A Walk To Remember

Ihsan officially took his first step on 31st July 2008 and has not stopped eversince! HE is now all over the house trying to sharpen his new skill.

Haven't been updating the blog for almost 2 months now. Been soooooo busy with work (who doesn't?), traveling with the kids- for work (again!) , work, work and more work I feel so exhausted I promised myself to sleep the whole weekend, but of course I couldn't :-) . Do I sound THAT busy? Blame it on my boss :-p

I hope things will be slowing down during fasting month. Fat chance! I feel tensed just by thinking about the endless events for the whole Ramadhan + Syawal. Demmit!

One thing I really look forward to- visit from Gegurl & family end of August! Yeaahaa!

Okay now I'm outta here, gonna spend the extra long weekend with my new books. Bliss!

Ilham Is 3!

My little boy turned three last Friday, got a bicycle from Nenek and few Thomas stuff from us, bought early this month when we were in KL. I am soooo damn proud of myself for two reasons; looking at how grown up Ilham is, and for the first time in my life, I've successfully baked a carrot cake! So now I am proud to say that I know how to bake cakes! (the other ONLY one cake I'm good at baking is cheese cake) but that's another story, as it doesn't have flour as the main ingredient. I am a hopeless when it comes to flour, seriously. I once made choc chip cookies only to have it turned flat as saucers, I once tried to make Rocky Road and managed to throw away the whole batch and once attempted to make brownies and I forgot how it turned out to be!

The cake was successfully baked with team effort! I outsourced the drawing of Thomas to my brother, and my dad helped to susun the M&Ms. My mom helped to regularly check the cake, as after 1 hour, we couldn't smell anything, until my mom increased the temp! Samada resipi salah atau memang aku yang tak betul :p

But Ilham loved the cake (I think) and he blew off the candles thrice. He didn't get even a bite of the cake though, he already warned me "Am nak lilin saje. Kek mama je makan" Oh well. For his birthday, my wish is for him to EAT.

Uzey has left for his 'camp' and won't be back until July 5th. And Ilham woke up with a temperature today. Too much sun and surf, I presume. As we checked in at Aw@na on Friday. He had such a great time with the uncles and grandparents.

I'm at home enjoying cuti free as the whole office + plant is cut off electricity since Friday.

Don't know when I will be back blogging, dah takde topik menarik. Don't even have visitors except one. Ha! ha!

Take care all. Doakan Ilham panjang umur, sihat, murah rezeki dan membesar menjadi anak yang soleh.
:-)

Ihsan- Updated!

For an 8 month baby, I observe than Ihsan is very advance….

(excerpt from babycenter)
8 month old, four week

How your baby's growing
Your baby's likely to be mobile soon if he isn't already (he already is very mobile) so it's vital that your home is toddler-proof. (except for the fridge-lock, we haven’t installed anything yet esp the drawers, I’ve seen him men’sepitkan’ his fingers twice already!) You'll also notice he's becoming more assertive (yes, very true) and beginning to express his likes (bath time, and nothing new- gigit remote control, handphone, paper, tissues) and dislikes (mealtime when he is sleepy). Take a toy away from him (he cries like there’s no tomorrow) and he'll probably object loudly. He's also likely to protest if you leave his too long, thanks to the onset of separation anxiety. (when he wakes up and no one is around, he will make an alarming cry) This is the time when your baby starts showing extreme attachment to you and his regular carers and an intense dislike for everyone else (as of now, only me, uzey and the bibik are his faves, even nenek is a ‘stranger’)

9 month old, first week
How your baby's growing
Has your baby pulled himself upright yet? Yes? (yes, he has even started to cruise with only one hand holding on the chair) Then watch out -- it's a prelude to walking. Many babies are quite happy to stay grounded at this stage though. (not Chan) If he is, you'll probably find he's sitting more confidently now and he may well start creeping, crawling, or bottom-shuffling.

His language skills are developing rapidly too. He's listening intently (he likes to watch TV and he seems to enjoy it very much) and taking in everything he hears -- he may even begin to understand simple words and phrases (he understands NO, CHAN!) . Encourage him by talking to him simply, but as you would to any other person. His personality is also emerging and you'll be able to tell if he'll be Mr Life and Soul of the Party or Mr Shy and Retiring by the way he responds to others. (very ‘reserved’ baby when it comes to strangers)

Ihsan- Updated!

For an 8 month baby, I observe than Ihsan is very advance….
8 month old, four week

How your baby's growing
Your baby's likely to be mobile soon if he isn't already (he already is very mobile) so it's vital that your home is toddler-proof. (except for the fridge-lock, we haven’t installed anything yet esp the drawers, I’ve seen him men’sepitkan’ his fingers twice already!) You'll also notice he's becoming more assertive (yes, very true) and beginning to express his likes (bath time, and nothing new- gigit remote control, handphone, paper, tissues) and dislikes (mealtime when he is sleepy). Take a toy away from him (he cries like there’s no tomorrow) and he'll probably object loudly. He's also likely to protest if you leave his too long, thanks to the onset of separation anxiety. (when he wakes up and no one is around, he will make an alarming cry) This is the time when your baby starts showing extreme attachment to you and his regular carers and an intense dislike for everyone else (as of now, only me, uzey and the bibik are his faves, even nenek is a ‘stranger’)

9 month old, first week
How your baby's growing
Has your baby pulled himself upright yet? Yes? (yes, he has even started to cruise with only one hand holding on the chair) Then watch out -- it's a prelude to walking. Many babies are quite happy to stay grounded at this stage though. (not Chan) If he is, you'll probably find he's sitting more confidently now and he may well start creeping, crawling, or bottom-shuffling.

His language skills are developing rapidly too. He's listening intently (he likes to watch TV and he seems to enjoy it very much) and taking in everything he hears -- he may even begin to understand simple words and phrases (he understands NO, CHAN!) . Encourage him by talking to him simply, but as you would to any other person. His personality is also emerging and you'll be able to tell if he'll be Mr Life and Soul of the Party or Mr Shy and Retiring by the way he responds to others. (very ‘reserved’ baby when it comes to strangers)

Ilham With...

his creation of "rumah yang paaaaaling cantik" and "robot Am"

I think Ilham has some creative streaks in him. Definitely not from me. Maybe it runs in the family, like this fella.

Ihsan Is 8 months

of Measles and everything else

Ichan on his new rides. Notice the bintik-bintik merah on his face? There's a lot more on his tummy. Thanks to the virus, Chan dah kena demam campak.

Siapa campak Chan, Mama? I'm still struggling to answer this question by Ilham. My oh my... Kenapa Chan kena campak, Mama? I'm sure in his mind he imagines Chan being thrown away by someone or thrown at something i.e the wall?

The last 8 days have been superb, as I was on leave except for Tuesday when I attended training at S.Alam. And the boys spent time in Wetworld while waiting for me. Trip to Petrosain5 on Sunday was even better, with 13 of us joining the 'rombongan sekolah'. Even my parents enjoyed the educational trip! It has also converted Ilham to a helicopter lover.

I've gotta stop blabbering now. I leave you with a pic of astronaut in year 2033.
Ciao!

The Ups dan Downs of Life

Today is one of my down days. I feel like going home and never come back so I don't have to face the harsh reality. I even googled Rezeki, in search of something to keep my spirit up, and I found this.

"Sesuatu yang telah dijamin oleh Allah kepada seorang hamba adalah rezeki. Sesuatu yang dimintakan pertanggungjawaban oleh Allah adalah rezeki juga"

I guess it's not my time, yet.

Downtime aside, I'm sooo looking forward to this weekend! With 2 birthdays; Uzey's and Yantie's.. (happy birthday in advance darlings!), Ilham's first Petr0sains trip, an advance M0m's day feast (there goes my penat-penat daily run on the treadmill), shopping and more shopping!! Won't be in until 7th. Too bad I've gotta give my weekly yoga a miss next week.

Life is not so bad, after all. Penatlah nak pikir benda-benda yang takde faedah ni.. draining my energy..

Selamat Hari Buruh, buruh-buruh sekalian!!!

The 100 Whys..

That is Ilham. I guess he has reached his Inquiring Phase, "mama, kenapa ....(insert soalan)" followed by "kenapa.. (insert my answer)..." then "kenapa..(insert my next anwer)"... and then.. "kenapa..(insert my next, next answer)" and the conversation goes on and on and on until his attention is diverted to something else.

Oh, the joy of talking.

And Ihsan, he is such an eater! Bagi nasi + pumpkin, okay. Nasi + sweet potato, okay. Nasi + carrot, okay, nasi + brocolli, pun okay. My oh my, give him another month and I'm sure he will be heavier than Ilham!

Oh, the joy of eating.

Work-wise, things have not been slowing down. Even after the big event. Nak tengok gambar artis? Go here. If Siti Nurhaliza can ambik gambar with Celine Dion, Ilham pun bleh amik gambar ngan artis gak :-p

But I survived emceeing in front of 1500 ppl! Tak kisahla orang cakap suara cam guru besar pun. What de heck. As long as I got my job done.

I'm off to the Spa now.
Bliss!!!

Our New Baby

Congrats Enn & Kord for their newborn Akif.

Welcome to the family!!!

** Credits to Puan Photographer sebab curi gambar ni from her flickr..hehehe...

Playing Maid

Weekend felt like a vacation! Went to the beach 2 days in a row to play kite with Ilham and took him swimming at Awan@ on Saturday.

Had my first taste of being a maid last Sunday.
Maybe with some exceptions; the maid didn’t finish Shopaholic and Baby in one sitting, and maid does dirty dishes and laundry , I did not.

But I’m now able to understand my kids better ; Ilham is a full-time clown, providing free entertainment to Ihsan. He jumps, he dances and sings and Ihsan looks so amazed with Am’s skills (or lack of it) and his round eyes were fixed on Am, in a way macam nak cakap “nyanyilah lagi Am”. And with 4 soiled nappies, well, I never knew siblings poo one after another. They take turn, they really do.

The last time I had my hands full with both of them was during my end of 3 month break, and at that time Chan was still an immobile baby, able only to wave his hands. Now he’s everywhere! I can’t put him in the playpen coz the space is too limited and he will protest. When put him on the ‘toto’ in front of the TV , he keeps licking the seam of the toto. If I put him on the tilam he will try to reach for the floor. If I put him in his chair he will squeeze himself out of it. If I put him on my lap while net surfing he will wrestle with me. Last nite he pulled out my Page Down key and benda tu tercabut.

When Uzey finally reached home, I looked like a desperate starving housewife. Kebulur coz I only managed to gulp down a mug of cold Milo and 1 piece of bread cicah sup. Luckily I had some left over soup from the weekend.

Kepada semua bibik2 di luar sana (fazie, in case bibik kau layan blog haha), teruskan kerja anda yang mulia itu (provided you are really into it) dan jagalah anak-anak majikan anda dengan sepenuh hati. Me? Given any day I will never be a stay at home mom (kalau anak satu, maybe… kalau 2… I’ll think about it) tee..hee…

Updates on Ichan:

Started solid last week. Blended rice porridge works fine with him and tak trigger his eczema. Rice + brocolli is his fav, though he had rashes first time trying the new menu a.k.a. nasik ijau as Am calls it.

Have a good weekend people!!!!!

The Happy Couple (oblivious to each other)

On Sara
This is Sara a.k.a Shaya (Ilham-speak) and Sara ialah baby girl kepada Sal & Sham. She is 2 months younger than Ichan. Sal & family came over during the weekend dan tidur satu malam di rumah kami and we were so happy for their company!

On Ichan
Had rashes all over his body after his first meal of brown rice cereal. I do not know whether he is allergic to brown rice or milk in the cereal or rice or food in general?

On Ilham
Raksaksa= lakcakca

I've banned all sorts of citer otroman but the cousin came home during the school holiday and introduced him to all sorts of junk on the TV, geng bas skolah (WTF??!) , ultraman3? ultr@man taro?!? why la menda2 stoopid cam ni can be shown on TV?

On life
Hidup seperti biasa. Life is great! (bersyukur dengan apa yang ada) If I keep complaining, I get stressed out for nothing. But tell me people, is it fair to write in someone's appraisal "....however she was on maternity leave for 2 months'"
Wtf? Did I not finish my work before I left? Too bad I had an emSeePee doing my appraisal. (I hope he's not a blog reader) :-p

Selamat bekerja kepada semua yang bekerja. Cepatlah Friday!!!

And to summarize it all...

Ihsan is officially a crawler now and he is due for his 5th month immunization.
Ilham loves to make Ihsan laughs but after a while he will say "Am penat la Chan.."
Uzey's cousin got married last weekend.
I love being a host! My new house has been packed to the brim with guests.
I can't wait to meet Baby Sara this weekend, the last time I met her when she was only 5 days old.
I've been busy with work (who doesn't?)
I can't complain too much,
$hit happened.
But at the end of the day, I can go home to my babies.
I survived flying in a smaller-than-Fokker aeroplane (I don't think it can be called an aeroplane, kecik gila!) For once I thought I was Noddy.
I traveled to KL and came back within 18hours.
I managed to keep my milk 'safe' walaupun tak bawak ice pack.
I made new friends and met old friends.
I fell in love with Paulo Coelh0, I bought Like The Flowing River while waiting for my flight back and couldn't put it down.
I don't even know how to pronounce this guy's name.
I want to buy furnitures but it's too hard to find the ones I really like.
There's one kopitiam near my office that serves the best coffee, better than my fav Ultimate Mocha from Kopi Bean.
I miss my mom's cooking.
I have to buy cutleries.
I miss the clan.

Life has been good. I've been thinking about those who lost their loved ones. I hope when my time comes, Ilham and Ihsan are mature enough to understand.

Have a good weekend ppl! Selamat Menyambut Hari Keputeraan Nabi Muhammad S.A.W.

Happy MovingOut Day

We're finally moving out of here! Though I feel so relieved that we finally have our own pad, I have mixed feelings of leaving Papa alone. I mean alone in the sense of not staying under the same roof and he doesn't full access to his cucus, but again, our new place is just 2.5 minutes drive away kalau exclude the U-turns and traffic light!! :-)

Li'l updates on Ilham & Ihsan; Ilham has mastered the art of dressing himself up. The vocab, oh my God.. sometimes I remind him that he is not even 3 yet but speaks like he knows everything and anything. Cannot kelentong one... as he is damn good at observing people.

Ihsan is growing up healthily and tembamly, he is such a joy to see, a friendly baby, coos at everyone especially his Papa and for the 100th time I thank God that Ihsan is such an easy baby! Compared to Ilham at his age macam langit dengan bumi.

Am gonna be busy the whole weekend. I leave you with a pix of comp geek in the making.

Brotherly Love

Managed to capture this pic in spur of a moment, and I thought Ihsan looks more 'matured' than he really is. At 3 months, he weighs at a whopping 6.9kg and Ilham is only 10.5kg!! So as advised by the paed yesterday, Ilham in now on Pedia$ure diet coz he's underweight. Wonder where he gets the skinny genes from? Definitely not from me!!

Finally...

I have not been updating this blog for almost 3 months as there were so many things to write about but I didn't know where to start. Blame it on my maid, she extended her 'annual leave' until end of January and left me with no choice except sending my two boys to daycare, and I ended up crying on my way to office for the first 2 days. Ilham hated to be woken up soooo early, so he started to cry from the moment we woke him up until we reached the daycare. It broke my heart to see him crying and wailing, but we had no choice. Only after the third day he was fine and now, he actually mentions about 'school' even at night, and woke up earlier than us in the morning. And that's how my nightmare ends.

After 3-months long break from work, I have started my new job, though it's still in the same op unit, this new job is more challenging and my transfer was drastic, that's what happened to you when you are on maternity leave, people can do anything coz they know they won't get any objection.. shiiitteeeeeeee..... I'm not complaining though, coz I think this new area is quite interesting but I heard the last person who sat on this post is on unpaid leave..cuckoo case, how terrifying! Hope I won't go crazy just like her hahahaha


Ihsan is growing faster by the day. He can finish 5 bottles, 2.5oz each of EBM in 8 hours and I have to make sure that I express enough, thanks to my newly-arrived electric b-pump, I'm no longer complaining of tangan lenguh while using my Isis anymore. He's due for his 3rd month immunization so we're taking him to KSH this Friday. We introduced him a pacifier starting last night, coz he seems to be always hungry and sucks his hands, or anything at all that come across his mouth. But I read in bbycentr that sucking on a dummy instead of the breast results in lack of stimulation to the breast to produce prolactin, which then results in a reduced milk supply, which makes me really worried! Ilham didn't like dummy, that explains why he was b/fed until 21 months old. I am seriously worried about Ihsan, I plan to b/feed him until he's 2 years old. But why do I keep comparing? Of course they can be different.. muka je sama..

Ihsan, is really different with Ilham when he was Ihsan's age. Ihsan is a 'cool' baby, he doesn't cry a lot and he sleeps through the nite since he was 1 month old. And obviously, he is waayyy bigger than Ilham. He weighs 6.1kg @ 2 months, esok lusa pegi checkup tak tau la berapa kg dah, sakit belakang pegang dia lama-lama.. :-P He smiles a lot, he can hold his head up for a long time and he has started to laugh, with shrieking sound.

Ilham, on the other hand, is really acting like a big bro now. Everyday after we pick them up from 'school', he will tell us that he plays with Chan and give us updates on both of them. I can see that he loves Chan very much, voluntarily patting him to sleep and instruct me to feed Chan everytime Chan cries. I once caught him 'reading' a book to Chan, while Ihsan was babbling away.

With 2 boys and no maid, I owe so many things to Uzey, he is such a great help. I wonder how could I survive if he was still working in P/jaya. Here's to a great year ahead, I think it's still not too late to wish you guys, my dearest friends (and readers yang boleh dikira dengan jari ni), HAPPY NEW YEAR!!.

Oh, and, Miss-cream, WELCOME HOME!!

The Pursuit of Epi-ness

I've planned to write something on Ihsan's birth since last 2 months but couldn't find time/ ideas on how to start. But I guess the title summarizes the whole story. Ihsan arrived one day later than the EDD. And no epidural. On Oct 8, in chronological order: 11am-reached hospital 12noon-given a pill to help trigger contraction. Felt nothing.Checked in to the room, bored to death. Requested to go home, the Dr said no.Still no sign. Reminded the Dr on my epidural thingy 5pm- given another pill to speedy things up. Still no sign. Was still eating like a pig though everybody else was fasting :-p. Gynae said I will be done by 9pm, but no, she was oh, so wrong! 9pm- felt a mild contraction but it's on and off. Still no sign. everything was still normal. But I requested for Uzey to perform Terawih prayer in the room instead of going to the mosque, mana tau nak terberanak pulak :-). Still no sign. Slept through the nite and both of us were wondering why I was in no pain, yet. 4am- Woke Uzey up, I thought that the baby's movement was not much. 5am- Nurse cam and did CTG, baby was fine. I was not in pain. Given another pill to speed up delivery. Why oh why wasn't I reacting to the pills?? Gynae told me to be ready by 9am. By hook or by crook she will MAKE me deliver. 6am- Now I felt the sharpness on my back, it's time! Finally! Prepared myself, brushed my teeth and washed my face, did not manage to take a shower, afraid I would scream in the bathroom :-) 7am- Nurse came and wheeled me to the labour room.Gynae & his anaesthetist husband have yet to arrive. Was 5cm dilated. 7.30am- Was already 8 cm dilated. Gynae arrived. Too late to have an epidural. 8.30am- After 3 big, horrendous pushes, Umair Ihsan was out of my womb. Well, the moral of the story is, NEVER, EVER let you anaesthetist to be your gynae's husband, or the other way round, unless they come to work driving separate cars! Because the husband was late, I could'n get my epi, thus the title. I wanted to pursue it so badly I kept asking the nurse where's the doctor? Have they arrived? Where's my epidural? Furthermore, Ihsan was not small, you see :-). But Alhamdulillah everything went perfectly, even the pushes! (this time takde push and masuk balik..haha) I'm leaving you with a clip taken few minutes after Ihsan was born and cleaned up. But excuse the sound, I have no idea what went wrong during the filming..chewah! But one thing I know, even when you are in the most excruciating pain, nothing comforts you better than holding your husband's hand. Love u, babe!

Hello World!

Introducing my very own, brand new Umair Ihsan bin Uzzir, born on 9th October 2007 at 8.30 am after almost 50 minutes of intense labour.

He is in my arms as I'm typing this and Ilham is trying to take over the keyboard,so I guess I've got to wait until the boys are asleep before trying to log in, next time :-)

Stop And Smell The Roses

And that was what I exactly did this morning as I walked on the pebble path leading to my office. It's something that I have not done for ages. I just can't remember the last time I touched a full bloom rose still wet with the morning dew. I even plucked one of them, and amazingly it lifts up my spirit this morning, I've been grumpy when Uzey woke me up :-)

Ironically that's how life works. We are too busy with too many things that we sometimes tend to overlook the little things in life. In my case, being too occupied with work though I'm supposed to be happy I have only 3 more days before I start my long leave. Yes, THREE!! I should be celebrating the fact that I do not have to be in the office for 60+ days!!! Hahahahaha now I'm happy :p

And baby is due in 14 days (or less). I hope he will come out few days earlier as I look like I'm about to pop out any moment now.

Ilham, on the other hand, is busy playing big brother to his li'l teddy bear. I hope when the new baby comes along he treats his brother as nice as he treats his bear. Though I've seen him making the bear fly like an aeroplane. He sniffs his bear's bottom and mentioned something about diaper change, he asks whether his bear wants to eat or sleep and last nite he makes the bear sit and he read him a story book.

He is also busy being curious, he wants to know everything, every colour, every movement, everything that we talk about. But he still doesn't want to eat! How I wish he would eat like any other toddlers his age.

I am still fasting, it's quite a surprise for someone whose tummy growls before 8 am before the fasting month. But this time around I really force myself to wake up and eat properly for sahur, I guess that's how I survived.

I won't be blogging at home due to technical reasons so let me be the first one to wish you Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir Batin!! My hari raya will come earlier than yours this year, and the baby makes a perfect raya gift for Uzey & my parents.. and definitely for myself.

Please pray for me, I hope to have a safe, speedy delivery. Still contemplating whether I should go for epidural or not as Fazie made epidural sounds so enticing..hehehe...

Over & Out

Another Baby Girl In The Family!

Congrats to Fazie & Najib on the arrival of their 3.43kg baby girl!!!!! Born on 19.09.2007 @12.30 noon.

Our big family is just getting bigger & bigger!!!!!