{ l o t t }

Update for November

2011-11-25T01:01:00.000-08:00

I will pledge to skip the usual excuse for not updating this blog for the xth time and straight away blog before this ipad is hijacked again by the prince and princess of the kingdom.

As you can see in the picture above, my kids are practically teenagers before I could even blink. I have not even succeded in getting rid of this baby fat and my bones are starting to crackle here and there. I blame facebook for all of this mess.

What have I achieved this year? Apart from having a baby girl and enjoyong fresh baby breath everytime she screams, I have succeded in exclusively breastfeeding Sofia and will keep it up until she is 2.5 years old, just like Emmet. I have also successfully cloth diapered Sofia and just starting to toilet train her. Very slow at that and taking my time. She still wears disposable at night and during long outings and travelling, but hey I saved a lot in diaper costs and trash. Though I didn't enjoy running water through her poo on her nappy with my head hovering the toilet bowl. Sorry, that was rather graphic, eh?

Emmet learned how to write his own name, Sofia, Mommy, Daddy. He is quite talented in drawing, he loves to draw. My sister brought home mountains of recycled paper from her office for him. Apart from drawing he likes making paper planes and such. He is very helpful around chores, with a few encouragement of course. He is very interested in the kitchen. He begs me to help making breads and kuihs and will always be beside my mixer when I am making cakes to meet orders.

As for myself, well I admitted I neglected myself for the past few years to make way for my husband and kids. But I will try to improve next since I get the feeling it would be some time before I get pregnant again, if ever. Losing some weight is the top of my list of course. I have also finally got to decluttering my flat and rearranging furnitures. And some decoration. Now I feel more calm and organized and will continue beautifying this flat until I'm satisfied. Kitchen is next!

Allergic or not?

2011-02-13T20:50:00.000-08:00

This delicious treats found its way into Emmet's goody bag at a recent birthday party of Nadeen who just tuned 4. I was so excited about this packaging. Why won't I? Just look at the captions all over it!

Practically free from everything! At last.... something that Emmet can actually eat... at a party!

Emmet was excited too. 'Wow! Ape tu? Crocodile?!'
I gave him one koala-shaped cookie and he munched happily. I gave him another one, fish-shaped cookie. He took one bite. Then gave me a funny face. He sadly returned the other half to me and said, 'Mommy, allergic la...'

Guess what is he allergic to?

Pea flour!

Sorry ORGRAN! Better luck next time! Maybe you should recruit Emmet into your test team if you are serious about making allergy-free food.

Back to Oreo I guess. Sigh!

Happy 1st birthday, Sofia!

2011-01-06T19:40:00.000-08:00

Feeding
Exclusively breastfeeding from day 1. Started her solids from 6 months. Loves rice, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, chicken, beef, oranges, pears, sweet potatoes, potatoes, plain water, fish crackers, dry rolled oat. Dislikes banana, papaya, fruit juice, bread. Allergic to eggs. I try to make most of her meals into rice porridge but she is just more interested in what the grown-ups eat. Now I have my meals standing up, otherwise she would climb onto me and beg at my plate. We try not to give in because she just had her first episode of bad constipation for about a week. She’s fine now but I’m trying to get her diet to improve.

On beastfeeding, she is feeding almost non-stop towards approaching her 1 year mark. It is exhausting for me. She has been having breastfeeding problems from day 1. Her mouth was too small, her latching was not so good, mastitis, blocked duct, and now…she is just one impatient baby. She would start latching on one breast, barely even working on getting the let-down and when the let-down was finally arriving, she decided she had waited too long and unlatched. And there goes my milk spraying all over the place. Even if she did manage to drink some milk, it would be just a few good gulps before moving on the the other side. She would go back and forth until she falls asleep or decided she has had enough.

She is very animated while breastfeeding. She just can’t be still. Her leg would push my legs and her other leg would be high up her head and her arm pulling on my hair or something. Or when I sit on the sofa, she would stand on the floor whilst latching on me and I had to bend down a bit. Sitting on my lap, tummy facing down, her butt sticking up on top, every possible position you can imagine, she is one creative baby when it comes to breastfeeding positions.

Playing & Interest
She loves Mickey Mouse! And soft toys. I downloaded the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse series into my handphone. I put her in the cot together with some toys and let her watch the MM Clubhouse whenever I want to do my chores, or a nap once in a blue moon. From then on she woud recognize Mickey Mouse whenever she sees one outside and goes “Aaahhh!” in her high-pitched tone.

She just loves playing and attention generally. Any silly game would make her beam in delight, especially if it involves Emmet and running. Emmet is her ultimate playmate. She enjoys me singing to her and loves the Wonderpets song. She likes watching shampoo commercials. Recently likes watching kids and babies on TV and in magazines. Also likes playing with cloths and fabrics. Shows interest in cooking but now she screams whenever I go into the kitchen. I think she knows she’s unlikely to get any attention once I go inside.

Physical
She was born 3.52kg. She was a tall baby. She maintains her slim figure throughout her first year. I lost hope of ever wanting to see her become a chubby baby like Emmet was. She is today 74cm high.

My first thought when I looked at her face after she was cleaned by the nurse was, she looked like Emmet! My family thought Sofia took after me. Rizal’s family thought she took after him. But now eveyone thinks she has my features more. She has become fairer from her 2 months age. I doubt she’ll be as fair as Emmet though. But she has a prominent nose and clearly-defined brows.

Motor skills
She sit up at 5 months. Can roll-over at 2 months. Started crawling at 7 months. Skipped the commando crawl. Started walking towards the end of 9months. Still walks like a drunken sailor, as my neighbour put it.

She can pick up small objects and put in her mouth. She can chew it for a long time and not swallow it. She just showed interest in holding a spoon to feed herself. She can wave at anybody’s command. She does hi-five with people she knows. She claps when she’s happy or wants me to sing. She hits when she’s crossed, toys or people, but in a very gentle way that is. She goes down from a sofa differently from Emmet. Like a lady if I may say so myself.

Hygene
Because of her eczema, she bathes once a day. I bathe her with either just warm water or with emollient cream like aquoes cream. I also clean her bottom with aquoes cream whenever she soils. I apply either QV cream, aquoes cream again after every bath on the whole body. Sometimes I apply La-Roche Posay Lipikar Baume on her face. She regularly needs to be on hydrocortisone as well for her frequent flare-ups. I stopped using Bepenthem, Drapolene or any other nappy rash cream since I find they didn’t help in improving anything for that matters. What’s more interesting is that, she very seldom gets nappy rash eversince I stopped using nappy rash cream.

She started on wearing muslin squares with nappy liners from less than 1month of age. She is only on disposable diapers at night and during long outings. Her skin cannot tolerate the disposable diapers too much though. They gave her rashes around the waist area. I clean her six teeth using clean and damp muslin squares.

Speech
She can say ‘CAR’ at 11 months! Once upon a time she was chilling at her favourite spot, the balcony and looking at the parked cars below the flat and said ‘Car!’. Other than that she babbles but not as much as Emmet was before. Sometimes she sings along with me in a song.

Sleep
She sleeps late. She would wake up around 8am. Naps at 12pm for about 2 hours. Naps again at 4.30pm if I’m lucky. If she naps at 4.30pm, she would sleep around 8pm or 9pm and woke up close to midnight, just about my bedtime. She might skip the afternoon nap alltogether.

She sleeps with me from day 1, so breastfeeding is easier at night. It is a good thing that we decided to get a king size bed before I delivered Sofia. I can sleep without touching the walls, finally!

Misc.
She is very attached to me. It is very hard for me to get anything done. When I do get a thing done, that just means that there are things that are not. I do laundry carrying her around, I dry clothes carrying her, I even had lunch carrying her. I do my baking carrying her around. These days, Mickey Mouse no longer does the trick. But there are days when she just wants to hang around at the balcony looking down on the stuff happening at the parking lot.

She smiles generously when played with and cuddles with me as much as she possibly can. She even has this ‘mengada-ngada’ look where she opens her mouth wide and shuts her eyes and run towards me with arms wide open.

All of us adore her, the princess of the family. She does wear a lot of pink, but most days she is just clad in Emmet’s baby clothes. She hates hats or anything put on her head.

I’m expecting more hardwork in the future but I will try my best in raising Emmet and Sofia since I don’t have any great ambition. My payers are they would give their utmost cooperation and listen to what Mommy says, always!

Happy birthday sweet Sofia!

Hydrocele

2010-11-07T23:39:00.000-08:00

Farrah wanted details about Emmet’s experience with hydrocele, and for my reference too.

I first noticed Emmet’s scrotums were beginning to become less symmetrical when he was just over 1 year old. I didn’t take much notice of them since he wasn’t in any pain or having any other alarming symptoms. He was not even bothered by the condition.

Months went by and his right side scrotum were becoming larger until it stopped growing at a point. It was so significant I had to do something about it. You know internet could be a scary place to seek such information. I googled and the word HERNIA keeps popping up and hernia is scary. I almost panicked.

After a few days of research and asking medical student friends over to have a look (Thank you Kojek and Shira), I calmed down, but still took Emmet to the Temple Street Children’s Hospital A&E for further assesment. One look under the pen lights, the Doctor immediately diagnosed it as hydrocele. Which was good news for me since it was not hernia. Hydrocele is just clear fluid that find way into the scrotum through an opening which is supposed to close before a baby reach his first year. But when bits from the bowel find way into the sac as well, infection is most likely to happen which will lead to swelling, fever, redness and other symptoms. That is hernia. Information about hernia you can find here. I guess the Malays call it air pasang. I’m not so sure. But I heard it can be cured without surgery by traditional practitioners. I think it involves massage.

They booked Emmet for an appointment with the surgical team for surgery before sending us home, relieved. The surgical team saw us and set a date for a surgery. On the day of the surgery, I brought Emmet to the day ward. Saw the surgeon who interviewed me more, a nurse did another interview, and the anesthetist came for another interview, all asking more or less the same questions. I found out later that the same thing happens in hospitals in Malaysia. It is so annoying being asked the same question when everything was actually accessible through Emmet’s medical record. I guess annoying patient’s mom is a lot easier than studying a patient’s medical history..

That was why I was so upset when the surgical team sent us home because they are afraid to operate on Emmet due to his long list of food allergies. I was thinking the anesthetist looked unhappy when I asked him will he know what to do if Emmet happens to have a reaction during the surgery. I asked him a lot of question actually. I wanted to know the risk. So they asked me to complete a blood test for allergies at Emmet’s GP, and it can’t be done at that hospital. Which is unbelievable since it was after all, a hospital. To make matters worse, when I went to the GP, she didn’t agree with the hospital despite not being able to read the surgeon’s hand-written letter (Microsoft Word hello??? Or even Notepad!). So the hospital said the GP does blood tests and the GP said the hospital usually does blood test. I even had to ask for a letter from the surgeon before going to the GP. How would I know what to say to the GP. Unbelievable.

The GP was kind enough to sort it out for me. She immediately called the hospital and demanded to speak directly with the surgeon. The surgeon decided…………let’s wait until the kid is 2 years old because hey who knows the hydrocele will be magically gone by then! The hospital will call you back to set the next appointment. Unbelievable!

I never heard from the surgeons again.

Until I got pregnant and came back to Malaysia and made a new appointment at the PPUM for this. I had to go through everything again. But the surgery got called off the second time due to Emmet having flu-like symptoms. One thing I learned about hospitals especially surgeons, was when they say they will call you back, they actually mean you should call back and keep calling back until you can get to them. I waited one year for them to call me back with countless attempts to get them over the phone, only to be greeted by noncholant nurses who make empty promises. I had to call and make a new appointment at the paeds clinic and go through the whole thing again for the 3rd time.

Despite my bebelan about this, I am thankful to all parties who contributed to the success of the surgery, even if it’s a minor. Emmet’s scrotum is back to normal, and he is even circumcised.

Emmet's 1st Saloon Haircut

2010-09-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

There we were on the eve of Raya at a saloon in Kota Bharu. I needed to get a haircut so badly since three months ago. But this time Emmet joined in the fun!

He was so cooperative. He stood very still throughout the haircut. He even fell asleep sometime in the middle of it all. My husband requested the stylist to suggest a look for Emmet. She replied "Rambut dia sangat kerinting loorrr... buat macam mana pun takde guna".

Hahahaha!

Sorry baby, you hair is so cute to the max they couldn't be made any cuter...

Allergies

2010-09-19T22:43:00.000-07:00

After having had Sofia, her milestones didn’t excite me that much. I remember my husband and I were delighted at every sign of intelligence that Emmet portrayed in his milestones. I guess I just knew what to expect this time around. Unless Sofia starts to read a dictionary tomorrow, I’ll just watch her grow at her own pace.

Getting used to Emmet’s allergies has taken its toll on me. I am paranoid over reading packaging labels especially when buying food for Emmet. Most of the time I prepare his meal. But when travelling, I need to get instant meal and I’ve gotten used to trying out numerous types and brands until I finally settled on pure instant baby rice (read ingredients: rice, thiamine), original nestum and instant oatmeal. He was a happy baby when stuffed those. But Sofia has a different palate.

Now it’s déjà vu all over again when travelling with Sofia. It’s not like she has as many food allergies as Emmet, I was just too afraid to buy anything that Emmet is allergic to. One of the reason is I’m afraid Emmet might get excited over Sofia’s uncommon looking food and touch them, and there will be another episode of clean-up before you know it, I’ll be caught in a middle of a drama.

Oh I will humour you with the whole scenario. Emmet will touch Sofia’s food, he’ll scratch here and there (because he’s always scratching) and he’ll touch his eyes and elbows and the back of his knees as well as neck. Those places will go red. His eyes will be red before they are swollen. He’ll cough and wheeze and on the verge of an asthma attack.

Emmet with swollen eyes and face

I will notice the rashes. Stop feeding hungry Sofia. Grab Emmet to wash all contaminated places with lot’s of water, keeping in mind to scrub my hands first because I might just touch a bit of Sofia’s food just now. A shower for Emmet if necessary. Sofia will be abandoned at last place to be seen, screaming and crying for me or probably tugging on my pants by now. But Emmet is priority at that moment. After washing up, he will get two puffs of ventoline for his wheezing. Wait for 20-30 seconds for him to breathe in the inhaler. Then only I can continue with Sofia’s meal.

If Sofia was in a messy meal, I need to clean her up well as well as the messy area very quickly before Emmet goes touching the contaminated places. Sofia’s hands might come in contact with her mouth too. I need to remember what else she touches afterwards and clean those up too. Emmet loves hugging and playing with her so Sofia being clean from allergens is very essential.

Another dillemma of buying instant food for Sofia is of course the long list of ingredients that local brands (read Nestle) offer. I can only find imported products with the list of ingredients that looks believable (but ouch! Makes a whole in your wallet). Reading Nestle ingredients was a horrific and traumatic experience for me. Too long a list and I don’t even know most of them.

Travelling to Kota Bharu for raya recently was a perfect example on the hardship we endured on this issue. Emmet ended up peeking at Sofia’s instant food every 5 seconds and constantly hovering me with annoying repeated questions about the new discovery. The food we bought were not even to her likings. They ended up in the hotel mini fridge and Sofia ended up with a pair of swollen eyes on the eve of raya. I ended up cooking two batches of Sofia’s meal for 4 days stock at my IL’s.

We didn’t actually know if Sofia is allergic to the instant food since there were too many new allergens she was exposed to. It could be the cat’s hair at my IL’s, or probably the dirty hotel carpet or the heavily bleached linen. But she was put on anti-histamine by the local GP until her eyes were back to normal. The doctor and I agreed we were more bothered by her swollen eyes than Sofia herself. She wasn’t cranky and slept well during the whole night. She even woke me up with her cheerful smile, plus the super sepet eyes.

The sepet Sofia on raya eve

Maybe I need to get a small ice box so I can store Sofia’s frozen food when travelling. But I doubt my husband would favour an extra luggage that’s going to be pretty heavy. Until then, I would continue trying some more instant baby food on Sofia that I find appropriate. Must keep trying...

Hydrocele and Herniotomy (and Circumcision)

2010-09-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

Us right before going into the OT

Emmet has been having hydrocele since he was about 1 year old. The first attempt at surgery was when he was about 2 years old when we were still living in Dublin. We were already at the day ward when the surgical team sent us back for allergy blood test. The second attempt was in PPUM, that failed too because Emmet was having flu-like symptom.

Waiting for calls from the surgical team both in Dublin and PPUM was like menunggu bulan jatuh ke riba. I made numerous calls asking the surgeon to call me to set a new date only to be greeted by empty promises to call back. After a year of waiting, I decided to make a new appointment with the surgical clinic. I took the earliest date possible, 1 September 2010, despite it falling in the month of Ramadhan. I did not want to delay any further.

We checked in on the 30th August for assesment and blood test. Then checked in again the day after, awaiting for surgery the next morning. My mom came from Taiping to accompany Emmet at night. I had to be home to take care of Sofia.

Emmet was calm throughout the whole ordeal. He didn’t even cry during the blood extraction. He was as cheerful as ever. I accompanied him to the OT and came out right after he was put to sleep, which took him about 5 seconds and a big wide yawn.

My mom, my husband and myself waited outside the OT for about 2 hours before the surgeon called me in. Emmet was still sleepy so I let him sleep and called my husband in to stay with Emmet while I care for Sofia at the waiting area.

Emmet returned to the day ward a while later and had to have a dose of painkiller which was quite a struggle. But he was bubbly as himself again when Daddy awarded him with a NERF gun.

Oh and he was circumcised too! That was the one that hurt! But he never cried. We convinced him to pee in the evening so that he didn’t have to spend another night at the ward. He was afraid but once we put him on the toilet seat, he couldn’t hold it much longer and found out the pain wasn’t that bad.

Emmet after surgery at home

His Daddy carried him to the car all the way from the ward. When we reached home he was playing and running again. He only dreaded applying the antibiotic ointment everytime after going to the toilet.

Happy 4th Birthday Emmet!

2010-07-15T01:08:00.001-07:00

Me: What is your name?
Emmet: My name is Emmet Khairul Rizal! (clap clap clap)
Me: How old are you?
Emmet: 4 years old!

The picture above was taken immediately after his afternoon nap dengan muka mamainye. But as I mentioned a candle and an oreo, hence the happy face above...

We started off the day with me efficiently baking him his chocolate cake. Yes I made them quite often until I actually memorized the recipe and can mix it in 10 minutes, the time it takes to preheat the oven. That efficient!

Then I felt like making pulut kuning as per tradition of the malays. Why pulut kuning? I think it's because Pulut kuning is considered a special dish for malays back then when the westerners have yet to corrupt us with cakes and candles. Just felt like going traditional once a while.

But nowadays pulut kuning is so boring. So I style them up as in the picture below. Now we're talking pulut that I actually can't wait to put into my mouth! I only have ikan masin in my fridge and I was too many ingredients short to make rendang or serunding. Ikan masin will do. I saved four pices and sent the rest of 2 pots to my sister's office.

Then I brought Emmet to play at McDonalds Kota Damansara while having his lunch (bubur ayam McD). He was so happy playing with this girl, siap hold hands lagi. But the girl was a bit moody (hhmm...kecik2 lagi dah tunjuk. heheh). Well you could say the same with Emmet because when I saw him suddenly went chasing a kid and hit him, that's it, time out! He cried and begged me to let him stay and play. But a rule is a rule honey. Fair play!

Back at home he took a nap while I shot pictures of my masterpieces. We went to pick Daddy up and Daddy picked up Emmet's bicycle, a present from Aunty San Hung and Uncle Hairul! It was awesome. He had to cry before going to bed. Biasa la accompanied with other dramas. Uncle Lutfi pun ada awesome gift which is a tabung! Now Emmet can collect all coins lying around the house and keep them safely because Daddy is too loaded to be using coins. Maybe his wallet doesn't have coin zipper. How can I not know this? Well anyway, the tabung is a big red cat that meows at every drop of coin. Awesome isn't it!

And just this morning he suddenly said to me, "Mommy, Emmet nak pegi sekolah!"

Happy 4th Birthday Emmet!

Why did I decide to have children

2010-05-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

My depressed neighbour comes to my place almost everyday, except on weekends. She is a 62 year old woman with no husband nor children. She is terribly lonely and longs for an immediate family. She wished there would be a person willing to live in her flat and keep her company. She felt she has made a mistake by not wanting a family when she had the chance. Now it’s too late.

I’ve thought about this when I was in college, single and apparently not interested in boys. Even though I have many friends, sometimes I did feel lonely. It’s a terrible feeling. So I decided I want a husband and a family with children so that I’ll never be lonely.

My DH once said one child is enough, he didn’t think he could handle more. But I don’t want to end up like her aunt, a single mum who recently lost her teenage daughter, her only child, in a car accident. Now she’s all alone, at least living with my IL. Though I truly admired her faith in God and she accepted fate with grace. I don’t think I could handle it as well as she did. My mom lost her husband, but she still have us children.

I want more children so that when they grow up, raya time would be so merry. When my children have their own children, it will even be merrier.

Most importantly, I want more children so that they can pray for me. I am a sinner. I hope at least with my children’s prayers, I’ll be forgiven and sent to heaven.

I love being a mom. Even now when Sofia is just 4 months old, I secretly wished I was expecting again. I love babies now. They just grow up so quickly. I get more emotional now when I hear news about child abuse and buang bayi. I almost wished those poor babies were sent to my doorstep so that I can take care of them.

My cousins used to send their kids to my aunt when they were working. Some left their children on weekdays and came back on weekends. I was in high school then. My aunt took care about 8 grandchildren and she was always complaining to my mom about how tired she was and how her children are not giving money for formula and diapers. My poor aunt. So I made a vow to myself to take care of my own children, insya Allah. I didn’t have the heart to burden my mom like that.

Maybe this entry is in conjuction with Mother’s Day recently. Being a housewife is so exhausting. But being a mother is so overwhelming with joy every day. So how can I let myself have a ME time when the thought of that alone feels like I’m committing a crime to my children. I feel as if having a ME time means neglecting my children. Let alone having a career where my children will be seeing their carers more than they see me. Maybe I am overprotective. But I believe in the saying, bersusah-susah dahulu, bersenang-senang kemudian.

Emmet will start school in another one or two years. I’m excited he will start a new milestone in his life. But I’m so going to miss him. He will be busy having friends and classes and might not want to see me that much anymore. His friends would be his idol then. So please God let me enjoy him to the fullest or another one or two years. Love you cheeky kids!

Tag of Husband

2010-05-01T05:59:00.000-07:00

Tag tag tag. This is all your fault Farrah.

So here's the tag about the husband.

1. Where and when did you first meet your hubby?
Subang Parade 1998 (I think so). His cousin (who was my senior in high school) and I made plans to meet. He tagged along and I brought my friend, Yoes. Only then did I found out that he is also my high school senior.

2. Love at first sight?
No. Maybe for him. But Yoes and I agreed that he was kinda cute.

3. Who is he when the first time you met him?
A cousin of my senior who tagged along and seemed to just discover that McD chocolate sundae is good. He bought another one.

4. How long did he take to ask you out?
Maybe 2 years. I cannot remember. I declined.

5. First place dating?
I cannot remember! Arrgghh! Maybe at the hotel beside the Pudu Bus Station (sounds kinky). I was at the hotel for exam papers markings. I was a lecturer then.

6. How did he proposed?
Never. He just assumed we were getting married.

7. Special dates with your hubby?
1 January 2003. I decided he can TRY to be my boyfriend.

8. Changes that he asked you to do?
Waah! I hate this tag! Changes... He wants me to wear sexier clothes, makeups and be so girly2 as in high heels, designer handbags, flawless skin, red lips, blue eyes, accessories ok... Oh and public display of affection! Sigh! Salah orang kot dia ni.

9. What's about him that you love so much?
I don't like this tag.

His CONFIDENCE. I don't know if it's just me but his level of confidence blows up to the sky and like Buzz Lightyear always say, to infinity and beyond! It's written all over his face. After a while from our 2nd meeting in Melaka, I decided to call him just to say hello. He went straight up and said he liked me eversince high school and would like me to be his girlfriend. Just like that.

He's romantic and loving and constantly showers me with hugs and kisses. I think Emmet has had enough when one day we heard him said "Cukup! Cukup!". LOL. We are not allowed to do that anymore in front of Emmet.

He's really smart in a dumb way. Not sure how to explain that. His knowledge about everything is vast. Yet he remains oblivious to the simplest things, like how to dry clothes. I love it when he talk smart. I no longer need to read the news.

10. What's abt him you wish he would change?
Let me know when he is going out instead of 'B, Najib takkan naik jadi PM la kalau bla bla bla...' then Bam! goes the door.

Put the toilet seat down. Squeeze from the bottom of the toothpaste. Do not overload the waching machine. Don't be a vampire on weekends. Emmet needs to be creamed after bath. Stop buying stuff. Stay out of my kitchen!

11. You will lose your mind and crack your head when he....
says "B! tengok ni..." when Emmet is misbehaving. Exactly like what you report to your Mom when your sister hit you or something, you'd say "Mak! Tengok kakak ni!" Aarrgghh!

12. You will smile through your eyes for the whole day when he.....
lets me take a long nap and do all house chores to my standard!

13. Complete the sentence below.
My love towards my hubby is as big as his. Hehe!

No further tagging please

The joy of baking

2010-03-01T21:02:00.000-08:00

And I thought I wouldn't have time for myself... this is what happened while Sofia was taking her morning nap...

I have always loved baking. Even when I was in Dublin, I would make my own bread because the chef made it look like it's so easy. Indeed it is... Plus Emmet loves it.

And in conjunction with my ambitious plan to lose weight and to save money, I made a tuna salad sandwich with my own bread.

And I thought I wouldn't have the time for all this with the two kids...

Damage:
500g flour
4 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
50ml olive oil
300ml warm water
some dried rosemary/thyme/oregano whatever you fancy

-mix all and work the dough for a few minutes
-rest 20 minutes
-work the dough for a few minutes again with some flour
-oil and flour the loaf tin
-rest the dough in the loaf tin for another 20 minutes. score some lines if you like.
-bake in preheated oven of 250 celcius for 10-15 minutes

Cloth Diapering Sofia: Back to the old days

2010-02-23T23:44:00.000-08:00

I don’t know how this is going to last. But at least it’s a start for me. These are the reasons I started cloth diapering Sofia.

1. I really need to save money.
2. I decided I want to be kinder to the planet, while praying the state government maintains it’s policy on water bills or makes it better by giving free water!
3. Disposable diapers are expensive in Malaysia.
4. Encouragement and support from my mother.
5. I thought it will be easier to dry them here rather than in Dublin.

I started off the 2nd week after Sofia was born. Or was it earlier? Hmm…can’t seem to recall. My cloth diapering might not be the same as the other ‘modern’ CD that has been the craze of young mothers nowadays. My kind of CD is way more traditional back to the days I have been brought up to by my mother. I just cannot afford the modern CDs now. Maybe I will try and buy one soon.

So this is really a super budget way to CD Sofia at least. But there are more super budget ways to do this. I saw on the net these people actually cut out old t-shirts to be used as pre-folds which is brilliant! I would go to that extend if I were in Taiping where all my family’s old clothes are still kept by my mom (who usually used them as kain buruk). Since I am short of them here in KD, I just bought a dozen of those muslin squares from Anakku. I already have half a dozen from Emmet’s unused stash before.

One-way liners
Throw in a pack of 5-piece of these tie pants or ‘seluar getah’ as my mom called them. Also by Anakku.

And a couple of snappi…

And this is how I do it

Yea, I know... I could do it more neatly but this isn't the time. I usually use up about 6 or 7 of these pre-folds per day. I change her right after she woke up from her nap, change her again before her next nap. Here’s my weakness – I still use disposable diapers at night for Sofia. But hey, we can’t be perfect at this.

When my mom was around, she hand-washed everything right after Sofia was changed. I couldn’t possibly do that. So what I’m doing now is dump all wet and dirty nappies and liners into a pail, tie pants into another pail. I throw away the dirty liners anyway.

The next morning after I woke up, I straight away put all the nappies and liners into the washing machine and rinse and drain once with plain water. Then I set the machine to regular wash and put about ¼ of a cap of detergent.

If I have the time, I hand-wash the tie pants. If I don’t, all tie pants go into the machine for a while with a little detergent. Line dry at the balcony for about an hour in the sun and reuse them!

I feel great. I have been meaning to do this for a long time. And thanks to Sofia and my mom, I hope I can keep doing this and improve myself. I still have a long way to go but it feels as good to take that first step. And with Emmet finally diaperless now, I don’t have to continue feeling guilty most of the time I throw away a dirty nappy into the bin. A good pat on my own shoulder.

This is Sofia

2010-02-09T03:41:00.000-08:00

Fresh from my tummy

Emmet visiting at the hospital

Emmet kacau while breastfeeding

The day Sofia was born

2010-01-27T01:57:00.000-08:00

It was on Thursday, 7 January 2010. I was already two days overdue, but I knew it will be soon, probably in another day or two. But I was so hoping it would be Thursday since nothing went on on Wednesday and Rizal was supposed to go outstation from Thursday until Saturday evening. And I highly doubt that I am able to wait until Saturday evening. I didn’t want to be alone without my husband in the labour room.

I woke up at 3.45am having the urge to go to the loo as usual. And also due to the back ache. After a visit to the loo I went back to my bed with a few of those strong menstrual cramps. I sat on the bed trying to be quiet while easing off the pain. But Rizal woke up asking how I was. I just waved him off to sleep again saying it was just those dummy contractions I’ve been having for the past 5 days.

Him: Dah nak letak beg dalam kereta ke? (Been asking this every time I had those dummy contractions at night)
Me: Blom lagi, lambat lagi kot. Tapi rasanya macam beranak hari ni la. Tido dulu la.

I was planning to go back to sleep but when I stood up I saw a stain on the bed, in the dark. So I sniffed at it and it smelt like blood. I went out and turned on the bathroom lights to examine my undies. Sure thing it was some bloody show. I went back into the bedroom and woke Rizal.

Me: Ok Rizal, boleh la get ready sekarang. Dah ada darah keluar, so kene pegi hospital ni. Tapi Lily nak mandi dulu.

The cramps were exactly like quite bad menstrual cramps, but I was still ok about it, it didn’t bother me much. So I went for a quick shower, thinking I might not have the energy to shower after I deliver and I need to shower because I have been sweating heavily all night and I just want to feel fresher.

Woke up my mom and she recites some Quran verses to a glass of water and asked me to drink it which I did obediently. While waiting for my husband to get ready, I paced around the tiny flat reciting some verses from the Quran and some zikir to go with them. At 5am we were off to the hospital, which was about 3 minute drive from our flat. The emergency reception was empty so the staff were happy to admit me. They even insisted I relax on the wheelchair when I told them I was ok to walk. In fact I did want to walk to help ease the cramps. But I gave in to their request, feeling a bit odd sitting in the wheelchair.

I was immediately admitted to the labour room. The lovely staff were introduced and I was asked to change to the hospital gown. Some chit chat went on while they were wiring me to the CTG and stuff. I politely declined all painkillers and pain reliefs saying it didn’t help me with the 1st child. But still I had to decline the gas twice when the nurse wasn’t convinced I can stand the pain.

The contractions were getting stronger. I lost track of time since I can’t see the clock behind me. But there came to a point when all I wanted to do was breathe in and out fast. And I had to turn to my side to ease the cramps. I was also holding on tight to the handle beside the bed, waving off Rizal’s offer of his hand. But I can still talk through the contractions.

The nurses were starting to panic. They were supposed to change shifts at 7am. The doctor hasn’t arrived yet. And I’m already 5cm dilated. So the nurses kept telling me not to push yet (like I can control that!).

Nurse: Ada rasa macam mau push ka?
Me: Sekarang ada sikit-sikit
Nurse: Ah you jangan push lagi ok. Take deep breath in, deep breath out ok. (to the other nurse) haiyaa where is Dr. Fidak? Have you tried calling her again?

At the third urge of pushing, I really can’t hold it much longer. I told the nurse, “Nurse, now I really feel like pushing”. With my body still on my side, try as best as I could to hold it, legs closed together, I tightened my vagina muscles, but still a gush of fluid went out of me.

Nurse1: (to nurse2) Aiyoh, she pushed…
Nurse2: Looks like meconium. Try calling Dr Fidak again lor… (to me) You don’t push now ok.

Then Nurse1 was showing Nurse2 this amazing technique to ease the pain and help fight the contraction so that the baby’s head will not come out. With one hand she held the maternity pad tightly against my vagina, and with the other hand she rubbed the bone of one side of my bum in circular motion. I tell you it felt soooooo gooooood… Beats all the other pain reliefs. So a nurse did that to me while waiting for the doctor to arrive, which was shortly afterwards.

By the time the doctor arrived, I really felt like pushing so bad. While the other nurse was preparing the bed and the others for the delivery, the other nurse was… I don’t know what she was thinking.

Nurse: Eh you take in some gas la ok girl. It will make you feel better. Less painful. Ok ha… (went to a cabinet and retrieved the tube and mask).

I thought I made it clear I didn’t want any gas or pain relief. But I was so concentrating to the contractions I just couldn’t say anything at that time.

Nurse: Nah husband, you help her with the gas ok, put at her mouth.

(There goes RM30 for the gas, which I inhaled only once and indeed, it did not help at all.)

So I bring myself into position. The doctor recites some doa. I tried pushing once. Nothing came out. I tried the second time, concentrating on my perineum area. It was a long push and a long contraction. I squeezed in another push in that contraction and the head came out. I was so relieved….

The rest of the body slides out, I didn’t even have to push for it. The baby was placed on my tummy and I could see a beautiful long and slim baby girl crying out for me. This time I got to touch her and enjoy her fresh. Unlike Emmet, I was too tired to even look at him then. But this time, I really enjoyed the moment.

I ended up with an episiotomy which the doctor took care of while the nurses took care of the baby. I chatted with Rizal and the doctor while waiting. I felt tired yet excited that it was all over and in a very short time. The whole pushing took like 5 minutes.

But after I was stitched up. I felt this mentrual cramps again. It was like a really bad cramp where you can’t stand the pain and I immediately asked for a painkiller. The doctor gave me a petadine shot and I dozed off shortly after. But just for about 20 minutes. They need to get me out of the room to the ward. The nurse offered to change the pad and put on my undies. But instead I asked her if I could take a shower first. Which seemed to surprised her and caught her off guard. She insisted on helping me change into fresh undies and for me not to get off the bed for I could pass out.

So, still in the same bed, I was pushed from the labour room up to the maternity ward. My baby was brought in shortly by the nurse for her first feed. That’s when Rizal and I gave her name….Sofia.

I thank God for her, for my husband who was there beside me all the way, who said he was proud of me, for my mom who took care of Emmet and prayers from dear friends who showed concern throughout my pregnancy. I am so blessed…

Pregnancy No. 2: Nesting at day 5 of 39 weeks

2009-12-30T17:58:00.000-08:00

Oh I thought I would never be the one that falls into this so called nesting instinct. But yesterday I found myself clearing up mountains of stuff from the top of two big boxes in my bedroom, getting rid of those boxes, vacuuming and assembled the baby cot. That alone took me 4 hours!

Then I washed a dozen of the newly bought Anakku muslin squares, folded them neatly as well as baby clothes. I had to put them all in a big paperbag since I’m out of space for the baby’s stuff. I planned on getting a small shelf or two for the baby’s stuff later today (if I have the energy).

After that, back in my bedroom to rearrange the three giant suitcases (thank God for the wheels!). I had to put a board on top of the suitcases to make them look like a table top so that I can put the table fan and other stuff on it.

Then I suddenly can’t stand the mess in the kitchen. We just bought a big 4-slice toaster which I must make a space in the kitchen. Emmet loves toasted bread and I kept having to get the toaster from on top of the shipping boxes, onto the already crowded kitchen counter, and plug it off and put it pack on the boxes. Otherwise I won’t have any space to do my chopping. So yesterday I rearranged the kitchen counter (that includes a lot of cleaning first from the dust and grease). Now the toaster fits!

I was so exhausted but couldn’t stop doing things. Made dinner of ikan singgang and some stir-fried veges after a shower.

I’m still planning to go for a car wash today but it is just too hot now. And I can’t go at night since I would be too exhausted by then.

I need a nap now…

Pregnancy No. 2: My 8 Favourite Things

2009-12-21T02:10:00.000-08:00

Ikea pillow
That’s the cheapest you can get. Even though it’s a bit warmer, the softness and springiness feels really comfy at times like these. I love the feeling of my head being burried in this pillow despite having to wash it often due to my excessive sweating.

Kaftan
I wear them everyday at home since they are the ones that seem to fit me during these times. Plus it’s the easiest one-piece, making it easy for me to visit the loo, which happens very often in a day.

Bra extension
I didn’t realize about the existance of a bra extension until my 2nd pregnancy. I guess my ribcage expands greater compared to my 1st pregnancy with Emmet. I tried lots of maternity bras but none of them fits me. So I found this bra extension at Fabulousmom and bought it and can’t live without it now. Makes me breathe more easily eversince I wear them.

Ribena
I guess this is my worst cravings so far. And I think I am addicted to it. There’s this one time when I’m out of Ribena for a few days, I felt so uneasy and kept thinking about it all the time! I made plenty in a jug and keep it in the fridge and keeps refilling the jug when it’s about to empty. But I don’t mix it sweet like the ones selling in shops (they are very sweet indeed). I like it more diluted until I taste more of the sourness. Can’t live without this too…

Buah lai
I MUST eat fruits during this 2nd pregnancy. I wasn’t much of a fruit eater but this time I just can’t resist fruit stalls and fruit carts everywhere. And my favourite is the Japanese sweet pear. Been buying them almost every week at the TTDI pasar malam, 10 for RM10 and they are very big. I also love water chessnut and papaya when I visit the small carts.

Black Motherclub maternity pants
Bought this when I outgrew my ordinary pants and Rizal kept pestering me to buy a new pants, and my other maternity pants just seem so uncomfortable. Found this at a maternity shop in Mid Valley Megamall, can’t remember the name though. Damage is RM89! I just bought it within 5 minutes in the store since I have been in and out of many stores and can’t find one that I like. Loving it eversince because it’s stretchable and out of the T-shirt material, soft, adjustable waistline and most important, it’s V-shaped in front. i just don’t like anything sticking on my tummy this time.

Baggy tee
This is the only top that’s soft and does not stick on my tummy. I guess I’m just not much of a fitted top fan. Makes my tummy itchy and warm. So I hijacked a lot of my sister’s baggy tee from the day we landed in Malaysia. Drives attention away from onlookers as well compared to when I wear my nice maternity top.

Bar stool
Been nagging Rizal from my 4th month because it’s really tiring to stand up for even 5 minutes in the kitchen to cook. So bought a high wooden bar stool at Giant nearby with RM50 or so. Made my kitchen time so much easier, and I just have to reach a bit further to my left to wash stuff in the sink, and I don’t even have to get down the stool for that! All I have to do is get everything from the fridge, lay them on the counter, get my stool and start chopping. Everything else is within reach.

Pregnancy No. 2: 36 weeks

2009-12-09T00:02:00.000-08:00

I just discovered on my 4th antenatal check-up that I gained 2.2kg in 2 weeks. That’s how fast my tummy grows during these last weeks and am trying hard to watch my weight (yea right!) as I want to control the weight of the baby so it won’t be as big as Emmet 3.82kg birth.

The doctor was quite encouraging saying that the baby is already engaged and I probably won’t even make it to the next appointment which is due in 2 weeks time. That, I leave it to the Almighty God and won’t comment on the time. All I can do now is pray for a smooth delivery.

My hospital bag is packed, documents are signed and ready for admission. Mom is coming in 2 weeks time. Everything is pretty much ready now that I have learnt how to compromise with the mess in this small apartment, at least until the new baby learns how to pick things up and shove them in its mouth. But now, I just couldn’t be bothered. I refuse to let petty things get to me. Otherwise I know I’d go crazy and moody. Everything is everywhere, toys are everywhere except the kitchen and the bathroom. Laundry is on the sofa. Catalogs are on the floor, newspapers in lots of places. You can even find a clothes peg in the fridge and I am calm about it.

I still cook, clean up the kitchen, do the dishes, do laundry, vacuum once in a while, tidy up the room once in a while. Mostly, I spend time managing Emmet and play with him. I’m afraid I won’t have this kind of playtime with him anymore with the new baby coming. I cuddle with him more on the sofa watching cartoons with him when playing is just too exhausting. He plays really hard and ganas, always bumping into my tummy, so I like cuddling more.

Sometimes I feel so light but most of the time I feel like a whale. My bum hurts when getting up from the sofa, my hip hurts when I sleep, my back hurts even more. I must nap after breakfast for 1 hour and Emmet is so understanding about that, he plays by himself and doesn’t bother me. But once I’m awake, he immediately wants company.

Once I had this conversation with Emmet asking him if he wants to drink my milk when the baby is out…

Me: Nanti ada baby Emmet nak susu Mommy? (pointing at my breast)
Emmet: Bukan…..Susu baby…
Me: Emmet nak jugak tak?
Emmet: Tanak…kinyaaaammm…(patting his tummy)

Hahaha…ape lah Emmet!

Fluoride or non-fluoride toothpaste?

2009-11-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

Gosh! A dilemma for me now eversince I got back from Dublin and seeing some TV ads of halal non-fluoride toothpaste and the contradicting ads from Colgate still advocating the importance of fluoride toothpaste and blaming the mother for not giving her son the fluoride toothpaste. The government should do something in regulating these confusing and probable misleading ads campaign.

Even the dentists seem to not have a clue on this issue. At a recent visit to the dentist for Rizal’s treatment, the receptionist handed Emmet a free gift of Pureen non-fluoride toothpaste for children complete with pamphlets explaining about the importance of not having fluoride in your toothpaste. Even I get a sample for pregnant ladies’ toothpaste, also non-fluoride. But when I checked out the clinic’s website, they still believe in fluoride in dental care. How confusing is that?

Apparently it is still a controversy and it is impossible to find facts and figures that can assure you on which to decide. Yet Malaysia is still mass medicating its inhibitants with fluoridated water supply when a lot of European countries have banned fluoride in water supply. Now, knowing Malaysia yang sungguh famous dengan it’s incompettence, how can we be assured that they did not ter-overdose us with fluoride? And then kept quiet about it?

And interestingly, there is no evidence or no difference actually in the reduced cases of cavities among countries that fluoridate their water supply and those that did not eversince it was introduced in the 1940s.

Alas, us mothers are left wondering what’s best for our children. Even if we seek advise from the dentist, how are we sure about the credibility of the dentist? Is he up to date with the current research and issues pertaining dental and oral care globaly?

Luckily, I think I am on the right track. I am not a fan of toothpaste anyway. I don’t squeeze on the toothbrush like they squeeze nicely and generously in the ads or on the box of the toothpaste. I probably use 1/20 of that amount. And for Emmet, I just calit the tip of the tiny brush, again about 1/20 of the pea size recommended by most dentist. Children will surely swallow when they first begin to learn to brush. Even Emmet sometimes ter-swallow.

That’s the dangerous part of the fluoride, apart from the fact that it is used in rat’s poison and other domestic cleaning agents in the market. We don’t have a meter like the weight scale or the digital thermometer to let us know what is the fluoride content in our body.

So I think for children, it is better to use non-fluoride toothpaste since it is safer to swallow. And if you notice, small children’s teeth are not that hard to clean nor are they as dirty as adults’. You just need to brush them properly and they are good to go.

As for Emmet, I ban all kinds of sweets and candy (allergy excuse comes in handy at these times). I also ban all types of junk food like Twisties and the likes. The only junk that he is excused to would be potato chips that contains only potato, vegetable oil and salt in the ingredients list. I hope he will carry this habit throughout his life, which is unlikely I think, once he enters kindergarten or standard 1. He might most probably be tempted seeing all his friends grovelling on all those carbonated drinks, junk food and sweets. Until that happens, I think I’ll stop thinking about it for now…

Emmet: 3 years old

2009-11-09T02:04:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of becoming a 3-year-old, Emmet was behaving quite charmingly. I thought all my hard work is paying off by now. Well, it seems likely since almost everything I taught him, I could say I thought I taught him well. Tantrums were no longer an issue. No embarassing episodes in public.

But after a few months,

He says no to almost everything.

Suka cari gaduh.

Screams “No!” or does not like it when others forbid him from doing something or even being scolded.

Make noise/screams when people are talking to each other. Such an attention seeker.

Suke buat aksi mengada-ngada when getting up in the morning or from a nap.

“Nak mikuuuuuuuuuk haaaa!!!” dengan suara tangisan yang amat mengada-ngada.
“Air mummyyyyyy haaaa!!!”
“Ta boleeeeeeeh haaaa!!!” when his blanket is stuck under his feet.
“Aaa jussss!!! Wa-bee-naaa haaaa!!!!”

I usually don’t give in to this kind of behaviour. I said, “Kalau Emmet nak, cakap elok-elok, no crying no screaming macam tu ok.”

And he would go “ Tannnnaaak!!!”

And I would go away and ignore him.

And he would cry even more at my ears, trying to get attention. And I can’t do anything else except wait. Can’t even hear what’s been said in the news on the tele. Maybe I need to stand by with more new magazines.

This would go on like half an hour until he asked me nicely.

Boy am I trying to be patient. I am just wondering how long will this go on until he learns. Or is this even going to work?

Achievements
Can follow instructions when in good mood. Helps me get the remote control or put his bowl into the kitchen sink after breakfast or switch off the tele when going out or get a dvd rom the tv cabinet or paling syok skali is tidying up his toys!!!! Yippie!!!
“Emmet nak ikut mummy ambik daddy tak? Kalau nak ikut tolong simpan semua mainan Emmet dalam bakul ok, kalau tak mummy tak nak bawak Emmet, Emmet tinggal kat rumah ok.”

Kalau good mood he straight away obey. But if he’s not up to it he would go “Mummy shi-paaaaaaaannnn!!!”

“Emmet punye mainan Emmet kene simpan, Emmet good boy kan?”

“Tanak guk boy!!!”

“Ok mummy tanak bawak Emmet, Emmet tinggal kat rumah sorang-sorang ok?”

“Tanaaaaakkkk!!!”

“Kalau tanak tinggal Emmet simpan ok?”

“Mummy shi-paaaaaannn!!!”

This same conversation would go on another eight to nine cycle before he gave in and start collecting his toys.

Of course a big hug and kisses and praises awaits him if he completed his chore.

He is starting to take responsibility. Take his own towel from the ampaian. Take off his pants. Still have some difficulties taking off top. He wants to comb his hair and reminds me to clean his ears and have his daily inhaler. He wants to lock the car doors. He wants to buckle his own seat belt. He wants to open and close his own biscuit container. Can play games from my handphone. Can take his toys from under the sofa. Wipe his own tears with a tissue. Throws rubbish into the bin. Brush his bottom and front teeth and spit. Knows how to take pictures from a camera. Can identify characters in a cartoon series. Can sing to tunes but does not like other people sing along. Can nap on his own

And the grand finale of his achievement….. THE FIVE W!!!

It has been about a month now and I think in about another month I will go crazy!

“Siape tu?” pointing at the crocodile being disected on National Geographic.
“Crocodile…”
“Huh? Ape tu kwo-kedai?”
“There, crocodile swimming…” the tele showing the live crocodile swimming in the river.
“Huh? Ape tu wimming?”
“Swimming dalam river…” sambil buat gaya swimming.
“Kwo-kedai bla bla bla ape tu?” the researcher was trying to put a tracking device on the crocodile.
Starting to ignore that question…the crocodile was showing off his teeth.
“Bla bla bla wonderpets bla bla bla”
I burst out laughing! Remember the crocodile in Wonderpets who had a toothache and had to find a lonely bird to clean his teeth? Yup, that’s what he was explaining…

But anyway that’s what he’s doing now. ‘Ape tu? Siape tu?’ to almost everything!

Emmet is scared of…
Thunder and fireworks. He would suddenly stop what he’s doing and run to the nearest person and panjat and hug that person tightly at the neck, complete with gaya terketar-ketar. And sometimes if the sound of the helicopter or aeroplane was so loud, he would get scared too but actually wanted to go and have a look. And I don’t know why but he is suddenly scared of cicak sometimes. He likes seeing bugs but got scared when my sister held a cockroach near him. Sometimes he’s scared of big flies.

Appettite
I am starting to worry because he is becoming more curious in what other people eats especially the ones that he is allergic to. He wants to taste our food when we eat something.

He does not like western food and it is quite difficult to get him to eat when we went to a western restaurant. Dah la tak banyak choice for kids menu that he is not allergic to. Sometimes I have to get the manager or chef to explain how the they prepare the dish and make requests to modify the dish so that Emmet can eat it safely. And most of the time, I had to tapau Emmet’s leftovers and hope my sister would eat them. But I’m not up to western food these days and am glad of it because we can save some money since western food is so expensive.

I only started trying roti canai on him. He loved it! And no significant allergic reaction occurs. So lepas ni senang la boleh lepak at mamak and let Emmet be occupied with his roti canai.

Housemom

2009-10-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

I’ve always thought having a full time job at the ofice would give a mother more freedom to at least think about her own interest apart from raising a family. Being a full-time housewife just don’t have that privilege. I must be alert to Emmet’s demands and behaviour always.

For example just now as I was typing the above paragraph, Emmet suddenly called me “Mommy, come! Come!”. So kene lah angkat punggung pi tengok what was going on. Rupe-rupenye nak tengok kumbang kat balcony. Oh now the bug wanted to sleep and he was telling me this as he dragged a super huge pillow from the living room to the balcony for the tiny bug to sleep on.

So how am I going to indulge myself into my other interest kalau dah macam ni gayanya. (Emmet hovering me with his Transformers helicopter and fighter jet right in front of this laptop screen)

I am now planning to buy new furniture for our bedroom as I think I will be having my confinement here next year. So instead of moving out to a new place with just basic furniture and we might end up sleeping on the floor and rent will cost us at least RM1200 a month and thinking about boxing and unboxing again, so takpe la, I’ll pass.

So yesterday I took the measurement of our bedroom and start building a flat model out of a Koko Crunch box. I’ve looked up some affordable furniture out of the new IKEA catalog, took their measurement and cut out them models and started arranging them on the bedroom layout. Guess what Emmet was doing? I can only keep my eye on the scissors and cutter. The rest of the items in the stationary box were all over the place. Pens were disassembled in seconds and I didn’t even realized when did that happen. Emmet started scribbling on the leftover of the Koko Crunch box with all pens and pencils of all colours. Even on the tiny bed and cupboard that I made. Sempat jugak conteng tu. I lost count on how many “Mommy!” calls. I just remembered responding with “Wah, pandainye!” and “Wah, cantiknye!” to almost everything.

I do not wish to go into details on the cleaning up afterwards.

So you see, not even 30 seconds of thinking or even imagining, the cloud that was starting to form over your head just keeps on bursting into dust at every “Mommy!” calls which happens practically every 30 seconds. If he is not calling you every 30 seconds, then he would certaily be elsewhere making a mess which you yourself has to take care of later on. Either way there is no way for you to (had to stop to fix Bumblebee) how do I say this….close your eyes and enjoy the breath of fresh air you take in.

I was steaming sponge cake yesterday. During the making of, Emmet was still hovering me with his tandukkan boing boing on my butt and my tummy, hugging my legs, asking for juice, asking “Ape tu? Ape tu?” to everything, “Nak ni!” and “Emmet nak!” to pots and pans, bla bla bla. My gula hangus turned out slightly bitter, I forgot to tapis the gula merah, my cake turned out a bit salty than it should be. I need to have another plan to make home business works...

Suddenly I feel like I need to make my new bedroom happen. I imagine a white theme (most affordable with good quality out of the IKEA catalog) that will match the Laura Ashley fabrics and wallpapers that I bought of which I will turn into curtains and cushion covers and cot bumpers, a runner for the chest drawer, waaah….tingginye cita-cita. Another essential item would be an aromatherapy oil burning its lavander scent all over the bedroom. Maybe then I would be able to unbox the CD player and stereo set and retreat into the bedroom for some time of my own when Emmet is napping…

Oklah signing off to take care of other pending chores!

Pregnancy No. 2 – Progress Update

2009-10-25T21:44:00.000-07:00

I am becoming lazier.

The nausea returned.

I need a nap every time after a meal.

I’m up for dishwashing again. But only 3 hours afterwards.

The baby is super active! It is moving hands and legs all over the place, hitting my bladder most of the time, hitting my ribcage, pushing up my diaphragm until sometimes my chest felt tight. The baby gets hickups more often than Emmet. All these are making me more tired, especially during driving. I need to adjust the seatbelt at every red lights.

Notice the no-gender reference, well it turned out, after 2 ultrasound scans (I only went through 2 antenatal visits so far at the clinic practically next door), my GP has yet to discover the gender of the baby. That made me really suspicious of the credibility of this doctor. I really need to register at a hospital as soon as possible and start planning my delivery.

I have outlined 3 checklists for this upcoming new year delivery. Two lists for my hospital bag, my stuff and baby stuff, and another one for the nursery. Quite a relief looking at the list since I already have most of Emmet’s items. I just need to buy confinement stuff, maternity pads and breast pads, nappies and a couple of PJs.

I need a new mattress. Even though I get the feeling it won’t help much but sleeping is so agonizing nowadays. I can feel the steel wire of the bottom of the foam mattress yang sudah berlekuk itu. It hurts my hips to the bone. I can’t lie flat for more than 60 seconds. I can’t sit back at the sofa, it’s really straining my back bone.

I don’t care if I walk like a penguin because I enjoy walking like one. As much as I enjoy walking up the stairs as slow as an old tortoise. In fact I think I enjoy doing everything in slow motion. Coz I just can’t do any faster. The only chore that I do fastest would be bathing and changing Emmet, because I just can’t stand for long, especially when changing Emmet after he poops. I am much better at holding my breath now.

I noticed I am becoming more rabun. Far objects are more blurry now. I can’t read signs until I’m really near. It’s worse during night time.

I really hope my kids read this when they can understand. Mommy went through a lot carrying you each second of the day. Mommy will go through a lot more once you are born. So I really hope you will become a good person and not wasted my hardship ok.

Love you both dearly!

17 weeks

2009-07-29T01:15:00.000-07:00

Finally I've visited a clinic for my first antenatal check up. It was just a clinic nearby my apartment. I saw a bubbly lady doctor who took one glance at Emmet and asked if he is asthmatic and allergic.

And before I even realized, Emmet is already up on the exam bed beside me, carefully examining the ultrasound scan machine that was run on my tummy. So together we watched the baby on the tele above us. Emmet joined in the comments about the baby once in a while, fairly excited I supposed. The baby was squirming here and there but unfortunately the doctor couldn't make out the gender yet (maybe because it's a girl) .

I felt so relieved seeing there's an actual baby inside me. I sometimes have fears that I am imagining it or something else is growing inside me. The baby is well, two arms and two legs, a head and a body, very prominent backbone.

Pregnancy No. 2 - A blessing in disguise

2009-07-26T01:54:00.000-07:00

My mom said bad timing. Even my husband said it’s definitely bad timing. I don’t know what my MIL said coz she said nothing to me. But I have never been so sure in my life like I felt about this pregnancy. It IS the time and I surrender to Allah about how this pregnancy is going to take its course.

Morning sickness
I remember this time is almost the same when I was pregnant with Emmet. Luckily no vomitting, just terrible nausea from 10am onwards. I feel ok when I was awaken by Emmet at around 7.30am or 8am. He would wake me up and asked me to sit at the living room with him. I would make him breakfast and drinks and switch on the tele for him. If I am so hungry, and if I have the energy, I would go down and buy nasi lemak from the shop nearby. By the time I finished my breakfast I would feel like I have taken 2 sleeping pills. The nausea is so overwhelming I can barely stand up for 2 seconds. But now that the nausea is getting less, I still feel extremely sleepy everytime after a meal, that I really need to take a nap.

The Lazy syndrome
Yup, it’s back and I really hate it. I am a Bree van de Kamp type who like her place spottless (well almost) and everything has to be at its place. But now I couldn’t be bothered. I throw everything everywhere (except Emmet’s dirty nappy, but sometimes I do forget). Now my husband is becoming like me, always membebel when I throw things here and there. I leave Emmet’s toys lying around the house. I hate doing dishes because I hate it and I don’t have the energy to stand up for 2 seconds. No sweeping, cleaning, laundry, toilet brushing etc. I can only bring myself to take care of Emmet. I do his bathing, creaming, clothing, nappy change, feeding and sleeping.

The thing is it is not that I am becoming a lazy person. I just don’t have the energy to do all those things. The body of a pregnant woman is working harder than ever especially during the first trimester. Combined with a slightly poor diet, I am really tired I feel like I am about to pengsan everytime after bathing Emmet in the morning.

Cravings
Oh gosh! I am so lucky I am in Malaysia during the dark trimester. I am craving for cheap food! If the food is more than RM 5.00, terus tak lalu makan. I hate eating at shopping malls and expensive restaurants. I want small hawkers food. I want really really pedas food. But the most things that I crave for is food from home. Any home, be it my aunts’, my own, anybody’s home-cooked food. Even if it’s just ikan kerisi masin with ulam and sambal belacan, that would be heaven for me.

I crave for food that I don’t fancy much before like vegetables. I just feel like eating vegetables all the time. Ulam is the top of the list. And I want to eat fruits and drink fresh fruit juices all the time. I totally lost interest in western food and fast food. But I do want Ramlee burger from any stalls tepi jalan.

During my pregnancy with Emmet, I can’t stand fish. But this time, I can’t eat chicken and I crave fish especially ikan kembong and ikan selar. Fried with some salt and ground turmeric, eaten hot from the pan. Sedapnyeee.

At 14 weeks my tummy is already showing with the help of lots of fat of course. But everyone says I am thinner. My husband is in Dublin for a month, so I am a single mother until then. Luckily my mom is here until next week and she helps a lot. And I have my kuih raya to look forward to for the next month. Hopefully the morning sickness will go away by then.

Sape nak order Kuih Raya?

2009-07-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

LittleLand Shop skarang dah ada cawangan. Ewah...ewah... Cawangannye bernama LittleLand Bakery.

LittleLand Bakery ni akan start dengan mengambil order utk Kuih Raya. Baking has been my all-time passion ever since I was a little girl. I grew up never having to buy Kuih Raya because my family enjoy making them. We don't make that much, just about 5 different types. And we don't keep much at home since not that many people visit us at home. We are the ones always out visiting people. So most of the cookies we baked would be distributed to my aunts and uncles, my grandmother and also close friends.

I used to love making this kek gulung with strawberry jam filling which I recently discovered it is called bahulu gulung. It is so easy to make and taste so delicious that ever since I started making them, everyone that got one from us would never fail to request for the next Raya. But now my mom's big gas oven was broken beyond repair so we are left with a small electric oven that is impossible to bake the kek gulung. So that is the only tradition that died for our Kuih Raya baking.

(OMG I just felt the baby kicked!)

Another tradition that I would love to see it revived is cooking rendang and dodol in a big kuali underneath my grandmother's house at Kampung Ijok, gotong-royong bakar lemang kat bawah pokok rambutan, menganyam ketupat ramai-ramai. I so missed those days...

I'm Back!

2009-07-07T18:37:00.000-07:00

Yes as in back ke tanah air tempat tumpah darah ku.

Dah balik Taiping, dah balik Kota Bharu for a surprised visit because we never told our families we are coming back. So semua pun happy and surprised to see us, especially Emmet.

I'm also about 3 months pregnant. Haven't had time or energy to see a gyn for any check-ups. Feeling sick all the time but no vomitting at all. My head feels so heavy I think I need to lie down all the time. Always don't know what to eat. But right now am so craving for cucur badak and kerabu jantung pisang. As with my last pregnancy, I temporarily lost my talent in cooking.

Also lost interest in cleaning. I am now becoming like my husband, (oops!). I like throwing clothes around the room and the house. I couldn't be bothered with messy kitchen or messy table. I hate pretty clothes, all I really want to wear now are a pair of jogging pants and a baggy old t-shirt.

There are a lot of friends and family that I haven't met. So I hope they would understand that it is almost impossible for me to go and visit each and every one of them at this critical time. I am also looking for a job, preferably the ones that can be done from home. Am looking forward to selling kuih raya soon. Will gather up the energy to make samples before Ramadhan and distribute them during puasa. Really hope I am able to puasa this year.

Waah...really can't look at the laptop for long. It's making me sick!

What is a woman?

2009-04-22T01:02:00.000-07:00

Here is the quote of the day. I got this from forwarded emails flooding my inbox everyday. I usually read them once and move them into the trash. I very seldom pass them on to others. But this one, I kinda like...

Whatever you gave a woman, she will make greater.

If you give her sperm, she will give you a baby.

If you give her a house, she will give you a home.

If you give her groceries, she will give you a meal.

If you give her a smile, she will give you her heart.

She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.

So if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.

Now I'm flattered

2009-04-17T00:14:00.000-07:00

I have been nominated!

And we always don't care for what actually as long as we are nominated for something. Makes us feel more important in this world. But the word 'Supermummy' in any context now is becoming quite significant in my life. Flattering and energizing. Can't imagine what an Oscar would feel like. Hhmm...

Well quoting The Malaysian Supermummy(ies);

Invite or even paksa your readers to click on the banner! Top 10 highest clicks will be selected to enter the final round. I will monitor the clicks daily based on statistics by the ever supposedly dependable Google Analytics.

The clicks statistics will start counting from tomorrow, 17 April 2009 until Thursday, 30 April 2009. And only clicks/hits during this period will be counted.

So do click on the banner to all readers ok. (Not that I have that many... hahaha)

Thank you for supporting blogger moms!

Wishlist - Maxi Cosi / Bebe Confort Axiss

2009-04-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

Been googling and googling and thinking and thinking about this…

I sooo want to get this one.

Well, I figured I could use it for the next baby too, I always have a problem with other car seats. Whether it’s the cheap one that I have now, or the more branded and expensive ones. Semua pun sama. Emmet would end up bumping his head at the car roof, twisting his body awkwardly. It’s not like kids could climb up themselves even if it is the Maxi-Cosi Tobi. Car seat murah pun lagi bagus at least Emmet boleh climb sendiri when he is in the mood.

Like I said before in my previous entry, it’s on my wishlist. Reviews are near excellent, apart from few saying something about it being loose, I’m not sure what they meant. But here’s why I think I should buy one.

It rotates 90 degrees!

So I can easily buckle up Emmet even if he’s struggling or asleep, with ease. Well, at least easier than other car seats.

It also has 8 reclining positions.

Retail at EUR 245.00 in Ireland. Online deals from UK is from GBP 166.00. Also available on ebay now at GBP 169.00 from UK.

Oh this is on my wishlist too. New item. hehehe....

but quite bad review la...

A friend just bought one a few days ago sponsored by the Irish government since she is a doctor here. I have yet to try it out since we were busy having dinner. But will godek-godek for a few minutes before deciding to buy or not to buy.

HHmmm... mana mau korek duit ni...

LittleLand

2009-04-04T10:05:00.000-07:00

My online shop is up for a little renovation. This is really a budget online shop. Everything is free so far. I don't have my own domain, though my friend took the dotcom for this name and said 'better him than some mat salleh.' This is the new logo;

I also do not have the fancy graphic software, not even a Photoshop. So I did that on Microsoft Paint. Berguna jugak Paint tu. And the font was from FontFreak FOC. Haha!

My shop is not doing very well. I really hope it's because I don't have time to sit in front of the laptop and godek-godek on it all day long like some people tu (my husband). I only managed to have some time now because he is out with his friends. I did the banner and linked some other blogs in my shop.

When I get back to KL, I'm thinking of setting up LittleLand Home, Laura Ashley type. Hehe! Yang ada ni pun tak laku lagi mau pikir another branch. Must berangan first. I'm thinking of making my own cushion covers, toaster covers, segala macam covers, curtains, table runner. I have so many Laura Ashley fabrics I can't wait to get my hands on the sewing machine again after so long merindui mesin jahit mamaku yang antik iteww...

Where is Emmet???

Busy menyusun everything, I mean everything!

Hmm... What should I do next?

The terrible TWO – temper tantrum

2009-02-26T04:11:00.000-08:00

HELP!!!

I really need help in this.

What affects Emmet’s tantrums:
1. Not having his way
2. Not having his way
3. Not having his way

He screams.
He throws himself on the floor.
He tries to hit me if I come near.
But he’ll get up and call “Mammo!!!”
But when I try to pick him up he’ll throw himself back on the floor.

Grrrr...

“Emmet, you misbehaved and I am going to have to put you at the naughty corner for you to calm down for two minutes okay…”

Translation… “Emmet! Naughty corner! Senyap dulu baru Mommy datang!”

And after he stopped screaming I count until two minutes before I go and give him a lecture of what he did wrong and how he should behave in that kind of situation. But I’m not sure he understands me because he was looking at the tele and when I asked him to look at me and point my two fingers to me eyes, he would just immitate me and point his two fingers to his eyes and that was pretty funny.

But I lecture him anyway. Then hugs and kisses and he’ll just forget about my lecture.

This didn’t work every time. Yes he is afraid of the naughty corner. Most of the time I threatened him with the naughty corner he will quickly cooperate.

His main problem is when he wants something that Mika is holding or playing with. He is just so dengki like that with Mika. Can’t see Mika having a good time. But I know I’m on the right track because Emmet is indeed learning.

1. At first he just rampas toys from Mika, thinking all toys are his.

2. Then after the introduction of naughty corner, he will still rampas but after threatened he will give it back to Mika.

3. Then he learned that he can actually give other toys in exchange for the toys that Mika is playing. But he will still just rampas. (I am teaching him that it is not nice to rampas but he is still not getting it. Sabar…he will eventually learn)

4. Now he will find other toys to give to Mika first before asking/taking toys from Mika’s hands. Sometimes if Mika wants the toy that Emmet is offering, he will give the toy he is holding to Emmet. Not bad kan…

However, there are times when he is just on top of his lungs and there’s a pergnant lady in the house that I assume is surely pening one with the screaming and he is just getting too heavy for me to pick up with all his flying arms and legs.

Maybe next time I should try putting him in the bedroom.

Tips

I find out some tips that I think I might try out. There are a lot of articles that are quite confusing. When to use time outs and when not to use it. Spank or no spank. Use that tone or use no tone. I just find methods that I’d like to believe in.

Respect your child’s independence in choosing what they want to play with and what they want to eat as long as it isn’t endagering himself and others. Support your child in his favourite things to do, favourite toys, favourite game, favourite snacks, favourite place. Don’t take these things away from them. How would you feel if your favourite things are taken away from you, right?

It takes time for a toddler to learn about empathy. So don’t frustrate yourself or scold him when your child is poking other kids. Kindly guide your child away from the situation and always explain that it is unacceptable to behave that way. Distract him immediately with other activities.

The following are from here.

Tantrums are normal for two year olds. It is normal for tantrums to bug parents too, but you can minimize that. Here are some things that might help.

First, respect the situation. That means that it helps if you understand that tantrums are normal. Two year olds are not very good at organizing their feelings and expressing themselves well. They get overwhelmed. Tantrums are most likely when children are out of their usual routine (skipped nap, visitors, etc) hungry or tired.

Tantrums are usually self limiting....as long as adults don't interfere. Tantrums are prolonged when, in the perception of the child, they are effective in getting either special service, attention or power. It helps if parents realize that tantrums are just one way of expressing feelings, and to allow their children to have their feelings without feeling the need to punish or rescue.

A respectful way of treating a child with a tantrum is to gently let them know that you love them, and when they are done with the noise you'll be glad to give them a hug and some love....and then move a few paces away. (A hug at the end of a tantrum is not a reward, it is a way to re- establish a connection and belonging that they couldn't find in the first place) Do this wherever you are. (Yes, kids can pick some pretty embarrassing places to have tantrums. I remember a couple doozies...one in the milk section of the grocery store, and another in front of Nordstroms at the mall during Christmas shopping. Other parents have been there too...they know you are not a meanie parent...and they have empathy. Besides, most of them have never seen you before and never will again.)

Second: Respect yourself. In the environment of a tantrum this is pretty challenging. Do what you need to do to remain calm, undisturbed and really understand that the tantrum is not about you. It is your daughter's stuff (though she will do everything she can to make you feel bad about it). When she starts to calm down it works well to ask if she is ready for the hug yet or if she wants to cry a little more first. Stay firm and stay kind at the same time. The message of love will come through loud and strong.

Noise:

Respect the situation (look for understanding and respect those involved):

All kids make noise. Some more than others. Kids are very creative with their behaviors and can find behaviors that push your buttons....and then keep using them. It isn't that they want to bother or hurt you, it is that they have a continual need to belong and when they can keep you busy with them they feel that connection.

Respect yourself. If you don't like the loud noise (screaming), kindly and firmly let Jordyn know that and then have the tongue in your shoe match the tongue in your mouth. "I am going to go to another room until the volume in here is back to an inside noise level" (and then leave the room). Occasionally when my kids were younger I would need to take a time out in the bathroom just to restore myself. I kept comic books in the bathroom and locked the door.

Sometimes the child would sit outside and cry for awhile (which made it take longer for me to feel better). When I felt better (in 5 minutes or so) I would open the door and invite them in for a hug saying "Whew! I feel better now that I took a little time out, would you like a hug?" I have quite a few memories of sitting on the bathroom floor with a soggy, warm child in my lap as we got back on track together. Walking away from screaming is hard and is not an instant cure. It does work over time.

And what to do if your child hits other children? I like this approach.

Stay with your child in such situations, and get between them and any other children if there's any sign of them hitting. Model the kind of behaviour with other children that you want your child to pick up on.

Be really verbal "little girl down the slide and then it'll be your turn. There she goes 1, 2, 3 weee and now it's your go!". "That boy is playing with that ball. Shall we find a ball for you?"

Make sure you always have a soft toy or a book or something in your bag - acts as collatoral in potential toy conflicts. I know some groups of mamas whose children regularly go home with each other's soft toys, because that was the thing each child was happy holding as they parted. Charity shop toys are good for this sort of thing - I'd always be prepared to just give a 60p toy away to some other person's child rather than having a fight start.

Just in case you weren't anyway... you need to be right there with your child, helping them to learn about interacting with the world in a way that will make people love them. It's not a question of telling off, it's just that they've learned to walk and they've learned to talk a bit, and now they are in the process of learning to interact with strange children - they need your loving guidance in getting that right.

Every action must be done with LOVE.

Why a housewife is a full-time job

2009-02-24T03:51:00.000-08:00

7.00 am
Emmet will automatically wake up asking for Mika and roti. I will act like I’m still asleep, ignoring his calls.

7.15 am
Give in to his cries and go prepare his oat porridge. While cooking in the micro, switch on tele. When it’s cooked, let it to cool. I go and prepare my breakfast and by the time I finnished, we eat together.

7.45 am
Let Emmet play while I clean the dishes and the kitchen. Vacuum if required.

8.00 am
Since I take care of Mika as well this is breakfast time for Mika. So will prepare his breakfast now.

8.30 am
Free time to play with them or do the laundry or lipat kain or take the chicken/beef/fish out from the freezer to defrost for cooking lunch.

10.00 am
Bathe Mika and put him to nap. Clean up.

10.45 am
Bathe Emmet. Clean up room.

11.30 am
Free to play with Emmet.

12.00 pm
Prepare lunch. Mika will wake up from his nap around this time.

12.30 pm
Lunch with Emmet and Mika

2.30 pm
Milk time for Mika

4.00 pm
Change Mika and put him to nap

5.15 pm
Snack time for Mika and Emmet.

5.45 pm
Change Emmet.

6.00 pm
Prepare dinner

7.30 pm
Dinner with Emmet and Mika. By then Mika’s parents will get home from work.

8.00 pm
Clean up dishes and kitchen.

9.30 pm
Change Emmet and get ready for bed.

10.30 pm
Free at last. But only to be cleaning up after the mess from the kids.

Tu pun I didn’t mention shower, prayer time, those are equally challenging for me as well.

I find it really hard to do anything else lets say if I want to indulge into some hobby or interest. These things should be done without interuption at least for 2 hours straight otherwise the feeling or the passion will get lost in the chaos.

I have to be ready to referee these two kids when they are playing together. Sure gaduh one then I have to go and rescue. Not to mention the accidents that’ll happen when they run around the house. So the only thing that I can do is watch the cartoons with them and internet surfing.

I always take sometimes a day to read a news article on the Utusan Malaysia Online. I read a few sentences and suddenlly “Huwwaaaa!” goes Mika or “Mammo!” goes Emmet.

I try my best at giving them attention yet most of the time letting them be independent. So I have to always be in the lookout even though I let them play and explore their creativity and imagination alone. One of my eyes must always be watching them for moments that I could butt in and give them a praise for what they did good and warn them for what they did wrong. Respond to them for every conversations they try to make even though I don’t understand them. And think of a game to play when they are bored or on the verge of crying.

Sometimes they are testing me with their annoying cries and tantrums. They can be really loud. Truly challenging but I am trying my best at keeping myself composed and select carefully behavior that needed to be ignored, punnished and hugged.

By the end of the day I’m just drained…

Bedtime stories

2009-02-19T06:30:00.001-08:00

You know…I find it is always different when you want to do something from what you read. There is never a clear cut instruction when it comes to raising a child. Like I have been reading up some suggestions and advice on how to put your child to bed happy. For once I would love to read a book where it guarantees that the instructions in it will succeed. At the end of the day, you are better off relying on your own instinct and creativity.

I just want to cerita about Emmet’s bedtime story laaa… So panjang pulak my introduction. Hehe…

I just started to read bedtime stories to Emmet since a couple of weeks ago. Well, one story book baru. And I must also bring some toys into his cot for later use. So after changing his nappy and put on his jammies (he is now into power control and decision making so he tiba-tiba love his PJ…another entry for this) then I put him into his cot and invited him to read a story about Bob the Builder with me. “Jom-jom kita baca buku Bob the Builder!” Have to act excited coz once I put him into his cot he will get anxious coz he is afraid to sleep alone.

Everything must be done smoothly without delay. Change nappy-PJ-into cot-open book-get him to sit down in cot-start reading. I read away, with facial expression and all. Of course he will not concentrate on the story but at least he is sometimes interested in my moving fingers along the sentences and tried to immitate me. He will also be interested in some of the characters in the pictures…sometimes. Then back to his scrathing la, yawning, soft toys, aeroplane, poking my eyes, etc…

After the end of the story I would go “ Ok finnished! Nite-nite puppy, nite-nite book!” It really helps if I tuck in all his toys yang ada dalam cot tu masuk dalam selimut, coz he will land his head on the pillow together with his toys. I guess he doesn’t like sleeping alone. Then I would pat him to sleep, usually would take around 10 minutes or less. I would eliminate patting eventually when he is more adapt to this routine.

But he is still waking up in the middle of the night crying out for me. Last night I tak layan but Rizal got up and assured him back to sleep. He cried but we never pick him up this time so eventually he went back to sleep. I still have to determine the factors. Could he be scared because it’s dark, he is still isn’t used to the cot being place away from us, he is cold. Nothing in the book to tell me what to do…Very the pemalas me.

5 things you don't know about me

2009-02-16T02:09:00.000-08:00

1. I am very garang at times.

2. I hate driving.

3. I can’t imagine life without a handphone, even though I don’t use it that much.

4. I don’t have many close friends.

5. I love eating horlicks!

5.1 I find it not that hard to be tagged. Just don’t write that many lines la. Hehe…

It's snowing!

2009-02-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

It snowed again last Sunday morning and this time there was a more generous amount of snow falling in Balbriggan. Emmet was recovering from his asthma but was so eager to go out in the snow he practically pull up his pants on his own and find his snowcap excitedly. He even let me put on gloves for him. He loves making snowballs and threw them away. He was so busy scooping almost all the snow at the backyard.

However, he gave me a very hard time when it is time to go back home after 15 minutes of snow time. Look how excited he was running in the snow in this video.

After we got back home the snow started to melt already. It didn't snow eversince. I'm glad we went out that day . God knows when's the next time Emmet will play in snow again.

Another cold

2009-02-05T14:57:00.001-08:00

Emmet is down with a cold again. I keep reminding myself it is just a cold….it is just a cold…

But no…I still can’t sleep at night. I might keep a straight face for the people but being a mother, it is still just so heartbreaking seeing your child sick in his bed, trying to breathe through his congested tiny nose.

And thinking when should I change his nappy because he fell asleep before I could change him. And when he wakes up, should I give him a cough medicine and paracetamol? And I need to give him his inhaler puffs as well. I can just imagine what the battle would be like.

And more heartbreaking when he coughs up in the middle of his sleep and call out “Mammo!” dengan suara serak-serak basah dia tu.

Even now, I am sitting beside his bed upstairs, brought my laptop with me so that when he cries in his sleep I am here to pat him back to sleep.

While I was patting him earlier, I looked out the window and saw flashing lights from an aeroplane and thinking Emmet would’ve loved to see the aeroplane. He would scream excitedly with his loud voice “Tiyyyaaaa!!” his nickname for aeroplane.

It’s been quite a while since he last saw an aeroplane in the sky because it’s been snowing and raining for the last few days. Usually when the sky is clear we could easily see the aeroplanes at he front and back of the house that would definitely cheer him up.

I really hope you would get well real soon, Emmet. Coz I can’t wait to tell you about the aeroplane that I saw when you were asleep…

Sleep training and discontinuing breastfeeding

2009-02-04T09:07:00.000-08:00

So much has been happening I haven’t got time to catch a breath. Apart from my husband getting retrenched just before new year and having to move into our friend’s house which is so far away from the city center, Emmet is starting to become more independent now more than ever.

Thought our training on his sleeping habit got a bit jumbled up in the event of us moving and what not, we started placing his cot a feet away from our bed this time. He was okay during the tucking in. But lately, eversince he can call out his ‘Mammo’ he would call me out with his hands spread open asking me to hug him and wanted to sleep with me. But other times he was okay in his cot but I had to tuck in his aeroplane, his fish, his turtle and whatever lah beside him as well. Then I would lie down on my own bed and say ‘Nite nite’ to him and pretend to sleep. Sometimes I fell asleep betul-betul. But other times he would fell asleep within minutes. I am trying to get him to sleep earlier now like 9.30pm.

The other big step for Emmet is discontinuing breastfeeding. I am a bit sad about this since I am not yet confident that I can supplement him with enough nutrition to substitute the breastmilk that he’s been getting all this while. I am sadder knowing how much I am going to miss breastfeeding him and cuddling with him. I am saddest when I found out that I am gaining weight faster than ever in the first week after stopping breastfeeding.

Cis!

But I know it’s about time I stopped breastfeeding him anyway. He is now 2 years and 7 months and it has been 2 weeks since his last breasfeed session. What I did to stop the cycle? Gosh! Really tiring…

I can’t sit down on the sofa otherwise he would come and sit on my lap and engage into a breastfeeding position. Then I would have to divert his attention to the tele or the imaginary aeroplane flying outside the window or bribe him with more biscuits. So I have to stand up or sit at the dining area in the kitchen. He sometime scream in the first week of no breastfeed but after a while he can be easily distracted by other interesting stuff.

The funny thing is, in week two of no breastfeed, I heard him ‘Blablabla shshu blablabla’. OMG! Now that I’ve stopped breastfeeding baru mau reti sebut susu! So I told him ‘Susu dah habis!’ He took it pretty well but quickly accompanied by other distraction a.k.a biskut oat.

I really missed cuddling with him. I really missed feeding him with my breasts. I really missed the let-down feeling. My boy is growing up so soon. He fights with Mika but when Mika fell down and cry, Emmet would go and help mika up and say ‘Aaaa kayyy!’ meaning “Are you okay?”

LittleLand Shop

2009-01-28T04:19:00.000-08:00

My new shop at http://littlelandshop.blogspot.com

Another 2008 Tragedy

2008-12-23T10:20:00.000-08:00

From The NST...

Woman dies in bid to avoid cow

KUALA TERENGGANU: A 26-year-old woman died of head injures on Sunday after an accident involving a cow in Marang.

Noradibah Othman of Kota Baru, Kelantan, died in the Sultanah Nur Zahirah Hospital an hour after the 2am incident at Km46 Jalan Kuala Terengganu-Kuantan near Kampung Pasir Putih in Marang.She was a passenger in a car driven by her friend, Mohd Ridwan, 22, also of Kota Baru.They were on their way here from Dungun when the cow crossed the road.Ridwan tried to avoid the animal, but lost control of the vehicle, which skidded and turned turtle.

Ridwan was not injured.
----------------------------------------------------

Dibah was Rizal's cousin. We heard about the accident on last Sunday morning and by evening we received an SMS that she was gone.

Dibah left a mother, we call her Che Mah and now Che Mah has no one in this world except her adopted family. Rizal's grandmother took Che Mah as her adopted daughter when Che Mah was small. I didn't know and didn't think she knew or still have her real family. Rizal stayed with her grandmother, Che Mah and Dibah so he was very close to them. In fact closer than he is with his family.

Che Mah then got married and had Dibah before getting divorced a few years later. Then she got married again, only to get divorced for the second time shortly after because she didn't want to be apart from Dibah, or so Rizal said.

Then Dibah's father died when she turned 16, leaving her with her mother, the only real family she had. Rizal's grandmother passed away too and after he went to college it was just them two.

According to Rizal's mom, Che Mah didn't cry and looked calm and composed when Dibah died. But Rizal knew how Che Mah must have felt deep down inside because Che Mah once told him that Dibah was her jiwa, raga and jantung. Che Mah now has nobody that counts in her life, even though she still have her adopted family such as Rizal's mom who is the closest to her and my other ILs.

The first thing that came into my mind when I heard about Dibah was how Che Mah would take this. And somehow I suddenly think I want to have more kids immediately. I don't want to be left alone like Che Mah. That would be too painful.

Rizal and I couldn't sleep that night worrying about Che Mah. Che Mah dreamt about Dibah 3 days before she passed away. She found her in a plastic bag at the scene of the Bukit Antarabangsa landslide.

I am so thankful I at least had some chance chatting with her on YM.

And Dibah died on her 26th birthday. My Aunt bought her a cake during her tahlil in Kota Bharu.

This year has been soooo crazy.

Rest in peace Dibah...

Finally...

2008-12-06T15:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday,

for the first time ever...

Emmet slept through...

THE WHOLE NIGHT!

We have been training him for a couple of months now. We started off by totally cutting off his night feeding. Meaning every time he woke up in the middle of the night, we would tell him to go back to sleep. He tossed and turned, cried, scratching, found a way to undo the zip of his body suit and took off his tights and scratch his legs until the nappy came off and he peed on his cot, my bed, my clothes, poked my eyes, woke me up and asked me to hold the sippy cup while he drinks (padahal dah tau minum sendiri, sungguh mengada-ngada), woke me up and asked me to pat him back to sleep (which I now tak layan dah).

Gosh... all sorts of tactics to gain attention woo...

Then he started getting better after he realized that he's just better off sleeping.

Winter came and for the last couple of weeks, it was really cold. Then Emmet kept waking up and climbed into our bed without waking us up and tucked himself in between myself and Rizal. Sometimes I even felt like kene tindih hantu but only to realize that it was Emmet sleeping on top of me, his shoulder digging into my throat. He got very cranky when I put him back to his cot.

So I told Rizal that maybe it was because he was cold in his cot since he wasn't using a duvet. We just tucked him under a big throw which was folded into four, and another layer of his baby blanket.

So after Rizal bought him a duvet, he managed to maintain sleeping in his cot. But he still woke up twice in the middle of the night for a drink and a round of scratching on the face and neck. But no more climbing into our bed.

Yesterday, oh my... I never thought it would be this soon. It's like the greatest achievement ever! Even I slept through the whole night! And this is like the 3rd time since Emmet was born.

Oh!.... since yesterday, before going to sleep, he even says 'Night night!' (well... as in 'Nai nai' in his language). I think he learnt that from watching In The Night Garden. See... who says watching too much tele isn't a good thing nowadays. Hihihi...

My boy is growing up... and his latest hobby is... browsing the Smyth's catalogue. From that alone, he's already learned how to say Dora (Do ya), Bob the builder (Bo... yaaa) and Thomas (Choo choo)

Love you Emmet dearest...

Coffee

2008-11-19T05:16:00.000-08:00

French Press
I bought one 8 cup Bodum coffee press for Rizal’s birthday this year. He now can’t live without coffee and I concluded he is now a serious coffee addict. I can’t take espresso but he worship it. He was eyeing for Bodum brands eversince I could remember. Cewah…tak nak brand Tesco or Dunnes Store. Minum kopi pun kene penapis yang branded.

To me a coffee press works just like our Melayu way of making coffee la. You put some ground coffee into a jug, then pour boiling water and brew for a couple of minutes then before pouring into a cup you tapis dia la. Well the same thing this French press is except the tapis is stuck to the lid of the jug. I don’t know how much does it cost for a French Press in Malaysia but it’s like EUR 8.00 for an 8 cup coffee press at Dunnes Store.
Filter Coffee Maker
This is the one I got for my birthday, it was Marks & Spencer. This is the one we usually see in Hollywood movies whenever there were scenes of people waking up and headed for the kithchen to get some coffee from the coffee maker. Now I got one! I haven’t tried it yet since my kitchen is just the size of my bathroom. I’m more comfortable using the coffee press. I don’t drinck that much coffee anyway to be making the whole jug.

The one I got does not need you to go and buy the filters. The filters are like kertas turas that we use in labs during our chemistry class. I think Tesco sells these things. But my coffe maker has its own washable filter.

It still uses ground coffee, so if you still like instant freeze dried coffee like Nescafe, you can forget about all these coffee gadgets coz to coffee lovers, you haven’t moved on to the next level yet. Hahaha!

So this coffee maker has a water tank that boils water. Then you put some ground coffee into the filter and wait for the magic to happen. Something like how a breadmaker works la. Tiba-tiba je ada kopi dalam jug sudah…
Coffee machine
This is the one I am aiming for right now for a year. Well, I just want to bring back to Malaysia later on when I want to move out of Ireland. This is the exact thing you see in Starbucks except the mini version of the coffee machine.

It’s got filter coffee maker, espresso maker and milk frother all in one. You can make almost everything from this machine. From hot water to capuccino, americano, café latte, espresso. You can even use the milk frother and add it to your hot chocolate for a better creamier taste. And it also has cup warmer so your coffee doesn’t get cold very quickly. Uumm…maybe that only applies here in cold countries. Our coffee easily gets cold if the cup isn’t warm. They even warm the plates before putting food in it. So I guess the cup warmer only made sense here.

And If you are lucky you could get a good bargain for this machine. A manual machine only cost like GBP 70.00. The digital or automatic ones like those you tekan-tekan je in Ikea could cost up to double.

I always berangan having this machine at my house in Malaysia so I could invite my friends over for coffee and not having to spend on expensive Starbucks coffee.

But talking about coffee, if you are like Rizal now, you will need to know more about the coffee bean pulak dah. Punye banyak jenis and dia punya strong tak strong pun ada nombor. And usually to store ground coffee ni leceh sikit, mostly cannot use for more than 2 weeks. Coz once the vaccumed package is opened, it will lose it’s freshness after a few days if it is not stored in air-tight container. Nanti rasa macam lemau. So don’t go and buy big packs if you don’t drink coffee that much. Oh, and must follow instructions on how many coffe you need for a cup.

I love hot chocolate…

Emmet yang unik

2008-11-14T05:28:00.000-08:00

Emmet ni kan…ada sesuatu yang unik. I don’t know where it came from. But it’s very very…..unique.

Like for instance when I wear a sweater with a zipper at the front. If he sees the zipper is not fastened, he would pull my hands, telling me to fasten it. And then only he would continue asking for his milk.

And numerous times, when Rizal was helping me carry my handbag while I carry Emmet in my arms, he would get angry and tell Daddy to give the handbag back to me.

And when I hang San Hung’s handbag to the buggy handle so that she could hold Emmet’s hand while walking, he would immediately tell Aunty San Hung to take back her handbag and hold it herself.

And when someone else was helping me pushing the buggy while I hold Emmet’s hand, he would tell that person off and ask me and only me to push the buggy while still holding his hand.

And when I passed his bowl of rice to Daddy so that Daddy would continue feeding him while I can go and prepare Daddy’s dinner, he would get angry and tell Daddy to give the bowl back to me.
Yes…very unique indeed…

Birthday

2008-11-03T05:31:00.000-08:00

I think this is the first surprise birthday celebration I have ever had.

Maybe because I didn’t expect it to be celebrated a day earlier. But I guess since it was Sunday, it just made sense so that everybody was out of their way from work.

And Rizal planned it all, not one surprise but two!

First, on that Sunday, he said we should go out to find my present but he wanted to leave Emmet at Aymi’s place. Then Aymi texted me about her ordering Nasi Lemak from a friend of ours. I was craving for a Nasi Lemak and immediately ordered 2 pax and asked her to keep them so that I could get them later when I send Emmet.

And when I got there, a bunch of friends started singing and presented me with a cake!

Then we hang out until Emmet fell asleep. Rizal said he wanted to bring me to dinner, just the two of us. So we left Emmet who was still sleeping and went to Grafton street. We found a small Thai restaurant in some alley and I asked Rizal if he was sure it was a decent restaurant. Then he mumbled something about reading a review in the magazine about the restaurant.

The thing is, once we got there the door was locked. We tried knocking but no answer. I took a peek at the nearest window and saw just a couple inside. Then we tried knocking again, harder. Still no answer. So I tried peeking into the farther window and was surprised to see a table with another set of friends! They were also surprised to see me and got the ‘kantoi’ look. Ahahah…

The restaurant was very nice but too small. We were glad we didn’t bring Emmet along. Otherwise he would knock everything out.

So I got a cofee maker, a hand blender (the most thing that I needed since mine broke during Hari Raya the other day), a spa set, shopping card, a brooch and flowers!

Thank you all especially to Rizal who quite successfully planned all this or in other words, instructed our friends to do it. Haaha….

No. 2 Wishlist

2008-10-30T05:35:00.000-07:00

1. His/Her own room
Complete with a baby cot that canbe converted to a single bed. A closet to put all baby clothes. Emmet punya clothes pun dah sama banyak dengan Mummy punye clothes. Daddy punya clothes dah double our clothes put together. So No.2 has to have dia punya closet sendiri. Changing table with drawers below. A mini sofa for No. 2 to sit when No.2 is older. Matching curtains and blinds. Mobiles. Murals. Bla…bla…bla…

2. Baby monitor
Something like this would be great. I have the usual non-monitor one but yang ni lagi best boleh tengok no. 2. Can even spy on people, jiran ke, husband sendiri ke. Hehe…

3. Phil & Ted stroller
At first I thought, kesian la yang duduk bawah kene habuk. But actually it’s not so bad la considering we would only be strolling indoors. The only thing is it’s so expensive. Hence it’s in the wishlist.

4. Sling
Eversince I saw Farrah has one for Adam, I so want it but that time Emmet is already a big boy. So waiting for No. 2 to be carried in the sling. I might sew this myself when I get back to Malaysia.

5. Electric breast pump
And eversince I saw Farrah punya sophisticated breast pump iteewww…I have to have one and I intend to stock up like Farrah and Spiker and share the milk with Emmet. I soo hope Emmet will still like my milk then.

6. New car seat
I once saw this car seat that can recline in 7 positions and turn sideways so it is easier for me to put my child on it without badan and tangan I menjadi senget. I can just open the back door, turn the car seat towards me, put my child on it, straps and buckle on, and turn it facing forward. Very handy when your child suka bergusti bila nampak car seat and you pulak have to senget2kan badan and tangan untuk pasang tali yang kadang2 susah nak pasang.
7. Nursing chair
I tried once at my friend’s house 2 years ago and immediately added to my wishlist in my handphone. It’s so heavenly to sit and rock yourself and your baby to sleep in this chair. It rock so smoothly and quietly and effortlessly. Even the stool rocks.

8. Nappy bin
Should’ve bought this one long time ago but dunno la why tak beli2 lagi. It’s just 20-25 euro. So I put this in the No. 2 wishlist because I would very much appreciate if I open the bathroom door or the bin liner and not smell the dirty nappies. They just stink and I would prefer if I don’t have to smell them. And I’m just too lazy to wrap the dirty nappy in individual plastic wrap and then only throw it in the bin. Sangat malas…

9. Swing
This one is optional. But it is nice if something else does the job for you. Like this swing yang pandai pula swing itself. It’s smaller than the usual melayu style electical swing. I can have extra time in the kitchen!

10. Safety gate
Must have especially at the kitchen entrance. I find kitchen a dangerous place for my kid or kids later on since I am so thecareless one. And I don’t want to be using the dining chairs again…

11. Post natal girdle
Hehehe…dunno if it will work for me but I would like to try one. But mahal laa…but I would really like to get my tummy back inside asap!

Quinny Zapp Review

2008-10-16T07:19:00.000-07:00

I have been using Quinny Zapp for about a year now. Initially we bought one for traveling purposes, to take onto flights and to do with a lot of walking during traveling. I still wanted to use the old Graco Mosaic for outings in Dublin. But in the end, the Mosaic remained in the store room until it was covered in moulds. Hahahah

Yep, that’s how good and handy the Quinny Zapp is. You will no longer settle with any less…

I think Quinny Zapp is the most compact, light, trendy and cheapest in the market. Sure there are a lot more better than the Zapp but they are all much more expensive. However, there are a few setbacks that need to be considered or at least be made aware of.

The bar between the handle keeps bending as if the locks are loose somehow. But it’s not a major concern. It’s just annoying sometimes.
It does not recline at all. So you might need to invest on an extra and more suitable head rest or small pillow to attach to the harness during naptime. Otherwise it would seem like your child is going to wake up with a really stiff and sore neck. I usually carry a pashmina wrap that I attach to my handbag all the time, in case I get cold or Emmet gets cold or something happen to my tudung. So I would fold and make it as pillow for Emmet to rest his head on during his nap. There are all sorts of buggy pillows that you can find online, if you have the budget for it.

Another setback is storage. There is no storage at all. But you can buy accessories and a shopping basket is available on ebay for an extra EUR 10.00 or so. For your own convenience, I suggest you order this as soon as you order your Zapp. No cup holder and am still trying to find one that can suit this Zapp. I found a review and this lady was saying she bought a cup holder for Zapp from the internet but didn’t say where.
Make sure you do not buy the old stock or old edition of Quinny Zapp I read reviews saying that the older Zapp had big problems of tipping to the back. The old edition had only one wheel at the front. They revised the design and the new ones should have double wheels at the front, better balancing and least likely to tip even if you hang things on the handle with your child in it. But make sure you don’t hang so many stuff as it will tip if it’s too heavy. And remember to clear most stuff from the handle before you let your child off the buggy. And always hold the buggy if you are on the tram or LRT or the metro.

It requires both hands to fold and unfold. So make sure your child is in a safe place and condition before you work the Zapp especially when getting on and off the plane or bus. Sure it comes with a carry bag to keep your Zapp but I find it useless. Maybe it will come in handy if I have a car and keep the buggy in the car or something. But if you are traveling, the carry bag would just take up space as it can’t be folded due to the cardboard padding at the bottom. So what I do sometimes is I use the carry bag strap to strap the folded buggy and leave it beside the stairs before I get on to the plane. Coz if you don’t strap it you would have to hug it, otherwise it will unfold once you pick it up with one hand since it doesn’t have any locks once it is folded. It is better if you have the elastic strap like we used to have on our bicycle with the hook on both ends tu. I think I should buy one of that when I go back for holidays in Malaysia.

The sun shade or hood is quite high that most of the time it didn’t protect your child from the sun at all. So other alternatives includes investing on a parasol, cap or hat, and a pair of sunglasses for your child. There are also extra shades that you can attach like those you stick on your car windows. But I think they are over priced, not worth it. You can try and be creative and attach the car sun shades to the buggy and see if it works.

The hood doesn’t have a clip at the sides to lock it and make it sit still. So it is very annoying when it is raining and windy and the wind keeps pushing the plastic raincover and the hood to the back and stick to your child’s face.

About the raincover, I find that it is not quite suitable if your child’s leg extends to the lower foot rest since the feet wont be covered and become wet. There is another raincover available that covers the whole lower section of the buggy but the plastic is really thick and if folded would take a whole other bag to keep it. And the velcro is so short and small I had to sew some more velcro to make it stick. Maybe I should sew buttons instead come to think of it…

I usually hang Emmet’s bag over the handle bars. But I keep bumping my legs into the bag as I walk and the bag swings and I find it too heavy to be hanged on one handle when I attach the raincover. So now I find another way like this…

But I usually carry Emmet’s stuff in my bag when I travel, so it is easier for me to get on and off the planes. And I try not to put a lot of stuff in the shopping basket

Once you tackle the setbacks, it is fun and easy with the Quinny Zapp. It is light, you could manoeuvre it with one hand. The wheels are not as noisy as our old Graco Mosaic. You can attach a maxi-cosi cabrio car seat for the first year of your baby, and sarungkan the seat thereafter. The colours are vibrant and it’s affordable.

But if you ask me about other good value alternatives, I would recommend MacLaren Techno XT. The only setback is the design. other than that, the XT is much better and covers up all the setbacks of the Zapp. It is also more popular than the Zapp that it is too common here in Dublin. It’s like buying a Volkswagen Golf, a good car but too many on the road making it less special.

Emmet is allergic to…

2008-07-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

Cow’s milk
Goat’s milk
Soya milk and all soya products like kicap
Oranges
Butter
Eggs
Santan
Peas
Nut products
Certain fish
Seafood (udang, ketam, sotong, kerang)
Yogurt
Cheese

Success: Weaning

2008-07-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

I haven’t done any research on this matter yet, but somehow I feel like babies progress naturally. Nonetheless, a little encouragement and training helps quite a lot.

At 6 months of age, Emmet was starting on his solids. I remembered I tried giving him Farley’s rusks. He didn’t like it at all. All he did was shut his mouth tight and pulled his face away from me. And there I was thinking all babies definitely like Farley’s rusks. The rejection made me feel dissapointed and depressed. I tried shoving them into his mouth, he screamed and cried and gagged. I was already thinking ‘Apsal la anak aku ni tanak makan pulak…’

Only then did I know that he was actually allergic to Farley’s rusks because it contains milk. That why la I noticed the area around his mouth was so red and patchy. I haven’t tried giving him cow’s milk since he was just 6 months. But when I tried some Petit Felous fromage frais, his whole face was swollen and puffy. That was the moment that I knew he had food allergies. From then on every new food introduced, I had to conduct a smear test…hehe…calit sikit the food at his wrist and if he’s allergic he would get a reaction within 2 minutes. This I learned from my mom.

So back to the dificulties I faced…I tried carrot puree, potato puree, sweet potato puree and he kept pushing them away. I didn’t know what else to to. I felt like I’ve lost hope. Cewah…over sikit kedepressanku time tu. Tak tau macam mana boleh terfikir satu hari tu I tried making bubur nasi with chicken, carrot, some onion and garlic. I blended everything together and nervously tried giving him a spoon.

There you go, terus bukak mulut luas-luas. And he just can’t get enough of rice porridge after that. After finishing a bowl he wanted more but I said ‘Finished!’ for a few occasions and he knew he’ll get no more no matter how hard he cried. And I always say ‘Last one!’ when I gave him the last spoon of porridge so he’ll know meal time is about to finish or to encourage him to finish his porridge. Tu la dia budak-budak ni. Tau aje ape yg suka and ape yg tak suka.

When I was just starting to cook food for Emmet, I made one full pot that would last for 7 days. At first I froze them in ice cube trays coz Emmet started eating only 2 cubes per meal. I gave him for lunch and dinner. The cubes increased to 4 when he was 7 months. By 9 months I stopped freezing Emmet’s porridge because he finished one pot in 5 meals (2 and a half day). So I just put them into individual plastic containers and inside the fridge.

For breakfast Emmet still eats oat porridge until now. I remembered I was thinking hard about what to give Emmet for breakfast. He can’t eat cereal with milk. He didn’t like fruits at all. I tried giving him some plain toast since he’s allergic to butter. He tried for a week or so and got bored. I was reluctant to give the oat porridge thinking it must be mixed with milk. But I went ahead and tried mixing it with just hot water. He loved it eversince!

By 1 year and 9 month or so he started to get bored of the rice porridge ans was showing interest in Daddy’s rice. Always tryng to steal Daddy’s rice from the dinner table when I was heating up his porridge. The reason I didn’t want him to stop eating his porridge earlier was because he won’t take plain water or fruit juices before. So the only fluid that he was getting were from his porridge and my breastmilk. I didn’t want him getting constipated for having not enough fluid in his body. And I guess I was a bit lazy to prepare separate dish since he has too many allergies.

But by 1 year and a half, after every hour or so every day encouraging him to drink plain water from his sippy cup, I guessed he finally learned that drinking water could quench his thirst and wash down all the biscuits that he ate. And he was also slowly trying to take fruit juices as well. He even ask for drinks or search himself for his sippy cup when he feels like drinking.

Since his water intake increases, by close to 2 years old I started giving him plain rice with baked chicken or beef or lamb with olive oil, garlic, parsley and rosemary with some baked vege, all baked together in a tin foil. He seems to favour plain taste. He doesn’t like anything in tomato sauce or anything with colours in the sauce.

For snacks in between meals, I have to give this a lot. This is to distract him from scratching his whole body when his eczema was at its worst. First stage of weaning, I gave him Organix carrot puff. It’s soft and crunchy melt-in-your-mouth crisps that is suitable from months old. When he was starting to grow his first four theeth, I upgraded to Organix carrot sticks, cereals like regular corn flakes, malt crunchies. He loved malt crunchies the most because it was just the right size for him to hold in his had. Furthermore that was the time when he likes to pick up things with his hand and put in his mouth. Figured might as well give him something that he could actually chew and swallow.

Other snacks like cream crackers, digestive biscuits, oat biscuits and bread sticks were introduced later when he passed his 1 year mark. These snacks contain more salt and I try to keep salt as minimum as possible. But it’s quite hard because there aren’t that many allergy free snacks that he could eat. Only recently that he begins to take interest in fruit puree. Itu pun because he saw Mika loving his fruit puree at tea time. So now I felt more relieved knowing he is getting better in consuming more fruits in his diet.

So overall, I think Emmet is getting on the right track. He eats oat porridge for breakfast. He’s even starting to like a toast before breakfast or during supper. He eats rice with lauk for lunch and dinner. In between that he’ll have fruit puree or cereal or biscuits. He drinks water from his sippy cup and from the mug as well. When we have fruit juice he’ll have them too. Even if my breastmilk is less he still wants to cuddle with them. But he still won’t eat chunky fruits.

Oh yeaaa……his latest craze is popcorn!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Emmet!

2008-07-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

This year’s celebration was a pretty small one. It’s just the three of us. We woke up early to catch Kung Fu Panda at the Cineworld here in Dublin. This was Emmet’s first movie at the cinema. Daddy took a leave from work today just to be with Emmet.

Emmet was so amazed at the big screen the moment we entered the cinema. There were about four other families with children. I felt quite relieved when I saw a buggy was parked before us. That means Emmet won’t be the only toddler in the room. And we only paid EUR12 for us three!

It was a 11.30am show. We thought we’d cath the 10.50am show but tak sempat. I was just afraid Emmet would get cranky because it was near his naptime when the trailers ended and the movie starts. He seemed more interested to have his milk and get ready to nap, but terus alert balik when he saw the Wall.E trailer.

Halfway through the movie he was concentrating and breastfeeding alternately. I provided him with some Organix carrot sticks to occupy him while he watched. When it came to the serious kung fu fighting part where Tai Lung escaped from prison, he got bored of sitting down and wanted to roam around. I let him off since there were not many people.

He just went to the other end of the row and back at us while still watching the movie and made his comments here and there. Tengok-tengok orang at the back row, flipping the seats, peeping through the in-between seats. I have to have one eye on him, but I know he didn’t dare go any further than the end of the row. He always made sure that I would be within his vision.

After the movie ended we went for some shopping at Henry Street. Rizal and I je yang sibuk shopping, bukan untuk Emmet pun. Hehehe…but before crossing the Liffey River to go to Grafton Street, Emmet was fast alseep in his buggy. So we let him nap while we go shopping!

After he woke up from his nap, I brought him for a walk at the St. Stephen Green Park. He loved it because there were lakes, ducks, pigeons and most important, water fountain!
I gave some leftover popcorn from the movies earlier to the pigeons, I forgot to hide them back from Emmet. Emmet was supposed to be allergic to sweetcorns, that was why I was afraid to let him try the popcorn. But somehow he found it at the shopping basket below the buggy, he forgot all about the water fountain and landed on the ground shoving popcorns into his mouth from below the buggy.

Before the shops closes for the day we went to Smyth Toystore to get Emmet’s birthday present. Nothing fancy, now his favourite plaything is anything on wheels. So we got him a Hot Wheels Big Foot.

We went for coffee with Eena, Aymi and her sisters at Lemon Jelly afterwards and up to their apartment for a while before going back home. It was quite a full day actually. Emmet is happy with his Hot Wheels. Thought about buying him Legos but can’t imagine the horror of the mess he’d make at our small apartment. Somebody will get hurt. Hahaha…

Happy 2nd birthday darling Emmet! Hope this entry brings cheeky smile on your cute face if you do happen to read this when you get older. Don’t worry, your face will still be cute by then. Hehehe…

Pre Birthday Treat

2008-07-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

Aunty San Hung and Uncle Hairul brought Emmet for a birthday treat to Imaginosity in Sandyford.

Emmet had so much fun because there were so many things to play with. Since Emmet is starting to have a better imagination, he was so rambang mata looking at all the play area around him he was running around like a headless chicken!

His favourite play area was the train track with wooden tracks and little coaches that can be attached by magnets. He stole a couple of coaches and refuse to let go of them even when playing at other areas. San Hung and I had to trick him into giving them to us and we quickly hide them away.

There were three floors with areas like cars, supermarket, café, news studio, talk show studio, talent studio, puppet show, gym, library, aquarium, house building, huge doll house, cranes, musical instruments and art room.

You can lay bricks onto a wall, operate a crane to lift pretend heavy concrite, host your own talk show complete with hand clapping and laughing button while controlling the lights, pretend to be a newscaster, car racing, you can even drive a car with a computerized simulator, repair a car, build a car, pretend to a a policeman.

My favourite is the supermarket where kids can pretend to buy groceries with a trolley, or pretend to be the cashier. The diner was fun too, you can sit down and pretend to read the menu and make orders, prepare food and drinks at the fake water dispenser. How I wish I was a kid. How come they don’t have this kind of place in my kampung when I was small? All I played was the cheap paper doll with paper clothes bought from the pasar malam.

We’ll come again to Imaginosity soon!

Success after 2 years: Sleep

2008-07-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

Much and much better. I remembered since Emmet was born we’ve had quite some trouble getting him to sleep. He was a very light sleeper.

He loved sleeping while your were holding him at the most uncomfortable position sampai yang paling melenguhkan. And he loved sleeping after breastfeeding while still latching on the nipple. Even the slightest move would wake him up. I remember even at 8 months, I still froze until he would wake up from his day nap, all I could do meanwhile were browsing the internet with one free hand and changing the channel on the tele.

That was when I was so rajin to download Desperate Housewives, Heroes and Prison Break. I could not eat or drink or go to the toilet. So everything else must be prepared to be place within reach before he falls asleep. I guess I need to do this so that Emmet could get all the sleep he can get since he woke up a lot at night. He couldn’t even be asleep for more than 2 hours straight.

Only sometimes was I able to unlatch him and quickly put him into the bedroom on the tummy and pat him to a deeper sleep. But at least by 2 month old I finally found out that he sleeps better on the tummy.

He slept quite well when he was about 3 months going to 4 months. He would be asleep by 10pm and only woke up once at night at about 4am for milk and woke up again at 8am. But since his eczema got worse the sleep got worse too until he was waking up almost every other hour at night.

I remembered I was so desperate at 1 year, so tired from night feeding I was ready to resort to some professional help. We tried once on sleep training from this book I got from the charity shop, it’s called ‘The Contented Little New Baby’ or something like that. Even though the book suggested the method can only be successful if there were no medical problems, I gave it a shot.

The book suggested that parents keep trying for about 3 days to 2 weeks to see the result. But being a first-time mom with a fisrt-born baby, I just didn’t have the heart to hear him cry for hours. Even when Rizal suggested we just turn off the baby monitor, I got so depressed I just gave it 2 days.

Anyway, deep down inside I knew it wouldn’t work since because of the eczema. Emmet was waking up at night because he just wanted to scratch and scratch and scratch. He scratch when he’s tired, sleepy, hungry, bored, not getting attention and so on.

Now

He wakes up just about when I was finished making breakfast for Rizal at 8am. No more crying. He would go across from his cot then over my bed and go down on the floor, open the bedroom door and the living room door and come looking for me in the kitchen. But of course he wants milk immediately.

He would get tired and ready to nap at about 2pm after lunch. Sometimes he would nap at 12pm and have his lunch after he wakes up at 1pm. He usually have his milk until he doze off. Then I would put him on the sofa, still on his side beside me, pat him for a minute until he settles well. If he naps early he would nap again at about 5pm. But I seldom let him nap for the second time since I started minding Mika at weekdays. The nap pattern would be different when we are on the go though.

He would be ready for bed at night at about 10.30pm to 11pm. I would breastfeed him in the living room until he looks sleepy and I would ask him if wants to sleep in his cot in the bedroom. If he feels he’s ready he would get off my lap and pull my hand to stand up and guide me to the bedroom. He would climb up the bed and settles in his cot while I turn on the bed lamp and some light music (mozart/jazz/yusuf islam). I would pat him to sleep for about 5 to 10 minutes.

He would wake up again at about 5am for milk and every other hour thereafter. Oh yea I forgot to tell his milk routine. Or did I? If he wants milk he knows he’s supposed to kiss both my cheeks, forehead and lips, and salam and kiss my hand, and then baca doa (well…just the amin sapu muka thing). I would always need to remind him to do all that most of the time. But when I purposely ignore him at night and he got realy desperate, he would smother my face with his wet kisses until I surrender and offer my hand to be salamed and kissed and after amin doa have to bagi susu la.

After having his milk sometimes he would doze off beside me or he would climb back to his cot or if I woke up I would put him back into his cot. Much and much better when he was 6 to 10 months old and slept on my chest every night.

So I guess life is getting better….

At 2 years old…

2008-07-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

Can only say Ka! Refering to Mika, mamamama and mimimi refering to mommy, bibibibi refering to babies, go! When finished changing nappy or when going out.

Likes to climb on the bed, on the lap, sofa, tables, chairs, any elevated surface.

Loves cars, or anything with wheels.

Gets angry when Mika is playing with something, he immediately wants it back. But when Mika cries, he’ll give the toy back to Mika.

Still breastfeeding

Eczema getting better

Makin mengamuk to even the slightest thing like when asked not to garu, or his toy got stuck in the basket,

Knows how to tidy up his toys after bath.

Can hold and drink from adults’ glass or mugswithout spilling.

Eats nasi campur like a grown up. But lauk can be no further than baked chicken/beef with garlic, onion, carrots, rosemary and olive oil.

Doesn’t like fruits but eats fruitupura fruit puree especially apple & apricot

Can drink fruit juices sometimes

Knows how to undo the latch of his sippy cup and back when he’s finished drinking

Knows to put some stuff back where he took it from.

Cries when I get hurt from his doings

Knows how to amin a doa, as in sapu muka with two hands.

His ritual before breastfeeding is kiss mommy on both cheeks, forehead and lips, salam mommy, then baca doa.

Asthma Attack

2008-06-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

Emmet was admitted to the haspital again for asthma last tuesday. Since he’s almost 2 years old, the doctors can now conclude that he does indeed have asthma.

He was down with a flu starting Monday. That night he started caughing and then wheezing by the time he got up in the morning. But he was still cheerful and active. I gave him one round of Ventoline but it didn’t stop the wheezing. After I gave him a bath then another round of Ventoline, it too didn’t work. He was beginning to feel tired and I knew it will go worse if I don’t bring him to the hospital soon. He definitely needed the nebulizer.

So I called and asked Ayep and Yas to pick up Mika. Emmet was having his nap at that time. So I quickly solat, changed and pack some stuff in case he had to be warded. Ayep and Yas were kind enough to drive us to the Temple St. Children’s Hospital.

Luckily we needn’t wait for more than 5 minutes to see the doctor. Emmet was already low on oxygen and cranky. He wanted his milk but he struggled to suck and breathe at the same time, making him cry even louder. After some history note taking, Emmet was given a round of nebs. Then we had to go for chest x-ray in case he had pneumonia, but thankfully he didn’t.

There were a few Malaysian medic students at the A&E. Miza was doing elective, Lin was on assignment, she was the one taking note on Emmet’s history.

After 3 rounds of nebs Emmet is still wheezing badly but he’s in much better condition. By early in the evening he’s already wanting to run around the A&E and got really frustrated when he wasn’t allowed to. Hence making his asthma worse again.

The doctor was still not satisfied with his progress, that’s when she sent us to the ward. There were two other patient, one a teenage girl with a serebral something condition, another a 1-yr-old baby with pneumonia.

Rizal came after work and Mad visited before he was chased off by the nurse after visiting hours are over. Emmet was still wheezing very loud throughout the night and he had trouble sleeping. I had to pat him almost all the time. And by the time he was fast asleep, he had to be woken up for nebs and medcine again. Then I had to pat him to sleep again. So overall I only get one good hour of sleep after I pray before closing my eyes ‘Satu jam pun jadi la..’ Memang betul-betul after one hour Emmet pun jaga balik. By then it was already 8am.

Breakfast for Emmet at the hospital was a bowl of oat porridge. It was also his dinner the evening before. I requested powdered baby rice since they didn’t have anything on the menu that Emmet was not allergic to or favoured. But of all the powdered food that they have in the kitchen, they didn’t have any baby rice. They promised to get some that morning.

But by lunchtime, they said they couldn’t get any baby rice. Luckily Emmet was happy to settle for another bowl of oat porridge. And luckily I brought along his cream crackers before we left for the hospital yesterday. After that no sign of baby rice whatsoever until the end of our stay…

I was ready to go home since Emmet was already quite well and just slightly wheezing. But the doctor said he had to stay for another night of nebs and without oxygen before they can release him. To make matters worse we had to switch to another ward with more kids. There was a kid of near Emmet’s age named Connor. He got loads of toys with him. Emmet would always go to Connor’s bed and grab a toy and when I said “No!” he would scream and throw it away in anger.

And I thought that’s it…one more night and I’m gone. I don’t care what the doctor would say. So I constantly nag the nurse asking if I could go home after the next round of visits from the doctors. Psycho sket nurse2 ni so they would not tahan with my nagging and ask the doctor to release me. Hahaha…nice tactic huh.

And it seemed to work gradually. That 2nd night I didn’t care I took off the wires connecting Emmet with a machine that beeps every time the oxygen level went below 94%. Of course it went low when he didn’t breathe for a while searching for my nipple. They gave me a foldable mattress to sleep on the floor. I took Emmet out of the cot to sleep with me on the mattress. The nurse must be a bit pissed off about the wires I noticed they put it back on Emmet when we were asleep. Hahaha…

Don’t worry…. I assure you I wasn’t being a bad mom. I know Emmet was already well on his standard. He couldn’t go any worse but only better at this point. Mother’s instinct…

I however need some good rest so that I can take better care of Emmet. If I dont get enough rest I can’t take care of other people.

3rd Anniversary

2008-06-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our 3rd wedding anniversary. I’ve always liked the number 3. We never celebrated our 1st and 2nd anniversary. We thought it would be better to celebrate after 5 or 10 years. But this time, although we didn’t plan for any celebration as it is not a practice of us to celebrate other than Hari Raya and birthdays, I just thought maybe a simple celebration would be nice.

It wasn’t anything special, just different. And it was last minute too. At first I thought of making a reservation at a restaurant. But the only halal restaurant that’s suitable for a fine dining celebration-type atmosphere does not accept children after 6pm, and I wanted to celebrate with Emmet too. Plus no time to prepare and rush to the restaurant, that’s on the other side of the river, with me still minding Mika and his daddy said he’s going to be late.

I also thought of ordering flowers to be delivered Rizal’s office, but then again….naaaahhh!!!! I might as well spend the money buying a pack of condoms…..hahahhaha!!!

So last-last, I made Sup Daging, Rizal’s favourite dish. Kat M’sia dulu time couple, every time will go to gerai tom yam and every time also order sup daging. Tak sup daging, tom yam. Sungguh keKelantanan laaa…. I also made my signature sambal belacan yg glemer n fofulaarrr itteewwww.

Then there was a half eaten M&S choc fudge cake on the table. I made a little banner and stick on it. Made some carrot tempura, loved to make it ever since I ordered the vege tempura in Yamamori.

Table decoration! Grabbed a nice new tie rack scarf and transformed it into a table runner. Hahahahh!!!!! I do take attention to details. Thought about going to kutip some yellow grass flowers to put on the table. Tapi slalu dah petang flowers tu dah layu. Aaahh…forget it!

Rizal wasn’t home yet! Me pun put on some nice clothes, siap do my hair n make up sikit2. Sooo over yuuuuuuu.

Rizal got home at 9.15pm drenched in rain. He didn’t even remember the anniversary. He said he was so busy at work and had to finish late. Aaahhh…that’s ok. No big deal for me. It’s just a wedding date. Not like jatuh talak if lupe anniversary or something like that. And I understand his difficulty at work so I decided not to push it.

Anyway, he was surprised, looking that there was a cake on the table and made a silly remark like ‘eh, birthday siapa ni?’ Freaaakk!!! But he planted a kiss and hugged me n Emmet.

Then we ate sambil tengok The Apprentice UK.

That’s all for our anniversary. After makan, I breastfed Emmet and changed his nappy and PJ and put him to sleep. Me pun tertido skali….

A Tribute to Pak Lang

2008-06-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

I got up early in the morning reading a text from my sister saying Pak Lang passed away a few hours ago. He’s been having lukemia for I think over a year now. I guess everybody was prepared for this.

I don’t actually know what to do with funerals actually. So I just read yasin and al fatihah je in private. Even if I call, I don’t know what to say to the family. Never good at this kinda things.

Pak Lang was my mom’s brother. He was the less pandai of all the siblings when they were kids, my mom used to story us la. But he sure is the kindest and humblest and most patient and yg paling rajin of all. He never even once took an MC, went to work even when he was sick. I remember he was awarded best employee by JKR.

He used to work as I don’t know what in JKR for all his life before pencen. Field work with little pay and definitely not a top job. He even had to borrow money from my mom to buy a car that he used until he died. He really took good care of expensive things like that. All his working life, he lived in that small run down 2-bedroom linked rumah papan JKR quarters in Sungai Siput. He’s got a wife and 3 daughters like my mom. Eldest sebaya with my sister and the second sebaya with me.

Berkat keimanan, kesabaran and kerajinan dia, I really thing he lived his life very well indeed. I really admire him and his family the most. I think he died a very happy and fulfilled man knowing he has achieved what he always wanted for the family.

He raised his daughters with so much love and respect that I always see my cousins even though dah kawin pun still like to peluk cium and cuddle2 with their parents. They are like buddies with Pak Lang and Mak Lang but in the same time have the greatest respect to them. Nak keluar rumah je sure salam cium tangan, pipi, dahi mak bapak.

The eldest daugter I call Kak Pizah, entered MRSM Beseri and now a cikgu in Kulim. Being a traditional father, parents sure bangga ada anak dia yang jadi cikgu rite. She got married to a mak aiihh very very nice fella yang muka penuh dengan cahaya keimanan and sejuk mata memandang and at the same time full of wits boleh tahan jugak mamat tu. She had some trouble getting pregnant, had 2 misscarriages and his first son died after a few days dilahirkan, all due to her diabetes. She adopted her husband’s sister’s daughter before finally getting pregnant again giving birth to a baby. But the baby is still not very well but very smart. Bless her…what a big heart to have adopted other person’s child.

His second daughter is the same age as me, we call her Ikin. She is definitely the smartest of all us cousins. She got straight As for everything. Entered MRSM Jasin, graduated among top students, got a good job as engineer at Sony Penang with very good pay and got to travel to Japan every month and now pursuing her PhD after completing her Masters in UTM.

His anak bongsu is called Adik Ina. The most intelligent jugak among us cousins. Entered MRSM mana I forgot, MRSM nevertheless. Now a doctor in Penang. She is so petite but pretty and cute with flawless whitest skin. Always smiling and shining penuh cahaya keimanan. Got married and a kid near Emmet’s age I think.

So there you have it, a cikgu, an engineer and a doctor, all anak2 yang solehah gitu. Parents mana yg tak rasa fulfilled camtu… They all gave money to their parents every month. Every raya everyone including all neneks and neneks sedare, atuk sedare, makciks and pakciks surely got duit raya from them threesome. Ratus2 tau diorang kasi. I also no duit to give to makciks n pakciks one tauu….

He died a happy man…with a beautiful and loving wife, one of my favourite aunty, so kampung yet outgoing. With 3 successful solehah daughters. And he got to at least see his daughters have his cucu-cucu. A house that he finally owned with his own money, a car that his daughters tried to pay back my mom but my mom wont accept. His daughters bought him a new wira the minute they start working already.

So to Pak Lang, I pray that Allah put you straight to heaven. Well done Pak Lang ku….

Brushing his teeth

2008-02-24T10:34:00.000-08:00

Getting Emmet to let me clean his teeth is a real challenge. I know you are supposed to start brushing your baby’s teeth when the first tooth appeared. But I only started when Emmet started on his solid food, which was when he was about 6 months of age. Yea by that time biskut-biskut semua melekat di gigi.

At first, I was eager to use a toothbrush. He was ok for a few days before he realized that he prefered biting the other end of the toothbrush. So that was a failed attempt.

So since then, I swithced to just using wet cloth, cotton and cotton buds. It’s just that it was very hard to get Emmet to open his mouth or show his teeth because he kept muncungkan his lips or pushing my finger with his tounge. This method worked, even though every day was a struggle (physically). He screamed, shook his head, tendang-tendang. Macam-macam helah.

And when he started to learn to show his tantrum really well, I knew I had to change my brushing method again. So I guess it is time to show him once and for all, the proper brushing technique. And Emmet always like something new that he can play with anyway.

So that’s why I bought this new brushing kit. It’s got a toothbrush, a gum massager, a mirror and finger brush, which I love.

So far so good. Next step is to start using toothpaste. And I’d probably buy an electric toothbrush if I have some more money. Rizal tried his on Emmet and he loved it!

Traveling with a baby

2008-01-17T10:36:00.000-08:00

Flights
Since Emmet is below 2 years old most airlines have fixed price. It’s usually around EUR 10.00. During check-in, along with the boarding pass, there should be a tag for Emmet’s buggy so that we can take it to the gate. When it is time for boarding, it’s either we leave the buggy in front of the gate or at the bottom of the stairs of the aircraft door. Somebody will pick it up and throw it into the baggage area.

By the time we land, we can find the buggy at the bottom of the stairs, or beside the gate, or at the carousel along with other checked-in luggage, depending on the airport.

Accommodation
Before making a booking on hotels, make sure to be informed about hotel policy on children. Some hotels do not accept children. Usually if they do, children who stay with parents are FOC. And some hotels do provide baby cot upon request.

Public transportation
So far we haven’t had much trouble with public transportation except when we were in Oslo. Getting a taxi there is quite tricky since they have strict policy on baby’s car seat. You need to get a taxi that has the facilities of babies’ car seat otherwise no taxi would take you anywhere in Oslo. Other places, we usually use Metro and the tricky part is getting up and down flights of stairs with a buggy. We find Quinny Zapp is much handier compared to the Graco we previously used when traveling. But still you need two people to carry the buggy up and down the stairs.

Though you are not supposed to use the escalator when handling a buggy, sometimes you are left with no choice when there isn’t any lift facility around the station. Using the escalator needs some practice, just be careful and hold on tight to the buggy. And make sure you position the buggy at the center of the escalator, you don’t want it to get stuck at the side, could be dangerous to you, the baby and everyone else that is using the escalator. Do consider all buggy facilities before opting for the escalator.

Busses have limited option on disables. Find busses with a disabled sign or a luggage area so you can fold the buggy and put it there. Busses with disabled facility usually allow you to carry the buggy with your child in it, so easier for you.

Changing
No matter what your husband says, always carry along a changing mat with you wherever you go with a baby. I am not confident with the changing mat they have around at any baby area anywhere in the world, except for hospitals (they are very very clean). So I always use my changing mat on top of the available changing mat.

Baby changing area is easily available in places we have been around Europe. I have only once changed Emmet at the airport in Oslo, they don’t have baby changing area at the terminal before queuing at the immigration counter. So I had to use the chairs. Wipes are equally important at times like these. So always carry wipes.

Feeding
For breakfast, I bring a small 0.2 liter container of oat flakes. That would be enough for a 4 day trip. Emmet only eats like 5 heap teaspoon of oat mixed with hot water for a breakfast. And I usually give his breakfast at the hotel before we go out in the morning. So I just asked the hotel for some hot water at the kitchen or the buffet area.

Since Emmet is still breastfeeding, we usually stop at restaurants or coffee shop during lunch and dinner. A round of breastfeed then I would prepare his porridge. His porridge is usually powdered baby rice mixed with hot water and some canned tuna or sardine that we get from supermarket or convenient shop that we can easily find everywhere. For the hot water to mix the rice I just ask the restaurant or the coffee shop for some and they are usually glad to help, FOC. I bring one packet (100g) of powdered baby rice for a 4 day trip on a basis of two meals a day. The tuna and sardine I can just get when we arrived. Baby chair is usually available at most restaurants, but not an important factor for us. My lap would do just fine.

Clothes and accessories
How many clothes and nappies do I bring for a 4 day trip? That’s 3 pairs of outing clothes, one PJ, 6 nappies for a 2 days spare(the rest I find it easier to buy when we arrived at our destination, giving more space in the luggage), I also bring a digital thermometer, winter jacket/ sweater, snow cap/cap, gloves, muffler, blanket and cotton buds.

Baby bag
What I have in my bag;
1. Three disposable nappies
2. A muslin square (to use as towel)
3. Wipes
4. Changing mat
5. Sudocream in small container
6. Emulsifying ointment (used moisturizer and soap)
7. A pair of clothes for spares
8. Spare socks
9. Snacks
10. Drinking water

Out and about
When we are out and about, I always provide him with snacks to keep him occupied. His snacks are rice cake, cream crackers, crisps by Organix (if we ran out of them, we try to find chips/crisps like Walkers that have some healthy choice with ingredients of only potato and sunflower oil and no salt and MSG. But luckily, Emmet usually naps in his buggy half of the time we are sightseeing.

During summer would be lighter to travel. Light clothing, a cap and the buggy must have sun shade. However, I would always bring a rain cover for the buggy in case it rains. Other than summer, Emmet is equipped with sweater/jacket, snow cap, gloves, muffler and blanket.

We have had little problems walking around Europe with a buggy. Most of the time there are wide pedestrian walk path, slopes at road junctions, buggy path beside small stairs, lifts. But I remember when we were back in Malaysia and Thailand, it was quite tricky with so many stairs at the shop lots and too narrow or no pedestrian walk path beside the roads. Even when we had to use the tar roads, there were so many lopak to elak.

Sesi soalan pule…

Today is a fabulous day!

2008-01-11T10:35:00.000-08:00

Bathtime

2007-12-17T10:39:00.000-08:00

It is bath time at 10.00a.m.!
Mummy turns on the hot water tap and the cold water tap.
I watched the water filled the bath tub.
Mummy is in the bedroom to prepare my towel, my fresh nappy and my clean clothes.
Mummy turn off the water taps when the bath tub is half filled with water.
Mummy picks me up and carries me to the bedroom.
She takes off my clothes and put them into the laundry basket.
Then she cleans my nappy area before putting on a special soap all over my body.
Mummy carries me to the bathroom and put me into the bath tub.
She shampoos my hair and cleans my face and ears with cotton.
Then she rinse off the soap on my body.
I like playing with my toys in the bath tub.
I have a pirate ship in the bath tub.
I have a duck swimming in the bath tub.
But sometimes I like splashing water with mummy.
After we are finished bathing and playing, mummy wraps me with a towel and carries me to the bedroom.
She dries me up and put on nice clothes to me.
Not to forget the emulsifying ointment all over me.
Then I am off to play again!

17 Months Old

2007-12-14T10:41:00.000-08:00

Today Emmet is 17 months old. Still having a great time with his baby talk. Sometimes it gets so frustrating especially when he wants his milk, he’d go making that irritating noise of mengada-ngada and merengek-rengek. But other than that, I can now distinguish when he wants his bowl refill of malt crunchies, or when he wants what I gave him just before, when he wants people to know he’s dancing to the music on the TV, or he gets his hands on something forbidden like the laptop or the utility cabinet. When he wants to be picked up, he’d put his hands up to me and goes Aaaahh!...Aaahh!

He hates;
- me cleaning his teeth every day after bath
- putting on pants coz he wont be able to scratch his legs anymore
- fruits
- when bath time is over
- taking medicine

He loves;
- dancing
- musical instruments
- music generally
- his toys
- handphones
- Laptop and other electrical and electronic gadgets
- breastmilk
- following me to the toilet
- bruce, the friendly shark in finding nemo
- bugging you and in the jungle songs in youtube
- malt crunchies and other food yg rangup-rangup
- hugging kids, or hugs himself showing affection when he sees pictures of babies in the TV or in the laptop
- kisses both my cheecks before having his milk
- bury his face in my breast (another affection) when he’s breastfeeding
- taking his bath
- playing with switches
- shaking everything that makes sounds like vitamin bottles
- play hide and seek
- playing mummy, mummy, mummy…emmet, emmet, emmet!

I guess the list goes on for this one…

Backdated entry

2007-12-14T10:39:00.000-08:00

Today I took the driving theory test. And failed!
Well…have you ever felt like unlucky things always happen to you? Things that u noticed or assume other people will always be able to go through, but when it comes to you, something must go wrong.

I thought I studied quite well. My friend Zack, who loaned me the study material said “Baca yang part hijau je.” There were 40 questions and to pass I need to score 35. At first I noticed something funny at the top of the test screen. It said Category for Cars and Work Vehicles. Yeah, I always wonder why they put the two in the same category. I always thought there were separate sets of questions for cars and for work vehicles. But it’s just too late to wonder some more. The 45 minute clock is ticking. The first few questions were kacang.

Then there came ‘What is the minimum thread depth required for tractor tyres?’ I got confused. I never come across any questions in the part hijau asking about tractors! Then there were more questions about trailer and tractors…and more trailers! This is bad.

Going out of the exam hall after getting the result, in the heavy rain on a gloomy Dublin dark sky at 4.30pm, with the wind blowing umbrellas off of people’s hands, rasa kelakar pun ada, disappointed pun ada, I knew I prepared well. But yet we always wonder is our well good enough? How hard must work hard be? And that unconscious phrase in our head…’La…takkan exam lesen L pun susah sangat?’

I got back and look at the study material again. Apparently there was another section after the part hijau, that includes the work vehicle category as well and you must study that part because it includes cars too! And that first tractor tyre question was in there! Along with the other 10 tractors and trailers questions that I came across in my test!

Maybe I’m used to being the always unlucky one. Getting the hardest set of test questions containing questions I didn’t study, the one who breaks the mug at a friend of a friend’s house, or spill a drink at a restaurant, getting a ketumbit when there is a party you have to attend. I’m just so used to it I almost expected I’d fail in this test anyway. Well…I’d just like to think it’s not the end of the world that I fail (and everybody else passed). I can always take it again with an extra EUR 30.

What bugs me or us shall I say, was always that….Zack salah 2 soalan…and he didn’t even open the book at all!

Arrrgghh!!!

Remote control

2007-06-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

When I first heard about smart homes, I was skeptical. Who would ever be so lazy as to get their butt off the couch and switch on the TV or the lights?? Switching off the stove by a remote control??? Open the bedroom door by clicking on the remote control??? People are just becoming smarter and lazier.

That was 10 years ago…

Now…I wished I was living in a smart home…. Where everything is wired up and I just have to carry a remote control. Or better, a voice command controlled house! That would be even super!

How I wished I had a remote control to turn on and off the stove while I was breastfeeding Emmet, so I could finish up my cooking and don’t burn the kuali.

How I wished I had a remote control to dim the lights in the bedroom, close the curtain and open the bedroom door while I carry the sleepy Emmet into the bedroom without a noise that would wake him up (like the squeaking sound of the door when opened!).

How I wished I had a remote control to switch on the washing machine because I forgot to switch it on and now I’m breastfeeding the unsettled Emmet and it would be another 15 minutes wasted before I could turn on the washing machine…that is if I remember to switch it on.

How I wished I had a remote control to switch on the TV and now I’m breastfeeding the unsettled Emmet and somebody else placed the TV remote control on top of the TV!!! And I am already in the couch with Emmet latching on me.

How I wished I had a remote control to browse the internet from the TV while I’m breastfeeding Emmet.

I am very forgetful…and so are hundreds more like me. Especially breastfeeding mothers. It would be a bless to live in a smart home so you can like… “Eeii…lupe la. Takpe….”

First year

2007-06-21T10:44:00.000-07:00

Emmet is less than a month away from graduating to his 1st year in life lesson. And I am already planning his birthday party. Nothing fancy since he couldn’t care less. It would be more like me celebrating my success for taking care of Emmet for one whole year! From a girl who repels with babies and kids…to a mom who peeks through the door key hole just to look if her baby is still alive and breathing…

Sure I’m still clumsy sometimes sampai Emmet kadang-kadang terjatuh dari katil or sofa, terhantuk kat meja or pintu but he is so strong he seldom cries out of pain. He just cries when he’s wet or dirty, bored, hungry, need attention or kene marah.

He’s now able to respond to his own name, claps and dance(shake his butt) when listening to music that he likes, claps when told to, recognizes his toy castle, patung Scooby-doo, lampu. Imitate faces, kenyit mata, geleng kepala etc…

So I guess either I’m doing an OK job or it’s just that he’s being a good boy. Whatever it is, I’m just glad my life has improved in order as he’s better at his nap I don’t have to swaddle him anymore. Nap is very important since that is the only time I have for myself. Now I’m halfway to making a list of things to achieve before the end of the year. I love making to-do lists and not doing what’s in the list. Ain’t everybody??? Hahahah….

I’m hungry…later!

For sale!

2007-03-07T10:45:00.000-08:00

Last year during puasa, I gave it a shot and promoted my delicious cornflakes cookies to all my friends here in Dublin. Business went very well.

Today, as usual, while Emmet is taking his day nap, I fix myself Nasi Goreng. I made a lot, like for 3 people. Ina, who comes by for zohor prayer, usually has lunch together with me. She works just in front of my apartment. So I figured with the extra plate of Fried rice, I tried selling it to Bert, my ex-neighbor, who just started working nearby.

Instantly he replied asking for another 2 orders. Talking about demand… but unfortunately I can only take one order.

Hmm…maybe I can fakir panjang lagi about this. Coz Ina just told me that around 10 Malaysians work nearby my area.

$$$$$....$$$.....$$$$$$

Hey! Wait! I got a new complaint…

2007-03-01T10:46:00.000-08:00

My bed sheets haven’t been changed for 2 months. Coz I usually empty the laundry basket before I can change the sheets. And the laundry basket is always…always full, no matter how often I did the laundry, it is always full. I changed the toilet and bath mat but I haven’t washed the old ones! Coz yea…my laundry basket is still full! And I need to wash Emmet’s car seat cover coz it’s filthy with dead skin flakes from Emmet’s eczema. But of course I can’t wash that coz my laundry basket is still full!

Motherhood

2007-01-13T10:49:00.001-08:00

I am never a faithful diary writer. But who am I kidding. With a baby that I am taking care of full time, I barely have time to brush my teeth. Sometimes I get too tired I took it out on Rizal. Poor him, but I needed to badly.

Motherhood is so overwhelming to me. And I get the feeling it will only get tougher soon. I saw a replay of Oprah yesterday. She was telling people how hard it was to raise her puppy that one day after waking up in the morning, getting rid of the poop, cleaning her puppy that by 3pm, she realized she haven’t even brushed her teeth yet! So now she really understands what it’s like to raise a real child.

But I wouldn’t trade this job for any other job, that’s genuinely how I feel about it. It would be hard to let go of this job if one day I have to go to an office to work.

Menjaga anak

2007-01-07T10:50:00.000-08:00

Penat jugak nak jaga anak sorang ni. So far I only managed to get Emmet into one routine. That is his morning bath and nap. I usually start his bath at around 10.30am. That’s when he starts to feel tired and sleepy after playing with his toys. Then pakai nappy, sapu lotion, pakai baju and after that swaddle him and put him to sleep at around 11.30am. Putting him to sleep meaning, sapu lotion kat muke and the whole head while massaging and stroking his head making him more sleepy. Sometimes he can settle on applying the lotion on his face and dozed off. But other times I had to pat him to sleep. I know it’s a bad habbit but ……okey yea I’m just no good at this.

Emmet would settle for a nap until around 1.30pm or 2.00pm. After that, no routine would stick. I would feed him when I see he’s beginning to scratch his face, head and body. Layan la macam-macam mana pun. Encourage him to play with whatever there is nearby, ajar dia jalan-jalan, play with the laptop. Sometimes I take him for a stroll to town, but only when I have to go out, like a trip to the post office to collect a parcel or just buy some groceries. I usually walk instead of taking the tram or bus. I need the exercise.

At around 4.00pm he would get cranky, that’s when I would feed him and he fell asleep on my lap and I have to freeze in that position until he wakes up at probably after an hour. Then play again. All the while that he’s awake, I can’t go further than 5 meters from him, otherwise I have to tolerate his screaming in fear that I would leave him. Yea, he’s becoming more and more attached to me I can’t even go to the kitchen to fix something for myself! And I have a difficult time to fix his meal, and get him to eat. He would shut his mouth tight no interest whatsoever in his mashed potato.

So sometimes he eats his solids sometimes tak. I’m a terrible mom. Night time is not supposed to be like this. He was sleeping well before he got the eczema, but now he wakes up 2 or 3 times I had to feed him sambil tido on my side. And my back hurts! But at least I get some sleep. I tried this sleep training I read in a book. Requires you to let the baby scream until he learns to sleep on his own. I don’t have to patience or the discipline to do that. We did try but only for 2 days, didn’t work though.

But overall Emmet is a happy baby. He smiles and enjoys the walk to town. The attention of people around him, chewing other people’s fingers… constantly need distraction otherwise he gets itchy all over.

I’m running out of steroid cream…..

Labour

2006-08-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

Wow…this time I’m really way behind.

I’ve been meaning to write this entry for a long time…but as usual time is a luxury I cannot afford to have. So now, as little Emmet is peacefully asleep in his carry cot cum car seat, I hope I can still remember THE MOMENT…

I’m talking about my labour, of course.

As y’all noticed, at 39 weeks my tummy was that big. Sleeping is agonizing. My back, side, hip all hurt quite badly. I was due 10th July but nothing happened that day. Weather was not as good for a few days. But on the 13th, it was a brilliant summer day. Clear sky, bright sunshine, moderate wind and quite warm, so I thought this would be a great day to take my mom and my sister to the beach. But at the back of my mind I thought it could probably be today, so I prepared a sanitary pad in my purse just in case. And I also changed to dark jeans…just in case.

We got to the beach, had a good walk, my sister mandi-mandi, ate our sandwich and just enjoying the sun (we don’t get that many in Ireland). As my sister was about to head to the changing area to change, I got up and dush…. I felt I just peed in my pants and I can’t control it! And dush….it came again like water running from the tap. I immediately told my mom, I thought my waterbag just broke.

So we quickly walked to the changing room, wetting my pants all the way. I only had my panty liner on. Lucky I brought the sanitary pad along. Good thinking. We changed and waited for the train to arrive. I didn’t feel any pain.

I called Rizal,

L: Elo, eh…I think my waterbag just broke la. Basah habis seluar ni.
R: Yeke…dah nak beranak ke?
L: Yela kot
R: Habis tu macam mana?
L: Kitorang nk balik dah la ni, then terus gi hospital la nak check.
R: OK..OK

While on the train, he called,

R: Eh…waterbag dah pecah ke?
L: (Didn’t I just called him and told him that???) yela…
R: ooo…OK. Uumm..
L: Jumpe kat hospital terus la nanti.
R: OK..OK

We rushed (walked) to the hospital which was just around the block from the train station. Rizal was already waiting anxiously.

Checked-in and waited to be examined. No pain. They examined the discharge and said it was just a show, not the waterbag. They examined my vagina but said I wasn’t even opened yet. You know how they did it, they put on gloves, applied some clear cold gel on their fingers and then stuck it inside you. Felt kinda funny down there. They also monitored my contraction. While they are strong but weren’t regular enough. I wasn’t ready. So I was sent home. But in the cab I was starting to feel some pressure.

By the time we got home, they became very painful. We waited until the contractions became regular, then we returned to the hospital. It was close to 11pm. I was again examined but still they said I wasn’t fully in labor yet. I was opened for 0.5cm only. I requested for an Epidural but they said it was too soon. So they gave me Petadine instead. Then they sent me to the ward.

In about a couple of hours, the pain became extremely overwhelming all I could do was moan through them. The painkillers didn’t work. The midwife stuck her fingers in me again and said ‘ok she’s 8.5 cm but let’s get her in the labor room anyway’…thank god!

Oohh…what happened inside the labor room…

Midwife: Would you like any painkiller?
Me: Yes, Epidural please…
Midwife: Oh sorry, I’m afraid it’s too late for that since you are fully dilated. I’ll give you some gas instead is that ok?
Me: (Demmit!) Oh…OK…whatever

Half an hour of pushing later…

Midwife: You’re doing great, keep it going, keep it going, let it go, now breathe in again quickly, hold…hold, keep it going, keep it going, you’re doing brilliant, we’ll have your baby out in 10 minutes…good girl…

Breathing in the gas didn’t work! Sure it makes you dizzy plus I was really tired it was 3am something I was really sleepy I actually dozed off in between contractions. The gas also made your throat really dry I had to drink a lot of water.

Half an hour later…

Midwife: The baby’s not coming out, I’m going to give you Oxytocyn to help with the contraction. Drink more water, your baby’s asleep, we need to wake him up.

So they stuck me with needles for the Oxytocyn drip. You know how painful it is whenever you are given a drip at the back of your hand, well let’s just say I wished they would stick more needles in me to help me forget about the pain of the contractions.

Half an hour later or so…

Midwife: You are doing brilliant, keep it going, keep it going, bla…bla…bla…we’ll have your baby out in 10 minutes, I promise…good girl…
Me: (10 minutes my ass!!!)
Rizal: (with his face on my cheeks holding my hand) Kejap je lagi, kejap je lagi. Dah nampak dah kepala dia sikit.
Me: (rimasnyeeeeee) Jauh la sikit muke tu!
Rizal: Oh ok…ok…

Midwife: (saying to another midwife) I think we need some help here. Call the doctor.

The midwives argued about the oxytocyn drip didn’t work and noticed my hand is swelling. So they changed to the other hand. Great, stick me with more needles pleaasseeee…..

Midwife: The oxytocyn didn’t seem to work, so the doctor is going to perform a procedure to help the baby out ok…
Me: (nod my head)

Doctor arrived and examined the situation…

Doctor: Hi I’m Shereen, I’m going to put a cap on the baby’s head and when you push I’ll pull the baby out ok.
Me: (nod my head)

I don’t know how many timed have they stuck their fingers inside my vagina, this time they are sticking this cap thing!....whatever just do it quickly please…

More pushing…dokter pun tarik-tarik

Doctor: It’s not coming. I’m going to cut you a bit.
Me: (Demmit…bosannye nanti ada stitches) (nod head)
Midwife: You’re doing great girl, bla…bla…bla…
Me: (Shut up laaa!)

Pushing…pushing…

It was 5.54am and the sun was already high up. Suddenly I felt this gush of thing came out of me and my tummy tiba-tiba kempis. Tadaaa!...they put the baby on my tummy. Rasa lega gile macam baru lepas berak. I held the baby for some time while they cut the cords and attached a clip. Right then, honestly, I couldn’t care less about the baby, I just felt so relieve it was over!!! Yeyyyyy, I did it!!!!

The doctor pulled out the placenta and sewed back the cut. I didn’t feel a thing. The midwife cleaned and swaddled the baby, with Rizal watching and forgetting all about me there lying in the bed sweating and bloody.

Midwife: Would you like to hold the baby?
Me: (Are you kidding me?) No thanks, later…give him to daddy (and I dozed off to sleep finally…)

The midwife woke me up about half an hour later and took me to the maternity ward. And I dozed off to sleep again…with my baby beside me in his cot…and Rizal beside my bed…every one of us exhausted…