Over The Weekend

It was a fulfilling long break. A bit too overwhelming, I must say.

As mentioned in my last post, I took leave on Thursday and Friday, just to finish up the order for chocolate wrapper and also to boost up the milk supply by feeding Aliff directly. Killing two birds with one stone. But I’ve killed more than two birds. The long leave is also used to care for sick people.

Aliff was down with high fever. It was the first fever he got since he was born. Together with fever, he also suffered diarrhea. Looks like diarrhea bug has been harassing the household for the past few weeks, starting from Ashraff, then me, then Mak, and the latest victim, Aliff. Kesian mamat tu. He lost like more than 1 kilo. Thank God, he was not admitted to the hospital as he still takes up his milk and food normally.

But Alhamdulillah, I manage to juggle between the three tasks – chocolate wrapping, breastfeeding and caring for Aliff, all within the span of four days. In my case, I just need a helper to be able to do all three:)

Please have a look at the chocolates I made for my friend’s wedding at my lil gift shop. Too bad I miss out on her resplendent wedding function as I have to take care of Aliff. I'm sure Fina and Izreen will blog about this event so I would be able to see what it’s like (and find out what I’ve missed).

I’ve also missed doing some of the other things I planned to do over the weekend:-

1. Balik kampung to attend Hubby’s cousin wedding. Only Hubby and Ashraff went back. I had to stay at home to monitor Aliff. Just in case, the diarrhea worsens, he has to be admitted to the hospital, so we wouldn’t want to take the risk of going back to kampung.

2. Pick a name for the C.M.O.G’s free giveaway. Reason being, orang yang ditugaskan untuk pick a name telah balik kampung ikut Ayahnya. So, for those who have left a comment, don’t despair. InsyaAllah, we’ll do it within this week. Will announce once done.

Oh yeah, this Sunday will be Ashraff’s 3rd birthday. I’m currently cooking something for his birthday. In fact, this year we plan to do a double birthday bash for both Ashraff and Aliff. Though their birthdays are three month apart, I thought of doing it at one go. Malas nak organize birthday party banyak kali. Since it's double celebration, we plan to do it a bit grander than what we used to do.

This time around we intend to do a theme party. We are still contemplating on the theme, but more or less, it’s going to be a superhero theme. Spiderman and Batman party, maybe. All blue & red and yellow & black. Oh, Ibu has no experience in planning a theme party, but shall try her level best. And what’s important must be within our budget.

Date-wise, it’s going to be in early December. Big probability it will be on 8th December 2007. This time around we are going to hire a pro photographer for the event, which happens to my good college friend, Ezwa.

But, on this Sunday, we plan to do a simple cake-cutting ceremony at LW together with Ashraff’s school friends and teacher. I thought of making Ashraff clad in a personalized t-shirt on the day. And I’ve also design a chocolate wrapper for Ashraff’s friend and teacher.

The Front View

The Rear View

This is the design on Ashraff’s t-shirt. Simple je. Yang ni tengoklah sempat ke tak nak buat. Ibu ni bercita-cita tinggi but at the same time is too tied up with office work. After taking leave and MC, work is piling like hell. But if it materializes, I’ll share with you on how you can have the T-Shirt for your kids as well.

Good News...

Thank you for all the support I've got from you people out there. Sometimes, I guess I'm pushing myself too hard. I can try my best to breastfeed Aliff fully, but it's all up to Allah's Will on whether I'll be able to do it. Then again, this doesn't mean that I'll stop trying.

I'm currently pumping three times in the office. Alhamdulillah, milk supply has increased. Not so much like before but improving. Aliff is still taking formula as I couldn't keep stock, and whatever I've got for a day's pumping is not even enough for next day's consumption.

We've changed to a new formula, and I think he took it well. Just for your info, he's drinking Lact0gen, one of the cheapest formula in town. This is just what Ashraff took when he was Aliff's age, before we changed him to Dugr0.

Of course, like I mentioned, I still want to try my level best to eliminate cow's milk from his system. So, I did quite few things apart from increasing my pumping time:-

1. I start to drink fenugreek (halba) drink.
2. I resume taking my special Soy Drink powder (which I stopped drinking when I got the food poisoning).
3. I drink lots of water (double than what I used too).
4. I consumed lots of green veges (coz my maid said that green leaves can help boost up the supply). I don't quite like eating veges but for the sake of breastfeeding, I'll do what I can..
4. I want to try the longan drink which I got from joining susuibu.com's forum (thanks to Cik Dah for your advise).

And tomorrow and Friday I'll be on leave. I hope I can breastfeed Aliff directly then. Nope, I don't take this leave semata-mata sebab nak increase the supply, but it's more of finishing the chocolate wrapping assignment for my friend's wedding. So, this is like killing two birds with one stone mission...

Ok, got to go. Hubby is waiting...and it's already 8.30 pm...

From "Exclusive" To "Mixed"

21st July 2007. This is the date when Aliff got it's first taste of formula milk.

I'm sad. But I can't help it.

Here's the story...

Referring to my last post, alhamdulillah, on the same day itself, Ashraff has stopped vomitting and on Friday, he has regained his energy. His appetite is still so-so, but I think it's more of him and his usual of-and-on mood on eating.

But bila anak dah sihat...

Ibu pulak sakit.

I was down with quite a severe food poisoning, both vomitting and diarrhea. It started on Thursday night, like in the middle of the night and continued till Friday. I was weak and flat the whole day, and Aliff (and Ashraff) was left in the care of Bibik. Aliff has to depend entirely on the leftover EBM stock in the fridge, coz I am too weak to even breastfeed him directly. Only at night, he sleeps with me and that was the only time he got to breastfeed directly (itupun hanya sekali je dia bangun).

By the time Saturday came, I had lost quite a lot of body fluid, and I haven't eaten well (jenis kalau makan je, keluar balik semua), so my milk supply was badly affected. Aliff was furious caused he couldn't get his normal supply of milk. We've run out of stock at that time. Everything is in vain and our only choice is to supplement him with formula. He couldn't accept it at first. But because he was too hungry for milk, he walloped the whole bottle.

I don't know why but at that point of time, I don't feel sad at all. Maybe I was too weak to even think properly.

Then, Aliff started to pass watery stools few times in a day. And Ibu was panicky. And tired as well, coz lepas satu, satu kena penyakit yang sama. Probably he's allergic to the formula that we've given him as he has diaper rash as well.

So, not waiting to let the problem continues, I ate whatever I can despite my bad appetite and took lots of drinks, in hope that I would be able to feed Aliff directly and build-up my stock as well. But as of yesterday night, my supply still does not suffice. Aliff was hungry so he tend to 'bergayut' and I couldn't put him down to sleep. Pukul 2 pagi barulah dia tidur peacefully. Terasa macam dalam pantang pulak semalam. Oh, you don't know how I feel last night...It was teribble! Frustrated, sad, pity, incomplete..semua ada.

And today since I'm working, he has to be supplemented by the same formula. Ahhh...sedih. So far, report from home said that Aliff is doing fine with the formula. But I want Aliff to be back on his fully-breastfeeding mode. Been reading on 'relactation' subject. Not an easy task. Lot of hard work, but I really hope I would be able to do it.

Oh yeah, another thing that I hate from having to go through all these occurrences is that I've lost almost 3 kilos in just 3 days time. Am I on crash diet or something?! I really need to gain back my weight. I look like a school girl, okay. Tak suka!

When your child is sick...

The mother will feel sick as well.

That's what I'm feeling right now. Ashraff is not feeling well. He has been vomitting since last Tuesday. We've bought him to the specialist yesterday night, and he is still very much fatigue. Maybe because he is not given milk like usual. Or probably because he haven't eaten all day. He's just lost his appetite. And everytime he feels slightly better and willing to take a bite, he'll vomit again, right after the food is digested.

Oh...

I am sick worried. This is my first encounter with food poisoning symptom like this. Never before Ashraff (or Aliff) suffered from severe vomitting or diarrhea. I'm so used to seeing Ashraff so active, running and jumping around, that when he's lembik and terkulai layu like this, I'm helpless and sad. He has lost 1/2 kilos in just two days.

So far, the only thing that eases my mind is that he's been taking lots of plain water. So, that prevents him from dehydration.

Ahhh...I just hope he recovers quickly and regain his energy (and weight).

Lambatnya pukul 5.30!!

Two entries in a day?
You got to be kidding..
Nope, I’m not.
I’m dead bored here, okay?!
Nothing much to do. Nothing urgent.
Actually kalau nak cari2 kerja atau nak buat housekeeping bolehlah..
Tapi cam malas pulak.

So I ended up making another entry. Kalau tadi I blog about Ashraff, now on Aliff pulak.

Hmmm..what can I say about this guy. Looking at most photos I got of him, takde satu pun yang berkenan di hati. He is not camera friendly. Susah sangat-sangat nak tangkap gambar dia senyum (or maybe I’m not good with camera). Everytime when I tried to focus the lens on him, he'll immediately notice the camera and change expression. Tension betul!

So, last weekend (apart from taking photos of Abah’s garden) I ended up carrying the big camera wherever I go and happily snapping away.

Barulah berjaya tangkap gambar Aliff senyum. The cheekiest smile yang bisa mencairkan hati ibu and ayahnya.

I'm looking for a good hairdresser for my hair. Ibu cakap my rambut macam landak. Dia cakap lagi kalau nak botakkan sayang pulak.

Aunty Ana said I look very much like Bob from Bob the Builder. What do you think?

This boy is going through some kind of growth spurt, I think.
The last three weeks, he’s still rolling over and still no sign of teeth coming out.
Tetiba within the span of three weeks, BAMM! Gigi dah dua, he’s crawling fastly and now trying to stand up while holding onto something.
And not only that, dia dah pandai rebut benda dengan Abang Ashraff. Apa yang Abang dia pegang, dia nak…Hangin Abang Ashraff dibuatnya!

Bila Abang susu, dia pun nak minum susu jugak.

When two boys ransacking the drawer full of toys...

...and ended up fighting over the same toy.

Eh dahlah. Enough of blogging. Better do some housekeeping…

Mowing the Lawn

It was one lazy Saturday afternoon at around 4 p.m. We were car-less as Hubby took the car for a thorough clean-up (Ashraff threw up in the car and left a major stain on the light-coloured seat), which apparently took like almost 6 hours of our weekend. So, with nothing to do and nowhere to go, I decided to have a walk around the house. Seldom did I have the luxury to have a look at Abah's garden and admire the work he has done in maintaining this piece of land.

Abah always loves gardening. As far as I can remember, Abah has kept the house garden neat and tidy. I wanted to share the same interest as Abah, so I would be able to help him managing the garden. Unfortunately I just could not find the passion to do gardening. Therefore, Abah is the sole person in the house who ensures that the land is mowed and the dried leaves are swept and thrown away.

He also planted trees like rambutan tree, banana tree and papaya tree, thus, we got to enjoy the hasil (what's the word in English?) every now and then.

And now that he’s a retired man, the more time is spent in doing the things he loves.

So when the culprit by the name of Ashraff has made a huge hole in the middle of his well-kept garden, I thought Abah would have gone ballistic over it.

But cucu tidak sama dengan anak. Kalau anak buat, maybe yes Abah would have gone mad. But since cucu yang buat, then Abah just smile and said OK. So, here it is. Ashraff’s activity every evening (if it wasn’t raining) – making the big hole deeper and larger.

When I say in the middle of the garden, I really mean it..hehe...

His leg all covered with soil. Sometimes even his hair and t-shirt...

That cheeky lil monster

Well, at least somebody seems to be sharing the same interest with Tok Abah. And that somebody is also Tok Abah’s greatest buddy in ‘manning’ the garden. He in fact climbed up the rambutan tree just to help Tok Abah in picking the fruit. Semangatkan?!

On me, I'm pretty much glad that the new house which we bought and expected to be completed the end of this year, has only one stretch of raw soil. The rest of the compound are tarred and tiled. Thus, I don't have to worry too much on who's going to do the gardening part later on..hehe...

Family Tragedy

For my birthday last month, I received quite a lot of vouchers - T1mes Bookshop voucher, Le0nard Drake's voucher for free facial (yummy!) and also MPH vouchers.

Except for MPH vouchers, the rest I've fully utilise it. Did a lovely gamma facial...and also shopped at T1mes, Kay Ell C-C. Two books that I bought are these:-

I am currently reading the first one - The Memory Keeper's Daughter. I am half way done and like any other good books, it's pretty hard for me to put it down. It is a lovely book written by Kim Edwards (is this the first book she wrote?) about a doctor who found that one of his newborn twins has Down Syndrome and could not accept it. So he gave it away to the care of the nurse-in-charge that night and lied to his wife that their daughter died. The guilt seemed to be haunting him and that somewhat has affect on her relationship with his wife. Her wife, on the other hand, could not accept the fact that her daughter died and felt depressed. She did her best to overcome her feeling, like wanting a new baby, but his husband on the other hand refused to have another one as he's afraid that the baby will turn out to be just like his daughter. The whole situation has slowly eaten up the family institution and torn the family apart.

Yeah, basically the story revolves around guilt and grief, and how in another part of the world, the daughter grew up just fine. Like I say, I haven't finish reading the book (so don't u dare tell me the ending if you have read it..hehe) so I don't know how the family cope with the situation or whether they solve the problem or not.

But what keeps me thinking while reading this book is how a tragedy could affect a good and strong family relationship. What if the girl actually died? Would the same situation happen? I mean, of course, if the girl really died than tak jadik cerita pulak. But yeah, what if that happen? I read somewhere that it took on average of two years for a family to recover from a family tragedy. In the span of two years, anything could happen. You could be mentally affected and never actually recover. You might be a divorcee cause you no longer serve as a functioning wife to your husband so he left you for good. Your kids might be neglected and can grow up to be "sampah masyarakat".

Or otherwise, you could have a stronger family bond. This misfortune ties the bond together. Family member stand up for each other.

I mean, personally I think it all depends on your "kekuatan iman". Of how we accept the qada' and qadar. Of course, it is easier said than done. I'm just praying that nothing bad is going to happen in my family that might affect our relationship...

Being mommy...

Personally, after going through the process of raising Ashraff, I think this is the most tiring phase (as in physically tired) in handling a kid - the phase where the child trying to stand while holding onto something and later cruising until he knows how to walk and go up and down the stairs stably.

This is because this is the time when you have to keep your eyes glued on him/her all the time as he might topple the second you look or move away. He might bang his head on the floor or in a certain more damaging situation, there's blood involved. When I say eyes fixed on him, I really mean it. You have to "membontoti" him all the time, no time to read even the headline in the newspaper or watch the telly.

This is also the time where the ever-loving grandparents will start nagging on my back if anything happen to their cucu. "Ishk, macamana jaga dia ni sampai boleh jatuh?!". Fuhh, my parenting ability is at stake.

And now I have to go through it again. This time around with Aliff.

Some said the easier way out is to put him in a walker, but I don't quite like the idea. I have my reasons but I think I don't want to start a debate here, so might as well I keep it to myself.

Now, I just have to keep it up with him and his pace. At least, the speed this time around is not as bad as with Ashraff. So a tad less tiring...but still tiring. When I think of it again, I cuma sekejap je jaga dia everyday. My maid lagi kesian, almost half of her day is with him, and at the same time kena jaga Ashraff yang boleh tahan banyak jugak permintaannya. The more tiring it is for her...

But, on a positive side, he is making progress normally, alhamdulillah. Ibu tak kisahlah...tak dapat tgk TV pun takpe..hehe.

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

Ashraff is extra thrilled when he got this new Spiderman jacket from his shophaholic Tok Teh.

And as expected, the next day, he wanted to wear the jacket again. He thought this jacket is like normal ordinary clothing, where you can wear it even under the hot sun. Thus (also as expected) he was mad when I demured to his request. As usual, my attempt to strike a balance with this lad was a total failure. But this time around, rather than just keeping a straight face and maintain my coolness, I decided to take photos of him "in action". It dawned to me at that time that I have never taken any picture of him throwing tantrum. This stage might pass, so better if I snap some shots before it's too late (though I really want it to pass soon). So here it is, photos of Ashraff like you've never seen before...hehehe...

This is not one of the extreme tantrums though, coz dia tak jerit2 sangat, or menghempas-hempaskan badannya di lantai. But the camera trick somehow seemed to work. After few shots, he wiped his tears and go "nak tengok gambar boleh?" with smile on his face macam bukan dia yang nangis tadi. Drama king betullah mamat sorang ni!

The next time around, I'm going to take photos of him seperti "ikan atas darat" di shopping-shopping complex. You should hear him cry. It's really, really loud. If you happened to hear a child wailing in shopping complexes, and the sound of it memenuhi seluruh ruang shopping complex tersebut, it might be my lil Ashraff. We have to put up with this like every trip to shopping complexes dan telah banyak kali dimalukan di khalayak ramai, name it kat Carrefour, KLCC, Alamanda, Giant..ishk banyaklah. So the next time around, Ibu is bringing her camera along to capture the moment. Ibu is playing nasty now...hehehe...

Oh,oh, just a kind reminder. Dah comment ke belum at this entry? If not, pls, pls do so coz you might get lucky. It's two more weeks to go before the "contest" (can call contest meh?) ended...I haven't actually announced to public bout this lil biz blog as yet coz I want to give every opportunity for my blogger friends, close friends or relatives to have this product first. I know, I'm in good mood-:)

Alhamdulillah...

That's all I can say right now.

My cousin just delivered me the good news. My husband's visa is approved. And now, after 4 nights of not a single word of "OZ", we can resume talking about the trip again. Thanks to Allah for making this journey possible.

So, OZ here we come!!

InsyaAllah...

Panic Mode!

Ok, take it easy...

I'm in my panic mode, now and I couldn't focus on my work.

With the help of my cousin, we applied for Visa to the 'Land Down Under' thru the ETA system.
And now my cousin called me and told that my hubby's application got rejected!
They just prompt the message "To be referred to Australian Embassy".

What?!

Apa cerita ni? Our tickets are purchased and confirmed. We are all excited to take a long break. And now this...

Now, my dearie cousin is helping to re-apply to the Embassy (we need to give clearer photocopy of Hubby's passport) and it takes them 48 hours to process. So, this is going to be the longest 48 hours of our life...and yet, we don't know the reason why it was rejected in the first place. Shesshhh...

Gosh, this morning I jokingly asked Hubby whether there's any "unfinished business" when we left OZ after graduating. Bil habis bayar tak? Ada hutang sewa? Hutang bank ke? And he answered "No, not that he can remember." Goodness me...

Better go and sembahyang Zohor rather than keep worrying bout it. Probably I get my sanity back after the prayer...

Do pray for us too....

It's "Santa Claus" in July!

Hubby is back in town after being away from the house for two weeks. And together with him is his "Santa Claus sack" which contains loads of nice stuffs he bought in London...yummy!

Mostly are the two boys' stuffs, which are clothings like T-shirts from M0thercare (with 50% discount..yippee!) and England's jerseys (also on great discount). Others are socks, jeans for Ashraff and a pair of shoes for Aliff (and it's just 3 pounds?!).

He bought himself few shirts to wear to the office and England's football jersey, England's collared shirt for Abah and his brother and a set of M&S toiletries for Mak.

Then, he bought lots of M&S's talcum powder as souvenirs to close relatives and friend. Even my maid got to wear M&S powder now...

For Moi, a birthday gift all the way from London - a new DKNY's handbag and M&S's talc, body lotion and shower creme *grinning from ear to ear*.

I guess the only thing that stopped him from buying more things are none other than MONEY...If he was given something extra, he might have buy the whole shop!

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

Now on the Aliff. He's already 8 months old yesterday.

What can I say about this boy..hmmm...

Well, he has started to crawl (but very slowly), and once in a blue moon, he will sit on his own but most of the time, he's off balance. And yes, he has two teeth now, on his bottom gum. So far, breastfeeding is still manageable even with the two teeth jutting out.

Oh yes, I still do fully breastfeed him, alhamdulillah. But have to say, my motivation to pump in the office is running low. Sometimes I only pumped once. Stock is depleting. But it should last for about one or two month. Once it reaches the "red alert" level, then I must take full action to increase my pumping time again. My target is to fully breastfeed him till he's 1 yo.

Aliff is a good eater, I must say, which is totally opposite his brother. It was easier to feed him. He eats almost anything! What makes me proud is that he ate what I cooked for him! Something which Ashraff never did. I thot my cooking was so bad that even a kid won't eat the food I cooked...hahaha...Now, I am more than determine to cook for Aliff.

So, it's pretty much low maintenance for Aliff - fully breastfeed and home-cooked meal (and not forgotten, hands-me-down clothes), making our life as parents of two more manageable. Plus we needed the extra money for the holiday, our new home which shall be completed by the end of this year (oh yes, we've bought a new house near to my parent's place), and Ashraff's school fees (we intend to enrol him in a kindy next year). So, selagi boleh save duit, savelah duit...walaupun kekadang tu terasa sesak (macam duduk dalam kebuk asap).