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Another 2008 Tragedy

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...

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

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

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

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

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!