izadnhana

dot-org

2007-02-12T13:28:00.000+08:00

ok.

i've been 'ordered' to fully utilise our new domain (which i've been avoiding coz of, well, inertia, really).

izadnhana.org

it's still under works.

can you believe it, despite the gazillion photos we've taken, we had a hard time finding nice ones of the three of us together??

sheesh.

mak, saya nak kawin!

2007-02-10T00:16:00.000+08:00

boleh tak? macam cool gitu lah, duduk kat atas stage.

....

now let's see.

one seat for nunu, one seat for sharleez...

hey, not enough chairs leh!

how liddat??

lunch hour

2007-02-09T00:29:00.000+08:00

begone, beruang feet!

hello, happy feet!

note: for mani-pedi sessions, always bring a trusted assistant to help retrieve your wallet out of your bag and other nail-damaging tasks.

note II: 'chocolate mousse' is now officially my favourite colour.

it's hard finding time to myself since the boy came along. you know, to do girly things like this. pampering myself has been out of my priority list the moment he popped out of me. (and don't get me started on finding time to go on a date with the Harsbern alone. fergeddit!)

i finally found myself free for a lunch hour while on course in the vicinity of holland v (gawd i luv that place). ever since i've reduced my BM-pumping sessions, i find myself with precious 'me' time to go for longer lunches, shopping, errand-running, hair-cutting (teehee), or just go for a drive to get away from the office. (oops, sorry Harsbern, i know petrol very expensive.)

anyway, the last i had my feet properly scrubbed, buffed and prettified was... err, is' wedding, let's see, hmm... march 05?? (and if you calculate THAT forward nine months later, you know what happened. hehe.)

so, almost two years later and two babies between is and me, here i am again.

eh. which is not to say that nine months from now, something else will happen again, okaay!

:D

oh, which reminds me. gotta start going for those waxing sessions again.

brazilian lunch, anyone?

party animal

2007-02-05T00:44:00.000+08:00

fun fun fun!

you gotta love parties, even if they're for the kiddies.

he sure as heck does.

though he was more occupied with the entertainment than the food and games. (bah, those are for kiddies...)

more...

my preciousssss

2007-02-04T00:56:00.000+08:00

ole!

yep, it was my first trip to the stadium to watch a football match.

it was red team versus blue team.

i was a little confused. see, i was wearing red, so i thought i was supposed to root for the red team. but everyone in red around me kept booing at the red team and scolding them with funny-sounding words like *beep* and *beep*. (eh, how come they come out as "*beep*" ah? got censor ah this blog?)

go red team go!

anyway, i made a lot of new friends there. the indian men sitting in front of us were quite funny and i poked their shoulders a few times to tell them so. they whistled very loudly and jiggled their butts and waved their hands in the air everytime something exciting happened in the field. i believe they were doing what is known as the bhangra. and i dunno why but unkle shukor kept calling me "ah-neh". it's ah-neek lah, unkle! hmph.

then there were the nice ladies sitting behind us. one of them even gave me a chicken nugget. then they carried me here there and everywhere. i was hoping i'd get passed along the whole stadium together with the kallang wave, but unfortunately, that didn't happen. but mummy was more than happy to have her hands free for a while anyway.

oh, speaking of mummy, it was also her first trip to the stadium! my goodness, mum, you've never been to one of these in all your twenty-nine years of life? so deprived you are. luckily you managed to fish out that red adidas tee from your wardrobe that you've never worn before.

nevermind lah. you stick to your shopping malls, ok? at least it got you prepared for this event.

now stop asking where Precious is!

XY factor

2007-02-03T00:32:00.000+08:00

we welcomed yet another boy in the jumari family. the fifth great-grandson to date.

to add to the already too-long line of grandsons. i lost count, but it's something like five girls to thirteen boys or something.

we're waiting for someone to break the trend and give us a girl.

oi, don't look at me!

i may be the first girl grandchild in the jumari clan, but the chances of izad giving me an X chromosome is quite slim lah. he's got many boys in his genes. (and many 'boys' in his jeans? heh.) :D

speaking of boys, we popped by two floors down to see this lil dear.

get well soon, bub! i hope you don't give your mummy any more frights like that. :x

and as for this boy, at the hospital also can find chicks.

tsk.

how to be a gentleman

2007-02-01T10:50:00.000+08:00

i hear that valentines day is coming soon.

that means a lot of boys and girls will be going out on romantic dates and such.

and so, for the benefit of my fellow brethren who will be making their moves on that day, here's a guide to How To Be A Gentleman on a date with that hot chick of your choice.

first, ask her and let her decide where she would like to go, especially where to dine. this gives her the impression that you are a thoughtful person who values her inputs. also, this is to avoid her calling you a cheapskate should you suggest places like mcdonald's, kfc, geylang market, etc. (that last one, by the way, is one of daddy's favourite places to bring mummy to eat, that cheapskate.)

girl: let's go to this place, they have lobsters.
boy: *gulp*

when you are seated, tell her she looks ravishing and good enough to eat. she will be so flustered and shy that she'll skip the main course and order a salad to ensure she maintains her ravishing figure. if she has trouble reading the menu (from all that blustering), call the maitre d' (or 'waiter', for the less refined) and order on her behalf. in your best french, no less.

boy: je veux le poulet, s'il vous plait. (translate: gimme gimme chicken!)
girl: apo dia bobal tu...

i would highly recommend this next bit after a nice meal. you know they say, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach? well, the way to a woman's heart is through her shopping bag! now, boys, try your very best to stay awake and alert during this tough and trying part of the date. (i'd suggest having a cup of coffee after that meal.) your date will be asking you generic ten-year-series-type of questions, such as "does this make me look fat?" or "how do i look in these?" or "i wish i could have this!" (that last one sounds like a statement but is actually a hidden question, translated as "can you buy it for me?". for more on Girl Statements That Are Actually Hidden Questions, please await the publication of my book of that title, to be out soon in all good bookstores.)

boy: this one looks REALLLYYYYYYY GOOOODDDD on ya, hun! i swear, on barney's life!

now, here's when the date ends and you reap your rewards! tell her thank you for the superduper great time, and a little bit more flattery wouldn't harm too (eg. "you have such an interesting, brainy, brilliant mind" etc. well, girls like to hear they're smart too, you know.)

and then, pucker up....

mummy: just lips, no tongue, now!

of course, if you are under 18 years of age, you have to be heavily supervised and chaperoned by your respective mummies. (like that fella, ashton kucher.)

with that, i wish all of you the best in your quest to be a full-fledged Gentleman like me.

may the Force be with you!

"sunny day, sweepin' the clouds away..." <-- (great, now sesame street's getting to me)

2007-01-30T01:24:00.000+08:00

i really like all the pictures we took on our second sunshine session, so i'm just gonna, erm, let them do the storytelling....

SPLASH!

oh, and let me tell you, i feel very mak mak when i saw this, though. eiyerr.

(yes, he had a change in outfit, thanks to that big SPLASH.)

"oh mister sun, sun, mister golden sun, please shine down on me..." <-- (ok, i've been hearing one too many barney songs)

2007-01-29T14:44:00.000+08:00

backtracking a little to two sundays ago, which was the first in our series of let's-kickabout-in-the-sun-and-avoid-shopping-malls sessions.

and we survived! well... barely. (it proved to be too much vitamin D for this mummy that she took urgent leave the next day. weak betol.)

despite the sweltering heat (which was really a nice change from all that rain... really...) the kids took it in stride, sweat and all.

Team Bambino

naufal: "you think we can beat the Lions?"
aniq: "huh? i thought we're at the botanic garden, not the zoo?"
nuha: *rolls eyes* "tsk, boys!"

ouh, just a little side note about his latest 'thang'. hand smooching. and i mean, a big, fat, juicy, wet and noisy SMOOCH. it's really too bad hari raya's over. he'd have garnered extra green packets for every adult hand being smooched, i think.

siapa-siapa punya tangan pun bedal jer lah.

anyway, suffice to say, we chickened out on mister sun and went scampering back to the comforts offered by, er, mister carrier man (you know, the air-con guy).

ok, so we compromised and sat al fresco, sipping on our cold lattes and chocolate ice blended.

hey, this won't be the last of it.

we were very good and brought the bub outdoors again yesterday.

but gimme another day to get over the overdose of vitamin D again in the meantime.

(don't worry, i didn't take urgent leave this time round.)

sunday morning

2007-01-28T11:56:00.000+08:00

i know we'll have a particularly great day when he wakes up in the morning next to me, all smiley and gorgeously perky.

today was that.

a good start to the morning.

the best time of the day is that, as soon as he blinks open his eyes and flashes a grin and out of his mouth, the most melodic sound in the world - "maa~!"

and a while later, off he goes, like a rocket, to his playroom.

tbc...

caught with his pants down

2007-01-21T00:56:00.000+08:00

i hadn't seen dadam for a while, so when i did on friday, i patted his bum, and to my surprise, my hand did not meet with the familiar impact of a puffy diaper.

"eh! where's your pampers?"

he grinned and promptly pulled down his pants.

"dadam nak kencing! aunty nana cebokkan!"

and my eyes promptly grew wide like saucers.

"HA?!"

thankfully, i managed to escape from THAT. i'll cross the bridge when i reach it with aniq.

i'm glad he's trailblazing the way to aniq's own toilet-training in months to come. if we follow dadam's schedule, it'll be in exactly a year's time. *gulp*

oh, and he puts on his own pants after that too. how can i not be proud of the lil guy?

i hope aniq will quickly learn to say "nak berak/kencing/makan/tidur!" too. senang sikit. (though his squatting down and patting his tummy while doing the do is a pretty good system for now, hehe.)

dadam's also started going to a daily playgroup for a few hours in the morning, and as soon as either his oma or his dad slips away, the waterworks begin! we call it, The Crying Game. i hear that the wailings can be heard all the way from one end of tampines to another. :D

when i ask him in our teleconversations (coz he's always the first to pick up the phone when i call home) how school was, he'd tell me, "dadam nangis!" mengaku pun.

his mum and dad are hoping he'd learn to socialise better with his peers. for a long time, he's been the center of attention, and with the arrival of his younger cousin, he's had to adjust to sharing the limelight with him.

he still shoves and snatches and pulls and shouts at the lil fella, though the latter is pretty hardy and ignores him or at most, pulls away or fights back, hehe.

sometimes, he's all lovey-dovey and kisses him, and retrieves whatever the little one throws on the floor. tapi tu bila mood baik lah, ie. depan mak bapak dia. lol!

"oh, whatever..."

aniq! at the disco

2007-01-17T23:18:00.000+08:00

so.

drums - checked.
keyboards - checked.
guitar - checked.

microphone - checked!

yup, it's the school of rock indeed here at izadnhana's.

as lead singer (ahem), he's got the rock star posturing, facial expression and voice projection down pat, with a little room thrashing and diva behaviour thrown in for good measure.

sing it to me now!

i think he'll make quite a good lead singer in a rock band, from the way he, erm, interacts with the audience and pleases the crowd. just like bono, you know.

now, all he needs to do is learn his lyrics better...

(re: the last part of the vid - yes, mummy's obsession with uncle bono *is* a lil scary.)

and the green grass grows all around

2007-01-14T01:46:00.000+08:00

daddy had to run an errand, so i had a bit of fun with mummy for a while, exploring the Great Outdoors. well, it's not exactly great, like a park or anything. but it's out of the malls and under the sun, so it's good, no?

there were lots of interesting things to see, just sitting by the road side.

and even more interesting things to do! like what that man is doing there, pulling grass.

he was kind enough to pull me up and show me how its done.

ouhh.. so THIS is grass. wonder how those cows can like this stuff...

... it tickles!

meanwhile...

hey mister, your fly is open!

oops, i better check if mine is too...

hey, a ciggie. thanks, mate.

oops, my daddy's comin', i better hide this...

after all that mucking around, my hands were all black and dirty. of course, i have no concept of the word 'dirty' at all, just that mummy keeps shouting "DIRTY! DIRTY!" everytime i touch or pick something up from the ground. usually, my attempts to gobble them up are foiled by her too, followed by more hysterical screams of "NOOOO DIRTY!"

sheesh. party pooper.

but you know what? the REAL reason why i like to get my hands all black and "dirty" is so that i can... PLAY WITH WATER! can you see the joy in my face? whee!

and now i'm all "clean" again.

for a few seconds anyway. heee.

*splashes puddle on the ground with hands*

brickworks

2007-01-13T00:28:00.000+08:00

*yawn*

sleepy in his quinny.

never mind how sleepy he is, it takes one VERY quickly-gobbled down plate of rice before he gets antsy and demands his freedom to roam. that is, after we've stuffed him with biccies or anything from our own plates, to letting him play with straws or ice cubes. oh, to have the luxury of savouring our food...

hmm, where shall i start?

and as they say, what goes in must come out.

it takes one purposeful squat to know that he's doing his business.

talk about *public* toilets.

yes, he DID poo, ok. and BOY DID IT STINK!!

the replacement

2007-01-11T10:57:00.000+08:00

he has this theory that non-living things, eg. electrical/electronic goods, have 'feelings' and 'lives' of their own.

you know, like when you're just thinking of replacing that old-but-still-working refridgerator with a brand new one you saw at the stores, it suddenly goes into cardiac arrest and, being irresuscitable, dies a timely death.

or when you're thinking about changing that old-but-not-so-trendy mobile phone you've had for a while now to a top-of-the-line avant-garde one, it decides to merajuk and "run away", by getting itself lost in the taxi/bus/mrt/other public places.

once, just when we were about to buy a new bed for me in the old house, the old bed simply fell apart by itself, as if it knew its lifespan had expired and would no longer be of service to me, its master.

anyway, the mister got himself a new toy recently. hurhur.

and proceeded to play around with it, completely ignoring his once-favourite point-and-shoot toy he'd acquired not so long ago.

hey, even *i* had a bit of fun with it.

my tampines' next top model.

and guess what?

barely a few days later, that trusty point-and-shoot we call lumix, attempted to commit suicide.

i say attempt, because it didn't really succeed in falling to its demise completely.

the mister was retrieving something from the table and lumix fell with a crash to the floor, cracking its LCD screen, akin to a head trauma injury.

no, we didn't call for an ambulance, but we'll send it to the hospital for recovery soon.

erm, reaaaal soon. *strokes lumix*

hot hot heat

2007-01-08T11:35:00.000+08:00

he was uncharacteristically subdued and whiny the whole day on saturday, and when his cheeks flushed red, we took a nice drive out to the docs that evening.

he was weighed in - finally passed the 10kg mark! - and his temperature checked - close to 40 degrees. the nurse gave him a dose of paracetamol and something to sponge him with.

then we waited for his temperature to drop. his eyes glazed and did i mention he was UNUSUALLY subdued?

bagos jugak sakit tau, duduk diam sikit. hehee.

about half an hour later, his temperature went down one degree... and OFF HE WENT! running around the entire floor, climbing on the weighing machine, making passes at a little toddler girl (complete with flying kisses), being cheeky with the nurses, and... generally being back to his normal ol' self.

oh well.

(urm, wreaking havoc at an undisclosed shopping centre later that night. parents took the opportunity since they were already out to stock up on depleted diapers.)

it was a viral infection, most likely caused by his one and only cousin dadam, who has been having a runny nose for the longest time yet INSISTS on kissing the little bub "satu kali ajerr". banyak punya satu kali eh.

that night, we laid out the mattress in the hall, put him in the skimpiest outfit of singlet and shorts, sponged (or rather, towelled) him some more, and the three of us rolled around and had a lil camp-in, in front of the teevee.

i love that we have this whole space to ourselves, our own X square meter of floor area that we call home. i remember when i was young, i wished i could just move out and live in my own house so that i could do ANYTHING i wanted in it... like, eat ice-cream and chips any time of the day, or leave the bed messy without anyone nagging at me, or have a slumber party with a few hot hunks.

well, whaddaya know. this hunk, literally hot. ;p

(tearing his hair out with all my fussing. hee. i'm sure he'll wish to move out and live in his own house sans his parents too some day...)

(... as soon as he gets over his Tek-dependence.)

so anyway, yeah, the whole weekend crept by uneventfully, POOF! just like that, not doing anything except stay within the confines of our X square meter of floor area. which is, hmm, quite a rare thing, actually. and ironic, since we used to believe that we'd stay home more than go out once we had our own place. hah, right.

(BUT heyy, according to dr j/a/z/l/a/n in last week's berita minggu, i didn't slack at all and did a TOTAL of four hours of aerobics and burnt 1200 calories over the weekend! woohoo! [ok, you actually have to hunt for a copy of BM to get what i mean.])

food glorious babyfood!

2007-01-07T04:09:00.000+08:00

... upsize

blue/green

2007-01-06T13:25:00.000+08:00

ok, so after some dilly-dallying and trawling two certain new stores in tampines, half of the room is more or less, er, done.

can you tell how uninspired we are from the way we simply plonked in the things we gathered from those two new stores? hurhur.

now i'm just waiting for the Hausbern to get down to assembling that darned bookshelf so that the other half of the room will be complete.

oy, bila mau game darrr...

that's the thing about Hausberns. you become too dependent on them to do these things. you know, like fixing the lights, plumbing the toilet, etc.

but of course, it takes two weeks of shouting reminders and another two weeks of excuses before they actually do it.

so, it looks like it'll be a number of days more before we'll see the light of day of that bookshelf.

should i just do it myself then? *looks at manicured nails*

(hah, kidding! - i haven't had a manicure in years.)

last hurrah

2007-01-05T23:48:00.000+08:00

the Zombie Mummy is now back to Human mode after three excruciating days of work at the Zombie Office. she's still recovering from the shock of having to go back to work after that nice long holiday.

the night before she transformed into the Zombie, though, she did manage to have a bit of a last hurrah thing with some friends who were also to turn into Zombies the next morning.

the boys too had a last late night out to mark the end of the holidays. sigh. so clueless they are.

did i tell you he didn't want anything to do with the milk bottle for the five straight days he was home with me over the hols? wuaahuahaa. manja eh kau. see your brudder rayhan, so nice and chubby. next to him, your biceps also fail lah bo-boy.

but when i'm back at work and the old routine of staying at his oma's in the day resumed, he finished up all his milk, in the bottle no less.

hmph. (another reason why i shouldn't be a sahm - my boobs will sag like a nenek with ten children in no time.)

silence of the lambs

2007-01-01T00:33:00.000+08:00

we didn't get to see any goats, lambs, sheep or other livestock from old macdonald's farm being slaughtered this year, but we had a pretty good time. (unlike the goats, lambs and sheep, that is.)

mari baca doa untuk tahun baru. world peace! amin.

pak aji relek kejap

ok, time to pray. dun play play.

uh oh, another cheeky pak aji in the family.

adam & aniq. today peace, tak bedal bedal each other. *hugs*

wow. is it 2007 already??

like last year, we didn't get to see the fireworks either.

it was spent putting the little one to sleep! at midnite, no less. his routine has gone a bit off since he's at home with me the past few days.

my bad. and all the more i shouldn't be a SAHM. (plus, it's really no joke tidying up after a tornado ok!)

yessir, yessir, three bags full

2006-12-31T00:54:00.000+08:00

selamat hari sembelih baa baa black sheep, everibodeee!

before i go to the mosque, lemme practise my sujud first.

eh, where did my songkok go...?

20cent

2006-12-31T00:37:00.000+08:00

we finally got off our big fat lazy bums and started on that project.

i surprised myself, and even more, the Hausbern, by painting a good part of the room. (and showing signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder.)

he said i could quit my day job.

he suggested that i start a business, like those girls in bikinis washing cars, but instead i'd be painting houses.

he gave me a pat on the back and took evidence of me getting down and dirty.

he said tak sia-sia kawin dengan bini pandai cat rumah. hurhur.

yeah i'm afraid we're not adventurous AT ALL when it comes to interior decorating and chose a very safe (and boring) wall colour for a playroom - some lemon yellow thingy.

i KNOW! it looks almost the same as the other rooms in the house, right? ha ha! (this room, btw, used to be mocha-coloured, too dark for a playroom.)

we figured, wellll, there'll be sooo many gaudy toys filling it aaaanyway, so let's not over-stimulate the fella with something too bright. and we didn't want a room that stuck out like a sore thumb from the rest of the house.

erm. ok ok, bad excuse. we're just really not bold or imaginative enough. :p

the lil bub was deposited at his oma's so we could paint in peace. you can imagine the chaos if he'd been around. he'd be splashing in the paint and doing some body art of his own, i can tell you that.

being the amateurs that we are, we took a whole blahdy day and i think, four coats of paint (?) to finish up this tiny room.

tangan cramp, beb. sayang anak punye pasal. hrmph.

our work being done, a lil celebratory drink was due.

BARTOP DANCING, BAYBEH!

"ouhh yeah, stuff your twenty-cent coins in my pants please..."

ps: his takings of twenty-cent coins were spent at the pekak-nak-mampos kiddy rides near our table.

we've now taken to using objects to physically shield from his vision any kiddy rides along our path. but, um, usually he's the first to spot them from a mile away. pantang tengok tu benda. apa yang best sangat? macam lah tak pernah naik kereta.

maybe we should find one of those things and install it in his playroom.

dua posen mari!

you don't know jack!

2006-12-30T00:04:00.000+08:00

we'd been to m/a/d j/a/c/k's at the bt timah outlet once, and were so unimpressed by the so-so food and lukewarm service that we never bothered to travel all the way there a second time.

then we heard about the second outlet at jln kayu and since we were on the TPE, we thought of giving it another try. (and if we were still unsatisfied, we could just bedal the famous prata next door.)

there weren't too many people, so niQiboy had the whole toy area to himself.

it's not much, mostly bits of toys that don't work, and board games for older kids, and it was kinda awkwardly located, right in the path to the sink and toilet. (imagine the germs that get transferred along the way to the children sitting on the floor. sheesh.) but it was enough to keep him occupied, for a while anyway.

there's a fussball table, also awkwardly located, right in the middle of the room, not very conducive for a loud game as it would distract the surrounding diners.

but bad feng shui aside, the food here was slightly better than the one at bt timah. and they didn't make us get our own utensils like the one there! they placed a whole bunch of it on every table for self-serve instead. pandai pun.

so how, niQiboy? what's your rating for this place?

"can i have some prata, please...?"

last kopek

2006-12-29T13:15:00.000+08:00

ok, before december REALLY ends, just a few more last pics of december celebrations that ensued. ok? can lah. you don't mind seeing more babies, right?? err.

anyway. there was harith's first birthday, but he was a lil grumpy-wumpy when we were there.

sms: "i jumpa u lambat sikit, kena layan tamu dulu ler..."

the other babies present were in a perky mood though. dapat izadnhana berfeeling anak tiga.

eh eh, nak pegang tangan dengan cheerleader ajer...

and niQiboy, umm, sorta terrorised them. sorry, mak mak tertentu! :S

ouhh, this is just like my stacking rings...

then there was camellia's first. to my dismay, she already has SO MANY TOYS, so our gift would just add to the clutter. haii. should've given her something else. like, hmm, a spa voucher or something.

some say they look alike. big eyes and fluttery lashes! ni baru gegerr.

ok dah. no more birthdays and parties for the year.

really.

(wait, new year's eve party considered this year or next year..?)

77 turns <3

2006-12-28T10:57:00.000+08:00

little did they know, they were to become great bosom buddies (in more ways than one ha ha).

through three weddings, three pregnancies, four babies (of the two-legged and four-wheeled kinds, heh), many birthdays, various hairstyles, fluctuating bra and belly sizes, and countless hugs and laughter.

it seems like we've known each other much longer, somehow.

we still harbour dreams of going into business together, with each of us having our own individual 'talent'. ;p

maybe some day.

but one thing's for sure - our promo flyers and posters SURE HAVE OUR PICTURES ONE! wuaahaaa.

...

how, can sell or not...?

tandoori, tea or me?

2006-12-27T23:40:00.000+08:00

on kismis eve, i visited the President of the Union of Bambinos at his house. it was so high up, i thought we'd climbed jack's beanstalk!

i was almost right. there were golden roosters at the top...

and not to mention a Giant (Toddler).

ouh, my brudder Tahuiboy came along too.

but it took a while before he warmed up and joined the Giant and me.

me? my engine is always running lah. the only time it stalls is when i fall asleep. teehee.

thankyew unkle moby and unty trin for feeding us hungry people!

maybe next time mummy - err, i mean, DADDY will cook up a storm in our tiny kitchen. but mummy said, before we can invite any more people for proper sit-down lunch/dinner parties, we seriously need to buy nicer dining plates, and get rid of our current dining table which she doesn't like very much. (i suspect this is an excuse for her to shop.)

anyone wants a superheavyduty yellow marble dining table for FREE?? she's feeling very santa claus.

meanwhile, multiply and be merry... ho ho ho!

(eh. kismis day over already ah?)

attire:white

2006-12-25T00:12:00.000+08:00

"i'm... dreaming of a white.... christmas..."

eh, salah - wedding lah!

we were very makan ajar guests and came as per instruction on the wedding card.

'attire: white', it said.

if i could turn back the clock, i'd make all the guests at MY wedding wear white too. nice right??

very suci TAK berdebu. ;)

even this baby makan ajar one. he almost stole the limelight, ok, this boy. he's also a Kid A you know! :)

one stray guest who tak makan ajar *looks at farah*... tsk. :p

the other Kid A, aka Niqi Boy (as his daddy has been calling him), was Missing In Action that evening. our outfits wouldn't stay white very long otherwise.

anyway, twas a lovely wedding, lydia, you radiant bride you. nine years together, you guys?! wow.

oh, and happy birthday!

btw, groom's white adidas shoes not in picture.

(and to think i 'scolded' the Husband for wearing his white sneakers instead of proper formal shoes. rupanye Husband esah pon sama jugak. you Husbands got separate cards with instructions also is it??)

rockstar, cont'd...

2006-12-24T23:43:00.000+08:00

where we went eventually was to the kiddy salon to give the bub a haircut.

he was given a pink sash and the friendly aunty went "ahh, good gerr..."

"whatcha call me? GERR??"

so we KNOW his haircut was timely since aunty has mistaken his gender. ha ha!

weii, no more gegerr now ok.

rock star, baybeh.

"where are the chicks?"

but, erm, in the meantime, please hor, lay off the purple dinosaur, can...?

very tak rock star.

ARGGH!!~

bapakku

2006-12-24T10:53:00.000+08:00

like bapak, like anak...?

"can i have some hair gel too?"

"nevermind what team, i look good in red. ahem!"

"the only difference between daddy and me is... i play with the ball waaaay more than him. (that lazy bum, teehee.)"

"nak pergi mana ni, izad?"

nowadays, if you ask him, "ANIQ! mana izad??", he'll turn, scan the room, and point at his daddy.

and occassionally, he'll get sick of being asked and point to some other male adults.

mum tried out another question on him the other day.

"ANIQ! mana nana??" he turned, scrunched up his face and pointed at me.

on first-name basis dengan mak bapak, nampak?

haii, ni lah budak-budak new-age sekarang ye...

10

2006-12-23T23:51:00.000+08:00

the tenth of december is a very auspicious day, you know.

last year, i was born.

exactly a year later, my latest cousin was born. wow, maybe next year we can celebrate our birthdays together! what say you, newbie?

ouhh, he's a baby A too. anaqy, i think, that's what they're calling him. he has his mummy's features, and his daddy's complexion. (further proof to mum's theory that baby boys tend to look more like their mothers. then again, my mummy ni pandai-pandai only...)

also, on the day i was born last year, this aunty got married.

my, what a big balloon you have there, aunty!

needless to say, mum and dad couldn't make it to their wedding though i think it'd have been a REALLY grand entrance for me if they did, ha ha.

i dunno why, but unkle nazir has been calling himself my 'bapak mertua' for a while now. is it something like 'burung kakaktua', maybe?

pic taken by unkle nazir's huge-ass cam... eh, why am i always pictured sweaty and nekkid ah??

well, that balloon under the aunty's dress popped, so we went to visit baby marsya.

assalamualaikumm, boleh masok tak?

ouhh, aunty rairai came along to see the baby too. she ah, crazy about babies one. she ah, cannot see babies, sure romos one. i think she needs some form of rehab...

mummy (and apparently aunty rai) was taken by the nice painting in baby marsya's room. look! so pweeety.

ok lah aunty, you ALSO pweety ok? hurhur.

then, they took out their OTHER baby. now THIS one i like! (coz human babies are sooo for aunties, and not for toddlers like me.)

come hereee... no no, i'm not The Cat Terroriser.. really....

so big hor? i bet if aunty ayu was there, she'd jump up on the sofa and become hysterical. (but not in a tom cruise kind of way lar, hehee.)

and here's something else i like... somebody feeding me ACTUAL food for a change!

SATAY!

tsk tsk. unkle azim, you are so notty.

why you never give me more??

so (since i'm REALLY sleepy now) that concludes my story.

till the next tenth december... who'll be born then, i wonder?

(err, mummy, why are you staring at aunty rai and unkle azim like that...?)

slot in some coins please...

one!

2006-12-21T23:56:00.000+08:00

dear aniq,

before the magical month of december ends and you grow any older, let me recap what went on at your first birthday party.

we hope that in time to come, you'll see these pictures and hear the stories so often that you'll always have fond memories of it, even if you can't actually recall anything from that day. :)

there was you, the birthday boy, all sweaty within minutes of running around.

there was the pinata, a plane, chock-filled with enough chocs and candies to cause a pandemic sugar rush among the children present.

there was the inflatable pit, full of colorful plastic balls that flew and hit many unsuspecting victims, children and adults alike (yours truly included). the mountain of megabloks were added ammunition.

the bouncy castle, that brought joy to your many insuppressible cousins and other friends.

there were cakes, none of which you got to taste (ha ha).

there were also all that food that mysteriously went unphotographed. but i believe the potato salad and the satay were big hits. ;)

there was the Wall of 'Fame', where the aunties and uncles delighted in seeing their pictures with you, from day one to day 365. they kept them as souvenirs, and wrote their wishes for you. (i'll make sure you read them... some day.)

there were games, to keep the sugar-laden children occupied.

some said you cheated, coz of daddy. heh.

you're really lucky, you know. you really are.

look at what the kakaks made for you. they sacrificed many cleo magazines and hours for that gorgeous collage, perfect for that playroom-tak-jadi-jadi of yours. and the cards, some were even hand-made. wow. did i mention you're really lucky?

and mummy has to mention the goody bags she lovingly filled for the kids. oy, not easy selecting the items that make the cut for the goody bags, ok. must follow theme one. mummy very anal. (however, mummy's honeystar-filled cups failed quite miserably, coz they ended up mostly toppled over. bah.)

so there. you turned one. mummy and daddy apparently took two weeks to recover.

but we love celebrating everything about you, tau. you turning one is a HUGE milestone, worthy of all that work. not just for you, but for us too.

coz it's also us turning ONE, as full-fledged parents.

to many more celebrations, luv.

your bestest fans,
daddynmummy

window-shopper

2006-12-19T23:28:00.000+08:00

betol cakap, dah lama tak buat kerja ni macam.

alah, kerja bimbo. mengshopping, memakan, mengomel.

menggambar.

maklumlah, bloggers lah katakan. kita kan takde life.

benci, kan? ;p

on another note, doncha just hate it when you finally have TWO.POINT.TWO and then go out with the sole intention to lepaskan geram and then find absolutely NOTHING you fancy? grr arrgh.

but... i guess that's a good thing. seb sikit.

eh aniq eh?

ouhh i think he's got something to say next.

(blogging ni kan, boleh jadi schizo tau.)

**********

hola unkles and aunties!

i wanna tell you about how i managed to weasel my way into tagging along with mum to town when she initially intended to leave me behind under daddy's care. she wanted something she called a Berfeeling Single Day Out with her kun - i mean, friends, and to loosen her purse strings on what she calls Mummy's Stuff.

like, HAH! fat chance, hunny.

with my Care Bear powers, i made daddy drag me along and after he dropped mum off, he took me around to some shops. barely twenty minutes later, daddy called mum and got her to meet him for a while with the reason that the stroller couldn't fit into the shop he wanted to enter. ha ha! daddy, you also another weasel ah.

after daddy got his Daddy's Stuff, we were reunited again. i think i distracted the aunties from their ramen and sushi for a bit with my, ahem, charm. hurhur.

ouhh, after some of the aunties left, i met unkle poji. you know, as in joji poji pudding and pie?

when i grow up, i wanna have a dimple just like his.

wait... lemme try...

unty pina said i dun stand a chance. why youuu.... *&$@%

*SMACK THAT!*

ahem. bygones. i lup you still, unty pina. i shall keep striving for that deep, deep dimper so that many girls will fall at my feet, muaaahaaha~ (eh, girls falling at my feet sounds scary, actually. wait everytime must perform CPR, how...)

anyway, i had a ball distracting mum from her two.point.two expedition, touching every item in every store, running around the many people's legs in the crowd, gawking at the many twinkly lights above...

and since i like orchard road SO much, i think i may just be born to shop. (so mum, gimme that teeshirt you're holding!)

by the way, mum says she'll *try* to bring me somewhere more "consumer-free" next time. hmm, in-te-res-ting...

happy feet

2006-12-18T23:29:00.000+08:00

not only does he 'gostan' on demand (at times hitting the wall behind him, kes tak check blind spot, hehe), his latest thing now is to jump.

well.... he gets the concept of springing his body upwards, but he hasn't exactly lifted himself off the ground. i was happily jumping around like a monkey on fire one day to demonstrate, and he too excitedly tried it out like a baby monkey on fire. so now my mum also goes jumping around the house to get him to do the same.

yet another circus act to add to the list.

if you watch closely, he even does a little jig with his feet. eh, that one i didn't teach him leh. i suspect it's all that barney or some cheesy kids' karaoke thingy he's been watching on vcd, where the children are seen doing all kinds of dance/exercise movements while singing.

monkey see, monkey do. indeed.

speed of sound

2006-12-17T23:23:00.000+08:00

did i tell you i listened to x&y a lot when i was preggers?

aniq izhan.

chris martin.

hurhur.

feeding frenzy

2006-12-15T23:12:00.000+08:00

oh yes. since i'd already uploaded these, i might as well mention it here.

as you know, he spends a big part of the day at his oma's, where he gets all his daily meals. and you know how it is with grandmas/helpers, they'd much rather plonk the kids in front of the tv and spoon-feed them than sit them at the table to eat together. simply because, according to them, it's the only way to keep them still and not make a big mess.

so every chance i get, i'd sit him with us while we eat, sans tv, so he'll see how we behave at the table and let him make that big mess, be it with a small spoon or his bare hands. coz well, it's the only way he'll ever learn to eat properly and independently, no?

it's easier when we're outside, coz heh, we don't have to clean up afterwards! :p

whipped potato is easy. it sticks to the spoon, so he can't exactly fling it around ha ha. it's fun you know, watching him scoop the food up and aim it right into his mouth, in imitation of us. i don't think self-feeding is that easy a skill to learn for a child. even dadam who's two still has a bit of a problem with it.

these days when we eat out, my choice of food is very much dependent on what is suitable for him to try. like this plain tomato pasta at fish & co we had on my b'day. it keeps him VERY busy while we eat in peace. (of course, 70% of it was probably squished to death and ended up on his lap and floor than in his mouth, hurhur.)

another thing that's easy for him and us - plain rice. just plop a few scoops in front of him and he'll happily smear it all over his mouth, savouring the taste of each grain. (again, 70% ending up squished to death and on his lap/floor. but he has finger-lickin' good fun!)

in short, he likes eating (and making a big mess), so this self-feeding thing will be an on-going process which will, as all other things, test my patience and sanity.

wish me luck. :D

Albums of The Year

2006-12-14T01:49:00.000+08:00

it's that time of the year when you declare what your Album of the Year is.

i say mine is this one. luv luv luv.

now, izad says his is this one.

(not only are the stars blind, they're deaf. har har.)

ok ok, i think he was kidding lah.

i suspect it's actually this one.

that song hor, 'my lup', quite lomantic lor.

and aniq?

why...

THIS of course! :D

he IS kid A after all.

actually, we the parents were the ones who ended up being lullabied to sleep with it. vair nice.

and the cd sleeve is very fitting for our little future rock star. check out question #4...

hurhur.

ps: thanks, is! <3

boys' toys 101

2006-12-13T23:57:00.000+08:00

the next few posts will be about the little one's adventures with the various toys we're opening bit by bit (so he won't get bored with everything at the same time mahh).

we'll try to stretch them for hmm, a year, maybe? though at the rate we're going, they'll probably last a few weeks, at most!

oh, these would also be 'helpful' for those wondering what to get for little boys on their first birthdays, hurhur.

so, after the drums and xylophone-from-unknown-source, we tried out one of the mega many mega bloks. easy enough.

now, should i be a musician or an architect? hmm... so much to contemplate, us toddlers.

not long after, he proceeded to fling them all over the house.

mega mess.

we may just live on a house made of mega bloks by the time he's through with his entire collection. :D

then we broke out the bead mazes, one of which we placed at mum's.

but as you can see, the box apparently holds more interest to him than the actual toy. ARRGGHH!!

ouhh, this toy is great!

then we brought out the fire engine. nee noh nee noh nee noh...

where's the fire hose, daddy?

he fiddled with the many buttons on it, but twasn't easy to keep the hat on him. (pina, looks like he's not cut out to be one of the hunky SCDF boys in uniform that hang around you all day long after all, LOL!)

my head's on fire! geddit off me!

soon, he went back to his USUAL toy with many buttons to fiddle with - the remote control. grrrr.

ok. i give up.

but fret not, aunties/uncles! he DOES enjoy them ok. just... in different ways. he IS a child after all, and they have a whole different perspective from us adults when it comes to playing.

... though, i think he's somewhat musically-inclined you know, coz we broke out yet another toy this evening, and he banged away at it quite keenly.

i'll upload the 'music video' tomorrow.

i say, watch out chris martin, you got a rival baby....

when anIQ met gainIQ

2006-12-12T23:58:00.000+08:00

so yeah, we DID crack open the tin of wholesome moo-ness the day after One. (and you thought i'd chicken out eh, anne? heh.)

twas... thick. and bubbly.

i made sure he was really thirsty by then, so he gulped the whole thing down in a jiffy.

doo-dee-dooo...

you've been punk'd, hunny! HAHA!

erm, that tasted... funny. *burp*

so there. not such a big deal after all, huh? :p

i'm still expressing, though not as much, so he'll still have his daily fixture of TekMilk for that boost of antibodies. also, i intend to keep the factory working for a bit longer, especially for weekends coz, erm, i'm still not too keen on being a 'milk bartender' when we go out. (bad, lazy mum.)

and besides... $24 PER TIN, NO JOKE SIA!

the morning after

2006-12-11T23:57:00.000+08:00

this one's for the aunty who gave him the drumkit.

ho ho. somebody's been watching too much mtv on the sly. coz the way he pauses for dramatic effect after crashing the cymbals, and steps on the foot pedal, and taps the sticks together in the air, can only mean he's been observing them 'professional' drummers.

or... there could really be a rock star in him, somewhere. :D

and no, we don't mind the racket one bit.

it's music to our ears. (well, for now anyway. not so sure if we'd still be amused once he upgrades to an actual drum of the zildjian kind...)

birthday boy

2006-12-10T10:36:00.000+08:00

his first picture of the day.

in his birthday suit, no less.

:)

rewind: arrival of... Kid A

2006-12-10T03:24:00.000+08:00

December 12, 2005

arrival of... Kid A

hello!

we're back!

all THREE of us. :)

first of all, thank you to EVERYONE for your words of encouragement, well wishes and do'as. they mean a LOT to us, coz... we survived!

shall i slowly recap what happened since my last ten-minutes-apart contraction entry?

***

so around 8.40pm, i was pret-ty sure my contractions had shrunk to exactly 5 minutes apart, in a very constant pattern. called the doctor, who said we could proceed to the hospital. hokay! time for some action, finally! :D

we took our time finishing up our KFC meal (yes baby, you last had chicken) and had a quick bath.

grabbed our bag and took a final picture before leaving the house. haha.

all freshed up!

very bedek, right, 5mins contraction can still smile. tsk.

got to the hospital at almost 10pm, the nurse knew whose patient i was, and we were promptly led to the delivery suite, where i got changed, peed (a FULL cup when i'd just gone at home), and got myself strapped to a strange contraption.

and the baby's heartbeat came out of this machine like a thundering racehorse, in surround sound no less!

it went "GEDUB! GEDUB! GEDUB!" but in a watery way. (till the next day, i could still hear this sound reverberating in my head, since it was strapped on me till labour.)

baby's heartbeat was good. and hey the machine also could tell when i was having contractions, and i was right, they were 5 mins apart.

let me tell you about this doppler monitor. it's not exactly the most comfortable thing in the world when you're lying on your back with a huge tummy which is squirming around and hardens every now and then. gah.

so then it was enema time.

a bit of a squirt up my rear, and ten minutes later, phew! great stuff if you're having constipation, i tell ya.

from there, it was mostly just... waiting.

and waiting...

oh i forgot to mention about my Fingering Session which finally happened. unfortunately, it was done by one of the midwives, lol! when i came into the delivery suite, she wiggled about her fingers inside me and announced that i was already 5 - 6cm dilated, which was halfway through the process. i was 9cm within the next few hours. (and i suppose fully dilated by the time my water broke.)

i guess all that waiting out at home and walking around helped.

back to the contractions, did i mention they keep getting more intense?

unfortunately, izad didn't take any pics of my face in various states of grimace. (because he was sleeping and i was grimacing. in silence. heh.)

at around 2+am, after i'd given up reading and watching crappy tv, the nurse asked if felt like passing motion. i wasn't sure how to answer her, coz i thought i HAD passed motion. BUT, it was not soon after when i DID feel like i had to pass motion, and nodded when she asked.

she made me put on the gas mask during one of my contractions, and ok heck, let's try it. but WHOAAA NELLY! that thing is EVIL STUFF! coz it made my head berserk and giddy and full of oxygen and made my breathing out of whack, so i said nooo, don't want it, please.

and i *think* it was during one of my delirious states that we heard a sudden loud POP and water splashed out of me onto my socks and probably the walls and the midwives.

my waterbag had burst. ahh, so THAT's how it's like. hehe.

so from then onwards, the URGE to push got reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally strong, but the damned midwives (they were really very nice, really) kept saying, "don't push ahhh... don't push ahh... nurhana pandai.... very good...." because - the doctor had not arrived yet. gah!

of course, in my delirious state (by now i'd put on the gas mask as a means of distraction from the pain from the contractions, as well as deviced my own very effective breathing technique - breathe IN DEEEEP.... wail OUT LOUUUUUDDD) i was thinking "kepala hotak berdengung lah, macam mana tak push siak, peduli apa, PUSHHHHHHHHHH AJER LAHHH!!!"

the labour contractions. ahh. *chuckle*

they are very very intense when they come, but once the wave is over, you temporarily forget it coz it's such a relief... until the next one comes. kinda like a Very Bad Constipation.

soooo, when the doctor finally made his VIP appearance, the baby was already crowning (according to izad who witnessed everything from the other side). he took one look, told me to open up my legs wide, snipped my perineum just as i was having one of that WAIL OUT LOUD AND PUSHHHHHH moment, and the next thing i knew, i felt a huge solid thing tumbling out of me. in malay, i would describe it as "terburai keluar".

can i say that was one HUGE relief? :D

everything happened so fast, my legs weren't even strapped up (coz i was told to keep the baby in, remember hehe), and the doc cut off the umbilical cord before izad could. i think he forgot lah. even his hair had the dishevelled look of one who'd just woken up from sleep. ceh.

so the baby cried and izad was laughing, more in amusement than joy i think, because the baby had peed right there where he'd just come out. so THAT's why he wanted to come out so quickly, he had to go to the loo! talk about the call of nature!

i bit my nail, watching in amazement as the nurses fiddled about with him at the weighing machine, at that little person that had just come out of me. i also looked down in amazement at the tummy that used to be full to the brim, now floppy and flabby.

then i got to meet him.

hello!

meanwhile, the doc was fiddling about with me too. down there. he was waiting for the placenta to come out, and it fell out promptly with a plop.

the nurse had jabbed my left leg with painkiller that made it wobbly, the doc jabbed my nether region twice before stitching me up.

it was only much later that i discovered he'd snipped a straight line and given me ONE stitch. no wonder i could pee right after.

baby was given an apgar score of 10, and given to me to feed. a VERY short suckle, coz i still had nothing coming out of me.

izad said he came out clean, no sticky white stuff on his body, just a bit of blood on his hair. and MY OH MY, we were all shocked at that shock of hair. this was no VBB (Very Bald Baby)! it was a VHB (Very Hairy Baby)!

...

Posted by nurhana at December 12, 2005 10:13 PM

rewind: hello world!

2006-12-10T00:06:00.000+08:00

December 11, 2005

hello world!

Syukur alhamdullilah, Izad Jr came out safely at 3:45am, 10 Dec 2005. With a healthy weight of 3.07kg and length of 51.5cm, I can imagine him growing ever so tall!!

I'm really proud of my wife for being so calm and composed throughout the experience. Other than the usual screaming of pain and her constant deep synchronized heavy breathing, she was really amazing. None of the horror stories of the wife biting the husband's hand seemed to materialize. :)

Her water bag burst at around 3:10am, but just before 3am, she was very sure that the baby was coming out. She had this feeling like she needed to pass motion. The midwife called up our gynae at around 3:05am. But just after her bag burst, she felt that izad jr was pushing to get out. So for that 30 minutes, from 3 - 3:30am, my wife was battling to keep the baby in, yep, you heard it right, not out. It was all so tense during the period, the midwives (there were 2 of of them) moving in and out of the room, waiting for the gynae to arrive.

Well finally, our prayers were answered when the doctor arrived around 3:40am. When he took over, and told my wife to part her legs, I could see the baby's head right up the opening!! Well, the little one was really impatient to get out of his mother's womb and into the world!

Not suprisingly, the gynae took less than 5 minutes to get the baby out, it was really fuss free, alhamdullilah, no complication, whatsoever!!

i will let her tell you her side of the story next... :)

Posted by rohaizad at December 11, 2005 08:37 AM

rewind: contractions and coconuts

2006-12-09T21:50:00.000+08:00

December 09, 2005

contractions and coconuts

mum came over around noon, still worried. showed her the blood, which she's never seen before in pregnancies. her own pregnancies went by uneventfully, she said.

meanwhile, the contractions HAVE begun. i think. from early this morning, even before izad has woken up for work.

what do they feel like?

exactly like menstrual cramps, or segugut, just like the doc, mum, and everybody else has described it. how amazing that this biological phenomenon is so... universal.

it comes like an intense, sharp cramp at the lower part of the abdomen and around the back of the waist... then passes by, fading away.

my last recorded time sequence:

2.12 pm
2.20 pm
2.31 pm
2.42 pm
2.52 pm
3.01 pm
3.12 pm
3.20 pm
3.38 pm
3.49 pm

so... that's an average of ten minutes apart, yes?

i'm just waiting it out. it's pretty bearable for now. don't want to be staying at the hospital too early.

meanwhile, he bought me something to drink. "they" say it's for the baby to come out cleaner, or with lesser vernix, the waxy white substance that covers a baby's skin at birth.

macam-macam air saya minum.

Posted by nurhana at December 9, 2005 03:53 PM

rewind: labour drill

2006-12-09T00:00:00.001+08:00

i'm gonna backtrack a bit these few days leading up to The Big One and dig up some old posts from our archives exactly a year ago (THANK GAWD we still have them!).

am feeling... nostalgic. :)

December 09, 2005

labour drill

been having slight brownish tinges on the panty liner since yesterday, and this evening, i noticed blood mixed with mucus when i wiped myself with toilet paper after bathing.

"izad..." i called, so very calmly that he hardly bothered to respond. finally he showed up, and i showed it to him.

so *that's* the bloody show. how bloody exciting!

we were getting ready to have my birthday meal out, so we stuffed the rest of my "important" bits in the hospital bag and brought it along with us.

it was like a fire drill, but with less drama. you can call it a labour drill.

we were scarily calm coz i knew the real action wasn't going to take place just yet. i was still having only braxton-hicks, not the cry-out-loud-in-pain contractions. in any case, we called the doc for advice. he said it could still take some time for labour to begin since i wasn't having contractions yet, and if still in doubt, i could drop by the clinic tomorrow. as long as the baby is still moving, i've nothing to be worried about.

the birthday meal went by, with my mum looking very worried that i wasn't looking worried.

when we got home (with our hospital bag in tow haha), i checked again.

looked kinda familiar. you know, like light menses on the first day?

sms-ed a reliable source of info who assured me that hers *was* like menses, and true contractions may happen only 36 hours later, or even a week.

a quick google check confirmed it:

Bloody show: Loss of mucus plug

During pregnancy, a thick plug of mucus blocks the cervical opening to prevent bacteria from entering the uterus. When your cervix begins to thin and open, this plug may be discharged. You may notice stringy mucus or a thick discharge. It's typically brown and sometimes tinged with blood.

Losing the mucus plug is a sign that labor may begin soon, but it's not a guarantee. Labor may still be a week or more away.

MORE waiting! hah.

the plug itself hasn't come out, this was just a preview. i think.

meanwhile, the space between my boobies and abdomen is now TWO handspan wide. googling is very useful, coz i now know this is called 'lightening'. and i can literally feel peanut wiggling his way further down.

let's make 10th or 12th our target dates, ok boy-boy?

they're nice even numbers, see...

Posted by nurhana at December 9, 2005 12:53 AM

twonine

2006-12-08T11:15:00.000+08:00

ahem.

so yes, today i'm officially one year short of the big three oh.

a big UH oh.

once again, esah wins the Fastest Finger Award for being first to sms at midnight. (thank you luv.)

and the Husband wins the, erm, Best Husband Award (like i have so many husbands hor) for being first to hand me my gift, also at midnight.

i MUST say i'm impressed with him this year for his:

a) promptness (no postpone-till-payday/bonus this time round!)
b) stealthiness (where in heck did you find time to sneak off to shop for it??)
c) good taste (even i'm surprised you picked it out on your own.)
d) choice of words on the card (you probably exaggerated, but i'll take it anyway hehe.)

well done, Husband! i is happy. not just for the gift lah, but more for the abovementioned factors.

so, this time my turn to ask you: malam ni nak makan apa?

(don't worry, i won't cook.) :p

baby no enough / a wean-wean situation

2006-12-07T15:49:00.000+08:00

on another note, they say we melayus are NOT making enough babies this year.

HUH? YOU SURE OR NOT??

TODAY reported that for the first time, Malays gave birth to fewer babies than were needed to replace their population last year. The replacement rate has been pegged at 2.1 and according to figures released yesterday, the fertility rate of Malays fell to 2.07... There were 37,500 births which is an increase of 0.9 per cent compared to 2004 but well below the 60,000 or so babies needed to replace the population.

so we need 60,000 or so babies, huh? hmm *whips out abacus*... that would take 60,000 wombs and eggs, or less if you factor in twins/triplets/sextuplets. oh, and a WHOLE LOTTA sperm. (but please eh, si dektu yang terperuk dalam jail, we don't need anymore of yours, ok. sor-ry.)

and i thought we're doing quite well, from the record number of babies i've visited and pregnancies (and re-pregnancies, if there's such a word, heh) galore i've heard about this year alone.

after a whole year of repeatedly being asked when my next one will be, i may actually be running out of time and excuses.

speaking of which, my body has also sent me a "signal". last friday, actually. the Full Moon FINALLY arrived, after a long period of absence. (or rather, a long absence of period, har har.)

it's almost as if there's an egg-timer (pun intended) in there or something. the timing really couldn't be better, because we'd made a decision to start The Weaning Process right after his first birthday. periods, for the uninitiated, cause dips in milk supply, something i hadn't gone through, thanks to the monthly no-shows this whole year.

so yeah, we'll finally crack open our first tin of formula come monday (i think).

hmm, does it call for a celebration and fanfare, you think? ;p

i'm not sure how we'll take to it, and which of us will have withdrawal symptoms. sometimes, it's as if the boobies are his drugs. "macam ketagih," says mum, chuckling as he buries his face on my chest after a day at work away from him, not about to be swayed by anyone else who tries to lure him off my lap.

who the "ketagih" one is, is your guess.

i remember writing that i wish for the day he'd run up to me when i come home from work and bulldoze me to the ground with a loud "MUMMY!"

i guess i got my wish after all. come 7pm, his oma would say out loud "mummy balik! mummy balik!", he'd turn his head towards the door where i'll be standing, and he'd scrunch up his face and grin before trotting over with a "mmMA!" and throw his arms around my legs.

the feeling is - FWAH.

so yeah, my one year of TBF - no regrets. at all.

sometimes i wonder, will i be able to do this all over again when the second (or third??) comes along? will i have the same energy and drive?

i have friends (and an aunt) who feel they've 'shortchanged' their subsequent children with a "penat lah, tak kuasa" stance, after they've been all gungho with TBF the first time round.

but, i guess i'll only know when i cross the bridge.

meanwhile, honey... bottoms up!

and here's to MORE melayu babies to come... watch out, chingjiapore! (which was really the original topic of this entry, wasn't it?)

aeroplane flies high

2006-12-07T11:02:00.000+08:00

the past few nights, after everyone's asleep, i've been up in arms with scissors, coloured paper, blue tack, scotch tape, and an assortment of stationery i've not laid hands on since my school days.

macam art project ok.

the deadline is near, can pass up on time or not?

i *think* i may be going slightly bonkers and spiralling down the dark pit of obsession. i... can't... help... it..!

i can't say i don't enjoy it, though. i've always loved fiddling with scissors, coloured paper, etc. i didn't take up art in jc for nothing you know. (eh wait, i DID take it up for a reason - it was the bloody easiest subject to score, ha ha.)

meanwhile, there's just something therapeutic about cutting up pieces of paper and getting cramps in your hand after the fiftieth piece. yeah yeah, they may only be for little kids who'd most likely carelessly toss away my handiwork within a mere nanosecond with barely a glance.

but my obsession for the little details is somewhat of a debilitating disease, that reared its ugly head at its peak some three years ago when i was preparing for That Wedding. now That, was pure madness. phew~

ok. i'll have to let go a bit, and loosen the grip on those scissors.

... as soon as i've finished that fifty-first (or fifty-oneth, as some would say) piece...

now, where's that LOOOONG 'To Do' list of mine...?

*gah!*

wolf in sheepskin

2006-12-06T10:17:00.000+08:00

my jaws dropped to the floor in disbelief when i read the article on BH's front page today.

they're still there somewhere on the floor right now.

a monster in the shape of man lives in our midst.

ten wives, ~~thirty-three~~ sixty-six children, and yet he still preys on his own daughters?

sick doesn't even begin to describe the situation. Very Very Extremely sick, maybe.

a few pages down, another monster of the same kind lives, in another part of our earth.

scary stuff, the things you read in BH.

maybe someone could write and produce a film about this.

a malay version of 'Silence of the Lambs' or something.

'jeritan sepi si anak-anak kambing' has a nice ring to it.

(and no kak m, 'anak kambing diam' and 'anak kambing bisu' do NOT make the same impact.)

fit as a fiddle

2006-12-05T11:29:00.000+08:00

my abang dadam had something called a "febrile fit" on friday, which sounded reaaally scary. he'd been feeling feverish on and off lately, but i guess his temperature spiked up suddenly that evening while his mummy was sponging him, then his eyes rolled upwards and his body made jerky movements. brrr.... :(

so we all went to visit abang dadam at the hospital. seems quite fun, this hospital place, i don't know why he kept saying "dadam nak balik". look at that funky curtain! mummy was tempted to steal it and bring it home to put up at my new playroom. my mummy ah, closet kleptomaniac, i tell you.

"saaayang... saaayang.."

his cot bed though, i didn't like so much. reminds me of that show i always watch on thursday nights, Prison Break. do you watch that? mummy likes it coz of that skinny bald guy with lotsa tattoos. my mummy ah, closet nymphomaniac, i tell you.

abang dadam didn't seem so sick leh. he was yakking away as usual, telling us about the cool "ambulance" he rode on, and how "cold" he felt. mak long said that he was asking the nurse for something, and then said to himself, "cerewetnye aku". HA HA! he is such a mak nenek. i must learn from him.

did i tell you abang dadam is OBSESSED with shopping centers? he kept wanting to follow my mummy go to a shopping center, but you wanna know a secret? he's scared of "mannequins"! HA HA! he'll cover his face when he passes by a mannequin, while saying "mannequin! TAKUT!" he is so weird. i must learn from him.

"chak! lerr abang dadam ni, weaks betol lah, takut ngan patung plak..."

daddy brought me to the hospital's "play area", which, according to my mak long, is pathetic. i concur. but i'm not one to complain. i like this beaded maze thingy vair muchly, so much that i *think* someone's getting it for me sooon. eh, how did i get hold of such classified info ah?? i must be psychic. heh. ;p

"good for fine motor skills, mum? whatever! i just wanna godeh godeh the thing."

i think he'll be fine and fit as a fiddle, my abang dadam. wrestling sessions will resume... soon. :D

"goody! he'll be too weak to beat me up during recovery, hur hur..."

ps: just heard that my brudder naufal is in hospital for stomach flu too. oh no! get well soon, brudder! you gotta make it to you-know-what this weekend, ok?

vikings land on eastern shore

2006-12-03T03:39:00.000+08:00

we may not have been the first couple to stand in queue six hours before the official opening and win $1k worth of vouchers. (we're not that terminally insane or desperately in need of free furniture.)

but we came, we saw, we elbowed the next person for the free giveaways, we conquered.

well, ok, not quite. we haven't done much damage yet. project playroom is still in the works, and full-fledged spending will be done, erm, soon.

it IS barely a ten-minute drive away, so we'll definitely be back. we hope to see shorter queues and more trolley-pushing space then.

oh, and that muis chop too.

it's a brilliant concept, this circular play area within the restaurant. keeps the children happily-occupied while you dine around them, literally. they're right under your noses at the same time, so no kidnapping can take place (unless, of course, you're concentrating too much on those swedish meatballs).

the little one hardly cared where i was or what i was doing. (which was, btw, smelling the neighbour's fried chicken wings. ouuhhh yum.)

after a few hours jostling the crowd, exploring the maze and taking a few wrong turns (and bleeding my foot with a sharp trolley wheel in the process), we finally left with, as is usually the case when we visit ikea, a few unnecessary items. (you just GOTTA, no matter what.)

yeah. we'll be back.

"wake me up when we get home... in, ohh, ten minutes or so?"

so, have you ikea-ed? :p

hit me baby one more time

2006-11-28T16:02:00.000+08:00

can you tell he's been practising? ;)

"i've got the magic stick..."

"hah! i am SO gonna beat the c*** out of..."

whoops. so much for not endorsing violence.

The Da Vuinci Code

2006-11-27T21:18:00.000+08:00

It has been wildly and grossly reported on CNN (Celoteh-tak-tentu-pasal News Network) that there will be a GRAND, HUGE-ASS, GLITTERATI birthday party of EPIC PROPORTIONS happening in the eastern part of Singapore this coming December, akin to the recent weddings of TomKat, Datoks SK (no relations to chain of jewelry shops or almost-recalled beauty product endorsed by famous oriental star), and other small-time celebrities-tak-jadi of the Suria variety.

The Diaznadnaha investigating crew decided to dig deep into the heartlands to discover the awful truth and harsh reality behind this almost-scandalous piece of news, originated by an educator-by-day, amateur-roving-reporter-with-bad-spelling-by-night, Mie Bte Suv.

This is what they found...

1) Talks are in session with well-loved chef, Yua (not, as erroneously reported, some other chef called Naa, whoever that is), on the design of an appropriate confectionary for the celebration of one-year-old, Iqan, which does NOT include extreme amounts of sugared icing on little cakes placed in little cups, otherwise known as Cupcakes. (It is agreed upon, too, that the public should be warned of the proliferation of such sweet offerings to small children, as well as adults, as they may cause bad teeth and bad karma. Also, if you are being charged $400 for a bunch of them, you're being s-w-i-n-d-l-e-d, honey. But that's another newsworthy report altogether.)

2) A group of Actual Friends of the said birthday child's parents have responded positively to the modest celebration taking place. They include a mix of relatives, as well as non-internet-savvy and internet-friendly people (or iFriends). Some of these iFriends are Real People, who have, over time, established Real Connections with one another in the Real World. These iFriends are a few amongst those who played a part in the mother's journey during her fiercely-protected pregnancy, as well as her journey through a year of motherhood, by dispensing good wishes, advise, listening ears, and lots of love. They have met, cuddled, kissed, hugged, and shared in the joy of the growth and development of Iqan, from the moment he was born into the world. (They are also known not to launch attacks on the parents, virtually or otherwise.) The guest list is kept to a minimum and is currently undisclosed. However, it is known that Ms Mie "Know-it-all" Suv, is unfortunately not invited as she is, as she declares, merely a "casual observer". Not that she cares, of course, as she herself will probably throw a first party for her own cute and adorable child a few months down the road, with no invited guests of course.

3) The boy's much-adored aunt, ifzahurnah, will be presenting Iqan with a drum set. (This part of the reporting is, amazingly, correct.)

4) No expensive presents are sought after or expected from gorgeous lady in uniform, Naihar - only her precious presence is. That, money can't buy. As it stands, ten out of eleven minutes are still owed to Naihar, for free manhandling (toddlerhandling?) of Iqan. Flight schedules are a bitch. Or so we heard.

5) Iqan's father will not be showering him with gifts. This includes ridiculous gadgets, like iSomething or iOther. (On a side note, Apple interns should be fired for not knowing their products.) The father will be showering lots of lurve on the child, by arranging the food for the day, and at the same time, contributing to the community. (This, too, a newsworthy report for another day.)

6) The allegedly grandiose party will be held in an undisclosed open venue which costs the hosts a grand total of $60/-, including electricity and running water (and a whole lotta running-around space). The parents of the boy Iqan are, as you can tell, hopeless cheapskates, which was also the reason why they did not hold their wedding at a nice hotel. Then again, as they say, "damned if you do, damned if you don't". Right, Naihar? har har! Oh, it is also noted that no FDWs will be made to clean up. Only Banglas, for which they will be paid through the Town Council.

7) Babies will be, without a doubt, the highlight of the day. Babies, be they twins, triplets, or sextuplets, are lovely creatures, worthy of being celebrated for their mere creation and existence. All babies will be put in a circus-like ring to be duly admired on that day. Those who do not coo accordingly for an equal amount of time at each and every baby present will have their heads and reproductive systems chopped off.

8) Due to the impending bonus and generally generous moods, Iqan will likely enjoy his loot. The child's parents have little control over this, except to answer to those who've made queries, that gifts, if any, should not endorse violence, be too bulky, or non-age-appropriate. Guests should not feel burdened - we have exclusive news that this will be the only time in many years to come where his age will be celebrated, the next one being 16. (Though by then, he'll be too teenager to even want one by his parents, ho ho.)

9) The abovementioned bonus, plus the mother's shrewd thriftiness, will go to paying for her only child's first birthday. Part of her bonus will also be disbursed to all parties involved in the caregiving of Iqan, such as the grandmother and the helper. (Must declare publicly hor? Like public taxpayers' monies liddat.)

This is a post done tongue-in-cheek style. So let's all learn to laugh at ourselves. And if you can decipher all the anagrams of the names... you should REALLY get a life.

:D

iBaby

2006-11-23T15:59:00.000+08:00

i've heard of all kinds of machines in my short life of 11 months.

iPod. iRobot. iRiver. iDunnowhat. (i hear there are also things like iMac, iShuffle, iSwallow.)

so self-centred hor, these people with "i" things?

hmm, maybe "i" stands for "intelligent". maybe people like being surrounded by "intelligent" things. but can people be more "intelligent" and start coming up with names that don't start with "i"? like, i don't know, uZap?

or better still, use "we" lah. sounds more friendly right? "we" denotes sharing. like weBrolly (ie. technologically-enhanced umbrella). or wePet (ie. mechanical domestic animal).

meanwhile, the Daddy has gotten himself another one of those "i" junk to add to his clutter of playthings.

he said it's an iLuv.

huh?

as you can see, i was rudely awoken in the morning by this so-called intelligent gadget. but hah! weBabies are infinitely superior in our intelligence than a little box that makes a whole lotta noise. after a few suspenseful and thrilling moments later, i figured it out in no time. (see my hitchcock-like silhouette in the background? cool huh.)

iSimply hit SNOOZE.

it wasn't so fun, so i didn't bother with it much.

Daddy's toe bulu made for SO much more entertainment.

and for that, i shall call him iHobbit.

loosen up my buttons

2006-11-22T17:30:00.000+08:00

my bimbotic moment for today.

(thankfully, i still have them.)

male colleague (X) had asked me (Y) a few days ago what it was i used on my lips. lip gloss, i told him, pouting for effect.

so today over lunch, his fascination with the female aesthetic continues.

X: lip gloss has this effect...
Y: on men??
X: ... no. on lips.
Y: oh. darn.

and i finally understand PCD's "Buttons" after careful listening to it this morning in the coltmobil. dia suruh laki tu bukak baju dia rupanye, tapi laki tu selenge takmo bukak. eh? entahlah. agaknye baju dia banyak sangat butang, dia pon tak kuasa. (that was my bimbotic minah mode, btw.)

speaking of stripping, ingat eh adik-adik yang telah baca BH minggu lalu - hen party adalah haram! nak main lagu "Buttons" ajer boleh. tapi jangan panggil strippers tau. ustaz dah kasi warning. HEP!

(i wonder whose happening hen party pics they used in that spread though, ouhh...)

:O

the (tazmanian) devil wears prata

2006-11-21T11:02:00.000+08:00

his shoo shoos are only a month old, but it's become more Prata then Prada.

the soles are now flat and furry and stained from puddles and mud and other unidentifiable gunk, including his own saliva (from chewing on his shoo-shooed feet while bored in stroller).

"for selling your sole to the devil, we bid you adieu..."

so the Daddy decided to put his foot down and get him a proper pair of shoes. you know, the kind with rubber soles. like, FINALLY.

"huh, am i on project run(a)way?"

he said he didn't mind spending a bit on the shoes coz the little one obviously puts it to good use. as the malays would say, "muai, you!"

as soon as they were fastened on to his feet, he was off, as quick as lightning, out of the shop faster than you can say "stop in the name of clarks!"

"ready, set, GOOOOO!!"

we had two youthful babysitters with us, but barely half and hour running after the little one around carrefour, they raised the white flag and declared themselves 5kg lighter each.

"wheeee!!"

the new shoes gave him better grip and balance, so he hardly trips, which means, OMG... he can run EVEN faster. :O

but it was well worth the Daddy's moolah. plus it's such a pwetty colour. well, as pwetty as boys' footwear goes lah.

to the unty out there who was thinking of getting him a pair of clarks before we foiled her plan, he'll grow out of his size 4.5 soon, so... you know what to do... ;p

"ha ha, i ketuk daddy! ketawakan dia!"

chasing cars

2006-11-20T23:00:00.000+08:00

we've been ever so reliant on our, as Red puts it, "breastfeeding station on wheels" aka the coltmobil, that lugging the little one on public transport is something of a novelty for him.

i think the last i took the bus or train with him alone was during my much-missed maternity leave. it was easy then coz he didn't weigh as much (or wriggle as much) as he does now, and all i had to do was feed him well before the trip and he wouldn't so much as squeak all throughout. (remember, esah, our orchard trip? hee.) with SO MUCH to see and hear, all that hustle and bustle of the crowds and vehicles, he won't even remember if he's hungry or sleepy.

now that he's too heavy and wriggly for me, i'd rather stick to my coltmobil, thankyewberymuch.

which leaves the Daddy to take him on them buses and trains to, erm, expose him to the true-blue heartlander singaporean experience of riding on public transport. :D

to date, his record holds from tampines to novena, and tampines to toa payoh, both times to meet me after work, with nary a glitch.

the daddy reported that the little one enjoyed himself very muchly, even so far as to terrorise other passengers in the train by calling out to them, swiping at their newspapers, and flirting with the ladies. (at least i THINK it's the little one and not the Daddy, ha ha.)

but i guess buses and trains aren't as exciting to him as cars. mention the word "car" and you'll instantly hear a deep growl revving out of him.

somewhere in toa payoh...

"where is my P plate?"

"that a way, please!"

pro creation

2006-11-19T15:09:00.000+08:00

you know what? i think i've visited more babies in this year alone than in my entire lifetime.

baby danial!

mister gahmen, please note that we ARE procreating okay.

maybe we should withhold the procreation thing for a bit after this and hold them wombs for ransom so mister gahmen won't increase the gst next year. what say you?

no? still want 'em cute babies?

ok lah. go ahead.

just don't eat them up when the going gets tough...

beware the baby-eating monster!

trivia:

"A newborn has a developed sense of smell at birth, and within the first week of life can already distinguish the differences between the mother's own breast milk and the breast milk of another female."

so clever!

either that, or the other female smells REALLY bad after a day at work. :p

fit for a queen(-sized bed)

2006-11-17T17:04:00.000+08:00

we have this guest room in our house which is rarely used for the purpose of receiving guests, coz we ever hardly have guests stay over. well, with the exception of maybe twice in the three years we've lived here.

in this guest room, there is this queen-sized bed, complete with a new, rarely-used queen-sized dunlopillo mattress, and a queen-sized comforter.

other than being a museum space for this bed, the room also serves as a clean-laundry-dumping area and ironing room. oh, and occassionally, a storage room.

but seeing how the little one is quickly becoming not-so-little, we'd like to find another safe haven for this queen-sized bed so that we can have a bit more space for his stuff.

so, would anyone be interested in buying a queen-sized bed, along with its queen-sized dunlopillo mattress (queen-sized comforter optional) for their own guest room?

price negotiable. transportation your own, if possible. email izadnhana@yahoo.com. while stocks last! (eh wait, only got 1 lah...)

i'm itching to do up a proper play room for the little one, you know, with a reading corner, a toy corner, a creative corner, a naughty corner... hehee.

so yah. exclusively for izadnhana's readers ha ha.

LELONG! LELONG! lai, lai!

when aniq met...

2006-11-15T01:15:00.000+08:00

we're rehabilitating him to be kind to animals AND babies, see.

"sayang... sayang..."

let me tell you the name of this baby.

ready?

it's A...neeqa! HAHA!

and ouhhhh, what a beauty lil aneeqa is. whee, another potential menantu for me!

i almost squeezed her like an orange pulp when her mummy didn't see. i think i'm the one who needs rehabilitation.

aniq, atikah, aneeqa.

*****

i miss the time when he was all thunder thighs and chubby cheeks. now that he's much, much more mobile and doing major workouts during his every waking minute, he's shed even more of those baby fats we all love and cherish.

his food intake is good, or at least, he finishes up whatever's in his bowl. he's still on BM, though i believe, not as much as his peers who's downing what, 200+ml by now? he only has patience for 160ml (in the bottle - probably less from direct source!) at most per feed, before he's distracted by something or someone, and wriggles himself free from the boring work of drinking milk.

oh.. and some of you will be glad to know that we finally bought our first tin of FM the other day. a small tin of similac follow-on. which is now sitting prettily unopened, next to that big fat of also unopened tin of nan for below 6mths. (btw, anyone wants to buy this off us? give you discount!)

we're not sure why we're heading towards, as some would say (in jest) - "the dark side".

he's less than a month away from a year old, which means, i've almost miraculously reached my 1-year TBF target. :O

i'm almost ready to hang up those pumps, but not quite. daytime feedings should be easy to wean off coz he's used to the bottle when i'm at work. and judging from the way he laps up EVERYTHING we give him, he probably won't mind the taste either.

the night-time before-bed comfort suckling i don't mind too much. it's been easier lately since he's learnt to unlatch and roll around the cot by himself to sleep.

you know, i think he's become more independent, not just physically, but also emotionally since he started walking. he insists on being let down to walk instead of being carried. he even insists on letting go of our hands when we try to hold it.

and i suppose, this BF weaning process is also a kind of independence, on both his and my part.

so... when will the grand official opening of tin similac be?

*bites nails*

visiting hours

2006-11-13T11:54:00.000+08:00

this time round, we have babies in tow, from east to north to west. they GENERALLY behaved very well (no cries or tantrums, just a lot of walking/menggelitis-ing, crawling, and drooling).

one newly-married couple's luck was like the proverbial kentang that day. the bini dropped her newly-bought camera in the cab on the way to the first house, and after the last house, the laki dropped his wallet! thankfully, the wallet was found by a kind soul, who deposited it at jalan bahar police station. next year, jangan misplace anak sudah, ye!

it was SO LATE by the time everyone arrived, and cheesecakes and eclairs were devoured. by the time we left the last house, it was close to 1am and the babies (and some adults too) were zonked out. next year, our house last pulak lah, ye!

and we promise to handcuff the little tornado then too. :D

cat lover

2006-11-12T23:17:00.000+08:00

"sayang... sayang..."

still in the process of rehabilitating the incorrigible cat terroriser over the weekend. thanks to kak m for the use of her furry persian called mickey. i think she (the cat, not kak m) may be sporting a bald spot or two now. oops.

ps: please keep your eyes on the cat OR the baby. but NOT the cute hunk with the dimple, hokay! eppp...

*hits play and swoons* ;p

10+1

2006-11-10T18:11:00.000+08:00

exactly ONE more month to go before the big ONE.

:O

we're not sure where to even begin planning for a par-tay. we only have the date set and... that's it. whoops. there's still time, right?? *bites nails*

maybe i could rope in the little one for the preparations.

fried eggs to go with your cake, ma'am?

bila mau game, beb...

that is, by the way, one of his favourite playthings, another being my fruit punch ladle. more to bang things on than actual cooking of course. though i think he gets the idea for its intended use from observing mum and the helper daily in the kitchen. (well, definitely not from me!)

hmm, boleh lah dia tolong bapaknye masakkan maknye nanti. senang sikit maknye, ye?

curiosity killed the cat

2006-11-09T10:00:00.000+08:00

i guess it's only natural that the first real live animals our little ones come into direct contact with are cats, seeing that we don't exactly live in a kampung, or a farm like old macdonald.

that's one of our neighbour's MANY cats. (that is also one of their many awful-looking bedsheets hanging on the pole, hehe.) they also have one heck of an ugly big old dog, which i think, has made a few of our guests who've seen it outside our door jump in their skins.

it's a routine for the three of us when we return home everyday, to hang around the void deck with the cats for a few minutes. there are five of them, big fat ones, at the last count. our block is like a meeting point for these merry band of felines.

and they get a lot of attention too! i know coz we're on the second floor and, being the formidable kaypoh (or rather, civic-minded) neighbour that i am, i'd peer out of the kitchen window once in a while, always to find someone stop and stoop to pet a cat, or someone dutifully leave food, snacks and water for them (different people each time), or someone carefully applying antiseptic on one of the cat's wound after a fight.

the little one, being curious as a cat himself, would strain his body towards the cat to touch it when we're carrying him, but for the sake of the cat's safety (no, not the baby's), we don't let him go too near. coz THIS is what will happen.

:O

on behalf of the cat terrorist's parents, sorry, kiau and owner! and you all ah, please don't action hero and call up SPCA lah, ok? we're still in the process of teaching him the appropriate and PC way of handling cats, but we can't go "sayang, sayang" or he'd go slobber all over the cat and end up with furballs in his mouth.

but then, somehow the kitties always run away and hide from him first leh!

i guess cats aren't that curious after all.

pump up the volume (make some noise!)

2006-11-08T17:30:00.000+08:00

occasionally i plod through ST for a change, when i've had enough of BH's splash of gory pictures of people with scary diseases and deformities (usually in some remote village in malaysia) or even more gory stories of rape and incest (also usually in some remote village in malaysia). :O

[btw, what's with the Suria Raya Live-bashing lately in BH's forum pages ah? aiyah, raya over liao, maafkan saja lah! next year tak buat lagi, ok? but remember eh, cannot anyhow put happy, pretty people to prance around on stage in glittery costumes before raya, very tak ramadhan rocks.]

anyway, where was i?

oh yes, ST.

last week, someone wrote in a forum letter on the lack of nursing facilities in the workplace for new mothers.

ahh! a topic close to my heart (literally - *feels boobs*). not that i have a problem myself, being employed in a, ahem, family-friendly organisation and fairly supported by colleagues who are all aware of my 'extra-curricular activity'. they all go "eh, you got go *makes squeezing gestures* already?". and it's not just the girls, but the guys too, lol! even my very male boss enquires about my progress occasionally and gives words of encouragement. it's quite... surreal, to say the least. :D

and then today, more BF militants have joined in the call.

--> female employees should have the right to nurse their baby
--> give nursing mums time off to pump their milk

it's a start, but those of you working nursing mums out there who have been sneaking off for furtive pumps in dirty toilets or tiny store rooms under the wary eyes of colleagues or employers, i ~~besiege~~ beseech you - circulate these articles to them!

and of course, also those of you who are about to give birth or go back to work. hey, must provide ready infrastructure for when you come back from maternity leave mah. ;)

ok, go!

***

addendum (tak habis-habis addendum):

whaddayaknow! BH (9 Nov) pun ada artikel tentang SB (alah, you know, the melayu equivalent of BM)...

--> tugas bersama

ahh, yang ini boleh circulate to your suamis or, if you rather, DHs.

selamat menyusu!

big boys don't cry

2006-11-06T23:59:00.000+08:00

if there's one thing we won't have to worry about, is him being bullied by bigger kids. coz... he thinks he's as big as them!

sure they're a little taller than him, but that doesn't bother him. he thinks they're quite fascinating creatures, and why not? older kids can run and jump and do other wondrous things, unlike babies, who don't impress him much coz all they do is flail around helplessly and cry. been there, done that, bo-ring!

his cousins on both sides of the families are mostly BOYS, and they're generally a rowdy, gregarious bunch, mini tornadoes of their own.

beng gangsta #1: "you! cannot come in!"
beng gangsta #1 & #2: "kua si mi??"

haznsham's twins seem to enjoy monkeying around with aniq even though they have two other little siblings to play with. maybe coz he doesn't mind their roughhousing one bit. the feeling was mutual. :D

mat gangsta: "hiyaaak! lu jangan nak step sama gua!"

mat gangsta: "gua SIDESTEP lu ah!"

a few times when we bring him downstairs, we'd let him loose and he'd waddle in double time over to where the big kids are congregated, even primary/secondary school-aged ones, and peer over where they're seated to see what they're doing, or stand amidst the thick of action to watch them whiz by precariously around him. and when we call out to him or threaten to leave him behind with "bye aniq!" on repeat mode, he'd refuse to budge.

his daddy said to him, "ingat eh, you tinggal tingkat dua, lengkali turun naik sendiri. nanti kita pekik dari tingkap suruh balik, ok?"

in the meantime, he's got his bigger cousins to teach him the fine art of terrorising others. like using firearms, for example, lol!

eh no no, violence is bad! mummy said so!

prithee, disarm! ceasefire!

damsels sufi and maryam answer the call of distress, but the rescuee is in actual fact enjoying himself, heh.

we really need more girls in the family, you know, to balance out the yin & yang (too much yin!). all our other cousins just gave birth/will give birth to boys, every one of them.

oh well. they can form their own WWFs, i guess.

addendum

2006-11-06T23:12:00.000+08:00

"sayang... sayang... kiss!"
(smothers victim and slobbers it with saliva)

he bangs the drums

2006-11-05T23:29:00.000+08:00

raya visits have been a great way for the little one to dispense his energy. when we visit a house, he'd make a beeline for the area with the most activity, especially the toy section, should the house be inhabited by a child or a few children.

we ourselves are in awe at the collection of toys in every household with kids that we go to. we feel like we've been short-changing the little one, coz we, well, ermm... tend to stinge on buying him toys. :S

in any case, his attention span on all things gaudy is short, but he can spend long minutes fiddling with the dullest of remote controls, or the fruit-punch ladle he found in the kitchen drawer, or even his daddy's wallet.

he DOES, however, like this particular toy he discovered at his abang ilya's house very much...

he immediately sat down on the stool and proceeded to bang away with great abandon. ouhhh, do we have the makings of a rock star??

adoi! MUSIC to my ears indeed!

his daddy's always wanted to get him a drumkit, and now that we've tested it out on him, we're waiting for his, AHEM, birthday to get it.

what's that? you sure you don't mind all that racket?

nahh. i've always had a thing for musicians, you know. ;p

ps: ummi naufal, we hope naufal will cause great mayhem with the pressie we got him... LOL!

* * * * * *

speaking of birthdays and rock stars, i got myself an early birthday present, more than a month in advance ha ha.

yah yah, mummy stinges on you, but splurges on herself. bad, bad mummy.

i'm still not over my crush on bono, unfortunately. sigh~

if anything, the book reinforces my long-standing adulation of him. aiyoh, so teenager hor?

his immense loyalty to his wife of over two decades, despite the rock & roll pitfalls of supermodels and other adoring female species falling at his feet, makes him UBER-sexay, if you ask me. being married (and in love) that long to his childhood sweetheart and raising four children together despite world tours and world-debt meetings, is a rare thing in the superstar stratosphere, doncha think?

ok, enough ogling at (rich, successful, gorgeous, musically-inclined) married men, hana. 8)

show-and-tell

2006-11-04T23:37:00.000+08:00

i'm afraid we've become parents of a performing seal.

"aniq, where're the lights/mana lampu?" (this one bilingual seal mah.)
"where's the fan?"
(points upwards accordingly)

"shake! shake!"
(jiggles item in hand)

"joget! joget! dance!"
(bends knees and jiggies wit it)

"car/motorbike bunyi macam mana?"
(guttural grunts)

"cat? how does a cat sound?"
(high-pitched mew)

"tengok bawah! tengok bawah!"
(lies on tummy and looks under table/chair)

"baring! baring! lie down! sleep!"
(plops head on pillow or heck, even the ground will do)

"where's the ball? go get the ball."
(looks round for the nearest ball available)

"where's the clock?"
(points to wall)

"where's aunty's house?"
(points to mum's chinese neighbour's house where he LOVES to go to for some reason)

"bird, where's the bird?"
(points outside)

"comb hair?"
(rubs comb against head)

most of the above accompanied with lots of ba-ba-bas and ma-ma-mas.

and yes, i am officially "ma!" while the hasbern is decidedly "ba!" (exclamation marks included.)

i know it's natural that he will understand our language and exhibit comprehension of our instructions bit by bit, like a scaffold or building blocks, with each passing day.

but it never ceases to amaze me nonetheless, being able to communicate through the complexity of language with this little person, who once upon a time not too long ago, knew nothing of our world and of the sounds that come out of our mouths.

"duduk, duduk, sit down lah!"

i remember when dadam was less than a year old, when asked where's the "wind", he'd put his hands up to feel the wind blowing. wind! something so intangible, yet he understood the concept.

amazing.

*******

ps: a birthday wish @ the bambino blog for aniq's brudder! :)

the tasmanian

2006-11-03T11:56:00.000+08:00

it's not easy to get him to sit still for more than five seconds.

we all don't know where his limitless reserve of energy comes from. it's kinda scary you know, i mean, where do you draw the line and tell whether a child is normal-healthy kind of active or not-so-normal kind of hyperactive?

even when he's trying to fall asleep he can't seem to keep still, tossing and turning and tonggang-terbalik-ing all over the place, wreaking havoc among the soft toys in his cot and causing a thousand wrinkles on the bedsheet!

his waking moments are spent tirelessly with his hands and feet in constant motion, exploring everything, fearless of new experiences and faces, with nary a whine each time he falls onto the floor or bumps into the wall, totally unfazed by anything, this tiny, toddling tornado.

i'd hold him down and tell him to slow down or "REST LAH! REST! kejap ajer, ONE minute!", but it won't be five seconds before he's wriggled his way out of my arms and he's off like a rocket to the next thing that catches his attention. :O

i manage to get him to do the darned stacking rings though, usually at night when he's not so wound up. well... up to three rings or four, then he's off, flinging them right left and centre, heh. well, that surely is way more exciting than boring ol' stacking, eh?

the relatives have forewarned me many times how active his daddy was as a child, executing numerous stunts with almost devastating outcomes. but look what's become of him now - the capital of Slack. sometimes he moves even slower than a 100-year-old snail. there's a permanent dent in the sofa that has his butt's name on it.

i can't remember, but perhaps i too was something of a tornado myself. there was one time when i was small, i was running round and round and round the coffee table in the hall, when my dad must have snapped and ROARED at me to stop running around and sit down like a proper girl. i think that must have been the point when i stopped running, period. i'm not sure why that's etched in my mind, but it probably had some bearing to my total lack of activeness, my constant dread of sports and god-forbid, PE! my couch-potato-ness, my slacker-ness (yes, i AM the missus capital of Slack). the only physical activity that is anywhere near marathon-like and i don't mind exerting on now is, of course, shopping.

so at what point will this wound-up energizer bunny slow down and sit still long enough to focus on something constructive (as opposed to being the epitome of destruction that he is now)?

teenagehood?

*imagines teenage aniq in dimmed room full of posters, wearing black, with iPod stuck to ears, eyes glued to computer game screen, mtv blaring in the background, while i scream at him - "THROW RUBBISH!"*

have the cake and eat it too

2006-11-02T10:04:00.000+08:00

so dadam's mummy got him an elmo cake. with eggs. and chocolate to boot, hurhur.

i asked him if he had some. "makan, SIKIIIT (with great emphasis) ajeer! tak makan manyak-manyak!"

adoi. cuteness to the maximus si mak nenek berbual. i cannot tahan. i want to makan him manyak-manyak. you wouldn't think he'd talk like that by looking at that fair-skinned, sepet, made-in-china exterior.

he went "present!" (tau pulak benda tu present) and promptly proceeded to peel off the wrapping bit by bit, with great and utter care.

his cousin, si mat kepo kenit also tried to join in, happily trodding on the wrapper and plastic and everything else he could trample on like the potential Toddler Giant that he will be (watch out, ajab!). but not before PLONKING his entire grubby hand on a piece of stray chocolate cake left on the table. he was so intrigued by the squishiness of the cake in his hand that his daddy managed to quickly wipe it off before he could incur more damage (eg. by eating it).

his royal keponess also shared one leg (tumpang sekaki) and fiddled with the wooden knob puzzle i got for the birthday tot. it managed to capture dadam's attention for all of three, maybe four minutes, ("G is for... LION!" hehe - ok, the giraffe underneath the letter G did look dubiously lion-like) before he got distracted by the more pressing demands of playing with a balloon.

he made me huff and puff into the balloon ("aunty nana, blowkan!"), and being the adoring superaunty that i am, obliged the nephie-poo, at the same time tried to eat and ward off si kepo kenit from the said balloon and cake.

hey just WHAT IS IT about Bob the Builder that has captured the hearts of many a male two-year-old, i ask you? well, i suppose it IS more, erm, macho than that *cough*gay*cough purple dinosaur we all love to hate.

so do all little boys aspire to be construction workers when they grow up? are they more interesting than white-collar professionals? why isn't there a Derek the Doctor cartoon? or Larry the Lawyer? or Cedric the CEO? or... (ok, i could go on and on here, you get the point.)

he hasn't gotten into thomas the train yet, which i suppose is another, erm, macho symbol (achtung! phallic alert!) of some sort.

ok. i seriously gotta stop thinking too much. (NOT.)

datin and dr seuss

2006-11-01T10:14:00.000+08:00

mum called me up yesterday in the late afternoon.

"eh, anak kau tengok tv ada siti nurhaliza nyanyi pakai kebaya hitam, dia tunjuk-tunjuk dengan jari dia abis dia nangis! dia ingat tu kau! mummy, mummy... ha haha hahaa!"

i don't know if i should be flattered... or worried.

on one hand, my son thinks i look and sound as FABULOUS as the famous datin. woohoo!

on the other hand, he can't tell the difference between his croaky-voiced, craggy-faced mummy from a silky-voiced, smooth-skinned stranger?? uh-oh.

nevermind lah. at least he thinks of (and misses me?), amidst his jam-packed, activity-filled, ever-so-busy life at home. (eg. watching TV! hmph.)

and it's a vast improvement from the days when i used to be mistaken for - get ready for this - ziana zain! and i'm talking of the period when she (and i) looked uber kental, way in the 90's era. i used to have a friend whose little nephew would point at ziana's picture on a magazine, look at me and go "aunty nana!". so yeah, me and ziana. must have been the evil-looking eyebrows, i don't know. bizarre.

my last boyfriend (ie. the Husbern), he had a thing for sheila majid back then. short and petite, just like hmmm, who ah?? unfortunately, the sheila majid he found and married cannot sing to save her lagenda.

on another note, hey hey, it's dadam's second birthday today, and i'm the ever-excitable aunty! i'd been looking for an eggless elmo cake (coz he's allergic to egg white and he likes elmo, duh), but was unsuccessful in my search. bah. eggless cake. what's the point of cakes without eggs, i ask you?

anyway, i've lovingly wrapped his pressies last night, and hope to see him rip it open later. seeing what an intellectual boy he's turned out to be (he recognises alphabets and would open up newspapers to read them - or rather, point and say out the big alphabets in the headlines... that's reading too, ok! and he has a thing for tucking a book under his armpit when he goes out, like a security blanket), i got him a big wooden knob puzzle with alphabets, and three dr seuss books for early readers.

we were at borders late on monday night and i was so taken by the silly, snappy word play and quirky storyline and illustrations in those dr seuss books, i swear.

UP PUP. pup is up!
CUP PUP. pup in cup!

alamak, damn catchy, i tell you.

ok, that reminds me... there's another birthday coming up (more lovingly-wrapped pressies!), you knnow, aniq's brudder who's turning one. which means... aniq will also be turning one soon. which means... preparations for a party should commence. mak macam nak buat kerje kawin, you!

and don't worry, i'll make sure the cake has eggs.

BAKE CAKE. bake a cake!
EGG CAKE. egg in cake!

amacam, you think dr seuss would approve? :)

littleness

2006-10-29T02:26:00.000+08:00

for all that wrestling and smacking and snatching moments between these two, there are also the heartwarming ones.

awwww...

you gotta wonder, are they really hugging out of brudderly love, or are they about to attempt another body-slam? lol!

i was just looking at the raya pics last year - dadam was a year old, chubbier, and had the same fascination as aniq does now with my uncle's motorbike.

now he's turning two, skinnier, taller, and not too impressed by the bike anymore.

what will aniq be like next raya, i wonder... will he be talking like a mak nenek the way dadam is now? will he be a whole head taller too?

oh gosh.

i GOTTA savour his littleness as much as possible NOW!

you! tube!

2006-10-28T03:24:00.000+08:00

i love youtube.

i love little boys.

i love little boys on youtube.

i never knew watching a baby walking around like a drunken zombie-slash-frankenstein-slash-robot would be so amusing.

it IS, ok!

and you know what else is amusing?

hearing the two boys' grandma go nuts trying to get them NOT to kill each other, lol!

pirates of the kitchen

2006-10-28T01:57:00.000+08:00

can i say, OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

i had to move all the knives, cutters, and all other shiny sharp objects to the topmost drawer, but i think it won't be long before he's discovered that either.

to say he's delighted by the treasure trove is an understatement.

grr arrgh.

time to seriously consider that safety gate for the kitchen, perhaps? i don't know why but babies seem to be magically drawn to kitchens, even in other people's houses.

is it the exotic smells of food wafting from the stoves? is it the exciting sounds of pots clanging in the sink? is it the hustle and bustle of strange movements and activities?

is it the DRAWERS FULL OF HIDDEN TREASURES??

uh-huh, yep. that last one must be it.

ennui

2006-10-27T17:10:00.000+08:00

i wish i had a skill.

you know, the kind that allows you to quit your boring ol' day-job. the kind that pays the bills, and a bit more. the kind that makes people go "WOW! i wish *i* could do that!". the kind that squeezes the creative juices out of you.

the kind that you actually LOVE doing. so much that you won't call it "work".

i don't have any, clearly.

nope, no sellable, marketable, bankable skill or talent to speak of.

just a little piece of paper with my name, a chop and a signature. how long before that too yellows, dog-ears and disintegrates, i wonder, this paper that validates my so-called ability to earn a meagre bit more from pencil-pushing drudgery.

any suggestions what i can do for more moolah with oomph? surely there's something - anything - i can be good at!

and please ah, don't tell me to stand at a geylang lorong. ah pek look at me also don't want to bargain ok.

sigh.

ok. going back now. from... work.

ps: as you can tell, i'm suffering from post-holiday blues.

three in 06

2006-10-26T01:28:00.000+08:00

our first raya as a complete family. well, as complete as a family goes, for now - father, mother, child. :)

oh my, the lil one had the time of his life (which is not a stretch, seeing he's only chalked up ten months of life) during the festivities! he thrives in the company of people, and there were many who were happy to take him off our hands everywhere we went. to that, i say a resounding "PHEW". hehe.

it's a little easier now that he's able to toddle by himself. when i feel like he's sliding down, i can just set him on his feet and let him roam for a while while i regain MY balance. and it IS a balancing act, with the raya essentials of heels, hair, handbag, figure-hugging baju (har har), and now, plus a diaper bag and wriggly baby.

since he loves being out and seeing new places and meeting people, raya is needless to say, Very Fun for him.

not too sure if the harried (and ultimately BROKE - is it our imagination or has there been a sharp rise in the number of babies this year??) parents feel the same, though.

but! i know i look forward to seeing my luvlies soon.... on ah, girls? ;)

and ouh, by the way, our new site will be up soon, sans the archives, likely. haiyah, chin chai lah, cannot tahan blogger liao. must evacuate. and no, it won't be on .com. kena bought up liao! kana sai. we'll be on .org.

really... soon... zzzz.

songkok

2006-10-23T23:37:00.000+08:00

eve of raya. must prepare him for the songkok-wearing occassion.

wish him (or us?) luck....

oh, and selamat hari raya to whoever's still reading this haha!

don't forget to come by and try aniq's special ketupat ok?

drebar

2006-10-22T02:52:00.000+08:00

bila saya dah besar, saya nak jadi mat drebar.

or the next schumacher?

camel-lot

2006-10-19T10:13:00.000+08:00

so did you read BH yesterday? with hmm, six more days to raya, they finally came up with a throwaway article about b/feeding during puasa. about keeping at it, not giving up, etc.

and the best advice they could dish out?

"drink lots of water".

like, WOAAAHHH. what earthshattering, groundbreaking, gasp-inducing advice indeed. gee why didn't i think of thaaat. (can you see my eyes rolling?)

ok. enough cynicism.

on a more positive note, the bf thing throughout the fasting month has gone better than we expected. i probably used up all of, er, four? five? bags of my frozen stash so far. i'll have to get around to dumping out all the leftover july ones. i'll stroke them lovingly first, of course.

right. moving on.

grumblings of a spurned web host client

2006-10-19T09:34:00.000+08:00

looks like the new fella who owns the blahdy web hosting company we were parked at has gone MIA. i reckon he's either knocked down by a truck or struck by lightning and lying in hospital in a coma. well, i'm imagining the worst. coz we have NO IDEA WHO/WHERE/WHAT HE IS!! curses and damnation. the fella we used to liaise with no longer owns the thing, and now we're stuck with archives only up to april, which means five months of lost data.

five months of not backing up. REEEAAALLLY smart, us.

anyway.

bygones.

but if we ever hear from him (supposedly out of his coma)....

ok, i don't know what kind of threats to hurl at a techie geek (also supposing he is one).

any other techie geeks out there know how we can bypass him to retrieve our data from the main server??

we'll also need to buy a new domain since it's expired. oi, please don't go and buy up izadnhana.com ok. unless you are a married couple by the names of izad and hana. if you are, that'd be freaky.

ok! on to other aimless ramblings. (somehow blogspot makes you ramble aimlessly, don't it?)

77clan + 4

2006-10-17T17:18:00.000+08:00

another baby A has arrived!

an addition to our burgeoning 77clan. :)

so now we have aniq... adam... adil... and arshad.

who's up next?? ;D

*blows babydust*

ten (compressed) months in the life of baby A

2006-10-13T09:39:00.000+08:00

hmm, it does seem kinda weird, this ten months gap in entries.

for those who've been stuck in a time warp like this blogspot, it's been quite a while since that tummy exploded. the little wrinkly thing that popped out is now this toddling, babbling, sometimes infuriating but nevertheless adorable being.

seeing that our other blogs are kaput, let me spruce up this blogspot a wee bit to make it more... homely. let's go on a little trip down memory lane, shall we?

right. there's the time he was born, on 10th dec. 3.08kg, 51.5cm. NVD, epi-less.

gah! i never thought i'd say this then, but i actually want this wrinkly version back!

ouh, flabby tummy galore, carrying the wrinkly bundle on the first day at the hospital. and yes, i actually want to go through the whole labour thing again, just to be pampered by the nurses at the hospital. seriously. no, i'm not mad.

within a week, he's all circumsized and my stitch (and half of said tummy flab) miraculously vanished.

a month later, he's already a master at the art of escaping from the dreaded swaddle.

but we found that putting him on his tummy works like a charm...

by the second month, he was our living doll. we played with him, and dressed him up.

and by the end of the second month, he was doing push ups. getting ready for NS!

oh, i should also mention i had a lovely maternity leave that lasted all of five months. half of which was spent, er, mallratting. hehee.

he spent a lot of time snuggling up to me and... my boobs, lol!

the third month was an exciting time coz he started flipping over.

and they call him... Thunder Thighs.

he rolled right through the fourth month.

of course, a lot of his experimenting was done in the mornings in bed with me.

the fifth month, hmm, back to the grinding mill, unfortunately. he had a bout of bottle battle which resolved just in time, and my freezer was full to the brim with packs of white stuff. till now, i'm always armed with my trusted borrowed avent pumps. yes, plural. can't live without 'em.

as for him, well, he just kept growing... and growing...

i think we're lucky that we got such a happy baby. i hope he will always be a happy person. :)

ouhh, that hair! he had a somewhat major haircut in his fifth month. it was heartache for me, but thank gawd no one insisted on shaving his entire head. i'd have died, i think.

by the end of the fifth month, he could sit somewhat.

which brings us to the sixth month. *gasp* so fast, right??

he started his infamous leopard crawls.

he moved about so much, we stopped short of keeping him in a cage. hehe.

by now, the only time i get to wake up with him is on weekends. that's when his eyes are the LARGEST and ROUNDEST, lol!

now where are we? ouh, seventh month!

he did things like swim...

met with other babies...

ate more food...

drank more milk...

oh, and practised standing up!

on to month number eight. his daddy kept trying to dress up like him. hee.

very fun ok.

then it was our anniversary! ok, so we tried spending it alone without the little one, but it didn't last very long. we ended up going home after a quick lunch and a movie, and brought him out. bah.

who'd have thought we'd end up with two strollers within a year? eh, wait, we have two more months before a year, let's hope we don't fall for another stroller till then... help! :D

i think he finally grew a tooth or three the ninth month. hurhur.

i have to mention about dadam and naniq - they're always fighting! haha! they're like complete opposites in personality, just like my brother and i, actually.

omg, are you tired yet?? coz i am! ok ok, just a bit more before we reach the present time.

right, ninth month. he pakpakbingbings and claps on demand.

he tumbletotted and gymboreed.

and it was after one of those sessions when he discovered the joys of pushcarts!

so we got him one, albeit a cheaper version, from ikea. it's one of his favourite playthings.

and now, PHEW, we've reached the tenth month, like finally!

from day one, we still can't figure out who he looks like.

of course, i'm inclined to say he looks more like me, hurhur.

his cheekiness? maybe his daddy, though i doubt that too, hurhurhur.

ok. so that's that.

ten months of aniq.

his latest thing now is... walking lah, duh.

right, next update.

baby steps

2006-10-12T10:06:00.000+08:00

let me amuse myself by clicking on Play repeatedly.

better than watching lee ann rimes sing taufik's song, no? teehee.

temporarily suspended (again, bleagh)

2006-10-12T09:52:00.000+08:00

hold yer horses...

blog.izadnhana.com will be back up soon.

err, i think!

:D

we never learn our lesson lah. scrimp on the cheapest web host some more. oops.

reflections: World Breasfeeding Week 06

2006-08-02T17:27:00.000+08:00

i asked a few people if advocating TBF (total breastfeeding) in this day and age is a lost cause.

one reply i got was, that it puts a lot of pressure on mums-to-be.

fair enough. i hope, in my personal quest to promote TBF, that i never offend or put to shame anyone who has gone the FM (formula milk) way. it IS, after all, a very personal choice, just like all other aspects of raising a child. there simply isn't a right or wrong answer, is there?

but perhaps, if we're all just that little bit more enlightened, and given that little bit more encouragement and support, and put in just that little bit more effort... maybe, just maybe, more mums will give it a go and not give up too soon, or too easily.

having only done this for eight months and being a newbie in this business of baby-rearing, i may not be the 'expert', or have the 'credentials', and i certainly will not know for sure how it'll benefit my baby in the future when he's all grown up. after all, who's to say how healthy or how bright or how close to me he will be, just because of my TBF efforts now?

but some of you, like me, can't help but have that gut feeling, that says, THIS is what's best for our little ones. THIS is what our bodies are made for. THIS is Something Very Good. and THIS is a privilege that we'll only get to do for a very short time in our entire life. (unless of course, you intend to pop out 10 children or more in your lifetime.)

and with that little bit of enlightenment, that little bit of encouragement and support, and that little bit of effort, we've proven to the naysayers that we CAN do this. maybe through sheer luck coz our babies are natural guzzlers, but if even the mother of the smallest of premies can do it (as well as the mother with the smallest of boobs!), why not everyone else?

and with that unbridled belief and massive conviction i have in every mum-to-be out there, i say, go on, i dare you to take up this challenge too. never be afraid to ask for help. never think it's too hard. never think it's not enough.

never think you CAN'T.

happy World Breastfeeding Week... and see you at the BreastFest on 13 Aug!

back at one

2005-12-06T01:32:00.000+08:00

we're back in business!

blog.izadnhana.com

ready, set... grow~

2005-12-05T13:14:00.000+08:00

i'm absolutely fascinated by how the body can change so miraculously in nine short months.

i'm grateful for the experience.

i never thought i'd say this, given my former apprehension on procreation, but... i'd think nothing of going through this whole pregnancy thing again.

it's been a breeze.

(of course, my mind's playing a sentimental trick on me now, conveniently forgetting the bout of nausea, eating disorders, sleeping discomforts, etc.)

a day in the life of...

2005-12-04T02:39:00.000+08:00

ten more days to go before kid A supposedly makes his grand entrance to the world (and i say supposedly because he might very much like his warm little watery coccoon and decide to outstay his welcome).

must must must keep self busy.

so first, there's that little home project that's almost complete...

see, no more prison-like steel bars, hurrah! a little extra space for us to roll around in.

next up in our itinerary for the day: refilling our tanks. barbequed leg of lamb, anyone?

i'm pret-ty sure the scale will show a 12-kg-gain mark by next week.

so, work off that food, we must.

a little rattle and hum should do the trick.

of course, me being the heavily-pregnant woman that i am, chose to sit away from the amps and near the waterfront, where i could bop my head and tap my feet and sway my body from afar in relative comfort. am i a good girl or am i a good girl?

kid A took in all the vibrations in good stead. sorry lil one, but for now, mommy gets to impose her musical tastes on you. you can take a liking to all the punk, rap and whatever crap you like when you hit teenagehood.

the night was still young, it's a saturday, and hey, no point wasting it rotting away at home, right? right!

now, where can we go that's still open til midnight?

why, borders, of course. duh.

25% off on the third book, you know. of course, these were gifts for someone else. but please note that (warning: *unsubtle hint ahead*) kid A tells me, in our special ESP way, that he'd like book gifts too when he's born. hee.

now, who said a heavily-pregnant woman in her ninth month should stay home and wait for those dastardly contractions to come a-knockin'?

a watched kettle never boils, honey.

in the name of love

2005-12-03T13:23:00.000+08:00

meanwhile, should i stay or should i go...?

free standing. that's not very handicapped/elderly/pregnant-women friendly. (yes, we're invariably categorised together as a section of society hampered by physical constraints.)

of course... sitting at a rock concert defeats the whole concept and purpose of rock n roll. or in this case, rattle n hum.

the dark mark

2005-12-03T11:44:00.000+08:00

mum's birthday's in december too, and she's just as vain as me...

she likes, obviously. thanks to the dubai princess for 'importing' it in time.

she was born on the 2nd. i was born on the 8th. kid A is supposed to be born on the 14th.

the pattern?

a 6-day gap in between.

if i were having a girl, it'd be a perfect pattern.

more so if she were to have a mole on top of her lips, just like mum and me (and ouhh, grandma too!). that's our vainpot mark. :D

house of girth

2005-12-02T12:53:00.000+08:00

at 38 weeks. measured the girth or circumference of my waist...

100cm. that's like... one whole, entire metre. the end point of the measuring tape.

if i were a tree, i'd be 40 years old, according to tree trunk calculation.

i just want to last up to 40 weeks, thank you very much.

m&b mag

2005-12-02T00:58:00.000+08:00

now, if only i could get paid for my services...

hope i don't look too ghastly and turn off all potential mothers.

of course, if they *do* purchase the publication, it'd be too late for them to turn back. heh.

bun in the oven

2005-12-01T21:22:00.000+08:00

yes, you would have heard the groundbreaking, earthshattering news by now.

it's december and a Birth Day is coming up. my vacation leave has officially begun. hurrah!

meanwhile, the other blog's a complete mess at the moment. gah.

contractors are in the house working on the balcony.

and contractions... well, they're still not too bad. *phew*

are we in full bloom yet?

hold on till eighth december, lil one!

* pics from raya, raya and... a shower, if you've missed them.

syawal

2005-11-03T22:46:00.000+08:00

salam lebaran to one and all...

ode to my nephie-poo

2005-11-01T22:41:00.000+08:00

when you first appeared
you wailed till you were red
with your slit-like eyes
and your cone-shaped head

so tiny you were
in my arms you lay
i couldn't wait
for us to play

but you slept and slept
and pooed and peed
and all you did
was cry and feed

your head so bald
your lips so pink
you smelled so good
you hardly stink

then you started to eat
oh how you gobbled so
and like jack's beanstalk
you just grow and grow

like the world's greatest thinker
you used to frown a lot
perhaps you didn't know
that you're just a tiny tot

from day one you sucked your thumb
in your mouth your hand you cram
and you wouldn't sleep at all
till we put you in the pram

you left me for a while
to the wintery land of oz
and all i had of you were
your pics in my phone, of coz

but came back you did, my darling!
and you started to sit and climb
your teeth keeps popping up
to bite and eat all the time

you light up all our lives
with your funny lil antics
amazed we are to see
so quickly you learn new tricks

you've taken your first steps
around the house you walk
it's time for you to speak
i wanna hear you talk!

it's hard to believe, it's true
you've been with us a year
i wish you happy birthday
my nephie-poo, you dear!

minus one

2005-10-22T22:39:00.000+08:00

mudpie + cheesecake + ice cream x great company = infinite joy

sugar = good.

now where *is* that other clan member?

iye, mak bedah

2005-10-17T22:37:00.000+08:00

hai, geylang, geylang.

makanan banyak, tapi apasal takde quality control ye?

keropok lekor tak sedap. apam pulau pinang tak sedap. burger ramly pun macam tak bermaya.

in the end, beli apple pie kat mcdonalds, rasa gerenti, tentu sedap.

macam mana orang melayu buat bisnes ni? *garuk kepala*

buat susah aje kita cari car park, jalan dalam kesesakan orang ramai, berpeluh-pelih dibuatnye.

hai.

dah lah. takmo masuk lagi. serik bedah.

ni pak mat punye pasal lah, ajak kita pegi. mati-mati nak beli kurma yang "fresh and crunchy" tu. nasib baik tu sedap.

mama roach

2005-10-09T22:35:00.000+08:00

ok, i just freaked out and went into a king-sized battle with a king-sized roach in this very computer room.

it came out of nowhere, the damn &$*^ing bugger.

i screamed bloody murder and ran to get the shieldtox. i screamed some more while i sprayed at it non-stop. i screamed to high heavens when it scuttled helter-skelter towards me and zigzagged around the room, trailing a liquid line of shieldtox behind it. i screamed when it tried to climb up the walls unsuccessfully and fell on its back. i screamed when its wiry legs scrambled in the air and threatened to turn back again. i screamed when i ripped a paper towel and gingerly threw it on top of the still-struggling pest (coz i feel better if i don't see it, you see).

i believe i screamed it to death.

and my shieldtox is half empty.

all this drama had to happen when i'm alone in the house at night. gah.

amak!

2005-10-03T22:29:00.000+08:00

he felt like messing about in the kitchen some more.

so he searched high and low for fresh mutton and made the sauce from scratch.

he knows i'll eat anything with potatoes.

sekarang baru boleh apply jadi cook kat beach road kedai deen biasa, beb!

the corpse bride

2005-09-30T00:11:00.000+08:00

only one thought after the movie.

if victor had consummated the marriage with the corpse bride, wouldn't that be considered... necrophilia?

erk.