Fun with the girls

Saturday 25th, my Head of Dept is on leave and 2 of my colleagues were away but the rest (5 of us) decided to proceed with our little Raya celebration. I was to bring the sambal tumis telur while Lyn prepared the nasi lemak (and the condiments), KN brought the lodeh, Ira to prepare nasi himpit while Jan brought cucur (ikan bilis and pisang) and jelly.
Haakem came to the office with me and he was dumbfounded to see Mama and her colleagues posed for the cameras... in between munches.... we ate alot!!!

Clinic Visit, Groceries Shopping, Raya Visit

Hubby arrived at 11pm Thursday night. He sent me off to work and fetched me from office. I arrived home at 5.35pm much to Millie's delight! Zara was sound asleep having consumed 15oz of milk throughout the day. At the moment she is the champion among the three in milk consumption.
After Maghrib prayer, we brought the kids to our family clinic. I am overdue for my postnatal checkup, Zara's due for her immunisation, Millie and Haakem have cold. Bibik had to come of course, to mind Millie and her antics.
Millie has cough & cold syrup. Lung is clear. She weighs 11kg now. Haakem was prescribed cough syrup and tablets for his rhinitis.
Zara is 4.1kg and well. She too is catching the cold so the doctor prescribed some syrup to loosen any phlegm and nose drop. She had her Hep B jab.
I had my pap smear (the Dr is really good and I didn't feel any discomfort at all) and had my ultrasound done. My BP is 120/80. I have an appointment in 2 weeks time to have my MGTT, review my pap smear result and start my oral contraception.

Saturday - we had 4 open house invitations and another 3 for Sunday.
We went to Jusco for groceries shopping instead. That was at 11.30. Me, hubby and Haakem. I was surveying the infant's formula and was really flabbergasted with the prices!!! I hope to be able to exclusively breastfeed Zara at least until she's 4 months old. Diapers are pricey too!! I hope to potty train Millie soon but she has to be psychologically ready and with Bibik leaving, I doubt it will be a good time for her. We'll have to buy her diapers for another year. But as she doesn't consume any baby formula, that's a saving for us.
Arriving home at 12.50pm, I put away the groceries while hubby got the girls ready in dresses. We were going to my younger sister's house. After Zuhur prayer, we left home before 2pm only to be caught in the traffic jam. We arrived 40 minutes later and had mihun soto. We left at 6.30pm arriving home just in time for Maghrib jemaah prayer.
Hubby left for Kelantan at 8.00pm. I cooked soup noodles, which we had for dinner.
I was too exhausted to do anything else that night apart from feeding the girls, but managed to load the laundry.
Sunday was spent doing the laundry. Haakem went for his taekwondo class. I did my ironing later during the day.

Back At Work.... Kids at Home..

As scheduled, I was back at work on 11th Oct after 60 days off. It was a half workingh day so, I didn't feel the "sting" too much and Haakem followed me to the office so that we can finish printing stuff for his scrap book. It was fun, meeting my dear friends... but since it was the Company's open house at our GMD's house, most went back at 10.30am. I had breakfast with KN and Haakem around 10.30 and finished Haakem's scrapbook around 12. We left the office to wait for the bus at 1.00pm but the bus arrived only at 1.50pm, so we arrived home around 2.10pm.
Zara consumed 2 portions of 3oz breastmilk, She had no problem being bottlefed. What an angel!!
After lunch, I breastfed Millie and after shower and prayer, I breastfed Zara.

Monday was a bit hectic. I didn't sleep after Subuh. Had laundry to spin, Zara to feed, breakfast to take before office. I left home at 8.20 and arrived at the office before 9.00am. I managed to express 12 oz of milk. I arrived home at 5.25pm courtesy of my best friend Jan.
The rest of the week was okay. I had a meeting on Tuesday from 10am to noon so had to skip one "milking" session but still managed an 11oz collection. Arrived home at 5.35pm.
Wednesday was a nightmare. I had to attend a management meeting at Prince Hotel. a waste of time. I only manage to express milk once after lunch. I was leaking like mad!! I waited for the bus after 5.00pm and the rain started pouring at 5.15pm. No taxi stopped. DAMN!! I was soaked! The bus arrived at 5.20pm and I arrived home at 6.00pm. I took a warm shower and Alhamdulillah I didn't catch cold or fever.
Thursday was a breeze. So was Friday. I was supposed to go to Mindef on Thursday but the trip was cancelled. Zara consumed 5 portions of 3oz milk on Friday.

Accidents Happen..... 07/10/08

Yesterday evening, while Bibik was taking shower, I was feeding Zara and Haakem left Millie for a bit and Millie was jumping on Bibik's bed, fell and cut her lower lip. She was bleeding... alot....

An ice cream potong, 2 pieces of fruit cake, a piece of papaya, some rice and fish later.... she was okay......

Sigh........

Budget

I know most friends are sighing alot about the raya aftermath...... I spent quite a bit this Raya.... baju raya, kuih raya, juadah for first day and duit raya...... but all these have been planned and thank God I was on maternity leave which gave me quite a lot time to do my budget.

With the economic downturn, most robably our company will freeze the increment for next year. We have had salary adjustment, increment and promotions for the past three years which are more than what we expected (at least that's what I thought, compared to what we were deprived of by the previous management), so I am quite okay, financial wise. But I still pray and hope hubby will soon land a proper job this January as he has decided to come back to stay in KL. All the commuting KB-KL-KB is really taxing and not worth it. Financially, physically, emotionally, psychologically and healthwise.

I have to allocate at least RM600 a month for groceries, which include the baby's and toddler's diapers and also at least another RM200 a month for the fresh produce from the nearby Pasar Pudu. Thank God I don't drive and work is only a few minutes bus ride from home and everywhere else is either within the bus route, walking distance or less than RM10 taxi ride.

I have to open Tabung Haji account for Zara soon and hope to do it within this month. Haakem's and Millie's duit raya collection need also be banked in.

Insya Allah all will be well and I seriously hope that my maid would agree to stay on, for another 2 years or at least a year, or at least until March next year...... she's not excellent but she's very much help and creates no problem. She's also very good with Millie and now Zara... it's not easy to get good ones these days.... I plan to increase her salary by RM50 this year and another RM50 next year....

My Cheeky Princess Millie

The house would be oh so quiet if she's asleep or not around................ the Madame of the Residence

, she is.....

My Little Princess Tia Zara

She's an angel, isn't she?

Anak Bujang Mama

Looking at pictures of Haakem clad in his baju Melayu on the morning of eid gave a lump in my throat..... he's all grown up.... he has to have a proper sampin instead of the ones with hooks....

In a few years time he'll sit for his UPSR, then PMR, then SPM and before I knew it, he'll be leaving home.........

I have been giving him pep talks to get him going for his studies. I hope he is well motivated to do well in his exams. He's doing okay with his other extra-curricular activities... scouts, taekwondo and taking parts in syairand sajak recitals, dikir barat, choir etc....

Eid 1429

It was the simplest, most stressfree eid I've ever had in my adult life!!! As I said in my last entry, I have made the preparation much earlier. On 30th Sept/Ramadhan, hubby, Zara, Haakem and I made the trip to Jusco to get a few things. The whole do took exactly an hour starting from the car engine starts to unloading the stuff to our home.

After iftar that day, I asked Bibik to peel the onions, potatoes etc. At midnight while watching Takbir Suci 2, I prepared the jelatah (pineapple, cucumber, onion & chillies salad) and fried the chicken. I then continued watching TV and breastfed the girls, went to sleep and get up at Subuh.

I went to the kitchen at 6.30am and started cooking the ayam masak merah and kurma daging. I then helped hubby and Haakem dress for the mosque. They left at 8.15am and at 8.30 I had the tomato rice going. I took my shower and got dress after getting Zara ready. I woke Millie up and Bibik cleaned her and I dressed her in her baju kurung. While I fed Zara, Millie fell asleep on the sofa. Tomato rice was ready by 9.30am and I started to lay the spread. My mother, eldest sister, younger sister & family arrived at 10.15am, minutes after hubby, my aunt and Haakem came back from the nearby mosque. Mother brought the ketupat, lontong, lodeh, beef rendang and sambal kacang sotong as well as some cakes and fried chicken.

We ate, took photos, distributed duit raya to the kids (and my mother & my aunt), ate some more....... My brother and his family arrived some times before Zuhur.... everybody left around 3.30pm and we started cleaning up.

Further resting at night.

On the second day, we had breakfast with the leftover tomato rice, beef korma and ayam merah. After Zuhr we went to visit hubby's cousin's family and later Tok Taib (who used to drive Haakem for his kindergarden, for 2 years and we remain in touch ever since). We came home at 5.00pm, as hubby's relatives are coming. We served them cookies, fruits, ketupat and rendang.

Night was spent resting.....

Hubby left for Kelantan after Subuh and breakfast on the 3rd day of eid.In the evening my elder sister and family stopped by for 2 hours.

Haakem received quite a handsome amount of duit raya. Millie and Zara received a modest sum.