around we did.. and found a house. It's a completed property and has not been bought yet. To cut the long, boring story short, our loan was approved and we are now just waiting for the keys to find its way to our hands! And if everything goes as smoothly as we hope it would be, we will be moving to our new house in January, latest by February. Hopefully. Or at least anytime before I’m due, which is end of March.

2. :) Pregnancy is going well, although I personally feel that it's totally different than Afiq's time. Last 2 weeks i went for the monthly checkup, and the gynae told me, he's pretty sure that it's going to be a girl this time. Alhamdulillah..:). We'll have to confirm it in the next checkup of course.

3. :(( Afiq was admitted in SJMC on November 4th due to terrible wheezing. We stayed there for 3 nights. 3 saddest nights of my life. Afiq had to use the nebulizer 2-hourly at his worst time. Both Hubby and I don't have a history of asthma, so this is totally new to us. We were discharged on Tuesday.. and the paed advised us not to send Afiq to the nursery for that week at least. So, we went back to my home town on the same day.. and left Afiq with my parents. The feeling is totally indescribable! We left him after he was asleep.. and I cried, and cried and cried all 2 hours in the car back to KL. I kept looking at the backseat of the car, as I always do when we're travelling, to check Afiq out. And to see it empty is just too sad. When we got home (it was midnight then).. i swear i could hear Afiq calling "mamaaaaa"... I called home like 13 times the next day!. Afiq had a good time at home. All attention went to him, and he had all the space he needs. lari sana sini... kejar ayam.. main bola in the evening. The 2nd night was easier.. but Hubby and I woke up at 4, feeling that we had slept for too long! We ended eating cucur udang. Yes.. at 4.30 a.m. We rushed back home on Saturday. Oh, and I cant get enuff of kissing and hugging Afiq.

4. :) We had a follow up appointment with Afiq's paed a week after that. He's alright now. But... no cold drinks (not that I've ever gave him that). Nothing from the fridge. No acidic fruits. Warm water for bathing. AND he has to use inhaler. Inflammide on normal days.. top with Ventolin on not-so-well days. For the next 6 months or so, we'll have to adhere to these rules... and hopefully he'll be perfectly allright after that. InsyaAllah. We'll pray hard.

5. :). The company won the system my team is maintaning. In other words, I am still needed for at least 2 years here. Words I hear is that, they are making us, the contract staff, permanent. I hope that means a raise. But it also means.. I have to commute from Kajang to Subang everyday. It aint gonna be easy I'm sure. But I'll try. (That's how much I love this job, really). But if it's too hard, rezeki ada di mana2 kan? I'm not too worried. So yeah, good news for my career..:). I heard about a promotion.. but then, it's too early to tell (and believe). And I actually like having my boss around.. so... I'm happy this way.

6. :) We're going for curtains-shopping this weekend. I'm honestly nervous! i'd rather choose the design of wrought-iron grill rather than curtains! I know nothing about textile. I just learnt what roman blind is today, in fact! Day curtains? Night curtains? Aiyo.. Hmmm.. let's just hope it's not going to be a disaster. If it takes me like a year to invite u friends for a house warming, be pretty sure that it's my curtains I'm embarrassed of! Nothing personal ok? hihi.

Wish me luck on curtains-hunting!
Didn't feel like it has been 5 months since i last updated. I've not been busy.. just plain lazy. Maybe i'm not meant to have a blog after all. Hehe.

Annnnyyywaaayyy... Nothing much has changed really. Except Afiq is growing up much faster than i really want him to. He has lots of tricks up his sleeves now. We're having a blast raising him up, really. Ada la 'tension' nya jugak sometimes, of course. Like everytime after mandi... he will scream and scream until i think the whole block can hear him. There's no solution to this really, i tried letting him play in the bathroom for 30 minutes, thinking it would be long enuff, but still, he'll scream once we take him out. Kalau mandi 5 minutes aje, lagi lah jerit! *sigh*. He's just so obsessed with water!

But nothing beats the sayu i feel every single time he calls out "Maaaaaa".. And sometimes when i'm cooking in the kitchen.. he'll just stand at the gate at the door (we had to put it to block him from entering the kitchen and playing with the lesung batu! he loves that), and call out"maaa" repeatedly.. just to hear me answer him. I feel so special. I do!

He turned 16 month-old 5 days ago. How time flies.

And... in another 7 months, InsyaAllah.. Afiq will have an adik.

I'm about 8 weeks pregnant now. Alhamdulillah. If my calculations are right, Afiq's adik will
arrive in March. If i'm lucky, i might just give birth on Hubby's birthday! Hehe.

This pregnant is different, or so I feel. The nausea is worse than I remember. And my face? ya Allah.. menggerutu habis! I dont remember having any skin problem while carrying Afiq. And dulu,loya, loya jugak.. Makan macam biasa aje. This time.. loya jugak... and tak lalu nak makan. So far I've lost about 2kgs. (Best la jugak sebenarnya Muahaha.. selalu payah gila nak lose weight). Hehe

We're preparing ourselves (mentally mostly so far) and Afiq for the new baby's arrival. I'm sure hoping that it's going to be a girl this time. But I wont mind a 2nd Afiq either! So, I'm praying for a baby as healthy, and as sempurna, and as charming as my first born. Aminnn..

This is a lyrics of a song by Roslan Madun. Not many people I'm sure have heard of this wonderful man, or his songs. I find his songs sooooo beautiful. And the lyrics? downright menusuk kalbu. Like this 'lagu rindu'... it's called Lemak Manis. Try find his album if you can. You won't regret it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lemak Manis by Roslan Madun

Sopan santun anak melayu... senyum terukir,
Senyum terukir bila di sapa...
Dalam pantun ku kirim rindu,
Rindu mengalir, rindu mengalir di dalam kata...

Lemak manis alah amboi amboi Santan kelapa alah amboi amboi
Ku pandanglah manis alah amboi amboi Anak siapa
Lemak manis alah amboi amboi Santan kelapa alah amboi amboi
Kupandanglah manis alah amboi amboi Anak siapa

Pohon sena pohon meranti
Di tengah-tengah, di tengah-tengah buluh perindu
Adik di sana abang di sini
Di tengah-tengah, di tengah-tengah rindu menderu

Lemak manis alah amboi amboi Santan kelapa alah amboi amboi
Kupandanglah manis alah amboi amboi Anak siapa
Lemak manis alah amboi amboi Santan kelapa alah amboi amboi
Kupandanglah manis alah amboi amboi anak siapa

Hujan di hulu tak reda reda
Ributlah turun, ributlah turun bertalu talu
Abang di hulu adik di kuala
Ku hanyut rindu ku hanyut rindu dalam perahu

Lemak manis alah amboi amboi Santan kelapa alah amboi amboi
Kupandanglah manis alah amboi amboi Anak siapa
Lemak manis alah amboi amboi Santan kelapa alah amboi amboi
Kupandanglah manis alah amboi amboi anak siapa