Art time with the Kids - Collage

Last Saturday, we did something different. Instead of using water colors, this time we used scrap paper, scissors, glue and paper plate.

I cut the paper plate into 2 and tore off old magazine pages to small pieces

Muqtasaem working with the glue

Nadhirah looking boring..hhmm

Progressing

Half way done

I let Muqtasaem used the scissors. He was so happy he managed to cut the papers. This is part of motor skill that we can train our kids. More motor skill development can be found here.

Walla this is what we end up with. 

But i still think the kids still like to paint. 

My Experience delivering Nadhirah at home

It was Wednesday and I was on medical leave. From my previous experience I would deliver a week in advance. Thus my Gynae gave me a week of medical leave before my EDD. While hubby was at work, i lepak-lepak at my mom’s place. At around 5-6 p.m I started to feel the contraction. However it was not frequent. I got the feeling that I’m gonna deliver that nite. SMSed hubby telling him that I mite deliver that nite. 

Hubby picked me up and we went home to get my hospital bag. We left Muqtasaem at my mom’s place. We didn’t go to the hospital directly. We had our Isya’ prayers and dinner. Only then my contractions were frequent. Hubby wanted to get a shower first before leaving. So while waiting, I was lying on the bed sambil menggunakan breathing technique untuk tahan sakit.

Suddenly terdengar bunyi ‘pop’ and my kain basah. And I know my water just broke. I jerit panggil hubby saying that I dah nak beranak and that I can feel the baby’s head. Memang betul la orang cakap, rasa macam nak buang air besar. I asked hubby to call ambulance. That time, I memang cannot tahan the urge to push. I pushed twice and baby dah keluar. That time hubby was on the phone with my mom. My mom punya terkejut dengar suara baby.

Luckily my bro in law was living with us. Hubby asked for his help to call the neighbour. The neighbour’s wife helped me hold the baby. The baby cord was still intact. Hubby had to call a doctor which happened to be my bro in law fiancé at that time. So with her help, hubby cut off the cord. Tapi uri still kat dalam. I breastfed my baby for a while je.. tak tahan sakit sebab uri still kat dalam. When my mom arrived, I told my mom I cudnt tahan the pain. Then she braved herself to pull off the uri. Alhamdulillah, uri tercabut without any complications. Baru I rasa lega. After everything settled, then only the ambulance came. And guess what, 3 ambulances came and they took 45 minutes to arrive!

My baby and I were examined by the midwife before we were brought to the hospital. It was my first experience being pushed in a stretcher and being in an ambulance.I was lucky that my Gynae was on call that nite, and I’m her 7^th patients for the nite.

My nightmare was not over yet. The gynae had to clean up all the blood and I was only allowed to use the gas to ease the pain. Sungguh sakit. I think because I already recover from sakit beranak for a while, then when the gynae nak bersihkan blood inside my womb the pain was excruciating. Nasib baik la, my feet was strapped to the bed. Or else, memang kena tending la gynae tuh. I rasa I sedut gas tu sampai I pengsan.

My baby on the other hand had to go through series of testing. Yelah beranak in a not-sterilized environment. It took few hours before she could be with me.

Alhamdulillah, everything was fine despite the drama that we have gone through. 

And that’s when Nadhirah was born to the world on 9^th July 2008.

And because of this incident, we would never sell the house. It’s a reminder of where Nadhirah was born.

Its a BIG NOOOO to dresses

I am having a problem dressing my girl. Pelik tak? Usually a mother's dream is to have a daughter so she can dress her up. From head to toe - there are a lot of flowery accesories, colourful princess-like dresses and cute shoes.

Pics from gymboree

But my problem is my daughter does not like to wear dresses! Siap menangis melalak everytime i nak pakaikan dress. Drama queen nye melalak, satu kampung leh dengar. She will only stop crying if i pakaikan tshirt and pants! Sebabnya her brother is wearing like that. Parah.. i really need to simpan all the pants and buy more dresses. Is this normal when u have an elder brother?

Art with the Kids - Painting

Last Saturday, we had another art session. This time we used finger painting set bought at Times Bookstore. It consists of 4 colors, few pieces of shaped-sponge and a plastic apron

u can actually add other shapes

The kids memang suka this kinda activities..Melonjak kegembiraan whenever i open up the art box. Its just that i can only do it on weekends.

Since there is only 1 apron, Muqtasaem got to wear it..sib abik tak gaduh

Muqtasaem yang sangat teliti

Nadhirah yang suka hati

Nadhirah's work

Muqtasaem's work

I like this set since the colors are washable. Even the sponge can be washed without leaving any stains. If i'm not mistaken its only RM34 per set. And if you are Times Bookstore member, you can get discounts.

3 shops - when i entered i wont go out empty handed

Women always be associated as shopping machine aka shopaholic. We have extra nafsu from men rite? so we do love shopping but not only for cloth, shoes and bags. We do shop for groceries, toiletries, etc. There are 3 shops that if i go inside, i will definitely buy something!! just couldnt help it

1. Bakery

I love bread!! Love the smell of bread, especially yang baru masak. Yummy kann. memang i have a thing with bread. I can live with bread alone. Masuk bakery memang akan beli something walaupun perut dah kenyang.

2. Supermarket

When you are a wife and a mother, automatically you would be the chef in the house. So supermarket is like heaven on earth for women...hehehhe..you can get everything you needed for the household! My favorite section is the wet section where you can find meat, fruits, vegetables. Some people like to go to pasar borong or pasar basah. I love it too because its cheaper, fresher with wider variety. But as a working mother, shopping at supermarket is more convenient for me.

3. Pharmacy

Kalau masuk Guardian or Watson, ada je benda nak beli. I pun pelik tapi its true. Ada la benda yang dah habis. Be it for myself, hubby or the kids. Paling cikai pun i akan beli mineral water..hahahahha. See what a truly shopaholic a woman can be.

Petrol Naik Lagi???

On my way home, my car's fuel was running low. So i stopped by a gas station. I was shocked, ramai nye orang at this hour. it was about 7ish pm. So i fuelled the car and went off..
And only today that i know the fuel price went up by 5 cents! laaaa...patut la ramai kat petrol pump semalam. Ni laa..dah lama tak tengok Buletin Utama..hahahahaha.

So the government decided to act bold now by just reducing the subsidies for petrol, diesel and sugar. However Malaysian's petrol price is still lower than other coutries in the region.
Now if you think long term, its not the price of the car matters..it will be the cost of maintaining a car does matter most.

So do we have to take the public transport? I don't mind if our public transportation system is like those that Tube in London, Italy. We are not there yet, but i do hope the government should take more serious action about our public transportation.

Kes Ragut

Yesterday i witnessed snatch thief in action for the second time. It happened in front of my office. This chinese man was walking with his friend. Pakaian sempoi je with paper bag. And suddenly datang this one mamat rempit snatched his handphone. He was not talking on the phone but he was just holding his phone in his palm. This mamat rempit terus merempit and this chinese man tried to kejar him. Luckily the handphone fell off on the road. tergamam kejap tengok the incident. It happened so fast.

Actually it was not the first time it happened at the same spot. It happened before to couple of my colleagues. That place macam jadi hot spot tempat orang nak meragut.
Some tips for ladies and reminder for myself
- kalau ada kaki lima, jalan kat atas kaki lima. jangan la jalan kat atas jalanraya.
- if jalan kat kaki lima make sure jalan side yang jauh dari jalanraya.
- Kalau pakai handbag, pakai kat tangan yang not facing jalanraya
- avoid talking on the phone kalau tengah jalan.

Nostalgia Menulis Surat

Today in the HotChat (HotFM), they were talking about Nostalgia Menulis Surat. Hahhahaha...bila ingat balik zaman dulu-dulu mana ada email, facebook, twitter ni. Handphone pun tak secanggih and semurah sekarang. So the main communication media adalah surat. Handwritten ok. Sebab time tu computer pun tak semurah sekarang. Teringat zaman duduk kat boarding school dulu, kalau dapat surat je melonjak kegembiraan. Suka bangat dapat surat. Hati berbunga-bunga, walaupun dari kekawan dari sekolah lama. heehhee..tapi part membalas kekadang malas :). Kalau dulu jarang sangat tulis surat kat parents, sebab lagi suka call or terus je balik rumah. Tapi time University dah ada boifren, kalau dapat surat tu hati memang berbunga-bunga. Time ni rajin skit tulis surat. Seminggu sekali!

But now, mana ada lagi orang tulis surat. Now dah ada facebook. Nak tanya khabar pun thru facebook. Dah kurang dah the feel kan. That's the effect of technology on us. Tulis surat ni feel dia lain skit, kira macam leh luahkan perasaan melalui penulisan (yang secara tak langsung boleh meningkatkan vocabulary, mungkin?). Dan juga dapat meningkat confident menjawab soalan subjektif masa exam. Laju je tulis kannn?

I remember masa amik IELTS, masa tu kira dah keje setahun dua. So kira dah lama tak pegang pen dan mengarang. Yelah keje ngan komputer je, skit2 type. When i took the exam bertulis, berpeluh-peluh tangan nak menulis short essay. Tangan jadi kaku seh, Tulisan jangan cakap la..kalah cakar ayam. Memang mendalam jugak effect teknologi ni. dah biasa menaip, tetiba kena menulis - memang fail!

But its not all bad about the technology. Cuma teringat peredaran zaman yang berlaku terlampau pantas. Kelmarin hanya ada kertas dan pen, Semalam hanya ada monitor dan keyboard, Hari ni sumer dalam handphone..Esok? ntah la apa lagi teknologi baru yang akan diperkenalkan.

World Cup is Over...And Spain Won

Yeay, Spain is the champion.
And now i need to adjust my sleep time again. I'm not a great fan of football, but when it comes to World Cup i'll make sure i watch it. World Cup is much different from EPL or Euro cup. You cant predict which team would win. Unlike EPL, you are more or less would know who would win. Lagipun World Cup happens once in every 4 years so why not watch it. And i'm so like need to readjust my biological clock. dah tunggang terbalik ni

Art with the Kids - Painting

It was a sunny bright last Saturday. I decided to do some art activity with the kids. I carved few potatoes into some shapes. Not exactly carve it myself but with the help of cookies molds. Firstly i cut the potato into half. Then i pressed the mold into the potato about half of the mold's depth. I carved along the mold's shape.

some of the shapes that i managed to carve

Now the fun begins. I pour few colors in a container and do a few demo in front of the kids and within seconds the kids started doing on their own

Artist to be

err..mama couldn't see any shapes

Muqtasaem is good at this

walla...the art by the kids

Some precautions
1. It is advisable to do it outdoor
2. If you don't want the kids to get too messy, wear an apron. But without it, much better. that's where the fun is!
3. Prepare a lot of drawing paper. They mite never get enough of it cos it was fun!
4. Please monitor them. Manalah tau, tetiba masuk mulut plak kan.

Overall the kids enjoyed the art activity. Will think up more activities with the kids.

Al Fatihah

When i was in primary school, my parents would send me to my grandma house for a week during the school holidays, without fail. At that time, i thot my parents were punishing me. I resented but i didn't object. I learnt a lot of living in 'kampung'. In the morning, i would feed the chicken and went to mini pasar to buy some groceries and breakfast. In the evening, i would do some gardening - watering the plants or tanam pokok. And at night, mengaji and massage my grandma. The living-in-kampung routine went on till i was in lower secondary school.

When i went to boarding school, the routine stopped. Yabedabedu. I was happy...but when i went back to kampung on Tuesday, the memory flashed in front of me. But this time, it was different. On 29th June 2010, my beloved grandma passed away. Al Fatihah.

*still in emotional mode