Ashraff's new obsession

Nowadays, Ashraff is so into ULTRAMAN. So, Ibu and Ayah did some research and found out that Ultraman itself has different characters or names - Ultra Q (the first Ultra series), Ultra Seven, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Taro (yang ada tanduk tiga tu), Ultraman Leo, Ultraman 80, Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Dyna, Ultraman Gaia, Ultraman Neos, Ultraman Cosmos, Ultraman Nexus, Ultraman Zenon, Ultraman Mebius, Ultraman Hikari and Ultraman Zearth.


Currently, Ashraff has around 10 Ultraman's figurines courtesy of Nanny Pip, Atok Abah, Nek Lon and Aunty Tini. As for VCD collection, we have Ultraman Dyna, Ultraman Neos and Ultraman Cosmos. And this UltraBaby of ours has the ability to differentiate one Ultraman to the other. On average, he’ll insist to watch Ultraman at least twice a day – morning shift and afternoon shift. And his victim is always his Atok Abah, because he’s the only one who is patient enough to watch the CD over and over again while without fail explaining to Ashraff each and every scene.

In the evening, again Atok Abah became the victim as he was forced to drive to nearby Giant as they sell Ultraman's figurines there. So almost every evening, Ashraff and his grandfather akan berkampung di Giant.

At night, Ashraff will persuade me to open Ultraman's CD so he could watch for the third time but I came out with 1001 excuses not to do so. Sometimes it works, but sometimes I have to give in to his request usually after an outburst from him. Personally, I don’t quite encourage him to watch the series coz I find it a bit too violent for a kid his age. I could not recall who introduce him to the character in the first place but the first Ultraman's VCD was bought by ME..that's after I could not stand waiting for him to have a look and belek-belek the CD for umpth time. Thereafter, he's always on the look out for new Ultraman's VCD and that character becomes his obsession now.

So, day in and day out, it's Ultraman with Ashraff. Even if you do not count the number of "Ultraman" he mentioned, you'll surely know that it's the most repeated word in a day...beating "Ibu", "Ayah", "Susu" and "Play". That is how obsessive Ashraff is with that character!

One thing good about his new obsession is we can use Ultraman to encourage him to eat, sleep, drink milk and taking a bath. Like "Ashraff kena makan kalau nak strong macam Ultraman" or "Ultraman dah sleep so Ashraff kena sleep jugak." For the time being, this trick works. I do know what it'll be in a few months time...*LOL*.

Few Ultraman poses from Ashraff..

Being a Mother...and Hubby's Birthday Gift

I received this lovely email from a friend yesterday. And I just have to blog it as I found it to be so true!

-Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby.
That Somebody doesn't know that once you are a mother "Normal" is a history

-Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct.
That Somebody never took a three-year-old shopping

-Somebody said being a mother is boring....
That Somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver's permit.

-Somebody said if you're a "good" mother, your child will "turn out good".
That Somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee.

-Somebody said "good" mothers never raise their voices.
That Somebody never came out of the back door just in time to see her child hit a golf ball thorughh the neighbour's kitchen window.

-Somebody said you don't need an education to be a mother.
That Somebody never helped a fourth grader with her math

-Somebody said you can't love the fifth child as much as you love the first.
That Somebody doesn't have 5 children

-Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books
That Somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose or in his ears.

-Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labour and delivery.
That Somebody never watched her "baby" get on teh bus for the first day of kindergarten.

-Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married.
That Somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a son or daughter-in-law to a mother's heartstrings.

-Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last child leaves home.
That Somebody never had grandchildren.

-Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her.
That Somebody isn't a mother.

So mothers, do you agree with me that the statement above are all true?
I know it is, thanks to the young lad below...



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Added today at 4.00 p.m.

I am tempted to share what I've given hubby for his birthday. He wanted a pair of futsal boots, but I've given him something extra...A PERSONALIZED BIRTHDAY NEWSPAPER!!.


He was thrilled and impressed. Tak sia-sia my hard effort. Ehem..ehem...if you are thinking of getting something similar for your loved ones, you know whom to contact, right?! *wink* .

I do not plan (yet) to make this permanent product for C.M.O.G as I don't think I'll able to commit due to my tight schedule but if you want something like this, I can try to come out with something for you. Just email me at rafiqah_eliza@yahoo.com
But, do tell in advance ye!

Note to hubby : Futsal boots tu nanti kita cari sama-sama yek...

Declaration of Guilt

I've got a confession to make…

Today is the first time I skip from fasting!

Am I frustrated? Oh yes I am…But then, the experience I had yesterday was unbearable so I decided to skip one day. Yesterday, as I reached home, my body was aching and I was gasping for air…mengah semacam! Might be due to the long walk from the office to Putra station. And then another round of walk at Ker@mat’s Pasar Ramadhan. The weather was burning yesterday while we Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan at the Pasar, so as I was dehydrated and could collapse any minute. After iftaar, I had a bloated tummy and could not walk properly. Rasa pedih sangat!

This is the first time I have to go thru fasting month during pregnancy (Ashraff dulu ‘jadi’ bulan puasa and born three months before puasa..hehehe). I am somesort of mentally prepared to face the extra lethargy and prayed that I’ll be able to go thru bulan puasa at ease. Tapi kecundang jugak di tengah jalan. In fact, Hubby advised me to skip from fasting today as he’s worried about my condition. By the way, is it advisable to fast when you are pregnant?

I just hope I’ll be able to minimise the ‘puasa leave’ I have to take and make full use of this holy month to beribadah. Pray harder, Rafiqah...

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Just received this photo from my cousin – A Picture of the Four of Us.


This three are my closest cousins– from left, The Artistic Emi, The Twins Tina & Tini and Moi. We are basically one year apart, with me being the oldest (also the oldest cucu of Khalid’s clan – my mother’s side), followed by Emi and then the Twins. Since the fifth cucu came four years after the Twins were born, so the four of us are basically stuck together in almost every family occassion. Masa kecik dulu, tak pernah miss ambik gambar berempat!

But time flies…All of us have our life partners now (with Tini being the last to marry i.e. this Raya). So, the four of us decided to include our partners (and junior...sayang Tina tak bawak her 'junior') in the “Picture of Four of Us”.


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Psst...I've just added the photos of our Bandung trip here!

A helper is finally here...

My maid has finally arrived last Tuesday (19/9/2006). She came from Surabaya and has 10 children of her own, which is like 1 year apart (imagine that!). Married at 14 years old, she is now like 36 years old (but I presumed she is much older).

Unlike my old maid, this time around there is language barrier between us. But I would not blame her since this is the first time she is working in Malaysia. Previously she has worked in Saudi Arabia for 7 years. It is really a great help to find someone who has experience working since she knows what to do without having us to tell her each and everything. Cumanya, she still need to learn to prioritize. For the past one week, what I noticed she mostly concentrates on doing housechores rather than taking care of Ashraff or at least concern about Ashraff's regular schedules like nap time, milk time, eating time etc. Kalau disuruh bagi Ashraff susu, barulah dia bagi. Kalau disuruh tukarkan pampers, barulah dia tukar. I guess I have to ask my mother to remind her to take care of Ashraff's need rather than anything else, despite me telling her once.

As for Ashraff, I am relief that he is the 'cepat mesra' kinda boy. So, so far everything went out smooth between him and his new Bibik..except when it comes to sleeping routine. When it comes to putting Ashraff to sleep, he only wants his Tok Mak or his Ibu to lay down beside him and lull him to sleep. Not anyone else. Kat sini yang payahnya. Kat sinilah datangnya manja dan mengada-gadanya budak Ashraff. I still have no idea on how to rectify this problem. Probably the best way is to let Bibik stay with Ashraff alone, so Ashraff is not given any opportunity to choose. But, am I ready for that?

All in all, nak ikutkan Bibik baru ni lebih memeningkan as compared to my old maid. Language barrierlah, prioritization of work lah, meeting Ashraff's emotional needlah. But I guess 7 days is too early to judge her. Hopefully in one month time, she'll improve. Hubby said the most important thing is improvement. Kalau takde improvement, lagi pening kepala. Especially with the new baby expected to arrive 2 weeks after Raya.

To all my fellow Muslim out there, SELAMAT MENYAMBUT BULAN RAMADHAN YANG MULIA.

What a weekend it was!

Last weekend, we had a fun blasting time at Genting Highlands, something which hubby and I have planned to do just before Ramadhan and the arrival of our new bundle of joy. After all, it’s been such a long time since we had holiday together. Genting Highlands was less crowded as compared to the trip we had more than 3 years ago i.e. our honeymoon, which took place during the Chinese New Year Holiday. Never, never pergi Genting waktu Raya Cina…

Everything was in accordance to our plan – left my parent’s house early in the morning (takdelah early sangat, dalam kol 9.30 am), had breakfast along the way, reached Genting at around 11.00 am, enter Outdoor Theme Park, had a jolly good time for 2 hours plus there, naik rides sana sini, tangkap gambar macam nak rak dengan our new toy, checked-in at Theme P@rk H0tel, just in time for Ashraff’s nap time. He slept for 3 hours! In the evening, we paid the Outdoor Park another visit, photo here and there again, then proceeded to Indoor Theme Park for dinner, took our first family ride in the Park, which is the Rio Float. Hubby was all excited to take the picture of Ashraff in the ride when BAMM! The unexpected thing happened! The newly purchased camera showed the sign “Memory Card Error” for no apparent reason. He tried to turn off the camera, and turn it on again but the same signal came out. Masa tu both of us dah hilang mood.

As soon as the ride was over, we rushed to the nearest photoshop. To our dissapointment, even the shop could not read our memory card. We tried to get an explanation on why this happened but they could not come out with satisfying answer (anyone knows what’s the problem?). By then, I know that the photos taken earlier were all gone! Frustnye toksah nak cakaplah…Rasa macam nak nangis. The salesman told us that the memory card can still be used if we reformat it. Kalau reformat maknanya dah sah hilang sume gambar, but what to do…we decided to reformat it anyway. Unfortunately, reformat pun tak jalan! Meaning which, not only there’s no hope to recover the photos, but we can’t in fact “re-use” the memory card for future photos. Tensionnnn!!

Somehow or rather we decided not to make the frustration took over the fun we had earlier, so we decided on few things…at an extra cost, of course. First, we had to buy a new memory card. Since we are at oh-so-pricey Genting, so memory card pun mahallah jugak. Secondly, we decided to go back to Outdoor Theme Park tomorrow morning just to follow the trail we had yesterday and re-take all the pictures. All in all, it costs us RM200 more than what we budgeted. Apa boleh buat…gambar punya pasal…

So, lepas dah recover dari perasaan sedih dan frust, we spent an enjoyable night at the Indoor Theme Park till 1 a.m. There’s this one ride which we found interesting, Ride De Paris, which is only open to 3 years and below. It’s a line of small cars meant for kids those age that moves according to its track (sorrylah, I’m bad at describing things). At first, kitaorang takut nak bawak Ashraff naik coz unlike all the rides before, this time around we could not accompany him. What if in the middle of the ride, he cried or struggle to set himself free? Lama jugak kitaorang i.e. the not-so-confident parent, dok perhatikan ride tu..boleh ke tak boleh? Tetiba this active toddler of ours shouted “Nak naik car! Nak naik car!”. So, we decided to give him a try. To our surprise, bila the lady manning the ride letak je Ashraff in one of the cars, dia terus tak pandang kitaorang kat luar. Puas we all called his name, but he refused to look at us. The steering wheel seemed to mesmerize him.
Thus, for the whole 7 to 8 laps, memang dia tak pandang luar langsung. Sibuk main steering wheel and pushed all the buttons they had inside the car.

Bila habis je ride tu, all the other children semuanya willingly stepped out of the car except ours. Menangis-nangis “Nak main lagi, Nak main lagi…”. Satu kerja pulak nak pujuk dia lepas tu…

The next day, our mission to go back to Outoor Theme Park is accomplished. Except for one thing - hubby will not want to go back to the “Flying Coaster” he took the day before mainly because of the ticket price..like RM12 per ride…and according to him, the ride is thrilled but scary…Thus, no picture of him ‘in action’. The rest, we managed to re-capture the exciting moments on camera. Of course, the luckiest and the happiest person throughout the trip is *drum rolling* ASHRAFF! He got to enjoy these rides all over again - the antique car, the plane, the choo-choo train, the spinning tea cup (yang ni Ashraff cakap “Naik minum”..hahaha) and play in the children’s playground. The second time around we eliminated the need to ride those what we consider as boring rides to Ashraff like the slow Merry-Go-Round and the Carousel. And this time around, the photos we took might not be as many as the one we had earlier, but it is more, how should I put it, errr…comprehensive?

Broke!

It's the month of September again! And like every year, I foresee that I'll be broke by the end of the month.

Let me see...I got Hubby's Birthday on 15th September...
Followed by my sis's birthday on 17th September...
And then 3 days later, on 20th September, it's Mak's birthday...

Belum beli hadiah lagi...and still have no idea what to buy. But still have to buy something for the three important people in my life.

Darn! That's it. Didn't I tell you I'll be broke by the end of this month?!

Set Selepas Bersalin - Yang Mana Satu?

Probably it's too early for me to ask this question as I'm only 31 weeks pregnant. But too think of it again, I do not want to make the same mistake as I did with Ashraff the last two years.

Throughout my pregnancy with Ashraff, all I care to learn was anything and everything got to do with pregnancy and labour ONLY. I neglected the post-natal part like taking care of your baby, yourself and how to breastfeed exclusively. Thus, as soon as Ashraff was born, I felt that I'm overwhelmed with his presence and at the same time I have a strict confinement regime I have to follow.

Since I’m basically clueless, my mother and my MIL were basically the people who dictated me on what to do and what to take to ensure the well recovery of my body. They were also the one who helped me a lot in handling Ashraff. Mak(s), what will I do without you… As I’m the type of person who believe in good confinement regime to ensure a healthy body when we are old, thus I just followed obediently on all the instructions given by my two fellow mothers. Nasihat standard orang tua-tua - Kita perempuan ni kena jaga badan betul-betul, kalau tak suami lari… Hahahaha…

At that time, I resorted to using and consuming the post-natal set my MIL given me. It was prepared by my hubby's aunty for just RM50. I have no complain on the price of course coz it is relatively cheap as compared to the commercial brands we have in the market. But one drawback is the jamu is in powdery form. So, I had to mix it with water, add a lil bit of honey and drink it. Though I had no fuss on the daily food I have to take for 44 days (which turns out to be tasteless/plain), perintah berkurung dalam rumah selama 44 hari, bertungku, bertangas, berurut, berbarut, berbengkung dan mandi wiladah for the next 44 days, I did complain on the taste of the jamu that I had to consume. MasyaAllah, memang pahit sekali! I ended up consuming it for one week only and then I stopped. Memang tekak tak boleh terima! Jadi, lepas berpantang pun badan tidaklah rasa sesihat atau sesegar mana.

So, this time around I want to be more prepared. I have somesort of made up my mind to purchase Amway's Tropical Herbs set. Actually I'm in love with the bengkung that comes together with the set. A cousin of mine who gave birth last February used this bengkung together with Amway's ointment (that also comes together with the set) and she got an impressively flat tummy after two weeks of birth. Envy, envy...Unlike her, I used the traditional 10 metres long bengkung which required an assitant should you want to wear it properly so you can get a good result like my cousin's. Bila dah takde orang nak tolong, I ended up pakai sendiri so tak berapa ketat sangat. Jadi lepas dah habis pantang pun perut masih mengeleber. Actually perut masih lagi mengeleber till I got to know I'm pregnant again..hehehe...So, Tropical Herbs set is in my list.

However, this set contains only two jamus for internal consumption. I don't think it's enough. Or is it enough? So, I was thinking of buying another set focusing on the internal part. Let me see, we have commercial brands like Salindah, Sendayu Tinggi, Set Bersalin Manja etc, etc, etc in the market. I seriously do not know which one to choose. Anyone here want to share with me your experience and knowledge in this? Any set selepas bersalin yang elok dan sesuai untuk ibu yang menyusukan anak?

Finally...Our Bandung Trip...

It was a long delay in writing about our Bandung Trip (excitement pun dah kurang) as I kept on forgetting to transfer the picchas in the PC. Tak syoklah kalau takde photos! Anyway, this is what happened during the whole trip...Please ignore the date at the photos...it's hay-wired!

Thursday, 27th July 2006
We arrived at LCCT at around 6.30 a.m. It was my first trip to LCCT and to my suprise it is quite a distance from our KLIA (though they share the same runaway). Our flight should supposedly depart at 7.45 a.m (notice i use the word 'supposedly'?). Ashraff was wide awake and excited by then. Ibu had this mixed feeling - happy sebab dapat jalan2 ngan Ashraff and nervous sebab nak bawak Ashraff naik plane for the first time.

We were also a bit anxious on whether we will incur excess baggage’s charge as Bibik's stuffs were A LOT, i tell you...Let me see, she's checking-in 5 big and heavy bags and hand-carrying 1 sling bag and 2 paper bags. It was a handful! Alhamdulillah, tak excess baggage. It helped to check-in as a group.

In the departure hall, we got to queue at the so-called ‘VIP’ line as we are flying with an infant. This will give us the advantage to choose the best seat in the flight. Dapat tepi tingkap lagi syok. Tiba-tiba, the AirAsia’s staff stopped and asked me whether I am pregnant or not and if yes, whether I have filled out a form at the check-in counter. Huh?! Takde pun. The staff at the counter noticed I’m preggy but did not ask me for anything (except for my passport). So, the whole family has to wait in line while I have to fill up a certain form. By the time I finished filling up the form, the ‘non-VIP’ line dah takde orang dah, maknanya semua dah board the plane. Damn! There goes the opportunity for us to be able to seat together!

Just as expected, memang kitaorang terpaksa duduk berjauhan dalam plane tu. Mak and Abah was far at the back, Ashraff was seated next to me, while Bibik was just across the aisle from us. To make matters worse, there was a one-hour delay in take-off, for only God (and the pilot) knows why. Imagine a toddler being strapped at his seat for one hour! Okay, he did enjoy the new jigsaw book I bought for him for the first 20 minutes.
And after that, he started fidgeting, followed by a struggle to set himself free. He started calling for Tok Mak and Tok Abah. I just had to let him go before the whole cabin cracked with his high-pitched shout. But the Air Asia’s flight attendant warned me to put him back in his seat as the flight is about to take-off anytime. Gee! Kau ni pernah ada anak ke tak hah?! So, I tried my very best and most creative ways to entertain Ashraff in his seat with my Bibik’s help. Sampai berpeluh-peluh..sebab Ashraff sekejap nak pergi kat Bibik, sekejap nak balik pada Ibunya. Kalau tak bagi, menjerit. Boring sikit, menjerit. Dia diri atas kerusi, look behind, saw Tok Mak and Tok Abah, jerit lagi. Since Ashraff was the only infant / toddler in the flight, so I presumed we managed to attract the attention (or irritate) all the passengers in the plane, especially the one sitting in the same row as me and Ashraff. Kesian minah tu, nak tido pun tak boleh!

After one hour of struggle, whailing and crying, the plane finally took-off. Diam sediam-diamnya Ashraff at that time, enjoying the moment. Hahhh…lega… And after that, lagi lega, sebab Ashraff decided to take a nap. But since it was uncomfortable, so his nap only lasted for 45 mins, which I hope would be longer. Though it was a short nap, but it managed to rejuvenate Ashraff and fill up his energy tank. So, there he was my lil lad lari sana lari sini in the plane. Sekejap lari ke belakang, sekejap lari ke depan. Sekejap pergi ke tok mak, sekejap lari ke bibik. And the best part, he wanted me to follow him. So this heavily preggie lady pun terpaksalah mundar mandir kat aisle tu. Memang glamer habis! The last 30 mins of the 2-hour journey, Ashraff has started to become restless again. He shouted “Nak tuwun (turun) bawah! Nak tuwun bawah!” What??! Macamana nak turun bawah? We were like 30,000 feet above the sea level!

So, there goes another round of a-mommy-trying-hard-to entertain-toddler session with Ashraff. All my efforts seemed useless as Ashraff is the type yang very persuasive and persistent. Kalau dia nak turun bawah, means he wants it there and then. Seldom we are able to distract him from his original objective. Or probably Ibu is just not creative enough. But alhamdulillah, mak and abah were there to help me handling Ashraff’s tantrum.
After 30 minutes, we arrived safe and sound at Bandung’s airport. It was a small airport, just like our Kuala Terengganu’s airport. After going through a long queue at the Immigration, we finally got to meet Bibik’s family – Ihsan and Syifa’ (Bibik’s children), Ihsan’s teacher and his family and Benny, our driver for the day. We then checked in at the lovely Sukajadi Hotel and straight away went for a lunch at McDonalds in Istana Plaza. My lil boy, probably due to overjoy has refused to eat even a little bit. He is more interested in approaching kids slightly older than him and started calling them “Abang” or “Kakak”, which of course, made them confused as they were not referred to as “Abang” and “Kakak” in Indonesia. So, lagi sekali Ashraff tak duduk diam. By this time, I was pretty much exhausted running around, chasing him. Patient level pun dah semakin menurun. I totally wished hubby was there so we could take turn in handling him. Abah was a great help but I felt guilty if I let the old man do the chasing.

After the short lunch, Benny sent us straight back to the hotel. At the hotel, it was time for us to bid farewell to Bibik Aidah. I cried, really cried. I can’t imagine myself crying just to bid farewell to an Indonesian maid, but I did cry. She cried too. Even Mak cried. Guess it was pretty sad to let go of a good employee. I told her to take care of her health and she advised me to be really patient in handling children (tau ler yang I ni bukan penyabar orangnya..). Ashraff was oblivious to the situation, though I tell him again and again it’s time to say “Bye Bye For Good” to Bibik. He did say “Bye Bye” and then rushed to a nearby fish pond. Oh well….Yeah, that was it. I was officially maidless after that.

We went to our rooms, which is situated very near to the hotel lobby and facing the swimming pool. All of us were extremely tired and sleepy, so we took a nap. It was quite a long nap for me and even longer for Ashraff. Dia macam tak boleh bangun, sampai kena kejut. Tau pun penat mamat tu…

At 6.30 p.m, we made our way to the famous Chihampelas Street, which is famous for its factory outlets for branded clothing like Guess, Elle, Gap, Old Navy and..basically any brands that you can think of. Ashraff was thrilled to see the shops decorated with murals of superheros like Superman, Batman and Spiderman. Ibu was even more excited to see branded goods in mark-down prices…hehehe…Apa lagi, boronglah! One advice for those who intend to visit Chihampelas is not to bring your stroller along coz it is truly not a stroller-friendly place (A ‘gendong’/sling will be more useful). Nasib kitaoranglah sebab terpaksa bawak empty stroller and took turn in carrying Ashraff at the same time. To let him walk by himself is dangerous coz the road is narrow and the traffic is crowded…and Ashraff memang susah untuk dipimpin. Oh yeah, one thing good about bringing an active toddler along will hinder you from buying more as you don’t have the luxury to browse through leisurely. Jimat duit…hehehe…

Ashraff in one of the shops at Chihampelas Street
Penat tak penat, we were there for two hours jugak. By 8.30 p.m., we were all very hungry. Abah teringin nak makan Nasi Padang. We tried to ask the local people where the nearest Nasi Padang restaurant. They recommended few places, but when we reached there, Mak macam tak lalu nak makan (probably due to the place’s condition) so we took a taxi and went back to the hotel to have our dinner. Again, budak kecik tu langsung tak nak makan. Asyik sibuk nak pergi tengok fish pond or the swimming pool. Nasib baik susu masih laku. So far, Ashraff is more active than the norm. Mungkin excited tempat baru kot…

We retired to bed at around 10.30 pm that night and look forward for a bright new day tomorrow…which apparently turned out to be more tiring….

Friday, 28th July 2006
Look alike granddad and grandsonWe left the hotel at around 10.30 a.m, after having breakfast at the hotel. This time around we decided to take “Angkot”, a 10-seated van that acted like a public minibus, to bring us to Pasar Baru. Though it was meant for 10 people, but the driver jam-packed the van with like 18 people?! Masa tu dah sesak nafas! But it was a great experience. Ashraff didn’t mind at all. He just gave his usual cheeky smile to other passengers.Mak, Abah and Ashraff in the oh-so-stuffy Angkot
A helpful local passenger indicated us where to stop to go to Pasar Baru. The “Angkot’ dropped us in the middle of a wet market, and we have to manouver our way to find Pasar Baru, which is actually an 8-storey shopping complex. Masuk je kat dalam complex tu, terus berpinar bijik mata. If the Chihampelas’s factory outlets cater for Ashraff and Fitri’s stuffs, Pasar Baru is definitely my place. The place houses lovely embroidered clothing, nice telekungs, beautiful bed spreads and quality fabrics at a very cheap price. Certain levels of the complex are dedicated only for souvenirs, leather bags and shoes. The very top level is the mosque itself so Abah managed to perform his Friday prayer there. Apa lagi, makcik sorang ni rambang matalah…

My first stop was to buy “baju hamil” for myself. I bought one long sleeve baby-doll looking maternity blouse and one heavily embroidered blouse for only RM40 each. If ModernMum or MotherClub yang jual, mesti dah ratus-ratus punya. Rasa menyesal tak beli a few more as at that time I was thinking I have only 3 months to wear these garments. Then, I bought myself few ‘after birth’ embroidered blouses and t-shirts. Mak bought lovely embroidered jubah putih which she intends to wear for umrah or tarawih prayer for only RM24! Then we proceeded to the textile area. There, we borong few “sulam tebuk” material for kebaya, paired with matching “kain batik”, mostly priced at an average of RM50, depending on the material. I also bought one hand-painted fabric for only RM45. Very cheap for a hand-drawn material! I bought one for my mother-in-law as well.

I have to salute Abah for patiently waiting for us and at the same time chasing after Ashraff, who is free without his stroller, while we do our shopping. Ashraff free as a bird in Pasar Baru
Word of advice - You may bring your stroller to this place. Ashraff then had his afternoon nap at the mall, while we had our lunch comfortably without having to follow his butt.
We continued shopping as soon as Ashraff woke up from his sleep. Borong lagi..dan lagi… Memang duit banyak habis kat sana. Soon, Abah got really tired and insisted on going back to the hotel. While waiting for the taxi, I managed to grab a good buy – a Muslimah swim wear – for only RM40! Cheap aye?!

At night, we took a 10-mins walk to Carrefour and Sogo, planning to find a good place for dinner there. The place was just one-month old, and banyak lagi area yang masih dalam renovation. I really like the interior there as the floors are made of timber wood. Something different compared to our Carrefour here. I am looking forward to come back in few years time and see how the whole building looks like as from the miniature model, it looks really grand. Ala-ala castle gitu!

We retired to bed at around 11.30 p.m., that was after a hard time forcing Ashraff to sleep as he was more excited to be at the poolside rather than going in the room. Ni lah susahnya kalau bilik berdepan dengan swimming pool.

Saturday, 29th July 2006
We took a cab to the airport at 8.30 a.m as we have to catch a flight at around 10.00 a.m. Phobia from my last journey with Ashraff in the flight, I kept on praying that things would be easier for me this time around. Alhamdulillah, Ashraff slept throughout the journey. We reached LCCT at around 12.30 p.m., welcomed by my lovely hubby who I have not seen for the past two weeks as he has to work in Sabah. Happy, happy, happy.

Looking back at the pictures I took, I had this one slight regret. There is no photo of Chihampelas Street or Pasar Baru. I guess it was really a handful to snap photos with an active toddler in tow, and not forgetting barang yang banyak di tangan. Kena-kena pulak I’m the only one who knows how to handle the camera. Lagilah susah… Well, kalau ada rezeki, I would love to visit Bandung again. The two days trip tak cukuplah. Banyak tempat tak dapat pergi. And this time around, I’ll make sure hubby is around!

Dilemma of a Working Mother

I know my next posting after this post should be about our Bandung Trip. But I just feel the urge to blog on what happened to me this morning while I'm still emotional over it (lagipun gambar Bandung tak transfer dalam PC lagi)...

Ashraff slept at his usual time which is 11.00 p.m. last night. Usually, he will wake up at around 9 a.m. the very next morning. But this morning, while I'm ironing the clothes I wanna wear this morning at 7 a.m., I heard a loud cry from my room. Ashraff was crying loudly (really loud I tell you!) followed by "Ibu! Nak R U! Ibu! Nak R U!". ("R U" ni maknanya tidur sebab everytime Ashraff nak tidur, he wants me to sing for him the song "Are U Sleepy? Are U Sleepy? Brother John" while patting his buttock. Without this usual routine, dia memang tak boleh fall asleep on his own). Thus, I rushed to my room and console him but now he's complaining about his nose pulak. "Nose sakit, nose sakit!!"...It's not that he has painful nose, but due to crying, he suffered from runny nose so that irritates him a lot. In fact, everytime he cried nowadays, he will complained about his "nose sakit" and cried even harder, which worsen the situation. Like a vicious cycle or something but it is definitely hard to calm him down...

My concern is of course, on the time taken to calm him down, while I'm running late to work. So I went outside the room and called my mother to help me put Ashraff to sleep as he's very sleepy and kept on saying "Ibu, nak R U..Nak R U...Ibu..." diselang selikan dengan "Nose sakit! Nose sakit!". Panggil punya panggil my mother, but she's not around. So I figured out he must have followed Abah for a morning jog. Alahaiiii...kenapa pagi ni nak pergi jogging pulak. Hari lain tak nak pergi pulak...

Kalau tak pasal dah dua hari lambat datang kerja dalam bulan ni, I would have forgo the need to rush to work and tried to console Ashraff, and put him to sleep. Kesian sangat tengok dia menangis macam tu...But I can't afford to be late for the third time in a month, as the management will issue me a "surat cinta" if that's the case. Barangsiapa yang pernah menerima "surat cinta" ini, penilaian kerja (appraisal) di akhir tahun akan terjejas walau sehebat mana dan sekuat mana anda berkerja...Gee!!

So, I just left Ashraff crying in the room, and rushed to the bath room for my morning shower. I can still hear clearly Ashraff crying in the room sambil merayu-rayu, "Ibu..Ibu...Nak R U, Ibu...". I replied, "Ibu sini sayang. Ibu kena bersiap pergi kerja kalau tak Ibu lambat. Kalau Ibu tak kerja, Ibu boleh "R U" kan Ashraff..." With that, I broke down with tears. Meruntun betul hati ni dengar anak perlukan kita, sementara kita harus tinggalkan dia untuk mencari rezeki di luar. I cried and cried in the bath room while trying to communicate with Ashraff at the same time.

Suddenly I heard my mother calling. Thank God she's back! I wiped my tears and opened the door for Mak to come in. I told her to try to put Ashraff to sleep as he's still very sleepy. But Ashraff refused! He wants me, not his atok mak. "No Atok Mak! Nak Ibu, nak Ibu...Ibu!! Ibu!!". Menjerit-jerit while atok mak is trying hard to calm him down by bringing him to her room. Alahaiii...Ibu menangis lagi...Behind the close door, I can still hear vaguely Ashraff crying for me. Even now, I can still hear her crying...

If only I do not have to go to work today...

My Boy is 2!

Lamanya tak update B.L.O.G!!

Memang lama i tak update blog. Hampir 3 bulan lamanya. Life has been pretty overwhelming around here. With no internet access at home, the only opportunity I got for me to update blog is at the office, after office hour (tapi kadang2 tu curi tulang, update masa office hour..hehehe) Since lately ni kerja semakin banyak and I have to stayback most of the days, nafsu nak update blog pun tertutup secara otomatik.

Tapi hari ni, terasa rindu sangat2 kat blog and try to steal my precious office time to update on what's happening in my life for the past three months. Takdelah happening sangat, but what the heck. So, here goes:-

On Me, Myself and I
1. I've turned 29 y.o on 28 June 2006. Hubby wanted to celebrate somewhere special, but this poor woman is too fatigue that night so we ended up ordering pizza instead. Call me a loser but seriously am not in the mood to celebrate. I got an Issey Miyake's perfume from Hubby and a birthday kiss from Ashraff.
2. My company's annual dinner is coming on this 5th August 2006. I still have no idea what to wear. I'd probably resort to wearing the long dress I bought from my cousin's wedding in June. I haven't try it on lately and see whether it still can accomodate to my blooming tummy. The dress is still at the dobi...
3. Ada satu hari ni, hati ni merancang-rancang theme colour apa nak pakai Raya tahun ni. Tetengah dok imagine, tiba2 it strike my mind that I might be in confinement this Raya (my due date is one week after Raya) OR I might still be heavily pregnant at that time. So baju apa nak tempah Raya tahun ni?? Baju Pregnant ke Baju Kurung??

On Pregnancy
1. My tummy is growing bigger. I'm 6 months preggie now and am wearing maternity clothing everywhere I go. How time flies!
2. Though perut makin memboyot, I notice that it's smaller compared to preggie with Ashraff. Just as long as Doc says the baby is growing normally, I'm fine with that. Lagipun my goal is not to deliver a baby as big as Ashraff or even bigger (Ashraff was born at 3.74 kg!)
3. I also got to know the gender of the my second child. Nampak gayanya I have to stick with blue colour jugak...hehehe...I don't mind actually coz I really want Ashraff to have a friend whom he can play football with whenever his Ayah is outstation. Frankly speaking, rasa penat yang amat melayan dia tendang bola, carry him so he can fly like a Superman (ni penangan Superman Returns lah ni) and jump like a frog everywhere in the house (cam rasa nak terberanak!). Actually Ayah dia yang ajar semua ni, so when he's not around, Ibu jadi mangsa!

On Family
1. So far, Hubby dah outstation dua kali with his new attachment in UMW. First one in Singapore for three weeks. And lately Sabah for two weeks. Guess I'm pretty much get used to marrying an internal auditor who travels frequently to do his audit work. I wanted to accompany Hubby to Singapore since it's during the Great Singapore Sale but Ashraff takde passport lagi, so postpone punya postpone, last2 tak jadi pergi. Talk about bad planning! On Sabah trip, that one I'll elaborate further later...
2. Ashraff is one week to 2 years old. We initially planned to have his birthday party on 5th August 2006, betul2 on his birthday. But then it clashes with my annual dinner. Other weekends in August is jam-packed with activities - weddingslah, family daylah. So, tak taulah nak buat bila. Or mungkin we postpone to his 3rd birthday.
3. Talking about Ashraff, my little lad ni baru recover from a prolongue fever. Hampir seminggu lamanya. The forth day of his fever, me with the help from my Mak Abah (hubby was in Sabah at that time), bought Ashraff to Ampang Puteri. At that time I noticed that Ashraff ada bintik-bintik merah kat muka and dada. As expected, blood test is done and the result of the test showed Ashraff's white cell count reduced drastically, meaning which he has no antibody to fight the disease. Paeditrician kata ada bakteria dalam sum-sum tulang Ashraff yang menghalang pembinaan sel darah putih dalam darah Ashraff. And that bacteria also has caused the red spots to emerge. In order to kill the bacteria, Ashraff has to come daily to the hospital to get an antibiotic jab. Before the daily dose of the antibiotic, blood test has to be done first and if the white cells count still low, then only paed continues with the injection. On the positive side, he was not admitted to the hospital as he still take his milk (tapi sikit sangat). But the rest, hanya Allah je yang tahu betapa susahnya hati ini bila memikirkan yang my baby nak kena suntik jarum banyak-banyak kali tak tahu sehingga bila. Furthermore, Hubby is not around to give moral support and a helping hand. Tapi Alhamdulillah, with one jab of strong antibiotic, Ashraff recovered tremendously. The next day je, white blood cell dia dah back to normal and he's back to his normal active self. Rasa hilang segala penat due to lack to sleep bila tengok Ashraff kembali ceria...

On Life as a whole

I am maidless now. I've sent my maid home for good on 27 July 2006, after twice extension given by the Immigration with the reason that we want to give her medication before we bid farewell to her. We sent her right until Bandung. When I say "WE", it comprised of Me, Ashraff, Mak and Abah. Hubby can't follow us as he has to work in Sabah.

Remember that I want to elaborate further on my plan to accompany Hubby to Sabah? Initially, memamg I plan nak bawak Ashraff pergi Sabah so I can meet Hubby there. We plan to spend around 3 days kat situ since I pun belum pernah pergi Sabah. Alang-alang accomodation dah free, why not I grab the opportunity. At the same time, Mak and Abah told me their plan to ikut hantar Bibik to Bandung, which occurs at about the same time as my plan to Sabah. Alamak! Tetiba hati ni terasa pulak nak ke Bandung. Am indecisive now. Sabah atau Bandung?

Check harga tiket lebih kurang sama but going to Bandung, I have to fork-up extra money for accomodation and Ashraff's passport. Check savings, lepaslah kalau nak ke Bandung. So mana nak pergi ni?

Fikir punya fikir, at last I decided to go to Bandung. The reason is Ashraff. If I chose to go to Sabah, I have to travel alone in the plane with Ashraff. I am expecting the worst where Ashraff would not stay still in his seat, followed by a great tantrum especially during landing and take-off. Can I manage that kind of situation alone with my big tummy? Furthermore, Hubby is working most of the times there, so I would have to travel alone with Ashraff in KK, Sabah. Toddler can be unexpected at times and I have no experience bawak Ashraff jalan sorang-sorang, so rasa takut jugak kalau dia buat hal. Due to these reasons, I chose to go to Bandung. At least kalau apa2 jadi kat dalam flight or in Bandung itself, Mak and Abah will be there to give a helping hand. Hubby is a bit frustrated with my decision, but he completely understands why I chose not to go to KK. Hubby pun frust sebab dia tak dapat experience naik flight dengan Ashraff. Dia pesan banyak-banyak kali suruh capture the moment with our video and digicam. So to Bandung we went! Intend to elaborate more on the trip in my next posting...

Balik dari Bandung, I am left with no maid. So I have to resume my role as a bionic woman. Cuci baju, cuci botol Ashraff, make sure air panas sentiasa ada for Ashraff's milk, change Ashraff's nappy everytime he poo, gosok baju untuk pergi ofis, lipat baju. Aktiviti yang dah setahun lebih I tak buat. Thank God Hubby is a great help! At the end of the day, rasa sakit satu badan especially the pinggang part. Yelah, dah lama tak kerja keras...hehehe...

But I really enjoy the privacy we have as a family tanpa "orang ketiga". Rasa puas hati bila you dapat buat semua tu untuk family. Rasa seronok dapat bekerjasama dengan Hubby untuk menguruskan rumahtangga. Rasa gembira when Ashraff looked up to you for almost everything like makan, susu time, tidur time etc. Suddenly I feel like I gain back the love of my child yang half of it dah pergi ke Bibik dia masa she's around. Dan Alhamdulillah setakat ni Ashraff takde pun mencari-cari Bibik dia like he used too. Everytime I asked him where's Bibik. He'll reply "Bibik Bandung", maknanya Bibik dekat Bandung lah tu...

But this bionic woman's role and moment of freedom have to stop once we got our new maid which is in the process now. For the time being, Ashraff is taken care of by his Tok Mak and Tok Abah. Oh Mak Abah...what will I do without you both. So now, the whole family has to move back to Elias' residency. We plan to move back to Cheras once we are comfortable with the new maid. I'll let mak and abah to monitor and train her just like what they did with our previous maid. Cuma mungkin kali ni training lebih intensive sikit sebab new maid ni takde experience kerja unlike our old maid. I just hope that this new maid is as good or even better than Bibik Aidah.

I guess the above summarises the important events in my life for the last three months. Dah lama tak update, sekali update, panjang lebar lah pulak...:) So to all my fellow friends who happened to drop by my blog, hope you do not get tired reading my entry this time...

A Gift for Mother's Day

Ashraff's vocabulary has significantly improved for the last one month, much to our relief. At least now he can repeat the words we are saying sensibly. Pandai jugak anak ku berkata-kata. Now, it is easier for us to communicate.

Here are some of Ashraff's vocabs, and most of it baru sebulan ni je pandai sebut:-
Words
1. Car (perfect!)
2. Train (perfecto!)
3. Bus (nicely said!)
4. Am (when he sees McDonalds or any foods)
5. Air (perfecto!)
6. Ayie (lebih kurang mcm air, but it's lorry actually).
7. Wa-wa-wa tu (bulan. Ni atok dia ajar wa-wa-wa tu bulan).
8. Bawang (ni Bibik yg ajar).
9. Water (can use interchangeably with air).
10. Where? (perfect!)
11. Goong-Goong (for dog)
12. Auw (for cat. Macam bunyi kucing gatal je).
13. Duck (perfect!)
14. Bee (lebah)
15. Bai-bai (sounds like bye-bye, but it's for butterfly. Guess, butterfly is a hard word for him).
16. Api (for fire)
17. Bang-bang (for his gun or everytime he sees tembak-menembak action on the screen).
18. Patah (everytime his toys patah / damage).
19. Bear
20. Pish (Fish)
21. Wow! (everytime he sees something impressive).
22. Ouch! (sakit lepas jatuh).
23. Allah (everytime nampak kita solat, nampak sejadah or telekung, or azan berkumandang).
24. Ukh-ukh (bila "membuang", if u got what I mean..hehehe)
25. No! (for almost everything that he refused to)
26. Atas
27. Bawah
28. Star
29. Goal! (this is his first word).

Phrase (more than one word in one go)
1. Nak am (Nak makan)
2. Nak air (nak air suam or susu..pandai2lah figure out which one).
3. One-Two-Bee (for one-two-three).
4. This one (everytime he pointed out something in the book, he'll say "this one" then he'll look at our face for us to tell him what is the thing he is pointing)
5. Dah habishh dah (bila cerita kat TV dah habis, or dah selamat "membuang", or dah habis minum susu).
6. Air..Bawah (nak swimming. Maknanya nak pergi main air dekat bawah).
7. Bang-bang patah / Ayie patah / Car patah (depending on which toys yang damage).
8. Ayah car (Ayah's car)

People/Character
1. Barney (perfect!)
2. Jojo (Jojo's circus)
3. Oo-oo-oo (for Bob the Builder. I don't know how he got that.)
4. Ayah
5. Abah (for tok abah)
6. Adok (for tok mak)
7. Abang
8. Kakak
9. Ana (for his Aunty Ana)
10. Nenek (for Nek Lon).
11. Bibik
12. Baby (lebih kurang sama macam Bibik bunyinye..kena dgr betul2).

Wow! Quite a lot when I listed it down. But, how come there's no "Ibu"?
That's because he just refused to say it, or probably he finds it hard to do so. Not even a simple "Bu" comes out from his mouth! Tension babe!!

At one time, I felt the urge of changing "Ibu" to a simpler word like "Mama" or "Ummi", which apparently he can say it perfectly. Tapi hubby kept on reassuring me that one day he'll say the word. "He is saving the best for last," kata hubby.

Indeed, it is true.

On 12th May 2006, for the very first time, Ashraff looked at my face, straight into my eyes and said the word that I am waiting to hear since the day he was born...I-B-U. Sempurna sekali bunyinya. Ya Allah! Bergenang air mata...

I asked him again "Ni siapa Ashraff?" while patting my chest.

"I-BU" followed by a wide grin on his face.

I could not help it but to hug and kiss him on his cheek.

"Ibu, Ibu, Ibu"...He repeated the word few times, while clapping his hands, showing a sign of achievement. He looked satisfied that he could say the word. Nampaknya bukan ibu sahaja yang puashati, Ashraff pun puashati dapat cakap "Ibu".

Then, I rushed outside the room together with Ashraff to break the news to hubby, who was watching Astro (most probably channel 80, 81 or 82).

I asked him to ask Ashraff who am I.

Ashraff replied with a wide grin "I-BU"...then he clapped his hands.

Me and hubby both celebrated the success by clapping our hands too. Ashraff is so excited that he can say the word, he ended up ketawa sambil guling-guling atas carpet. What a moment to remember...

That is the best Mother's Day gift I have so far!

I hope it is not too late for me to wish "HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!" to all mothers out there!!

Keluh resah di pagi hari.

I hate the morning rush...and the evening rush.

Pagi-pagi orang berpusu-pusu nak pergi kerja. Kat Stesyen Star LRT Salak Selatan, punyalah ramai manusia. Jangan harap nak dapat tempat duduk. Worse still is Masjid Jamek station. MasyaAllah, a very long queue just to get in the LRT. Macam pagi ni je, LRT yang ke-4 barulah boleh masuk. Nasib baik tak lambat sampai office!

Balik kerja lagi satu hal. Dari Dang Wangi Putra LRT nak ke Masjid Jamek tu, kalau tak meng'sardin'kan diri, jangan harap dapat masuk. Sometimes I wish I have the sticky palm like Spiderman so I can stick myself at the roof. Senang sikit nak dapat fresh air. But imagine myself doing it, ishk...buruklah pulak...

And the thing about a 3-month pregnant lady is that her tummy looks just like she has excess fat around her waist. So, most people in the LRT I noticed, look at me up and down, considering whether I ni betul-betul pregnant or perut je buncit. They must be thinking "Kalau aku offer dia tempat duduk, and she is not pregnant, that will be an insult to her. Tapi kalau tak offer, and dia betul-betul pregnant, rasa bersalah pulak." So, most end-up not offering me the seat. Terpaksalah berdiri sepanjang journey, which took me around 45-60 mins every day. Lama tu!

I do not know what it feels like when I reached my third trimester nanti. I hope by then, people would notice a pregnant lady squeezing her way into the LRT, and would offer me a seat. Hope Allah will give me the strength to endure a tough journey going back and forth to work...No doubt, kat luar sana ramai yang lagi susah daripada I. But, for someone yang biasa berambil berhantar oleh suami, bila dah kena macam ni, terasalah peritnya jugak...That's life...

But that does not change the feeling I got for the morning and evening rush...I still hate them!!

Woke-up from the 'Dead'...

Unlike other weekends where I chose to spend time at home (yelah..asyik rasa nak muntah je), last weekend I woke up feeling fresh and healthy.

"What's our plan for today? Kalau takde plan, jom kita gi KLCC!"

Hubby looked at me one-kind, probably he was suprised that I'm feeling energetic after 2 months of melepek habis.

So, we all siap-siapkan Ashraff and off we went to KLCC, planning to check out Isetan sale and get some books for Ashraff. We reached there around 11 a.m, where KLCC still has ample parking.

As usual, KLCC is jam-packed with people. First things first, check out Isetan dulu. Takde mood nak cari kasut, or even my own clothing. Probably due to the fact that sooner or latter, kaki akan bengkak semacam and perut akan memboyot. So, we went to men's department. I persuaded hubby to buy a new office shirt, though he refused to. "Tempat kerja baru, kenalah pakai baju baru". "50% ni, bukan selalu dapat murah cam ni". "Yang ni 60%. Lagi murah!". This wife is testing her persuasive power. Hubby gave in and bought himself a shirt...Bingo!

Then, to the children's department. I wanted to buy a gift for Anissa's new-born baby boy. It turned out Hush Puppies had a promotion for its kids' wear at that level. So they are giving out balloons everywhere. Ashraff got one too. Then, while waiting for me browsing through some maternity jeans, hubby and Ashraff waited at a corner, near a door meant only for Isetan staff. Suddenly, the door was pushed open, and out came a tall and big Hush Puppies mascot with all his escorts, clad in HP's t-shirt and carrying colourful balloons.

The first kid that the mascot saw was of course my lil Ashraff, since he is just a footstep away from the door. Alamak! I started panicky. I rushed to Ashraff and hold his shoulder, ready to console him, just in case he is afraid of the big and tall doggie. To my suprise, my cheeky lil boy, made a huge smile and shake the mascot's hand. Pheww!! Dia tak takut...what a relief!

Me and hubby thought we could continue shopping calmly, without having to deal with Ashraff's fear. But we were wrong! Few minutes after the HP's mascot was out of our sight, Ashraff suddenly shrieked "Goong, goong!! Goong, goong!!" (the sound of a dog), while pointing to the mascot's direction. He tried to escape from his stroller. That gave us the sign that he wanted us to follow the mascot. What?!! Helllloooo...Relaxlah babe...Ibu belum done with the shopping, and you expect us to parade with the mascot?!

But he insisted us to do it. So, here we are, trying our best to manoeuver in the crowded place, just to find the lost doggie. Ashraff pulak tak berhenti-henti "Goong! Goong!". Ishk, mana pulak 'goong, goong' ni? Takkan sekejap je dah hilang...

We found the mascot near Isetan's exit, surrounded by children. Some were smiling, and some were crying out of fear, while the parents were trying their best to console their kids. Ada seorang bapak tu siap mintak belon kat one of the escorts, "Boleh mintak satu belon untuk anak saya tak? Dia takut nak salam the mascot." Macam-macam kerenah...

Ashraff was just the opposite. He is crying because he wanted to see his 'goong-goong'. And selagi tak dapat, selagi tulah menjerit-jerit. "Sabarlah dude...Ramai orang ni. Your turn will come very soon".

At last, sampailah turn Ashraff untuk salam dengan his fav mascot, lagi sekali. As the mascot reached out his hand to shake Ashraff's hand, this currently grinning-from-ear-to-ear Ashraff not only come out with one hand, but two hands, meaning which he wanted the doggie to carry him!! With such thick mascot suit, I knew that it's impossible for the doggie to do it. Alamak!! Now Ibu is afraid Ashraff will cry out of dissapointment. But alhamdulillah, he did not. Instead, he just grinned and waved goodbye to the doggie. As a gift, Ashraff received another balloon. So unlike other kids who got one balloon each, Ashraff got two!! And he hold tight to the two balloons while Ibu and Ayah continued shopping...

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Malamnya pulak, still feeling energetic after 1 1/2 power nap in the day, I agreed to follow hubby to his friend's brother's wedding. What motivated me to attend the wedding was Haariz's mommy is coming along, so Ashraff has Haariz as a company. Takdelah boring sangat since dia ada kawan.

Since Ashraff and Haariz (2 months older than Ashraff) are an only child (so far) and taken care by the grandparents and maid respectively, I am so looking forward to see whether Ashraff can mix and make friends well with children his age (selalunya budak baya ni suka kawan dengan kids three, fours years older than them). Both Ashraff's and Haariz's skills are at par, cuma Haariz punya vocab banyaklah berbanding Ashraff. Perangai pun lebih kurang je. So they got along pretty well. Mungkin sebab bapak dengan bapak sekepala, anak pun samalah agaknya. My hubby and Haariz's mommy's hubby were schoolmates.

Here are some captures of the night, courtesy of Haariz's mommy (thanks beb!):-


Ashraff in white and Haariz in red, communicating with a language that only they could understand.


Haariz showing his knee after a fall at a rocky surface and Ashraff looking...with sympathy? Or is he just analyzing the situation?.


Masing-masing layan diri...


Ada tokoh tak nak bukak daycare centre? Muahahaha...


Hei, apa yang Ashraff buat tu?


Haariz, gelilah bunga manggar tu!!

Lepas ni, kalau badan rasa sihat dan segar, the next time hubby has his futsal session with his schoolmates, I will sure to bring Ashraff along so he could have his own futsal game with Haariz...

Celoteh di pagi hari...

Ishk..rasanya macam very plain this blog without any self-taken picchas. Kenapalah boleh rosak pulak lense digital camera tu?? Have not bring the camera for repair as yet, thus, no clue at all on how much it will cost, and whether it's worth to repair or just buy a new one...In anyway, money is involved here...Duit lagi...

Tetiba terfikir pulak how it will be like if I were born in a filthy rich family like this lad here...
One month old Barron William Trump, the son of Donald Trump


Would life be much easier with money to buy for almost anything??

Ishk...where is this topic lead to? I have no idea. It's just my rants and rambles this early morning, before I start buat kerja office yang memeningkan kepala ini...

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Sambung celoteh lagi...

I've recently bought two novels at Times Bookshop. I've finished one - Heiress for Hire by Erin McCarthy and currently reading The Pact by Jodi Picoult. I'm trying my luck reading books written by authors that I am not familiar with.

The first book is hilarious and romantic at the same time. Hubby was suprised that I read such book, because the cover itself signifies how light the content is. But I enjoyed the book very much. No wonder the rating given by Amazon is 5 stars!!

It's about a daughter of a rich man, who was forced to hunt for a job when his father decided to cut all her allowances and credit card usage just to teach her the meaning of 'tough love'. She ended up being a babysitter at a farmer's house - a young and handsome farmer. So macam biasalah, they fall in love...

Simple, typical and predictable story. But the dialogue is so funny and unexpected that it makes me imagine what a story it will turn out to be if it is adopted for the big screen. I'm imagining Alicia Silverstone to take up the role of the heiress...Hehehe...wild imagination...

Unlike the former one, this second book I’m reading carries a more serious and heavy content. It’s about two teenagers who fall in love and one is found dead, while the other is heavily wounded. The survived teenager claimed that he and his girlfriend were involved in a suicide pact. As parents who view their children as obedient, no sign of depression whatsoever, the news left a big question “Do we ever really know our children at all?”.

Scary thought! It makes me think, when our children are small, they look up to us for everything..almost everything. But when they are bigger, a teenager perhaps, can we ever control them? Can I – with my own children? Now, I understand how freaking strict my parent were when I was in my teens. Nak pergi sana dengan sapa? Nak tidur rumah kawan?! Nak pergi camping? Sapa lagi ikut? Biar mak abah hantar…Masa tu tension tak ingat punya!! But now, when I become a mother myself, I begin to understand the tough journey of the being a parent. Eeee…susah jugak yek…Berpeluh memikirkannya…

Find the Treasure...

Yippee! We had so much fun during the long weekend.


We joined the fun and excitement of Amazing Trails 2006, an annual treasure hunt event co-organized by Tribe Toyota and Huntmaster. Basically the Tribe Toyota membership is opened to all users or buyers of Toyota Unser, Innova, Avanza, Hilux, Fortuner and RAV4 which is catagorised as tribe toyota vehicle (oh, i hope i get the facts right).

This is the first time I joined a 'public' treasure hunt event as the prior three events I participated were organized by my Bank. Pheww!! It was such a big event with 57 cars, lined up infront of UMW Toyota building in PJ as early as 7 a.m. in the morning. Each team member were given a nice canvas bag filled with t-shirt, cap, some stationaries and guidelines. Then we were served by LaCucur's yummylicious breakfast (I have to say it's yummylicious since I can eat tremendously despite my current situation). During the breakfast, we were given a simple briefing by the organizer. This briefing is vital for first-time participants, but for others, it is a good refresher course.

Basically, in this race, we have to solve 30 questions, in which the answers are the signboards along the road. And find 4 treasures, which are things that we need to find and buy along the way. Then we have 5 road safety questions (kacang putih!) and a bonus point of 10 marks for being able to 'pancing' 5 golf balls in a minute at McDonalds Senawang.

The flag-off started at around 8.30 a.m. We were given 6 hours to reach the checkpoint (which I love to refer as pit-stop..ala-ala Amazing Race). But hell, the time is so limited! We never encounter problem with timing before, but this time around, it was bad...mostly contributed to the heavy traffic at Plus highway towards Senawang...And the hard questions that need to be solved.

Gee, it was hard! Maybe we are amatuers at this game or maybe we are not creative or observant enough to solve the questions, or maybe our brains have "berkarat" since the last TH we participated was like 2 years ago. But, we really had trouble solving some of the questions and finding the treasures.

Here are some of the questions we received plus the answer in red (some we managed to solve, and some were like Duh!):-
(i) Tom is entwined in this subtle poetry - Optometry @ Kedai Kaca Mata Billion (T-O-M can be found in the word OPTOMETRY, and if you omit TOM from the word and reschuffle the rest of the letters, you get POETRY). Tricky yeah?

(ii) Pregnant? What and Where? - BUNTING@Digital Printing Image (Dot to Dot Image Sdn Bhd) (usually in printing, bunting is pronounce as "banting" but if u try to look at it in another way, it also carries the same spelling as "Bunting" - a Malay word for pregnant). Gee...

(iii) Mushu and friends, perhaps? - DRAGONS @ XXXXX Sdn Bhd (I can't remember the name of the shop as we could not solve this question because we have no idea who is Mushu. Mushu? Is it an Indian name? Or Chinese name? It is actually a character in Mulan, a dragon named Mushu which is Mulan's bestfriend. I did watch Mulan few times but it just didn't cross my mind that day that the answer to the question came from the story. Oh Whateverrr...).

So that is 3 out of 30 questions that we received. It is very challenging, thus me and hubby love to enter this kind of event coz it is a way for us to exercise our brain and simultaneously, keep the adrenalin pumping.

The drawback is that I am not fit to go through the whole race without feeling lethargic. Half way during the race, my feet sore and I felt fatigue. The good thing was I didn't feel like throwing up the food I ate during the journey. Hubby asked me to stay in the car while he and the rest of our team hunt for answer. I tried to confine myself, but would not able too. Mana boleh dok diam dalam kereta je. It is so tempting to search for answers! So, I drag my sore feet and walked back and forth to search for answer.

By the time I reached the hotel, I could not stand any further and immdiately jumped into the very 'empuk' tilam and doze off to la-la land.

At around 8 p.m, we had the gift-giving ceremony plus a very lovely dinner. Suprise, suprise, no one is a loser in the race coz each team received a price (cuma besar atau kecik ajelah). Least than expected, we ended up in 25th position out of 57. Not bad...considering we missed out almost half of the questions. We obtained RM150 voucher of "the-big-blue-and-yellow-building" at Mutiara Damansara as our TH prize. Yippee!!

Half way through the ceremony, we received a phone call from Mak and Abah, and was asked to pick-up Ashraff at the lobby. Despite such an eventful day, I still missed my lil Ashraff. So, I am so glad to see his face, grinning at me the moment he saw me. Another reason to celebrate...

All in all it was such a fun occassion for both me and hubby. The sad thing is this will be the last event that we can participate since hubby has joined UMW Holdings (UMW Toyota's parent company) yesterday, and all Toyota's staffs are not allowed to enter such public event...Too bad...

Ahhh...there are other places who organized such event. To sesapa yang nak cuba nasib dalam TH ni, why don't you check out Time Out Solutions for a start. Their next coming events are The Sun Motor TH in June and AWAM Hunt in July. Sapa nak pergi?! Kalau tak cukup orang nak make one team, kami sudi meng'offer' diri walaupun kami ini tidaklah terrer mana-:)

Happy Thoughts, Everybody!

After few emotional and dramatic postings, I decided to change the setting to a happy mode...

HAPPY LABOUR DAY to all labourers/workers out there!
AND ENJOY THE THREE DAYS HOLIDAYS!!

InsyaAllah, we're off to Malacca for Treasure Hunt competition organized by Toyota. It's been almost three years since both me and hubby joined any treasure hunting event so we are definitely looking forward for it. We have to leave Ashraff in the care of his beloved Tok Mak and Tok Abah for half a day. By evening, we should be able to see his adorable face again as my Mak and Abah promise to drop him off at Malacca on their way back to Muar (kampung Abah). I was just hoping to get one night sleep without Ashraff. Hey, not that I'm a selfish mother...but I just want to try test tengok whether I still remember how to sleep soundly with no interruption of "air! air!" (For Ashraff, air = milk) in the middle of the night.

But on second thought, I don't think I would be able to not to see his face for two days. And I don't think I would be able to sleep peacefully either coz I must be missing him badly.

I'm just hoping I'm fit to travel, plus able to think straight and wisely sambil baca map dalam kereta yang bergerak. Phewww..that reminds me I have to bring loads of sick bags, just in case...

I hope I can have a good rest tonigt so I can wake up fresh and healthy tomorrow..Think only happy thoughts!

P.S : If u expect to see some photos of the event, I'm afraid I won't be able to do it coz the lense of our beloved Canon's digital camera is damaged!!! Now u know why it's been such a long time since I posted Ashraff's photo in my blog...Dangg!!

No Hope...

I believe that 'Di Sebalik Setiap Kejadian, Pasti Ada Hikmahnya'. Well, I hope I still believe in that.

We HAVE to send back our current maid home. That is final say. Muktamad, and could not be revoked. Though I still hope there is miracle somewhere.

Hubby went to see the doctor that did the X-Ray for the first time, just as per his advise. He instructed hubby to do a second X-Ray, at another Fomema's panel. Apparently, that seems to be the procedure should the first one showed negative/abnormal result. So, my maid did a second X-Ray at a clinic somewhere in Jalan Pudu.

The X-Ray result this time around is more alarming than the first. It shows that the inflammation at her heart, has left white spottings at her lung, which is a sign of Tuberculosis (or better known as Tibi). This disease could be spread by air. Yikes! But since most of us here in Malaysia have taken early immunisation, thus the probability for us to be infected by the disease is rather small (but we still want to do a family check-up to confirm this).

A great task for me is when I have to break the news to my maid. Just as expected, she broke into tears when I told her the news. But she recovered quickly by saying "Semua ini ketentuan Allah. Rejeki pun ditangannya. Mudah-mudahan rezeki saya lebih besar di Indonesia." This time around I broke into tears. I could not help it. I know how hard it is to earn a living back there, and with the disease she have, a single parent and no money for medication, how will that help her to ease her burden.

On the other hand, our family has to fork-up extra money to get a new maid, who might not be as reliable, religious and good as her.

I brought up this matter to mak and abah. Mak decided to do some "amal jariah" by saying she wants to get Bibik some medication before she left Malaysia coz Mak knows she could not afford to pay for the medication without any salary. So hubby and I decided to appeal to Imigration Dept for an extension of stay so we could prepare the necessary rather than having to send her on this 2nd of May.

Alhamdulillah, she got an extension of one month stay with us. That allows Abah to check out the fee and procedure at Pusat Respiratori Kebangsaan. From the info that Abah gathered, the fee is around RM100 ++ (excluding medication). Mak said she'll take care of that. The extension of stay also allows me to apply for Ashraff's passport since me, Abah and Mak plan to follow Bibik to Indonesia (hubby tak boleh ikut sebab tempat kerja baru takde cuti..poor fellow!). Apart from that, we can help Bibik to find some recipe books and baking tools as she planned to bake and sell some Malaysian cookies in Indonesia (something similar to what she did before she decided to come here).

At the same time, we have to start find a new maid. And as usual, our criteria will be:-
1) Age 30-35 years old.
2) At least two children.
3) Wear hijab (preferably dalam rumah pun just like our current maid).
4) Has previous working experience (tak penting sangat but kalau dapat macam ni, tak payahlah we all nak ajar step by step on what to do).
5) A widow (we believe that kalau widow ni, dia desperate to earn a living here to besarkan anak-anak so they will work properly and sincerely).

Basically those were our personal guideline and opinion on finding the right maid. But, this all depends on Rezeki dan Ketentuan Allah. I'm just hoping that I'll find a maid just like Aidah or better than Aidah...

Fomema's check-up.

Our maid is due for Fomema's check-up in order for us to renew the levy. So, last week on Saturday, hubby brought her to the nearest Fomema's appointed clinic. She went through the ordeal - take some blood sample, x-ray and some medical history checking. Except for the gastric problem she has, which my maid confessed and was given medication, others seemed to turn out alright.

But, we know the blood test and the X-Ray's results are still unknown coz according to the clinic, it will take around one week to get the result.

However, it came earlier than expected. Right after lunch, I got a call from dear hubby.

"Doctor called me just now. The result is out. Fomema tak approve sebab Bibik punya jantung ada bengkak sikit."

WHAT??!! YA ALLAH!!

"So what do we do now? Kita kena hantar dia balik ke?" NOOOOO!!!

"I pun tak tau nak buat apa ni. But doctor asked me to come and see him coz he knows what to do."

Ok, from what I understand, there is still hope for Bibik to stay with us. BUT, the result, presently, is still negative!! I do not know what is the probability for Bibik to continue working with us, but the thought that Fomema rejected her stay in Malaysia scares me to death.

One thing for sure, we do not know whether we would be able to get a substitute maid as reliable as her. I would not say she's 100% perfect but being older than me and has more children than we do, she has greater experience than us when it comes to handling kids. I have to say she is more patient than me in managing Ashraff's tantrum (termasuklah ikan-atas-darat action), which sometimes (or most of the times) gets me on my nerves.

And after I got to know I was pregnant and encountered complications like spotting, most of Ashraff's time is spent with Bibik. My maid is the one who has to carry Ashraff everytime his heart desires, coz I wouldn't be able to do that. As a result, Ashraff is more attached to her as compared to me (though I hate to admit it).

Am I jealous of her since Ashraff is so attached to her? Of course! But, I would not blame her or Ashraff that this things happened. Probably it's me to be blamed...

So now, if we were force to send her home...gee..I can't think of how life would be without her around. Not only Ashraff, but both me and hubby are dependable on her. I believe I would be able to resume my position as super-wife and super-mommy if I am not pregnant. But with a baby growing in a tummy, I got tired easily (and this time around, asyik ngantuk je!).

Just as much as we are dependable on her, she also needs us as her employer. She is a single parent with three kids in Indonesia aged 17, 14 and 9. Most of her salaries are sent back home to finance her children's education. She always told us how difficult it is to earn a living in Indonesia and how things are way more expensive there as compared to here (e.g. petrol price and some food items). From what she told me, I can gauge her sincerity to work here. And for us to break the news that her health check-up does not go through, it must have break her heart.

Oh my, am i being too emotional here? Alamak, seriously I do not what to do lah. Sekarang ni nak concentrate on office work pun susah...Macamana ni??

Ahhh...i better go and perform my Dzhur's prayer, and pray to Allah that there's hope for her to stay for at least another year before her contract expires. Oh doc, please let there be any medication to cure that mild inflammation...and appeal for her to stay longer...

My Absence from the Blogsphere...

Thanks for all the wishes and prayers. Alhamdulillah, my pregnancy is going out pretty well here (though I still have the sickness)...

I know I have been disconnected from blogging for almost a month. Apart from the regular sick leaves that I took (my boss mesti fed-up punya, but I can't help it), let just admit I am in a mental block state for the last few weeks. Agaknya kalau lama sangat tak menulis ni, otak berkarat...Even now it is still berkarat...

This "berkaratness" started off with a one week MC that I was forced to take, leaving me internet-less (and blog-less) at home. I had brown spotting/staining for 6 days. Seriously, I freaked out at the first sight of the spotting!! Yikes!! What do I do? What have I done? One thing for sure, Rafiqah is trying to become a doctor by pepandai reduce the dosage of her Duphaston, just because she could not stand the effect/sickness. At that point of time, I told myself if anything happens to the baby, I am the one who is supposed to be blamed...

So both me and hubby rushed to the gynae for an immediate check-up. Alhamdulillah, the sac is still intact...and we also witnessed the baby's heartbeat for the first time! Gynae gave me jap to further strenghten my womb. Ouch!

I was advised to rest in bed till the spotting stops. Minus the sickness, it was a bliss to be able to rest at home as I got to spend time with Ashraff. But after a while, without internet, confined to bed and ran out of materials to read and unable to replenish the stock, made me bored. Kena-kena pulak credit handphone pulak habis! Seriously mati kutu!

Thank God it lasted for 6 days only and then I am off to work. It is not that I am excited to go to the office (my goal is to work@home, remember?!), but being able to feel alive and kicking bring out the best in me. On the way to work, I already planned on what to do. Check emails, reply important emails, blog and blog hopping, top-up my credit etc,etc, etc.

But as I reached office...Alamak! Banyaknya kerja! Stress, stress. No time to check personal emails (as the official ones dah cukup memeningkan kepala), and what more to blog.

And bila dah 2 minggu tak blog, the "berkaratness" has taken its toll. Can u sense how berkarat I am with the bahasa rojak I wrote in this entry?!

It wasn't easy this time around...

I felt sick all day. It wasn't as easy as the first time.

I am 7 weeks pregnant. I am happy and grateful to Allah for granting my prayers to conceive the second time. Just like what we have planned, a two-year age gap between our Ashraff and his baby brother/sister. Alhamdulillah.

It is too early to shout about and tell the whole world. But I just think I have to share the pain and worry I am going through...

The first ultrasound image of the gestational sac does not look good. According to the Obgyn at the maternity clinic that I visited, the sac looked unstable. A normal gestatinal sac should show a 'double sac sign'. Meaning which, there is a thick outline of white in colour surrounding the sac, which is black in colour.

This is how the normal sac looks like.
But mine, the line is vague. It was not as clear as Ashraff's. Doctor asked me few times (like as if she does not believe of my answer) whether I have any spotting and bleeding. My answer is 'No'. So far so good, alhamdulillah. What she told me next scares me to death. She told me only 15% of pregnant women is in this condition. 15%!!! Like out of 100, only 15 women shared the same experience! Yikes!!

I asked her the reason for this. She told me that my pregnancy hormone is low. Thus, the sac is unstable. So, she gave me this medication called 'Duphaston' which is very pricey indeed. RM3 for one tablet and I have to take 2 tablets a day. She gave me 20 tablets so all in all, it costed me RM60 for Duphaston alone, excluding the consultation and folic acid cost.

I don't mind the price, just as long as the feotus inside me grows normally. Hubby advised me not to worry that much. I tried not to think of it that much but as you sit alone (like sekarang ni), I kept thinking of the situation I am in. If only I have one ultrasound machine at home, I will do the scanning every day and see how it goes!

And I feel sad for not having to be able to carry Ashraff everytime he wants me to do it since the sac inside me is too fragile. There are times when Ashraff insisted me to carry and cuddle him, but all I am allowed to do is just to kneel down and hug him. Though he still jumped up and down wanting me to carry him, but I just can't. And I have to asked Hubby or my maid to do it. Ahhhh...I feel bad...

Now let me tell you the Duphaston effect. It was bad! I feel nausea and vomitting every single meal that I consumed. I do not like the taste of plain water. Every morning, I have to drag my feet to work. I am completely flat during last weekend. I could not accompany Hubby to Sogo and KLCC to search for his new backpack. I could not cook for the family. And here I am sitting in my office room, feeling dizzy after a round of throwing up, writing this entry.

It wasn't this bad with Ashraff. I am energetic. Pregnancy that time was great! My face glowed throughout the whole 40 weeks. I only suffered a mild 'night sickness' during the first trimester, and that's it!

Guess, it is totally different this time around. I have heard people saying that the first trimester effect is due to psychology...Hmmm...and some said it is due to age factor...Hmmm...And another said can be due to metabolism rate...Hmmm...I would say that it depends on your luck.

Whatever the effect might be, I just wish that everything goes out well for the baby and me. I hope in my next check-up which is due in two weeks time, I would be able to see the heartbeat of my unborn baby. I just hope that I could enjoy this pregnancy just like I did the first time...Please pray for us...

A Costly Journey

Just came back from our Balik Kampung Trip last two days. This time around, it is very costly indeed. All in all, with journey to Kulai for Fitri's cousin engagement, then Johor Bharu for a sleepover at Tok Mak's house, then the next day to Kota Tinggi to visit Fitri's uncle, and then proceed to MIL's house in Pontian, has cost us RM310!!!.

This hike in petrol price has definitely burned hole in our pocket. Macamana nak pergi Cuti-Cuti Malaysia ni???!!!

Ashraff 'ambil upah'...

I'm grinning from ear to ear when reading this entry made by another blogging mommy...Thanks a lot my friend!

That's not the only reason I am thrilled, though. Another reason is the fact that Ashraff has fully recovered from a high fever he suffered from for the last 4 days. Remember how I was feeling guilty for having to lost my temper at him the other day? After lunch, on the same day, I received a phone call from my mother telling me Ashraff's temperature has gone up. This news definitely caused the super-guilty mother to blame herself for what had happened, thinking that the fever was all her fault.

After merely depending on fever medication and antibiotics for the next three days, we brought Ashraff to the specialist. Paeditrician suspected it was a dengue and recommended for a blood test. But this stubborn mama opposed to the suggestion and decided to leave with the medication he prescribed Ashraff with. And a promise to return should the fever did not subside for good for the next two days.

Alhamdulillah, it finally decided to go away on the same day we brought Ashraff to the paeditrician (saja je nak suruh Ibu & Ayah paid the specialist fees). And both me and Hubby..and even Ashraff were overjoyed about it, despite every one of us looking haggard due to insufficient sleep.

Something which I noticed once he had recovered from the fever is he gained a lot of new skills and extra vocabs. My mother told me the fever is probably to 'nak ambil upah' for being able to acquire new skills.

Some of Ashraff’s new skills are as follows:-

· Being able to identify and point out his Ayah’s car at a parking lot as big as KLCC’s.
· Not only Ayah but his Atok Abah’s car too.
· Dictate us on when he wants to see his favourite Disney Playhouse Channel on Astro. Me and hubby were watching CSI and the case was just about to be solved, when Ashraff suddenly came to us, brought along the remote control, pointed at the TV and uttered some meaningless words. But when we tried to ignore him, the louder he sounded and started to throw tantrum. So, there goes our CSI that night…
· Persuades us to open the TV the moment he get up from sleep.
· Being able to imitate melody perfectly.
· More precaution if he wants to jump from a chair or table. Guess he has developed more cause-and-effect sense.

And his new vocabs are:-
· Je-Je (for Jojo the Circus)
· Sing song that somehow the words do make sense like ‘Wai, Wai, ge way’ (for Rain,rain, go away).
· Air, instead of ‘Air Keda’ for anything in liquid form, even his milk.
· One-Two
· Ba-Ba (for Atok Abah)
· Mak (for Atok Mak)
· Bibi (for Bibik, my maid).

But Ibu??? Masih tak pass…Even ‘Bu’ pun tidak!!!

Oh yeah, something so obvious lately is his baby-babble speech has changed from a lot of ‘ke, a, pe, de’ to a lot of ‘ish, ush, oh, ahh. It must have come from watching too much Disney Playhouse Channel till all his words sounds more of English than Malay…Ahhh kids nowadays…

What have I done??!!

What's got into me yesterday??

Ashraff has pushed my patience to its limit, and I was in rage..towards him..

But when he cried himself to sleep...


A feeling of guilt and regret rushed through me..
Oh why can't I be a little bit more patient??
I kissed and hugged him while he's sleeping..but that did not wash the guilt away...

This morning, I left to work...and he is still sleeping...
And this impatient mother is still blaming herself for not being able to hold back her anger yesterday...

I can see his smiley face everywhere now...I want to go back home and be there the first time he opens his eyes, greeting me good morning...

What's got into me yesterday??

Watch out for INFLATION folks!

Fuel price has ridiculously increase by 30 cents. BLR (Base Lending Rate) will follow suit. Soon, other goods and services will too. The effect is of course, INFLATION!! And who suffers the most?! We, of course!

Hubby had gone ballistic over this issue yesterday. He has done his calculation and looks like the hike in petrol price has caused a major blow in our financial budget, with balik kampung and what not. Even increment in salary (yang teramatlah ciput tu) would not be able to cover our very-soon-to-be fatter expenses. Pening, pening...Sometimes I wonder what it would be like for those lower-income earner than us, with a greater number of family member. They must have suffered the most.

At least for us, we have started to use public transport to go to work. But to tell you the truth, despite hubby very much liking to go to work with LRT and such since he doesn't have to drive, this lady of comfort (moi!) do not quite like it. Probably I was pampered all this while because I was chauffeured-driven back and forth to work, so I could catch up on sleeping time, eat, adjust my tudung, put on my lipstick etc in the car. Now, I have to walked in the rain or under the hot sun to go to Putra LRT, changed to Star, then take feeder bus back home. Hubby made a remark "Naik Star and bus pun chauffeur-driven jugak..Some more it is a good exercise since u nak sangat kuruskan badan tu..." Oh well, kalau dah spoilt tu spoilt jugak..

**************

On a different note, Hubby is shifting to a new working place, under different company that is. He has received an offer from UMW toyota, a company that he has been eyeing for quite sometime. The only drawback now is that he has to travel all the way to Shah Alam to work. And lots of outstation trip too!! I don't mind (I hope I don't) just as long as he is happy.

So, with the current company that he is attached to, it only lasted for 8 months since it is a contract basis and a probability for them not renewing his contract is there. As a wife, I am happy for him and wish him all the best in his new venture!