I'm Living In A World Of My Own

We're back and we've jumped to....

2010-08-06T13:28:00.001+08:00

...a new site at http://fairyfootsteps.blogspot.com/.
Visit us now!

All Work and No Play

2010-02-16T08:04:00.005+08:00

Heart palpitations, sweat on my brow..The scenario in my 5th month of work. This is serious stuff. Things are going great though, i think, and I'll know soon during the FY closing meeting with the boss. Meanwhile, my little world is a smorgasbord of work and family time. Personal time? What personal time? I am lucky if I can bathe without the girls in my tub/checking up on me/asking 100 questions. LOL..No hard feelings though. My schedule's a little packed but we take what time we can get for each other cos that's what matters, right?

Plus, I'm crazy happy to report that in an unseen twist of events, we're atravelling, atraipsing and a...broke?? Hopefully not =). Phuket came first last December and next week, we're going here:

It's the 3rd road trip with the mother/father/brother/sister - in-laws, two nephews and 1 niece (plus one akan datang...muahahahaha), hubby and girls of course. Destination: Berjaya Times Square hotel & Sunway Lagoon. I love these family trips and I'm a great believer in them. It gives the children an opportunity to be with each other and hopefully they'll take care of each other when they're grown up.

And then.....hardly a month later, we'll be going here! InsyaAllah:

Anyone wants to venture a guess as to where we'll be going? Stay tuned!

Sumaiya, the baby is ONE!

2010-01-11T10:57:00.004+08:00

Ok, so my baby is ONE! We can hardly believe though cos she's still a baby-waby to us!(Heart the cake, btw!)

I'm beginning to buy her clothes because a girl just can't keep wearing hand-me-downs, can she? But actually, I like my girls to wear matchy-matchy colours (and at this, hubby gives a sigh of relief because now, he can actually start to dress himself..hah! To that I say: Not so fast, mister!)

And because we didn't want to let her experience the second-child syndrome, we got her a pretty huge present for her birthday. We brought her to Phuket. Yes! And on her actual birthday, she got to swim at Maya beach, where the filming for 'The Beach' was made. I, of course, had to tell complete strangers that, "It's her birthday today. She's one," the psychotic mummy that I am.

Though she can't speak yet, she's still as terrifying as her sister: pulls her sister's hair, screams if her sister doesn't share her toy/book/whatever. Erm..okay, did Mausi taught you things while I wasn't looking?

Anyway, we think that they'll be best friends and enemies just how my sister and I was. Cos the apple usually does not fall far from the tree, does it? :)

Splish, splash, I was taking a bath.

2009-12-08T18:08:00.004+08:00

The one day that I had my childcare leave, we took the kiddos plus Hakeem to the swimming complex at Sengkang. None of us had been there before and at first sight, I thought, "wooow.."

It looks like a mini Wild Wild Wet (minus the lazy river) but a low cost of $1.60 per adult and $0.80 per child, who's complaining? In fact, I happen to think that it's worth my buckaroos to come here than any other swimming place in sg.

Whilst the kiddos enjoyed the pool playground,hubby and I took turns with Hakeem riding the adult slides which were don't-know-how-many-storeys-tall. A bit of background here. Ever since I got the 'mommy' title, mortality has never seem so close and so fragile. I'm not sure if that's because of the increase in age or in the fact that I produced and have living beings to take care of. As a result, I cry when I take a children's coaster and other slightly bigger rides just make me tingle and scream,''Mama.....".

So it was not easy for me to take this ride which will lend me to be plunged into water at the end of it. But I started small and gradually went up to the biggest one which Hakeem was not able to ride because you need to be over 10 years old. Hubby and I took that one..twice.

Predictably, the snack shop does jack up its price on all items especially their snacks but their kaya toast was good with a cuppa of hot tea after the swim. I'll definitely will bring my family here again.

Tutus Opening Sale - 5% discount on all purchases

2009-10-11T12:58:00.008+08:00

Mummies!

Does your princess have a party coming up?
Don't know what to wear?

Get her a custom-made tutu for $49.90! Some retail shops are currently charging over $75 per tutu. Here, we will let you choose the colours to match the theme of your party. Just give us her waist measurements, length of tutu and 2 weeks to complete your order. Her custom-made tutu will have a ribbon finish at the back so that the size can be adjusted as she grows!

A perfect party-going outfit or a gift for a special little princess.

Price: $49.90 for single-coloured tutu.
Additional $5 for double-coloured tutu.
Additional $8 for tutus with 3 colours or more.
*Postage/delivery not included.

Signed on 09/09/09

2009-09-10T11:16:00.002+08:00

According to the news yesterday, quite a number of people got married on 09/09/09 because of the number. Some even had their babies yesterday.

I did something life-changing too! I put pen to paper and signed the contract for my employment with N/L/B. I'm going to become a children's librarian (actually, associate librarian because I do not have any library qualifications yet).

The way I see it, the job is a good match to my personality. I love books so much I'll probably sing Nat King Cole's L.O.V.E about it. Plus , I love children and am anal about how important books are in their development, especially for my own, that I am so happy that I am given a chance to do this (especially since M/O/E didn't let me teach at primary level). Eventually, if all goes well, I can even take a Masters in Library Science to get my library qualifications. Isn't that exciting? But let's not jump the boat here. I'm going to take things one step at a time although these are the opportunities that lay before me.

Talking of one step at a time, the first step would be letting go of this nagging feeling about leaving my children behind to go off to work yet again. In fact, I've somehow tried to put it out of head cos I will tear everytime I think about it. How can I leave these two gorgeous human beings behind?

Please do not say you understand because many people don't despite the fact that they say they do. And that irritates me. They say things like 'It's ok, you're still young, work is good for you', and ask questions like 'Can't your mother/mother-in-law take care of them (the children?' and when they know I've got a maid, they say,'Oh, it's oklah. You have a maid so you don't need to worry'. HELLO! What has that got to do with anything? So what even if my mothers/maid can take care of them and they receive the best care possible? No offense to either but are they ME? Can the bond that they build by being there with my children while I'm off working be magically transferred to me when I come home? NO! So you see, you don't understand. Nothing can replace being with my children myself.

As you can see, I get agitated talking about it so I'm going to end it there. What I'm going to do is to look on the bright side and be positive about all this for the sake of my family and my own personal development.

I'm sorry to tamper this post with that above outburst but on the whole, it's good news, no?

Edit:
P.S. Thanks to my fantastically lovely sister who printed out my resume oh so nicely and placed them in a folder, and then that into another folder the other way around so that there is naught a wrinkle! (please give my chlidren more $ for Raya thank you...hehe-kidding lah)

Happy Teacher's Day

2009-08-31T09:59:00.003+08:00

First and foremost, I'd like to wish all teachers out there a great teacher's day! I really salute the work that you do for our children.

Humaira's teacher is one of the best I've seen. She's someone really dedicated and really good at her job. You can see that she loves the kids and someone whom we can sought out for personal yet professional advice on our child.

In order to honour her work, we wanted to give her something to show our appreciation. We decided to pass the material things (how many coffee mugs can they use anyway) and decided to help Humaira do up a card instead. In attempt for Humaira to say something personal, I asked her to complete this sentence, "I love Teacher Aisyah because..." What seemingly looked simple enough turned frustratingly comical. This how our conversation went:

Me: Humaira, why do you love Teacher Aisyah?

H: Because...I love Teacher Aisyah.(apparently, someone hasn't grasp the concept of 'why' and 'because'..sheesh)

Me: Ok but why..what does Teacher Aisyah do for you?

Humaira: (silence)

Me: Does Teacher Aisyah play with you?

Humaira: I play with my friends.

Me: Ok, does Teacher Aisyah read a book to you, and that's why you love her?

Humaira: No, I read book.

Me: (Me thinking what other way can I phrase this question.) Do you love Ibu?

Humaira: (Happily) Yessss.

Me: Humaira love Ibu because Ibu play with you?

Humaira: Yess.

Me: Humaira love Ibu because Ibu hug and kiss you?

Humaira: Yesss.

Me: Humaira love Ibu because I read books to you?

Humaira: Yes.

Me: So you love Teacher Aisyah because...

Humaira: I love Teacher Aisyah because..

Me: What?

Humaira: What?

Me: Why do you love Teacher Aisyah?

Humaira: (silence and then...) I don't know. (shrugs her shoulders and went back to playing)

At this point, I nearly pulled out my treasured strand of white hair by its roots in frustration. But you know what they say, Ramadhan is a month of patience and be patient I did. In the end, I managed to get a semblence of an acceptable answer so that's was why I held her hand and helped her write 'I love Teacher Aisyah because she is in the class' on a star-shaped piece of sticker (which she then coloured all by herself *smiles*)

I see that this post is getting a bit long so I'm going to end off with the poem that I placed with the card. I really liked this because it portrayed how I felt and would commend the author but it's an anonymous piece of writing. Here it goes:

WHOSE CHILD IS THIS?
Author Unknown

"Whose child is this?" I asked one day
Seeing a little one out at play
"Mine", said the parent with a tender smile
"Mine to keep a little while
To bathe her hands and comb her hair
To tell her what she is to wear
To prepare her that she may always be good
And each day do the things she should"

"Whose child is this?" I asked again
As the door opened and someone came in
"Mine", said the teacher with the same tender smile
"Mine, to keep just for a little while
To teach her how to be gentle and kind
To train and direct her dear little mind
To help her live by every rule
And get the best she can from school"

"Whose child is this?" I ask once more
Just as the little one entered the door
"Ours" said the parent and the teacher as they smiled
And each took the hand of the little child
"Ours to love and train together
Ours this blessed task forever."

Once again, I wish all teachers a great day.

Where are the icons??

2009-08-15T11:39:00.000+08:00

I'm so upset. I've wanted to post esp on humaira's birthday but there's no more icons to upload photos/links/edit font etc when i click new post. Why is that? I've been trying to find the answer in FAQ but has not been able to come up with anything.

If it's not solved, I may just have to switch to another site.

Win an LV Neverfull

2009-07-07T22:20:00.001+08:00

Contest opened to Singaporeans & Malaysians only and ends 31 August 2009.

Love for Fathers

2009-06-22T20:54:00.004+08:00

The recent Father's Day weekend was a flurry of activities. Dinner at Carousel, helping Humaira prepare breakfast for her daddy, going to Singapore flyer and meeting Spongebob etc. But the one that was different and a first for the rest of the family was going for kara-okay, courtesy of younger sis. Everyone sang except for Hakeem. Husband, whom initially said "one song only" sang not one, not two and even more than three songs once he got the hang of it. Even little Humaira sang two songs with her Mausi: one Hindi -'Oh My Darling'. Attached is the video of her 2nd song. Do you know what it was?

The Sock Ons Rescue Story

2009-05-14T08:00:00.003+08:00

Have your gone out and discovered that somewhere along the way, your little one is left with only one sock, leaving the other foot bare?

I remember the times when that happened with Humaira and once, we had to purchase yet another pair before continuing with our outing. Before Sumaiya could lose any of hers, however, I purchased a pair of Sock Ons. They are worn over socks and are designed to 'lock' the sock into place so that they won't come off with any little kicks or tugs.

And so far, it's been good. Hello to matching socks!

Model-esque

2009-05-13T13:24:00.005+08:00

I love how this picture turned out.

Location: Marina Barrage
Date: Mother's Day

Happy days are here again

2009-05-10T12:12:00.007+08:00

Love is all around...and yup there is, yo mummies out there!

This year, I am thankful that I am celebrating Mummy's Day with my two little angels, both of whom I can't be sane without (or sometimes with! ;)). My lovely husband whom for years to come, is and will be an excellent role model for my girls, in showing their Mummy how special she is. Thank you so much for the gifts of love :)This year, by looking at how I'm getting on with my own children, I have come to understand that the person who loves us most as ourselves are our mothers. Through good and bad, my dear Mummy has been here for me. It probably doesn't matter to her that I'm almost 30 (yikes!) and could and should probably take care of my own affairs. With her, I still feel like I'm Mummy's little girl and that when I need help, she'll still come running just like she did decades ago. And it comforts me that I'll only have to call her name. So thanks again, dear Mum!
This year, I secured a bond with another Mummy, my Chinese neighbour with two teenage daughters. A quiet family by nature but experts at plants, they have so many plants along their walkway which I always take my time to slowly pass through and admire to and fro the lift landing. They are always changing pots, producing plant babies (sorry I don't know how to describe this),re-potting them and sometimes it seems like the only thing in the pot is a dead branch sans any leaves at all. But in a few days, it will miraculously sprout the greenest shade of greens you could imagine. Occasionally, they would be outside tending to them and I would make a little small talk about how beautiful they are. And then today, one of her daughters came over with a pot of grown coriander just for me! Isn't that lovely?! I didn't have anything in return but I had to go over and thank her for the present. What nice neighbours I have.

I really thank God for all the love I have been showered with today and everyday! Have a great day!!

Decision Made?

2009-05-08T13:32:00.003+08:00

Obviously, I'm not so good as doing so many things all at the same time. As you can see, once I started working, I am enveloped in the world of this person called a teacher and suddenly, all other aspects of my life is taken away from underneath my feet.

I stopped blogging, stopped talking to people outside of my immediate vicinity, attended very much less events such as weddings, have not seen my cutie of a girlfriend after she has given birth, and the worse of all I think is that I had to sacrifice a lot of time with my family, husband and children, even after work hours that goes really late into the night and definitely on weekends.

I know that many people in this profession can juggle all these things simultaneously. But not me. A great amount of guilt and regret wash over me when the above things happen. I have realised that I am first, a mother. Vanessa was right even though I didn't believe her at first. I have changed that moment when the first sign of life left my body and entered the world. It has left me in a constant search of a balance between my responsibility as a mother and an employee.

And I'm still searching. Only God knows His plans for me. Regardless, on my deathbed, I want to be sure that my children have become the best of persons in this world and hereafter that they can become. Then, I know that I'll have done my work.

6 more weeks and it'll be a little better

2009-04-12T09:27:00.002+08:00

Mak asked me why my blog has entered a time warp at the time Sumaiya was 2 months old. Well, insane work schedule = insufficient time with husband and children especially the baby, and very much less/no time to blog. What is a working mother to do? I'm holding out until at least the start of the mid-year exams and then, there will be insane marking taking place.

To Mar, I'm so sorry I can't be more involved in your wedding. Please call directly if you need anything and we have yet to make that booking yet. Yay to me, Mother's Day is in a month's time..!

Deux

2009-03-01T18:43:00.004+08:00

Sumaiya is now 2 months old. Admittedly she is still a tad darker than her sis but we still find her so cute. And today, while we were watching Humaira entertain the little one, we witnessed her first laugh! Happy 2 months, my dear!

Fun-Day on a Thursday

2009-02-20T10:00:00.012+08:00

Dear Diary,

Yesterday we took Humaira out of school and brought her out. In the morning, we got dressed
And went to Jacob Ballas @ SBG
Where Humaira learnt how to draw water
And watered the plants
We learnt what a rubber tree looks like
Took time to smell the flowers
Humaira was very happy to meet one of the 'dwarves' (and wanted to look for Snow White after that)
Climbed a treehouse
And went down the slide
Were going to look for crocodiles at the pond
But found a waterfall instead
We walked on a bridge
And scooped up some sand
All in all, we had a very fun Thursday! How about you?

Once Bitten, Twice Bitten

2009-02-06T20:45:00.005+08:00

So ok..we came home late in the evening on Monday and after three full days of taking care of the kids 24/7, I thought that I would get a few days of respite for the next couple of days while Humaira was in school.

Well, I thought wrong.

A call from the childcare centre came in on the noon of that fateful Tuesday and whaddya know..Humaira's suspected of contracting HFMD. Hello...haven't we gone through this last year???

And what bad timing it was too. I was exhausted, hubby's working all of his 12-hour day shift, the baby just refused to be put down for a nap, I was unbathed and very hungry..yada yada yada..

Luckily, I have very supportive family members and not to forget, neighbour. The baby was left next door in my neighbour's care while I run around the flat getting ready not unlike a headless chicken. We then drove to the centre to pick up Humaira and rushed to mil's house to leave the baby so that I could take Humaira to the doctor for confirmation.On the way, both girls were in their respective car seats and cranky and were crying the whole time. My sister, who knows me pretty well, would know that in such a situation I would be on the brink of tears too.

To cut a long story short, Humaira indeed had HFMD. And now we're stuck at home, all the while trying to make sure that she doesn't infect the baby. Luckily she's on the road to recovery and luckily, I have an amazing husband whom, would always bear the larger part of the work in the home which recently includes cooking and he's pretty good too (I think he's stealing my mojo cos my cooking has pretty much sucked lately). Though you might think that I'm complaining too much, bottom line is, I love my family.

Which just reminds me of the Lion King song.. 'We Are One'.

2009-01-20T17:34:00.003+08:00

We went to Dr Ho's office yesterday for Sumaiya's check-up for jaundice and weight gain. At her 1-week old check-up, she still wasn't given her BCG and Hep B jabs due to low birth weight. I was so happy to find out that she now weighs 3.3 kg. That's almost 1 kg gained in 3 weeks. Thank you breastmilk!

Love This Pic

2009-01-19T17:31:00.000+08:00

Humaira and cousin Danyaal

Labour Story 2 Part 2

2009-01-12T10:55:00.004+08:00

29th December 2009

2.00 pm: Hubby and I watched that night's Desperate Housewives episode online. Only watched halfway and planned to continue later cos we needed to get ready for appt with gynae.

3.30 pm: Picked Humaira from school

4.00 pm: Gynae appt @ Bedok. Gynae confirmed that I was 3 cm dilated and effaced.

5.00 pm: Walking out of clinic with tummy and back constantly aching. Thought that it was a result of the gynae's 'poking ard' in the you-know-what.

5.20 pm: Having ice-kachang and chendol at Bedok Interchange's well-known Hollywood stall. While eating, had to stand up and lean against the table when the pain became more severe. Then, I would sit down again and continue having another few mouthfuls before standing up again.

5.30 pm: Went to Sheng Siong to buy stuff to make Hakeem's ice-cream cake for his 8th birthday on 31st Dec. There, had to stop and squat/stop and lean against hubby/stop and lean against a wall every so often when pain became more severe. Still had no idea that labour was imminent..sheesh.

6.00 pm: Managed to get out of Sheng Siong alive and with all the needed stuff bought. Couldn't bear to walk to the car, so I leaned on a railing while hubby and Humaira went to fetch the car. A nice Chinese uncle came over and asked if I was ok. I just told him I had a stomachache.

6.20 pm: Reached in-law's place in Bedok for dinner. Before I could go up though, I threw up beside the lift...A LOT. There went the ice-kachang and the maggi I had for lunch. Happy to report that the cleaners have yet to clear the stuff. And while vomiting, I peed in my pants. So much that the front of my jeans were wet at the thighs. Still NO IDEA that I was having contractions or going into labour.
6.30 pm - 7.00 pm: Waited for sis-in-law to come home so that I could ask her opinion on what's going on. Meanwhile, rolling ard in my mil's clothes on her bed, wishing that the constant aching would go away.

7.00 pm - 8.30 pm: Everyone thinks I'm in labour. Not believing it, I told them that we need to scotch tape the 'place' up so that I would only deliver in 2009. Everyone from hubby's side of the family but sil Tahirah was around. Mil and sil Wiah played nurse. Mil was sure I was in labour, made me Milo, helped bathe Humaira and generally took care of her. Sil kept going in and out of the room, taking water, food (satay), taking my blood pressure with the blood pressure machine and had to consult the pregnancy book to see if b.p. usually goes up/down when in labour. She also passed me Aqeel's toy that vibrated to put against my back. Initially didn't want to go to hospital but later on relented just to check out what's happening to me. Felt very confident that it was a false alarm and that I would be sent back though. that Hubby went home to retrieve diaper bag and admission letter. By then, I had regular contractions coming and going. At every contraction I was on all fours, rocking back and forth (which helped reduce the pain by the way). Humaira who was sitting beside me and was silent and watchful decided to speak up,"Ibu become cat?" And in the midst of the rocking, I had to tell her," Yes, Ibu become cat. Meow." Bro-in-law Faie went to the shop to but Wether's Original sweet which I felt like sucking. My other two bro-in-law's were on stand-by to bring me to the hospital in case hubby didn't get back on time. The whole scene was so comical that I think that it should be a scene in a TV show.

8.30pm: Hubby returned but wanted to eat dinner first. I could still handle the contractions and didn't mind. As I went out the door, bit into 2 sticks of satay.

9.00pm: Reached hospital and was in labour ward by 9.10 pm after telling Humaira that we were going to work. Poor girl.

9.15pm: Nurse confirmed 3 cm dilation and monitored the contractions. said that we were going to be there until I gave birth. We were shocked. What? Now? In 2008? Messaged direct family members. We estimated that I would deliver by the next day.

10.00 pm: After changing into the hospital gown and was checked and finished the toilet thing, asked hubby to turn on the TV so that we could catch Desperate Housewives and watch the second part.

10.30pm: Going crazy with pain although the machine didn't register strong contractions. Too bad cos could still watch Desperate Housewives but could not register the dialogue cos I was writhing in pain. Very upset with the gas mask which didn't help one bit this time around. Hubby quickly decided on the baby's name.

11.00pm: Contractions going fast and strong. Crying out,"Mak, help. Mak, help. Ya Allah. Mummy, mummy.... Go away, go away (telling the pain to go away)" while trashing my body about in the bed. Looking desperately into hubby's eyes while he was reciting doa. Caved in and ask for epidural.

11.10pm: Epidural administered. Still upset as I was still in pain and it doesn't seem to work like the first time. Could feel my cervix dilating and stretching at 50 % pain level. At every stretch, I would shiver from head to toe from the pain. Cried and told the nurse that I didn't want to give birth. Could feel that stuff were coming out form me. Nurse checked and told us that I was fully-dilated, blood was coming out, baby's head can already be seen down there and we were only waiting for Dr Heng.

11.30pm: Dr Heng came, suited up and we pushed. Baby came out quickly at 11.38pm cos she was small. Immediately after the delivery, I threw up (while being stitched up) my satay. Hubby said that it wasn't even digested yet.

1.00am: Was in ward 3801. Both of us were very surprised by how quick the whole thing was. Hubby was saying that the night before, we wouldn't even have thought that we would see the baby the next day. I was very tired but couldn't sleep until 4 am.

Alhamdulillah, the baby emerged safe and sound. But next time, I'm getting that epidural early on.

Labour Story 2 Part 1

2009-01-08T11:47:00.002+08:00

Nobody expected it to happen. On the night of 28th Dec 09, we were celebrating Awal Muharram (the Islamic New Year) at Pakcik Jamil's house. When asked about the impending delivery, I replied with, " Oh, it's still some time away. We still have almost two weeks to go." We also talked about how small the baby was and hopefully it would reach 2.8 kg by the time it was ready to be delivered. Anyway, I didn't want to get my hopes up like I did with Humaira (and she ended up being induced at the 41st week because she just refused to come out).

Incidentally, I still had some items to cross out from my mental checklist:
1) Pack hospital bag - DONE
2) Rebond hair - DONE (Vain, I know)
3) Remove irritating small bump on my forehead - NOT DONE (apparently, they need to use lazer or something and thus have to wait after my delivery. Sheesh)
4) Wash baby's clothings, blankets, mittens and booties etc. - Only one pile done
5) Reinstall the gate for the cot - DONE
6) Arrange baby's stuff in their places eg. kitchen, dresser - NOT DONE (things are piling all over the place)
7) Prepare comfortable but nice outfit to go to hospital in, in case of delivery - NOT DONE (again, the vain-ness factor shines through)
8) Sterilise breast pump equipment and bottles - NOT DONE

...and other important things like that. So you can imagine how unprepared I was to be a mother of two just the very next day!

To be continued...

Happy 2009!

2009-01-07T11:31:00.000+08:00

It's already the 7th day of the new year and only NOW I'm saying Happy New Year. Not my fault though cos there was some trouble with loading of the pictures, which was only resolved today. Anyway, better late than never right?

You must have already heard, that the supposedly 2009 baby ended up entering the world in 2008; on 29th Dec 2008 to be precise. So, this year we entered 2009 as a foursome and we're gonna have some mighty adventures ahead. Please welcome Sumaiya Bte Ahmad Ash'ary:
Sumaiya within her first 24 hours saying: What!~ No applause?

P.s. I'm going to post my labour story in parts. Mostly because my life is currently being measured in two to three hourly segments due to breastfeeding. Stay tuned!

Food Quest

2008-12-24T15:57:00.007+08:00

Somehow I've been wanting to eat out a lot recently. Not so much at establishments but rather I feel like I need to eat specific foods. I'm not sure if that's what cravings are but I feel strongly that I should eat them so that I won't miss out after delivering.

I've been wanting to eat sushi and so when I saw that Ramen Ten @ Century opened those sushi-lines and was 50% from 9 pm onwards, I just had to eat there.

And then there was tiramisu, which I made for Mum's birthday.

And my most recent 'cravings' are the Honey biscuits served with KFC's weekday breakfasts. Oh-my-god. I think these are SO good and when I went there one morning after receiving their flyer, I ate 3 at one go. And the crazy thing is, I kept looking out for other patrons who didn't finish theirs. It took a lot of courage not to go over and finish it for them. And I was going crazy when I got back because I didn't have enough of my 'fix' that I had to find a copycat recipe and made it myself the next, next morning. And here it is: the exact replica in my opinion - Yum!

I feel like cinnamon rolls are coming up next.

Potty Training

2008-12-14T08:48:00.004+08:00

Bearing in mind that Humaira is past 2 years and 4 months and she's quite a smart girl, I didn't think that toilet-training would be so much work. Luckily, I had my support team comprising of my mum and hubby on my side.

Although experts always tell you to look out for signs that the child is ready, I must admit that Humaira did not meet many of their criteria. I even took this test which said that she wasn't ready at all! She wasn't holding her pee a few hours at a time. She wasn't indicating when she had to pee with facial expressions, although, of course we knew when she had to poop because she'll be holding on to me for dear life. But what the heck. I thought this was the best time as any and I was considering the following:

- I am still on holiday and would naturally have the time to train her;
- My mum potty-trained us (her children) before we were 1 and isn't 2 years and 4 months a little old to still be on a diaper?;
- With the second one on the way, I thought that it would be good on our finances to have only one person on diapers (not including myself of course..hah);
- I am jealous of this kid's mother at her school who has her girl toilet-trained (even though that girl is slightly older).

So on the selected Saturday, I got her off diaper cold turkey in the morning. Naively I thought that I would get it over and done with by Sunday so that she could go to school on Monday and I'd get to tell her teacher ta-dah! that she's been toilet-trained over the weekend. NOT!

We had already gotten her a pair of training pants and despite asking her umpteen times if she wanted to pee, I spent the day washing and collecting urine covered pants and clothes and bedsheets and mopping floors. Don't get me wrong. She was a trooper for sitting at her potty and would get a star on her chart everytime she did so but there was just that little thing about actually peeing in it which she hates. She'd rather hold it in and let it go just minutes after she sat on her potty and cry because she had made a mess. But as per everyone's advice, you just have to keep smiling at her while mopping up pee and stop yourself from screaming.

Second day went better as her pee actually made it into the potty twice and thrice on the floor. On day three, she kind of regressed and I was going out of my mind with all the washing and cleaning that's going on that I was ready to literally throw in (or out) the towel.But mum and hubby kept me at it, assuring me that we were making progress.

On day four - voila! The girl got most of her pee into the toilet and we although at that time, we cued her to pee (every 3 hours for non-rainy days and every 1-2 hours for rainy days), she's an expert now and tells us when she needs to go. And we have even stopped bringing her potty out in public because she can just seat at the adult seat.

I would relate this experience to starting breastfeeding. It's difficult at first but you have to keep at it and somewhere along the fourth day- it would be alright. We're just finishing up her supply of diapers now for nights because she's not consistent with that yet. Otherwise, I'm home free!

Next, to get rid of her fetish for blue eyeshadow.

Where in the world is...

2008-12-12T08:01:00.002+08:00

Well, we sent the sis off at the airport yesterday for her 16-days backpacking trip to Vietnam and I forgot to take pictures of that. And because we ate at Popeye's, I was craving Popeye's biscuits in the middle of the night. Maybe I'll just ask mum if she's working at T3 today.

At 36 weeks, adik is just 2 kg (pretty small huh?) and check-ups are now once a week. I asked Dr. Heng if she had delivered someone without doing the cut and of course she said yes. Apparently, it's not up to us but up to her to decide, depending on the situation. I guess I've been reading too much Americanised literature that includes birth plans and such.

My body is sore and I'm planning to call Maria again this weekend for that badly needed massage. Sometimes I wonder if massages are addictive. I need a massage every 2 to 3 weeks or so, else my body will just ache. But some people can do it very occasionally , like a luxury thing, and not need one a few weeks later. Hmm..maybe I'll google that.

Oh yes and Humaira is toilet-trained! Maybe I'll write a post about that soon hokay?

Loves

Cookies anyone?

2008-11-28T13:21:00.004+08:00

I'm at the 'give-me-chocolate-or-give-me-death' stage of pregnancy, which I thought wouldn't surface at all this time around. Partly because with the first, it came much earlier (Btw, I have only 6 more weeks to go y'all).

So yes, I have been eating a lot of chocolate bars and I had to resort to stealing hubby's from the fridge, or at least giving him lame excuses why I deserve another pack of Kit Kat's just for the third time within 1 hour. But hey, I actually replaced the 6-pack Kit Kats hokay? And after I ate up his Boost Totally Nuts when he wasn't looking (and that was after eating a whole bar of Crunchie chocolate), I learnt via newspaper a few days later that it was recalled because plastic pieces were found in the chocolate. Sigh, the things I get myself into.

So in desperate attempt to end this chocolate binging phase (and because I had the ingredients left over from Raya baking but this is secondary), I made myself, only for the second time in my life, Martha's Outrageous Chocolate Cookies. These are very simple to make and the first tray came out within an hour. I'm waiting for two more trays to come out and it will be all done. Btw, I've eaten two while posting this.

These are chocolatey, chewy, chocolate chunk cookies which are slightly larger than the size of one's palm. On a previous occasion, it has successfully managed to put me off chocolate for a few weeks after eating half the batch. So, I'm banging on it to work again. Forget the fact that I have been putting on 3 kg each in the past 3 months while the baby has been gaining 200-400 g only in the last 3 months. Forget the fact that I have, to date, gained 10.5 kg and if there are 6 more weeks to go, I will be gaining about 15 kg in total. Forget the fact that earlier in the pregnancy, my goal was to gain abt 10 kg in total this time around so that I wouldn't need to wait a year plus to get back into shape. In fact, throw all that information out of the window.

Because now, ladies and gentleman, it's all about me and my chocolate.

P.s. This is not a warning but I can't guarantee your survival if you choose to comment on the size my hips/butt when you see me/them.

New Helper

2008-11-16T09:46:00.004+08:00

Living beside a road can be a pain sometimes. For one, you get to welcome dust everyday into your house. So it's no wonder that after valiantly trying to keep it under control (with our mop-the-house-once-a-month plan, which is failing for obvious reasons), I had to come in with plan B. We did what every normal Singaporean family would do - we got ourselves a helper.

However, when the helper reported for work, it was obvious that we were facing some major issues. Like the fact that she's shorter than the cleaning equipment. That was solved by buying a mini broom and dustpan which is turqoise in colour because our helper loves colour. In a stroke of inspiration, I also removed one of the pole pieces on the dry-moppping-up-dust device so that it fits her height nicely just like so:
Can you see how happy she is to mop up the dust? Hey, we must be paying her pretty well.
But as you can see, even she is not immune the occasional sneeze with all that dust around.

Babies Galore

2008-11-15T10:51:00.003+08:00

Would you know it? In no time at all, babies are popping up left and right (all in the family) and all at 1-2 weeks earlier than their expected date. We recently welcomed:

1) Nadia on 23rd Oct 08 (Daughter of Uncle Kassim & Aunt Fatimah)
2) Mikail Haziq on 4 Nov 08 (Son of Amin & Nor Salmah)
3) Nur Nabilah on 15 Nov 08, which is today! (Daughter of Zul & Maj)

Looking at both sides of the family (mine and hubby's), guess whose next??

If you don't already know, WE ARE!

We still don't have a name yet. Don't ask.

2008-11-14T08:54:00.002+08:00

After ANOTHER long week of the girl having fever, she's in school again today. After sending her, I took a solitary and leisurely breakfast at McD's and will soon be climbing back into bed.

I'm telling you, when you're a parent, this epitomizes what pure and decadent bliss is.

Hiatus

2008-10-23T16:32:00.002+08:00

Every day I'm looking at my blog wanting to post something but somehow the words just wouldn't come. Fact it, I sometimes feel ashamed to face the world, and sometimes I feel that any form of pity either in the form of words or looks would set the tears going again. I am officially a pregnant, emotional wreck.

Daughter's also been really sick. She hasn't been going to school for the whole week and her fever's so high that we had to rush her to KKH one dawn morning. She's as weak as a rag doll and has been throwing up nightly. We have had to bathe her in the middle of the night, every night, for the past week just to bring down that 41 degree fever to a more acceptable 39.

Sometimes I smile, but on most days I just fake it. So, that's my situation right now. I'm just gonna put this blogging thing on hold until I can get the courage to continue again. At the very least, that'll be one less thing off my stress list.

We've Been Raya-ing!

2008-10-07T13:59:00.003+08:00

Watch the amazing transformation!

From this..

To this...

Naming You

2008-10-05T06:42:00.000+08:00

Dear baby,

It's been more than 6 months that you've been in my tummy and yet, Mummy and Daddy still hasn't decided on a name for you yet. We didn't take this long to name your sister, in fact, we were calling her by her name when she was only 3 months inside me.

It's not that we haven't made an effort. If you have been listening to us, you'd know that a lot of names have come up between us but none of which we could agree on. I just can't bear to call you 'K' even though Daddy likes it so much. When I say the name out loud, I just feel that it doesn't match you, my dear. I just need to feel in my heart that the name fits, that it will be perfect. And so, our journey goes on.

We apologise that we sometimes make fun when we say that we'd name you 'Laila Majnun' (after the very old Malay movie character's name) or 'Habbatul Baraka' (after the company that sells health products which jingle we always hear on radio) if we couldn't come to a consensus even after you are born.

In any ways, do you think you could give us a hint, my dear? Maybe through Mummy's dreams? It will help us a lot if you could. For now, we'll continue to call you Adik ok? I'm sure that one of these days, we'll figure it out.

Love,
Mummy, Daddy & Kakak Humaira

The Black Hole

2008-10-03T19:26:00.002+08:00

Hi everyone! Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir & Batin if I have missed wishing you. Hope you have been enjoying raya-ing with your loved ones as much as I have.

As my tummy has remained small, I have been able to wear most of my existing baju kurungs this year. No sense wasting money on new clothes, I thought. However, it has been proven that I might have been a tad optimistic this time.

This pregnancy has been different from the first. Whereas in the first I gained 18 kgs, this time my aim is just 9-10 kgs. And so far, I have been on track: 3kgs in 6 months. Not bad, I thought. Anyway, this wee one has made it easier for me cos she's been refusing a lot of food. Not that I still throw up or anything, but I have extremely little appetite. Even when breaking fast, I sometimes have to force myself to eat something more substantial.

But something unexpected happened on the first day of Raya. I just couldn't and wouldn't stop eating. At almost all the 7 houses on that first day, I ate everything and then some more. I could feel my belly bursting and my clothes getting very much tighter at each house but yet, my taste buds were screaming MORE, MORE, MORE! Attempts to curb the raging appetite was futile. Even though I told hubby to make me stop eating at each house, I cunningly hid my food quest from him so that he won't have a chance to stop me before it's too late..Hahaha.

My mum who saw me first thing in the morning and last at night can attest to the increase in the bulge of my tummy over the course of the day, I'm not kidding you. I was also silly enough to think that the tummy would reduce in size by the next day, but whaddya know, the wee one has decided to keep all that food in with her. I think she may just have doubled in size just on that day.

So I'm now looking miserably in the mirror because I have gone from looking barely pregnant to looking fairly pregnant. I just hope that I won't gain too much weight this time around.

P.s. Despite admonitions to myself, my food quest is still going strong. Help!

Three's The Charm

2008-09-17T17:45:00.003+08:00

Three years have come and gone and today marks the date that we first became man and wife. On this day, instead of being with me, hubby dutifully slaves away at his 12-hr shift job to provide for this family, a job which takes him away from us many weekends and a job which allows us to see him fewer hours than we'd like but also a job which he loves and enjoys and we support him for it.

On this day, I toil at my what is now very often a 10-hr daily race (not including the work brought home which follows), without seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.A job which is draining the energy out of me but also a job which husband is so supportive of despite its downs and downs.

Despite this sombre potrayal of the day which we had anticipated, we'd already had our so-called special anniversary cum break fast dinner with the daughter in tow last week at Simpang Bedok and another late night supper at Sakuntala (an extremely rare treat being out late at night with only the two of us - happens only about once a year), all of which were unplanned. Nothing else was scheduled, no fancy dinners, no gifts. We had each other and that was enough.

And yet, he still managed to surprise me when a bouquet of a dozen roses and an accompanying bear arrived today at work. That's makes it two years in a row..I'm so pampered. I was just thinking, "How about next year then hubby? I heard three's the charm". :)

P.s. I miss you. Come back soon!

At the half-way mark

2008-09-13T08:26:00.003+08:00

In a blink of an eye, this pregnancy has past the halfway mark. We're already at Week 22 (only 18 more weeks to go!) and quite a number of people has just realised that I'm expecting as my tummy's just beginning to show.

So far, I've gained about 3kg in total. I've lost about 1-1.5kg during this fasting month but Dr. Heng said that it doesn't matter as the baby's doing well and has doubled its weight since the last check-up! This is so unlike the first pregnancy where I gained 18kg in total and I'm glad cos it's not easy to shed the pounds after the delivery. This, I speak from experience!

Dr Heng also confirmed the gender again and asked,"So will you be having two girls and two boys? Still so young, can ah." I replied,"Hopefully," and she was VERY happy.

So Alhamdullillah, everything going fine for us. Humaira is SUPER-clingy, more so than the past few months and when I'm around, everything that she does has to be with me. Bathe, eat, walk, go out,carrying her; no one else can even send her to school if I'm around. Not even her daddy. On most days, it's ok as I (secretly) enjoy this extra attention that she's showering but on days that I'm not feeling well or when we're outside and have to walk a lot, it can take it's toll as she's pretty heavy. I feel a little wistful though. They say that young kids knows that they'll be getting competition when they have a sibling and tends to cling and I know that she'll probably lose a lot of my attention when the baby comes, especially the first few months.

I have a feeling that she's going to live up to her BIG sister status though.
I know that I can depend on her.

Ma'am, Yes Ma'am!

2008-09-03T12:07:00.003+08:00

Two hours to spare and some ingredients on hand resulted in an army of gingerbread men (120 and a half to be exact!). I wondered if they were going to get up and do a post-Olympic contingent march-past for me. But oh well, a fantasy story remains a fantasy.

Ramadhan Mubarak

2008-08-30T21:47:00.002+08:00

Mere hours left to the fasting month and I must say that this is the first time that I'm feeling anxious about it since the past few years. Usually, I'm so excited and will be mentally ready and will put up stuff like posters at my desk in the workplace. But this year, I just feel so unprepared.

Mostly because this is the first time that I will fasting while pregnant. People tell me that it's no big deal. Anyway, many have done it. My mum, my cousins, sis-in-laws. I'm praying that with the right 'niat', I too will join these women. Hoping for the best.

2008-08-24T10:35:00.013+08:00

Pardon me while I take a break from this boring day in the world of -CHORES-, with the girl playing house on the floor and strewing many coloured beads in the process and hubby is at work (and will be for the whole day I might add).

On the other end of the spectrum, we had a super FUNNEST day ever at Sentosa yesterday. Undaunted by the swirl of big grey clouds in the early morning, we vowed that nothing would stand in our way (coupled with some prayers of course).

We were lucky that our prayers were answered. We took Humaira on her virgin cable car ride: Managed to get past a swamp of hungry peacocks which insisted to peck at the biscuit in Humaira's hands to enter the Underwater World, just to have our hands devoured by aggressive and hungry (and big) stingrays in the stingray pool. (Obviously I'm exaggerating. No way was I going to put my hands in to touch them but i SAW what happened with those other guests!)

Daddy and Humaira then got a chance to wear these:

so that they can go on this!

And they came back on this:

Alas, mummy became the official photographer because, OF COURSE, we expectant mums are not allowed on both the luge and the sky-ride.

We ended our afternoon with the Dolphin Lagoon and a peaceful lunch by the waters, taking in the sights. (I insisted on eating the lobster just to spite the huge and mean-looking spider crabs down at Underwater World).

I'm looking forward to going there again after the birth of the second one. Then, it's MY turn to take the luge, Hubby. You can just take care of the two kids. F1 racing, here I come!

Important Things

2008-08-17T12:11:00.004+08:00

3 important things are happening today:

1) Prime Minister's National Day Rally and the announcement of the pro-baby packages. Please, please give us more childcare leave. You can only catch it in Malay and Chinese 6.45 pm though cos the English one is postponed til tomorrow because of:

2) The Singapore vs China table tennis final at the Beijing Olympics. Singapore is going for the gold!

3) My birthday. Happy birthday to me!!

Enuf said.. :)

Happy Birthday Singapore!

2008-08-09T12:43:00.002+08:00

Of course, with all the birthday celebrations going around, we simply can't forget our nations's birthday..

Happy 43rd birthday Singapore!!!!
Chan Mali Chan..oi oi! Ketipung pa'yung' (and NOT 'pagi' aka Humaira's version)

Happy Birthday Humaira!

2008-08-01T23:35:00.002+08:00

And so..Humaira is 2! Yeah..the now not-so-little girl is going to be a big sister in six months time and my, hasn't she grown!

We didn't have a big, big celebration like we had for her first year. Considering that she was ill (and actually the finance and logistics of it all), we decided to keep it small but still involve the important ones in her life.

First, we had a mini celebration at

where she got her favourite character's cake

and gave away

Later, Atuk Mus also bought her a birthday cake and she (with mummy's help) blew out the candles and cut the cake..although, Danyaal wanted a part of it too!

The next day, Mummy and Daddy treated her to her first time at Explorer Kids @ DE. She got her membership card with a mere one-time payment of $5.50, valid until she's 12! (P.s. Where's Humaira - funny)

Last but not least, we had a birthday dinner for Daddy and Humaira with Atuk Hussain, Nani and Cacas at East Coast Park where we stuffed our faces and the birthday boy and girl got more presents!

You're 29!

2008-07-30T23:20:00.001+08:00

One more year to the big THREE-O and we really still love you.
Happy birthday Ayah!
Don't worry, you don't look a day over 25! :)

Let's Talk About S. e. x

2008-07-16T18:03:00.001+08:00

of the baby!..Sheesh

Sorry to dash your hopes of getting any lurid details over here but I'd like to keep this site PG-rated :).

So, we had our little gynae visit today and I know you're all concerned but I am doing well: my blood pressure is slightly low but normal, no difference in height, gained about 1 kg in weight...what? NO? That's not what you're asking about?

Ok fine.. (Mutters to self: Baby, baby..everything revolves around the baby..)

Ok, the results revealed that above 70% of you were rooting for a boy. Let's see if you've got it right! Without further ado, I'm excited to share that.......
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Ok, you may all now start shopping! Ready, Get Set, Go!!!!

Top 10 Reasons To Be Glad That I’m Pregnant

2008-07-15T12:08:00.003+08:00

I’m feeling so smiley and happy today y’all.
First day with no trace of nausea, feels like heaven! Or could it be the great ‘work out’ last night? Hmmm...

Anyways, today’s a great day to put forth my list of reasons to be glad being pregnant… again! In no particular order:

#1 I get away with not doing stuff around the house (most of the time anyway) like cooking, washing, laundry, cooking, mopping, anything to do with the girl...did I mention cooking?

#2 On the topic of food, I get to ‘convince’ mum and mum in law to cook what I the baby wants to eat (which differs from lunch to dinner on the same day, I tell you).

#3 Getting to pick out a name for the baby, which is so..like..awesome!

#4 Excitedly waiting to feel the first flutters of the baby which will turn into major shoving and kicking in the third trimester. Nothing beats that special feeling when the baby moves inside you, especially during long and arduous meetings, erm..not that any meetings I have attended was like that (phew *wipes brow*).

#5 Excellent reason to shop to your heart’s content (no reason to hoard all that money the government has generously given).

#6 Providing a playmate for my little girl so that I may be relinquished of that round-the-clock duty (in a few years anyway).

#7 More benefits! Hoping that the government will hurry up and announce it though cos I don’t want to miss the boat! If not, the baby will just have to stay inside until they do.

#8 Watching my kids grow up and share secrets and their lives and become as close as my sis and I are now…Come on, say it with me now...awwwwww....

#9 When I get bigger and further along, my siblings become my personal assistants/attendants...woohoo! Nothing beats brotherly/sister love, eh?

#10 Getting to hone my parenting skills all over again because practice just makes me more perfect!

And there you have it, my top ten list. Now go and get yourselves pregnant...again! (Wiah, big hint to you here ;)).

Blue or Pink?

2008-07-11T14:07:00.003+08:00

Hi guys!

As you can see, I just set up a poll on the right to see what's your take on the gender of the baby that I'm carrying. Thanks to one person who voted but I changed it cos it didn't look so nice at first, so do you mind voting again?

We're in our 2nd trimester (already?) and although I still have morning sickness on some days, it hasn't been that bad. We'll be seeing the gynae sometime after mid next week and would probably know the gender by then. I've been saving almost all of Humaira's stuff if it's a girl (cos I think her stuff are quite nice) but will be giving it all away (the pink-things anyway) if it's a boy.

Until then, do tell me what you think, ya?

P.s. I felt three consecutive kickings(?) yesterday but it can't be, right? Probably the chicken I ate is still alive in there.

Wecome Izzul Mirza

2008-07-07T13:25:00.006+08:00

Wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate again my cousin, Kak Ezan and her hubby Abang Kassim, on the arrival of their young one on 3rd July 08. Cute, ain't he?

The Charmer

2008-07-07T12:57:00.003+08:00

My baby likes to break into song. And she can sing many songs, mostly nursery rhymes and barney songs. But my most favourite (note:students, you can't say most favourite okay? that's just wrong English) one is when she sees me, she will sing me her 'Ibu' song at least once a day; you know, the P.Ramlee classic. Hubby managed to capture her on video singing the song and I wanted to share it with you. This one I'm going to keep and cherish forever.

Lyrics in Malay (Lyrics in English - loosely translated)
Ibu, Ibu (Mother, Mother)
Engkaulah ratu hatiku (You are the queen of my heart)
Bilaku berduka (Whenever I am down)
Engkau hiburkan selalu (You always cheer me up)
Ibu, Ibu (Mother, Mother)
Engkaulah ratu hatiku (You are the queen of my heart)

Sour End To A Sweet Weekend

2008-06-30T13:25:00.002+08:00

Someone really pissed me off yesterday.

At an aunt's place where there was a gathering, Humaira wanted to go out one of the doors to the pond. I said no and another auntie also told her no. So Humaira stood in the corner at the corner of the room, quiet and sullen. A first I didn't know that she was upset. I thought that she was poot-pooting or something.

She stood there for a good 10 minutes with an upturned smile and later a tear rolled down her cheek. She wasn't doing anything else so I let her be for awhile. Later, when I turned to smile at her, she came to me and was already in an ok mood.

When people were leaving later, a woman whom I don't know came to me and told me to my face that my daughter was a defiant one. DEFIANT?!!!!!! At first I was nice enough to tell her that she's not defiant, just testing her limits. Then she continued to say that I needed to reprimand her. The way she said it was like my daughter has never been scolded before and was pampered all along.

I tell you, my blood was boiling by then and I couldn't help thinking,"Just who does she think she is?!!" I pity any child in her family. I'm not against scolding children but at this age, reprimanding might not be the correct way. Science will tell you that they are not developmentally ready to understand what scolding means. Worse, they will emulate your actions. Children receiving too much scolding might even be emotionally affected. Religiously speaking, we are taught that we need to be gentle with children. Prophet Muhammad is our best example.

Go and do more reading please before you go and say that people's children are defiant!!! As you can see, I'm feeling MAD,MAD,MAD!

Crappy & Sickly Mornings

2008-06-26T09:09:00.003+08:00

I only vaguely recall going through this the last time.

I need this to be over.

1 more month to go.

Cos Daddies Are So Special

2008-06-16T09:35:00.004+08:00

Happy Father's Day to 3 daddies who are dear to our hearts: Dad, Dad-in-Law and Hubby (guess who the cake resembles).

Time For An Update

2008-06-11T10:06:00.012+08:00

I've been hanging around doing some of this and some of that (mostly lying on the couch feeling sick and sleeping). It's time to just give a spread of what's been going on.

1) Overdue pictures of mimmy's day
2) Been to Bangkok and back. Only pictures salvaged from the ***** memory card was this picture of Humaira and what hubby calls her Thai boyfriend plus a few others (pictures, not boyfriends).

3) Got free tickets to Wild Wild Wet and the ferris wheel ride at Downtown East. Off we went: Haziq, Hakeem, Humaira and I.
4) Attended the Barney concert. Okay, I have a confession here. You know in Barney's episodes where a kid would hold a Barney stuffed toy and later poof! Barney would appear? Well, that happened too at the concert. And when it did and Barney came out in the midst of smoke and stuff, I couldn't stop crying because I was so happy. Humaira enjoyed the show too of course :)

Need Chocolate

2008-05-27T15:45:00.006+08:00

I really need a dose of this but my throat rejects it in this form though... Bibi: 1 tupperware of brownies with fudge on top please,
Zai: make a batch of Martha's double chocolate chip cookies..Anyone else?

Holiday Special

2008-05-26T11:10:00.002+08:00

Wheee..! So last Friday officially marked the last day of Term 2 and I have to say this...HOLIDAYS ROCK! Yes, so the teachers are not exactly scot-free. We still have mounds of stuff to mark (it's not only me), oral exams to carry out, CCA practices to go to and monitor, courses to attend. Yet, it's still different because it is more relaxed and you can actually pace yourself. At this point, I'm also grateful for getting to go to work later (enough time to ward off the morning whatevers) and possibly having lunch again with friends-who-work-office-hours. :)

We're also looking forward to our way overdue plane ride: the first for Humaira, it's been 21 years ago for hubby and 10 years for me! Just hope the girl can keep still though. Bibi, we're going to your favourite place!

Bags to be packed and to be ready to go...in 5 days time!

Speak Nicely

2008-05-17T08:12:00.004+08:00

I've been trying to teach Humaira to be polite to myself and hubby when she's speaking to us. And so, I have been particular with her saying "Please Ibu" and "Thank You Ibu" and other things and in a nice voice when she wants things and gets them. Usually, it has to be prompted from her and she has yet to 'speak nicely' on her own accord.

Of course sometimes it doesn't work. On occasions that I chided her and say,"Humaira, speak nicely", she would reply in her sweet voice,"nicely". Of course, unlike bigger kids who say this, she has no ill intent whatsoever.

But I'm starting to see the fruits of my labour. Today when she asked for more cereal, I told her to sit down. Very, very nicely she said,"Wait, Ibu" (meaning that she was asking me to be patient and she would sit later, a delaying tactic I would say) instead of trying to get her way with other means.

I don't know about you but I consider this one point for the mummy camp!

Good job baby!

Sweet Surprise

2008-05-10T00:12:00.004+08:00

I found this in Humaira's bag with a note today after she came home from school. My first Mother's Day present from the girl! I'm very touch-ed leh. Thanks to the teachers who helped her made this for me. (Although she wanted to wear it instead of letting me wear it, so I had to hide it from her ;))

Humaira's new cousin - Baby Aqeel

2008-05-08T14:35:00.006+08:00

Introducing the latest addition to the family. At 3.6kg, Aqeel came into this world on 7 May 2008 the spitting image of his mummy, albeit his father's nose. While the mummy put up a brave fight (without epidural, no less), he was urm..unready to come out and was assisted using forceps. Alhamdullillah, both came out well. We congratulate Wiah and Najip on your newborn!

2 down, 10 to go...

The Time Is Near

2008-05-07T10:20:00.004+08:00

Dear all,

My sis-in-law is in labour since about 6 am today.
Please pray for both her and the baby. We're still waiting for news.

Wall Deco

2008-05-01T17:04:00.003+08:00

Inspired here.

Little Bollywood

2008-04-25T13:16:00.010+08:00

It's not much, but this is what I have been doing with her the past 5 days.

Editor's note: I had problems uploading the video prior to this. Lucky I have a sister to help me :)

Cher, how old are you?

2008-04-24T09:11:00.004+08:00

The other day one of my kids asked me for my age. Taken off guard, I had to quickly calculate:

"What's the year now? Oh yes. 2008" In my mind, i estimated it to be 25 give and take.

And I realised with an oh-my-goodness that I'll be 27 this year. 27! Who'd have thought? I din even realise that I've had my 25th and 26th birthdays.

My most vivid memory was when I was 24. Life started for me then. I got married. I gave birth to Humaira. And afterwards, it's all a blur.

I guess time passes fast when we're having fun, no?

Best Mother-In-Law award goes to...

2008-04-16T10:29:00.003+08:00

mine!

You became my other Mother
the day I wed your son,
And I just want to thank you ,Mom
for the lovely things you've done

You raised with love the gracious man
with whom I'll share my life
You are his lovely mother
and I'm his lucky wife.

Where else can you get a mother-in-law who rubs your head and your back with massage oil (and I din even make the request!) when you have a bad headache, who prepares breakfast for you before you go to work so that you will not be hungry (and apologises if she wakes up a bit late to have time to do so) and accepts you into her life and her family with open arms.

I am truly lucky indeed.

Smashing Time

2008-04-14T15:13:00.005+08:00

Guess what? This afternoon, I re-entered school after buying lunch at Eastpoint. I was walking along the path towards school while all the time looking over at the car bathing in the sun. "Die", I thought. "Sure to fry in the car while driving back later."

AND...WHAM!
Whadda you know? I had slammed right into a lamppost.I almost keeled over in pain, but had to maintain.you know..for whoever saw it. And of course, the security guard saw and couldn't resist a jibe. Some of my students walking out were still some distance away and didn't manage to catch their teacher in 'action'. Or else, I'd have been the butt of their jokes probably for the whole week.

Now my ribs and chest are hurting. But, I've to get back to work.
There's worksheets to be done and tests to be marked. Til next time.

Mummies and Their Big Tummies

2008-04-06T12:02:00.007+08:00

I told my gal pal recently that I'm feeling so pressured with news of so many pregnancies! Let us do a little round-up (no pun intended) of mummies and their tummies:

1) Stephanie:latest update, gave birth to a boy two weeks ago (phew..that's one down)
2) Wiah/sis-in-law: giving birth in May 08
3) Eli: giving birth in Jun 08
4) Kak Ezan/cousin: giving birth in Jul 08
5) Hez/colleague: giving birth in Jul 08
6) Tahirah/sis-in-law: giving birth in Aug 08
7) Van/ex-colleague and great friend: EDD 080808 (lucky sey!)
8) Angie/colleague: giving birth in Sep 08
9) Diah/stranger (but whose blog I've been reading for more than a year because our birth story was very similar and our girls are close in age, and so I feel connected to her - I'm weird that way): giving birth in Oct 08 to TWINS no less..lucky girl

And the latest!..
10)NorSalmah/hubby's cousin: giving birth in Nov 08
11)Majdiah/cousin: giving birth in Nov 08

So, please tell me how can I not feel pressured to quickly grab hubby and impregnate myself???

The only thangs that stopping me are my silly phobia and the (ahem!) deal that I made earlier.

Humaira, are you ready for an adik, my dear?

And Off To School We Go

2008-04-03T17:33:00.002+08:00

Update cos I'm a lazy bum that should post more often

2008-04-01T12:46:00.003+08:00

Too many things , so little time.
So, what's new?

I have a only a few weeks left with these kiddos and I'm torn between telling them at the eleventh hour or telling them now. But I definitely know that I'll be missing them lots especially my form class whom I'm seeing much less of nowadays, my 3N2s whom I love going to class for and 2N3s whose kids are so mischievious I enjoy finding out what they'll be up to today. Many of them can be on their best and perform, especially if they have a teacher purposefully sitting next to them..hah! I am blessed to have met these children. They are a great bunch. I pray and hope for the best in your future, dear children, even if this may be the last that I see you.

Humaira, my own child btw, is doing well in school and her tearing during seperation times have ended considerably after 2 weeks of school. Where is that darling picture of her though? Yikes..I will still owe you that one.

Meanwhile, the family has been battling many illnesses. Latest being Humaira's rash on her ahem which is oh-so worrying, surfacing just after the whitish stuff and lesion-looking thing in her mouth, which came concurrently with my fever and very long flu causing my voice to sound what the kids termed as 'cookie monster' voice.

I'm very tired and still sick and really need a pick-me-up as I face long days ahead until speech day is over. Most of all, I need lots of love. Please? Thank you.

Off To School

2008-03-24T14:06:00.003+08:00

Here's a picture of my baby already dressed for school. ON her first day, htere were no tears..Oh

Marriage Actually

2008-03-19T09:44:00.010+08:00

I can't believe that I've been married for 2 and a half years. Truth be told, in the early times, I didn't think we'd last this long. Like I told someone, i thought that every big fight would be our last (read:the marriage won't last long enough for us to have another fight).

I'm weirdly always into some phase of 'improving our marriage' and my husband has sweetly enough always joined into what activities I planned into achieving this goal, albeit sometimes reluctantly.

When I insisted that we went to the Marriage Convention last year, (it wasn't as good as I expected by the way), I learnt that statistics showed that couples who past the 3 year mark have significantly reduced chances of getting a divorce. And thus, that became my target. What was previously my mantra "3 more years...3 more years..." became "2 more years...2 more years..." and now "Half a year more..". At this point I'd like to point out that, obviously, I'm not even close to being a marriage counsellor and obviously, no one should come to me for marriage advice...hah!

But there is some truth to the above. I found that over time, whilst the arguments did not end, the topics became more mature and not (always) about some insignificant thing like in the former days. And I also found that we had found ways to work around some highly debated (isn't this a much nicer way to say argued??) issues, sometimes not on purpose.

And although I must tell you dearies that marriage is not a walk in the park, even to the best of us, it gets better if you keep working on it. It does. So keep your chin up cos there are better days ahead.

By the way, Honey, let's talk about who's washing the dishes tonight ;)

P.s. I'd like to update on Humaira's progress in school I have yet to get a decent picture on her in uniform.

Tearful

2008-03-16T15:46:00.005+08:00

Tomorrow will be a momentous occasion for us. The girl will be attending her first day of school! Ok, so it's not so much school than a childcare centre. But still, why is this heart beating so wildly?

I guess that this will be the first that she will be left for HOURS with strangers. I keep thinking how abandoned she will feel when she looks for a familiar face in the crowd and can't find a single one. And too bad that I can't pick her up from school earlier due to the nature of my job. And neither can her daddy up until 2 pm.

How do I explain to her why she's there? Even when I know that she will benefit from the education, it doesn't remove the lump that I have in my throat.

Long-Awaited Splurge For Some Couple Time

2008-03-14T23:39:00.006+08:00

Btw, the Naked Fish Shoppe offers 10% discount for teachers all day, everyday!

Qaisara's Birthday Party 030208

2008-03-09T11:22:00.003+08:00

Look who decided to drop by..

IT Show 2008

2008-03-09T11:08:00.006+08:00

Because our computer monitor is very old and also courtesy of $400 from LDS, we bought this at the IT show at Suntec for (ahem!) $599:

THE Samsung SyncMaster 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor

It features a brilliant 22 inch widescreen flat panel TFT screen with a 700:1 contrast ratio. And the reason we chose this over the other models is that it is equipped with a TV tuner, and so, this display can double up as a television.

We've tried it out and it works! Here's to late night movie marathons in the bedroom.

Farewell Kpak Bing Bing

2008-02-27T09:05:00.003+08:00

Anybody watched the last episode of 'Kpak Bing Bing' last night?

I would like to say CONGRATS to all involved in its making cos it's the BEST show ever for married couples.

I absolutely LOVE the show and yesterday's last episode..tak leh angkat. I cried buckets! I will miss it so much..

I love how the show:
- shows actual people and share snippets of their marriage so that everyone watching can get tips on keeping the 'lurve' alive
- have theme topics each week
- features celebs marriages (i like masturah ahmad talking about sex & intimacy - very candid)
- have a professional counsellor/ustaz/ustazah to comment so that we also get their perspective and thanks to Ustaz Salim Jasman for bringing in the religious perspective also.
- created all those songs about marriage from the tune of original songs so that we sing them as a couple
- have the mini games that we can play at home with our significant other

Btw: We went to the East Coast 'Rewang2 Kpak Bing Bing' and played the spin the wheel game for married couples. A photographer took our picture tapi takde dalam newspaper dah...

Urine Collection 101

2008-02-22T13:14:00.006+08:00

This post is targeted for mommies or mommies-to-be ;). If others are interested though, there's no harm reading on.

Having had a baby getting urinary tract infection (UTI) and suspected of it again just a few days ago when she's 1.5 years old, I have labelled myself an expert in collecting the girl's urine for analysis.

Disclaimer: This is in no way a professional how-to. Just a recount from my own personal experiences. So if it doesn't work for you, I don't want to hear about it.

Step 1: Get a baby with a high fever of over 38.5 degrees. A baby with a history of UTI is recommended.

Step 2: Go to your obnoxiously expensive paediatrician early in the morning (read: be the first person waiting at the door while the nurse is opening it), who wants to make sure that the baby is not suffering from a relapse of UTI. More tests, more costs?

Step 3: Refuse the plastic baggie that you need to place at the baby's 'flower' to collect urine. (This is just due to previous bad experiences.) Offer to take the cup instead to collect urine by hand.

Step 4: Go home. Prepare a plastic mat in front of the TV. Turn on the baby's favourite video. Make her milk (to promote peeing). Find baby in your bedroom with her pants already down, her diapers already removed (too clever this one) and her pee already on the floor.

Step 5: Undress the baby from top to toe and lie her down on the plastic mat in front of the TV. It is recommended to turn on the air-conditioner or the fan full blast.

Step 6: Wait anxiously for the first drop of pee with a plastic cup in hand. Remember, do not turn your head away because in accordance to the famous Murphy's law that states, 'She will pee when you are not looking'.

Step 7: When she walks around, follow her everywhere with a cup in hand, eye on her 'flower'. Warning: If you choose to put your face near her bottom, it is most likely that you will be farted in the face. Don't laugh. It happened. Do this for 1 and a half hours.

Step 8: Put baby to sleep (still naked) and rest your head and your hand for awhile. Think to yourself,"I can't belief she hasn't peed!" Call your husband and cry on the phone out of exasperation.

Step 9: Baby wakes up. Continue you 'cup in hand, eye on 'flower'' routine. By now, baby will crying while keeping her legs close together. Realise that baby is scared to pee without a diaper on and has been keeping it in. By the way, you can realise this only after baby pees a little on the floor while your head is turned for the 2 seconds that you are pouring hot water into her bottle to make milk.

Step 10: Bring baby to toilet. Coax her to pee by saying 'SHHH, SHHH' despite her crying and not wanting to pee. When the baby can't hold it in any longer and let go,.... GRAB YOUR CUP! SUCCESS!!

Venture into T3

2008-02-08T09:15:00.000+08:00

In order to make full use of the time we had, we brought Humaira for a transportation-themed outing yesterday.

Our main purpose was to check out the new Changi Airport terminal and by taking public transport, Humaira would be able to take the bus, the MRT as well as seeing the 'oplanes'. So what did she think of the trip?

That's right. Up my nose, mummy!

Anyway..we had a really good time, despite me falling off the bus while alighting at the airport's bus bay. Humaira, who was in my arms was uninjured. I wanted to cry from embarrassment but luckily didn't. Later, I thought that maybe I had given other people an interesting event to talk about yesterday!

Chalet Pictures

2008-02-07T11:11:00.000+08:00

Family jersey

The well-organised Amazing Kutty race was gonna start anytime soon!

Heading to the park - the whole truckload of us.

The babies' mommies having their share of the fun.

Wordless Wednesdays - Reunion Dinner For 3

2008-02-06T21:44:00.001+08:00

The Silver Lining(s)

2008-01-25T11:21:00.000+08:00

I am so looking forward to seeing my extended family today. Cos we are having a weekend chalet gathering, promising lots of fun and laughter.

If you know my family, we hardly have unorganised 'camp outs', so to speak. We have comittees and planned games, food and prizes and all those stuff. We have budgets and treasurer and family T-shirts, which they will be wearing this weekend.

I so need this now. I will try and post pics next week if I can k?

Another Weighty Issue

2008-01-24T10:39:00.000+08:00

Scene:
This morning, at my in-law's place, before the sun came up

Character: Me

Storyline: As I hopped onto the scales (again!!), I realised in horror that....I'VE LOST MORE WEIGHT!. As in, I am now 48 kg. No wonder when I was bathing this morning, I've realised that I've become bony...yucks.

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

It's unhealthy, I know..the way that I've been losing all these weight. For example, yesterday I ate a piece of papaya and drank soya bean milk for breakfast at 9 o'clock, ate vegetables from the chicken rice dish, munched at the chicken and threw away all the rice at 2 o'clock (waste my $2) and I had two pieces of bread with about 8 pieces of 'petai' at 8.30 pm. (P.S.: After I had writen that down, it looks like a healthy diet leh).

But I've scared myself today when I could feel the bones jutting out. At the same time, I've lost my appetite to eat. Maybe someone can make me a pecan pie (hint to someone), or fudge brownies (hint to another someone)? Yum..

P.P.S.:
Yes, you're right guys. We women can be very irritating sometimes. Can't lose weight, complain. Lose too much weight, also complain.

They tell me your blue skies fade to gray

2008-01-23T14:02:00.001+08:00

Quitting has never felt so real before.

Not quitting for greener pastures like some people are doing. But quitting because you just don't know how to make it better anymore.

Today, I just don't know how anymore. Maybe I'm not cut out. Maybe I should call it quits and said that I tried but I failed. This feeling is worse than when the kiddos made me cry on the second week of school. Then, I was sad but not despaired. I formulated my plans for the next day.

But today, I'm in total despair. I have no plans and I can't think of one. I feel like all the plans that I have tried, which seemed to work initially, is just going down the drain.

Should I throw in the towel before they throw the towel at me?

Beggars Are Not Choosers

2008-01-22T11:17:00.000+08:00

This morning, whilst the sky was still dark, I was amongst the sleepy faces and some unwashed bodies of commuters heading to their school and workplaces. It's been sometime since I have taken public transport and I secretly relished the sight, sounds and smells around me. "I've missed this," I thought.

But I digress. My story today is about the man I saw along the pathway to the MRT station. A beggar. "A common sight", I told myself from afar. I was not usually one who stops and gives money to beggars. Partly because I've been afraid of them since young and a bigger part is due to the fact that I was skeptical from all that work with the low-income group in my previous job.

But today was somehow different. As I approached him, I saw that he was a man probably about my father's age, and an amputee. His right leg, scarred at the knee was covered carefully with a brown nylon stocking. You can still see the painful scars of the man's past. In front of him was a red coloued plastic, nothing grand, and probably was part of something else before.

The man did not give any pitiful looks to the hurried commuters walking in front of him. Instead,in a dignified manner, he was repeatedly bowing his head to everyone. As I passed him, my heart broke.

It could have been me, or my family members, I thought. And very often, we go through life with a certain kind of dignity about ourselves, with an ego, even. It must have been very humbling for someone to be able to give respect to others like that.

When I turned back to place some money in his plastic container, he bowed lower and said,"Xie xie, xie xie." I could no longer hide the tears that were already forming as I quickly walked to the MRT, face down.

I'm not sure if ceasing to do social assistance has weakened me, or it was that time of the month. But early in the morning today, my heart was touched.

A Resolution Achieved!

2008-01-10T10:11:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, I went through my almost daily ritual of weighing myself.

Let me tell you, this is no ordinary affair, to me at least. It is one of the first things I would do when I reach my in-laws place. Even before looking at/taking care of my daughter. Before I step on the digitised machine, i would often pray,"Please let the number start with a 4". And very often, I was disappointed.

"Don't give up," I tell myself. "Only a bit more to go".

But yesterday was DIFFERENT. It was SPECIAL.
Not only I have reached the number 4, I have reached my targeted pre-pregnancy weight of 49! I have been dreaming of this for so long, but it has taken me a long one a half years to get here. I am so happy, I just have to treat myself.

But with what? I have not decided.

P.S. I wanted to post a picture of me in my pants (you know the kind you stretch out to see the difference between the size of the waist and the tummy) just to show you for effect. But that was strongly vetoed by my husband. So, just use your imagination, ok?

More School Stuff & A Greeting

2008-01-09T09:12:00.000+08:00

It's the second week of school and already one class made me cry. Luckily, I have VERY supportive colleagues. Not all teachers in other schools have this privilege, you know.

Without me knowing, the form teacher of the class came to know of the incident and had reprimanded the class for it. She also promised the class that she would take further action if they continued to behave that way. When I heard that from one of the students themselves, I was very grateful. How many colleagues would support each other like that?

But my form class is loves. Yes, they swear and shout and throw paperballs at each other. But they also listen and do their work, even while complaining,"Cher..so boring". But with some encouragement, everyone will do what they need to do.

I had the privilege to have lunch with some of them yesterday at BANQUET. I hope more will let me eat lunch with them so that I can get to know them better and vice versa. I believe that building this rapport will be more effective in managing them in class than any punishment can.

P.S. I know that I've been going on and on about school lately. So sorry about that but it has been taking up a lot of my time. I even dream about it and that is why I got no other things to talk about!

TO ALL MY MUSLIM FRIENDS -- HAPPY NEW YEAR! LET US IMPROVE OUR AMALAN THIS YEAR, INSYALALLAH (",)

Movie Review - I Am Legend

2008-01-06T10:11:00.000+08:00

Went to catch the movie 'I Am Legend' yesterday with hubby, using the two free tix he got oh like....more than 6 months ago. That just goes to show how often we head to the cinemas nowadays.

If you don't already know, this show is starred by Will Smith and it's about the civilisation being wiped out by a deadly virus, leaving Will, a survivor looking for a cure. I must say, I didn't know anything about the movie when I went and it took the show quite some time before telling you what's going on.

But you know what? I loved it. Maybe my review is slightly skewed due to the fact that I haven't watched a movie in EONS, but Will is definitely a great actor. When he cried, I cried..and when he was in pain, I felt it deep. But a warning to all girls (or maybe just the girly girls); I could not have imagined watching the movie without a guy beside me. So if you don't have one, I suggest you gal pals split up in the theatre and sit beside any man, hunk or not.

I assure you, you will need him.

Did You Have a Tough Day?

2008-01-03T11:27:00.000+08:00

I had a run-in with a student today when I asked some students to move up their seats (there were empty seats and I don't like students to sit at the back).

Unhappy at having to move, my kid (or the lingo used here are 'onions'-insider kind of thing), slammed the table and toppled the chair as he moved to another table. Here I was, looking at a confrontation early in the morning, whereas, I would say this should be a more of an afternoon event.

So I stood, quietly, as the rest of the class who were also standing to greet me, waited to see what happened. I quietly announced to the class that we were waiting for my onion to put back the table and chair as it were, before continuing with anything else.

My onion was upset and stared at me, not wanting to budge. The other onions at first waited, until they could not wait anymore (they wanted to sit down). Some taunted my onion, some encouraged, some placed back the table and chair and still....I waited. Still, I wanted him to make the effort even though the table and chair were now in place.

I would say that the whole thing took about 15 mins before my onion, so angry that he had evidence of tears in his eyes, went back to that table and chair and attempted to arrange them.

We then continued with the greeting and the lesson.

And you know how I felt the whole time after that? I was very concerned about the onion with the tears in his eyes. I wondered about how angry he must have felt and sympathised with him. Although I am sure I sent a message to the other onions about what is acceptable in my class, at the same time, I wanted to run to him to see that he was okay. To tell him that there was no malice intended even though such behaviour is not tolerated.

I am still learning along the way. But sometimes, there are no answers as to what to do.. Just more questions..

Editor's note: I took the onion out of his last class just now to see if he was ok and to apologise if I had made him feel embarassed in front of his friends.I think he really appreciated it and will be behaving better now.

1st Day of School

2008-01-02T13:17:00.000+08:00

Amazingly, today was better than I'd thought. I don't know if it was because I don't know the students yet and they don't know me, but I was happy that most of them knew that they wanted to pass, and pass well.

Oh yah. I'm teaching English and Civics & Moral Ed this year and I have under my wing a Sec 2 Technical class (which is also my form class), a Sec 3 Technical class and a Sec 3 Normal Acamedic.

I'm glad that the students did their work despite my calls for them to settle down throughout the lessons.

It has been a good day but I'm busy planning lessons for the rest of the week!

Escape the Clutches of the Cleaning Rut

2007-12-30T12:39:00.000+08:00

The last time I cleaned the house was on the day after I came home from hospital. Then, I probably went on a disinfectant spree, washing everything in sight with Dettol, including pouring some down the washing machine while its washing the bedsheets.

Since that day though, I have been on a cleaning rut. I do nothing, absolutely nothing about the messes in the house. Hubby have been washing the dishes and that is able to tide us through a bit (so that we still have plates to eat out of). Otherwise, clothes are strewn here and there, the above-mentioned washed bedsheets are still on the clothesline, and remember the toilet I mentioned in an earlier post? The war-torn one? It's still unwashed (oooppss!).

Problem is, I just can't find the motivation to do any of it. Sometimes when I'm motivated, the house has to be perfectly clean..and I mean PERFECTLY. But other times, I can be such a slob and couldn't care less. I am never in the middle though. It's one or the other.

Have you faced a similar situation? Cos I need HELP to get me back on my butt and start cleaning!

Busy As A Bee

2007-12-29T11:09:00.000+08:00

I completed my first paid henna assignment last Thursday and got $75..woohoo.
When I first saw the pattern that the bride wanted, it was more complicated that I'd initially thought..but persevered and finished it in 3 hrs.

Yesterday marks the first back-to-school day for us teachers (at my school) and no doubt, it's going to be full-speed ahead from now on.

I don't mind..I thought the holiday was more than sufficient :)

Give Thanks

2007-12-26T11:06:00.000+08:00

Hey y'all

I'm back from being away..back from where, you say?

No, no holidays for me. Not overseas. Not locally.

Actually, I'm back from the hospital after being admitted on Saturday with severe diarrhoea and vomiting, which I suffered since Friday morning.

It was horrendous. Nothing could come in, not even a sip of water, not medicine. And EVERTHING kept coming out from all sorts of places. The bathroom was my best friend, and now, looks like a war zone. So if you're around the area and wanted to pee/poo, don't come here. Serious.

Alhamdullillah, the doctor and nurses took good care of me at CGH Ward 25 and I was allowed back yesterday afternoon.

I send my loves to my family who came and whom I begged to pray for me to get out of there. Sorry to my friends whom I wanted to inform that I was in hospital but actually could not afford to take a big number of visitors coming to see me. Because I was literally down and out.

I'm very thankful to Allah who made me better and cleansed my dosa at the same time. I hope I learnt the lesson that He was trying to teach me.

I need to rest now.

The Scrooge

2007-12-19T23:21:00.000+08:00

I haven't been in the mood for blogging lately and everytime I'm at the computer, I think, "Shall I write a post today?".

But all I can reply to that is, "Bah, humbug.."

Merry Christmas to my friends who are celebrating...

The Asian Idol Winner

2007-12-17T07:22:00.000+08:00

Who would have thought?
Hady Mirza as the 1st Asian Idol. It is a proud one for Singaporeans but at the same time, let's face it..did we really think he would win? I mean, he was sharing the stage with the soulful voice from Indo's Mike and the powerful one from Phil's Mau.

Hubby and I who comtemplated even sending a vote finally sent one vote. One for Hady to support our fellow Singaporean and one for Vy from Vietnam. Anyway, Vy is very sweet and looks pretty good beside Hady, no?

I wish they'd shown the reaction of the judges though. I'm sure many of their jaws dropped to the ground..hehe.

Freecycle Shoutout - Tech Gadgets

2007-12-15T22:01:00.000+08:00

Gosh, there's quite a number of techy things going away for free in Freecycle today, and I thought that I'll just do a shoutout to see if anyone wants anything.

1) Pentium III 400mhz CPU (includes motherboard,256mb SD RAM,floppy drv,cd-rom drv)
2) 8 rolls of film (5 are 400 exposure, 3 are 200)
3) Polaroid Joycam Camera (disposable,never used)
4) Canon BJC6500 A3 printer (box, packaging, CD, cables)
5) 20 boxes of MAXELL 3.5" diskettes (10 pcs per box). Not sure why would anyone still want this though.

So there..if you want anything, I'll pass you the contact. But hurry! Things go fast at Freecycle.

P.s. A birthday shouout to mum..Happy Birthday!

Red Hot

2007-12-13T13:43:00.000+08:00

My little chilli babies have sprouted and these are 2 weeks old.

When they are much bigger, I might have to give some away though. Any takers?

Flower Power!

2007-12-12T11:45:00.000+08:00

I have a strong affinity for fresh flowers and am constantly on the lookout at flower shops for nice ones to decorate the home.

Today I saw these at the Tampines St 11 market and promptly bought them. The 4 lilies and the little purple ones were sold to me at $9, discounted from an original $10. (In case you're wondering, this is a reasonable price as I always fork out ard $10 everytime).

Hubby however, was confused and started the following conversation:-
Hubby: Are we expecting visitors?
Me: No. What? These are nice.
Hubby: Then would they last long?
Me: No. But that's not the point. They look nice.
Hubby: Then maybe we should start calling people up to come visit us. (At this point, he just starts exaggerating.) "Hey everyone, we have fresh flowers at our house. They last only a week so hurry, hurry, come on down. While stock lasts."
Me: Haha. Very funny.

Sometimes, the men really don't get it.

(P.s. A little bird told me that there are GORGEOUS flowers sold at Thompson at LOW, LOW prices. I have not gone there yet but only God knows how tempting that sounds.)

I'm Getting More Friends! - posted by Humaira

2007-12-11T23:38:00.000+08:00

I can't wait for the coming year as I'll be getting more friends to play with! My heartiest thank you and congratulations to the following lovely and preggie aunties:

- Auntie Wiah: whose tummy is showing beautifully and MRT passengers better give up your seats to her. Her baby is due in Apr/May 08 and we aren't quite sure if it's a boy or a girl cos he/she chooses to hide that part. But I'm sure that he/she will be adorable whichever way it goes.

- Auntie Ezan: whose tummy is still not showing much but whose baby is due in Jul 08. Since she has two lovely girls already, we are hoping that this one will be a boy.

- Auntie xxxx: who is just 5 weeks pregnant and is due in -would you know it- August! That is close to my birthday and we will probably be looking at another Leo like me and my mummy and daddy. (p.s. since the pregnancy is still new, we'll prob share her identity at a later date ok?)

To my other aunties like the recently married Auntie Yah & Auntie Jannah, there is still time to make it for 2008!

My Goodness!

2007-12-10T14:47:00.000+08:00

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Post Wedding

2007-12-10T10:33:00.000+08:00

Positively aching all over and head is pounding. 1 Panadol extra before sleeping last night and another this morning.

I'm getting too old for this, yet more are to come..especially every year for the next few years. Therefore, I DECLARE that all future weddings MUST have a mass massage session after that, just like so (hear that Mar?):

Or for a cheaper solution, we could do this:
Oh well..

Hen-na Party

2007-12-07T15:02:00.000+08:00

Another cousin is getting married in a period of 2 weeks and that makes 3 in total..phew! Humaira and I will be going there later as I am the official person to put on her henna..Hey, not bad for a person who have done this only twice and only on herself. She only wanted a simple design to accompany the traditional way of wearing wedding henna and here are some pics that we took during her trial we did last week:
I guess this is a more frugal way, getting your cousin do it cos these things are not cheap. When I did mine, I paid $120..yikes!

Currently reading...

2007-12-06T13:16:00.000+08:00

..The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work
An excellent, excellent book in being a "guide to an emotionally intelligent and long-lasting marriage".

Unlike other books on marriage in the market, this is the best one I've read yet cos the author debunks traditional methods in improving relationship between husband and wife. There's no more "Use 'I' statements in arguments". Instead, he uses his extensive research and experience in marital therapy to tell you, in detail, what a lasting marriage has. This is the 7 principles that he comes up with and I tell you, he's making more sense than any other psychotherapy mumbo-jumbo. At the end of each principle (including sample real life accounts/dialogues), there's an exercise for you and your partner to improve/work on that particular principle. The exercises are meant to develop the partners relationship and teach them to improve it with time.

I really borrowed this book from the library but I feel like buying a copy cos I haven't finish reading it for just the hundreth time.

Finally...

2007-12-05T14:22:00.000+08:00

I have always wanted my family to watch less television. I guess I want my kids to grow up doing more things like playing, inventing stuff, use more of their imagination and the likes. In addition, we'd be saving on electricity and thus the utilities bill.

But like many families, we often succumb to the lure of the Tube. It provides spontaneous entertainment at a flick of a switch, it allows for tired parents to rest while the kid is watching TV (even though educational videos), it allows a couple to spend time together without actually having to have a conversation with each other (voila!quality time)..and..and..and..

But deep down inside, I wish it was different. I wish we'd communicate more, have fun more, play more, talk more..at least we'd be connecting.

And so..I'm very happy to share that 25th December 07 will be
the last day that we have cable TV. No need to come over to watch
soccer, guys, and no watching movies together on HBO, girls.

But you're very welcome to come over and communicate more, have fun more, play more, talk more..and that's the way I'd like it.