2012: Meaning of life

Fuiyoo tajuk tak boleh blah...but this is serious peeps! Please put on your serious faces ;p


So 2012 is leaving us soon. Have we achieved our 2012 resolutions? Or will be carried forward to next year (or next next year) just like mine...hehe

Before I wrap up this year, just to wish my beautiful and smart daughter, Izma Humaira a very very very happy third birthday sayang!!! Yes she just celebrated her third birthday on 8 December and we made a simple mkn2 birthday party for her, first time she celebrated her birthday at our new house :) We just invited our close friends and a few neighbours (exactly my right and left neighbours only ;p) and we had a great time hosting the mkn2 (not really a party). But but but we didn't manage to take any pictures!!! Yes not a single one, and not even the beautiful princess themed birthday cake!!! How bad is that! We were busy layaning our guests, top up the food, took drinks and food for the kids (and for their mommies ;p) and that's it. No pictures. Nope, not a single one.

Since there is no picture available, I can just describe the event (I can even lie and exaggerate about it too ;p). So for the mkn2, I cooked most of the meals (kenapa, tak percaya???). Our menu included fettucine bolognese (supposed to be spaghetti but I bought the wrong pasta which is fettucine...deng!), my signature (ehem ehem) fried meehoon, sate Hj Samuri (of course this one not home cooked one la!), nuggets, and our hit of the party and so they say the crowd pleaser :) (perasan je ni mengaku hit ;p), the chocolate fountain!! Woot~~woot~~~ eh over! But I really really have to admit that this is the simplest but fun dessert to be prepared for those who don’t really enjoy baking cookies or cupcakes or pudding like me…hehe all I need to do is rent the machine and buy the chocolate (I used 2kg++ for my fountain), then buy some marshmallows and fruits and do the ‘cucuking’ to the satay sticks but too bad no pictures on my choc fountain food :(. For fruits we have apples, grapes and strawberries. But it was funny to watch that some kids like to eat just the fruits and marshmallows, without dipping them in the choc fountain. The mommies and daddies that were actually busy dipping theirs at the fountain. So actually the choc fountain was really for the adults. We enjoyed it more than the kids! :)

And also I did a head count, we had total of 52 guests! Not bad for a first time hosting a mkn2! Let’s do this again! Next year! Or next next year ;p

So that’s the update for Izma’s birthday celebration this year. We also brought a cake and goodies for small celebration at her skool on 12 December (amek jugak la aura 12.12.12 tu ;p). But this time I managed to take picture of her birthday cake! Yeayyy!!!

Princess Izma with her favourite Barbie princess and popstar!

And another picture that I managed to save is this pic of Izma’s birthday present! Yeayyyy!!! Loads of toys from generous aunties and uncles!!! Thank you!!!

The biggest present as usual comes from her Pak Ngah, a 3-wheel scooter!! Canggih betul toys budak2 sekarang ni…

Ok enough update on the birthday princess. Balik ke pangkal jalan.

So I wrote 2012: Meaning of life. Indeed 2012 taught me the meaning of life. Especially on the ups and downs moments. When I looked back at first I thought 2012 is really a ‘bad’ year for me. This year I went through a lot of downs moments. I miscarried in August, my father passed away in September. But then when I think again, hey, actually that’s all my downs moments, only 2. They are major definitely but I sure have a lot of major ups moments too to counter back and even to make this year actually a ‘good’ year. To name a few, we finally moved into own house this year, hubby got his Ir. title, Izma went to school (playschool pun kira school yer ;p), I finally got what I want in terms of work related thingy and a lot more to thank for! Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, all praise to Allah :)

So yeah 2012 had really taught me the meaning of life. That is, in life you really have to go through the ups and downs. It’s not a complete life if you only have ups moments your entire life. It’s no fun not going through the hard experiences which will make you grow (not sideways ya ;p) and become stronger after every challenge in life. And these downs moments really made me stronger (I hope). My secret of going through any challenges or when I feel really really down and can’t think of anything to make me feel better, I will sing (yes literally ;p) this one song from Hijjaz titled ‘Lukisan Alam’ particularly on the line ‘setitis derita melanda, segunung kurnianNya’. And actually the whole song is really motivating, every word and every line if you go through the song. Ok lah let me sing it for you…muahahaha sila kurangkan volume pc or mute terus. Baca lirik sudah~~~~

Hidup tidak selalunya indah
Langit tak selalu cerah
Suram malam tak berbintang
Itulah lukisan alam
(Begitu aturan Tuhan)

Jadilah rumput nan lemah lembut
Tak luruh dipukul ribut
Bagai karang di dasar lautan
Tak terusik dilanda badai

Dalam suka hitunglah kesyukuranmu
Dalam senang awasi kealfaanmu
Setitis derita melanda
Segunung kurniaanNya

Usah mengharapkan ke segalanya
Dalam perjuangan penuh pengorbanan
Usah dendam berpanjangan
Maafkan kesalahan insan
(Begitu ajaran Tuhan)


Hasbiallah, Hasbunallah
HasbiRabbi jalallahu Ya Allah

Dalam diam taburkanlah baktimu
Dalam tenang buangkanlah amarahmu
Suburkanlah sifat sabar
Di dalam jiwamu itu


It’s so true right, every line in the song? I LOVE this song so much since I was in UTP indeed. So this is my secret weapon when I’m feeling down down down… always count your blessings, definitely they are much more than your small challenges :) So life = hidup tidak selalunya indah – barulah hidup namanya :)

Ok I’m officially ready to leave 2012 behind, or 2012 is leaving me?? How about you? Ready to face more challenges in 2013? Ready to become a stronger Hulk-person? (eh eh over jerit2 budget pakar motivasi lak ;p)

So long 2012, thank you Allah for the life you had given me all this while, please make me a better Muslim in 2013 and the years to come, grant me strength to face Your tests and please bless my family and friends always, Amin…

Welcome 2013!!! Bring it on!!! (hover hokay~~~)

PAPA

Mixture feeling of writing this entry. I hope I don’t have to write this but I do. In memory of my beloved Papa. Soon will be his 62nd birthday (supposedly) on 16th October but Allah loves him more. It’s been exactly 3 weeks since he left us. Papa left us on Friday, 14th September 2012 @ 27 Syawal 1433H. In a way I’m happy as he’s one of the chosen ones to pass away on a Friday. I wish I’ll have the same opportunity when my time comes, insyaAllah, amin…


I imagine this will be a long one but depends on my emotional state, I might not be strong enough to keep on writing about Papa without shedding a lot of tears and I don’t want to shed a lot of tears now that I’m still in ‘healing’ state from the lost.

About the day Papa left us, it was very shocking. He passed away at his home without any severe illness. He just had a slight fever few days before that but I talked to him through the phone on Thursday, one day before he left us and he sounded ok. Perhaps he was not really that ok but he never told us if he’s sick or anything. He was very secretive and didn’t want to trouble us or made us worry. And for that also I’m relieved as I imagine he passed away peacefully and I hope it was the case as none of us was there when he breathed his last breath ;(((

The chronology on that fateful Friday:

Izma was at PCMC, admitted since Monday due to her high fever; I slept there every night from Monday – Thursday. Friday morning I went to work from PCMC while my mom came and stayed with Izma.

Upon arriving office, I got a call from Halim, one of the workers at Cheras Dialysis Centre where Papa went for her dialysis treatment 3 times per week on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. He mentioned that he tried to call Papa since 7.30am but he didn’t pick up his phone. He was concern because Papa went for his dialysis on Thursday morning and he didn’t look well. I said yes he mentioned that he had a slight fever but nothing serious (according to him). And I said that I just talked to him yesterday (Thursday) at around 6pm and he didn’t mention anything about his fever. After talking to Halim I tried to call Papa as well but nobody pick up the phone. But I was thinking this is normal, sometimes he left his phone when going out and he’ll call back.

I kept trying the whole day but no answers. In the evening, Izma was discharged at about 5.30pm and we went straight to Papa’s house. The rest is history. It was a long night but I don’t want to record it here. It will stick in my memories for the rest of my life. Whatever it is I was really thankful to Halim as without his call that morning, I don’t know what would happen. It’s all being written, these whole happenings.

Anyhow just to recall the last moments we had with Papa, I last saw him on Monday the same week he left. He came to PCMC to visit Izma. He stayed for about half an hour and I just let him played with Izma. Izma was very happy to see her Atuk and had a lot of laughter eventhough she was having a high fever then. Papa even carried her around the room and she liked it. She seldom likes people to carry her except for me of course but that night she was happy to be with Atuk. And this was maybe because Papa came to our house the day before (Sunday) and played with her so she was all warmed up to him :). Papa said to Izma while visiting her that Monday night “Nanti Izma dah baik kita pegi makan aiskrim ye, nanti Atuk dtg rumah Izma kita tgk cat yer…” and Izma was nodding excitedly to his suggestion. But they never had that chance and little that we knew about that then ;((

One day before that (Sunday), I invited some of my friends from office to my home as they won’t be able to come for my ‘open housewarming’ which was planned to be on Saturday, 15th September. So I was hosting a mini open house a week earlier on that Sunday. I cooked chicken rice, beef rendang and bought some lemang. After they left I called Papa and invited him over as I still have some food left. He came at around 6pm and stayed until 9pm. And also little that we knew then, that would be the last time he came to my house, ate there, had his prayers there, played with Izma there ;((

Papa came to my house quite regularly during weekends. That’s the only time for him to see and play with Izma and Izma always enjoyed his company. He would take Izma into his car and drove around the neighborhood, just the 2 of them, bought her ice cream and other ‘jajan’. Then he played with her in the house, looking for cats outside and had a good time together. Usually we’ll just let them spent time together and I’ll do some housework during his visit.

But that Sunday was extra special. Came dinner time hubby and I were still full and didn’t want to have our dinner. I just prepared meals I cooked for Papa and join him at dining table, just drinking. Suddenly Izma wanted to have dinner with her Atuk so I put her in the seat next to Papa and gave her a bowl of chicken rice. As Papa already had his dinner company, I left them both and went on to clear the dishes in the sink. Turned out Papa was very happy to have a ‘dinner date’ with Izma and they chatted and laughed over the dinner. And Papa kept saying to me afterwards “Izma nak mkn dgn Papa la, banyak dia mkn tapi dia mkn ayam je. Nasik mkn sikit je. Seronok dia mkn dengan Papa”. I just smiled and very happy to see Papa was sooo happy spending time with his granddaughter :) And he kept on saying that while having dinner with Izma. He kept saying “Seronok Izma makan dengan Papa, byk dia makan, pandai dia cubit ayam…” with happy smile on his face. And surprisingly Izma was also enjoying herself just sitting there with her Atuk. She was ok with me and hubby being far from her which was rare events. And for this memory also, I hope he left feeling happy having to spent good time with his families just few days before that. And in a way I felt satisfied to have a chance to serve Papa with my home cooked meals eventhough it was not that delicious. I’ll never have that chance ever ;((

Regardless, I know that was nothing compared to what he had sacrificed for me all this while. And I didn’t manage to repay my debts on all his hardship of raising me, and I’ll never have that chance, not in a million years ;(( But I hope my du’a reached him and he’ll rest in peace together with good Muslims, Amin…that’s all I can do now.

We didn’t have our ‘open housewarming’ on that Saturday, instead we were having a tahlil for Papa at my aunt’s house. My aunts and uncles mentioned that Papa had texted them 1 week before inviting them to my open house, but instead it was actually for him ;((

I think that was as far as I can go now. I’ll break down if I go further ;(

All in all, I hope I have the strength eventually to carry on without Papa. Last week while in office suddenly I was thinking “eh nak call Papa la, dah lama tak call..” and I was reaching my handphone when suddenly the reality hit me, I can’t call Papa, he’s not here anymore ;(( and I will never can call him…soooo sad…ya Allah, please give me strength to go through this lost, Amin…

And weekends are so different without him visiting us. I was like waiting for him to come through our door anytime and Izma will be very excited ;((

Hopefully we’ll be ok soon and I want to keep on reciting all the good memories I had with Papa throughout my 30 years of life.

Papa, I love you so much and I hope you had a peaceful rest there with Him and I will always make du’a for you, reciting Quran for you and I hope it reached you…I hope you are proud of having me as your daughter, I will never forget what you have done for me especially on teaching me to read the Quran when I was little. May Allah bless you for everything you did, Amin…

Al-Fatihah to Papa, 16th October 1950 – 14th September 2012…

Alhamdulillah

Alhamdulillah
Alhamdulillah
Alhamdulillah
All praise to Allah

Finally...
Phewwwww~~~
And now we take a break and take it slowly :)



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Deja vu

No no no not Dejavu di Kinabalu yer...hehe

Yes this is like a repetition entry. The last entry on this experience was written more or less exactly one year ago. Same situation, almost the same time, same feelings.

OMG I'm dragging myself to write this entry and literally having butterflies in my stomach as soon as I start writing...ok maybe not literally la, over okkk ;p

So what's the deja vu event? It's my miscarriage event :((
I remembered last year I was sitting at Starbucks KLCC one week after Aidilfitri, during my 1-week medical leave, writing about our first miscarriage experience. And now, on my 2-week medical leave, sitting alone in my house, writing about our second experience :(

So yeah it happened again to us. I found out that I'm pregnant in early July, Alhamdulillah, few days before hubby's birthday (and I made the positive pregnancy test kit as his birthday present so that I don't have to buy other present ;p). We were happy and thrilled after 6 months of trying but deep deep deep down also very worried especially me. I'm so trauma of my past experience and couldn't actually enjoy the good news. We didn't tell any of our family members as I decided to break the news once we passed the first trimester. However we didn't make it to the first trimester so the secret remains a secret except to my mom as we need her help to take care of Izma during my D&C procedure. So have to spill out the news to her eventually.

Positive!!! Yeay Alhamdulillah :))

Anyways, it's really really a deja vu event because I got pregnant just few weeks before fasting month just like last year, managed to secure my first appointment with Dr Seri one week after Raya which I'll be in my week 12 by the time I see her just like last year my first appoinment was supposed to be one week after Raya and on my week 12, didn't make it to the first appointment for both years. So yeah creepy deja vu. Hopefully this is the last of it, no more deja vu. Ok pening banyak sgt perkataan deja vu. Btw I hate that Dejavu di Kinabalu drama, so slow, no offense Tiz's fans ;p

Ok down to my story this time around, I got so nervous as soon as I knew I was pregnant. So trauma and phobia of my previous experience and really hoped that we make it this time. My EDD was 11/03/2013, last year's was 23/03/2012, difference about 2 weeks which explains the 'dejavuness' as this year we're celebrating Ramadhan and Aidilfitri 2 weeks earlier than last year. Anyways since I was so nervous, we decided not to wait until week 12 for my first appointment thus decided to have earlier check up with a proper gynae (not just walk in into any clinics that have an ultrasound machine like we did for the past 2 pregnancies ;p). We managed to secure appointment with Dr Khamsiah at An-Nur Specialist Hospital just at our own backyard here in Bangi during the first week of Ramadhan.

So we  went for the check up on 26/07/2012 and I'm supposed to be in my week 7+. However the ultrasound didn't show that. Supposedly we should expecting a heartbeat to be heard already in week 7, but for our case, there's no heartbeat at all. The sac was very small size around 4 weeks+ and there's no feotus sighted. Our hearts broke right then, right there but we acted strong. Although the Dr convinced us that it might be possible that the baby was growing late due to late ovulation perhaps but we knew what actually happened because I had regular periods and not really possible the ovulation date will be different by 2-3 weeks.

I was prescribed Duphaston for 2 weeks and scheduled for another appointment on 09/08/2012. Dr Khamsiah mentioned that there should be heartbeat during that time or else it's history. But we really can't wait for 09/08 and would really want to have a second opinion on this. And decided to take our chance to try see Dr Seri of PCMC. I really struggled to get an appointment with her. I tried swapping with my friend whose appt was on 07/08 (mine supposed to be on 28/8 - sooo long way to go) to the extend we had harrassed her assistant...hehe pity her just doing her job. When that didn't work, I PM Dr Seri on her Facebook but of course knowing her busy self she didn't reply my message (penat karang cite sedih ;p) then last step I emailed her (as advised by my friend Joely :)). Another sad story, a bit sadder than the Facebook version ;p. I emailed her on 31/07, she didn't reply, but on 01/08 her assistant called me up and mentioned that Dr Seri asked me to come see her the next day on Thursday, 02/08 exactly 1 week after our first check up @ An Nur...phewww Alhamdulillah our efforts paid :)

So we went for the check up on 02/08 and the ultrasound showed same image as per my first ultrasaound and the sac was actually became smaller despite 1-week consumption of Duphaston. No feotus sighted as well, just an empty sac :( So it's confirmed I was having yet another missed miscarriage just like the previous one but our previous one we had a feotus in the sac which was not growing. Sad. Frustrated. But the feelings were better than last year's because we had gone through this before and had mentally prepared for it before we went to see Dr Seri. So we were ok when told about the news. And also I felt better than last time because this time around there was no feotus/baby inside the sac so not really feeling guilty of losing the sac. Last year we had actually saw the heartbeat when I was 5-week pregnant and not hearing it again in my week 10, so I just couldn't describe the feeling. I kept thinking if I did anything wrong which caused the baby stop growing...huhu

Alhamdulillah this time around perhaps Allah made it easier for us to go through another challenge from Him during this Ramadhan :) So we straight away scheduled for D&C procedure the next day, Friday 03/08 (last year's date was 03/09/2011). Like Dr Seri said 'the earlier we end this episode, the earlier we can begin a new one' :)). Love Dr Seri the positive Dr and always know what to say to cheer us up and somehow gave us a little hope there :) And what makes me love her more is because she gave me 2 weeks medical leave!!! weehuuuu until Raya okkk jgn jeles!!!hahaha

Right now I'm working at home for this one week because the assessment thingy is just starting this week and it's that busy time of the year. I plan to go to office next week Tuesday - Thursday just to pick up my ordered raya cookies and cakes...hehehe

Whatever it is we really thank Allah for this another opportunity for me to go through the pregnancy experience once more. It was indeed a beautiful experience although only for a short while, Alhamdulillah our prayers being heard all this while :)) And also to add to this we're more thankful when I heard my boss' remarks on my situation. On my last day of work before the D&C I told my boss that I was pregnant but I just had a miscarriage and will be off for 2 weeks + 1 week raya leave. His remarks that I couldn't forget was that he told me that we're still lucky because the miscarriage event indicates that I can become pregnant and did become pregnant, and have the chances again to become pregnant in the future without problems, InsyaAllah. He said this because he is currently struggling with her wife to get pregnant. He has no kid yet and his wife is having some problem of getting pregnant. At least we on the other hand had already have our adorable Izma in our lives. His remarks was really an eye opening and true what they said, when you think you had been challenged to your bones, just open you eyes and see those who have bigger challenges than yours, then you'll be really thankful...Alhamdulillah :)

Anddd.....we are not giving up! I have a follow-up check up with Dr Seri on 14 Sept and InsyaAllah she's helping us to get us twins!!!hehe just kidding ;p She had some plans but I'm not really sure what because she told me about the plan right after the D&C procedure when I was still dizzy from the anaesthetics (betul ke eja ni? belasahhh). So I just agreed on whatever she said...hehe but I did remember she mentioned twins then she laughed really loudly ;p

So yeah that's our deja vu. Hopefully it's the last one. I pray that my next deja vu is on the event of going through the same experience I had when giving birth to Izma, InsyaAllah Aminnn...

Btw on the happier note, my dearest hubby is officially a Professional Engineer with an Ir. title in front of his name, Alhamdulillah, his 2-year efforts paid off finally. So there you go, the sad and happy news in this Ramadhan al-Mubarak, Alhamdulillah, we can never thank Allah enough :)

To all of you peeps, Happy Ramadhan, Happy Aidilfitri in advance :))

Izma's love triangle~~~phewittttt

Wowwww interesting title right??? Ish ish Izma kecik2 dah already in love triangle...sape ajar ni???

Hahaha ok la so as we all know (yeah the whole world know ;p) Izma already goes to school!!! Almost 2 months now. And we see a lot of improvements especially on her vocab. English speaking now, kalah mama n ayah ;p

Just some recap from my previous entry on her progress, as I mentioned (ade ke mention?) for the first week we sent her to school, she cried everyday. For the first day we just sent her for about 3 hours and she cried for the whole of 3 hours! We sent her crying and fetched her lokking very much the same, still crying. Pity her :( When we fetched her, she was lying on of the toddlers' beds crying with her bottle in her mouth. And sitting beside the bed watching her was a cute lil' boy. He just sitting there staring at her and I think for this reason Izma didn't stop crying because she was afraid of the cute lil' boy...hehe the boy meant well ;p

Anyways the second week was much better. No more crying. Phew~~~ But the aunties (that's what the children called the teachers there) said that Izma was really quiet and didn't say a word at school. She just watched the other kids play and stayed very close to the aunties. This we can understand because all her life she mingled with only adults, the youngest is her Mak Su who is 19 years old! So she really don't know how to mingle with kids her age. Eh tak masuk2 lagi kisah love triangle kan. Mukadimah baru ;p

So we are really looking forward everyday to hear her say new word after coming back from school. Or new song, she just loves to sing! Although she's quiet at school, but once she got into the car she'll start to tell all the happenings at the school on that day. Aunty Wani this, Aunty Aisha that Aunty Raihana dah balik, then her friends' names also come out Yasmin this, Darwish that, etc. She'll continue to tell her stories until we got home. Most of the times she really likes to imitate her aunties. So most of the phrases are all 'command' words like don't touch, sit down, get up, etc. And to make it more interesting she'll add her freinds' names to that commands. The top 2 phrases of the day and everyday ;p are 'don't touch alamin' and 'thank you mail' (of course with her pelatness).

So this makes us wondering what is alamin means? And mail? A thing or a person? So after days listening to these phrases, out of curiosity and my investigation instinct (instinct la sangatttt) one morning while sending her to school I ask Aunty Wani, 'is there any kid named Amin here?'
She said 'Yes, we have Al-Amin. He really likes to tease Izma.'
Tinggggg!!! No wonder the phrases for Al-Amin is 'don't touch alamin' because that boy always tease her but she doesn't like him...hahaha so cute! And to make it more interesting, after a few days of investigating (hubby and I are on this investigation team ;p) we found out that Al-Amin is actually the cute lil' boy who sat by her on her first day!!! Interesting right?hehehe and hubby had approved him right away to be our potential son-in-law since he's so cute and neat. (Eh bukan Izma tak suka ke dak comel ni? ;p)
Ok back to our story line, then I asked Aunty Wani another question 'what about Mail?'
She said 'Yes we do have Ismail, a Palestinian boy which Izma adores. Ismail will sometimes put powder on Izma's face and Izma will say thank you...'
Another Tingggg!!! That explains the 'thank you mail'....hahaha

Hahahahaha...mystery solved! So the love triangle is actually between Izma, Al-Amin and Ismail. Al-Amin likes Izma but she doesn't like him (we do ;p), Izma likes Ismail but Ismail just neutral towards her...hahaha
But unfortunately for Izma, Ismail left the school at end June as he was going back to Palestine. Pity her, no more Ismail to put powder on her face :(
So pesanan penaja: Go Al-Amin go get Izma!!! ;ppp

Currently on vacation~~~

Yes we're currently on 1-week vacation, my hubby and I, guess where? At Seri Bangi!!! Weeee~~~ hahaha

We're relaxing while Izma is on her familiarization phase at her new playschool, Brainy Bunch Islamic Montessari ;)
The truth is we took 1 week leave especially to send Izma to BBIM and to monitor her 'closely' while she is familiarizing herself to the new environment which is totally a very strange place for her. Strange mostly because it is filled with kids there and she's not used to that. All this while her life is revolving around adults all the time, the youngest being her Mak Su who is 19 years old...hehe

So that's why in these 2 days we had send her there, she stayed close to the aunts there and only watched the other kids play (so we were told by the teachers there - or 'aunts' called by the kids). Poor Izma she don't know how to mingle and play with her new friends ;( hopefully in time she'll find her ways to join them and get herself some BFFs ;p

By the way on second day of our vacation which is today I got some extra time (duhh ;p) to get my herbs and spices into small (free) jars and labeled them! These 2 days are really refreshing and give me some perspectives on being a SAHM or WAHM (I did check my mails just now ;p). And here's my cute little spice jars with their labels (so that I won't forget their names and really know what i put in my cookings in case somebody ask for the recipes ;pp).



They're cute jars right ;)

Got the jars from my second cousin's wedding as a wedding favor (with sweets inside) but I got only 4 of them and i still need extra jars for my bunga lawang (star anise??) and bunga cengkih (don't know??). And also if you notice i didn't put any label for kulit kayu manis a.k.a cinnamon coz you cannot not know what that thing is okkk ;p

So anyone of you getting married soon and will give these cute lil jars away as wedding favors to your guests? Invite me please!!! ;))

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Of Izma & school

Izma already goes to school!!! To a playschool that is :)
We had officially moved to Bangi (finally ;p) and so Izma also has to officially goes to school as her Opah's home is already far far away and she already is a big big girl (cam xde kena mengena kan ;p).

To tell you the truth we've been dragging in finding and surveying all the nurseries/playschools available in Bangi for us to send Izma to once we moved because we really don't want to send her!!! And we know she also doesn't want to be left with anyone else who is not her Opah while we are at work...huhu but what to do sooner or later we still have to send her to school so it's better for her to get the idea as soon as now ;)

So how was she at school?
First day: sent her at 8am and fetched her at 11.30am (felt like infinity being at home without her ;(). She was crying when we arrived to fetch her. And according to the aunties there she was crying all the way since 8am except when they bathed her ;(

Second day: sent her at 7.30am and fetched her at 2pm. A lot of improvement. She cried but not for long. She stayed close to the aunts and just laughed watching the other kids play. She didn't have the guts to join them yet I guess.

Third day: that is today. Sent her at 7.30am and plan to fetch her at 5pm today! Waaa long way to go and this is one of my ways to kill time ;)) Ya Allah, please make my baby happy during her stay there..Aminn...



Sooo happy yesterday after we fetch her!

Sneak peek Seri Bangi

Hello peeps! As usual long time no see 😜. And i think this is the longest ever!!! What happened to me? I don't knowww!!! 😝
Well as an excuse, i was n still am busy moving into our new crib! As if it's not already very obvious in my title, just so u know, we're moving to Bangi!!!!! ✌ Taman Seri Bangi in Seksyen 8, Bandar Baru Bangi to be exact. Wow too much info. Sikit lagi u're gonna get my whole address 😜
And this marks the end of our 3-year nomad life as in always packing and unpacking every single weekend without fail! (well except when hubby is offshore la). My feelings: very very berry nervous to finally 'live on our own'. Always wondering how it'll feel like, how often do we go back to cheras and bangi (in-laws') after this (most probably every week ya 😉), opah n cu will be missing lil' izma (will they?), i hv to do my own laundry (all this while most of the time my mom would take care of this 👍), etc etc.
Put that aside, the biggest fear of all is actually to finally send Izma to a playschool, a very strange place for her and with all the strangerssss. Waaaa we're so scared n worried n nervous n don't want to send her!!!! Ok hover tauuu 😂 And to make it worse, hubby is more scarier, worrier, nervouser than i am and it certainly doesn't help!!!!! Waaaa and it's like 4 days away from today!!!! Waaaaa again!!!!
Ok maybe i'll post one special entry of Izma going to school soon! Eh eh anti climax sungguh 😝
Ok2 back to our title on top, this is about some sneak peak into our new crib ya, not into our fear or nervousness 😁
So here there are some pics that i have. Hubby has so much more ✌




Lights on!




Close up our dry kitchen




My new playground - the wet kitchen




The maid...eh the cute helpful Izma 👍




My new cool gadget in my playground area




The curtains, fan, sofa and lights
Ok that's all folks!

Testing - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

21022012

A friend of mine at fb had put the above number in her status and mention that it is a unique number of today's date. It's unique coz it looks like mirror image 21022012. So it is very special and we won't see this date anymore forever and ever. And it is even more special for me as today is our third anniversary!!! Yes 3 exclamation symbols to go with that :p

So to my beloved husband who is currently working for the nation at offshore Kerteh, a very happy anniversary laling!!! May we cherish our marriage forever and ever and may Allah bless our family always and forever. I love you so much much muchest!!! Get home soon as the dinner at KL Tower is waiting for us. Yes i remember this...hihihi

-from ur wifey, 21022012- (mcm tulis surat pulak nak tulis tarikh bagai :p)

Izma Humaira is 2!!!

Huhuhu loooonnngggg time no write one. But this month must write something sempena birthday month of sweet lil' Izma Humaira :) Yeah her birthday was on 8 December but this super duper busy bee mama (tak tau busy buat mende punnn) was totally forgot about the existence of this blog (same goes for the other blog so no offense). It's not you bloggy, it's totally me, myself and I.

Nevertheless we didn't forget the birthday though so that's good right!!! And we didn't forget to celebrate!!! Although there was no official birthday party for her this year, we had celebrated with both families and that lucky girl got herself not one, not two, but THREE birthday cakes when she is only 2!!! Lucky you my cutie lil' pie ;)

I'm so lucky right mama?

-The birthday girl on 08/12/2011-

Ok2 now let us drool over the cakes shall we?

The first cake on 8th December:

From yours truly n hubby, bought at Isetan Supermarket. Choc banana cake with choc-dipped strawberries on top. One of the strawberries was gone right after I took this pic ;p

Upacara meniup lilin

Upacara memotong kek

The second cake was bought by her uwan at Bangi. Another upacara meniup lilin and memotong kek during the weekends. But sadly I forgot to took the picture of the beautiful cake. Hubby did take some pictures though. I'll get from him and upload the pics here (tapi tak janji tauuuu...maybe i'll do that next year...heyyy next year is just around the corner ya ;p)

Move to to the third cake also during the weekend. No upacara meniup lilin or memotong kek. Just mengambil gambar kek dan memakan kek...those cute cuppies are really yummylicious!!! Bought the cuppies from hubby's cousin who is a doctor but really good at baking cuppies and cakes. Dah2 byk ckp lak...jommmm tgk the pics...drooling~~~

Cute cuppies with Upin & Ipin theme requested by the birthday girl. Thanks to Kak Tini for the pretty and tasty cuppies :)

She was so excited when she saw her favorite character on the cuppies and demanded to eat them right away in the car...huhu terpaksa la ckp 'mkn kat umah wan ye nnt...dah dekat nak sampai dah ni..' (walaupun perjalanan masih jauh ;p)

'Saya suka! Saya suka!'

(ikut nada Mei Mei dlm Upin & Ipin)

And yes the cuppies are all yummy as they look. The cake is moist chocolate cake and the icing is butter cream, not so sweet, just nice :)

So that's all we have for our beloved daughter's birthday this year. Oh one more thing the birthday girl got herself some pressies as well. Two dresses from both opah and wan, a whiteboard set complete with numbers and alphabets magnets (tak tau name ape) from Pak Ngah and a pink tent with balls from mama & ayah :) But for now no space yet to set up the tent...hehehe wait until we move to new house la. For the time being she is excited to play with the 50 colourful balls all over the house....weee~~~

So happy second birthday sayang!!! We love u soooooo much!!! Semoga menjadi anak mama & ayah yang solehah...amin... ;)

 

Raya 2011

Raya Haji is just around the corner but here I am with full gedikness want to share a few (2 only) Raya Aidilfitri pics :)

First raya: We're blue double di double dye double di double dye double di double dye

Second raya: silverly grey, a gloomy birthday...

The first pic my debabness was covered a little bit by Izma as she sat on my lap. But second pic cannot hide it anymore...my defense: I was still preggy that time ;p

p/s: my tudung from Arzu, both exactly same design but different colours...last minute tudung hunting and so lazy to go to different shops ;p

preggy no more ;(( ~~~

"No farewell words are spoken, no time to say goodbye, you were gone before we knew it, and only God knows why..." - OurMiscarriage.com

Yes, sad...but true :(

Baru je update on my entry here about the good news. But suddenly now, i'm preggy no more...so saddd...huk...huk...huk...

But not to worry, i'm a bit ok now. Time heals i guess...so let me share this one of the sad journeys of my life...losing my baby at 11 weeks of pregnancy...it's hard, really really hard...

It's all started 1 day before raya (can u believe this? of all the time, my baby decided to leave us just before raya). So as u can imagine my raya and also my birthday which happened to fall during raya this year were a bit gloomy as I carry around my dead baby inside. I was bleeding 1 day before raya, just a few drops of blood. At first I was not that worried because few days before I had brown discharge and I thought maybe this is normal for pregger to have some discharge every now and then. However when I saw fresh red blood, I decided to share this with my hubby. He freaked out and asked me to get dressed and go to nearby clinic. So just to calm him, I just follow the lead. All the clinics near my house were closed because of the raya week so I told him well, maybe it's nothing and maybe it's normal. So we decided to relax and just wait and see later. But on the way back we passed by Columbia Asia Hospital which was just opened in front of Jusco Cheras Selatan so I said to my hubby, lets' just check if they have any gynae there today.

And so we went there and check for available gynae. And they do have a Chinese lady gynae that day (Dr Lim). We were lucky! So I just arranged for a walk-in check up and after 2 patients I was in. After briefing her on my conditions, we went through the ultrasound. That was the time my raya mood all gone. From the ultrasound she found out that my sac shape was abnormal, it was crooked, not in round shape as it should be. And also my baby was really small, size of a 6-week baby when I was 10 weeks pregnant and the saddest part was that she couldn't detect the heartbeat. She asked if I was certain on my last period date. I mentioned to her yes, it's confirmed and told her that I had an ultrasound scan on fifth week and the doc had detected my baby's heartbeat. Had knowing this, she mentioned that it was almost confirmed that I just had a miscarriage :( To make me feel a bit better since the next day is raya already, she gave me Duphaston for 4 days consumption and asked me to return on Friday for confirmation and perform D&C (dilation and curettage) right away if it's confirmed.

On Friday we went to PCMC instead ;p (because we want to have a free D&C and it's easier to arrange in PCMC as I have my previous pregnancy record there). Dr Seri was not around (of course!!!! it's still raya week ;p) so I went to see Dr Paul Tay. We had another ultrasound and the findings were the same as the previous ultrasound except this time my sac shape looked more normal (maybe due to Duphaston consumption). My baby size was still 6-week size so Dr Paul mentioned that it's confirmed I had a miscarriage and asked if I want to deliver the foetus normally of to perform D&C. I don't think I can wait for the foetus to come out naturally, as in wait for my water to break, having contractions and deliver like delivering a normal baby...huhu. It was enough for me had to carry the foetus inside me for 4 days knowing that my baby had died :(( So I opted for the D&C right away. Dr Paul arrange for the operation theater for the next morning as I need to fast for 6-8 hours before the procedure.

And so I had delivered and separated with my baby on Saturday, 3rd September 2011, definitely a date to remember. I want to share a lot of things that I learnt about miscarriage but I just couldn't yet now. Writing this already made me sad and want to cry (and I'm currently at Big Apple Donuts cafe now so definitely no drama allowed please ;p) so will save it for the next entry (I hope ;p)

20 things that change when you have a baby

I found this @ Babycenter website. Definitely true for me, all 20 of them :)
Do enjoy this mommies out there!

Everyone warns you that having a baby will change your life. Sure, you'll have less money (and sleep), and a lot more responsibility. But when the centre of your universe shifts to your new baby, there's much to celebrate too:

• You discover an inner strength you never realised you had.

• You accept that the last 15 pregnancy pounds you can't seem to shift are absolutely worth it.

• You don't need a clock any more - your baby now sets your daily schedule.

• You respect and love your own parents in a new way.

• Any pain your baby suffers feels much worse than your own.

• You don't mind going to bed at 9pm on a Friday night.

• Your heart breaks much more easily.

• You discover how much there is to say about one little baby tooth.

• You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.

• You're no longer disgusted by babies' bodily functions - in fact, you're fascinated by them (hooray, a poo!)

• The sacrifices you thought you'd made to have a baby no longer seem that big a deal.

• You respect your body ... finally.

• You realise that a baby's comforter has magical powers!

• You give parents with a screaming baby an "I-know-the-feeling" look, instead of a "Can't-they-shut-him-up?" one.

• You make time for one more baby hug and kiss, even if it means you'll be late.

• You realise that it's possible to love a complete stranger.

• You learn that taking a shower is a luxury, never mind a trip to the hairdresser's.

• You finally get to speak to the shy neighbour in your street, because you've got a baby in your arms.

• You find that things that once seemed important are now meaningless.

• Every day is a surprise.

July 2011 updates

July 2011 was the most important month and yet I don't have even a single entry last month! How can this happen? (It always happen laaaa, don't be too surprised). Well the truth is that I was concentrated on my Shaklee blog and totally forgot about this blog already...huhuhu

Ok la let's have a gist of happenings in July 2011, according to the sequence from beginning of the month until the end...

6 - 7 July: Singapore trip - Universal Studios and Restoran Zam Zam (for the murtabak and nasi beryani terbaikkk) to be exact

10 July: Hubby's birthday lunch treat @ Victoria Station Jln Ampang (as usual); sorry gambar birthday boy takde, ade gambar budak tecik je yg tgh boring tunggu food, appetizer je baru sampai...huhu

11 July: Sneak peek to our new home @ Taman Seri Bangi, Seksyen 8, BBB; not a big house but we're so happy to finally set foot on our very first property (curik2 set foot sbb gate tak kunci - actually kunci tak dpt lagi...hahaha)

 

 19 July: Alhamdulillah :) the day we knew that we are pregnant (yes I use 'we' here coz hubby got all the pregnancy symptoms as well, worse than me to be exact...pity him...huhu, it's ok laling we're all in this together! hihi)

 23 July: My very first Shaklee bonus cheque! It's just RM96.72 but it's a free money man! Malas2 sahaja pada bulan Jun dpt jugak sedikit rezeki...Alhamdulillah. Definitely aim for more for July's bonus, insyaAllah :)

Yeah, I know I don't do justice to all these 5 major updates of July by putting them all in a single entry with 1-2 sentences description. If I were a bit rajin I already got myself at least 5 entries for July, no?hehehe dream on la...hahaha and yes, I'll try my best to have an exclusive entry for each happening especially on the Universal Studios Singapore trip. The memories are slipping away bit by bit. Wajib buat entry khas utk kenangan indah ini :) jiwangs laks ;p definitely kenangan indah coz Izma was really enjoying herself there and definitely have to go there again (and again :)), boleh kan hubby laling? *wink*



big rocks, small rocks and sands

Ini bukan entri rock kapak atau rock leleh yer..muahahaha

My office colleague shares a touching story this morning and I immediately log in to Blogger and write this post since I got some free time now (all bosses are not around ;p). Here is the story that he shared:

Can I Borrow $25?
A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: 'Daddy, may I ask you a question?'
DAD: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the man.
SON: 'Daddy, how much do you make an hour?'
DAD: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the man said angrily.
SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'
DAD: 'If you must know, I make $50 an hour.'
SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.
SON: 'Daddy, may I please borrow $25?'

The father was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.'

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often

The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

'Are you asleep, son?' He asked.
'No daddy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.
'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the man. 'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $25 you asked for.'
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you daddy!' he yelled.

Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the father grumbled. 'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.

'Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.' The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.

Do remember to share that $50 worth of your time with someone you love. If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

Reading the story I straight away relates this with another sharing from my boss on how we should prioritize our works based on rocks and sands terminology. It's like this, in one day when you come to work you should list down all the works that you need to do on that day. Then categorize each work into whether it is big rock (very urgent and need to be done immediately, if not will have high consequence), small rock (not very urgent but still need to be done by that day) or just sands (not urgent, can wait until tomorrow). I'm sure despite our busy schedule and all, there are works that actually can wait until tomorrow right? And this is the whole point. You don't actually need to stay all day at the office to get everything done. You just need to prioritize and get your big and small rocks done by the end of the day, and if you have time settle some of the sands :)

To get better picture on this big rocks, small rocks and sands, imagine you have a big jar that you need to fill with all big rocks, small rocks and sands. You need to fill the jar with all three types of elements given and all of them must fit to that jar. So imagine if you put your sands first, then your small rocks, followed by big rocks, by the time you want to put your big rocks, most probably the jar is already full and no space left for the big rocks and maybe you have to find another jar. Now imagine this, you put yur big rocks first into your empty jar, followed by your small rocks and lastly your sands, definitely there'll be enough space for the sands in between the big rocks and small rocks right? Same goes for your work, the jar is actually your working hours. Try to get your super urgent works done first then only you entertain your not-so-urgent and not-urgent matters. InsyaAllah there'll be always enough given working hours without you having to stay at the office until late hours :)

Relating this back to the story shared just now, the big rocks, small rocks and sands terminology can be applied to our personal life as well. To our family and work to be exact. You need to really know what are the three things that represent the three elements (big rocks, small rocks and sands). For example my big rocks definitely my immediate family, my small rocks is my daily work and my sands are my side business, not-so-immediate family and others. Different people might have different prioritization and hence different definition of their three elements in life.

Go back to the story above, for the father, his big rocks maybe his work because he needs to support the family and it's very important for him to perform well at his work and keep his job in order to do so. Then only come his family which represent the small rocks. And for most of us although this arrangement is ok for us as we are still prioritize our family and know how to balance between work and family, do remember that our children can be our small rocks BUT for the children, we are their big rocks! Super duper bigggest rock ever!!! Just like the story above, the son is saving money just to have a dinner with the father. He's doing that because his father is everything to him and he'll do anything to spend time with his father. Very touching indeed...sob...sob...nak balik rumah main ngan izma sekarang juga!!! Hihihi

Although I claim my big rocks are my immediate family, sometimes I feel guilty also when I go back home in the evening, I watch the Korean drama (;p) instead of playing with Izma...or watching the Glee-athon during weekend...huhuhu so much regret! Ok insaf2 balik ni bawak Izma jln2 and play with her until she asleep :)

So peeps, what's/who's your big rocks, small rocks and sands?

Izma Dictionary and Thesaurus

Izma turned exactly 18 months last Wednesday. Not much progress on her height and weight but her vocabulary becomes wider and wider everyday. She surprises us almost everyday with a new word. It's so true they say that baby's brain is like a sponge absorbing everything they can and register it there immediately. So be extra careful next time you want to say something not good in front of your babies. They sure pick them up quickly and next time you know they say those words to you back or worse, to other people. Confirm time tu malu nak mengaku anak ;p

It's so exciting seeing her developing her verbal skill and hence I want to record all her vocabularies as of now. So that next time you see her and she's blabbering alien language at you, you'll know what she means. I'm one of the experts now :) So here we go, Izma Dictionary and Thesaurus, go make a copy before you see her ;p

Starts with the best la kan:

Mama = Mama (yeay me! :))
Yah = Ayah
Dik/Cu = My youngest sister; she follows everyone calling her 'adik' ;p but when asked mana Cu?, she'll point to my sister and said 'Cu'
Pah = Opah
Tuk = Atuk (both sides)
Wa = Wan (my MIL)
Nak = Nak/Want
Ak = Tak nak/ don't want
Shik = Nasik/ rice
Shik mak = Nasik lemak (her favorite!)
Ti = Roti
Uah = Buah (most favourite!!!)
Shu = Susu/ milk or her kasut/ shoes :) - this can be confusing sometimes
Ba = Bam (baring)
Jo = Jom
Pu = Lampu
Dah = Dah
Hot = Panas/ pedas (mama yg kejam suka bagi dia mkn benda pedas ;p) And it looks like this is the only English word in her vocab as of now in the list. A true Malaysian.
Two = Two
Ti = Three
Four = Four
Juk = Sejuk
Nini = Nenen ;p
Be = Bird
Fish = Fish
Cat = Cat
Dog = Dog
Bit = Rabbit
Bo = Dibo
Do = Tido

Ok that's all I can think of right now. Yeah most of them are single phrase except her favourite 'shik mak'...hehe it's so fun hearing her saying all those words. So cute! :) Definitely need to record all these down and remember the moment :))

The big girl :)

Folic acid

Coppp i'm not pregnant...yet. But yes, i'm already on folic acid. I started taking them about 3 weeks ago just as preparation to conceive. Yeah i'm on trying mode already now. Just in trying mode but never actually try yet.hehe originally the plan is to start trying by this month but something came up. We were not feeling well that is.

During my 'fertile' period and hubby was around, Izma had a very bad fever. Reaching 39 degrees for a few days. And later the whole Cheras clan got her virus. We all came down with flu, cough, sore throat and fever including hubby, myself an even my mom. Very strong virus huh. So there goes our plan for this month. Mission was canceled and aborted. Saje je Izma sabotaged our plan :p so will try again next month. Try to try if you know what i mean. Hopefully hubby will be around during the right time :) but we are not actually in the rush so we'll take our sweet time. Definitely no pressure :)

Copppp back to the main topic. So why bother with the folic acid when you are not pregnant yet? And not even started trying to get pregnant. Well as i mentioned it's for my preparation to conceive. Apparently folic acid can helps you conceive. Or so it claims. Maybe it makes your womb strong or just make a good environment for conception. I don't really know but i'm doing this as to follow my friend's advice. Before i was married she had advised me to start taking folic acid if i want to get pregnant right away. Considering my age at that time i straight away went to the pharmacy and ger them! :) and Alhamdulillah i got pregnant during second month of our marriage :)) maybe not so much on that folic acid or not at all but no harm trying right. I have nothing to lose. Just consider it as one of the supplements la kut (eventhough i chose the time to have this supplement..hehe).

So that's about it i guess. Maybe (if rajin) i'll try to google up on this folic acid to find out if it's really can helps conception in any way. And again, if rajin :p so guys toodles for now! Want to go plan my timing for the mission :)

i've been hit!!!

Yes, LITERALLY!!! On a Monday morning!!! What can be worse than this to start off your supposed-to-be energetic week??? Well, yeah I'm really looking forward to start the week off as I have a 2-day good lunch workshop at Doubletree by Hilton Hotel on Monday and Tuesday. And I went out early on Monday morning so that I could reach early and follow the whole flow of that workshop from the beginning. But then yeah, something came up. Something that I least expected of at this kind of time. Somebody hit my car!!!!! Grrrr!!!!!

I was driving dengan penuh berhemah di jalanraya, at Jalan Tun Razak to be exact and it was massive traffic jam at that time which is usual thing in the morning. Approaching the tunnel in front of RHB Building (if I'm not mistaken) suddenly I saw through my mirror the car behind me was coming quite fast and he was aiming to get to the right lane. And I was there all static and all innocent and suddenly banggggg he hit me on his way to the right lane!!!! Dengggggg

At that time I was so angry because I really saw it coming but there was nothing I can do because I was in the traffic jam, we all were! And that guy still have the gut to merempit in between the traffic! Grrrrr!!!!! So went to the side, called my hubby just to update him, exchanged hp numbers with the pesalah trafik, he gave me RM50 because he didn't have cash that time, promised me to settle later and still there is still one major thing  forgot to do which is to record the other car's registration number!!!! Dengggggg #2

Mangsa, Mercedes Kompressor mata bulat (bukan nama sebenar)

my one-day-off dream

Weird title, no? It's actually just my dream of having a one day off during working days and have a date with myself (euwwww ;p). Or if you like the 'me time' day. One day is enough and perfect for me. So I'm going to list down the itinerary details of this dream day which I don't know yet when. But most probably on a fine Wednesday. I don't know why Wednesday but the idea of having to work for only 2 days then have a day off then work another only 2 days and off again is somewhat nice :) You don't get it right? It's ok let's just go to our itinerary ;p

So here are the details of my one-day-off dream:

1. Breakfast at Starbucks Coffee KLCC until late morning (have to go out early as usual so that my mom won't suspect anything...hahaha jahat...and oh with office attire as well...casual office attire ;p)
2. Have my facial at Aster Spring KLCC (or is it no longer there? huhu) or other Dermalogica outlet
3. See my dentist for scaling treatment (haven't done this for 2 years!!!! euwwwww ;p)
4. Hair treatment (maybe?)
5. Shopping
6. Shopping
7. Shopping

So if you notice I had allocated 3 shopping sessions which indicates 3 different shopping spots. Nice rightttttt. But if I have any other important administrative that I need to settle then it will override my shopping activity. So I'll left with only 2 shopping sessions ;p And of course I'll add in a nice lunch and lots of snack times! Weeeee.....

Actually that's about it la. Tak macam dream pun kan. Boring jek...haha but for me if I can just do all those thing, i'll be so contented and will definitely relieve all my stress. Actually the above activities used to be my routine activities during my single mingle life. I never missed my dentist appointment, had my facial almost every month, hang up at Starbucks with friends until late night (only girlfriends ye hubby ;p) and of course shopping every other day...haha over lak ;p

However those activities are no longer in my priority lists since I got the mom title. I never got the leisure time to spend on myself as most of my time are devoted to that chubby little girl and that chubby little hubby :) I'm not complaining here ya, it's just that I had realised that my priorities had changed 360 degrees (fuiyooo) and I'm doing more things that I love most doing like spending time with my two chubby buddies :) (that's why la I pun become chubby tauuuu)

So yeah I got my lists done. Now it's time to choose the perfect day for my one-day-off dream day! Just thinking about it makes me smile :))) Can't wait!!!

Ho Chi Minh ~ ho ho ho

Did you know what happen? I had write a beautiful entry on my ho ho ho trip last Sunday but somehow I lost it and I am very frustrated until now. I wrote my entry at my phone and after a lots of beautiful paragraphs I decided to save it as draft then continue later. But then I don't know what button I had pressed wrongly and all my beautiful karangan disappeared!!! (sorry perasan beautiful, you won't know anyway ;p).

So here I am again, trying to redo my essay on 'Percutian saya dan keluarga ke Ho Chi Minh'. No mood. Seriously. But the show must go on (really?). I had skipped my Bandung and Singapore reviews so let's do justice for this once and for all. All for one, one for all....hehehe

Ok I think I gained my mood already but I'm warning ya, this entry won't be as beautiful as my previous draft which had disappeared (annoying kan to read the word beautiful again and again, and there you go again ;p). Well let's start now. For now no photos will be uploaded since I was too busy with my shopping meeting hence no time for photographing. Not to worry, i'll hijacked hubby's photos from his camera and phone. He took quite good photos actually. Not much but enough to get the essence of Vietnam, particularly Ho Chi Minh city itself. Good job darling :)

Now only I want to start my story-telling. Just to brief you, it was just a 3-day trip and it's my business trip actually. Hubby and Izma tagged along and they got to enjoy a little bit more of Ho Chi Minh while I'm enjoying myself with my meetingsss. Yes I have 2 meetings on a 3-day trip. So can you imagine where I got the time to even shop? Hehehe you'll be surprised ;p So our flight from KL was on Tuesday, 15 Feb (yes, that's like one month ago ;p) afternoon and we reached Ho Chi Minh city airport at around 5pm local time. Hubby's uncle's driver picked us up at the airport and we reached Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers at around 5.30 pm (btw Saigon is the previous name of Ho Chi Minh city; sometimes they still refer to Ho Chi Minh as Saigon). And without further a due, we got ourselves into a taxi for our first shopping trip at 6 pm! How efficient! Despite the super duper nice room (we got a room at the tower side since the standard rooms are full), we still managed to keep the shopping spirit high! (note: we = I, me and myself) Ngeh ngeh ngeh. And the best part is we have a very good tourist guide for our trip, who happened to be my boss actually, remember it's my business trip...haha he had been attached to Vietnam office for 6 months in 2008 if I'm not mistaken and so yeah he's the expert. He still remembered all the streets and places by heart and can even pronounced the street name perfectly. We are so lucky!

Izma's third trip to oversea!

 

 

Welcomed at the hotel by this traditional 'band' on their traditional costumes (haruslah super duper slim to fit into that Vietnamese suit!)

The hotel

So our first shopping heaven was Hong Anh Collection boutique at Ly Ty Trung street (pronounce: Li Ti Ceng - learned from my boss..hehe). Summary of this boutique: full of Malaysians!!!!! They even have signboard in Malay languange like 'Sila simpan invois pembelian anda'...huhu seriously...so it's like a mandatory pit stop for Malaysians that visit Ho Chi Minh. They sell telekung, baju kurung pahang, baju kurung moden, pretty jubah, long sleeve blouses, baju melayu, tudung ariani, etc. Bottom line is all their clothes line are so close to Malaysian hearts...haha and the most important part is they are so so so cheap! Maybe a little bit pricey if you compare to the other stores in Ho Chi Minh but they have a good quality of stuff. So it's really worth it! Got myself a baju kurung pahang, a few blouses, a glamorous jubah with a matching baju melayu for hubby. Really nice the baju melayu although the cutting is a bit off but still can wear...anyhow he'll wear it once je kut for his cousin's wedding soon. So penjimatan yang terbaekkk :) And I also bought a few telekungs for my office colleagues. None for myself coz not really to my liking. I prefer telekung from Bandung :) Oh also, Hong Anh closes at 7pm so just imagine us bought all those in just 45 minutes! Expert level!!!

After shopping spree, went back to hotel, change into my new blouse (ehem2 tak sabar2 ;p), had dinner with hubby's uncle. He is the project manager in Vietnam office and her wife just joined him there that very week. So we were lucky to see both of them. We had dinner at Four Seasons restaurants. Not to worry peeps, halal restaurants are everywhere in Ho Chi Minh city especially at the Sheraton Hotel area. There is a mosque beside the hotel and along the way are mostly halal restaurants :) Back to Four Seasons, we had a la carte dinner consists of rice (wajib), ikan siakap tiga rasa, ayam goreng kicap, telur dadar, kailan goreng ikan masin and satay. Yes the menu stated exactly those menu in Malay language. Rasa macam mkn kat Warung Dusun gearbox and tomyam in Bangi...hehe but the taste not as good as back at home. Then went back to hotel, hubby went to change our USD into millions of VND (Vietnam Dong). Who wants to be a millionaire? This is the place besides Bandung :) Multi-millionaires in fact *ka-ching*

So second day, after breakfast I went to PCVL office for my meeting. But somehow our counterpart is having another meeting so we went back to the hotel and decided to come back after lunch for the meeting...weehuuuuu shopping time!!! We managed to had a walk around our hotel area, bought some souvenirs and had lunch at Saigon Halal Restaurant. I had nasi lemak (cam xde bende lain nak mkn kan ;p) and hubby had nasi goreng kampung. But I tried an interesting drink here which is the lemon soda. They just give a can of unsweetened soda, slices of lemon and a small jug of syrup. Mixed all together into an iced glass and there you go! Yummeh!!! Hubby also love this drink and we ordered this for every meal (except breakfast ;p) ever since :) Then later I went back to the office and had my meeting...bla..bla...bla...

In the mean time, back at the hotel hubby took a cab and went to Hard Rock Cafe with Izma and got themselves nice Hard Rock t-shirts. Sooo jealous!!! Izma was enjoying herself walk walk with ayah until she felt asleep during their trip. So they went back to the hotel and waited for the shopping queen to return...hihihihihi

Then later that evening, we went to Hong Anh...again...hehe bought a few more blouses then went to Saigon Square. But not much catch here as according to my boss Ben Thanh will be more interesting so I'm saving my energy (and money) for the Ben Thanh trip the next day :) However there is something interesting as well here in Saigon Square which is the Russian market they call it. I'm not sure whether the whole Saigon Square is the Russian market or only the upper level as we saw the signange RUSSIAN MARKET and there was an arrow pointing towards the upper level. What was interesting at the Russian market was that they have a lot of branded stuff and they are all original and the most important part is they are very cheap!!! Hubby found this Timberland shoes and thought it was a fake. But he got a closer look and lifted the shoes and told me it is certainly an original Timberland shoes but soooo cheap. The thing is most of the US branded stuff are made in vietnam so that's why they are cheap. Not sure about the quality but who cares right? It's original so the quality should be there. And it's cheap so don't demand much on the quality la kan. Besides Timberland, they have lots of kids' branded apparel like Gap, Osh Kosh, Guess but most of them are for kids and only a few for babies. And I think it is boys' heaven as I found a lot of nice boys' shirt but none for girls. Very hard to find Izma's size as well so she just got a few t-shirts...fuhhh selamat! ;p

After that we excused ourselves as my boss continue his spree...hehe hubby's uncle invited us to have dinner at his service apartment. Forgot the place name but I really like his apartment. Quite spacious with 3 big bedrooms and spacious living room. We had Viatnamese signature dish, the noodle soup with beef and lots of i-don't-know-the-name veges...hehehe seriously lots of them. No wonder the Viatnamese are all slim. Veges and fruits are abundant and fresh and very sweet. Hubby's aunt made fried rice on top of the noodle...huhu lots of food...burppp kenyang*pengsan*

So the next day a.k.a. our last day I still have my meeting in the morning. Our flight was at 4pm that evening so I was very panic! Panic of thinking that I might not be able to have my visit to the most important part of the trip (besides the meeting of course ;p), the Ben Thanh market!!!!! So I plan with my boss to finish our meeting by 11am and leave the office immediately, by hook or by crook! Semangat! But guess what? I was the one who prolonged the meeting until almost 12!!!wawawawa why la me so semangat?huhuhu so we were rushing back to the hotel after the meeting coz haven't check out yet. Arrived hotel, do my final packing, checked out and had our lunch at D'Nyonya Restaurant just beside the mosque. It is another Malaysian restaurant and we had our lemon soda for the last time...sob..sob...i'm missing my lemon soda now...

After Zuhur prayer, we kept our luggage at the hotel concierge and went straight to Ben Thanh. So my first mission was my kain of course! Hadn't got a chance to buy any for the past 2 days. I aimed for the Vietnam silk that is. This is to cater for the 'orders' from my friends. To tell the truth I didn't have any idea what type of material that I should buy and how's the price gonna be. But I knew that they are cheap according to word of mouth...hehe so there we were stopping at the first kain shop that we found. And the only kain shop that we managed to stop by actually. And yes they are certainly cheap for a good and nice material. I bought around 8pcs if I'm not mistaken and mine is actually only 1 pc from those. Yes more reason to go there again...and again ;p

After finished my important mission, we follow the leader (my boss ;p) to the nuts' stall. Bought cashew nuts and dried jackfruit for our office colleagues. They are so cheap!!! But due to warning from hubby on our potential extra baggage I managed to grab only 1kg of cashew nuts and 1 kg of dried jackfruit...sob...sob...I really want those pistachios and the other nuts there but what to do kan...next time la hubby k? :) Then our last stop in Ben Thanh was at the shop that sold smocking dresses for kids. I love love love this!!!! Rmabang mata tak hengat looking at those beautiful and colourful dresses and cheap$$$$$!!!! 1 dress is just USD8 which is equivalent to around RM25!!! Cheap cheap cheap!!! Izma was the happiest girl as she got 4 of them!!! And they are all so adorable :) And we also bought Izma a Vietnamese suit...a pink one! :) (since the Mama takde size nak beli kan so Izma on behalf la ;p). And that's it. A really sweet ending to our shopping spree experience in Ho Chi Minh city. Definitely will come back for moreeeeeee!!! :))

Then we went back to the hotel to get our things and repacking to make space for our Ben Thanh stuff. Proceed to the airport and welcome back to Malaysia home sweet home~~~