Eventful Ramadhan...

I feel like this has been the shortest Ramadhan in memory... and one memorable for several reasons too...

In 1 week's time, it will be Hari Raya...

Alhamdulillah so far I've managed to fast every single day (and luckily gained 400gm too, so Dr Idris had no reason to berate me hehehe...)

Kakak managed to fast at least for half a day during the weekends and public hols... not that it's too difficult for her to do, considering her erratic eating moods... today she even got up to have Sahur with the rest of the family, eating 2 pieces of chicken nuggets and drinking a bottle of milk... I really feel that helped with her longest fasting period to date (ie 2.30pm baru mengadu lapar & dahaga...) My baby girl is growing up!

Adik managed to cut his chin (technically, the area of soft skin between the chin and the throat) falling in the bathroom last Saturday, and had 3 stitches to close the wound... he had to be held down by 5 people in order for the doc to sew him up hehehe... I was tempted to take his pic then, but didn't want to be a meanie... took pics of him later though, exhausted after all the crying and struggling... he is now officially the record-holder in the family for being the youngest person to have had stitches (from both sides of the family!) Tapi dah berjahit pun, bukannye serik!!

Got a letter that I totally didn't expect, and definitely didn't agree with... am very much toying with the idea of responding to the letter, even though most people would just shrug it off... but I really feel I need to clear my name, cos the contents of the letter were definitely untrue, and it was cc:ed to big bosses...

Finally baked my 1st set of cupcakes after going for that class last year hehehe... had a fun time making them with Kakak... yummy chocolate ganache as the topping kept the cupcakes nice and moist, and gave away a bunch to my colleagues for buka puasa... feedback seems OK hehehe, so I will most likely make a 2nd batch for Hari Raya and bring some for the in-laws...

Completed the 2nd month of operating the business.... Alhamdulillah there's been business due to the Hari Raya rush, albeit on a small scale, but at least it's not just money going out, but coming in too... it's still gonna be a challenge to build it up and get a positive cash flow, but I'm determined to stick with it... I am thankful to Mama for being the main man in this business... one day, I'll be there right by her side, doing this hands-on too, insya-Allah...

Am at my 28th week of pregnancy now... 12 more weeks to go... with any luck, it'll be less than that if past pregnancies are any indication... I'm really looking forward to having this baby, and the time off that comes with it... I may just take that unpaid leave too to spend more time with my family...

Hmmm.... what else? Well, Ramadhan's still for another week, so we'll see how it goes :)

Straight out of the movies...

You know how you see something in the movies and think 'That's never gonna happen to us...'?

Well, think of 'One Fine Day', Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney, and the scene where her son sticks something up his nose and George gets all panicky etc... well, Adik stuffed something up his nose, and we didn't even know he did it!!

The first inkling something was off was the smell... Adik ni masam, the yummy kind of masam, but over the past few days I noticed a funny smell coming from his nose... at first we thought it was due to his stuffy nose, but even after his cold cleared the smell was still there.

So last night we took him to the clinic to check it out... our best guess was 'agaknya luka dalam hidung sebab selsema tu dah melarat kot...' Imagine our surprise when the doc said 'I see something white inside his nose'!!!

Using very small forceps, she gently pulled out whatever's in my boy's nose... no wonder he never complained of any pain, cos the 'thing' was actually a small piece of sponge!!! God knows where he got it from, and how long it's been in his nose... bertuah punye budak! He was fine throughout the procedure though, except for watery eyes... I never thought I'd be in this kind of situation, ever! We never had anything like this with Kakak...

That's my boy... that cheeky, naughty, adorable, lovable boy... he definitely cannot be left alone!! Pening kepala mama macam ni dik...

Aidiladha under quarantine...

Adik has chickenpox, real bad chickenpox...

As a result, we spent Hari Raya Haji at my parents' place... had to cancel plans to go back to Seremban (although Hubby did go back this morning to help out with Qurban, and came back with lots of yummy food courtesy of my MIL and SIL :) ), had to cancel our planned family dinner outing, and have had to make alternative plans for tomorrow...

What's tomorrow? The annual school concert, where Adik was supposed to join in for the first time! He's got his own routine with the rest of the 2-year-olds, but we don't quite know what it is... But now he'll have to miss it and stay at home with Opah who's volunteered to watch him... I think I'm more upset about him missing the concert than he is hehehe...

We thought it was great that Amani got a very mild version only 2 weeks ago, and never thought Adik would come down with it again (within a span of 2 years!)... sekali tengok, his case is worse than Kakak's! He's got the spots everywhere... around his hairline (under his bushy hair, sian dia...), on his body, on his face, even right near his anus!

So now Kakak will get to do her speech with her classmates, and we can only record Adik's friends performing... hopefully when we show him the video, he'll do his own performance :)

*Sigh*.... dah la mama tak boleh nak cuti next week... Opah la yang tolong jagakan... sorry Adik ye... nanti Adik dah sihat & mama dapat cuti hujung December, we go jalan-jalan ok?

My Daughter the Shopper

Kakak has the makings of a shopping 'kaki' (abahnya kata, anak mama la tu... hehehe... I refuse to comment for fear of incriminating myself...:p)

And how do I know this?

We went shoe-shopping for the kids today... Kasut raya of course, as well as kasut nak berjalan-jalan... both Kakak & Adik have pretty much outgrown their 'nice' shoes (heck, Adik couldn't even put his foot in! That chronic wooo...), plus the sandals that they use to go to school are looking pretty beat up... Stakat nak gi nursery tu OK la, tapi kalau nak gi jenjalan, kurang comel laaaa...

So off we went to Jusco I Utama... Hubby and I like the selection there, and of course the prices are reasonable. Ingatkan it would be a short trip - grab the shoes, try them on, pay, leave (see Abah, no 'lencongan' from Mama... I had good intentions OK!) Rupa-rupanya anak daraku boleh tahan jugak shopping! Adik's shoes were chosen easily. Of course, it helped that by the time we got to Jusco, he was asleep in the stroller, so Mama sesuka hati je la tried on possible shoes on his feet as he slept; plus, he didn't get a say in the selection hehehe...

Different story with Kakak! Punye la banyak kasut try... yang I suka, dia tak suka... some that she liked were too pink for my liking (baju raya biru la, turquoise lagi!!) the ones she liked were pretty, but they didn't have them in her size... I literally felt dizzy, squatting down to put the shoes on and off, and standing up again. I'm sure if a doctor were to check my blood pressure tadi, it would have been on the low side.

In the end, we spent more than 2 hours there, just at the shoes section!!! Hubby & I wanted to finish the shoe-shopping there and then - malas nak gi cari lagi lain kali... in the end, tired out and sleepy, she finally found a pair that suited her (and us!). She fell asleep on Hubby's shoulder while waiting for the SA to bring the new pair of shoes.

So what were the fruits of our labor? 2 pairs of shoes, and 2 pairs of sandals, one each for Kakak & Adik... after this we only need to look for a turquoise Baju Melayu for Adik, possibly a sampin and songkok for him as well, and we're all set! Hmmm.... agak-agak Mama nak beli bag or kasut baru tak? Heheheh... We shall wait and see...










Oh, and why did I say Amani is a potential 'kaki shopping'? She kept on trying the shoes, even the ones she didn't like, just because she liked trying out shoes!! She definitely has taste, and doesn't hesitate to give her opinion on things! Tu yang lama sangat nak pilih kasut budak tu! Dia siap bagi input lagi to me when choosing fabric for tudungs hehehe... skarang ni dah terbantut kejap hajat mama nak beli bag baru, cos when I showed her a picture of the bag, dia kata tak cantik!!! Huwaaaaa.... anak mama... takpe la, maybe later you'll change your mind? :p Dah besar skit nanti mama ajak jalan sama-sama ek...

Floored by a Bug (2nd time this year!)

Hubby's been the lucky one so far... he's the only one who's managed to evade being infected by whatever bug it is that's infected our 2 kids as well as yours truly.

Amani got hit first... she began vomiting in the very very early hours of Saturday (we ended up sleeping outside in front of the TV at my parents' place and gave my dad a shock at dawn hehe), had a slight case of diarrhea and continued with up-n-down fever all through the weekend... she skipped school on Monday to fully recover.

When we got ready to go to work on Tuesday, Adik pulak started purging (3x before we even left our place! Our bed was a mess, believe me... had to do laundry pulak pepagi buta...) and eventually he stayed at home that day. Luckily Hubby has lots of days off still, so he stayed home for both days.

I went to work and spent Tuesday feeling very 'sebu', as if I ate the wrong thing that gave me tons of wind (at first I blamed it on the banana I ate that morning for breakfast), but by the time I got home, I was feeling even worse... my head felt like a band was slowly being tightened around it, and I nearly threw up when the doctor did the checkup... So I ended up staying at home yesterday too, together with Adik. Can you imagine what it was like to take care of a sick kid who was not behaving sickly, while not being well yourself????? He was purging every few hours, and I had to change him before the contents spilled out (yeah, gross, I know heheh) and also irritate his skin. We spent the whole day watching Toy Story 2 (interspersed with Elmo & the Bookananeers [Adik's version of Bookaneers] and a Reader's Digest Animals are Amazing video) in between trips to the bathroom for both of us. For the record, I absolutely hate throwing up and purging, OK? Especially when I didn't get any diarrhea medicine as well!

Today my fever and heachache has subsided, but I'm still at home - my tummy's still acting up... both kids are at school though, unless we get a phone call sometime today saying Adik's not well. Adik wasn't purging anymore, and he never ran a fever to begin with, so we felt he was fine already since the doc gave the bug about 2 days to run its course. I'm quite confident that his activeness (ada ke such a word?) and strong constitution has helped him recover faster.

Now I've got a few more hours to rest.... mama dia pulak yang lagi lambat nak baik...

Hariz is 2!

Our handsome boy is now 2 years old... Happy Birthday Adik!

Among the things that I pray for on this day....

1) May our cute, adorable, active, cheeky boy continue to be the fantastic person that you are

2) May you grow up to be a good, God-fearing, well-mannered man, who treats everyone the way they should be treated

3) May you always be Mama's boy! Heheheh... any girl hoping to be with this man, watch out! You gotta win me over first beb...:p

4) May you find your life's purpose as you go on this wonderful journey

There are so many others, so let's just leave it at that...

Mama, Abah & Kakak love you!