irrationally sensible

adakah rumahku ini syurgaku in the near future?...

It has not been an easy week these past few days. The pending renovation of my house is taking maximum toll on my family and eventually, hubby terminated the current contractor for failure to deliver after 9 difficult months. Then we went through multiple sessions with different ID and contractors to complete with what looks 30% remnants of former works. While it’s very hard to stay positive about future arrangement with new contractor, we each light up at every encounter, discussing this and that. Everyone we met guaranteed a 3 month maximum …. oh, to be sensible about the wait after all this time is a tough feat! I’m actually losing sight of my house now that baby has come into picture but lucky that hubby has taken time off from work to take the whole renovation into his own hands. Sacking the former contractor was the only option we had after feeling cheated throughout this delay. Really, I wish I could give him a big kick for inducing unnecessary pre, while and post natal stress on me!

While I’m grateful for my current shelter, what really stresses me is that my baby is growing fast and very soon Aisyah would start crawling all over the boxes of stuff I have packed in view of failed promise from my former contractor to complete house by December ‘09!!! I have almost packed 50% of my belongings and it’s quite pathetic to see all these boxes not moving anywhere soon. Of course I can unpack now and leave it to the movers later but I’ve seen how they pack and dump stuff in boxes without much care so I’d rather pack what I feel precious myself. The past few months after confinement I was occupied with going from room to room culling whatever I don’t want to carry into my new home, so really, after all that’s been thrown and given away, I was happy not to hoard so much stuff anymore. I’ve become irrationally sensible and detached from my posessions which before, I wasn’t. Being a language teacher, it’s easy to be trapped into collecting every bits and pieces of articles, brochures, etc for thinking it would be useful someday for your students. In actual, papers just keep piling and soon you have nowhere to store stuff. Same with being a woman – you’ll tend to collect all sorts of junk – baju la, pinggan mangkuk, all sorts of bags, tudung la, etc…bukan pakai semua pun! So that part of hoarder-me has changed tremendously in the process of waiting to transfer into my new house. Maybe that in itself is a blessing in disguise kot? ha ha ha

Albeit my current worries, this girl keeps me in focus of what’s more important in life and, to be irrationally sensible always!

checkmeout yo yo yo! Drool...

Now this I will hoard for life!

my 3-month-old baby

Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com

25th of every month marks another milestone of my baby Aisyah Nur. No doubt she has not reached a year hence nothing to celebrate for yet but as a new mommy I’m bawled over the fact I’ve delivered this small human and continue to be in awe over every little squeak she makes. Today I brought her to my pediatrician for the routine immunisation injection plus rotavirus vaccination. Luckily my paed offers a number of vaccines, and one of that is the pneumococcal vaccine which is a good shield against pneumonia, meningitis and blood stream infection. Aisyah will go through that next month. While I’m happy that I’m able to provide her with a lot of protection, I bet every discerning parent goes through a mix of emotions whenever their infant gets jabbed. The screaming of pain, and the fever aftermath sends many parents home with concern – am I doing the right thing? Is it okay to have all these vaccines in their system? However, when you read news of children hospitalised and dying due to weak immune system comforts me that I’m doing my best to keep Aisyah healthy.

Dr Yong feeding Aisyah the rotavirus vaccine.

a surprising smile before the jab

a real daddy's girl! MrHubs managed to comfort her.

So there goes my monthly routine. Now have to tend to baby’s after effect of injections – fever. Oh yeah, another sleepless night! Can’t remember of a good one though eversince she arrived on earth but I’m not complaining. Too happy to see her well – that’s every mother’s wish isn’t it?

my baby time

It’s been a while since I update my posts, all due to baby time. Aisyah has literally conquered my life being – and I’m enjoying every last bit with her till I start work end of February. I have more or less a month of leave, and I’m establishing a certain routine with babycare so that I won’t be too flustered juggling all my obligations once work starts. Seriously, I’m still worried about how my helper handles baby when I’m away later and actually wish I could take longer break. But I need to readjust daily grind to normal – work and motherhood combined. Alhamdulillah my baby is healthy, eventhough she’s formula-fed from 6 am to 5 pm. True enough, my milk supply is dwindling but I nursed her nonetheless and hope to continue as long as I could. I feel quite bad about it at first, not having been able to express much and supplementing with infant formula but taking things too hard on yourself just because others managed to breastfeed well and you can’t, is not a prerequisite to great parenting anyway. Feedback from family and friends, even books on baby are great help, but my best teacher is still Aisyah. Instinctively, she tells me what’s right for her. So far she’s been able to grin widely and coo at whatever I say, and she gets excited when Mr Hubby comes home. She knows she’s in for more play time! he he..

Recently, I was trying to train Aisyah to sleep in babycot and having a bit of difficulty because since birth she’s been sleeping with us and probably addicted to our body warmth. But after 3 days I succeeded! Well, of course with sleepless nights added.

The best fun I had everyday while with Aisyah is when I bathe her – she’s a real water baby and enjoyed rinsing in her tub. I’ll sing to her different songs each time she bathe and think she looks forward to being soaped and wet! Look at her below:

Guess mommyhood is really getting on to me. Teaches me a lot of patience, perseverence and most of all, how to love unconditionally. I think that’s why it hurts most when your own kids don’t reciprocate with love once they’ve grown right?

formula-milk tasting

the formula I've tested

Some parents striked lucky the first time they tried any formula milk with their baby but my Aisyah is a bit fussy. Now that she’s over 2 months old I figured it’s ok to establish some routine alternating formula and breastmilk with my baby. I’m not weaning her off my milk but I’m not great with the pumps and it actually hurts using it (hey, I tried!), so before I start working in February, I’d like to get her used to some formula milk. I would still feed her after I come home from work though, as long as I could.

So, for the past 3 weeks I tried establishing some routine and it ended with my baby spitting out the formula I try to feed her. I tried to give each brand a week to find one that suits her best – Similac Advance managed to last for a couple of weeks then she starts spitting it out recently and wailed desperately for my breasts! Then an idea came to mind, why don’t I try tasting some of the formula on my own? If I find it horrid how can I feed it to my baby right? So I bought another brand – Mamex Gold this morning and mixed each one for tasting session. I sat down with 3 different cups, each about 3 oz and begin to taste them one by one.
Results? Out of the three above, Enfalac tasted most bitter. Similac has a slight bitter taste with distinct smell bordering nausea, and Mamex win in taste department. It was quite palatable, and I could finish it compared to the other two. Is it because Mamex is the most pricey among all? I don’t know, but I straight away fed my baby Mamex Gold and she seems to take it well. I won’t nail it just yet, let’s see how baby react in terms of passing motion and stool. Just hope this one ends my search for now or I would have to assess more formula milk just to get it right.

the biggest loser Asia (in my own league)

After a long hiatus from the gym, I’m back today (err…that was due to many phone calls from True Fitness!) I got 5 more sessions with my personal trainer plus the gym membership has been suspended since I got pregnant. Now two months after delivery, I bet the trainer would get a shock seeing me gained so much (none of my gymclothes fit so had to borrow Mr Hubby’s tee). After baby Aisyah is well-fed and slept, I drove to the gym and braved myself to the world of the immaculate slims.

First surprise – measuring my new body fat composition. Everything has gone up – protein level, body fat and bone mass, yada yada…it wasn’t really a surprise since I gained more than 20kgs over the 9 months preggy. I am now 70kgs with 163cm height so I need to get rid of 13kgs in total to achieve ideal weight. My trainer informed that achieving the ideal weight is not the goal here – increasing metabolism is. One thing good about measuring the whole thing is that you’ll know which part of body you need to shape up instead of just plunge into any workout. Mine is of course the lower body – I couldn’t recognise my thighs anymore! LOL So yeah, we started on the bicycle for 10 minutes.

Second surprise – I used to be able to jog or cycle straight for 10 minutes or more but this time I totally gave up half way through. There was no feeling of pain as I had cautioned my trainer to put me on a tailored workout for people after surgery but I was so unfit! I had to psyche myself into sheer will-power just to complete the workout. 10 minutes on the bike, followed by 3 sets of 15 on the vertical row machine to strengthen my back and lastly, another 3 sets of 15 to work-on-my-arm-machine (which I forgot the name) but you know I’m counting because the mental-trauma still lingers long after the workout! he he

Final surprise? I couldn’t believe what I uttered when the trainer asked for next appointment after going through the motion. “Tomorrow?”

That was how much I was determined to shed all these weight the healthy way. Let’s see shall we?

social life truth for newly post pregnant me

Today I learn the hard truth of being a new Mom.

My life post delivery was pretty much housebound except for the occassional grocery shopping and coffee with friends which doesn’t take me long from the baby. Plus most of my outings are with family so it’s easy to lug baby around because our destination are either malls, restaurants or at relatives’. Baby wasn’t a chore at all – I’m getting used to nursing her in public and doing everything related to travelling with baby. By now I’m pretty much a hands-on mom. However, come new year, Mr Hubby’s social calendar has started to fill up with invites to events and parties, and usually those are extended to couples – not the whole gang of children, nannies, maids etc. Most of these social outing requires the ladies to look extra fabulous. Although I’m nowhere near socialite status, I do make the effort to look good for events, so when Mr Hubby told me about a party tonight I wasn’t too distressed at first. I figured I’ve lost some weight so I could fit into my old frocks. Little did I know everything has expanded in size and by 7pm I was practically having a breakdown after trying numerous outfit. Nothing fits, and I should’ve bought something earlier but I was too stubborn to admit I have grown fat. I guess Mr Hubby must have gone clueless trying to reassure me that there must be something that fits my new body. Why don’t you wear one of your maternity dress? He wildly suggested and I think I did glare at him. Well, in the end I agreed to a black lycra maternity dress, and half way through make up, my baby starts wailing. Aisyah needs changing, feeding and all of a sudden she doesn’t take well to bottle so I had to nurse her direct. We had 20 minutes to rush to the event and you should’ve seen me – hair up in rollers and pins, make up half done and nursing baby. It struck me then my life has changed and my baby is priority now. I started to breathe easier and told Mr Hubby he has to go alone. Since married we’ve never gone separately to social events, but things are different now. It was the only calming solution to the present madness.

As I listened to Mr Hubby driving away, I looked at my baby, at her needy face and realised that I’d rather be with her than anywhere else. My other daughter Fatin came home an hour later and found me unchanged, still nursing. She asked me whether I was going somewhere and I explained to her the whole story.

“If I were you I would’ve been pissed. All dressed up and nowhere to go.” She concluded.
I smiled. One day when she becomes a mother she will know what to be pissed at. Right now I know I’m not pissed missing out on being socialite of the night.

Just for memory-sake looking back at 2009 – I had the most fun (eating I mean!) at this event.

which one is qahina? he he..5 month preggers with Aisyah so hiding at last right corner! he he

Oh yeah, before I forget – Happy New Year everyone!

a birthday day. :)

starting the day with a delicious crepe.

Today is my 32nd and I’ve never felt as accomplished, what with a brand new baby in tow! I woke up with great anticipation of what to come and Mr Hubby happily rise to the occassion. Not that he does it every birthday but this year he’s been quite sweet with all our special events and I feel really blessed. My first surprise is the breakfast date of my choice, well, since it’s a treat I up the ante and chosed La Bodega. Oh yeah, I didn’t order the big breakfast set although I was so tempted to. Well, I still watch what I eat but on my birthday it’s an opportunity to let my hair down a bit. Speaking of hair, I had it done right after breakfast just to add a bit of fabulosity into my day! he he

treating myself to a professional hairwash!

something sweet from Mr Hubby

When we return my girls got ready to have lunch – again my choice! Really, what a great treat. Of course I went for seafood – I have a thing with prawns and crabs. KL-bound, seafood is only great in Klang, and we almost lost our way around the terrible traffic in Klang town but we’re in time for lunch. I just tuck in all the goodies like nobody’s business – steamed bawal, chilli crabs and prawns, etc… Well, I was too busy between digging in and handling baby so couldn’t snap any photos of the delish goodies.
Finally, my birthday ends with a nice tea at Delicious. By then I was too full and just pinch some of my daughter’s carrot cake. Plus baby Aisyah has started to get agitated after a long day outing. Well, honey, it’s mommy’s birthday and she needs to feel pampered too because starting now it’s going to be a rare treat and you’re getting all the attention! he he…

at 32 and happy!

What a day…I’m so humbled and felt like I have everything I need in life. Time to focus on my loved ones pulak…good night!!

fun time baking

My daughter expressed her interest in baking recently and I went to surf for available baking classes especially at beginner level. I found one at the Cooking House which is actually just 5 minutes away from my resident. The moment we stepped into the shop we saw a swarm of children around the chef and noted that the baking course for beginner we signed up for was actually for kids! But we still went in for the fun of it.

Chef Collin at work and all those kids just can't wait to get a lick of the batter!

say yes! to baking.

 
Although the culinary school was just minutes away from home I never knew about it till my discovery online. It offers a variety of cooking and baking course conducted by renown chefs and the courses are quite affordable. Hindsight, it’s actually quite pricey but a lot of it were hands-on so it’s money well-spent for the experience.I paid RM135 per person for a whole day’s course which consists of foundation to baking and four other desserts. The course was actually a two-day set but I registered for one day first to see how it went.

The Cooking House has a well-equipped kitchen for industrial baking. There’s a variety of ovens used so this really helps you find out how your oven at home would function to suit the baking learnt. The chef also dish out some useful tips and techniques to baking.

I wish there was a mixer! Berpeluh-peluh mix batter from scratch - nak cabut tangan wooo..

I used to bake straight  from recipe books and went through trial and error but this class enlightened me a lot. Since there was no mixer for the batter, everything needs to be accurate (Now this is where my Math fails and thank God Sebrina is around to help count! ha ha) I’m not great at baking and realised the best way to learn is always hands-on.

having fun at it

My daughter also enjoyed the whole process. We team up with each other and take turns whisking and creaming and battering things up (he he) to make walnut brownies, carrot and raisin muffins, chocolate and coffee cupcakes plus peanut butter cookies as a finale. We had a well-prepared table to ourselves complete with ingredients.  Throughout the entire time it was fun watching the younger kids struggle through their measuring cups and creaming the butter, even running around yelling for extra flour, sugar etc.  Sebrina also had the chance to teach those kids some manners as we’re the only adults there! We felt like kids ourselves, really, and time flies so fast when you’re having fun.

our spoils of war!

The presentation is better left unsaid, eh? ha ha… but you must believe me when I say our muffins, cookies and cuppies really tasted good. We brought back the goodies and I gave some to the neighbours because there was just too much. I was actually very tempted to sign up for the second day installment but after 5 long hours away from home, I started to miss my baby.  So I’m giving tomorrow a miss. Well, at least it leaves me with great plans of baking with baby Aisyah when she grows up! And it was a great bonding time with my eldest.

she's already a pro at swirling those icing on the cuppies.

If you’d like to join any cooking or baking courses on offer you can contact The Cooking House at Desa Sri Hartamas (03-23001070) or you can check out their website www.thecookinghouse.com

career versus home-stay

I’ve shared before in previous posts about my maid problems and now that my maternity leave is ending, I was reluctant to leave baby Aisyah in the hands of my current maid while I’m at work, until I’m very sure the baby is well taken care of. Mr Hubby and I have discussed at length about it and I’ve decided to take a couple of months unpaid leave. While my parents who are both in the civil service were against this at first, with mutual concerns on seniority, pensions etc – I hold on to the thought that within these few months I could breastfeed my baby in full plus train my maid well. By the time my leave ends, baby Aisyah would be 4 months old and quite strong already. Of course I care about my career, but I don’t think leaving the frail baby in the hands of a total stranger could enable me to work at ease.
So today I went to seek my boss’s consent. She gave me a long lecture being a career woman with 7 children herself, and how she doesn’t trust maids. I know she wants to talk me out of it, but what other options do I have? As is, my workplace is quite a distance from home, plus I live in an area with no proper nursery (the closest would be somewhere in Kota Damansara or Taman Tun but that too is out of my way to work). I’ve thought of nurseries near my workplace but Mr Hubby is against the idea of me driving the baby all the way through the 40km highway to and fro. So yeah, seems like a few months sacrifice as stay home mom is my best option. As a matter of fact Mr Hubby asked me to take a year off but I told him being career woman I would go beserk to just to stare at the walls and feed baby. As excited I was about the thought of not working, honestly, I would miss the chats in the staffroom, driving around like a lunatic to get to punch early and most of all, dressing up to work. I hope my two months break allow me to build some confidence leaving baby at home later but not long enough to find the joy in being career woman again.

the loyalty issue

Have you ever been dumped by your hairdresser? hmm..

It’s been a while since I had a hairdo or haircut even, so right after confinement I was all excited to get my hair jazzed up a bit. I went to my usual saloon and expect my ever-so-friendly hairdresser Aleya to attend to me and was told she has left the saloon. Now hindsight, Aleya had been more than just a hairdresser to me. We met 3 years ago at the saloon and since then she has been attending to me for all my functions do – and we also contacted each other after work hours. When she left to work in another saloon I expect her to SMS me her new workplace since I’m fond of her haircut skills. Anyway, I have another stylist, Nori as a back up during Aleya’s off days, so I wasn’t all too dependent on Aleya and proceed to have my hair treatment. Nori eventually asked me – Did Aleya called or SMS you of her whereabouts? To which I answered no. Then Nori said, “dia merajuk kot, sebab hari tu dia marah bila dia nampak your appointment with me when she’s off. Dia ingat you dah curang. That’s why dia tak bagitahu you mana dia kerja sekarang.”

Jeezzz….dah tua tua macam ni pun masih high-school attitude lagi?? he he…

But since I’m the more adult and sensible one (ahemm!) I called Aleya eventually. Apparently she has started her own business and embarassed to contact me because her saloon is very small and plain. So I told her that as long as she cuts my hair nice, I don’t mind where she’s at. I’m going to visit her soon and give a review on her saloon so she has more business.

Hmm, rasa macam Laila-Majnun love story pulak.. ha ha.