Hi there...still remember me?

Hi..

Sorry my dear blog. I've been neglecting you again. But I have a good reason this time. Hehe...

I'm pregnant...again ;p

Was shocked.

Wasn't prepared. At all.

But, was grateful nonetheless.

I'm at five months now, and got another 20 weeks to go.

This time around, I don't have any weird craving, but I have really severe aversion to a lot of things.

List of aversion :

1) Alamanda
2) Shopping
3) Sweet things (especially cakes)
4) Stupid people
5) Arrogant people

Haha, the last two have always been the top of my dislikes, not only during pregnancy.

Here's to hoping for a smooth sailing second and third trimester.....................

Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe - easy and foolproof :)

These are the chocolate chip cookies that kept me out of debt during my unemployed life. Haha. Decided to share the recipe here because a lot of people are asking whether I'll be selling them this year. The answer to that is "I'm really sorry, but no. Won't be selling it this year nor the year after that nor the years to come." Reason : my hands are tied with two lil munchkins and frankly, home made cookies (I mean cookies that are baked in your own home, by your own hands) are the best. Nothing beats the aroma of freshly baked chocolate goodies, right?

So. I'm going to explain the ingredients along with the steps so that nothing gets left out, okay? I doubled the recipe below (1 recipe can yield about 150 pcs of cookies).

First, make sure your butter and eggs are in room temperature. (This recipe calls for 500gms butter and two grade A eggs)

Second, wash your hands, take out all the utensils (you will be needing two separate bowl : 1 is the mixing bowl (which is attached to the stand mixer) and for the other one, any large bowl will do. It is recommended that you use a stand mixer instead of handheld because it might get too tiring, especially in this fasting month ;)

In the large bowl, combine 3 and a half cup of superfine flour, 2 teaspoon of soda bicarbonate, 1 plastic bag of hersheys semi sweet chocolate chip and also 2 and a half cup of almond nibs. Combine all the ingredients using a large wooden spoon. Why wooden spoon? Dunno, my mentor taught me that, so I'm gonna stick to it ;p

 

Ready the ingredient for the mixing bowl : 500gms (2 cups) of butter, 1 1/2 cup of castor sugar, 1 cup of brown sugar, 2 grade A eggs, 1 tablespoon of vanilla essence, 2/3 cup of cocoa powder and 2 tablespoon of fresh milk.

Mix 500gms of butter with 1 and a half cup of castor sugar and 1 cup of brown sugar. If you want to reduce the sugar, reduce the castor sugar instead of the brown sugar. Mix them in a very high speed until they turn very light and fluffy like this:

Remember to scrape the bowl few times to ensure everything is mixed thoroughly.

Reduce the speed, and add one egg at a time, mixing them well after each addition:

Reduce the speed some more, and add the cocoa gently. Why gently, you may ask? Well, you wouldn't want to get cocoa powder splattered all over your nice kitchen top now, would you? :) And, remember to scrape the bottom a few times.

Add the two tablespoon of fresh milk and continue to mix on low speed.

Now, the batter should resemble the picture below. The consistency of the batter should be very fluffy and airy, a bit like sponge cake mixture texture.

Then, combine the two batter using a wooden spoon. I usually take half of the dry ingredient, put it in the batter, and then take half the batter, transfer it to the dry ingredient bowl and combine them together gently with the wooden spoon.

Prepare 5 sheets of aluminium foils  and spoon the batter into cute little mounds like these:

And oh, let the lil chef help; even though your cookie might end up being a gooey splatter on the foil.

Bake at 170 degree Celcius for 13 minutes (if your oven have the fan function with top and bottom heat). If not, you probably have to rotate the cookies at 6 minute interval to make sure every part is baked thoroughly.

Ta-daaa....and there you have it, the mouth-watering chocolate chip cookies which is delightfully crunchy and sinfully chocolatey.

The cookies might be a bit soft, so let it cool for about two minutes.

And oh, if your cookies still looked like a lil bit soggy and not so crunchy, try flipping them and shove them in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Important tips :

1) Make sure the butter and sugar mixture is mixed until fluffy.
2) Put extra chocolate chip or chopped dark chocolate if you like. Or raisins, or dates, or macadamia, or pecans. Yumm!
3) Make sure the oven is hot before putting in the first batch of cookies.
4) Use aluminium foils or baking paper. This will save you a lot of cleaning time. :)

Happy baking!

There are moments...

There are moments you threw quite a hissy fit,

there are moments you refuse to eat.

There are moments I'm at my wits end,

deciphering your language which is difficult to comprehend.

There are moments you make me feel like a bad mother,

for losing my patience and making you suffer.

There are moments you cry for no reason,

and those moments are not very pleasant.

But then again,

There are moments you touch my face with your tiny hands,

as a way to dissipate my anger and make amends.

There are moments you came for a cuddle,

that would make my heart melt into a puddle.

There are moments you flash your one-million-dollar smile,

that makes everything seems so worthwhile.

There are moments you shower me with kisses,

those moments remind me that you're the one my heart misses.

Dina,

You are the cause of my frustration (sometimes!) and the source of my happiness.

I really love you, my lil button.

Cute as a button..

Introducing my button :)

Vaccinations smchaccinations :)

So. To vaccine or not to vaccine. I believe that is the question of the day now.

I read Dr Halina's blog regarding this and I must say, the article was very well written and tactful. It doesn't condemn parents that chose to forgo vaccinations, it merely states the disadvantages of doing so. The article in Dr Harlina's blog came from a friend of hers, a pediatrician, somebody who actually holds a qualification for saying what she says.

What I find surprising is when I share the article in a group in facebook, one of the member commented that "if this article from DR. HARLINA HALIZAH SIRAJ, i can accept. but it's not. so i won't."

Wow. Just wow. Now, if the commenter is somebody with sound medical background, I would not have taken offense. But dude, you are somebody who sells beauty product. Now how would you feel if I were to say the same about you?

I believe that this issue, stems on the very fact that some people just like to be different for the sake of being different. Its like going mainstream is uncool and would somehow minimize their presence in the world. I'm sure we have encountered this kind of person at one point of our life. The person who wears peplum blinged baju kurung to a meeting instead of the usual boring black suits, or the person who spray their car shocking pink because blue/black would have been too...normal.

But vaccines have adverse effect, it is not halal, my child got autism after being vaccinated or so they say. I don't mind reading comments based on own experiences. Don't give me the bullshit "my friend's ex-colleague's daughter-in-law's niece have autism after being injected with the MMR vaccine". You want people to believe you, give me some hard facts, not hearsay.

And then there were this group of people who would say things like "back in the days of Rasulullah SAW, no vaccines were required....there are syubhah ingredients in the vaccines administered". To me, this is the worst kind of people. I mean, using religion as an excuse? 

I am a muslim, and I have complete faith in the teachings of my religion, but to forgo modern medicine completely? I'd say that's stupid. Hah.  

Bandung trip and rotavirus :(

We went to Bandung last couple of weeks. My small family (hubby, me and kids) went with a dear friend of mine and we stayed in the family suite at Arion Swiss Belhotel. Bandung have a special place in my heart, for I always have "amazing" experience going to Bandung, both good and bad.

2004 - company trip.
amazing good experience : won the treasure hunt and become a millionaire ;p
amazing bad experience : returned home with the worst case of food poisoning.

2011 - sisters + hubby trip.
amazing good experience : ermm...not so much. shopping i guess.
amazing bad experience : pregnant-first trimester-vomiting non-stop in the car

2013 - family trip (with Sara and Dina)
amazing good experience : Aria Jeans. haha.
amazing bad experience : rotavirus. Boo!

If I could say two words to convince you to go to Bandung, those two words would be Aria Jeans. Haha. I ordered a black chino and a simple blue boot cut jeans for less than RM110. And the best part was I made 3 jeans for Sara (I can never find ready made jeans that can fit her ;p) which costs me less than RM100. Bliss!! Aria Jeans is situated in Jl. Merdeka and they can customized your order in 1 day.  All our order are ready the very next day and alteration can be done as quick as 1 hour. All for a fraction of a price. Tell me whats not to love about that.

Other things in Bandung are same old, same old. I left the kids with hubby while I went crazy at Pasar Baru. Hehe. I really went crazy until I didn't even bought anything for myself. *facepalm* Haish!

All seems well until the second night, my friend's daughter starts vomiting every half an hour. It got worse in the morning when she started to develop diarrhea. We suspected food poisoning, but nobody else seems to be affected. Hubby and I paid extra attention to the kids, in case they caught it too, but luckily they were well and healthy throughout the trip.

The kids playing at the airport

BUT. Yeah, sadly there's a but to this story. But, once we returned home, in fact two days after we returned home, hubby suddenly woke up having with churning stomach and had diarrhea soon after. Dismissing it as perhaps jet lag or fatigue, I went to work as usual. And then, I received a text from my friend saying that their doctor confirmed that her daughter was infected with rotavirus. Not long after that, I received a call from my mother saying that Dina has started vomiting.

The doctor advised us to keep Dina hydrated and rush her to the emergency should we see any sign of dehydration (sunken eyes, sunken abdomen, weakness, dry mouth). At this time, Sara is still okay and we pray that she wont get infected. But, as the day goes by, Sara started to complain of a stomachache and started vomiting. Oy! 

The evil rotavirus has seeped in and until today has managed to wreak havoc on the health of both my babies, my husband and now my father. So yeah, we did bring back a very "nice" souvenir from Bandung after all :)

P/S : Both children are fully recovered after 4 days. Alhamdulillah...

Sara goes to school...YES!!!

We made it. We seriously finally made it. I finally found a school that Sara loves and my little baby has been consistently going to school for the past 2 months. Yeay!

After our unsuccessful attempt with Smartreader, I've been searching high and low for another school for Sara. My parents even said that they are willing to go as far as Putrajaya to fetch her from school. That comes as a big relief for me as I will have variety of options :- Realkids, CIC, Smartreader, and many more. But, if there's one thing I learn from our previous failure, it is that Sara doesn't like big crowd. And the sole thing that determines whether she'll enjoy going to school or not is the teacher. She couldn't care less about making friends, the crucial factor is the teacher.

So. I was doing my own research about the schools in Putrajaya, and by research I mean asking all of my friends who are sending their child here in Putrajaya, I've come to conclude that:
1) CIC in Putrajaya is terribly packed. They have like more than 30 students for every age group. Cross that off my list then.
2) Smartreader was better than Dengkil branch. But, Sara still has phobia over the uniform, haha. Well, cross that also, then.
3) Realkids from what I heard is just so-so. The teachers are friendly, but my instinct told me that they won't go the extra mile to entertain a kid's need specifically my kid's need.
4) A few other nurseries, taska - I just didn't get the positive vibe I'm looking for.

And then, I had a nice long chat with Su about the place where she sends her daughter, Auni. She was telling about the enthusiastic teacher and how the teacher loves Auni, and I'm telling you, I just got a feeling that this could really be it. I smsed the teacher, saying that I would very much like to come and see the place for myself and set the date. I came by the place the next day and from outside, the place does not look like a school at all. It was just a semi-detached house with a lil bit of yard area for the children to play around. Hmm, this looks good. Sara won't even know this place is a school.

I had a very heartfelt talk with the teacher and what touches me most is when she said that she understands how I feel and she promised that she'll try her best to "tackle" Sara. She asked me what was Sara's interest, her favourite colour and favourite food. I was sooo touched. Hehe. At the end of our talk, when she was ushering me out, she said "I'll try my best. Don't worry. I hope I will be able to be her friend. I hope she likes me" and that my friend, got me sold. Haha. She was a kind-hearted soul and not pretentious at all. She genuinely loves children and its crystal clear from the way her face lit up when she talks about her students.

Before I rave about the place some more, I have to tell you that people with high standard of cleanliness might not like the place at all. The place is not dirty per se, but it has the feel of an unkempt place, if you know what I mean.

The first two weeks was the hardest. Sara enjoyed the first week immensely, because I stayed with her all day. I sat in the living room pretending to do my work and in the corner of my eyes, I can see that she's able to make friends, she's chirpy like her usual self, and she loves her teacher. She'd talk non-stop to her teacher, telling her stories about our mundane life. And the teacher was really good with her, she'd encourage Sara to join in all the activities, she even let Sara decide "today's activity" and most importantly, she loves her back.

The second week was the ultimate test, for Sara, for me and for her teacher. After a week of accompanying her, I've told her that I will be dropping her and later at 12, Totok will fetch her from school. I told her from the week before, once a day, but when the time comes, OH MY GOD. She cried from the top of her lung and grabbed hold of me until I almost fell down from her sheer weight. Untangling her from me took us quite a while and as soon as I managed to let loose, I ran and close the grill door. She ran after me and shook the door so hard, I can hear the hinges crying. Haha. I brace myself and go straight to the car without turning back.

In the car, I sms the teacher, saying that if she doesn't stop crying, just give me a call and I'll turn back. She didn't reply. What makes me strong and some of you might think cruel to leave my crying child in the hands of the teacher, was that I know Sara loves the place. She's just sad that I'm leaving her, not because she doesn't want to go the the teacher's place. Oh, that was what we called the school. "Teacher's place". Haha, she still has quite the phobia of "school".

I went back to the place later in the evening to get the details from the teacher and she told me that Sara cried for about 5 minutes because the teacher had told her to just let go, let the feelings out, and when she was finished, she wiped her tears and join in the activity. Hehe. That's my girl. And she reiterate the same story to my parents, so I know that was the truth. She cried again the next day and the day after, but over the week, she'd become accustomed to the idea of going to "teacher's place" and from there onwards, it was a smooth sailing journey.

That's the story on how Sara found her "teacher's place". Alhamdulillah... :)

Oh, the actual name for "teacher's place" is Smart Little Bee Childcare Centre and it is located at Presint 11, Putrajaya.

13th General Election, whose side are you on?

Putting my serious thinking cap on.

Okay. What do I know about general election? I know that I've registered as a voter, I know my rights as a voter and I voted once before. I read the news, mainstream and alternative. I think the mainstream media is too much in-your-face, if you know what I mean. But, the thing is, the alternative is no better. I know that a lot of people are looking for the so-called truth, the unbiased information. And guess where are they looking for it. The web, of course.

The problem is, you really can't believe everything you read on the web. Out of 10 "facts", only two are probably true. And people hide behind anonymity all the time. And the words they use just never cease to "amaze" me. Just when you think they can't stoop that low, they went even lower. So, how now brown cow?

I've heard about the "better the devil you know than the angel you don't" concept, and its true, up to a point. Call me conservative, but I'd rather be stranded on a godforsaken island with my officemates (who I sometimes dislike, haha), rather than my neighbour who lives at the end of the road whom I knew nothing about (except that he is supposedly a doctor).

But then again, a tiger can never really change its stripes now, can they? I'd have a hell of a time stranded on the island with my "dear" officemate, having to listen to his unfunny jokes that never fails to get on my nerve EVERYTIME. But, beneath all the cocky facade, he actually cared about my well being and I can rely on the fact that he'd definitely try to save us both from the island.

What if I decide to give the benefit of the doubt to my unknown neighbour? What if I decide to "change"? Who knows, my unknown neighbour could've conjure some magic spell to rescue us from the stranded island. But, on the other hand, what if my unknown neighbour turned out to a serial killer? Ripping off people's head for the sake of enjoyment? What then?

It was different back then, where I would only think of myself. What would I have got to lose. But now, I'm responsible for the two little lives I procreate. I'm responsible for making better choices for them, to provide them with a safer future. The choice I'll make could very well shape their whole lives ahead of them.

Would I risk my children's future for the so-called change? But what's there to change, when what exists now is not at all bad to begin with. I'm leaning towards progress, rather than change. Maybe the tiger couldn't change its stripe, but it can certainly take a dip in the lake to cleanse it.

Should people ask me, whose side am I on? I'll answer with full conviction "I AM ON MY CHILDREN'S SIDE. I AM ON MY OWN SIDE". Saya pilih mengundi. Heh.

pics are googled and doesn't mean anything :)

The very belated third birthday and aqiqah for Dina

I am in the midst of drafting a post on the the kids' birthday when I realized I didn't even blog about their previous birthday. Haha. For memory's keepsake, here we go..

We had Dina's aqiqah and Sara's third birthday somewhere in December 2011. I even hired a photographer for the event and I have hundreds of photos that I found just now after rummaging through my very tidy workstation. We started off the ceremony with marhaban and the usual ritual for Dina's cukur jambul and continue with Sara's birthday celebration later in the evening.

 

Since this picture was taken, one got hitched and one lost 20kgs. Haha.

"Kakak, pujuk adik please..."

After she failed in her attempt to console her sister, she cried. Oh, well...

The cake that I made for Sara's birthday was the biggest cake I've ever baked. It was a three layer red velvet cake with whipped cream and cream cheese frosting. I used three recipes and 1 recipe is about 1.2kg so that makes the whole weight of the cake almost 5kgs.

Yep, my cake was THAT good. Haha.

Trip to Pulau Sibu

We actually had quite an adventure in December last year. We don't really like going out, but in December alone, we managed to go to Johor twice and to Aquaria KLCC once. Hehe, every trip with the two little munchkins is considered an adventure and I am sure all parents would attest to that.

One would really need good negotiation skills to deal with Sara and as for Dina, selective hearing is the skill one would have to adopt. Sara talks a lot. No, that's an understatement. Sara talks NON-STOP. Haha. And she expects that we entertain every thought and musing that she has. As for Dina, she whines. A lot. And the cute little whine can turn into full fledged crying if she doesn't get what she wants or if we are unable to distract her fast enough.

So. When hubby said that his company is arranging for a family day in Pulau Sibu in Johor, I hesitated. We just went to Johor the week before and that trip alone is enough to last me for two months. But, being the "good" wife that I am (hehe), I packed our things and make plans to go in the wee hours. You see, my hubby and me, we had a pact: each time we had to travel by car, hubby would sleep early and I will pack all our belongings, arrange them in the car, get the children ready and wake him up around 4am. By the time he's ready, Sara and Dina is safely sleeping in the car and off we go. I might have pulled the shorter stick in our deal, but hey, I get to sleep all the way to whatever place we go, so no complaints there.

We depart from our home at around 4.30am and I was totally exhausted and sleepy and ready to doze off. But, as luck would have it, Dina woke up the moment hubby start the engine. I think at that moment, only my hands are awake, my eyes and all other parts of my body have already fallen asleep. Anyway, we made it safely to Tanjung Leman 5 hours later. I bathed my kids at the yucky public toilet, seriously it was so dirty even Sara refuse to enter the toilet.

Our boat was scheduled to leave at 10am and the ride was super bumpy. I'm soooo lucky my kids didn't get motion sickness. Dina fell asleep moments after we enter the boat and Sara thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Pulau Sibu welcomed us with a soothing serenade by the hotel staff and refreshing drinks. We had a villa with 1 queen bed to ourselves and is spacious enough to accommodate my small family.

In fact, everything there was really nice. I don't particularly enjoy nature (I've had my touch with nature during DPA course that would last me for my whole lifetime ;p), but it is a good opportunity for Sara and Dina to get up close and personal with nature. There are peacocks, deers and monkeys everywhere and they were very friendly too. But well, erm..due to my aversion to moving animals, lets just say we didn't make the most out of  our so-called interaction with the animals. We'd run instead of walk to get to various places.

There's a really nice swimming pool for kids complete with slide but the pump was broken, so the water was really dirty. And I've discovered that Dina is not only averse to water, she also hates sands. Haha. We played by the pool, by the sea and had dinner in which Sara fell asleep and hubby had to carry her approximately 300 meters to get back to our villa. Hehe, it was "good" for a very much needed workout. I'll let pictures do the talking since I think I rambled too much on this post. Makes up for the long hiatus perhaps? :p

Riddle : How to shut up a whiny kid? Answer: Give her two spoons to play with :)

Its hard to believe that they are only two years apart, isn't it?

I look soooo fat in this picture, but I promise you, I am not this fat in real life. Mode: denial.

Hello Kitty and Little Big Club Johor

Hola,

Wow, the trip has been sooo long, I forgot when it was exactly. Hehe. Wait, let me check.

Yep, we went last year, in December 2012. A tip from me, if you have toddlers, please avoid school holidays. Really not worth the queue and the hassle. And please buy the ticket online beforehand to avoid disappointment as the tickets are limited on daily basis. We saw a little girl crying while her parents are negotiating with the counter because the ticket for that day is already sold out and that was as early as 11am. Or as late as 11am (hehe, late/early is entirely subjective ;p)

Overall, Hello Kitty was "fun", but only to avid fans. If you are like me, who don't give a rat's ass about Hello Kitty's house, Hello Kitty's dresses and what not, just don't go. For the RM55.00 price ticket, its really not worth the money. Will never go there again. Heh.

 

See, even Dina was sleeping out of boredom. Haha.

Little Big Club on the other hand, is a really nice place and suitable for kids. BUT, only for kids from the age group of 2-5 years old. I highly doubt that older kids would enjoy the place as much as the younger kids.

Sara really enjoyed the ballet class by Angelina. She twirled and turned like the graceful ballerina that she is. Not. Haha.

Riddle : What does Pingu, Sara and my husband have in common? Answer : Their bellies. Haha.

Hubby said he had to suck in his stomach to close the safety bar. Time for some exercise perhaps? Haha.

Even though I said that the place would appeal to younger children, most of the rides have minimum height that starts from 100cm, which roughly translates to 4 years old above. Lucky for me, Sara is quite tall for her age, so she is able to go to all the rides. So, therein itself lies a bit of inconvenience, because the rides are not so thrilling, childish (would appeal to kids below five) BUT the regulatory of having to be taller than 100cm would forbade the kids from that age group to enter.

We brought strollers and also baby wrap, but I think that baby wrap is a better option. Dina is able to sleep peacefully and woke up happier. The place is stroller friendly, but getting to the place from the parking spot is a major disaster. The lift was under maintenance and we had to carry our stroller through two flight of stairs.

The place was nice, but would we go again? To Hello Kitty, never. But to Little Big club, perhaps when Dina is a lil bit older.

Sara goes to school....NOT!

So, I decided to send Sara to school, but as you can see from the title above, it is just not working. Heh.

Since we live in Sepang area, I have very limited choices in finding a school for her. Its either Smartreader (Dengkil), Qdees (Dengkil) and CIC (Salak Tinggi). After several discussions and site visit, we chose Smartreader for her. Everything seems to be working out great, the principal there is really nice, Sara likes her, and there's a mini slide (Sara's absolute favourite out of all playground items).

First day, 2nd January 2013. Hubby and me took the day off just to send her and wait for her at school. At night, she was all excited and when morning came, she was a bit moody at first because she had to wake up early. But she was still cheerful and let me braid her hair while she have her breakfast.

We sent her in, make sure she's okay. She asked me to "make friends", so I introduced her to another cute girl there and they seem to have hit it off. Her teacher was also chirpy, and Sara immediately followed her inside, and they seem to be getting along quite fine. In both instances, "seem" is the operative word.

Since she's inside her class and seem to be doing fine, we decided to go for breakfast at the nearby mamak shop. We went back there just to be informed that Sara is doing great. Yeay! We picked her up at 12.00pm, and she looks okay, not really chirpy and cheerful, but just okay. When asked about her day, she'd reply it was okay nonchalantly. Hmm, its not like her to be like this, I mean, she usually talk our ears off especially if its something she's interested in.

Second day, she cried when she woke up, saying she doesn't want to go to school. But, she gives in and I bathe her and send her to school. I ushered her into the main play area where everybody is playing and stayed out in the lobby. To my surprise, she came out crying, and won't let me leave her. So I told her, I'm right here in the lobby but I can't wait for her in her classroom. She wiped her tears and I sent her back to her classroom.

I went to work, and pick her up at 12.30pm. She came out crying, saying that she doesn't want to go to school anymore. My dad was there too, we made arrangement so that I can get back to work and my dad would bring Sara home. I stayed to talk with the teachers, and I asked them what went wrong. The teacher said that Sara looks very sad today, but she didn't cry out loud or throw any sort of tantrum. She'd just sit quietly and do her work, but when she finishes, her tears would drop silently. She even ate her biscuits with tears in her eyes. And I too, almost cried when the teacher told me about this.

My mom called later on, Sara slept on the sofa, and she was having daymares (not nightmares, as she was sleeping during daytime. Haha, lame joke. I know) She'd suddenly screamed "I don't wanna go to school!!!". My mom also told me that she have been crying non stop from the moment we picked her up until she fell asleep, exhausted.

We had a serious discussion that night, Sara and I. I asked her why and she kept repeating that "the school is not nice. The teacher is not nice". She was also a bit feverish, perhaps due to the amount of tears she expressed, so I decided that she doesn't have to go to school the next day. After numerous amount of persuasion, she finally agrees to go to school on Friday, without her uniforms, to explain to the teachers why she doesn't like the school. We had a heart-to-heart talk with all the teachers and principal, and lets just say that perhaps its just not meant to be.

Contrary to popular belief, no Sara is not the one in the red tudung, she's the one at the back, in front of the door. Hehe.

She had fever for almost a week, and cry whenever we mention school. I was also a complete mess that week. In my heart and in my mind, I could only think about her. I mean, I don't want to be such a give-in type of mother who just followed her child's every whim. But, on the other hand, I also don't want to be the type of mother who doesn't care of her children's opinion. I know she's only 4, but if she really doesn't like the school, then I could not force her to go, right?

And, she's telling me her point of view nicely and politely, I couldn't very well ignore that and just push her to go to the place she genuinely dislike, right?

Oy, the predicaments of being a mother. And that's just sending her to pre-school. I can't imagine what I'll be like when it comes to bigger issue. Haha!

One and Thirty-two

October has passed. And along with it, Dina's birthday and mine.

As usual, random busyness in the office happens. Events, meetings, papers, same old...same old.

What's new is that my daughter is ONE!! She walks and can understand simple instructions, but showing no signs of talking just yet.

My lil daughter, (or I call her kenit sometimes), if I have to say one word that describes her, it'd be "feisty". She has no fear at all, I tell you. Once, she fell and hit her head on our coffee table, and blood gushes out from her forehead. We freaked out, of course but luckily she was still breastfeeding then, so I just nursed her to calm her down. We decided not to bring her to the doctor as my motherly instinct told me that it was just a surface cut :)

...

I've written all that back in October 2012. And now its February 2013!! Hehe...better late than never, right? Anyways, I've resolved to just write whatever that has been happening for my own reference later. Things might not be in chronological order though :)

Anyways, feisty lil Dina is now 15 months young and still not talking. Haha. Exact opposite of kakak. She's active and doesn't seem to sit still for more than 5 minutes. And oh, I've stopped breastfeeding. :( I've stopped due to various reasons/excuses namely my milk production has dropped tremendously. Not a moment my breast felt full and I can only express about 1-2 ounces each session.

Lucky for me Dina is able to wean off and take formula milk easily. She's still very petite though. At 1 year+, her weight is only 10kgs and giving her food gets us soooo frustrated at times. To say that she's a picky eater would be an exaggeration, but she just doesn't eat much. She eats almost everything, but in four or five mouthful ONLY. Gahhh! She's lucky she has that cute lil face that can get away with almost anything :)

And oh, Dina has a strong aversion to...swimming pool. Haha, I know, funny right? For all her bravado and feisty-ness, she's scared of puddles of water. Haha. Look what happened when she's near swimming pool.

Yep, she'd cry, feigning tantrum and at last, got tired of her own antics and falls asleep. Haha!

I'm abruptly ending this post here with a promise to post more things that have been happening since I last write. Trip to hello kitty, trip to Pulau Sibu, their birthdays, trip to Aquaria, losing my handphone etc etc...