New Year New Beginning !

Year 2010 is approaching tomorrow and oh boy that is quick right. 2009 just went in a blink!.

Looking back at 2009.
- I can't think really what has happened throughout the year except for the recent one. I know I work pretty hard since I am in project all the way this year ..3 project to be precise so no time wasted just work and work harder.
- I had the opportunity to work fr home pretty frequent. Frequent enough till the kids are so close to me.
- We made a few trips this year. Local and overseas. We went to HK, Bali, Singapore, Penang, PD. Not much really .... especially for local trip ...(which i'll have a new year resolutions for this)
- Now I remember, we are pretty quiet this year because we are renovating parkland house and moving in this year. All the time and money spend thinking about the renovation, buying furniture, electrical stuff, curtain and oh boy a lot more. That is one of our major achievement for this year.
-I had a business trip to Nigeria. A wonderful experience eventho it's during ramadhan. Hubby has been travelling a lot too. Contribute to a quiet year to me.
- Major refinancing. We bought another house, is not a plan purchase but we thought that we should buy it for a various reasons. The purchase has a great impact to our financial and if it doesn't goes according to what we plan for then we are in losing situation. But if it does ! Oh boy am I not the happiest person in the world. We refinance our parkland house as well to be under my name since the new house is under his name. Owh we do not share name for our properties, accounts since if anything should happen (God forbid) it will be easier for both sides to manage the situations. The other reasons for refinancing is to take advantage of the lower BLR, change our insurance plan from MRTA to MRLA and the new loan is a flexible loan that should help us to reduce the interest paid and hopefully pay off the house sooner.
-What else hurm we are supposed to try for our third one. We succeed at first but God has a better plan for us. Hence the miscarriage happen during my birthday week.
-Finally the kids. So many great achievement from them. Like Fawwaz being potty trained. Aariz and his math...he really loves math more that other subject. Owh he loves science too experimenting things. A lot more to write but I keep on telling you guys things that you have known ;)

So 2009 is quiet for me cos we don't go for jalan2 a lot. I really need a travel fix every month but due to our hectic schedule and also financial...we have to stay put this year. But overall I am pretty satisfied with our parkland house and our new hse purchase cos it increase our networth. Major spending where we used a big portion of our cash means 2010 is a recovery year for us.

So 2010 what are we up too?
-Career hubby and I need to work hard to make sure we are relevance to the market ;) Especially hubby right ;) But we still don't know what's going to happen really.
- Travel, hubby has allocated 2 minor travel or 1 major travel (overseas) only for next year. Other than that all will be local travel which is a good idea. This I can start to plan ahead and really looking forward for that!
- Still blur lah...for 2010. I just know the fact that we need to save more to fix the damage made in 2009 (saving year peeps!).
- I have to concentrate more on kids especially Aariz. He's going to school 2011 means I need to ensure he is ready. And more headache to think where should I put him for primary school.
- Owh project for new baby shall continue. But it will be later in 2010 cos I don't want to miss Aariz first day at school.

Happy New Year all and hope it's gonna be a better year for all of us!

When I grow up I want to be....

Aariz asked me today why God created us and the world. Why people get old and die? And why he need to grow. So I explain to him about circle of life. We are created by God to make good things, to learn how to live, to take car of the world and so on so forth. I told him that we all grow. First you are baby then you become big like Fawwaz then bigger like you then like Uncle Jeyin (my brother Azrin) then bigger like Papa then older like atuk then even older like moyang. So when you are baby grown up people like mama and papa will take care of you, when the time come, we will be old where we cannot take care of ourselves. Then you need to take care of us. People will die and baby will be born.

Then of course he will be giggling as usual can't wait to grow bigger so that he can do what he want to do. And of course waiting for the moment where he is bigger that his parents...so that we can scold him anymore.

Later after lunch he still thinking about it and ask me again that is it true one day he will be big like Uncle Jeyin. I said yes. Then Fawwaz who are listening to our conversation frowned. Are you sure mama abang will become big like Uncle Jeyin. His face shows that he doesn't belief that it could happen. So I said yes Fawwaz you will grow big like Aariz then bigger like Uncle Jeyin one day. Then suddenly get very excited. He said , I will grow big like Uncle Jeyin and abang still small so that I can hit abang...Err why lah this kids can't wait to grow up and have a sweet revenge. Sigh.

Kindergarten story

Lately I don't feel anything to write or spill over here. Pretty much exhausted at the end of every day. Get motivated and demotivated with my work depending on the respond from the team member. Thinking about where am I heading too in the next few months. The kids, the school, the house, financial, works and a lot more going around my head. Nothing in specific that I can think just yet, everything is still in pieces like a puzzle.

On the other note let's talk about the kids. Yeah what else la kan. Last year we send them to a kindy near to our house. Suppose the kindy is good and I know the teacher is somewhat better than the previous kindergarten Sma** Read** where I find it's a bit disturbing to have a teacher yelling to a pre-schooler. No I am not the type of parents who think my kids is always right. Having a mischievous kids with lots of thing running on his head I know is a bit tough handling them. But is a bit sad to see how the teacher handle kids nowadays when they yell instead of reasoning with the kids make them afraid of the teacher rather than respect them.

So when I send to the second kindy with a fair expectations since I know most of our teachers for kindy in Malaysia don't have Early Childhood Diploma but instead being train by the franchise itself. I just hope my kids get to learn basic reading, math and have some fun. I can close my eyes when I saw the receipt or the message book is written with some wrong spelling. Maybe they are in hurry so the just do mistakes. I still can accept that when I have told them that hey you might want to take body temp of each your students during the H1N1 seasons just to be on the safe side but no action taken. Also when my kids bring back lollies or snack from don't know who the manufacturer, whether is halal or not which we do not dare to buy or give to our kids and since they are screaming in the car to have it stime we just let it be. But when during the year end concert, they are using an adult pop song as the music. I get very annoyed. You know when your kids go home and sing a song with a cursing word and keep on repeating it. For God sake this kids are babies and they are not suppose to be expose with this yet. Not sure about you but when the the lyric contains word like *itch and *uck it is really get into my nerve.

I get very irritated. I told them upfront earlier about the songs and how I feel before the concert. Interestingly it still being used. During the parents teacher meeting again I mention about my thought where they are many more appropriate songs can be used, dance steps can be tailored better for 6 years and below children. And the respond given were, at the center level (means when they do inter-kindy concert) they are using the same song (from a different branch) and the center are ok with it. Well I told the teacher that then it might be something wrong with your program and your center then. The songs is inappropriate and they are no parents complaint at all ? The answer is no...No parents complaints. So as if I am one crazy parents that think the songs is inappropriate.

It's interesting that I get that kind of respond where rather than sorry received I keep on hearing that the center and other kindy with their parents is OK with the songs and how the concert is being done. I might be orthodox I might be over protective. But hey my little kids are just 5 and 3 years old ok.

So now we are changing kindy again. A new center open a bit far from my house. Means my routine starting Jan 2010 will change. We have to wake up early get ready early so that I can send them in time for school. The new center is huge and well equipped. It's spacious which I kinda like it with a science lab, mini libary, computer room and a kids gym. The only thing is that if I were to send him for extra activities means both of them will retire by 3, the lunch served is not by muslim. Even tho they ensure us that the menu will be chicken or fish only, but they can't ensure that the meat is halal. So If I were to send them to the after kindy program I need to pack lunch for them. Why after kindy program...hurm I need to give my parents a break as well from taking care of the 2 little boys. Other than that if they go home early the routine will be watching TV from 1 to 3 or 4 pm anyway. But that will not be for Jan or Feb, maybe March onwards depending on the situation.

Well not easy having kids nowadays especially when you want the best for them. I'll try to relax a bit and not to be a kiasu parents. Hopefully the new one is OK and Fawwaz can continue later until he is ready for the primary school. As for Aariz ..poor fellas. He has been changing kindy for the 4th time since he started at 3 years old. One good thing is that he easy to adapt...but the cons...I am sure he is a bit confused with a different system on how to read, write and count.

The pening of being parents doesn't stop here. I am now thinking about where should we put Aariz for primary school on 2011. One year to think !

When D&C is not required...

We wake up early, send the kids to my mom's house and off we go to see my gynae. I am scheduled for a D&C today if the thing still there. But as what I have predicted I am not required for the procedure.

After we went for the check up last week I started to bleed and it's getting heavy day by day. The peak is on Wednesday when I felt something slippery came out and off I rush to the toilet. There I saw a white ring around a blood clot and that was the sac for my unborn child. Good thing that it happened naturally as I am pretty frantic with the thought of having a D&C. The bleeding reduce after a few days until I met my gynae today.

She did an ultrasound and saw just a small amount of blood clot still left in my womb. Small that is not necessary for the procedure. However she gave some sort of pill that need to be inserted in the vagina to help the blood clot to come out soonest. Err not really sure how to do it and I haven't done it yet :D.

Other than that she gave me some antibiotic to ensure no infection on the womb. I have to do a blood test as well to ensure that my HCG level back to normal. From my reading on the internet and base on some of my friend experience I could tell that the test is to rule out any molar pregnancy symptom which is good.

When it comes to this kind of situation where we are not sure what is best for us especially when it is first time...get help!. I did ...husband and family help a lot to lift up the grief from me. They spend time bringing me out and keep me busy. I made a few phone calls to my friends who experience the same thing. Pretty good advice and at least I get to manage my expectation towards my situation. Of course by searching the net to understand what's happening to me make me feel much better too. And lastly I blog about it..let it out from my system and by spilling out I get to understand my feelings better and move on.

3 mama and 2 papa

I wish I have 3 mama and 2 papa. Aariz told us last night. Reasons being is because one mama can sleep with him, one with Fawwaz and the other one with Papa. Being papa always want to lock mama with him in the room every night and not give a chance to the kids to sleep with mama make them so jealous of papa.

Papa of course not very happy since the kids love me so much right. So he ask how about him. 2 papa is enough according to Aariz. One for us (aariz and fawwaz) and one for mama. I laugh...since looks like they can share papa but not mama. Am I not the happiest person in the world? Being loved by my 3 heroes ;)

Anak-anak saya

Advert posting di bawah tu cume testing. Sebenarnya dia bermula dari aksi saya blog hopping. Dari satu blog ke satu yg lainnya ada la beberapa posting pasal advert tersebut. Menariknya walaupun tajuknya pasal budak yg curious seharusnya gagah dari dalam. Saya berimaginasi tentang budak2 yg beraksi lasak ataupun bergelumangan dengan kotoran. Yeah imaginasi saya tinggi. Tapi kebanyakkan posting adalah bersama anak2 yg berpakaian menawan dan berposing supermodel ihiks.

Lantas terkenangkan terus zaman kenit2 saya semasa zaman persekolahan di kiwiland. Wah memang terkejut saya hari pertama kembali dari sekolah. Macam baru balik berkebun ataupun berperang. Bajunya masyaAllah. Cantik betul....hasilnya setelah habis hampir dua tahun kami di sana...70% bajunya ada pewarna tambahan. Kesan yg kami dapat tu berpanjangan kisahnya. Sampai sekarang ni susah betul nak yakinkan pada mereka jgn la diconteng2 baju yg ada tu. Terutamanya bila duduk di rumah. Mmg habis dikerjakan. Macam semalam. Baju Ralph Lauren warna oren yg papa dia belikan. Bibiknya pakaikan di rumah...dah tentu kalau saya perasan saya kata jangannnnnn. Pakaikan aje baju2 buruk kalau di rumah. Kerana akhirnya baju oren itu diserikan dengan bintik2 biru dari magic pen hasil dari main perang2 di dalam bilik. Jangan la tanya saya apa kaitan main perang2 yg akhirnya ada bintik3 biru itu. Yg saya nampak hasil kreativiti mereka...terhasil la pedang panjang setelah di cantumkan beberapa lego, yg boleh masuk dalam kaki meja plastik (meja dah tak jadi meja...empat2 kakinya jadi pedang) dan dihujung lego tu tak pasti bagaimana ada lego berbentuk panjang boleh muat magic pen...dah terhasil la pedang sakti yg bermatakan pen magic kaler biru. Mungkin kalau dah kena bintik biru tu indikasi mengatakan yg lawannya dah mati ke? Hurm imaginasi budak2 zaman skrg.

Jangan mula dengan aktiviti main diluar. Memang di luar kawalan. Nak ditegah karang terbantut pulak curiosity mereka. Jadi dibiarkan sahaja. Tapi bila sudah dibiarkan... Wah boleh mati anak katak dikerjakan mereka. Owh tapi mereka tak la hero sgt. Kalau nampak ulat ke cacing yg meliuk2...geli jugak mereka tu. Cuba2 nak jadi berani tapi terjerit satu kampung jugak jadinya. Kalau neneknya dan datuknya tanam pokok jadi di gali tanah dimasukkan anak pokok jadi tumbuhla anak pokok. Datang anak si kartini ni...di galinya tanah keluarkan pokok. Ape la nak jadi kan haha. Sudahnya datuk nya buatkan satu kawasan yg boleh di gali dan dikambus sesuka hati.

Tapi disini kita bekerja travel time sahaja sudah mengambil masa. Di kiwi land...balik pukul 5...530 sudah sampai rumah dah masih ada masa untuk buat pelbagai aktiviti lain. Jadi memang kadang2 terkenang2 zaman disana. Walaupun semua perlu di buat sendiri tapi kita masih ada masa yg lebih banyak utk diri sendiri, keluarga dan kawan2. Membuatkan saya terfikir bila lagi suamiku ni nak dapat overseas posting. Hurm tgh mode berangan. Owh saya dalam mode nak post gambar2 kenit masa di sana. Nantila yer. Malam nnt ;)

Curious Kids Need to be Tough Inside

How I ensure that my two little heroes that is curious enough to explore things become tough from the inside ?

You’ll see as parents we want the best for our kids. 1001 rules we try to apply to them to ensure that they are all safe, clean and proper. Though we forget that the best immunization comes from their body to fight it naturally.

When I first got Aariz I am pretty concern when he plays with dirt. Each time I will try my best to get him cleaned, feed him well with good foods means a lot of veggies and fruits which is a battle. I remember when we were in Miri we send him to nursery where they bath them like 3 times in a day, play in the compound and we end up pick him up clean and well feed but not a very happy child.

I am sure a lot of parents did this..when they spill the water we get upset. When the play in the puddle we said no. When they explore and open the component of the remote or the toys that we bought them we scream. When they climb and open the Tupperware and start to play with milk or milo we said no as well. When they try to feed themselves we said no fear of getting the designer shirt that we bought the get spotted from the food or the drinks or the crayon and water colour that they are holding.

Things change when we get our New Zealand assignments. We have to send both our kids Aariz which just turn 3 years old and Fawwaz that is 8 months old to playschool since both of us is working. Things are pretty different there. They let the kids to choose their activities and do what they love to do. And what they love to do means they are free to play indoor or outdoor. Be it with the mud sand or water. Climbing and jumping and running and cycling...do whatever you want to do basically. They let the kids curiosity to lead them wherever they intend to explore. Imagine our horror for the first few weeks when we have to scrub them almost half an hour everyday to remove their face painting, not sure what tangling from their hair and those dirt that trap in between their nails ?? Let alone their shirts which I do not care to scrub anymore. Let it just be coloured with whatever painted on it.

Our routine changed dramatically there. Since the curiosity being fulfilled and their brain keep on stimulating by doing what they intend to do the most, their eating habit become much better. It is no longer a battle. They’ve been taking milk, yogurt, cheese, rice, meat, fish and fruits without no complaint. Even for the little one. I’ve been packing their lunch and some extra finger foods and all be gone by the end of the day. The playschool provide finger fruits, veggies and crackers with cheese during morning tea. And according to the teacher Aariz and Fawwaz is taking their food well. I take it since the brain is running and they are doing many physical activities the body just tell them to get the right food so that they can keep on going.

Of course during the first 6 to 8 months both of them keep on getting cold and fever and also diarrhoea. It could due to the change of weather, the food or the outdoor playing as they are becoming extreme on what we used to say no before. Since we know that the kids get exposed to the germs more that they used to be, a good formula milk like Friso® Gold come in handy. The nutrition from the milk can help to boost their own immune body system to fight bacteria.

Now after almost 2 years we are back in our own soil Malaysia. I start to let them be curious in their own way. It is sad not to get the same quality of playschool back here in Malaysia as we parents are very concern with their hygiene rather that to help them explore and satisfy their curiosity.

For us parents to Aariz and Fawwaz we decided to stay near to our parents house which still a virgin village. There they could still play bicycle at open space, explore the mud and the drain, looking at the caterpillars, beetles and worms alive. Well not really looking ...most of the time they just pick them up and examine the insects themselves!

Surprisingly after the series of fever and cold for the first 8 months in New Zealand. They come out as healthy boys. Hardly catch any cold or fever and if they do..they recover quite quickly with minimum helps of medications. Tough kids I have and it’s all starts with their curiosity that help to build their body immune system.


(even the papa germs above get dissappointed when the Friso kids kill the baby germs!)

(Aariz is washing away the germs from him)

(Fawwaz being amused with how many germs try to attack him. Sorry dude you have failed!)

(Shoosh away germs...I do not need you over here!!!)

Batu api

The bleeding has started to get heavy. So I told hubby, luckily we went to see the doctor on Saturday. If not we have thought that the miscarriage could happened due to what I do, due to traveling or maybe because I work day and night lately.

Then I look deep into his eyes...and said, you might thought it's my fault too! Of course hubby deny it quickly. I said ...it's written all over your face that day...and a tiny voice from the back of the car continue. Yes pa it's written all over your mouth, nose and eyes too....

Hubby were laughing and said see.. you have batu api on your side. No need to introduce further of course that is my dear Aariz :)

Losing

I am 2 month pregnant. Had a very big tummy...To tell you the truth, I gain 4 kg and I can't wear any of my existing pants!. We had plan for this about few months ago...Been really trying for the past 4-5 months and no luck. Until one day I get very confused with my eating habit. I ate a lot ...and get hungry very soon. I missed my period too. So I told hubby to buy the tester but he refused as we had done that a few time before and the results are all negative. He came back with one tester anyway and I test and yaiy it's positive. We start hoping...

The boys are excited too. I start to tell Fawwaz that he no longer a baby but boy ... he keep on insisting that he is the baby in the house. Till last week with a little help from Aariz we manage to convince him that he is going to be little brother while Aariz is going to be the big brother. He agreed...and so do all the little hero trick suits him well. Since Fawwaz is not on diaper anymore and he drink fresh milk alternate with formula from glasses. The only thing that I need to train him is to eat by himself. Aariz is already independent ... he can do most of the thing by himself except washing his own poo. Well we are determine to get him ready for that too before our third one coming over.

Till the day on my birthday after flipping over facebook and do my blog posting I decided that why not we just go for the prenatal check-up today. Suppose I want to postpone to next Saturday but I had a spotting and light cramping. So why not just give a visit a week earlier. I had my pre-birthday celebration on Friday with our kids tagging alone with lots of food and shopping ... and maybe there is a reasons why we had a celebration one day earlier. We leave the kids at grannies home and off we go. We waited for a while...hubby reading news on his phone, I played game on Aariz PSP we are so calm as the boys are not running around and we just had our quiet time together.

The nurse called me in and the doctor as me to lie down to do the ultrasound. When she start looking for the baby the first thing she ask were I just pee as I am not suppose to empty my bladder before the ultrasound and my heart start beating. I haven't go to the toilet yet for this morning and it's already 11 and my bladder should be full. So why the baby is not there. I guess that time hubby face start to change as well. She start to ask me if my pregnancy symptoms start to disappear and a few more other question. No I do not know what to answer cos I don't have my usual pregnancy symptom like the other 2 boys which is hurm pretty bad. I just feel hungry all the time, the tiredness, the big tummy and yeah that pretty much about it. Finally she found the sac. It was empty like 2 weeks before. It grows but not as what expected. Then all the questions and answers and explaining starts. It is called a blighted ovum where baby either never develops or stops growing at a very early stage in pregnancy and then disintegrates -- but a gestational sac does develop and the body does not recognize that the baby is missing. No hope were given to us. One week to see if it will go by itself means natural miscarriage or a D&C required.

I do not know what to think for a second. We keep quiet for a while. I always thought all this while I can really pull through if miscarriage does happened to me. After all the baby does not exist yet. Boy I was wrong. All of sudden tears just went down and it does hurts!. I guess it hurts because we have plant our hope. We think we are ready but maybe God has a better plan. We never know. Saturday on my birthday we spent time thinking about it over and over again thinking about it until we realize. It's a small gift that God has taken from us. It could have far worse if the lost will be any of us. For those who lost their child in any circumstances or any of the family members and now I know the feelings of losing.

For all the gifts and the happiness that I gather all this years...The wonderful family I have, health and wealth, opportunities and many more good things that has happened. I thank God for all the blessing and also the small reminder ... the feelings of losing. But one should not stop to hope for a better days to come.

I think I feel much better now. I just have to go through it. Even now I know that the baby is not there, but my body think otherwise. Funny that today it start to choose to show more pregnancy symptoms. I start to feel like vomiting in the morning. So that is the hardest part for now...To live in the body that think that I am still pregnant. Which base on my reading on the net...it will continue with all the symptoms and my tummy will still grow bigger until the miscarriage happen.

I know we will try again soon...see how our rezeki that time. But if it's written that I have to live with my 2 boys for the rest of my life. They are still my greatest gift of all.

30 and going for number 3

Going for the big number 3 I never been more happy than ever in my life. So many I have achieved as a person, wife, mother and daughter. And I could not thank my husband for all the support he has given to me all this while.

So what do I get for my 30th Birthday ?

Unconditionally love from husband and kids. You open your eyes and your husband whisper Happy Birthday. Your kids sing you a birthday song :D

Special pre-birthday treatment from hubby and kids. What excited a girl more that a shopping spree :p

An Open Heart pendant that is nicely hidden that I finally found it at home.

And......we are welcoming junior number 3 as well !!. Well I am in the midst of craving for food but none really satisfied my taste bud.

Enough said. I am going to enjoy the rest of the day demanding for total pampering from hubby and the kids...and of course enjoying another year and more to come with wonderful things that happened around me.

Open Heart by Elsa Peretti

Reasons why I love hubby more. Despite of him annoyed me most of the time....

ps: he might get annoyed with me once he saw I post this :D

Macam macam

I have lot's to update especially cerita bila bebudak ni nak yak yang boleh di buat satu entry post.

Anyway enjoy this one first taken from my sister's facebook.

Aniza Karim aariz went to iqra' class... he's learning: ba alif mati atas baaa... ba ya mati bawah bii, ba wow mati depan buuu... then he asked, USTAZ KENAPA BA MATI?? YAA TEMBAK BAA WITH GUN THEN MATI EKK??? ustaz said he taught ngaji for years and for once there's one kid who asked why BA mati.. hahaha, kesian ustaz cos he have a lot to go!!!

I wonder when he start schooling later...maybe I'm gonna get a lot of phone calls from the school :)

Fawwaz my little hero

Fawwaz is 3 and going to 4 next year. Since we had him I like to call him baby and so do my family. Expecially when we want to pujuk him la...you know second child always mengada lebih right (no offense to all second child out there hehe).

So now he is no longer baby but keep on insisting us to call him baby. For his size now and hey he is a boy I can't no longer let this continue. So tonight he did something nice to me...I was asking hubby to bring me some drink since I am still working and suddenly Fawwaz came with a glass of water and said "nah mama you drink plain water ok" and put nicely next to me. Well well my baby has become a a big boy. I called him back and told him this. " Fawwaz you no longer a baby ok ...from now on you are my hero...little hero". He noded and he smile....

Good news and bad news...

The bad news is...I cannot continue my tomato drink. Because of some reasons that I'll state here later. So hubby will continue with the tomato drink...and I guess you guys will see his face glowing more than mine haha....

The good news is....erm update nanti la eh ;)

Cheeky boy Aariz

Aariz and Fawwaz are my fav topic. But most of the time rather than writing it here, I prefer to discuss it with hubby. He missed out a lot of the antiques cos even I work odd hours or extra hours. I have the most important time with the kids...which is early morning when the wake up and at night before they sleep.

Aariz as everyone knows he is cheeky and talkative. The more he knows things the more he can twist his words around. On the way sending him to his grandparents home before I go to work he will ask me about things around. Like hey that side looks dark...it's gonna rain soon. Then we will start to talk about rain...Like why is it raining everyday now..then I start to explain to him about angin monsun and yadayada...

Yesteday he fell down from the kitchen bench at atok house. Of course this is because he is playing and jumping around. At first when nenek told me I ask him how is he, why is he falling and so on so forth. Later when he become a bit naugthy I treathen him to tell his papa that his fooling around and fell from the bench. The he pause and say...the other day you jatuh I tak marah you pun. I kesian kat you. Why I jatuh you marah me... Erkkk hehe...Ok la he got a point here.

Actually the other day there's an incident where the auto gate of my house fell off on me. Why I tell you in another post if I felt like writing it here. Anyway he saw it (he's in the house that time with bibik) and screaming and rushing out to help. That day till few days after that he look after me ask me what can he help me and give me a free massage whenever I feel pain at my back. I am so touch with how he care me and he really does. He keep on asking if I am OK ensuring that I am not in pain and I have to sleep with him for a few nights because I feel very save with him. So since that day I do put more respect on him cos he really have a big heart for a small boy like him.

Next we have a visitor for the last few days...my cousin with his little toddler (is a girl btw) and both of them (Aariz and Fawwaz) are very thrill with the visit.They stays at my father 's house (they actually visiting my grandma who stays with my parents). Both of them play heroes....they have a motobike and they carry little Qistina (1 year plus) around the house. It's cute to see these 2 mat rempit carrying the little girl around. The last night I was playing with Qistina hugging her and play peek a boo with her. Both my boys watching (little bit jelous I think). Then Aariz said.. "Ma you wish for me but now you love Qistina more". Don't know where he get that idea but I spontaneously respond "You are by accident dear"....and he look very annoyed and start to play by himself.

I know it is not very kind to respond that to him since he already understand what I am saying but I just love to tease him. So after a while during our journey back home I start asking him why he thought I love Qistina more and so on so forth. Start explaining about he's status as my son and how much I love him and showing love is just not by playing like that and yeah a lot more explaining and more why from him.

The good this is Aariz is very reasonble when we start to reason with him and of course it must be with a good reasons with good example. Having him and seeing him grow day by day is a wonderful things and I really appreciate his age and how he responded to me each time we are in conversation. Of course they are trying time when he just become him. But knowing how busy his dad nowdays having Aariz as my chatting companion is very fullfilling.

Well talking about Aariz is already one long entry. I do have story to share about Fawwaz but I guess that will be in another post.

Tradition

We all have a tradition...Depends on who we are, where we come from. Tradition might be carried from family, culture, race, religion and many more...


I was reading my niece status on the facebook. Actually my hubby's niece. She's married to mat saleh and they are staying in States. It's a tradition to celebrate the pending birth of a child by presenting gifts to the parents. Usually the baby shower is host by someone else close to the mom... Funny that my niece send the invitation card and hubby were asking her what is baby shower...huh typical man!. Anyway of course it is not popular here,hence explain why hubby is not aware about that.


Contrary to the Malay tradition, baby shower is something against the elderly believes. I remember when I first carry Aariz....at around 7 months we already bought the baby cot and the stroller. And the elderly around me (including my mom cleaning lady) already start singing into my ears on why do I buy all this earlier and da da da da. Then I learn that hey it so against the believe to prepare anything ...not a single thing before the arrival of the baby. The reasons being is if anything should happend (God forbid) the mom will not be stressed out to see the baby stuff without the baby. Okay my mom still stay in village area and they are quite a number of elderly around so yeah...all the pantang to nenek I know ok. Well since then I go slow and hide almost everything :D.


Of course these days we are modern people and we don't really care about all this belief and what so not. With the 40 days confinement (yes 40 days for me) where we are not allow to go out (yes outing is no no as well at all) how on earth are we going to do shopping for the baby. Unlike here in Malaysia, in New Zealand I know for sure the momment you go out from the hospital the baby must be strapped in the car seat. So at least the baby car seat must be available even before we go to the hospital. That goes our pantang tok nenek not to buy anything for the baby...


The other tradition that I note here which happend to my first baby Aariz. I received a lot's of visitor from the village where my mom stays ( I had my confinement here). Our generations might be comfortable to bring gifts, but the elderly will insert some money underneath the pillow of the baby. I keep on observing that and you know what...that is the one tradition that I follow. Rather than giving gifts, I am more comfortable just to insert some money underneath the pillow of the baby.


Nowdays buying gift is a confusing task for me. I do not know what to buy and if they already have what I intended to buy. Especially when it comes to second or third baby....and parents nowdays...they already have cool, imported gadgets for their babies...So err what else can I get for them hehe. Of course unlike baby shower they already have a list of what they want and people will need check if the item is there or someone else has bought the item then only they will buy the next item that is still there to choose.

Anyway back to the status in the facebook by my niece...It's bring dejavu to me during my pre-pregnancy days and of course it's kinda sad not to be around when someone close to you are expecting. It is a wonderful momment you see. So for my niece take care...and I might be sharing some of other pantang tok nenek during the confinement period that you can laught on it or if you might can use it if it's relevance. I used to have a good laugh on certain of the pantang...but hey some of them really works haha.

Skin obsession

I am obsess with facial care. But not obsess in doing the routine itself. I'll enroll myself to intensive facial programme with a reputable product and buy a lot's of skincare product.
The reasons why I am obsess is because I have a problematic skin. Since I was teenager I had a very oily skin with lot's of pimples, blackhead, whitehead you name it. That time I don't have the luxury to buy a good product or to seek a profesional help. It's pretty embarassing actually.

During my Uni days, my mom bring me to see a doctor and he prescribe me with some medication. It works to reduce my acne and along the way I tried a few local skincare product and my skin become better. However my acne still there together with the blackhead and whitehead.

When I start working and soon after that decided to get married...I want to resolve my acne problem. So I start to research for skin care center that can help me with my mission. I went to Bella Skincare. It was pretty expensive... I think I roll into a program that cost me 3k for maybe 12 times of facial treatment. But the results was wonderful. I stop after I finish the program and continue with Clinique product. This is when I start to travel a lot. So I solve my acne problem for a while...then I start to travel and my skin start to dehydrate as well. It get so severe when I was in New Zealand. The weather is not helping at all.

So when I get back here...I roll myself back to Bella Skincare. This time with more expensive program. The treatment was good but they start to ask me buying serum each time to fix my issue. I mean I already paid for maybe 300 worth for each facial treatment and now I need to buy serum that cost at least 100 per bottle? Earlier I just play with it buy a few box of serum and each time I go to their facial I get the same comment. My skin problem does not resolve. I get annoyed now cos I really have invested for quite some money and they keep on asking me to by for more so I stop buying and just ignore them when they complain about my face. It's not working anymore ok. I'll just finish whatever treatment remaining and not coming back here.

This entry is leading to this. While I am still suffering with my dehyrdration skin issue and of course some acne scar is still visible on my face. Hubby best friends introduce us with one product Stevico. First is a fibre drink that should remove toxic from your body. And they have this tomato drink that should can help your skin to become softer and smoother. According to them usually we apply collagen or take collagen into our body. But this drink help to build the collagen withing ourself. So I tried....Well I think I just took 10 sachet for now...but I am happy with the results that I would like to blog about it!. The laugh lines that I have and I've spent RM prev for the serum - still come back after a while is now slowly fading. My skin is glowing and even hubby compliment my skin nowdays. I am now waiting untill I finish my 2 months period (need to drink the tomato drink for 2 months) and see if it's really work. The end results according to them who have tried, it will reduce your fine lines, smoothen your skins, your eye bag, dark spots due to the expose to sunlight or ageing, old scar could be reduce or even better gone.

I will post another report after 2 months to see if any improvement from drinking this product. If yes...the I'll be recommending this product for all of you out there ;)

Mini Oreo Cheesecake

This weekend I have a project. Secretly I think my mom admire my baking skills. Each time I bake a new recipe and it turn out good ( ok they are some of my baking stuff tak jadi as well) she will ask me to bake for her friends, kenduri, surau makan2 or anything lah.

Latest were my oreo cheesecake in mini cup. Well I bake according to the recipe and manage to get around 40 plus pieces....All gone within my family members tummy including Fawwaz which is a huge fan of the cheesecake. So this coming weekend she ask me to bake for 120 pieces to bring for her bestfriend's daughter engagement ceremony. I just hope that my cheesecake turn out well ...

People like to ask me if I learn to bake or how I find the recipe. For me it is simple...find the recipe that is realiable, tested and preferebly with pictures. I'll go with the recipe that people has tried and commented on it. But sometimes I just try my luck to test any recipe that I find intersting. If it doesn't turn well then ... I try another recipe.

Owh and I do not learn how to bake from classes. I search video for some tips and tricks. Eg: earlier I am not sure how to bake a cheesecake...from the recipe it ask you to do some stuff that I am not familiar with. So I google for the video. Choose a few video and yes that is where I learn.

Whenever I couldn't find some of the ingredients and too lazy to go to the shops to find one....I google for substitues...eg: if you dont have a sour cream..you can substitutes plain yogurt with half of lemon juice...They are many more that you can find out by googling. Some cakes need special ways of baking or even mixing.....just google around the net and you find a lots of tips and tricks on how to make a good cake, cookies, pastries or anything.

No I am not an expert yet. I am Mrs Google for recipes...that is how I learn to bake. So again if you ask me how do I do this and that ...I cannot answer just in a blink (unless if I have experience it soo many time)...I need time to google to find the answer.

So here is the recipe for Mini Oreo Cheesecakes. Credits goes to Martha Stewart and http://52cupcakes.blogspot.com/2009/07/martha-stewarts-cookies-and-cream.html

Ingredients:42 cream-filled sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, 30 left whole, and 12 coarsely chopped2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
Pinch of salt.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.3. Drizzle in eggs, a bit at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

Ben 10 Live on Stage - Power of the Omnitrix

We went to watch the show, Ben 10 Live on Stage - Power of the Omnitrix with our 2 boys. Hubby being him, he bought us the cheapest ticket !!! Can you believe it? Earlier I am so muncung...really2 cannot believe it that he can do that to the kids... We sat right at the very back and the stage really sayup2 but yes we can still see the show. Aariz was quite funny cos he keep on asking why are we at the back ? So I simply said cos someone being kedekut. And he said..."ooooo orang tua kedekut tu satu New Zealand tau !!". This is due to pengaruh cerita Upin dan Ipin la nih...and teringat2 New Zealand at the same. We had a good laugh on that one.

We watch the show, the kids get pretty excited earlier but all of us think the show were not that good. Aariz itselfs keep on complaining on why is it pretty lame. There is nothing to shout about their act or stunt...I mean the kids watch the tv series and with all the action on the tv and just a lame tricks during the show it doesn't excite the kids that much..I mean older kids. So at this point I think hubby did a good move by buying not so expensive ticket...Tho I still think he should at least take the 50 plus ticket to get a better view. But if we bought the more expensive ticket we might felt ripped off.

Anyway more on Aariz, finally he get his own camera. Actually an old camera from my brother and it has been left around the house for quiet a while. We gave him and show him how to use it once and wallah after that he is our official photographer. He will ask us to pose for him...take a few nice picture of us and when we ask him if he want us to take his picture, he will said...yes sure. He'll pass the camera to us and specifically gives us the instruction on how to use the camera, how to adjust the lense and so on. Of course it will annoy his papa la kan...but what ever makes him happy. After taking pictures, at home he will review all the pictures and delete the one that is not needed.

So that's abt Aariz..and our trip to the Ben 10 show.

I am ...

I am ....fill in the blank.

What you think ?

Hehe

Cerita karipap

Okla kita tutup pasal Bali dulu...walaupun saya sangat2 nak update travel log saya tapi memang lepas abis hari travel malas betul nak rewind kembali apa yg berlaku. Tapi saya berazam dan terus akan berazam mengupdate travel log saya walaupun kena tunggu seminggu dua or mungkin sebulan dua atau pun setahun dua untuk update tersebut.

Berbalik pada cerita karipap. Mak saya buat karipap sangat sedap pada definisi keluarga saya. Asik beradik saya hantu karipap dan setiap kali mak saya buat maka berebut2 la semua org di rumah mak saya untuk habiskan karipap tersebut.

Walaupun karipap mak saya sedap...tapi ada satu masalahnya. Mak saya ada problem pada tangan kanannya jadi dia tak boleh buat kerja berat2 or menguli tepung lama2 or lebih tepat lagi untuk mengelim kulit karipap. Jadi karipap yg sedap itu cume dapat dinikmati beberapa tahun sekali contohnya pada musim2 perayaan seperti raya haji ini.

Makanya semalam mak saya pun sudah la membuat karipap mungkin dalam 2-3 dozen sahaja. Oh adik beradik saya (termasuk saya tapi saya tak seteruk adik beradik saya) mestila sibuk nak makan cepat2 and simpan bahagian masing2. Tapi semalam saya tak berada di rumah mak saya...so saya cume tau pasal kewujudan karipap itu pagi tadi sahaja semasa menghantar anak2 saya ke rumah mak saya sebelum pegi keje.

Dan pada pagi tadi jugak saya dapat tau yg anak2 saya pun dah join jadi hantu karipap mak saya. Jadinya bahagian saya yg tinggal skrg ni cume sekeping karipap yg saya bawak ke opis pada pagi ini.

Kesian tak saya. Motif cerita karipap pada hari sebelum raya haji ni. Tapi kesimpulannya kalau nak production karipap tu lebih byk lagi kena la tolong mak saya buat karipap dan saya kena la belaja cara buat karipap.

Owh dan pada satu hari minggu ini jugak anak saya Aariz memuji2 masakan neneknya. Bila saya tanya mama masak tak sedap ke ? Dia pause sebentar then cakap...sedappp tapi nenek punya lagi sedap. Cet hehe...mmg cucu nenek si kenit sorang ni!

And we are back !

3.45 pm : touchdown.
4.00 pm : choc shopping spree
4.15 pm : collect luggage
4.30 pm : on the way back
5.30 pm : arrive at mom's hse for tea break, mandi, rest for a while
6.30 pm : on my way to damansara for my bil hsewarming/tahlil
7.50 pm : reach damansara (bad traffic at nkve) ...borak2 mingle2 makan2
9.45 pm : balik my mom's hse
10.30 pm : sampai rumah anak2 sume dah ketiduran...mak nya dah capik...
11.00 pm : hubby sibuk buat kira2 (poyo kan!)
11.45 pm : nyampah tgk hubby sibok dok mengira so dapat la entry ni ihiks!

bali details later la....

Final

Last night I was telling the kids that we are going back home soon. Guess what they said?

Mama : Esok kita nak balik mana ????
Aariz : Malaysia.....lepas tu aariz and fawwaz main motor kat rumah atuk...mama pegi keje ha ha ha ha ha....

He gave me a big laugh and when I start rolling my eyes and his dad start to laugh as well then he added...Papa pun sama ha ha ha ha ha..... Cheeky boy! huh...

So here I am writing an entry for today to finish our internet credit, the small one watching disney channel and the other 2 boys (papa and aariz) went for their last dip in the pool.

Moved

We have moved from our villa to a hotel in Kuta city. Enggak bisa duduk di villa lama2 .... hehe the kids had so much fun in the villa as we have a private pool. Bukak mata jek terjun kolam ...lepas makan terjun kolam...nak tido terjun kolam.

Hubby most of the time complaints about how he don't have enough time to spend with the kids finally gets what he wished for. So hehe amik la si kenit2 sebab kalau dalam kolam maknya tak mau nak jaga... Lebam2 la for 3 days 2 night ....

Once we moved t0 the city we start to take a few tour trip. One of it is to the Elephant Safari where we had enough up close and personal time with the elephants and a good 35 minutes elephants rides around the Ubud village.

I shall blog more about this later. I'm so tired...we had a limited internet access in our new hotel (ridiculously expensive). But so far we enjoy every bits of the time spend between our family. The kids are having so much fun....hubby and I take turn spending quality time with each of them and I am very2 happy :). Later !

Bliss

It's our second day in Bali. It's a bliss...and pretty adventurous toooo ....

Hurm not in mood to update la pulak...nanti2 la yer

It's coming

Two more days before we chill in and get daily massage from our trip.

Hopefully this time I can make a full travel log with young kids without missing a day. My HK and South Island travel log still in draft.....Not sure if I will be able to finish it and publish it here.It will be a one week trip and we should just sits and relax....

Hope our room will be as good as picture below !

Hajat di hati

Hajat di hati nak jugak buat entry bergambar. Yerla dah berhari2 kan entry membebel jek. Tapi camera ku dah wakaf jadi camera adik2 ku. Camera laki ku...huh...dia simpan kat secret compartment. Kadang2 je lihat dunia.

Jom cerita pasal dua kenit ku itu. Wah perangainya lately makin menjadi2. Mak nya asik nak jadi montosa...Montosa tu monster tapi entah tgk cerita apa ntah ke si kenit no 2 yg masih pelat ittew panggil moster jadi montosa....Ok sebut montosa tu kena dengan nada seram sket yer...

Anyway...kenit no 1 pulak mmg tak takut org. Mungkin sebab tersangat bijak dan pandai menjawab nya teacher2 di sekolah and nenek dia di rumah asik kena buli. Takutnya dia pada mama dan papa dia saja.

Bab cerita membaca pulak. Si kenit no 1 dah ada improvement. Cume sakitnya la hati sebab dia suke guessing bila membaca. Contoh bila dia eja hurt tapi bunyi nya jadi was ... errrr mama mmg jadi montosa la....bukan dia tak tau ...tapi dia meneka dengan jayanya. Tapi so far dia dah la kenal certain2 word...and cerita mcm peter and jane and a few story bergambar yg ada simple word...boleh la dia baca walaupun ada ayat dia teka teki kan...

Kenit no 2 plak...owh dia makin bijak mengelat. And bila dapat mengenakan abang dia. Dia la manusia paling gembira di dunia. Contoh...dua2 ni ada batuk2 sket last week...dan berkahak. Jadi mama nya bawak la pegi jumpa doctor. Dapat la pelbagai jenis ubat utk kahak, batuk dan demam. Adik sgt OK makan ubat. Bagila ubat apa pun dia akan telan dengan machonya....tak payah minum pun takpe. Tapi kalau abang...hihi mcm mama nya lah. Takut makan ubat. Jadi bila suruh makan ubat dia nak lari satu round la..nak minum dulu la tutup mulut la or jerit2. Since adik dia tau betapa penakutnya abang dia makan ubat (dan adik pulak takut makan nasi)...jadi bila time makan ubat dia sibuk jerit....abang abang mari sini...makan ubat. Pas tu sibuk suruh abang dulu la makan...lepas abang dia dah kena torture makan ubat...kena marah2 sket...turn dia jek dia bukak mulut makan dengan machonya and jeling kat abang dia. Tengok fawwaz makan ok jek...ceh eksen sungguh. Tapi bila bab makan nasi payback time la kan haha...abg dia la pulak eksen2 ngan adik dia yg terjerit2 tak nak makan nasi :p

So tu la cerita 2 kenit ku ini. Nanti kalau dapat la amik mana2 camera kat rumah tu. Nak update gambar mereka naik motor letrik yg datuknya beli. Sorang satu you...Seb baik jek rumah datuknya luas. Jadi di kerjakan dalam rumah jek...dari hall ke dapur balik ke hall...siap ada 2 roundabout and satu one way street. Cepatla siket derang belaja tatacara lalulintas jalan raya. Tapi kata papanya...cepat sket la derang jadi rempit...erkkk !! Jangan jangan...

Travel plan and travel light

Just after I wrote my financial posting yesterday I read another article somewhere about when you are not sure about your financial situation, write about it. When you write about it you will identify what is the reasons for you current financial management (maybe due to how your parents thought you, environment, friends?), what you think about your current financial and what you want to achieve in your financial planning.

Well come to think back, I really benefit from writing what I think about financial. I had a chat with hubby yesterday and we conclude that one of our biggest dream is to have enough for our retirement to travel around the world.

We love travel...sometimes our job gave us chances to travel. We are grateful with that. But of course we like to travel by our own better than travelling for business. We have lot's of travel plan and we are trying to make a point travelling 4 times in a year. That we include in our financial planning on how much the budget we have so that we can plan what are the places we afford to go. It is not necessary to be overseas travel...it could be local as well. As long as it fits in our budget.

Anyway we are going for our next trip soon. So we have our travel plan and we like to travel light. Let's check what do we carry when travelling with 2 little active toddlers age 3 and 5 for 7 days 6 nights kind of travel.

Clothing - When we go for 1 week or more we just bring maximum 3 days of clothing. Yes we do laundry so that we can travel light. Don't forget swimming attire for the kids on for you if the place has pool.
Toiletries - Small travel pack toiletries always become handy when we travel. Don't forget all your facial wash, soap, shampoo, tootpaste, toothbrush, sunblock, lip balm, comb ...list might go on but bring the importance one packed in small bottle.
Medicine - Travelling with small child we might not know what's gonna happen. I am prepared with plaster, antiseptic, fever medicine and a thermometer.
Snacks - Whether going to a place with easy access to food or not I stayed prepared for the first day or two. Biscuits, milo in packet, some bottled drinks, maggie (in case anyone get hungry in the middle of the night), bread (yes one loaf gardenia bread) and small pack of nutella.
Misc - Of course phone, chargers, camera and small lappie (if we know we have wifi access).

What keep you inspired ?

I get inspired with people who are success. Who doesn't right?

We read boring magazine (maybe boring to you) like Time, Fortune and Personal Money. Those are magazines that we bought besides magazines related to home structure and home deco. We get inspired by this kind of magazines as :

1. More for hubby as his work require a lot of general knowledge in the industry. So reading Time and Fortune will give him more idea and inspirations towards his career I think.
2. For me, I read Time and Fortune to get to know the world issue (I digest half of it only anyway) and the rest is to drool over the young and bright people who make billions - not one million...
3. Then we know that we have to be realistic...those people who make millions or billion they either unique, extraordinary, extremely lucky, inherited and they are many more factor. So we read Personal Money...this give us inspirations on how to live comfortably, reach our financial free base for normal people.

I note that when I read this kind of magazines I will be more focus on my work and how to reach our goal. For instance, this month focus for Personal Money is on how to achieve your first million and more importantly is how to retain it. It tells some of the story on how all this normal people make it in our country. How it is so possible for us to achieve it. Then how do we manage our financial income to reach our first million and next to retain it.

I do note most of them who made it at a young age mostly people who are not married, single and career minded. But that should not be our show stopper (for those who are married). I like to think that for those who are married they have more advantage.

Example :

1. You already spend what ever needed for your wedding. The best thing the earlier you get married the smaller amount you spend for your wedding (obviously you dont have much money yet...and please dont be stupid by taking personal loan for your wedding. That is hanging your self up side down).

2. You are married and you should by now (after 5 years of marriage or more) understand your partner and stabilize your financial spending and saving. We manage our money together after few months we get into our marriage. Our concept is more like having a company with a balance sheet and P&L so that we know what is our monthly spending, how much we should spend and how much we should save. We then decide together what car suited us, what kind of property should we invest and so on so forth. Since we are consistently doing that....we know that we will meet our first goal by 35 , then next goal by 45 then maybe our final goal by 50. But what a suprise, God willing we are among the one which is lucky so we met our target by 30! So now to work on our next target.

3. We have kids earlier, means we held responsibilities earlier and means when we are aging our kids will become older and we can at least enjoy our older age happier. I like to think that if I even have all the money in the world to trade with my kids....I choose my kids. Why you want to be old with no kids but with money you can't enjoy ? Owh back to my main point, having kids mature your thinking, make you think faster and better and I think people with family are more compassionate with their colleague at work. People with family make a better leader as they are better in multitasking, listening, time management and a lot more skills compared to single person.

Compared to single person, even they can reach some amount of saving or reach a better position with their career. I still believe that married couple will have more advantage in the long run. So Personal Money should feature more families who does it and how they do it next ;)

But money is not everything. I don't plan to become a multi millionaire or to live in a big house with many2 luxury cars and driver and maid and gardener and the list may go on. I am inspired to live comfortably and happily with my family. I am inspired to manage our wealth so that we can maintain our lifestyle until our golden age. I am inspired to have the financial freedom so that I can do things that I like to do and spend more quality with my family. I am inspired to have enough so that I can help people around me.

So reading those magazine give me inspiration and sometime idea on how to improve my life.

Owh btw ...I do read all other magazines like Her World, Hello, Female, Cleo ( i think i'm too old for cleo now) during my hair treatment session. Those magazines makes me drool as well...towards new shoe, handbag, make up, clothing and list can go on.... They have stories as well, juicy story about wife having affair or husband turn to become gigolo and many more....which if I start to discuss the story with hubby then he would just say....owh ye ke ? and then ignore me. Well I guess our life direction can sometimes be influenced by magazines, what we read and what we are exposed too...So I still read, but I leave all I read back at the saloon where I had my hair treatment.

Lunch

I am having lunch today and they are group of guys opposites my table keep on looking at my side. At first I thought they were looking at someone else or something else. But when I look at them again they we smiling at me and pointing to me instead. I just gave them a quick smile and continue talking with my colleague. I think they (esp this oen guy) keep on staring at me... Good things is I am good at ignoring people and not making eye contact when I know someone is looking. So I manage to get away from them ..... So note to my hubby...Can you please buy me a bigger wedding ring :D

Hehe (saje je nak kenakan you dear :p)

Whining post

I am trying to write a new post yesterday but I just get stuck with data recon till this afternoon. After countless of comparing, checking, calculating finally data does match and now I need to firm up on the procedure to do data reconciliation before I can leave the current project. What worst could it be when my new project they are tonnes of data does not match that I need to check and first ... First I need to understand all the business scenario and what changes has been made/to be made in the system before I can start reconciling.

Second of all my new project is dominant by guys again and in my small team (a part of my big team) all boys and if I were to look at the big team perspective I might see another 2 girls occasionally ? That might be the reasons why I become more and more (err not manly) but more practical. Which explain why I am not too concern on major shopping lately ( oh I still do minor shopping).

Now I am very tired after looking the spreadsheets and system with lot's of information on it. I already missing my work from home days ... (which I still deserve one or 2 days in a week till december). House is very2 messy since hubby and I working pretty late, lately. Now working from home is not that you can relax and delaying your work. But for me is that I can do things more effectively. No one can interrupt me during my work. No one can catch me for an hour chat ( oh ya...working with guys you think no gossip ..but gossiping with guys on work and techie things is not fun I tell you). So I rather work from home and plan accordingly..that way in between I can do whatever important to me. Like one hour lunch time usually I pick up the kids, feed them and myself at my mom's hse, leave them there and I go back to my house continue working. Once a while I bring bibik from my mom's house and one of the kids back home so that bibik can do cleaning and the kid can watch TV. So by 6 or 7 I can send bibik home and pick up the kids, get the meals fr my mom hse or prepare my own meal and everything is in order.

Here working in office, I have to spend time talking and chatting with people (sounds like I am anti social) and wasting time of travelling back and forth to the office.

Well this is my whining post. I deserve it. This weekend should be a better weekend for me. Jeng jeng jen...what am I up to ?

Detox ?

I just started consuming supplements that suppose to detox and give some energy to me. How weird it is when I get hungry all the time ...side effects ?

TTW for our weekend

We had a superb weekend again and I am very tired by now. We manage to watch the Time Traveler Wife on Friday night, doing some shopping ( I am so into changing my wardrobe) and get myself a nice gray pants from Dorothy Perkins and a nice casual blouse from Zara. Hubby get himself a 2010 tax guide book so that we can calculate our tax even smarter for this coming year.

Oh btw TTW was awesome...I love the fact that the story is realistic even when the time of event is not in sequence. The story is about a time traveler played by Eric Bana. When he's a small boy around 6 I think he was in the car with his mom singing a few song that all of sudden they get involved in an accident. Before the car hitting the lorry from the opposite side, the boy is disappearing and he called his mom which is shock to see her son is fading ...next thing he was at his house 2 weeks before looking at his parents reading him a book and the next minute he stood in front of the accident where his mom died. A guy com over and told him everything is going to be fine and he is actually him from the future. He explain that he is a time traveler to the little boy. He can't control himself traveling to the future or to the past. But the fact he can't change anything when he's time traveling is realistic and that is what I like about the movie. I find it very sweet that he met the girl that he love when she is small and how the relationship bloom. K la I am not going to spill the whole story but hubby and I enjoy it very much that we grinning all the way back home :D. So guys go and watch the movie ..highly recommended.

Lately hubby and I took some time to spend together just the two if us and I really appreciate that. Our relationship lately has become more relax even our two little boys could really test our patience. They are super active and required lots of attention and I am trying to get the right formula to fulfill their needs of attention from us and how to satisfy our own peace time. So one night time out every week of fortnightly really work for us now ... just that when it is just the two of us my shopping mode increase tremendously...aiyoh how lah?

Melilau

new project briefing....mata melilau baca document

Back in the office

I am back in the office ....sob sob. Will meet my PM today and see what's next for me. Good note, I still have job at least till next year ;). They are always positive sides of everything right.

Just had a call from my current project colleague. He got a job offer from our project for 4 yours to be base there with expat term. Well if you ask me...that is kinda dream come through...if you are thinking of saving some money. Expat term in a high risk country will make you millionaire once you are back in KL. You can bring your family there, stay in compound area, your child will go to internation school, you'll get your own driver and everything is being paid off. I am happy for him as he get the opportunity just at the right time.

Most of the time we never knows what are the opportunities that will come to us. He pick up the project when most of the people doesn't want to get involve, work hard, gain the trust and get rewarded. We just have to trust that if we work honestly through out our heart...the rewards will come soon.

As for me....when I get the project earlier I am a bit pissed off. As I am suppose to be in another project that entitle me to go to another appealing location...with a chance to do a great shopping spree. However I just accept it as I don't know what are the perks that I am getting from this project. True enough, I get almost 6 months peace of mind working in not a very stress env. Get to work from home...see my kids more...earn the same amount of money and save more (instead of shopping) and importantly I have great team mate and great boss too (which is important for our healthy lifestyle). They are hiccups here and there but hey...it is not life if there is not hiccups.

So when we thought the worst is coming ...just face it. We never know what we are getting. Life is like a box of choc. Remember ? :)

mini reunion sc comp girls continue

We continue the Sunday stories....

Come Sunday after bbq'ing' the nite before I am half tired but half excited. Uni friends coming for tea and I can try my cooking skill. I didn't cook much at home as most of the time my mom is cooking. Even when we already move to our own hse...cooking still far from my daily routine...cos I am working (cheap excuse).

Anyway I love cooking ...not as much as baking or not to do it daily ...but I love experimenting. So a girlfriend request for a chicken pie and hubby has hinting the same for a while...I was thinking of cooking stgh heavy just in case the gossip session drag till late. End up with nice serving of chicken rice, mushroom chicken pie, choc brownies (made new one as yesterday sume dah abis) and the banoffee pie. Two of them brought mac and cheese and fruit tartlet that taste wonderful.

We are all gossiping and chatting and munching and gossip again and yelling to the kids haha...all of them came as single mom with kids...one left their kids at home and the other one getting married soon. My hubby became the best helper that I ever had :p. Setting up the table, baked the chicken and bring all the kids to the playground in front so that the moms can have quality time chatting.

It was a wonderful evening....had a suprise visit from my aunty with her whole family...luckily the food are plenty so everybody had a portion of the food.
On the other note...my wonderful life (note how many time I use wonderful in this post!) will end soon ..sob sob. No more working fr home I guess after this. I just got another task that require me to be in the office and it start tomorrow!!! Will see if I still have time to spare for blogging.


The girls sibuk makan and gosip and makan and gosip

makan dan makannnn

macaroni and cheese by aida

mushroom chicken pie by tinie

chicken baked with honey (baked by dearest hubby)

condiments

fruit tart by gee

choc brownie by tinie

the banoffee pie

the gossip2 session continue kat luar with rambutan

aa bercerita dengan berianya dan didengar dengan khusuknya by aida

sape punya turn bercerita plak tu

the girls....

lepas tu setengah jam kemudian suhara pun datang dengan hubbynya...seb baik ada mini2 desserts and nasi ayam nak jamu mereka.

The mini hse warming and birthday party

Hurm apa nak update?

Furniture installation is a false alarm. Rupe2 nya my cousin just want to confirm the last book cabinet before completing all and deliver it at one go. I can't wait actually :D

I am working till 5 am in the morning last Friday ....and while running the report and comparing data I manage to bake one banana cake...(no picture semua dah masuk perut) and the base for the banoffee pie.

Saturday bangun lambat la of course since tido pun dah at 5 am in the morning (see working fr hm pun the workload stime can kill you). Bukak mata straight way finish all the pending baking activities, as I promise to bring some for my sis in law mini hsewarming and birthday party. So 2 banofee pie, 2 mini banofee pie, 2 brownies, 2 mini brownies, the ganache and banana bread ready by 2 :D....

Rushing back to my mom house with hungry stomach for lunch. Banana bread and one of the brownies is for mom's hse and we have visitor around 5, Wak Mus and my cousins just in time for tea time.

Malam....bbq ing at sis in law hse. Loads of fun chatting and laughing hehe as usual. I quite adore all my sis in laws as each one of them have a story to tell... Lot's of idea when come to vacation, house furnishing, investment, health, handling kids, education and many more. Since they are all older and have more experience, we kinda have lot's of advantage getting all the knowledge from them. Since I am the eldest in my family, being youngest in hubby's family makes me relax a lil bit and enjoying just being young and small thehehe :p

Hubby's family is a bit weird. Why is it weird...they are many of them celebrating birthday on Nov !!!! all 3 my sis in law born in Nov and 2 of my anak sedara as well. Not to mention my fil...ada sape2 lagi yg tertinggal?? I am not good in remembering numbers and esp birthday....All I know they are all born in Nov, and hubby will remind me when is their birth date :p. So Happy Birthday to all of them!

Ok enjoy the picture for Saturday first...I'll do another post for Saturday act specially dedicated for my uni mate ;)

Boss besar (bil)

Mem besar (birthday girl)

The birthday boy yg dah kena penyek dengan cupcakes!

Dua birthday girl mak dan anak!

Mak sahaja yg birthday girl

Mr BBQ

wonder milk cupcakes birthday girl

wonder milk cupcakes birthday boy

Merancang hari minggu

Kita hanya merancang tapi tuhan yg menentukan ye dak.

Last night kitaorg pegi visit jiran nak pegi haji. For those who knows our neighbour yg jual muffin choc yg sgt laku ittew...yeap panggilan kaabah dah melambai and they are going tonight for 44 days. I hope I'll get to go for Hajj before I reach 40...or ideally by 37 ?

Tonight plak hubby already ask me to check for movies near or hse. Was thinking to watch IB means we need to outsource the kids to my parents. Tho my kids loveeee to watch cerita2 ganas ni (which I swear I try to refrain them but how to not let then watch Transformers and X-Men or even Ultraman..haish). But this is not the movie for them. If I can't get ticket for IB..I'll watch the TTW then :D.

Saturday they are mini hsewarming at my sis in law hse. So our task is to bring some desserts. They requested for one but if time permitted I'll make 4.

1. Pie banoffee...many not tasted this before as this dessert is more popular in western countries. The cream tend to melt easily so that's might be the reasons why it is not so popular here. But whoever tasted it always ask for second serving.
2. Choc Brownies...excited with my ganache that tasted so good last weekend I plan to make one more small serving for this gathering.
3. Cheese cake...nothing special to shout abt this one yet except that I made twice for my sister but never once manage to taste it fully myself. Always get the serpihan of the cheese cake while my sister took the whole cheesecake to the office for some function. I want to bake a small portion for the family
4. Banana cake...since I have to find banana anyway for the pie banoffee, I might bake banana cake for my dad..

Besides the mini housewarming will see if we can squeze some time to the pool as usual and also if some of my friends would like to drop by on Sunday.

Owh...one more thing...we order 5 cabinet from my cousins which shld be final for our house. 4 of them are ready and will delivered this Sunday yuhuuu! One of it still work in progress. Some other small project will be, blinder for our pagola, side table (mana nak beli ni), curtain for certain area (kitchen and the other 3 room)...wall paper for master bedroom and hall. Next project gantung2 hiasan di dinding ...then we can close 2009 with rumah ku yg dah siap and concentrate with other things for next year ;).

Picture ??? hurm if rajin will post some next monday...if not I guess you guys have to come to see it with your own eyes...and you might can taste the desserts as well !

Happy weekend!

Trip to the Immigration Office

Flight ticket checked! Hotel Booking checked!

But Aariz passport is expiring this Dec. Since the Port Klang Immigration is pretty near from house (just 15 mins away okeh!), so I decided to settle it once for all by today.

The immigration office is a bit run down and for kid's passport renewal we required to bring :
1) 2 sized photo passport size
2) 2 copy of birth cert and original copy of course (which i didn't bring earlier thinking that my kad is suffice enough...now I wonder what the use of the kid's mykad since each time you want to do anything relates to goverment they will still require the birth cert. just waste of time and resource to create the mykad all together at the first place!!! )
3) 1 copy of mother or father ic and original copy ( person to be held responsible for the kids passport)
4) Form for passport renewal (can be retrieved from the immigration office itself)
5) old passport (if you are renewing passport ... if not I guess you can ignore this)
6) Rm150 fees for 5 years 32 pages passport

Once you have no 1 to 5 ready you pass it at one of the counter. They'll check that everything is in order, then only the will give you the que number. Wait for about 10-15 minutes then they'll call you...Pass no 1-5 again and this time they will take everything from you and ask you to wait to be called at the payment counter. Wait again for another 10-15 minutes...then pay RM150, they will return your original birth cert and IC with the receipt.

Now you can either wait for 2 hours (if you pay by 3 pm) for the passport to be ready. Or you can just come over tomorrow or whenever you are free (not more then 3 months) to pick up the passport. Since not many people and I figure it's pretty close fr my house, I went back and pick up the passport later in the afternoon.

The kids are so lucky. Bot of them had their 1st passport when they are still babies and travel a lot too. That's what they get when they have parents who loves to travel.

Aariz new passport followed by his old passport and lastly Fawwaz recent passport :D. Aren't they cute little thing :p

Confirm

Hotel booking confirm....yaiy. Now to arrange the activities and finalize shopping list :D

The trip yg tak jadi

Earlier I thought we should have the vacation by road trip to the East of Malaysia. We thought of staying at Villa Danialla Tok Bali Kelantan for a few night before making our way to Terengganu and Kemamang and head back to KL. But again the Enrich Miles expiring and they are lot of places that we can go with the Enrich Miles for the whole family. So next we were eyeing for KK.

We book the ticket but fail to get return ticket secured. I have listed all the possible activities for us to do in KK. Let me share some of the details since we have cancel the trip to KK and opt for another location.

In KK for 5 days 4 night of 6 days 5 nights they are lots of activities you can do with your child. That is base from my searching and finding from the net. I am thinking to stays for 3 night somewhere in the city area as we plan to do some of the activities. We do hotel booking from PYO Travel as so far when we check the price is quite a deal. Both of us are not working with company that have all the privillage to entitle for corporate rate so we keep our eyes on some travel website for the best deal. Elin is the one who introduce us with PYO Travel and we have use their service once for our trip to HK a while ago.

On the first day of our trip, we thought of going to the National Park of Tunku Abdul Rahman on Gaya Island. Maybe spend a day trip snorkeling or just chilling there ...

On the second day my schedule would be Poring Hot Spring and then enjoy the Kinabalu Park.

Third Day we should just chilling around KK city, go to Warisan Square, Atkison Clock Tower, Filipino Market or Central Market..basically just camwhoring and shopping ;)

The first 3 days we might stay at a normal hotel just to get a place to sleep as during days we are suppose to be packed with activities. Then after all the shopping I was thinking to switch hotel to Shangri La Tanjung Aru so that we can appreciate the last few days of vacation lazying around the pool and resort area. From the review that I read, Shangri La Tanjung Aru has a good kids club and pool. They also has a shuttle for us to go to the other Shangri La Rasa Ria to enjoy the wildlife and orang utan there (which you don't even need to go to Sepilok the see the Orang Utan).

There you go.... I have plan everything and have surf all the info needed for our trip that hubby told me that it is just too risky to stick with our booking with no return flight confirmation. So we change the destination. Now with new destination, flight tix has been confirmed but now I am back to square one of searching our hotel and activities for the kids.

Weekend update (cerita dah basi :D)

Byknya to update but too lazy lah as usual.

Where to start? Owh Friday night...my dream to go to Pavillion materialized. Berjaya cuci2 mata with a few targeted that reganya toksah cerita. Which come to Monday I am back with my frugal mode when I get to know that my project will not be extended after Dec. That is another story all together. But my cuci2 mata materialized...altho I must admit each time I went into all this shops mmg the salesperson mcm nak layan tak layan jek especially when I'm with my 2 monstrous kids. Well not them to judge me but on the brighter sides...I am not interupted or being harras by them during my eyes feast la kan.

My cuci2 perut also materialized when I manage to get my dose of pastry and bread from The Loaf. Altho again...the downside of it I realized on of the pastry...The Magazine, the amount of choc filling is not as generous as before...I dont manage to finish that but Aariz somewhat wallop the whole thing for me.

We are not going back empty handed...I bought myself 2 nice blouse and one pants from Parkson. Some item for La Senza and the kids manage to persuade hubby to buy them some toys as well. Great outing and a good shopping therapy for me :).

The next day, Saturday we were lazying around and do some cleaning for the house. Went out to get a quick lunch at one of the chinese muslim rest in PJ....then pay visit to my mil and on the way back we did some quick groceries at the Giant.

At night with a ready made pizza doh...I made a pizza home cook version and we enjoy simple quiet dinner together with 4 of us chatting and watching TV together.

On Sunday we don't have much plan... till my school friend called me and said she wants to pay a visit to us. I already plan to cook some pasta for lunch ..So I just double the amount and made two sauce, one bolognese and one carbonara (mcm open hse cik daun pulak :D). Owh I also experimented another version of choc brownies which turn OK but still not as good as the original version that I posted earlier. This time round I made a choc ganache to compliment the brownies and the results was so good that I ate 4 piece in total (aiyoo mcm mana tak buncit)....I brought the left over to my mom's house and the next day all of it gone to everybodies tummy :)... yummeh!.

There goes my weekend...such a bliss weekend for me.

Mama and her 2 boys

Today Aariz just mention something that I pray that he won't say it to me.

As usual, I will go to my parents house after I finish my work to pick them up. If hubby is still in the office or on the way...I will spend some time with them at grandma house, play with them and feed them (yer saya masih tak malu makan kat rumah mak saya walaupun dah duk rumah sendiri). Anyway I am not in defensive mode..so mengatala sesuka hati awak :p... saya belum masak secara series di dapur saya yg comel tu.

Back to Aariz and Fawwaz. I sat there with them and manja Fawwaz just put his head on my lap and then Aariz just pop out the word. "Mama ni memang sayang Fawwaz kan...". Ok for this my defensive mode just turn on. "What makes you thing Mama tak sayang Aariz?". He looks a bit blur but then give me a smile....Then of course I started to tell him all the things that I did to show how much I love him as well.

The fact is I do love them both so much. No more no less. But Aariz keep on testing my patience all the time. Fawwaz on the other hand...he's an opportunist. He know how to play cool. How not to make my temper goes to the ceiling...and he just like playing sweet. Like hugging and kissing and putting his head on my shoulder or lap. He know how to act to...making sure that his ass is safe from everyone to scold him.

We always thought Aariz is the type of do first think later. Fawwaz is the type of think first and do later. For example....at the park...at the age of 3 Aariz will not be afraid to climb up the highest slides..and get frighten later. Fawwaz...will look up and examine the height of the slides...and confidently says no when he knows he is not ready for it. That goes for all the other matter in the house. Aariz will just try to get something that he want and bash a glass of water and spill it all over. Fawwaz will strategize to get what he want. It's very easy to get annoyed with Aariz rather than Fawwaz even tho the facts is ....Fawwaz sometime can be one difficult boy. But he just manage to get away with it. I guess it happend to most of second child in the family. They are good in getting away ....

Being the first child I guess I did put a lot of expectation to him. Which then cause frustration to me. That lead to me unnecessarily scolding him...while on the other hand his lil brother will get away with it ...because he is little. But that remark that Aariz gave me today is something that I want to avoid so much. I don't want him to feel that I side his brother more that him. But at the same time I want him to understand why he get that extra scolding from me.

Today....before I put him to bed. I give extra attention to Aariz. Patting him to sleep, but his lil bro still doesn't want to let go off me. I give him some tickle and tell him how much I love this big boy ....... He close his eyes smiling...and I still whisper to him how much I love him and how smart he is......Hopefully tomorrow I can try to be better at handling both of them.

Darn....the challenge of being a mother has really started!