(ala-ala suci dalam debu… kuang3)

I am supposed to be on leave today. But due to a meeting that was scheduled today, like a responsible person that I am (still in appraisal mode, hence the masuk bakul statement), I postponed my leave to next week. 30 freaking minutes before the scheduled meeting, it got cancelled!

Sakit tak sakit hati????

Oleh sebab itu, saya isytiharkan hari ni sebagai hari saya bercuti di ofis. Yey Me!!

Some pictures, untuk menyejukkan hati yang panassssss. ;)

Ngah said she thinks Adreena looks different from Afiq & Mariessa. What do you think?  Cer teka which one is Afiq/Mariessa/Adreena?

Kanak2 riang atas pelamin. Anak sapaaaa lah ni?

 

One is more excited than the other, actually. Susah nak dapat mood Mariessa posing2 mcm ni. :)

 

Sejuk dalam panas ------

1. InsyaAllah, saya nak mulakan azam baru saya hari ni. Buat pertama kalinya, saya tiba-tiba je dapat hidayah nak buat azam baru. Azam yang kali ni berbeza dari azam2 yang lain sebab kali ni azam saya bukan untuk kuruskan badan. (Itu azam saya dari 7 tahun lepas, kontrak azam tu asyik terpaksa dilanjutkan aje dari tahun ke tahun, sampai dah tak boleh dikategorikan sebagai azam lagi dah). Harap2 azam saya yang ini akan dapat saya laksanakan. InsyaAllah.

2. Penilaian prestasi kerja saya untuk tahun 2009 telah pun selesai minggu lepas. Tak tidur saya satu malam terfikir2. Alhamdulillah, umpamanya saya jangka akan dibaham harimau, tapi akhirnya saya digigit semut saja. It could not get any better – itu lah yang boleh saya katakan. Saya harap itu cukup baik untuk saya terus bekerja di sini. Kita tunggu dan lihat. :)

3. Dalam satu mesyuarat baru2 ni, buat pertama kalinya sejak saya di sini (seingat saya-lah), mesyuarat itu dimulakan dengan bacaan Al-Fatihah dan diakhiri dengan surah Al-Asr. Baru saya sedar betapa lamanya saya tak jumpa rutin sebegini. Susah saya nak gambarkan betapa syahdunya perasaan saya. Sejuk hati saya. Tambah2 pula, tuan pengerusi mesyuarat itu, ‘handsome’ orangnya. Betullah, sesetengah orang, makin tua makin handsome pulak. Macam Richard Gere. Ok, dah terkeluar topik pulak saya.

4. Baru2 ini seorang rakan lamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa saya telah terjumpa saya di Facebook. Lamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa tu, maksud saya rakan saya di All Saint’s Taiping tahun 1985 sampai 1988 dulu. Hebat betul!

5. Afiq telah memeluk saya dengan penuh girangnya malam tadi, hanya kerana saya telah belikan serunding daging yang stoknya telah pun habis. Kejadian kehabisan stok serunding memang jarang2 berlaku di rumah saya. Tak kira lah serunding dari Kelantan, Labuan, Alor Setar mahupun serunding Pasar Tani Kajang bila keadaan memaksa. Terima kasih Aba kerana telah mengimport serunding daging dari Aloq Staq itu untuk saya. Hanya sebab serunding, mood Afiq baik dari malam tadi, sampailah ke pagi ni. Sekali saja saya suruh dia mandi pagi tadi, terus dia buat! Kalau pagi lain, selagi tak dua belas kali… jangan haraplah dia nak bukak baju. Dan disebabkan serunding jugalah, malam tadi saya tak perlu nak memaksa Afiq untuk makan. Lemang 2 ringgit yang saya beli di pasar malam habis dimakan Afiq dan Mariessa sahaja.

6. Pagi tadi sambil Afiq memakai baju, dia bercerita. “Mama, kawan Abang kat sekolah dia jawab banyak kali bila Teacher tanya.. dia dapat TEN sweets, Mama!” “Abang dapat berapa sweets?” “Abang dapat three je” “Kenapa Abang tak jawab banyak2 macam kawan Abang?” “Abang jawab banyak… tapi salah. Hihihihii”. Saya rasa kelakar juga anak saya ni. Dan hari ni, dia sgt excited nak pegi sekolah, sebab dia dah ingat hari ni hari apa. “Friday, friday, friday!”

Hasil kraftangan Afiq yang pertama di Little Caliphs

 

Ini hasil lukisan Afiq. Di whiteboard di dapur saya.

Begitulah adanya

Once in a while I guess we are bound to make silly mistakes. Okay maybe not ‘we’.. but I.

Made one yesterday and more than anything it made me want to  curl and puke and take a trip to the Moon and come back in about….. 73 days.

Poof!!!

Never make decisions when you are angry.

Never make promises when you are happy.

 

hmmmmmmmmm….

 

How meh?

mind. Mine that is.

• A few friends who read this blog have expressed concerns about my status with The Company. Alhamdulillah, I am safe. For now at least. The ‘2nd’ wave hit the shore last Monday, this time taking with it some unexpected people. If the first storm was obviously about performance, the recent one is rather vague. No one knows for sure the reason behind it. It is therefore anyone’s guess as to who’s next.
• .
• Greetings these days instead of “Hi how are you?” would be “ Hey, you’re still here!!”. Very not funny, but spot on.
• .
• And now, it’s assessment time again. People looking absolutely clueless staring at their laptop screen is a common sight across the office. I especially find it very2 hard to masuk bakul and angkat sendiri this time around. It was never easy but never this difficult. Said bakul, needless to say isn’t very big right now. I don’t feel like making it any bigger anyway. What do I have to worry about more now? The bakul being small, or the fact that I don’t have the heart to make it bigger?
• .
• Jobstreets I’m sure has noticed a lot of people updating their resumes these past 2 weeks or so.
• .
• I’ve always wondered why I just cannot get along with a certain someone. And unfortunately, during a meeting very recently I suddenly came to a conclusion (obviously my mind was wandering). It’s the arrogance that’s bothering me. Being good at what one does is one thing, but being arrogant about it is another thing all together! I have not been able to put a label on it, but now that I have I think it’s just making it more difficult.

where it’s peaceful and calm

- surfacing for air

A couple of weeks ago, I decided that enough is enough with Mariessa’s hair. I love her hair, don’t get me wrong. On little girls like her, curly hair is extra adorable! Although the fact remains that we have NO idea where she gets it from other than cousin Kitreena. :D

So one fine day, we took her to a hair salon nun jauh di sana in Jelebu and cut her hair short. 

1st ‘crime’ scene

But then, a week later, I began to feel that it wasn’t short enough since I still have to ‘ikat’ her hair to keep it neat. Miserable hair = Miserable Mariessa = Miserable Mama.

With cousin Sofia

So last Saturday, I took her to another hair salon near my place. And I said I want it short. Very, very, really short! Alang2 dah potong rambut kan, biar pendek terus!

The 2nd ‘crime’ scene

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Taraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…..

She’s saying… ‘lagi kali!!!” – means lagi sekali suruh ambik gambar dia. Looks different ey? She loves it + I love it = One happy family!

- All pictures are taken with my phone. These days even taking out the camera from my bag proves to be too much a task! No kidding. That’s how busy I am. Yup. True.

I don’t want to be here today. I really don’t.

In a few hours since my last post, things are going downhill so fast. Worse news keep coming as if the last one we heard just minutes ago isn’t bad enough. At this rate, I don’t know what the total number would be at the end of the day. It looks very scary as no one is spared it seems. I don’t think anyone feels 100% safe at this moment. And I don’t think anyone is doing any real work today either.

But then again, there is no such thing as preparing for the storm is there?

The news that is buzzing in the office is very unsettling, to say the least. In every corner, people are whispering to each other as if the others have no clue on what they are whispering about. I am pretty sure even those who are not whispering among themselves are actually thinking about the same thing. And those who are typing away on the laptops pretending that they are not affected by the news and that the world revolves just as it did a few days ago, I bet they are thinking about the same thing too.

As for myself, I am obviously thinking about what the others are thinking about too. I am still debating whether I should feel motivated by the news (I should be, if I can be optimistic enough) or I should succumb to the devastation and let myself be demotivated (it’s hard not to be).

It does not seem wise, if it’s not downright irritating to console those who are directly affected, with the word Fate. But then again, what else can be said about such tragic? That God has other plans for them? I wish I know what to say without sounding lame or insensitive. I wish I know what they want to hear, what they need to hear, because sitting there in silence, listening to their sobs, just doesn’t feel enough.

I am sending my prayers towards their paths, hoping that (as lame as this may sound), their next destination is a greener field.

1.  When you see me posting more than one entry in a day, that means I’m swamped with work. Strange, but it’s true. I am one of those people who can actually work better under pressure. (Or so I think).

2. I don’t know if this is even anatomically possible, but I’m having selsema only on one side of my nose. No kidding. Sebelah je selsema. Sebelah lagi sihat walafiat. Anybody has experienced this before? Is this possible? This has been going on for 3 days now. Strange isn’t it? But it’s so so true.

 

Gambar tiada kaitan dengan entry tapi saja nak letak:

Before

After

On my 3rd day back at work, 3 photos of the little bugs bunny.:D

Thank you ‘Aunty Aba’ for the cute outfit!!! :D

With Love, Love, Love…

For some reasons beyond me, I’ve always had problem in doing anything the 2nd time. For example, if I try a new recipe, and it turns out a success the first time around, I can be almost sure that the 2nd time will be a disaster, no matter what I do. First time I baked a bread it turned out so soft and fluffy. 2nd attempt – sooo keras, kalau baling kat dinding, boleh retak dinding tu!

From major experience like…My first pregnancy went almost without a glitch. The 2nd time I was pregnant, I miscarried without even knowing I was actually pregnant.

To minor incidents like… The first email I sent out when I was transferred to the HQ went out OK (I am very particular about emails relating to work), my 2nd email - I forgot to put in the ‘Subject’, causing me to receive an email from my boss (who is, as you can see, just as particular, if not a 100 times more), reminding me that little things like forgetting the ‘Subject’ is not acceptable and that I should be very careful about such things. I tell you, I so wanted to smack my head on my desk that very moment.

What I really want to say is, today is my 2nd day back at work. After a ‘successful’ day last Friday, today I am feeling oh sooo sooo lost! I just cannot wait to go home and see all my little (and not so little) angels.

60 days could not have gone any faster than it did. Adding 2 weeks of MC prior to my maternity leave, I have been away from the office for 76 solid days! And today, I’m back at work.  Didn’t feel like a week, what more 76 days! Why lah all good things must come to an end so quickly?

It has been a good day so far at work, mainly because *Warning – vain mode ahead: * Quite a number of people commented that I’ve lost a lot of weight and that I’m glowing. *blink blink blink* Even the tea lady said “nampak lagi muda lah sekarang”. Eche che wah. Kasik chan la haaaa.. bukan selalu apa orang nak puji I kan. :D. (Shahril will never hear the end of this of course. Hehe..)

Did nothing much today, as expected. That’s the beauty of starting work on Friday after so long. Nobody is expecting anything (yet) from me, giving me a whole day to warm up and hopefully by Monday I’ll be ‘warm’ enough to work on top speed. Hopefully.

I’ve started sending Adreena to the nursery since Monday so that I can get some ‘me’ time before I start work. Sending her on the first day wasn’t easy though. Belum keluar rumah lagi, air mata dah meleleh dah. And every baby I saw that day (went to the bank, mall etc) reminded me of her. But we both survived the day, tough girls that we are.

Having 4 days free all to myself, I did something I’ve never done before. Watched 3 movies in 3 days in a row! Hehe. Watched ‘Did you hear about the Morgans’ (alone) on Monday, Sherlock Holmes (also alone) on Tuesday and Avatar in 3D (with Shahril) on Wednesday. I must say, I really like all 3 movies. The Morgans were really funny, Holmes was brilliant (I have a soft spot for Jude Law anyway), and Avatar was simply great (it was my first time watching anything 3D). And I’m glad I took the time to spend with myself like that. It felt good.

Tomorrow Adreena will turn 2 months old. I’ve been meaning to write a dedicated entry about the whole ordeal of her arrival 2 months ago, but I guess that will have to wait (yet again). :)

Back at work

This time I’ll let the pictures do the talking :)

How my day started yesterday. Breakfast before going to the Little Caliphs.

How the day ended yesterday. (This was after Johnny’s Steamboat. Hehe)

How the day started today. Note the new sparkling white new shoes. :)

2 pairs of sparkling new shoes??

Tadaaaa…

One school boy and one nursery girl.. with their new shoes

(bangun tidur, tukar baju (“kita tak nak mandi!”) tapi nak pakai kasut baru. Sikat rambut pun taknak, which explains the hair. :D

Another pose, dengan mata sembab

Afiq with his Ultraman pose, while waiting for the van. “Mama, kenapa van Aunty-Kak Liza ni tak sampai2 pun Ma?”

Not to forget,

Adreena day dreaming (this was a while back)

And last but not least,

Adreena saying, yo peeps!

It’s my birthday today.

It’s also Afiq’s first day at kindergarten. Like all mothers I believe, I was more excited and nervous than the boy himself.

Afiq – ready for school bright and early

Senyum paksa, sebab nak suruh Mama cepat sikit, he wanted to go inside to check out the toys. :)

As expected, everything went smoothly. He has always been very independent, so going to a new environment like this does not bother him at all. Mariessa on the other hand is very different from Afiq. That was why, also as expected, after we sent Afiq off at the Little Caliphs, Mariessa punya lah menangis + meraung when we dropped her off at her nursery. I guess with Afiq not being there with her, she feels insecure. Sayu hati Mama.

At 11.30, I went to pick Afiq up. When asked how was school, he said, “Best sgt2, Mama!” :) When told that Mariessa menangis kat nursery, terus dia risau. We stopped by at Giant because I wanted to buy him a pair of proper school shoes. I honestly tak teringat langsung about his shoes. I mean, I thought he didn’t need one since the learning is indoors anyway, tapi pagi tadi bila hantar dia kat sekolah tu, rasa tak cukup handsome pulak without the shoes. Hehe. So I told him that we were going to get him shoes first at Giant, and then I’ll send him to the nursery. Afiq said, “kita shopping cepat2 je k Mama? Nanti adik tunggu abang”. Mariessa’s lucky to have Afiq, don’t you think?

Tomorrow Afiq’s going to school by the ‘van’ pulak. I cannot believe all these are happening already. It certainly didn’t seem like 5 years since I first held him in my arms. 

So that’s how I celebrate my 32nd birthday. At least so far. :) And tomorrow is the 44th day of my confinement period which is officially the last day. So Yey! :D

It’s also my first birthday without Ummi. :(

Adreena didn’t sleep well last night. That of course means, I had a bad night. I should really be sleeping right now, now that she’s asleep. Tapi tak boleh pulak. O well.

It’s already day 37! How time flies. 23 days left until I have to return to work. :( And it’s only 7 days until my confinement period is officially over. If confinement is 44 days lah. Some says it’s 40 days. Which one is right eh? Not that it matters sgt pun to be honest. I HAVE sneaked out a few times, hehe. With Shahril of course. Partner in crime. :D

On the 30th day of confinement, we went out for my post natal checkup at which I was told that I still have “byk masa lagi” to have another one before I turn 38 – the recommended age of stopping ‘production’. Hehe. Adreena had her checkup with her pediatrician too at which we were told she is doing superb. She cried her lungs out kena cucuk, sampaikan the doctor commented, “Mama, your baby nangis memang volume 5 terus ye?” That’s my girl alright. :).

Guess where we went after the checkup? Vacuum cleaner shopping. Haha. At Harvey Norman @ Ikano no less. :) I’ve been eyeing the Ergorapido since I saw one at Ngah’s house. Didn’t feel the urgent need for it until I become a stay-at-home-mom (albeit for only 60 days). The thing I hate the most about vacuuming is plugging the power you see, so Ergorapido is really the solution for me. Mengada2 I know, but I really hate the cables and all.

So I’m a vacuum cleaner freak now. That makes me a much happier person. :D

And kelmarin, we sneaked out again. This time to Jusco Cheras Selatan. It was our engagement anniversary. (At this point, any reason to celebrate can and will bring me out of the house, really. :) ). Looking back, if anyone were to tell me during my engagement that 6 years from then I’ll be having 3 kids of my own, I don’t think I would believe it, or know what to DO with 3 kids. But alhamdulillah, I am truly blessed to kinda know now what to do with 3 kids. ;). Most of the times, at least.

Here’s a photo of Adreena on her 18th day on Earth. :). More will come soon, I promise.

 

Finally...

[caption id="attachment_184" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Her stats. :)"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_185" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Adreena Hariessa Shahril"][/caption]

Officially a mother of THREE! :D

The due date is today. And I’m still waiting. :) If the baby decides to make her appearance today, then she’ll be following Mariessa’s footstep in coming out on the EDD day itself. If she decides not to come out today, she’ll be the first overdue baby among my children. :) Not that the date matters, as long as she comes out healthy, and hopefully it’ll be a smooth delivery. InsyaAllah. Amin.

My last checkup was yesterday (Saturday). Again, the gynae said it’s going to a big baby. At least 3.6kg was his exact words. And according to him, there was already a 1.5cm opening. So if it doesn’t happen today, I’ll be seeing him again tomorrow.

I’m getting more nervous by the minute, needless to say. I’ve been walking a lot lately, konon2 to encourage labor to happen. :) Went ‘ngeteh’ with Akak on Friday. First at Giant, later at Jusco Cheras Selatan. Walking is not entirely effortless on my part, so I can safely say I’ve been working out hard. ;) On Saturday after the checkup, we went (sans Afiq) looking for Raspberry leaf tea (thanks Rina for the reminder, I’ve totally forgotten about that. I did drink that while waiting for Mariessa to come out dulu. ;) ). We went high and low looking for it. First at Tesco because that was where I found it last time. Or so I thought, because I could not find it anymore there. Then we went all the way to Mydin USJ to look for it. Not there either. After making a quick stop at a friend’s house in Casa Subang, we went to Summit pulak, thinking Cold Storage might has it. Tapi al-kisah, Cold Storagenya pun dah tutup!!!!!  So, we came home empty handed. Well, not exactly empty handed, but without raspberry leaf tea lah. O well…

Afiq is with Aunty Mas and Aunty Pet this weekend, in (I think the place is called) Jeram. He’s having loads of fun, from the sound of it. Mariessa when asked whether or not she wants to go along, smiled sheepishly and geleng kepala. Heheh. Dia ni lain sikit clingynya. :)

But I’ve never realized how attached she really is to Afiq. She was OK in the beginning, didn’t really ask about Afiq. But lama2 nampak she’s bored. No one to gaduh with in the car while strapped on her carseat. :). Malam tadi she began asking about Afiq almost non-stop. “Abang kat mana?” “Kenapa Abang tak balik?” Bila dapat cakap ngan Afiq on the phone, muka nya berseri2! Kesian pun ada bila tengok mcm tu. :)

The first thing she asked this morning when she woke up was… “Mama, abang mana?” Lepas tu, every other word was… “Abang?”.. :)It’s touching.

It’s almost lunch time now. Chef Shahril has taken over my kitchen since last night. :) It was daging salai masak lomak cili api for dinner last night, and it’s going to be Tom Yam Ayam for lunch sekejap lagi. :) Ohh yummss.

Early this morning, I really thought labor is going to happen today after a small ‘sign’ that makes me really nervous. But now I’m not so sure anymore. InsyaAllah I’ll be announcing it to the world soon. InsyaAllah. Please keep on praying for us, ye? :)

Still waiting..

1. Am already resting at home on doctor’s advice. I am in my 38th week now. On Monday, I was really glad I didn’t have to go to work. Tuesday I was OK. Wednesday, I was feeling bored. Today? I have no idea what I want to do with my day. :) Am not complaining though. I’m enjoying spending time with myself, watching TV.. doing nothing. It’s just that I still need to find something to do. I don’t think it’s good for me to just sit on the sofa all day, kan.

2. I never thought I’ll say this… but hmm… for the past one month or so.. i find folding clothes, well.. enjoyable. Almost therapeutic actually. I am happy with this change of course, because nak tak nak, I still have to do it. And it’s so much easier to do it now, that I actually enjoy doing it. So, yay me! :D. I still hate putting the clothes into the wardrobe though.. so I pass that task to Shahril still. Heheh…

3. We registered Afiq to a kindy already. He starts on January 3rd next year. That’s a day before my 32nd birthday. :) I am excited, and nervous for him. He’s very excited about it. The only thing I’m worried about is how Mariessa is going to cope not having Afiq at the nursery in the morning. I hope when the time comes, she’ll adjust. :) They always do, kan? Kan? :)

4. I’ve started feeling nervous thinking about labor. :) My gynae estimated baby besar this time. That doesn’t help lah kan? :) Last Saturday during checkup he estimated the baby to be around 3.4kg. That was last week… this week tak tau la pulak. Afiq was 3.0kg at birth… Mariessa was 3.1kg. Apa2 pun.. please pray for our safe delivery, ye?

Waiting…