another one thing coming to my plate

Yeah you read it right. Something is coming to fill my plate which is currently not full yet I guess. Why I put the word 'another' in the title pun I don't know. Macam la my plate tu dah ada macam2 kan ;p Anyhows now I'm thinking of opening another blog to manage that particular thing. Should I or should I not? Will I be able to manage 2 blogs? Hahahaha...yeah I'm laughing too. One blog also cannot manage and yet so ambitious to open another blog. But the idea is so exciting actually. I can start thinking on the blog's name. Have a few on my mind already. Ok tipu ;p

But to actually put that 'big' thing (konon2nye) in this blog is really not suitable as most of my entries here are on my personal updates (or should I say ALL of my entries...hehe 'most' konon). And and and also I don't actually 'commercialize' this blog to public even to my own close friends (sebab saya sgt pemalu). Most of them found this blog accidentally (I don't think so) or through my Facebook (this is more of the case) - my hubby put the URL there eventhough I said please please don't put it...huhu ;p tapi sebagai isteri solehah have to redha je la. Somehow he is the one who created my FB account in the first place. Being me - sooo not IT savvy, it'll take years to open the account kut...haha I memang suka exaggerate ;p

Ok back to the topic (every entry pun sure got this 'tagline' kan) that one thing is actually some sort of business opportunity for me. The intention is to make it my second income (konon2) but most likely I'll be the regular customer to my own business or the only customer...haha. The reason is it is something that I like and I have every intention to borong all the products ;p So thinking about it rather than being my second income, it will actually become my second expense...or third...or fourth and so forth huhuhu...Ok2 now think positive Emy! You can do it! You can actually make it work! Hopefully hubby will support me on this. It's not like he HAS to be one of my regular customers or what not (boleh je) but I hope he will support me morally (is there such word?) and logistically.

But whatever it is...ladies n gents, just watch out for this space!!! :)

i said potato, u said no no no

Izma on her first potato feeding...

Erkk what is this? Why the taste not sweet one?

I don't want to eat this pls...let me have my sweet pear or apple...don't want potato...sob~sob~

Sedihnye dia kena makan potato...izma...izma...you are such a sweet tooth my sweetheart~~~

Baby are you down down down down down

Yes I am...right now...down down down down down...

walking down the memory lane *wink*

"Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose" ~ Kevin Arnold

So which memory lane did I walk down to? That reminds me I've quite a number of memory lanes and should go back to those historical (for me at least ;p) places. To name a few:

1. Tadika Kemas Taman Bukit Anggerik: 1987 - 1988 (yg ni hari2 pun lalu going back n fro to work...hihi)
2. Sekolah Kebangsaan Jalan Pasar (1): 1989 - 1994 (last time I passed through my primary school, it looked so different than it used to be, almost didn't recognize it probably due to a lot of new apartments and buildings surrounding it - now the view of the school is blocked by Maju Expressway (MEX)..huhu)
3. Tunku Kurshiah College: 1995 - 1999 (or Kolej Tunku Kurshiah, KTK, KaTaK...malu i ;p anyways batch 9599 rocks! -eyot-)
4. Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS: 2000 - 2004 (yup2 i'm an UTPian...proud to be one...hehe very nice place now...i loike!)
5. PETRONAS Carigali Sarawak Operations, Miri a.k.a. SKO: 2005 - 2009 (definitely will go back there...wait wait, not as a staff ya definitely but as a visitor during my vacation to Miri...hehe)
6. PETRONAS Carigali KL, Twin Tower KL: 2009 - Present (not yet a memory lane but will be one day, no?)

Ish tgk list kat atas cam tulis resume lak ;p
Anyways, the original intent of this entry is on my visit to one of my memory lanes which is lane #4 from the above list. As usual, my intro babbling will overrule my entry title for half page b4 actually going to the main topic. There you go again ;p

Ok la cut the story short, last Saturday we went to hubby's cousin's wedding at Batu Gajah which is the first Izma's trip to north part. So after the wedding we dropped by at UTP konon2 to send Hakim back (but actually Izhar yg sent him back, we just joined them...hehe). We are so excited upon entering the gate but 'we' consists of me n hubby je coz that little girl was already slept cosily in her car seat and I didn't manage to wake her up...huhu 'this place is not for me, mama...i told you i want to be a dentist, right...' hehe the second part of the script tu I tambah sendiri - cita-citaku ;p

Anyhows we managed to 'walk our memory lane' around UTP that evening and it looked so different especially at the Etana-Metana side. The cafe that we used to hang out during my first year was no longer there. Instead there is a new cafe beside the Ruby-Tembungo block. The small aisle that we used to walk going to classes (in front of Baram I think) was already closed and they planted grass and trees at the old cafe place. Dah jadi jalan mati...huhu thus frustrated on those changes they made to our historical place (emo lak apsal?), we move on to visit the chancellor hall, library, academic blocks, old admin block, labs, LH1-LH3 (Dewan Kuliah) and my most favorite place - Village 4! We were all smiling driving there as we finally saw the side of UTP that we remembered :) Oh I sooo missed that place! And when coming in front of Jaya hostel I suddenly remembered my strolling evenings with Eeja and Che Ah...really miss them! And on the other note, Izma was still sleeping ya despite of our excitedness in the car...haha. But we didn't stopped by anywhere there coz it's already late in the evening. Just enjoying the view through the window...

But but we managed to take this shot before heading back home. We stopped by at UTP mosque and knowing that our 'tawaf' journey had almost come to the end, Izma suddenly woke up...haha excited nak blk yer ;p So here we are in front of the new (not so new la sister ;p) UTP mosque...

macam gambar raye la pulak ;p

Whatever it is I heart you UTP! Still am~~~

starting the solid journey...nyum2...

"I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli" - George Bush

Don't know whether the above quote is really from George Bush. I found it on the internet...hehe

Well, that gives me idea what other vege to give Izma now that she had started her solid feedings. Actually she just tried carrot for the vege group and gave not really a good response if feed her only carrot. Have to mix it with either milk or pureed pear and she loves it to the bits!

So I'm so need to record this as my future references. Everything pun konon2 for the reference la kan. Too lazy to learn it all over again next time...haha it's not rocket science I know, but still...a new knowledge for me. Whatever.

Ok2 back to the topic. Well, Izma turned 6 (months) last Tuesday so it's the new beginning on her solid journey. Solid means solid food, which means adding real food into her milk diet. Although the taste of this so called 'real food' is really tasteless, it is still considered a new adventure for her and she's really really excited! She really loves her meal time. Good girl. Hopefully she maintains her appetite for food like that so that it won't be a bersilat session everytime I want to feed her...huhu

So looking back 1 week ago, I started gave Izma solid 2 days before her 6-month birthday. Really tak sabar + so pity to watch her watching us eat. Her mouth will imitate our chewing motion and she even swallowed her saliva..huhu so guilty looking at her like that. So excitedly, this excited mama bought all the necessities to start solid. Nak start solid pun kena shopping bersungguh tau. Bought new blender for Cheras (use our wedding pressie blender at Bangi), new knife, peeler, chopping board (all in 2 sets), BPA free Take n Toss food containers from The First Years, BPA free weaning spoons also from The First Years and some unresistible cute baby bibs (;p) from Mothercare.

Then, I did some research on the internet on baby first food recipe (you can imagine how excited I am, no?). Actually it is really simple to prepare those pureed food but I just want to get some ideas on what to introduce first so that her tummy don't get too shock on the foreign substance...haha ;p

Guess what first food makes it to Izma's tiny tummy-------PEAR! Yup Izma's first food is pear...hehe pureed pear. How do you do it? Really simple. Peel the pear, cut it into small cubes, put into boiling water for a minute, cool it down, then blend until it turns into smooth puree texture. Done and serve :) A pear can fill up her food container and lasts for a week! But after 2 days I add in carrot to her pear diet. How did Izma take it? For pear she loves loves loves it so much. But for carrot, she rejected it at first. What go in will go out in seconds. None made it to her tummy. However her mama becomes creative and add some milk to the pureed carrot and guess what? She finished it in a blink! Nice eh carrot milk :) And when there's no milk, her mama again becomes creative, mix pear and carrot, the results? She loves it too! As long as there is a familiar taste or sweet taste, she'll love it.

Today Izma will be introduced to a new fruit-----A for an apple! I just made the puree last night. I get a full container of the puree with just an apple. Can lasts for another week :) Ok want to call my mom now to ask on the progress of apple..hehe will make plain rice porridge and potato puree tonight :) Semangat tak hingat ;p

Oh and also, my plan for tonight or this evening - cut Izma's hair! it's getting longer and thicker...huhu will upload her new haircut after that ya...hehe

Before that, do enjoy this pic featuring Izma with her new aqua Bumbo. She loike! I also loike! Make every feeding easier and hassle free (ceh cam wat slogan lak ;p)

My BF journey...

Ermm BF is not BoyFriend ya…I dah x main la boyfren2 ni…hihi

In this case BF = BreastFeeding ya. Actually it’s been ages since I have this topic in mind and wanted to record my journey which had been almost 6 months now, Alhamdulillah although not exclusively and plan to proceed as long as I can InsyaAllah…but it’s also been ages since I’ve put any entry in here…hehe I’m very amaze on those working mothers with babies who manage to update their blog frequently. How do you guys do it? Please share. As for me, I think I don’t even have a minute to spare to write anything here, including weekends when hubby is around. Hopefully this will NOT be the end of my blog. I hope it will not die just like that or die gracefully…haha whichever way it is, please don’t die my dear blog…hehe

So much for the opening babbling. Enough on that, let’s keep this blog alive. So back to my BF topic, what to share? Well, I’ve been breastfeeding my little princess Izma since she was born. But back then there’s not much milk or maybe no milk at all? I don’t know. I’m thankful that Izma can really suck the moment she latched on me although not properly latch but she knew what to do with that thing in her mouth…hehe… For the first few days, she was sucking on my nipple and not on the entire areola (area around the nipple) so my nipples were really hurt due to the wrong latching. And also I think she kept sucking harder because she didn’t get the milk and really hungry. So when she was not satisfied after our breastfeeding session, we sent her to nursery for the nurse to feed her formula milk (they use Enfalac @ PCMC).

After a few consultation sessions with the nurses @ PCMC and I think there were a few of them who are also lactation counselors, they advised me to use nipple shield for my cracked nipples. They provide me one pair of Medela nipple shield and also Medela nipple cream (Purelan 100) which I’m supposed to pay (total of RM120) but somehow somebody forgot to put it on my bills and end up I got them for free! Weee~~~~ lucky me! :)

Anyways that nipple shield pair were very helpful. I can continue bf Izma despite the cracked nipples and by continue bf her, my milk supply increased tremendously (wah2 ;p) due to the stimulation from Izma’s sucking. I used the nipple shield for about 3 to 4 weeks until my nipples fully healed and after that I just direct bf Izma. It was very very very tough though at first to get Izma to properly latch without the nipple shield. We had to try latching for few times on every bf session and it can be really frustrating sometimes.

However after about 6 weeks, our bf activities had been fully established and we became expert at it already (we means Izma and I and ayah too who helped us a lot on this :)). By this time I really can appreciate the beauty of bf and somehow I think ayah benefited a lot from this. He doesn’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to prepare milk and doesn’t have to feed Izma as it had to be me all the time :). But as Izma became so attached to her normal milk supply, it became harder to train her to feed from the bottles when I’m almost finishing my maternity leave. It was a really a challenge.
A lot of ‘bersilat’ session on every bottle feeding.
A lot of tears from Izma (and myself actually ;p).
A lot of trial and error of different types of teats.
A lot of formula milk brand…well not a lot la, only 2…hehe we tried Enfalac A+ and Isomil soy based.
I don’t have EBM (expressed breast milk) stock hence the using of formula milk. And also to train Izma to drink the formula if my EBM is not enough once I started working (which is indeed the case).
Cut the story short, when I started working, my breastpumping journey starts. I pumped 3 times a day during working hours at 9 am, 12 pm and 3 pm. At first I only managed to get max 2oz per session or total of 6oz per day. So little and that time Izma actually drank a lot, around 12oz during the day when I’m at office. I was so depressed with my milk supply. I ate a lot of so called milk stimulation food i.e.:
- Dried longan
- Red date (tried only once, not my taste)
- Fenugreek (rebus, drink 3 big spoons with instant oat drink)
- Milkmaid tea
- Oat
- Habbatus sauda’
- Rice (a lot la of course, everyday )
- Pil ASI
And guess which one worked best for me? The winner is pil ASI! Hehe…well, not really significant increases on my milk supply, but I can consistently maintained around 12oz per day (I add another pumping session before going to sleep at around 11pm).

And since then I managed to maintain my supply minimum 9oz per day which are enough for 3 feedings. The serving amount of 1 feeding of EBM is maintained between 3oz to 3.5oz due to the fat characteristic changes in breastmilk which will suit baby’s age. However her formula feeding serving amount need to be increased from 3oz to 4oz to satisfy the growing baby (fuiyoo explanation cam doctor lak ;p).

So that are basically part of my BF journey which I’m still riding on and plan to continue this beautiful journey as long as I can (for my case I think until my milk dries up which I think will not be a big problem~~~).

And at this very moment I’m so excited to start solid feeding for Izma on her 6th month birthday next week! Thrill thrill thrill! Bought a new blender for her food already ;) Also already bought the food storage containers and spoons (BPA free). I want to introduce homemade food first before introducing instant rice cereal or baby rusks. As much as I want to give her homemade food only, I think it is also important for her to get used to those ‘instant’ baby food so that we can travel long distance without worrying on Izma’s food if we don’t manage to prepare the food. Just get her to taste a little bit of those instant food. But homemade food is the priority :)

I think I want to share the solid journey in next entry la. Which can be a few weeks (or months ;p) from now. Till then toodles for now. Want to collect all those yummy baby food recipes! ;)