Qaiser Mateen Birth Story

**May this be a reminder for me and H, the moments before we called ourselves parents, and for our firstborn Qaiser Mateen to learn how he came about to this world.**

Monday 6 June

Petang around 4 pm macam tu pergi jenguk Mamunchkin (our milkshake kiosk at Taman Perpaduan Ipoh. Asyik tangguh nak post about this), buat apa yang patut. Masa kat situ dah rasa tak sedap perut, but I didn't think I was having surges because I know how it feels like sebab masa miscarriage first time haritu dah rasa. I thought it was the maternity jeans that made me so uncomfortable. Sempat jugak pergi bazaar belakang kedai. Tapi on the way balik rumah, dalam kereta, dah macam cacing kepanasan, tak boleh duduk diam. Still thought it was the jeans -___- sampai sumpah taknak pakai dah jeans tu huhu.

Sampai rumah, I sat on the gym ball, and H gave me light touch massage (one of the massage techniques we learned from the Hypnobirthing class) to calm me down. It worked! I felt fine throughout the rest of the night.

Tuesday 7 June

It was a normal day. Tak rasa apa-apa.

Wednesday 8 June

Again, around 4 pm macamtu rasa tak sedap perut. Sempat jugak pergi bazaar kt Stadium Ipoh with H and my parents. Balik tu rasa 'maybe I should time the surges', so I did. The surges were irregular, but ada masanya app tu said something like 'You should go to the hospital now'. We were like, naaaahh it couldn't be right. So malam tu layan je la surges tu. Whatsapp-ed my sister, and she said it could be Braxton Hicks contractions since it was irregular. Mama pulak before pergi night duty malam tu, dah siap2 pack kurma and air zam-zam, in case I went into labor that night. She is doing locum dekat pusat bersalin yang kitorang decide nak pergi.

Thursday 9 June

3 am

Bermulalah episod 'purging' atau 'membuang'. Lepas sahur around 6 am tu pergi lagi toilet. Pelik jugak, ingat macam kena food poisoning ke sebab semalam tu ade beli pecal kt bazaar, takde la kata basi tapi tu je boleh fikir time tu. Tapi everybody was fine, it was just me.

8 am

Another 'purging' session. Bila Mama balik from night duty pagi tu, tanya Mama ada sakit perut ke, Mama said yes. So betul la kot sebab bazaar.

9.30 am

I asked mommies dalam Telegram Hypnobirthing Support Group (awesome mommies yang rajin share tips and tricks) pasal 'purging' before labor and also about my irregular surges. Ada yang kata maybe dehydration, ada yang kata practice labor. So I just waited it out.

10 am

Masa nak  mandi, baru sedar ada 'bloody show'. Stayed calm, told Mama and Mama suruh mandi hot shower and after that she would do VE. My mom is certified midwife :) So lepas mandi she did VE on me, dah 4 cm. Rupanya I was in real labor, LOL. Boleh ingat food poisoning. Siap-siap barang semua, had breakfast (nak beranak uols, kena la bukak pose :P) and off we went to Pusat Pakar Permata Raaofah. Mama estimated I would deliver before bukak puasa, so dah bagitau Ayah siap2 nanti datang around 6pm bawak makanan untuk berbuka.

12 pm

Sampai je PPPR, terus masuk labor room sebab dah 4 cm. Masa sampai-sampai tu dah bagi the nurses on duty my birth plan. Basically in my birth plan I set out to deliver in the most gentle and natural way possible - no drugs, no episiotomy, no unnecessary interventions, delay cord clamping, direct skin-to-skin, allow time for breast crawl, breastfeeding and family bonding right after birth and few other things.

Midwife on duty buat another VE, dah 5cm. She alerted Dr. Raaofah, she gave me 2 hours to get to 7 cm, kalau tak she would rupture the membrane. Huhu. So selama 2 jam tu alternate walking around the hospital and duduk atas gym ball. Bile surge datang, I did the surge breathing while visualizing rainbow balloons, and my three babies (2 from the previous pregnancies) main-main dalam taman syurga, and eventually one baby (the one I was carrying) slid down the rainbow to meet me in real world. Aih susah nak explain hahaha. But memang setiap kali surge datang I visualized the same thing and that helped me manage the 'pain'.  This is one of the techniques we learned from the class, to hypnotize yourself as one way of pain management.

2 pm

Midwife did another VE, it was 6 cm. Dang it. Dah nervous dah sebab kalau tak 7 cm doc akan buat ROM. Rasanya masa ni diorang dah put me on IV drip, katanya utk baby. I wanted to refuse it tapi sebab diri sendiri tak buat homework pasal IV drip ni, so redha je la. But midwife still allow me to be off the bed, takde lah keras je duduk atas katil.

3.30 pm

Doc masuk, did another VE. Berapa banyak kali VE daaaa. Padahal dalam birth plan dah kata max 3. Again, redha. Masa ni 7 cm kot. Tetibe rasa banyak air keluar, rupenye mase doc buat VE tu my water broke dengan sendiri nya. And there was light meconium stain in the fluid..dalam kata lainnya baby dah berak sikit..

Lepas tu, bermulalah intense surges yang hmmppphh..lupe dah macamana rasanya. A few times midwife tanya and my mom tanya nak Entenox (the laughing gas) tak, I kept declining. Dalam kepala ada la a few times bila surge datang tu fikir arghhh nak amik je la gas tu, tapi dapat tahan jugak dari keluar kata-kata keramat tu. Yang jadi mangsa siapa lagi kalau bukan my darling H. Bila surge datang akan peluk leher die kuat-kuat, sambil visualise macam kat atas tadi, and told myself this would be over soon. Yelah surges paling lama pun macam 40 seconds to 1 minute camtu kan. So tahan je.

Lepas doc check tu, I dah lost track of time and memory pun dah hilang dah. Kena tanya H apa yang exactly jadi. Throughout the time in the labor room, nurses ada ambil my BP reading and baby's heartbeat pki doppler. Rasanya ade midwife tanya boleh tak saya buat VE, I gently declined. Cakap kejap lagi ye. Sebab I rasa macam tak perlu..tapi hujung-hujung tu ada la jugak die buat skali lagi and I was fully dilated. Lepas tu diorang dah start suruh push the baby out. OK ni saat yang malas nak ingat. Sebab masa ni ilmu Hypnobirthing dah ke laut. I did J breathing tapi midwives suruh push, cakap what I was doing was wrong. Sigh. Masa diorang suruh push, I was a bit confused actually. I didn't have the urge to push. Diorang tanya ada rasa nak poo tak, I didn't feel anything. Masa ni, surges yang datang pun dah tak rasa sakit sangat. I was confused sebab from my reading and hearing other people's experiences, akan rasa 'the ring of fire' yang sakit gila tu, the thing is I didn't feel it. 

After around 40 minutes cuba push, doc came in and said we couldn't wait anymore, we had to use vacuum. I was like OK ape2 je la dah tak larat actually, bukan takde tenaga tapi macam dah hilang kesabaran, I just wanted the baby to be out. And out he went at 5.58 pm. Bergegar labour room tu dengan suara Qaiser Mateen kui3. They had to clamp the cord right away despite my wish to have delayed cord clamping because of the light meconium staining. They took him to a side room to aspirate his nose and mouth, before bringing him back to me to have skin-to-skin bonding. Walaupun tak lama, I was really happy that we did have the moment together. Feel of the vernix coating yang melekit-lekit tu, wah typing this makes me want to relive that moment. It felt so crude. I tried to breastfeed him but somehow it didn't happen so my mom said let the nurses take him away for clean up, kasi can the nurses buka puasa because it was almost 7.

All in all, I enjoyed the whole birthing experience. I managed to go through it drug-free and although I couldn't tick everything on my birth plan off, I am grateful that the process went smoothly and both mom and baby came out of the experience healthy and happy :)

I'm ever so grateful to have shared this wonderful experience with my husband and my mom. Thank you Dr. Raoofah and her team, and thank you Kak Ayuni Zainuddin, my Hypnobirthing 'cikgu' for the knowledge. 

I must say, going into labor with knowledge is so empowering, both for me and H. 

Till then, adieu.

Masa buat 3D scan ni dah boleh teka QM macam muka siapa :P

Day 1 of life

Ramadhan Kareem

Salam,

It's not too late to wish everyone

'Selamat Menjalani Ibadah Puasa'

You know when people wish you 'Semoga Ramadhan tahun ini lebih bermakna daripada tahun sebelumnya', for me, it already is a better Ramadhan this year, Alhamdulillah.

Why, you asked? 

Last year during Ramadhan, specifically on 21 June 2015, I miscarried my 6-weeks old baby. It was my second miscarriage in less than a year, because before that, I miscarried in September 2014. It happened so fast. That day I was at my sister's house helping her with some chores when I noticed a brown spotting. Hati dah tak sedap, because it reminded me of my first miscarriage experience. I tried to convince myself it was nothing serious, because in some women, spotting occurs right up until the baby is full term. 

Before going back to Puchong, we went to a clinic in Putrajaya to check on the baby. The doc said she could not see the sac, probably because it was still early or because my bladder was empty that she could not get a good view of my uterus. So off we went back to Puchong. That day my in laws decided to have iftar outside, but I followed the doc's advice to have 2-3 days of bed rest just to be on the safe side. 

Next day when I woke up for sahur, the worst happened. I saw fresh blood on the liner and told myself, 'it's happening'. I was sad, but I didn't cry, because deep down I think I knew it was coming, and it wasn't my rezeki, again. So H and I went to the clinic and the doc confirmed that miscarriage was in process, and it should be completed in 2-3 days (or something like that, I can't really remember now). 

And the rest was history. I wrote this note last year when it happened, and no one has ever seen it other than myself. So consider yourself lucky for seeing this for the first time :)

Alhamdulillah, this year, this Ramadhan, we will be expecting our third baby (2 angel babies are already in Heaven) :D 

To all TTC mommies out there, don't give up hope. I don't have any tips/tricks to share with you but just remember that Allah is The Omniscient and He is The Best Planner. Keep that in your mind all the time. Never stop praying to Him, inshAllah, 'The Best Is Yet To Come'.

'Demi Allah yang jiwaku ditangannya !Tidaklah Allah memutuskan sesuatu ketentuan bagi seorang mukmin melainkan mengandungi kebaikan baginya. Dan tiadalah kebaikan itu kecuali bagi mukmin . Jika ia memperolehi kegembiraan dia berterima kasih bererti kebaikan baginya , dan jika ia ditimpa kesulitan dia bersabar bererti kebaikan baginya'

-Riwayat Muslim-

Joker in the family.

Rosli's family Whatsapp group

Mama: Ma basuh seluar Ayah, seluk poket jumpa sesuatu.
Dila: Duuuuu...iiiiitt
Mama: Jangan terkejut.
Dila: Ape die Ma? Kasi gambar baru saspen (dgn nada tak serious)
Mama: Sampainya hati

*dah start cuak*

Mama sent an image.

Mama sure knows how to crack a joke at 12 in the morning.

Jakel Trip No.1

To be honest, it was my first ever trip to Jakel. It's been years since I last (or my mom to be exact) bought kain pasang to make baju kurung for whatever occasions. So on one Monday morning while waiting for Ayah to finish his meeting before we could all go back to Ipoh (pheww that's a long one) I decided to pay a visit to Jakel Jalan TAR.

Objective: Kain pasang hunting for the family.

Since I am a chicken at driving in KL, I decided to take public transport to get there, dragging my mom along. So from Putrajaya we took the KLIA Transit to KL Central, then LRT to Masjid Jamek, and later used Google Maps to walk to Jakel (I had no idea where it is). Long journey.

To cut the story short, I managed to get kain pasang for both nikah and reception for my family. Mama didn't agree with the idea of me buying for everyone because she said I could save the money for something else and everyone could just buy in their own. But I thought bila lagi nak belanja family kan.

Initially I planned to just browse and not to buy because I'd be going there again on Saturday, this time with my girls and most importantly by car! Oh well, one can only plan. Not only I ended up with 12 kain pasang, but a bridal bedroom set as well! So heavy okay! Probably we were too engrossed with shopping that we forgot we came by train!

Luckily, Jakel was so baik they asked one staff to carry our stuff from the store to Masjid Jamek LRT. Nak jalan pergi LRT tu je yang jauh, after that we were all fine and made our way back to Putrajaya with full hands and happy but tired faces :D

Engaged :)

Happy 1st monthiversary to us! Yeay!

LOL, this entry is so long overdue. It's been a month since Harris and I got engaged, Alhamdulillah for His blessing.

I actually don't know where and how to start this entry-how we got together or the preparation or how the day went yada yada yada. If I combined all together it'll too wordy so yeah I'll save some for later. For now let's just talk about the day.

A little inside stories:

1. That morning, most of my family members (aunties, uncles, cousins included) had really bad diarrhea. My sister had it first on the evening of the 1st Raya and we blamed the mee goreng mamak she had for tea that day. Came morning the next day, I woke up at 4 am to use the toilet, then my mom went at 6. When everybody woke up, we checked on each other, we even called kampung to ask if anybody there experienced the same. It turned out that almost everyone at my kampung had diarrhea as well. We now know who the real culprit was, rendang ayam! So when my auntie came to our house that morning, she gave me pills to eat. Man, I was panicking the whole time. What if I really cannot tahan and want to use the toilet during the sarung cincin time? Lucky it didn't happen pheww. After the sarung cincin thing was done and most people were at the khemah eating, my auntie took me to a corner and gave some pills again, this time they were green ones. Two times, 4 pills down the throat, I thought I should be fine for the day. Boy, was I wrong! When most people had left, I sat down with my friends to fill my growling stomach, and just two 'suap' in, my stomach couldn't take it I had to run to the toilet, in that pink dress! In the end, I only had my lunch at 6 that day. Story of my life.

2. I wish I was creative and had time to DIY my hantaran. Since I lacked both, I let the expert to do it. All my hantaran were done by my dear auntie. She has a shop in Seri Iskandar called Rampai Sari. So you bride-to-be, if you need help like I did, you know where to find her :)

3.  Guess who made the hantaran for Harris? His dad! His mom told me that during the fasting month, his dad would make the hantaran deco little by little, after sahur and before Maghrib. He even sketched each hantaran! So impressive okay.

4. Why did it on 2nd raya? Well, not only we had it on 2nd raya, but my brother also got engaged 3 days after I did. Haha! Two celebrations in a week! Well it was because my auntie who currently reside in Australia wanted to attend both ceremonies and she'd be going back to OZ on the 6th raya. She's like our second mother so we wanted to fulfill her wish. That was why we crammed it all in one week. This year's raya didn't really feel like a real raya to me because we were too busy preparing for both ceremonies. A twist to our regular raya routines :) 

5. Alhamdulillah most people came back to us saying that the catered food was really good. We were so thankful that my neighbor's sister was willing to cater the food for that day. It was for 2nd raya where most caterer wouldn't bother to take small orders like ours (baik dorang pergi beraya, unless order banyak berbaloi la korbankan raya). If not, our plan B was to cook the dishes ourselves, in which would involve a lot of stress women in the kitchen. LOL.

6. Harris and I decided to just exchange food and the likes for our engagement hantaran. My mom made pineapple tarts, butter cookies and pulut kuning for me :) And she also made the cookies for doorgifts and cupcakes for the candy booth. Fully sponsored by Mamunchkin Homemade Bakery :)

OK lah, enough inside stories already. Time for pictures! I thought of posting pictures from the official photographer SSgraphy, but I was already here when the DVD came and my cousin will only bring it to me next week so for now these pictures are from my cousin's camera and my iPhone.

Pictures from the OP here.

**

Thank you to all my family and friends who made that day a memorable one :)

And to Harris Arisyi, je t'aime mon cheri :)

happy.com

I am generally a happy person. I believe, to be happy, it must come from you - how you shape your life, the decisions you make on a daily basis. It shouldn't depend on the surrounding, the people around you, the weather, how much money you have in your pocket yada yada yada.

I'd like to share these few tips with you about how I make myself happy, which you probably know already :P

1. Express love to your loved ones

I do this all the time, especially to my family and close friends. I go on Skype with my mom almost everyday. 'Sayang Adik' 'Sayang Mama' 'Love you Ma' 'Love you too baby' are common phrases to end our conversation.

Now, it's different with my father because he just doesn't talk very much. But whenever he passes Mama talking to me, he would stop and say, 'Hi baby!'. Yes, my parents still call me baby and I don't care at all, because that's how they show their love to me. And I love being 'gedik' with my dad by saying 'Love you Dadi' instead of the usual 'Ayah'.

I know a lot of people are finding it hard to express their love to their parents, which I find weird. Well I know you would say, 'Not saying I love you doesn't mean we love our parents any less than you do'. Yes I agree, but why can't you say it? Some say it's difficult because their parents don't really show/say/express it, so they feel shy to do the same. Well to me it should be a breeze, because I believe those love expressions are easily uttered when we were small. But why not now? What makes it so difficult? Weird, isn't it? I really wanna know why, if you could tell me in the comment box. 

With my close friends, sometimes we don't go by our names, but by 'Darling' 'Yang' 'Dear' 'Sayang' instead. It might seem small to you, but it makes a lot of difference, seriously. We feel more close, more intimate with each other. And with that it lets us to trust each other more. I really don't know how to explain this, but you should try. It's magic :P We don't have problems with saying 'Love you' or hugging each other (errr kissing to some small extent LOL). I know some people who are not comfortable being all 'mushy' with their friends, even best friends. Some people just don't like the 'touchy touchy' feelings. I guess you have to open up a little :P

Same goes to your crush. I know some of us girls are a little conventional about confessing to the guy. But hey, Imam Muda Asyraf pun cakap jodoh kena cari. It's not like you see a guy you like and you go to him and say, 'Hey I like you!'. There's so many ways around it. You can still be conventional, but with a little wit :P

Bottom line is, the more you express the love you have in your heart, it becomes bigger, and that allows you to have more room for love for other people. I hold the principle that, 'Life is short. If you don't say it now, you'll probably regret it once you lose that person because no one can be sure what could happen tomorrow'.

But you don't have to take my word for it, try it yourself. First with your parents :P Kalau kat crush/bf/gf beria cakap I love you I miss you bagai, but shy to say those to your parents, memang nak kena!!!

2. Celebrate little things in life.

I love to celebrate little things in life. I reward myself every time I achieve something, big or small. And the reward does not necessarily mean I have create a hole in my pocket, sometimes a bar of chocolate or a red velvet cupcake would do the trick :P

Being somewhat a joyful person, I love celebrations, of any kind - birthdays, parties, weddings, gatherings, reunions, a simple makan-makan, or even just an outing. It's hard for me to say 'No' because those mean 'happy time' for me so why should I avoid it?

To those wondering why I made a big fuss for not being able to attend my friends' weddings, or a kenduri of any kind, my answer is simple. It's not always we get to see and experience these beautiful things in life, and being someone who love celebrations, of course it's sad for me to not be able to come. But I am aware that this is the price I have to pay for being here, so takpelah, saya pasrah. InsyALLAH there'll be others that I could attend, kalau panjang umur. To my friends who are getting married this year, please know that I want to come so badly, but circumstances are not permitting :(

Actually there a few more I'd like to share, but this entry is longer that I intended it to be. Just two for now then :)

Let's log on to happy.com :)))

Do you know that..

1. The Brits also eat kek batik? Had it during our weekly lab group meeting today. Used to promote it as 'Malaysian Brownie' to the Americans. RIT peeps, kek batik tak 'Malaysian' sangat dah lah hehe.

2. The Brits also have pasar malam? Well not really like our own pasar malam. They sell used items, just anything everything. Langsir, baju, buku, carpet, frames, kasut, bags, pinggan mangkuk, make ups, toys just name it. Ada juga benda baru, like sale items they bought long time ago and never worn/used. Got myself two pashminas for 1 pound each. My housemate bought a raincoat for 2 pounds. Good bargain seh. Oh, actually the familiar term would be 'carboot sale' but then the one I went to just now takde cars, tapi sebijik macam pasar malam, ada khemah and meja bagai. Ada snap gambar tapi malas nak transfer pulak. Sambutan amat-amat menggalakkan. Almost everyone either carried a big shopping bag, or a shopping trolley yang mak-mak bawak g pasar. Maksudnya diorang memang pergi dan berniat untuk angkut banyak barang. Wonder if it'll work the same in Malaysia. Baju bajan maybe dah ada la kot, those bazaars kat KL yang fashionista dok jual baju diorang tu, nampak macam laku je.

.

Ni takde kaitan dengan title.

3. Tadi first time start buat lab work after tinggalkan for more than a year. Nervous sampai pegang pipette pun tak betul. And first time jugak deal dengan blood sample. I survived Hybridoma class di mana bunuh mice tetiap minggu adalah rutin, so I should be fine with blood, just this time it's human blood. Grrrrr

4. Ayah is now a pensioner. Pagi-pagi buka laptop baca offline YM message Ayah hantar, it made my day. Ayah wrote,

'Hi baby, sorry tak reply message. Today Ayah officially retire from government service. See you later alligator'

Part 'See you later alligator' yang made my day tu. Penat ajar Mama Ayah cakap these two phrases:

'See you later, alligator' and jawab 'In a while, crocodile'. Mama asyik lupa je. Bila orang cakap dia sengih sengih lupa nak jawab apa. Tak sangka Ayah ingat :))

Selamat berpencen Dadi! Enjoy your retirement...NOT! Ayah landed himself a job with Pharmaniaga. He will be doing some software programming with them, I think. Dari kecik barang kat rumah penuh dengan Pharmaniaga je, dari ubat, sampai towel, pen, t-shirt sampaikan multicooker yang guna untuk masak pun cap Pharmaniaga. Corporate gifts katanya. Tapi harus ke multicooker letak cap Pharmaniaga??

Multicooker 

(gambar hiasan courtesy of Pak cik Google)

A good laugh.

The conversation me, Ayah and Mama had yesterday over KFC at dinner.

Me: Ayah, dah ready ke nak dapat grandson? *after looking at one cute little boy syok sendiri menari-nari kt KFC tu*

Ayah: *straight face*

Mama: Macamana nak timang yah?

Ayah: *thinking* Takucita tenggiling panjat dapo...bla bla bla

*everyone laughed*

Me: Macamana eh nak timang in English. Adik nak cakap English ngan anak-anak adik. Kena la start dari baby. Kalau orang Melayu kan timang cakap, 'Ala bucuk-bucuk...nak cakap dengan atuk ye? Alololo..iye saya..iye saya..nak cakap ape tu..yada yada yada'*

Ayah: *thinking*

*Mama and I were busy munching our chicken*

Ayah: Ala smelly smelly...you want to talk to grandpa?

*Everyone burst out laughing. Mama almost choked the chicken*

Me: Tu direct translation gila. Takdenye mat saleh timang anak dia camtu.

Ayah: Ha yelah, dah kata nak English.

Mama: Yang takucita tu macamana pulak?

Me: Tenggiling apa ek in English?

Ayah: *thinking* Takucita tenggiling climb the kitchen...

*Again, everyone burst out laughing sampai keluar air mata*

.

This conversation is better heard, than read. Sebab takucita tu ada melody dia. Kalau dengar baru rasa lawak, kot?

But whatever it is, I had a great time with the parents yesterday. Gelak tak ingat. I am already missing them :((( Homesickkkk, cepatlah Sabtu nak balik Seremban.



p/s: Tenggiling in English is 'pangolin' ye rakan taulan sekalian.

She's back!

Who's back?

My mom is back!

FOR GOOD!

InsyaALLAH, and Alhamdulillah.

So the 5 of us, no actually the 6 us *baby in the belly* went to the airport yesterday to welcome Mama home. It was such an endurance test okay; Mama was supposed to touch down at 2 pm, but her flight was delayed so she touched down at 2.30 pm. We were standing from 2.30 pm till almost 4 pm *ok I know I'm being a spoiled brat berdiri sejam setengah pun nak kecoh*. We didn't want to find a place to sit because Mama could have gone out anytime. So yeah.

Oh, the night before I made a cheap double sided banner. Hihi. *Memang jimat kos*

That's my brother. Wah it's his first appearance in the blog. Hi Gems Angah!

Btw, not to menconteng arang to his face, but actually dia yang ajak camwhore ni. Haha. Bosan habis lettuwww. *Bahasa rempit dah keluar. Bahaya*

And there she is!!!!

A beaming smile :)

We were expecting more than this. Apparently Mama had to leave one of her luggages to her friend in Saudi because she had exceeded the weight limit!! Haha. Typical Mama. Itupun ada lagi selori benda she sent by cargo.

The other side of the banner :D

Alhamdulillah, I'm so glad that she's back. She told her friends in SA, 'It was my youngest's request to have me come home. She said 'cukup-cukup la tu''. Perggghh I don't dare watching the whole speech they recorded in her camera. I could cry a river. It was a very emotional moment for her, and also her close friends there. I'm gonna cry because I'd feel like I am the one who's breaking them up :(( She was very very happy there, with the Holy Makkah being just 45 minutes from where she stayed. It took me several months to adapt after coming home from the US. I don't think Mama will ever move on. She was there for 9 years, and the greatest thing was she could easily visit the Kaabah anytime she wanted to. Even I don't think I'll ever move on if I were in her shoes. I am just hoping I could give her the best, now that she's back. 

****

Moving on.

I am blogging at the most random place -  a cooking academy.

Mama ialah seorang yang tidak kenal erti penat. 

She just arrived yesterday, and today she insisted in going for this Raya cookies class. Me being unemployed and a faithful child *angkat bakul masuk sendiri*, is the supir chauffeuse *glamor sikit* for the day! And tomorrow! And maybe the day after tomorrow too! And maybe Sunday too! Haha

See? My mom is an iron lady. She wants to join classes on 4 consecutive days. I don't think she can spell  L.E.T.I.H or P.E.N.A.T.

Right now I am waiting for her to finish her class at 6. Chup it's 6 now. Err 7, I guess? This remind me of the time when my mom had to wait for my sister to finish her tuition class, under a tree, under the scorching sun! Last time she drove a car with no air-conditioner, so it was better for her to wait outside rather than inside the car. Now it's a 360 turn. It's my turn to drive Mama around and wait for her until she finishes her classes. But it wasn't even close to what she experienced before. I am waiting for Mama in an air-conditioned lounge, with a laptop and WiFi connection. 

Pengorbanan ibu, memang takkan terbalas. Ever! But I'm trying my best, to give her the very best. 

Tadi, on the way to the academy, we got lost. I key-ed in 'Jalan Reko' in the GPS, little that I know Jalan Reko is a long stretch of road. Jane *my GPS* took us to the middle of ladang kelapa sawit, which is on Jalan Reko. -____- Mama's class was supposed to start at 3, but we arrived at 3.30. Rasa guilty gila sebab buat Mama missed first 30 mins of the class. Kalau dulu, kalau Mama lambat sikit, dah mengamuk gila dah.

'Mama niii, kenapa lambattt!'

'Mama ni, orang dah tunggu kasjweawdaksnc02948398r9csxnzpv8ck'

Such an ungrateful child -___-

Tapi Mama, cool je dalam kereta. Sikit pun tak marah. Siap baca doa-doa lagi nak kasi tak sesat. :)))

Moral of the story, janganlah derhaka kepada ibu anda, kerana syurga di tapak kaki ibu.

Moral yang kedua, berbaktilah selagi boleh kepada ibu bapa anda. I'm trying my best, and you guys should too :))

Curi-curi tangkap gambar Mama tengah belajar. *Nampak macam dia lak cikgunye hihi*

The End.

Nerdy mom.

Salam,

Choosing the right gifts to give to people on their special day is a difficult task, for me at least. It becomes a  'chore' when the gifts are for kids. You would think otherwise, because they are kids after all. They play with their toys day in and day out. Just pick any fancy toys and they sure will love it. How difficult can it be, right? Haha. It's me who is being difficult actually. I don't believe in giving toys to kids. Toys are fine, but must be educational ones. Not some action figures, or cars, or armor and sword, and whatnot. If the toy car involves dismantling and assembling work, then that's fine. It makes the kids think. I'm talking about the kind of toy car where kids just go 'vroom vroom' and move the car from point A to point B and that's it. Pointless, that's my point.

See, I stop reading comics and watching cartoons at a very early age (you must be thinking what a boring childhood this poor girl had). Maybe that's why I'm not creative. I find it hard to imagine things. No offense, but I think Shin Chan is rude, and his scale compared to his parents just don't make sense. He is shorter than his parents' knees. Haha, ketinggian pun aku nak pick out. Truth is, I can't stand stupid jokes. 

So yeah, I believe that kids tidak sepatutnya disogokkan dengan a lot of toys, cartoons and comics. That's why I find it hard to look for gifts for kids. The gifts must meet certain criteria - must be educational, won't impart negative effects, can be use for a long time, bla bla bla bla. I told my friends once in high school, that I won't allow my kids to watch cartoons and comics. I'll just buy them books and they have live with that. Hahaha. Habislah anak-anak aku semua nerd. Hopefully the father will balance it all out :P 

I went to look for gifts today, for my cousins - a 3 year-old Arif Arman and a 12-year old Ameera Liyana. We are having a birthday party for them tomorrow. First I went to MPH; I thought of getting Ameera some exercise books to prepare her for UPSR.  For Ayip, I thought of getting him a storybook set. The hardcover ones, lepas tu ade 3-4 dalam satu kotak. I used to have that when I was small, so I thought it would be a perfect gift for him. I bought the exercise books, but couldn't find the storybook set. 

Then I went to Parkson. Looking at the storybook section, sigh, so kasihan. Not only there are so little books, but also they are all dusty! I wonder how long they have been there. Sampai berhabuk takda orang beli.

Then I came across the school supplies section and found these handphone case/cover thingy. Really? Yeah I know kids nowadays tadika pun parents dah kasi pakai handphone, but don't encourage it by selling handphone covers at the kids section. Isk isk isk.

Here's another thing. Why must you include pictures of Power Rangers la, Ultraman la, Dragon Ball la in ABC 123 books? Why? Whyyyyyyy? OK, maybe you think it's to gain their attention. When kids see the Power Rangers, they would become attracted to the book and masa tu lah parents start to teach them sikit-sikit ABC 123. Kalau plain je, boring ye dak? Sigh. Parents kena ambil kelas belajar cara untuk ambil perhatian anak-anak ni. Sampai kena guna Power Rangers to allure their kids to learn.

Tak rasa ke kemunculan Power Rangers tu macam out of nowhere? 

Kalau si anak tanya kenapa ada Power Rangers kat situ, mak nak jawab apa?

Luckily, I found a decent section of puzzles. Lega hati mak, nyah.  Ada juga benda ilmiah kat sini. I spent a good 10 minutes staring at the puzzles, and contemplating which one to buy. Of course I have to opt for 2+ years puzzles, even though I'm itching to get those for 5+ and 6+ years.

Then it came to these two, ABC or 123? I thought of buying both, but macam mahal sangat la pulak (being cheapies). I thought, 'takpelah, nanti parents die boleh beli juga'. So I ended up with the alphabets, it came down to the number of puzzle pieces - alphabets ade 52 pieces, numbers ade 40 pieces :P

The search didn't end there. I was concern about being labeled a boring cousin, yang just tahu suruh orang belajar belajar and belajar, so I went to Lovely Lace to get Ameera another gift. During my high school, tak ingat for which birthday, my adik angkat gave me a jewelry cum music box from LL. I still have it until today. So I went to LL to look for it, nasib diorang ada jual lagi. I bought one for Ameera. Hope she likes it :)

Sebelum keluar, my eyes were fixed to these two teddies. Sangat adorable! A couple teddy. Siap ada junior teddy lagi. Awwwwhhh~ Don't worry I didn't waste my RM67 for it. But so comel I cannot tahan!  Maybe I'll drop by LL before the sale ends to get them both. Gotta grab that 10% yo! Hahaha

Moral of the story is, my dear friends, don't expect me to give some extravagant toys to your kids later k. I'm gonna stick to books, and puzzles and the like. Tee hee hee. But please, come to my kids' birthday parties with toys, so that my kids won't grow being boring and nerdy. Kesian dapat mak macam ni :P