A Tale of Sarah and Amar

Notts?? Not!!

2011-09-08T16:50:00.001+01:00

Hari Raya 2009

2009-09-28T17:24:00.005+01:00

Hari raya 2009

Not to forget...

2007-08-10T10:31:00.001+01:00

Mama: How old are you, Sarah?
Sarah: Three.
Mama: How old is Amar?
Sarah: Two.
Mama: How old is Mama?
Sarah: Seven.
Mama: How old is Babah?
Sarah: Seven.
Mama: How old is Tok Abah?

Sarah: (shrugged and thought hard) Twenty?

Happy Birthday Atuk!!!

It's time to...

2007-08-07T09:02:00.001+01:00

Partly the silence was because of poorly Amar. Partly, the denouement of Harry Potter, addiction to the Summer sale and attending parties, bbq and picnics. But ultimately, the time has come for us to part with our home for home...

p/s: Have to take down the photo temporarily. ~Sorry~

Hospital again and again

2007-07-10T20:43:00.001+01:00

A lot has happened since the last time I posted an entry. There are still a few unpublished events. I guess those have to wait now. As for now, let me just update with a very brief entry regarding Amar.

Tuesday, 3 July: I noticed a swelling near his groin.

Wednesday, 4 July: A trace of pus was seen in his nappy suspected from the swelling.

Thursday, 5 July: I took Amar to the Walk in Centre (WIC). [Our GP - as usual fully booked and kept on asking us to call the next day.] The doctor at the Walk in Centre dismissed us saying that it was just another chicken pox coming out. [Angry mode: *#$$%&(#$*@*%#] [I promised a brief entry so I spare you all with the details]

Friday, 6 July: We were not happy with the doctor's diagnosis from the WIC. So I booked an appointment to see our GP. Luckily we got an appointment at 11am. We waited until 11.30am to be seen by Dr.Sood. She examined Amar, prescribed antibiotics and ibuprofen and then referred Amar to the hospital.

Sarah, Amar and I took the public bus to Coventry University Hospital. We waited for a while and we were seen by a nurse. We continued waiting until a doctor called out Amar's name around 2pm. The children A&E doctor was happy to let us go home with antibiotics but she would like a second opinion from a Surgeon.

Again omitting the many (my anger and frustration) details, we waited a further 5 hours to be seen by the surgeon (That was around 7.30pm). He was in the theatre the whole time. Babah arrived to see us about an hour before the Surgeon's examination on Amar.

After a quick examination, the Surgeon called a Urologist for another opinion. By then Amar was already traumatised by people groping his private part. After at least three separate examinations, the Urologist referred us to Birmingham Children's Hospital.

Saturday, 7 July: Amar was given an appointment at 10am to go straight to ward 9. There was also instruction for Amar to have his last milk at 6am and last clear fluid at 10am just to prepare him for a surgery.

Again all my frustration, bitter and sad memories will be excluded from this entry.

Two hours after we arrived, Amar was seen by a nurse for his history and general check up. We were all hungry since it was already lunch time. We had to sneak away from Amar just to have a bite of bread and a sip of drink. He finally saw Sarah eating a chocolate filled brioche and started to whine and extended his hand through the cot's bars as if pleading to have just a tiny bit of the bread.

He continued crying until he fell asleep -hungry- on Babah's shoulder. He slept for about two hours and woke up smiling.

Then finally around 4pm (almost one whole day of fasting by our 2 year old Amar), the Registrar and (I assume) the Consultant oncall came to Amar's bed to examine him. The Registrar apologised several times for the wait to which Babah didn't say anything, and I avoided her eye-contact for I too was uncertain what to say.

Both doctors were happy to discharge Amar from the ward that day, [excluding all the medical jargons] but he has to come again on Monday for a review.

So that's the briefest summary I could give here. To date, the swelling has reduced in size and Amar looks OK. He still continues with his antibiotics and hopefully he won't have to go through a surgery afterall.

Coombe Abbey: 2 June 2007

2007-06-30T12:44:00.001+01:00

I guess my statement and estimation was right after all when I said, I will write about our picnic at Coombe Abbey in a month's time! I first heard about Coombe Abbey from a friend during Princess's birthday party. She said Malaysian in Coventry used to do lots of barbecue there.

On 2 June 2007, the weather looked quite promising with plenty of sunshine. So we invited very close friends for a picnic at the place. Babah actually insisted a barbecue, but there was very little time to buy then marinate the meat. Therefore, a simple picnic was good enough.

Our friend D and her family led us to Coombe Abbey. There was proper signs along the way, so it was quite easy for us. We were so excited and happy when we reached the place. Again, Coventry has surprised us with its hidden beauty.

It was the first time for all of us (our family, D's family and Dina), but we immediately envisioned more picnics in the future. Originally a monastery, now a four star hotel covers a huge piece of ground. There is also a man-made canal and moat which was built in 1861. Full history here.

We had to pay a minimal parking fee and carried our stuff to the picnic spot. We purposely chose an area facing the back of the hotel and the moat.

There was plenty of space for the children to explore. The children saw rabbits and squirrels capering in the area too.

We had nasi lemak, karipap and some fizzy drinks. Babah bought some ice-creams at one of the kiosks there.

The children enjoyed themselves around the moat after their light lunch.

They also enjoyed themselves feeding the ducks, geese and swans. [Above photo shows twin D distributing the seeds equally in different bags]

Not long after that, Amar fell asleep while the rest of the children played at the children's playground situated at the front/beginning of the park.

Just before we left, we did our (borrowing Babah's words) obligatory jumping pose.

I know I misjudged [ie failed to snap] their jumping, but I love to see the way they rolled on the ground after their excellent synchronised jumping in the air.

Sarah watched from the side. She refused to join because she was unhappy about not getting something she wanted. [notice the similarity of her pose with the blurry statue in the background?]

A few people tried to make her smile again. But she just decided to be difficult. She even pushed Babah away.

Oh well, we still like Coombe Abbey nevertheless. We couldn't wait to go back to explore the rest of the place. Unfortunately, the weather has really been pretty gloomy for the last few weeks. Plus the whole family had chickenpox. We just can't wait for a cheerful weekend for another round of picnic. We might not be able to do our barbecue though, I've just read a notice put up by the Council that they have banned barbecue at all of their parks!!! [I don't mind nasi lemak again]

Attack of the Chickenpox: Episode III

2007-06-29T19:22:00.001+01:00

Note: Please skip if you don't feel like reading a long entry!

How and when it began was recorded in an entry here. The next few days were really trying moments for both of us. Amar has a couple of sleepless nights. So have I. Amar was just tossing and turning. While I couldn't help but to really 'entertain' some of my itchy spots. They were the itchiest when the clear liquid turned into whitish coloured blisters. The whole house was covered in chamomile and lavender talc at that time.

GP
On the fifth day(Tuesday), Amar woke up from his day nap with a red right eye. The next morning, his eye was a bit swollen and still red. Babah has already gone of to work. I quickly dressed the children, prepared their breakfast and walked to our GP (clinic).

Unfortunately, they were fully booked for the whole day. So I said I want to make an appointment for the next morning first thing in the morning. The receptionist answered, you have to call tomorrow morning to book. Although I already expected that answer from her, I still felt so sad, disappointed, frustrated, angry and geram. (yeah, we're talking about service in the UK!)

Didn't she see my spotty face, that said 'CONTAGIOUS' all over it? Didn't it mean, my son needed immediate medical attention? I wouldn't be going out with my current condition just for fun (you idiot!)

Still trying to keep my cool, I asked what should I do next? She said, if I still want medical advice I can go to the Walk in Centre. Then we walked out of the room. After a while, I went back inside and spoke to the same lady again, pretending to ask where the Walk in centre is. After getting a not-so-sure answer from her, I also requested for a COMPLAIN FORM and asked for her name.

I get stressed out each time I didn't get an appointment for my sick children. I just have to do something about their ridiculous appointment booking system. And they just have to get rid of their receptionists FAST! They are just bad bullies!

Walk in Centre
Then, I called up a taxi to get to the walk in centre, which was about 2-3km away. It was a joy ride for Sarah and Amar. But sadly again, when we reached there - they were still CLOSED!!! They open from 12.00-22.00! And it was only 10am when we arrived.

There was a playground nearby where I took the children to kill the time. But soon other kids started to come and play too. It was only appropriate if we go somewhere else. I already received stares from people who passed us. Then I took the kids to see the swans and geese but it started to rain!

And you know chickenpox and rain don't mix, right? While trying to find a shelter - I kept on thinking who on earth spread the myth in the first place? As much as I didn't want to believe it, the faster I walked and dragged Sarah who was also walking. Someone PLEASE do a research on this too! (I've already requested a research paper on the relationship between chickenpox and young coconut drink)

We sought shelter at Coventry Hospital porch which was also in the proximity. After standing there for a while, I decided to just walk inside towards a vending machine and ignore stares. After getting some refreshments I saw a vacant seat at a secluded corner of the big room. All three of us sat there for at least an hour until Sarah said she wanted to do 'a business'. After a visit to the toilet, I thought I should bring the children out again. It was nearly 12pm anyway.

As it was already stopped raining, I took the kids to the playground again when Babah called to say he managed to find someone to cover his work while he took some time out to tend us. Oh my knight in shining armour has come to save the day. Honestly, I felt all the burden has been lifted off my shoulders when I heard he could come home for a while.

I called a taxi to take us home to wait for Babah to take us to A&E instead of the Walk in Centre.

A&E
There wasn't many patients at the children's A&E. We reported ourselves at the receptionist and later was called by a nurse. The nurse brought us to another closed room to avoid contamination as we had chickenpox plus Amar's red eye.

A doctor came to see Amar later, and he suggested two things:
1. He could prescribe eye drops for Amar and if it doesn't go away in 48 hrs, we should go to the eye department.
2. or, if we want another opinion the same day, we could go to the eye clinic straight away.

We were satisfied with no.1 and got the prescription for Amar. Babah went back to work immediately after sending us back home. Didn't I tell you Babah is so workaholic and love his work. He had to drive back for one hour to get to his workplace!

Eye Clinic
This morning (about 48 hours later), Amar's eye was still red. We all got ready and Babah took us to the eye clinic at the brand new Coventry University Hospital. We walked in the rain again and the same question played in my mind, re: chickenpox and rain. That really bugged me, hoping so much it's not true in any case at all!

The waiting area at clinic no. 9: the eye clinic had different bright coloured chairs. There was also a small area purposely designed for the little ones to play at. We were seen by a nurse not long after that. Babah reported all the history.

After that Amar was taken for a vision test which he did not cooperate at all. And last, we were sent to see an Ophthalmologist. The doctor was really friendly with the children. Still, Amar was not very cooperative.

Amar got another prescription in the form of a cream where we have to get it from the Hospital pharmacy. We got a 'bleep' while waiting for the medication. The bleep will bleep 5 times to tell us that it is ready. We had our lunch at the hospital while waiting for the medication to be prepared.

After two an a half hours at the hospital, we went home feeling lighter already, while Babah had to go to work. Thank you Babah for sacrificing your working hours for us.

Coventry University and a taste of Thai...

2007-06-27T15:09:00.001+01:00

Tuesday, 29 May 2007

Babah must have just completed his nights' shift and got the Tuesday off. We ran out of idea of where to go in Coventry, then I remembered an 'oldish' looking building [the above photo] just off junction 4 of the ring road. The building is also somewhere near Gulson Hospital where I took Amar for his 'special nursery' (story to come in the future).

So we headed towards the old building, which later we learnt from our map is actually "Whitefriars Lodge Museum". We spent around half an hour there letting the children blew bubbles and trace the old ruins. The site is quite dangerous with (no warning) holes here and there.

Just opposite the "museum" is the award winning building, the Coventry University library.

Babah beautifully framed the library's natural ventilating 'towers'.

Even the bollards bore the name of the University and the Student Centre is just a block away from the library.

Surrounding the University is beds of beautiful flowers of different species. Above is one them. Do you think you'll be attracted to study in Coventry University if you see such building and environment in a prospectus? I would!

Later that afternoon, I asked Babah if we could just dine in a restaurant? Babah said yes and chose "Thai Dusit". The restaurant is also within walking distance from the University library.

We were greeted by two friendly staff dressed in their traditional costumes (I think). The waitress showed us our table - at the front, near the windows away from other customers. She took our orders and said the food will be ready in about 10 minutes.

While waiting, the children had their fruit juice.

and more juice.

In that short space of time, Amar managed to be so cheeky and spurted the drink to Babah. We warned him, but he just gave us his cheeky smile, he thought we were joking.

Sarah was under the table most of the time, shifting from the chair next to Babah to mine. I bet those who went there for a romantic meal must have *cursed* us. What with the noisy children and the none stop flash-photography. [The above is just another poor and unedited shot by me into the sun].

The food arrived not long after that. I gave Amar a few strands of my Pad Thai. Sarah had a little bit of the chicken satay. The food (to me) was great!

While waiting for Babah to finish his tea, Sarah and I went out for fresh air.

There's a row of houses near the restaurant.

and I introduced Sarah to a traditional British red postbox. Then it was time to go home.

A Princess's birthday party: 26 May 2007

2007-06-25T17:25:00.000+01:00

note: Mind the dates

We were very delighted to be invited to our very first birthday party in Coventry! For that we thank our kind host, Princess D (and her family) whose 7th birthday fell on 21 May 2007 and the party was held 5 days later. Sarah and I wrapped the presents and she chose her own outfit for the party, her apple green fairy dress she first wore on her 3rd birthday.

Sarah forced me to iron her chosen dress the night before and hung it on the door knob. She put it on many times before the real occasion and got it crumpled again. "Nak cuba aje" She said.

We walked to Princess's house which was only within walking distance. Amar in the pushchair. Sarah with 4 ponytails walking hand in hand with Marium, our next door neighbour and I. We were slightly late (gosh, I hate people waiting for me and hate giving the same excuses! I really have to do something about this time management of mine!) but still, we were the first to arrive (still no excuse!).

The birthday Princess wore her beautiful frilly and smocking dress in terracotta, her hair neatly tied in a bun. There were so much food spread on the table! Almost everything was pink in colour! The birthday cake, cupcakes with pink icing and pink sirap bandung. The Queen must have been really busy in the kitchen the whole day.

The cupcakes and mini pizzas were the most popular ones among the children. I loved everything the Queen made and Sarah had many rounds of the sandwiches and the "pink" drink.

I saw Sarah ogling on Little D's nasi himpit with yellow soup. She told Little D to eat it properly using the spoon and not just 'drink' it off the bowl.

And when Little D didn't follow what she said, Sarah gave that senget look at him. [Mulut sendiri comot, tak sedar!!!]

The chocolate cake was yummylicious even Amar finished quite a big portion of it.

There was a game session held at the back garden. They played a few games where the winners received presents at the end of every session. And I don't know how, everyone seemed to have won something. Sarah received a jotter pad and a set of felt tips pen!!! I'm sure all the children have had a whale of a time at Princess's party.

I caught Amar talking to himself expressively with hand gestures when other children were playing a game. Looked to me like a traffic warden. What do you think?

Sorry Princess for this [awfully] late post about your big day. We've had a magical time there, it felt like it was only yesterday.

______________
Just to update you with our current condition, there are more spots on both of us. They are more prominent than the ones I showed in the previous entry. Mine are just spots of the size 'bapak gajah'. Poor Amar didn't really sleep well last night. He tossed and turn and cried every 15 minutes.

Today, I thought I saw some spots grew before my very own eyes! So very itchy beyond words! I feel sorry for Amar because he does not know how to explain his pain. With Sarah before this, she would tell me to rub her hand or back. Amar just cry.

Despite the stubborn itch, I am counting my blessings that at least I didn't get it on my wedding day(!) or while pregnant with Sarah or Amar. Or before boarding a flight. For that I'm blessed. Most importantly, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel, insyaAllah. I keep reminding myself that some other people are suffering much, much more excruciating pain... like a person in labour. Which after the many hours of agony, Allah decided that He loves the baby more.

Dearest friend, we are sharing your sad experience. Let's hope Allah will reward you in abundance throughout this hardship. Take care.

Attack of the Chickenpox: Episode II

2007-06-24T11:42:00.000+01:00

I thought both Amar and I have escaped chickenpox. Sarah had it a few weeks ago and her scabs are almost gone now. But two days ago, I saw a few tiny reddish spots on Amar's body. I had one tiny one on my arm.

Yesterday, I had 4-5 spots with headache and feeling quite feverish. Amar was quite cool yesterday, playing as normal. I didn't see him scratching at all. Towards bedtime, I felt quite relieved that my spots were not very itchy and my headache was a bit subdued with a couple of paracetamol.

This morning was a different story. I woke up with MORE spots!!! Urrgghhh... I just hope to get this over quickly with little drama as possible.

Amar has more spots too. And his spots were MORE than what Sarah had before. Amar's dots (per Sarah's term) were tiny red bumps, which now are filled with clear 'liquid'. He hates any forms of medicine. Hence, the difficulty to apply calamine lotion on his body (I saw him scratching today)

Poor Sarah, she is taking the blame. She said she spread the chickenpox to us and keep on giving us big hugs. By the way, she is a good nurse. Sometimes you will hear her say, "Don't worry. Sikit aje" and she will diligently dabs calamine lotion and talcum powder on us.

Hopefully we'll go through this easily. Amiin.

p/s: honest to God, I feel so gatal-tangan to squeeze my spots!!! Just to see if it pops like a balloon.

Happy Birthday to Uncle Adan

2007-06-22T21:59:00.001+01:00

Another year has passed. It's your birthday again! We hope you are enjoying your life to the fullest at the moment. And hoping that many more happy years come your way.

Happy Birthday Uncle Adan.

What is Friendship?

2007-06-19T22:44:00.001+01:00

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You, too? Thought I was the only one." C.S.Lewis

It has been over a year since I started recording our memorabilia in this blog. Up till now, I still am faithful with the same green template and its minimal look. Also almost a year ago, I wrote an entry concerning my/our beautiful friends. Anne left her first comment in that entry and we became friends (if she agrees to that term calling) since then.

To continue the same subject of friendship, we made lots of peers just through blogging. In fact, through blogging I was united with a few of my long lost school friends. I am fascinated by this world of blogging where people still able to gain trust and form a special bond between them.

In my case so far, Pycnogenol is spot on with his comment also from the same entry mentioned before. He said;
"I hope that your mum and the rest of the family will be happy to ALSO know that you are surrounded by equally good, interesting and mysterious blogger-friends!!"

Indeed I have not met the majority of my blog friends and some remain anonymous but as long as they leave positive comments, then that's fine by us. Once I was surprised to receive a square envelope with stamps from Turkey. It was a Hari Raya (Eid greetings) card and some family photos from non other than our beloved Simah.

Just a week ago, Kak Elle was on a tour around the Europe and she happened to be in London as her final destination before heading back to Singapore. From London, she gave me a call just to have a chitchat. That was so sweet of her to remember to call us!

Two of my earliest blog friends are DITH and Ikelah. Ardent DITH writes just about anything and everything that evolves around her and creative Ikelah takes phenomenal photographs. Early this year, their son came for a short visit to London. Through Muhammad, DITH and Ikelah sent us a HUGE parcel comprised of lots of ikan bilis, a fuchsia coloured scarf and a couple of magazines.

True that we were ikan bilis deprived for several months at that time. But it didn't even cross my mind to ask for anything from Malaysia. Especially because of the recent food restrictions at the airport and their at that time was not quite appropriate for us to take advantage of. Somehow, thoughtful DITH still got us the goods for which we are eternal grateful. We had an ikan bilis fiesta immediately after receiving them. The above photos are sambal ikan bilis, sambal ikan bilis kering and fried ikan bilis made from the ikan bilis sent by DITH and family and still plenty more left. No more rationing our ikan bilis after that.

Sometime in March-April, Ajzie of Wilhem~Achtzehn asked me to do a favour. It was only a small one that I agreed to give her the assistance. About a month later, a postman came with a parcel from Germany. It was beautifully and neatly wrapped containing two lion soft toys wearing football jersey and another box wrapped in red hearts embellished with red ribbon.

I was perplexed but ecstatic for the gift of a perfume set was too special compared to what I've done for them. As we all know, doing a favour is meant to be done f.o.c. But Ajzie chose to repay it with such bounty (which was absolutely unnecessary) and I thank her and family very, very much.

Of all mentioned here, LoveuJordan is the most recent friend I made through blogging. I feel very fortunate to know her as her blog entries are mainly about her experience in Jordan and her beautiful family. Most of her entries regarding her family inspire me to become a better person.

Through one of the many comments I left in her blog, LoveuJordan replied that she wanted to send me a jelbab from Jordan as a present. I did intend to ask her to buy some jelbab or abaya from Jordan. To get one as a present is too much. The parcel was received last month, and there were a beautiful abaya with maroon embroidered details on the front and two t-shirts for the children too!

It did not end there. Two weeks ago, Maklang's sister and her husband came to Europe for a holiday. Maklang asked if I wanted anything from Malaysia since her sister (Alang) will be in Coventry during the trip. At first I declined, but then our rempah kurma and kari Adabi were running very low. The Asian shop in Coventry has recently been closed! So I asked for a packet each of rempah kurma and kari Adabi.

To meet Alang was not as straightforward as I anticipated. There were a few obstacles on Alang's side and on the day she was in Coventry - our phone decided not to ring. We missed to meet Alang and her husband but they left our parcel with another friend who also lives in Coventry.

My full adoration to Alang and her husband who in spite of their tight schedule on the road, they made an effort to come back to Coventry and search for our house two days later. They really surprised us that fateful afternoon who just came to say hello!

By the way, the parcel Maklang sent us was no ordinary 10kg package. In there were smaller packets wrapped in assorted and colourful wrappers enclosing not just rempah kari and kurma but also all sorts of spices including perencah mee rebus, mee bandung, rempah laksa johor and rempah soto. A big pack of keropok keping and at least a kilo of ikan bilis (yippee yeay!!). There were some ready made sambal ikan bilis and kacang made by Maklang herself packed nicely in plastic bags.

The kids received lots of goodies too, a pair of spiderman outfit for Amar, a couple of tudung and hairclips for Sarah and a beautiful brooch for the Mama. Plus, there was a specific parcel for D too, which I gladly dropped it at her house. Dearest Maklang and family, you have not only made lots of us happy but you have touched our heart too.

So now comes the question. What have I/we done to deserve all this? I have not met them all in person but strangely enough Allah has opened their hearts to be kind to us. Their gifts must have cost a fortune and we are so grateful for their sincerity and generosity in our friendship.

No words can describe our feelings towards their altruism. Nothing I can purchase will match their kindness. The best I can do is to pray that Allah will grant them easiness, happiness and plentiful of rizq in their lives. And I pray that Allah will give us the same in our lives and hope that we can emulate them by their munificence.

National Sea Life Centre, Birmingham: 20 May 2007

2007-06-17T11:38:00.000+01:00

We thought it would be a good idea to introduce Sarah and Amar to the sea life world. They love "Finding Nemo" movie so much so we thought they would appreciate the real thing if we take them to National Sea Life Centre in Birmingham.

We've been there before two years ago with Tok Ayah, Opah, Ayah Ji, Ummi, Lin and Yaya. Amar was only three months old back then. The place is still very much the same and probably with the same old animals too. Except for the entrance fees have gone up quite steeply.

The journey was quite straightforward. We followed the brown sign and we were tempted to change our destination to a Birmingham Botanical Garden when we saw its sign along the way.

The Sea Life Centre in Birmingham is located near Birmingham Canal, the 19th century equivalent of a motorway [per waterscape.com].

You can go on a boat tour along the canal with some fees of course.

As usual Babah took a lot of photos, but I have just noticed that the above Hyatt Hotel building reflects the colour of the sky and thick clouds.

As it was a school holiday plus on a Sunday, there were so many people visiting the place too. We had to follow a narrow pathway with different aquariums on each side. I was amazed looking at the different types of stingrays gliding in the water. Their wings rippled beautifully as if they were dancing to a music.

At the end of the first section, we saw a lady holding a tiny crab. She drew lots of attention from the school-age children. Next to the lady was this gigantic metallic red stuffed crab toy. Sarah thought it was a real crab and became very frightened. She began to cry and from there, she became very moody and mind you, it was only the first part of the Centre!

Apart from the little crab, other animals or fishes were inside different thick glass aquariums. Hence giving Babah a big challenge to photograph good images. Plus they were all active animals that rarely kept still added to the difficulty too. Plus some other factors like lighting where some sections do not allow the use of camera-flash, the screen of the aquarium not very clean or clear or dirty and the people factors all topped up to the challenge. It must have been the most difficult assignment for Babah so far.

[Marine biologists excluded] Do you know that seahorses are just tiny little creatures? Do you know they are the slowest fish in the sea? And do you know that the male seahorse get pregnant instead of the female??? I can definitely use the latter as a teka-teki to my little friends. Read more about seahorses here.

Most of the areas were dimly lighted and one particular area was pitch black! It tried to resemble the deep sea. The above may remind you of the creature that lit up in the Finding Nemo movie when Marlon and Dory went deep into the sea to find the goggle, remember?

This particular area just gave me the creeps. Well, you can obviously imagine what Sarah and Amar were like. They were uncomfortable too.

Sarah recognised the above jellyfish immediately. They were beautiful creatures but can be poisonous too! They also looked like they have tungsten lights below their bell margin which illuminated their tentacles.

Other animals include otters,

starfish,

poison dart frog, the above was only as big as a 50sen coin!

The final section was a huge aquarium where you can see a few sea turtles, sharks and some other fishes. I think the centre we went to was a mini Aquaria, KLCC. I found out about Aquaria from Lela Khalidah's blog (Lela, I can't visit your blog at the moment. Our pc wouldn't open your page and restarted by itself when I click on your link.)

For those who'd love to have an underwater experience are encouraged to visit places like sea life centre. Apart from enabling to help with their S.O.S. work towards endangered species, you can enjoy the breathtaking experience without having to jump into the deep blue sea.

As for us, we'd give it a rest until the children are much older. We hate to see our children upset just because of a stuffed toy!

credits:
papers ~ Anna Benjmin, Danielle Engebretson, ShabbyShoppe
button stitches: J. Gorny
circle stitches: L. Garay

Pizza Hut and Memorial Park: 19 May 2007

2007-06-16T09:46:00.001+01:00

Thank you for your well wishes to Sarah. There are some new spots! But Sarah is wise enough not to scratch them and we regularly apply calamine lotion on her body to ease the itchiness. Other spots are healing except for the big ones.

Today's entry is just to record our activity happened on 19 May 2007. Nothing different really just a normal Saturday we spent with the children in the town centre and Memorial Park. Sarah has just acquired her likings to pizza and requested to go to Pizza Hut for lunch that day. She had a piece of garlic bread, a slice of pizza and best of all ~ unlimited desserts from the ice cream factory.

Babah met his old workmate who happened to sit just next to our table. It was a very pleasant and peaceful lunch. Sarah behaved herself very well and Amar was in a deep sleep. [I am a mean Mom, always taking advantage on this sort of opportunity!]

Coventry Crown Court

From Pizza Hut, we explored a new area of Coventry that we have just discovered! [After 3 years of residing here that is] It's where the Civic Centre and Crown Court are.

The above is Sarah carrying her new little mermaid pyjamas posing infront of the Crown Court. The area was in close proximity with Coventry University buildings, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum and Toy Museum.

It was still early, we went back to our car and drove to Memorial Park. The park may not be appealing to some people but it was good enough for our children to play at its playground.

There weren't many people when we reached the playground. Sarah and Amar had a good time on the swing and slide.

Even Babah couldn't resist the temptation of the swing! (Amar giving a little wave to Sarah who was on a slide at that time)

Sarah loved it when Babah pushed her high and fast.

She thought she was flying.

Amar definitely has gained his confidence with other apparatus too. We let him explore the playground under close supervision. He did remarkably well on the above bar and on a springy horse.

The next day, we went to National Sea Life Centre, Birmingham. This will be my next entry.

credits: Plain background paper and embellishments by Shabby Princess.

Oh No!

2007-06-13T09:55:00.001+01:00

I've always imagined that chickenpox is a nasty disease that cause a terrible itch to the sufferer. Not to forget the hideous scars it left behind. Hearing (even read!) the word 'chickenpox' could also start me scratching. I think I have offended some friends and relatives with my; "OK, got to run now" when I found out their child has chickenpox (or even demam campak or measles)

Apart from thinking the positive sides of sending Sarah to nursery, I went further and scared myself with the thoughts that she will be susceptible to various illnesses. Yes everyone! Sarah's got it. She got me really worried, especially thinking the sleepless nights she will have to go through because of the dreadful itch.

The weather has also been very warm these few days. For your information UK people don't really know about the thing called "Air-cond". We are however blessed with a desk fan which unfortunately stopped working 2-3 days before Sarah got the chickenpox! The Mama had to hand-fan (Is there such word as that?) Sarah using a hardcover storybook.

Anyway, it has been a few days now. The spots are the most around the nappy area, some on her chest and back. A little on her feet, face and head. We expected worse than that. Thankfully, it seems that she's had a mild one. Now the blisters look like they are drying up, some have black scabs and some look like a hollow dent.

Oh yes, I've just remembered something Sarah said when she saw some spots on her face. While trying to cover her spots with her little hand she said, "Oh No! Stevie will see the spots!" I told her that she has to be rested at home until the spots are all gone, but then she insisted that she has to go the the nursery! [So now you want to go to nursery eh??!!]

Before I took her to see our GP, I explained that the GP might want to look at her spots so that he knows what medication to give. Of which she replied, "Sarah tunjuk my hands and face only. I don't want to show my b****t (bottom) or my c*** (chest). Sarah malu nanti"

Throughout the break out, Sarah was more or less her usual self. She was not that miserable and she didn't scratch the spots that much. Her appetite was also really good. But she had problems with washing/bathing when the blisters burst. It could have been quite painful at that time.

By the way, I often heard that those who gets chickenpox
1. Must drink young coconut juice so that the spots come out and heal faster.
2. Must not be drenched in rain. Otherwise the scars will be permanent.
3. Must not eat anything with kicap (soy sauce) for the same reason as number 2.

Anyone wants to make a research on this? Babah gave me a 'semacam' look when I said I wanted to give Sarah air kelapa muda when we first saw the spots.

Sarah is on her way to recovery now. She cannot attend nursery until her scabs are all cleared. So far, neither Amar nor I have any signs of chickenpox yet although we are very much in close contact with Sarah. Let's hope that we are all free from it and pray that Sarah will be cleared soon too.

note 1: Sarah could have gotten the chickenpox from anywhere, not necessarily from the nursery.

note 2: As far as my earliest memory is concerned, I have not yet had chickenpox. That's why I am very petrified of it. Especially when I was pregnant with Sarah and Amar (and any other time too).

note 3: Babah has had it. So he was quite cool about it although he thought that he's caught it from Sarah when he saw some spots on his face, but that I think are jerawat. Still, one may get it more than once in his lifetime, right?

Amar wanted to be in the limelight too. In the midst of my fearsome of the chickenpox break out, Sarah and Amar continued their daily activities almost as normal. I am yet to write up a proper development on Amar. For the time being, suffice to say that he enjoys playing rough activities with Sarah.

It's heart warming to see Sarah making Amar laugh. We feel proud of him that he's responding to his surroundings more now and making effort to be involved in a more normal children's activities; let it be a normal run around and simple peek-a-boo.

On Monday (11 June 2007) evening, shortly after Babah arrived from work - the kids started to behave extra excitedly. They were running in circles (according to Babah) (I was in the kitchen preparing dinner) when suddenly Amar fell and wailed so loud that got us all worried.

His right hand looked limp and as if dislocated from his wrist! I really thought that it looked as if it was dangling away from his arm. Babah (having watched too much of Lost) went into the kitchen and found a senduk nasi (something like a flat ladle) and tied it to Amar's arm with a brown tape.

The chicken was still roasting but I had to turn off the oven and quickly got changed. There was no time to think about the colour scheme or nicely ironed blouse. I ended up wearing a mismatched colour outfit, but who cares? My mind was racing to think of plans should Amar has to stay in the hospital. We went straight to the Children's A&E department, Coventry University Hospital with wailing Amar all the way in the car. We registered at the reception and waited to be called.

Not long after that, a senior nurse called us and took the full history of the incident. He passed a comment on 'how efficient' Babah's quick thinking of the improvised bandage. (which later Babah wondered if the nurse meant it in a good way or with sarcasm??!!)

The nurse weighed Amar and gave him a syringe of calpol and ibuprofen (which we did not get around to giving him). Then we were asked to wait in the waiting room to be called by a paediatrician. There were at least 10 other children waiting to be called. The in-charged doctor will treat patients according to the severity of the illness - not first come first serve.

As we were waiting, Amar calmed down and started to move his supposedly injured hand like normal. Babah did some tests to see if Amar was really OK. We were quite worried if he has dislocated his shoulder or hand or arm or fractured any parts of his arm, as he was crying rather abnormally when he injured his hand. By then, he looked very much normal again. He even gave us his cheeky smile. His hand looked very much 'in place' too, honestly we really thought we saw the hand was somehow detached from the wrist! Seriously!

After a few minutes of contemplation, we decided to self discharged. Babah had to sign a form for this and then we went home. When we arrived, Sarah and Amar started to run around again like nothing have happened before.

Longford Park: 14 May 2007

2007-06-10T11:23:00.000+01:00

I can't exactly remember the real occasion, but we went to Longford Park on a Monday evening: 14 May 2007. The thing is Babah travels about 48miles (roughly 80km) to work everyday, so he deserves a lot of rest when he reaches home from work. Probably it was one of those days when Babah thought that the family has stayed indoors for too long especially because of the continuous rain of late. Hence, a little bit of sunshine ought to be good for the kids to have a little run around in the open space.

The park was not very 'hayfever-sufferer friendly', I should say. In certain areas, wild flowers were growing in abundance and the whole park was in dire need of a good mowing. Like many other kids, my children didn't seem to care about allergies and such. Blowing apart a dandelion clock was definitely a great agenda for them. So, nevermind the overgrown grass at the park. The more dandelion-clocks the better!

[By the way, today I've learned a lesson about dandelions. I wanted to be sure that I was using the right word for the wild-flower Sarah was blowing. I thought it was dandelion. But the definition I discovered for dandelion was: a dandelion is bla bla bla yellow head bla bla bla. So now, I know that the yellow flowers, which I often referred them as 'bunga rumput liar' are called dandelion. The one you blow apart is a dandelion clock. For further read with illustrations and photos, click here]

From the moment we arrived at the park, Sarah climbed, jumped and ran non-stop. She fell on a muddy puddle - gave a little guilty look when she saw she has dirtied her jeans - then continued on climbing, jumping and running.

Amar sat at the above spot silently for a few minutes. I just watched him from far while tending to Sarah's messy jeans. As usual, Babah was with the camera snapping photo after photo of the children in action. When I went close to Amar after that long minutes of silence, I was horrified to see he was actually stroking and caressing a new found pet, a wriggly pink worm.

A long, long time ago, a someone (I can't remember who) has given me a useful tip on photography; you will get a poor photo if you capture it facing the sun. But then, I've seen some great photos taken against the sun that made me wonder how could that be? I'm yet to learn the correct technique and improve on my angles to get what I actually had in mind, the above photo however was one of the first attempts by beginner me. [Tips received from Farah, who always produces artistic and unique photographs]

After a long enough session at the park, we called it a day and headed home. In the car, Babah realised that his glasses were missing. He left us all in the car and went for a little search to every spot we've been to. He even looked in between the shrubs and through the long grass. He came back to the car with a long face. Then I offered to make a quick round. I was quite doubtful that I'd find Babah's glasses. But thankfully, I did! Clue in the photo above.

Hari ini Dalam Sejarah

2007-06-06T18:53:00.000+01:00

How do I go round with this entry without sounding like I'm ballyhooing a relative's business? Well, she didn't even ask me to do this in the first place. It was just me who was flabbergasted early this morning when I received an email from my brother. It was not so much of an email really, just a link to NSTonline today.

May be Malaysian are rejoicing with the news of the front page of many newspapers today. But jakun me is proud to have an enterprising sister-in-law and family, that I think it should be recorded in this blog. Well done you guys, hopefully your business will continue to flourish and blossom to its full potential.

For those who happened to be in Section 8 or 10, Shah Alam, do visit Restoran Azira. If you meet my sister in law or my brother, do send my regards to them. Who knows you might get a special discount ;)

Full story here.

Happy Birthday to Iffah and Ulfah

2007-06-06T18:52:00.000+01:00

The twins were born a year ago on 06.06.06! I do not need any reminding because of the special date. The latest news about the twins from Nanny is they are starting to walk, or probably are already walking now. We are still waiting for their most recent photos and will update as soon as we can. For the twins early days photo: do click on the link here.

Meanwhile, Happy first Birthday dear twins; Iffah and Ulfah. We hope that you will have a wonderful birthday today.

Rutland Water: 5 May 2007

2007-06-04T12:29:00.000+01:00

R-L; Babah, Suboohi, Abhishek and Dawn

It's only normal to hear how great it is to work with his workmates from Babah. He enjoys going to work and love working with his great friends. Ever since he began his working life, I hardly hear him complain about his team. Mostly all positive. He once said; it probably feels like going to the nursery rather than to work!

Last bank holiday weekend, they have arranged a barbecue outing at Rutland Water. The place is about 1.5hrs from our house. We used the countryside route (quite hilly and winding) but we love the scenic view along the way.

Let's get the party started:

Dawn with her gigantic match.

I vaguely remember who had to bring what? I remember we brought the meat, chicken (marinated overnight) and some vegetables. Suboohi brought the disposable bbq set and some games. Abhishek was responsible for snacks (including yummy chocolate cake!) and drinks. And if I heard this right from Babah, Dawn had to bring 'everything and anything else'.

Peppers cut and prepared by Bilal

Well done, please

Babah with his small portion of food.

View of our little corner

Abhishek

It was forecasted to be a great weather, but the first half of the day was quite cloudy and chilly! Luckily we brought our jackets and warm clothing.

Row, row, row your boat

Just before 3pm, we (Richard mainly!) spring cleaned the place only leaving behind the still glowing charcoal behind for a boat ride around Rutland Water. We rushed to "Rutland Belle" the name of the boat that took us on a cruise around the man-made reservoir.

The above is Normanton Church Museum. It's brief history here.

Other than the boat ride, there are also activities like water sports, trout fishing, bird watching and cycling. Oh, of course the area near the museum is quite beautiful too.

The Sports Headlines

The day was far from over. Right after the boat ride, we started to get a generous amount of sunshine that we thought of lazing around for a bit more. So we went back to our barbecue spot. Suboohi and Bilal brought with them badminton rackets, a ball and frisbees.

Popular Suboohi among the children.

Football time with Sarah.

Frisbee session with Amar.

This is how you catch it people!

and don't go throwing it into the water!

The Frisbee rescuer! (A rescue mission by Babah. The frisbee was accidentally thrown into the lake.)

The fun family outing

Also during the second half of the outing, we spent the time finishing the rest of the food! There was generous amount of fruits, cakes and sodas.

Dawn with her fruit kebab.

This is how you 'change' a wriggly baby. Demonstrated by Richard.

The ground was huge. Ample space for the kids to run around.

"Gotcha, Adhi!"

It's just that the parents have to watch out for their kiddies so that they don't jump into the water. Sarah was very good. She knew it was dangerous. But it still gave you those anxious feelings whenever she stood too near to the water. I saw Amar sitting at the edge of the bank and moving bit by bit to get into the water! He didn't get into the water which was (I think) very much to his disappointment.

Otherwise, it was really a nice venue for a family outing. I love the above photo.

and this one too.

and this one of Ame!

There were tonnes of Ame's photos. She was the centre of attention that day!

After meeting with Babah's friends, I can understand why he enjoys going to work so much. They are just a bunch of super nice people with great enthusiasm and sense of humour too. In short, our day out was excellent especially because of the great company we were with. Thank you all!

Rutland Water: A Sneak Peek

2007-06-03T14:57:00.000+01:00

Finally after weeks of rain, we enjoyed the glorious sunshine again yesterday. Since it was a Saturday, we decided to have a lovely picnic at Coombe Abbey with some lovely friends. This entry is however not about the picnic. With the rate I'm going at the moment, I am guessing it will be posted some time next month. Haha!

Well, this entry is about our family outing with more lovely people. Also on a lovely sunny weather. They are Babah's friends from work. They arranged a day trip to Rutland Water - not only a reservoir, but also a place for various recreational activities.

Whoops! For your extra information, the event took place on last 5 May 2007. Plus minus a month ago.

Today's entry is just to introduce those who attended the gathering;

Abhishek, Mohita and Adhi

Our family

Suboohi and Bilal

Last but not least, Dawn, Richard and Ame Belle.
(please excuse the spelling in the layout above. Sorry Ame!)

More photos will be posted in my next entry with more story. (I do mean more!) As for now, I'm off to make some tea for the family.

p/s: click on the photo for larger image.

Happy Birthday to Kakak

2007-06-01T22:04:00.000+01:00

Dearest Kakak,

Today is your day to celebrate
by Unknown Author

Today is your day to celebrate
your day to be the star
so let the ones you love all cheer
and say how special you are

A year of fun and happiness
is our birthday wish for you
You are someone special
and your birthday should be too!

Happy Birthday

Love from;
Sarah and Amar

Longford Park: 29 April 2007

2007-05-30T11:55:00.001+01:00

Another lovely day. We didn't have any specific plans so we just called two neighbours and asked if they wanted to join us for a picnic at Longford Park. A neighbour squeezed with us in our car and we met the other neighbour and her family at the park.

Since we said that it was going to be a 'picnic', we must have food. But it was just an impromptu suggestion so we stopped at a fast food restaurant and ordered a family meal deal! The shop really took its time to prepare the food. Our other neighbour and her kids were already waiting for us at the park. Luckily they brought along some games; kites and balloons, so they were quite occupied while waiting for us.

Here are some photos of the kids. By the way, I was told that one of the children didn't quite fancy his photo being put up in blogosphere. But since I don't quite know which one is him, then I just put up all the kids' photo. Otherwise I will be judged for being impartial. But then I might get sued by this little fellow too.

Obviously this is Amar trying to climb up a bench.

Sarah with 3 fruit shoots. I gave her a long lecture about to finish one bottle at a time. Actually she took 3 bottles so that she could give them away to her friends. She had a good mind!

Friend no.1 - handy with weeding the wild flowers.

Friend no.2 - similar hobby with friend no.1.

Friend no.3 - the Princess. Always ready for the camera.

Friend no.4 - who thought that balloons will pop when they touch the grass. Didn't we all?!!

The grass was dry enough for us to lie down on it. We made the kids lie down on their back and posed for us. It was alright to direct the bigger kids, but a struggle to keep the younger one still - especially Amar.

First, there were four of them.

Four plus one plus one mystery hand but why is Sarah touching friend no.2?

Two had their eyes closed and errrrr... where is Amar?

Let's squeeze Amar in between. Alamak, now almost everyone closed their eyes!!!

Nearly perfect. Amar squashing friend no.4 and trying to make an escape.

Six minus one. Bolehlah.

It was a fun day with lovely company. There were enough space for the kids to run around. And lots of bigger kids who were willing to run after Amar if he went too far.

It may look like a speck of white dot in the above photo, but it is a kite flying in the air. To my children that must have been the first time they were introduced to a real kite. Amar was not very keen. Sarah - being quite pushy and demanding, she had a go and was quite successful.

The photo above proved that it was really her flying the kite. She had some help from a few people for the kite to lift off and to get her a steady grip of the two strings. Speaking of kids and kites just remind me of DITH's entry; 'Kite flying anyone?' written almost a year ago. My thoughts continue there. Go read!

Stratford upon Avon: 28 April 2007

2007-05-27T11:42:00.000+01:00

It was a very warm day. Not yesterday... not last weekend either. I'm talking about many weekends ago. 28 April 2007 to be exact. We just thought of going somewhere but not too sure where to. Stratford upon Avon is only around half an hour away from our house, so it was almost the perfect place for a last minute planned trip.

We parked our car at the same carpark every time we were there. From there we walked to the city centre and passed the same familiar shops like many times before. Some seemed to have the same things on display since Christmas!

And we passed Shakespeare's Birthplace many times too, but have never entered the place yet. We kept on saying "Next time."

The only thing different that weekend was there were a couple of children's rides at the park. It was also the first time when Amar showed an interest to have a go on the carousel. He was very excited: bouncing up and down as if saying "hey, I'm ready for such rides now". The last time we let him ride was in December and he looked like he could puke anytime! Previous entries on the same subject; here and here.

I drew the short straw, so I had to ride with Amar. Sarah was on another horse next to us. Babah was with his camera taking shots after shots of photos of us. After a few rounds, I realised that we were the only people who made gleeful (and crazy) sounds. Call us jakuns but that's why we would politely decline towards roller-coaster ride invitations.

Sarah and Amar had another ride after that. I was so glad to see Amar was doing very well in the truck. He didn't hesitate but quite sure that he wanted to go on the ride. So we placed him together with Sarah in the same vehicle. Thinking back, I think I was more excited than them two - clapping and waving like mad on the outside.

Punting would be lovely on a warm sunny day. But not quite a good idea with two restless children on board - so that would have to wait too.

As for the rest of the day, Babah continued capturing some more photos. Experimenting with new photography techniques he continually learns from the internet. While the children and I basked in the sun - blowing bubbles and more bubbles.

We knew that we could always count on Stratford upon Avon for a short day trip like this.

Some of my previous entries on our trips to Stratford upon Avon:
30 Sept 2006
7 July 2006
13 June 2006
28 May 2006
8 March 2006

The growing list

2007-05-26T12:13:00.001+01:00

Time for a quick update. I have not given up this blog yet and I still have not ran out of ideas. Haha! It's just that finally I realised that I can actually live without having to blog or bloghopping everyday. Especially when there were more pressing matters to be dealt with recently.

These following posts are way behind schedule. Not that I have to meet a certain dateline, but I do get occasional hint from my spouse when I am going to update this and that event? Well anyway, here are the delayed posts:

Stratford upon Avon day trip - 28 April 2007
Picnic and kite flying at Longford Park - 29 April 2007
Barbecue at Rutland Waters - 5 May 2007
Day out to Longford Park again - 14 May 2007
Coventry town centre and Memorial Park - 19 May 2007
National Sea Life Centre, Birmingham - 20 May 2007
Longford Park Playground - 24 May 2007

Besides that, I also wish to make a special entry on each of the following;

Amar's special development assessment at Gulson Hospital - 8 - 16 May 2007
Follow up on Sarah with her nursery/playschool

I also have to update my pondok-pondok site. We've seen the cheesecake photo and recipe far too long now! A few more relatives birthday wishes coming up in the near future that need special entries in here. And today, we are all invited to a birthday party. I know Sarah couldn't wait for that.

Since this morning, I've been trying to create a special layout with Sarah's photo. But the computer is behaving rather funny and restarted itself whenever I tried to save the project. That has happened at least FOUR times! Too many files in this computer, I think! Do you think Babah will notice if I just delete some of his files? I will just post this up first and include Sarah's layout when it's ready later.

updated: We have just came back from the birthday party, and I have managed to do yet another layout for Sarah. Finally the computer did not act up like before. Now I am not sure which entry to write first - the belated ones or the party we have just attended earlier this afternoon... hmmm...

Happy Birthday to Yaya

2007-05-24T12:33:00.001+01:00

What do you get when you mix sugar, spice and everything nice?

Perfect little YAYA!

It's your birthday today. We hope that you will have a great day and get lots of presents from your loved ones. Have fun and hope to see you again in the near future.

Love always;
Sarah and Amar

The Wonder Years: Trial no. 3 & 4 and the beginning

2007-05-14T12:45:00.000+01:00

There were two previous entries regarding Sarah's trials to the nursery. I like it when The Wonder Years (the nursery) gave Sarah a couple of trial sessions so that Sarah was familiar with the new surrounding and that surely would help her being away from the family for the first time. I left Sarah for an hour during the first two trials. Both times, Sarah did not adapt herself well. So she was given more trial sessions until she's shown more confidence.

Trial no. 3: 3 April 2007 (on Amar's 2nd birthday)

It didn't go too well this time. Sarah refused to go. My words of consolation did not work. She still refused. Somehow we managed to leave the house, despite the crying and screaming of scared Sarah. Ten steps later, in between sobs she said she needed the toilet; "nak yak" was her excuse.

So we turned back and I asked her to do 'her business' quickly. She just sat down continue crying. Honestly I was angry, but I felt sorry for her at the same time. If only liking school comes naturally to her! Knowing that the Babah wouldn't be too happy if I gave in to her, I insisted that she should still attend her trial session that day.

At the nursery, Sarah screamed so loud. Tugging on my jacket and pulling my hands and legs. Flipping my skirt and yanking my bag. It was not a pretty sight. She managed to escape with the trick.

I thought she'd be better by then, but I was wrong. We headed home. Sarah was relieved (I think) but my mind was busy thinking of how to con her next time.

Trial no. 4: 5 April 2007

I'm sure there are similar children who have this sort of separation anxiety. It was not only difficult for her, but also to me. Who'd have the heart to force this fragile girl when the whole exercise is not even compulsory? Thinking that Sarah will gain better social skill with children her age and exposing her to more fun activities, I had to put a stern-front.

She cried when i got her ready to the nursery. Asking me to promise not to leave her again. This time, I stayed with her for one hour. We did some colouring together and she very much preferred it that way.

One hour later, we went home together. You should see her face lit up when she said 'goodbye' to everyone. She was the happiest when it was "go home" time.

The beginning: 10 April 2007
If you can remember, we were on a break to the South the weekend before. Both Sarah and Amar were very poorly after the holiday. On Tuesday, when she was supposed to begin her real session, she had very high temperature. She was lying down the whole day; as limp as a sotong. I know I was soft with her, but she was ill. So I called her nursery and gave our apologies. I have also managed to change her to the morning sessions.

Real session no. 1: 12 April 2007
With a nervous heart, I left a wailing Sarah behind. The strategy was to occupy my hands with Amar (so that I cannot carry her), shorten the goodbyes, letting her know that I would definitely be back for her and to wear a pair of trousers to avoid mishap like before. I wish I didn't have to leave her when she was in tears. But I had to.

Amar started to cry too. He looked traumatised by everything. I was slightly worried he'd be the same when it is his turn. Amar and I went home with Sarah's bag! At home, I made sure that the receiver of the phone was in place and my mobile should be switched on and within the receiving range.

An hour later, the home phone rang! My heart beat very fast. It was the nursery. Oh dear, what has happened to Sarah? She had a soiled nappy and the staff asked where her bag was! There I was, running as fast as I could to the nursery with her koala bear bag. I just left the bag at the reception, when I was assured by the staff that Sarah was doing well in the class.

At 11am, I rang the nursery to check if Sarah was OK? I was told that Sarah's class was playing in the garden and I shouldn't feel worried- so I was very relieved. I fetched her around 12.30pm. When I arrived, Sarah was weeping and holding Stevie's hand. Stevie said Sarah suddenly became upset when a parent came to fetch one of the children there. Otherwise she was quite happy playing in the class.

and so on...
Sarah has attended eight more sessions after that. If you think that Sarah has gotten over the crying period, you are wrong! She still cries whenever she was sent to the nursery. And she still hates the word 'school' or 'nursery'. However, there were times when she felt like talking about what she did at the nursery; painting, singing and playing in the garden. And her appetite has improved (or doubled!) after she started at the nursery.

Despite the woes and struggles every nursery mornings, I think Sarah actually likes going to nursery. It's just that she prefers to stay at home a tad more.

The Mama
I feel bad leaving an unhappy child like that. Like I said, it's not compulsory and I can home educate her like before. I was not comfortable and scared if Sarah had a rough start, she might have difficulties when she starts the real schooling in the future. Surely I don't want Sarah to have a bad scar in her mind.

Obviously, I don't want her to get into a habit of crying every morning of her nursery sessions. However I am hopeful and still praying that she will change for the better. Let's hope for more cheerful updates regarding this matter in the future, OK?

Happy Birthday to Opah

2007-05-12T21:32:00.001+01:00

A pinkish birthday dedication hoping Opah is in the pink of health on her birthday. This time Sarah wants to buy a pink scooter for Opah as a present. More like she wants it for herself rather than for Opah, right?

Happy birthday Opah. Hope you like this poem...

"Happy Birthday" Means Much More

"Happy Birthday" means much more
Than have a happy day.
Within these words lie lots of things
We never get to say.
It means we love you first of all,
Then thanks for all you do.
It means you mean a lot to us,
And that we're proud of you.

But most of all, we guess it means
That we are thinking of
Your happiness on this, your day,
With pleasure and with love.

unknown author
source: explore.co.uk

Baked Raspberry Cheesecake: 25 April 2007

2007-05-10T09:40:00.000+01:00

Just like any other Wednesday afternoons, you will see me infront of the pc (what else if not busybody-ing reading other people's blogs or reading stuff on digital scrapbooking) and the children were playing with their toys. The tv was on low volume on Cbeebies channel. But on that special warm 25 April 2007 p.m. D came to visit after fetching her children from school.

I was so guilty there was nothing to serve to the guests immediately. Luckily a couple of days before I bought some ingredients for an easy cheesecake recipe. The plan was to invite D to come over for a personal tutorial. Since the Guru was there, so I thought we might as well have baked cheesecake for tea.

There I was asking D to bash the digestive biscuits, mixing with butter and squashing on a spring-form tin. I did the beating of the cream cheese with the rest of the ingredients. It was not that difficult really when she was there.

When the cake was in the oven, I whipped up some 'jemput-jemput ikan bilis' (ikan bilis courtesy of DITH and family) and prepared a teapot of tea (errkkk this should be the first to be done when they came right?).

We all sat down and had our afternoon tea on the floor. The children finished theirs rather quickly and played in the backyard. The moms were talking about losing weight and exercising over our lovely tea.

The next day, just like any other Thursdays, during a routine visits to friends' blogs - D had a special announcement on her blog. No! Not about my cheesecake! But it was her birthday on 26 April 2007!

I grabbed my mobile phone and gave her a quick call. Obviously I was "upset", she didn't tell me that it was going to be her birthday. Surprisingly, none of her children whispered it to me. Her children knew how to keep a secret! And I regret asking her to bash the biscuits, bla bla helping me out in the kitchen. She should have been given a special treatment.

Sorry with this 'basi' birthday wish, D. Some people celebrate it the whole month, you know!! And some the whole year. Yes, I'm very sluggish with my entries, I still have loads of entries in the queue waiting to be published, family visit to Stratford upon Avon, our picnic at Longford Park, barbecue with Babah's colleagues at Rutland Waters and I intend to update on Sarah and Amar's progresses. At the same time, I'm crazy over scrapbooking.

Speaking of birthdays, I actually have many friends who were born in May;
Elviza (E.M.) - 3 May, who also shares the same birthdate with her son, Luqman.
Ibu Amin dan Ammar - 5 May
Jue - 5 May
Em, Sherin's son - 6 May
Maklang - 8 May
Sherin - 14 May

and family members in May;
Tok Ayah - 6 May
Opah - wait for it you guys, coming soon!
Yaya - also wait for this one :)

To all of you, happy birthday and may success and happiness come your way always. Pretend that I made the cheesecake for you. To the others, you know where to find the full recipe, yeah? Visit pondok-pondok.

The Des came to visit: 22 April 2007

2007-05-08T13:37:00.000+01:00

We received a phone call from the Des when we were at the Memorial Park (see previous post here). They intended to visit us since they were in the neighbourhood that warm and beautiful afternoon.

It took us longer than usual to reach home since there was a road block along the main road near our house. There was some sort of a religious festival. Five - ten minutes after we (finally) got home, the Des arrived.

As you all know, Sarah adores the Des so much. And Auntie De is always very good with Sarah and Amar. Sarah loved it when Auntie De read books and write with her.

Emyr and Safiya were very good. Both are gorgeous kids too!

With Auntie De, they formed into a circle and played ring a ring o' roses. Safiya was just so cheeky. She started to move before everyone started singing and "fall down" before she was supposed to. She has her own version of the song as well.

As usual, Amar was minding his own business.

Sarah was always making Emyr upset. She wanted whatever toys he was holding. At the end of the day, they had their own bottle of milk (even that she wanted Uncle De to prepare it for her!) and squashed Emyr to the middle of the sofa.

Safiya babbled all the time. Tottered all around the house. She ate whatever was served. Basically she is one happy-go-lucky girl.

I managed to cook 'my' Nasi Arab with fried chicken and salad. Thankfully, we had Cornish vanilla ice-cream in the freezer, some fresh strawberries, (courtesy of Azura) strawberry sauce and thin waffles all in the larder. With the ingredients I managed to prepare some decent looking dessert (I think!).

______
thanks FafBr for her great designs for the layout. Love her work!

Happy Birthday to Tok Ayah

2007-05-06T10:04:00.000+01:00

Two nights ago, Sarah asked whose birthday is next in the family? I said it's going to be Tok Ayah's birthday on Sunday. She stared into the space and laid out some plans:

Sarah bangun, mandi, pakai baju baru.
Sarah nak bake a cake.
Pastu pergi town beli present Tok Ayah.

Then came some questions from her;

Kita beli "Thomas" untuk Tok Ayah nak tak?
Beli Robot boleh?
Kita beli car macam Amar mesti Tok Ayah suka.
Esok kita pergi rumah Tok Ayah ke?
Naik aeroplane dulu kan?

She ended her plan with a statement, "Sarah call Tok Ayah je lah, sing happy birthday to you"

_______
kudos:
green background: V. Ponce - Two peas in a bucket
brown paper: P. Gibson
black and white corners: T. Bennet - Scrapbook Element
silver brad: Appledreams - Scrapbook Element

Memorial Park: 22 April 2007

2007-05-03T09:25:00.000+01:00

We've been to Memorial Park several times before. Help yourself with the short-cuts below for my previous entries on the park;

Our first time at the park and its brief history - 30 June 2006
The park's playground - 7 October 2006
Memorial Park in Autumn/Winter - 10 December 2006

Earlier that morning, we went to Stoneleigh Park. The scenery along the way was very serene for first timers like us. It was a stretch of woodland that reminded us of Sherwood Forest. When we arrived at where we thought was the venue, it felt and looked like the place is a private land. So we changed our plan and went to Memorial Park instead.

As usual, this park has never failed us. We were welcomed by rows and rows of copper beach trees that are sprouting new reddish leaves. You will see a similar scene of the park here photographed in Autumn/Winter, but with bare branches.

Most of the trees have a commemorative plaque of when they were planted and to whom they were dedicated to.

kudos: L.Garay for dotted paper and rounded stitches

I asked Sarah to read one of the signs, and she managed to spell T-R-E-E. I was busy taking her pictures and forgot to ask her what year it was planted, what type of tree it was and to whom it was dedicate to?

Amar slept when we first arrived. When he woke up not long after that, he immediately became very active and ran around as much as he can. In the photo above, Amar is doing some sort of his sitting dance, moving only the upper body and hands.

You will know from my previous entry that the War Memorial Park is Coventry's tribute to the soldiers from the city that lost their lives during the WWI. At the top of the Memorial is where you'll see a continuous glow of an amber light. I am pretty sure that it symbolises something.

The park also covers a huge area of land. Can you spot Amar in the above photo? (Please blame me for the bad photography) Amar just "ran away" from us. He loved the open space so much!

After the rescue mission, Babah introduced Amar to some new buds in this early spring.

The above must be the maze-like garden.

kudos: P. Gibson for the background papers and paper clip with ribbon.

If you look at the above photo properly (or click on it to enlarge), you will see Babah in a semi-lying position taking a photo of Amar.

Amar could sit down for hours on the grass plucking the wild white and yellow daisy-like flowers.

Apart from the big trees, there were also an area with little colourful flowers growing from the ground. Also a few trees that look like red-leaves bonsai trees.

Before we went back, Babah bought some refreshments for all of us. We sat down at the cafeteria and enjoyed the scenery with our drinks and light snacks.

As we were approaching the carpark, I saw the above tulip like flower covering huge, big trees. There was no more memory space in our camera, but I made Babah delete some of the not-so-good ones, just to squeeze in a couple of the above. It's all worth it, don't you agree?

Coventry: 9-21 April 2007

2007-04-26T16:28:00.000+01:00

Demam 09.04.07 - 20.04.07

Two days after we came back from our get-away, Sarah and Amar were down with fever. Their temperature rose especially in the evening and when they were asleep in the night. Whenever they are ill, I hardly sleep myself.

Sarah was as flat as a pancake for a few days. She slept continuously and got me feeling sorry for her. Upon my discretion, she was rested at home and missed going to the nursery.

Amar was equally unwell. He lost his appetite and basically ate nothing apart from his regular milk. Even that, he hardly finished his usual dose.

Alhamdulillah they are much better now. Sarah has resumed her attendance to the nursery (more update on this particular matter next time).

On Saturday (14.04.07) Babah felt unwell too. That made three of them who just slept through the whole day and night. Luckily we were still blessed with plenty of sunshine the next day. And better still the three of them seemed slightly better. We immediately took the opportunity to go out and enjoy the daylight. Nowhere spectacular, but just at 'our very own' town centre.

The not so Lunch
Arep and Dina were kind to join us that sunny day and met us at the Old Cathedral. It was noon time and Amar was really cranky, (I suspected) he wanted his bed for his afternoon nap. We all felt very relieved when Amar finally fell asleep in my arms. Then, we quickly found our way to the nearest restaurant for a quick lunch. When the food was served, Amar woke up and started to make a lot of fuss. The restaurant was a bit too posh for a poorly child, so I decided to leave the restaurant before Amar create a bawl infront of the public, while the rest finished up their meals.

Longford Park

Amar was still restless, we thought that we should just head home immediately after lunch. We made our separate ways and once we were in our car, Amar was smiling and calmed down. Instead of going straight back home, we made a detour and went to Longford Park.

Longford Park was "founded" by D and her family. It's funny that they have just been in Coventry for less than a year but they knew so much more than us. We sometimes asked her for directions in the area where we ourselves have lived in for three years!

We fell in love with the park instantly! There's a little river running through the park.

Weeping willow trees lining along the stream and specially designed track for a pleasant riverside walk.

There were lots of flowerbeds with different colourful flowers.

A huge space for the children to run around.

And enough greens for Amar to bury himself in.

There's a little bridge crossing over the river, leading us to the children's play area, football pitches and a skatepark.

It was obvious that both our children loved the park. (Thank you D!) They automatically became much, much better after a good run around in the open space.

Be warned you all, we visited the park again and again after that. More updates (yes I'm slacking with my entries) in the future.

Long lost friend: 21 April 2007

I became aware about Azura's whereabouts from EM's blog. With EM's help, I obtained Azura's email address and managed to get in touch with her. Azura and EM were my school friends that I have not met since many, many years ago. (Notice the word "many" used?) Azura who was also my ex dorm-mate, is married and currently residing somewhere ("somewhere" merely means I do not want to be specific) near London.

To cut the story short, Azura came to Coventry to visit us. She brought with her lots of buah tangan for the whole family! Obviously she still remembers her 'adat ketimuran' even though having lived and 'probably' married to this country permanently.

We had a really pleasant time with our "you ingat tak ..." and god knows how much fun we had, reminiscing the good old time. By the way, thanks to Babah too for letting me spent some time out with my long lost friend.

I only took Azura to Nandos for dinner and didn't get to show her the real beauty of our little town as it was already getting dark. Hopefully some photos in this entry are good enough to represent Coventry.

Brighton: 8 April 2007

2007-04-22T20:50:00.000+01:00

Finally I can cross out Brighton from my must-go list. Exactly twenty years ago, my family and I visited the same spot. The seawater (or is it English Channel water?) is still as ice-cold as I could remember. They still sell creamy vanilla icecreams in cones. The fun rides are still there, although the fares must have gone up thrice as much.

There were so many people or visitors. May be it was because of the Easter break. Everyone wanted a free therapeutic foot massage available along the pebbly beach. The only problem was, one had to face a sea of people sunbathing along the way.

The remains of West Pier

And sadly, we saw what must have been the West Pier. The pier was destroyed by fire in 2003. However there are plans to erect a new landmark in its place. Plans were already approved by the City council. The construction will start this summer and it should open next summer 2008.

Uncle De, the natural born navigator (or cyborg?) led us the way to Brighton seafront. The only person we trust to be our 'tourist-guide' in the UK. We headed straight to a fish and chips shop immediately after parking our car. Babah bought a regular fish and chips, scampi and chips and some drinks for us.

While waiting for the food, Sarah helped Emyr to a drink of mineral water. Sarah is always fussing over Emyr and especially Safiya.

Right after lunch, we tried to find an 'empty' spot on the pebbly beach. There were just too many people, that it was quite impossible not to choose a spot that blocked someone else's view. The children had fun throwing stones into the sea. The weather was hotter than the day we were at Legoland. You may well imagine that the weather was sizzling hot but thanks to the sea-breeze that at least soothened the burning sensations on our skin.

Emyr was very brave. He stood by the sea and let the tide cover his feet (or shoes!).

Emyr and Safiya removed their shoes and changed into proper outfits to begin the foot reflexology therapy.

Sarah had a brief dip in the water, and decided that it was too cold for her tiny feet. I made Amar touched the seawater too, when suddenly a gush of current came to us and got him scared.

When we were about to leave, Amar started to play with the pebbles with his sister.

Even when everyone else started to make a move, he was still sitting there refusing to budge.

We made our way to Brighton Pier (another pier that is still standing) just to go on a carousel. The ride was £3 per person per ride on the pier! Crazy price! And it was only £1.50 by the seaside (in the photo above)!

Auntie De bought us waffle on a stick coated with drizzles of chocolate sauce. Babah introduced candyfloss (or cotton candy) to the kids, who later got themselves sticky all over their face, fingers and hair!

And I bought some Brighton rock candies just to complete the sugar intake for the day (reasoning not valid!)

After Brighton Pier, we went straight back home. Auntie De and family to Essex. And us to Coventry. Took us around three hours on the road. Alhamdulillah the kids slept along the way, Amar woke up when we were almost at the end of the journey.

For those who would like to do more in Brighton, there are a lot more to do and see. There are, Sea Life Centre, the historic clock tower and we missed Brighton Pavilion; notably the top in the list for the most scenic and best heritage site in the UK. We only passed by the Pavilion because we were short on time. It was definitely majestic and unique. Please visit the place for me!

London and Essex:7 April 2007

2007-04-18T20:52:00.000+01:00

From Legoland, we went straight to Auntie and Uncle Wa's (Auntie De's parents) house in Essex and stayed there for two nights. When we woke up the next morning, we found Auntie De preparing kuey teow for breakfast. She has woken up since very early - both her children were not well.

The Des remained in Essex, while we braved ourselves into London. Uncle De sent us to the train station where we bought all-day travel tickets. We thought of 'going all out' in London. Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Oxford Street, Piccadilly Circus, London Bridge, you know the lot. Probably have lunch at one of the Malaysian restaurants, and tea at Harrods. But before that, we just had to go to the statuesque Tower Bridge.

It should have been a straight forward journey if Fenchurch Street Station was the last stop, as we thought. We didn't know if it was the Easter holiday or due to some engineering works, but we found ourselves 'stranded' at Barking for one hour or so. There were hundreds of people waiting for the London train like us. The kids started to be uneasy, we almost thought of making a turn back to Essex.

However, we continued waiting.

We got on a train heading to Liverpool Street Station. It was good enough for us. We then took a double decker bus and stopped on London Bridge. (Yes ON London Bridge itself)

London Bridge (NOT the above) is merely a bridge, connecting two lands over the River Thames. We were more interested in the Tower Bridge (the above). Which was within walking distance from London Bridge. First, we had to descend the 'weird' staircase from London Bridge to the South bank of River Thames. Sarah walked on her own. I carried Amar. Babah carried the pushchair. Simple as that.

HMS Belfast

The walk along the riverbank was just a relaxing exercise. I was tempted by this 'posh' looking restaurant serving fish and chips. The restaurant was packed with customers and it was not a priority, so we walked on. There were just so many things to see and do at this area alone. There is Hay's Galleria, where you can read its history here. Also, the London Dungeon, St Katharine Docks, Tate Modern, Tower of London, City Hall London and HMS Belfast.

HMS Belfast was one of the largest and most powerful cruisers ever built for the Royal Navy. It was built in 1938 and it is Europe's last surviving big gun warship of WW2. Now, it's a museum.

City Hall (London)

Informally known as the 'Leaning Tower of Pizzas'. The Headquarters of the Greater London Authority and the Mayor of London. It has been compared variously to Darth Vader's helmet and a misshapen egg. Also some other funny comparisons, go search the names yourself!

River Thames

How do you pronounce 'Thames'? Here in the UK, it is pronounced as 'Temz' (The 'e' as in ever or get) with a silent 'h'. The history of the word is rather interesting. (I wonder if anyone is trying to say the word out loud...)

Babah offered to buy Sarah an ice-cream as a reward for being such a good girl. Perhaps a way to provide extra energy for Sarah to continue walking on her own.

Soon, she became Hammy from Over the Hedge - full of energy. Running around, climbing up and down the stairs and jumping on and off a sitting stool.

After the running and all, she ended up on Babah's shoulders.You might have guessed that Amar has by now fallen asleep in the pushchair.

To get to the other side of the bank, we have to cross via Tower Bridge (or if you are on the other end, via London Bridge). We had to go up the steep, 'winding' and narrow staircase to be on the Tower Bridge. We looked for a lift or at least a ramp. It was rather difficult to go up the stairs because Amar was sleeping in the pushchair, and I was carrying sleeping Sarah too.

Babah tried to manage Amar and the pushchair when suddenly a kind lady 'instructed' her husband, "Darling, do give this gentleman a hand". We were extremely grateful to the man.

I was thinking how do other parents with pushchair manage the flight of stairs? And we straightaway remember our trip to Paris, where we (I rather) continuously complain of the lack of ramps for family like us. London is more or less the same. Well, at least the people here are friendlier (haha!).

Soon we were challenged by another set of stairs! I was hoping that the bridge would just merge to the North bank. The short-cut was of course the staircase again. We somehow managed ourselves (with sheer difficulties!)

There was an empty bench, as soon as we reached the bank. We laid Sarah on it and Babah looked for some refreshments. We needed to quench our thirst and rest our aching back!

We have never attempted to enter Tower of London. We have been to the area countless times, how did we not think of it eh? We love Castles, and this is one of them built in 1078 by William the Conqueror. For my reference, more of its history can be found here and here.

A view right opposite of Liverpool Street Station

Souvenirs (*ehem* fridge magnets) and candies from the gift shop were a must. We then went straight to Liverpool Street Station, since the time then was already 5pm! We spent the whole day just by the river!!!

We saw the above statue in the boundary of the station. I thought they were the railway children. But there are too many of them, so they couldn't be. When Babah left Sarah on the podium, she stood very still and looked on the ground clutching on her own jacket tightly.

From far, I thought she was just refusing to be photographed by Babah. But then, I realised she was 'scared' of the statues! Poor child.

We boarded the train to Southend and stopped at Chafford Hundred. The children and Babah spent the whole journey teasing and laughing with each other. Since everyone was in a good mood and the sun was still shining, we crossed the pedestrian link bridge to Lakeside Shopping Centre which was right across the train station.

There we found rows of Cherry Blossoms trees, which just reminded me of Ajzie of Wilhem~Achtzehn. She has a collection of Sakura trees photos taken by herself infront of her house in German.

As I'm writing this entry, I just had to do a little research on Sakura trees just incase I get the name wrong. I found myself amazed by the different species and facts about them. To Ajzie and Yus (who also posted about Sakura trees around her area) the photos are for you.

By the way, here are two sites which helped me the most,
Japan-guide.com
Vancouver Sakura Diary

We finally spent the briefest of time in Lakeside. The kids started to throw tantrums. (I hate that word!) We then called Uncle De (a die hard Man U fan) to come and fetch us. We arrived at their house (pura-pura) didn't know about the Man U v Portsmouth match which has just started. How we manage to get Uncle De to fetch us? We don't know. Hihi...

The next day, we went to Brighton. But that's another entry.

____________
A special birthday wish to Auntie Nurul whose birthday is today, 18 April 2007! Our best wishes for your future undertakings. We have a gift for you, but you have to wait for it ;)

LEGOLAND: 6 April 2007

2007-04-16T08:06:00.000+01:00

I thought my blog has an automated cobweb eliminator device. I must have forgotten to switch it on. In actuality, the kids are still unwell. They managed to spread the bugs to the Babah. So there were three poorly 'babies' at home during the weekend! Despite the low mood around the house, the Mama on the other hand has managed to get her almost-dead brain cells exercising again. Yippee! I guess Babah doesn't call me 'Painkiller Jane' for nothing!

Legoland stories now. We planned to visit a few places on the Southern part of the UK. With the help of Auntie and Uncle De, we had a splendid holiday. It was the beginning of Easter break, Friday 6 April 2007. Our family began our journey from our home around 8.20am. While the Des made their way separately and we were to meet somewhere in the theme park.

It was a smooth ride journey alhamdulillah. The kids behaved tremendously well. Amar slept the whole way and Sarah was equally excellent, although she only had a thirty minutes nap. As usual, I always find myself gaping in awestruck whenever we enter a new terrain. Not that there was a sandstorm, but the aura and the feel would always be different from our 'humble' Coventry.

You can say that we were like "rusa masuk kampung". Well, I think it must have been the signs we saw along the way - "Welcome to Buckinghamshire" and "Windsor Castle" (an official residence of the Queen and the LARGEST occupied castle in the world!)

As you can see, the place was jam packed with people. Luckily Auntie De was eligible for some discounts at Legoland and ordered our ticket through the internet. We saved a lot of time queueing at the ticket booth and went straight to the entrance point with the print-at-home tickets.

Legoland covers a huge piece of land. I can almost guarantee that we didn't cover the whole place. The fact that it was a scorching hot day did not help either.

Our first stop was 'Miniland' - they claimed that some 35 million pieces of LEGO® bricks have been used to recreate scenes from Europe.

There were lots of stunning views for picture takings. However it was quite hard to get good angles of the subjects since there were always distractions. Lucky we brought along our handy Sony - the 3.1mp digital camera too. The lens is not in a tiptop condition, I've tried to clean it. But the hazy mark remained there. At least, I get to photograph Babah in action!

There were lots of different building. I didn't even try to remember their names. Do they look real to you?

They were actually the height of Sarah and Amar.

Anyone knows what building this is? I was busy answering a phone-call from Malaysia rather than reading the signposts. My nieces called to wish Amar a happy birthday. The place was too noisy that I didn't hear half of what they said, but I remember hearing their happy tone of voice and giggles. Thank you Izlin, Yaya and Anis for calling us. I was busy replying messages too. Not complaining, but it was really nice to receive messages from people you care about. Thanks ~~Juyeh~~ Azura (my long lost schoolmate) and DITH.

Besides the buildings, there were automated vehicles and windmills. Those attracted the little ones for some time while crunching on original flavoured Doritos.

(Have you had enough of Miniland yet?) We were there for a good hour until we made a move to the next part; where the real fun actually began (and no more memory space on the camera!).

Out of the many rides, this was the only ride Babah and Sarah had at Legoland. There was the height limit, restricting only 0.9m and above for most of the rides. Also some has age limit; like the driving licence range allowing only 6-13 years of age. Preference is another matter, Sarah might not like to go on a scary rides like the Dragon Coaster or a Pirate Falls. Of course, there was the queueing factor too.

Amar was already restless in his pushchair while waited Babah and Sarah queueing for the Whirlybirds ride. I took off his furry jacket and let him loose on the ground, then he was much happier.

Space Tower

The Des first 'ride' was the Space Tower. They had to pull themselves up to the top of the tower where an alien spaceship is hovering. Let go of the cable to descend gently and safely back to earth! (Pull themselves up, hmmmm!)

The intrepid Des even queued for almost an hour for this exhilarating ride! Yes, even Emyr!

For bigger kids like Shafiq (Auntie De's brother), there were so many other heart bracing rides like the above Jungle Coaster.

Sarah didn't even want to go on a free-drive boat ride.

She was scared of the 'moving' crocodile.

The Waterworks area looked like so much fun for the kids. Beware, just be ready to get wet!

The children had fun at the colourful playground.

SuperEmyr enjoyed himself too.

Not to forget Little Safiya.

DITH in one of the sms/messages I received that day said, "Wah Legoland! Hope Amar doesn't fall asleep." Unfortunately he did, throughout the second half of the time there.

All in all, we had an OK time there. Our next trip to another theme park will not be in the near future(!) and hopefully not during a school holiday.

p/s: Happy belated birthday to Uncle Afar - 12 April 2007. I did put up a 'wish' on the sidebar for him since I didn't quite have the time to do a proper entry on the day. Anyway Uncle Afar, we hope that you have enjoyed your first birthday with your wife. Send us some news PLEASE plus recent photos of your honeymoon in Bali(?).

Update!

2007-04-11T10:43:00.000+01:00

Dear all, we've been away for a few days during the Easter break recently. We had so much fun at:

Then, a revisit to:

Finally, we basked under the sun here:

We came back on Sunday night, tired but happy. On Monday night Sarah and Amar were down with fever. Hence the reason I was unable to update earlier.

Now that they are slightly better, I will update with more photos. Will be back soon!

Amar is 2: The Party

2007-04-04T11:17:00.000+01:00

note:due to some comments left regarding too small pictures, I'd like to inform that larger images can actually be viewed if you just CLICK on each picture. Each image is of 'reasonable' size for quick loading. Many thanks for the comments.

-THE PREPARATION-

Thank you to those who have left birthday wishes to Amar. To some, the answers to their questions may be found here too. The planning for Amar's birthday began many months ago. The actual execution was from two weeks back, when we bought presents and made hand-made birthday card for Amar.

Initially the plan was to have Disney's Toy Story theme as room decoration. Due to limited choice, we ended up with Spiderman instead. Sarah helped a lot in the preparation stage. The card making, the balloons, wrapping the presents and she baked the cupcakes too.

On the other hand, Amar was pretty oblivious and unanimated! Pycno is right, he said, "Anda (Amar) mungkin tidak menyedari atau memahami nya sekarang..." (from his comment in the previous post).

-THE GUESTS-

For Amar's 1st birthday last year, we bought a small birthday cake. It was only a small family party - just the four of us. This time, those who attended were: Arep, Dina, D and her family. Not to forget Marium, our next door neighbour.

The party was scheduled to begin after Asar, at 5pm. The day was sunny. The children played outside for a little while. They looked for some ladybirds to be added to little D's personal collection.

Amar was the only one left indoors. He was watching the tv!

-THE FOOD-

It was teatime, so I kept the menu simple. The fried chicken niblets were clear to be the most popular one among the children. It was fun to see everyone enjoying themselves and see the food going at a very fast rate.

We shall not dwell on the baking disaster I had earlier in the kitchen. I think I've baked "too" many cakes (already) that I think by the time my children turn 10, I should be an expert and will be baking a three-tier cake with special icing. (either that or MORE baking disasters!)

Anyway, when it was the birthday cake time, everyone gathered around Amar. He was in the least interested mood, only interested to play with his toys and watch his favourite Buzz lightyear on tv. You may well see that Sarah blew Amar's candle in the photo above!!!

-THE PRESENTS -

The questions most people have been asking. I've told you it's nothing extravagant. Amar chose a "Toy Story" control car when we were at toys r us. So that's the present. We bought Sarah a box of Princess jigsaw puzzle too. Nanny and Atuk sent a special Lunar Jim spaceship present for Amar too. (Thank you!!!)

We are so touched by our friends who also remembered Amar's birthday. They sent text messages and called us. Our friends who came to the party brought along loads of presents for both Sarah and Amar! I honestly didn't expect that. We sincerely invited them for 'makan-makan' and get together. I can't deny though, that Sarah and Amar love all the gifts very much. Sarah, being her usual self, she insisted to take everything with her to bed. (She even claimed the toy laptop D bought for Amar is hers!) And I was surprised that Amar too took Bob the builder figure (present from Arep and Dina) with him to bed.

Once again, thank you everyone for all your kind wishes. And to those who turned up at the party, THANK YOU very much. We hope that all of you have enjoyed the day as much as we did.

To Amar, Happy 2nd Birthday once again. We hope that you are pleased with the birthday party. Our endless doas for your well health being and may you grow up into a handsome and a great son.

Amar is 2

2007-04-03T11:40:00.000+01:00

Today, Amar turns 2. We arranged a birthday party for him yesterday. It was a jolly sunny day perfect for the children to enjoy themselves. More on the party in my next entry.

As for now, we would like to wish Amar a very happy birthday. May you have many happy years ahead of you and continue to be a good son always.

Lots and lots of love;
Mama, Babah and Kakak Sarah.
03.04.07

Wonder Years: Trial no. 2

2007-03-29T16:06:00.000+01:00

The epic continues. After a day and a half of much persuasion, Sarah became confident again. She was excited to go to the nursery for her second trial. Again at 2pm, the three of us walked to the nursery. Sarah was skipping all the way and lulling herself with some unknown tune. I was wondering how she managed to switch her mind to suddenly be so positive.

We went into the cloakroom to hang her bag and coat. Then went straight to her class. The children were all roughly Sarah's age. They were playing dressing up. At first Sarah smiled, but as I said goodbye to her, she suddenly tugged on my coat and broke into tears.

We left Sarah at the nursery, while Amar and I had a leisurely one hour walk along Foleshill Road. Amar slept almost immediately in the stroller, so I managed to do some shopping including 5m of wrapping paper and a little present for Sarah.

We fetched Sarah on the way back. From her classroom small window, I saw everyone was tidying up the toys, probably getting ready for the next activity. It was nice to see Sarah was helping out too. When I entered, a girl called out for Sarah, "Your mommy is here Sarah!" before I could state my presence there.

Sarah was not as upset as the first time. And she didn't seem 100% comfortable too. But she'll get there, insyaAllah.

Wonder Years: Trial no. 1

2007-03-27T15:49:00.000+01:00

Sarah dislikes the word "school". I think she has this fear of separation with her Mama. Somehow she associates school with Mama leaving her alone and not coming back. So we had to come up with a different name like play centre, nursery or even Balamory. She has been positive ever since we changed the name. In fact she has sometimes mentioned that she can't wait to go to play centre.

This morning, I asked her, "Who's going to play centre today?"
"Meeee..." came the excited answer from Sarah. She couldn't wait for 2 o'clock and kept on telling me to hurry up.

I thought this was all going very well and prayed hard that she will be alright at the nursery. Just half an hour before 2pm, she timidly said, "Mama jangan tinggal Sarah, eh?"

Oh dear!

Between the half hour, I was struggling to make her understand that she will be alright and I would definitely come back for her. There was nothing to worry about and I will only be a phone call away. She interrupted every word with her plea, "Don't leave me, please!"

At the nursery, the staff and all other children gathered around Sarah when we arrived. They were all very friendly! It was colouring time. Sarah joined in immediately, smiling.

I left, and heard someone calling out for her Mama! One of the staff said Sarah will be alright. They will take care of her.

An hour later, I went to the nursery again to fetch Sarah. It was only a trial or induction session. Her class was enjoying the afternoon in the garden. From afar I saw Sarah sitting very closely to one of the staff, holding her pink toy phone.

Then she saw me. She ran very fast calling out "Maamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" and hugged me. The staff said Sarah only stopped crying for a while. Hence, there will be another trial session on Thursday until she settles in.

On the way home, Sarah was still sobbing, quietly. I asked if she would still like to go to the nursery. She gave a short answer,"Yes". I promised her to buy some stickers because she has been such a brave girl. I said so many things and praised her a lot. She remained quiet while holding her toy phone tightly.

I asked her what's the matter? She answered, "Phone Sarah dah broken. Sarah telefon Mama, tapi Mama tak datang pun ambik Sarah!!!"

It's cuddle time now.

Weekend again

2007-03-26T15:21:00.000+01:00

It was a plain weekend. Babah was quite agog to visit Auntie and Uncle De in Essex. But the drab weather forecast delayed our plans until next time. It wasn't that bad spending our weekend in Coventry town centre with Arep and Dina again. They introduced us to "The Noodle Bar". The food was excellent and served in huge bowls for each and everyone of us!

Amar was asleep (as usual) three quarters of the time in the restaurant. So I had a 'peaceful' time eating my jumbo portion of Seafood Ho Fun (now, where is the picture?). Sarah had some of my Ho Fun too. In fact she had three helpings!

On Sunday we went to Toys r Us. The mission was to find Amar's birthday present. But it was Sarah who sort of gave us a long list of what she would like to have; Princess Cinderella dolly, Ariel the mermaid dolly, a Princess (toy) laptop so that she could watch her favourite DVDs, princess scooter/bicycle, a princess stationery set, a Barbie doll duvet cover set, basically she wanted anything pink or princessly.

It was not that hard to tell her that she will only be getting one item. But my heart... How I wish I could buy all of the above for her.

Amar had his eyes on this particular toy. Nothing expensive or spectacular, but we were so happy that he showed some interest and preference. You all have to wait until his birthday to know what it is. Again I have to stress, nothing extravagant - just a simple birthday present for our dear son.

Say Cheese! (eh macam deja-vu)

2007-03-22T15:13:00.000Z

While I was busy at work seeing cardiac arrests and attending poorly patients, D came over to our house with her children for a pre-arranged tea party with Puan Mama Sarah and the rest of the family. (yeah, thanks for not inviting me guys!) The piece de resistance was D's (cheese)cake, pictured above.

I only had some after I eventually came back from work, but the banana (cheese)cake was absolutely freaking delicious. Well done D! Now that I'm working in endocrinology and seeing lots of diabetic cases I keep thinking of insulin resistance especially after eating something like this - nauzubillah.

Looking forward for more lovely desserts by Puan Mama Sarah and D in the future. Come often , D!

entry by; Babah Sarah

So, we had a little tea-party at home while Babah was at work. (Sorry Babah!!!) The attendees were non other than D and her children. They brought with them banana toffee cheesecake, a recipe that one should make at least once in their lifetime.

Everyone couldn't wait to tuck into the divine looking cake. The taste was rich, creamy and velvety. An utmost pure indulgence. Mind you, D was still dissatisfied with the texture. One wonders, what is it like when she makes a perfect one, eh? Let's ask her, shall we?

Thank you D and family for the lovely cheesecake and fun time together. Do come again, this time it will be my turn to do the baking/cooking. (oh no, must learn some quick recipes now!)

Wintry showers on Mother's Day

2007-03-21T12:13:00.000Z

It wasn't too bad in the morning. Bright blue sky. The weather forecast must be wrong. Reported to be snowing again, but where was the thick white clouds? We took the opportunity to go out on Mother's Day. Not to celebrate but to buy fresh milk and nappies for the kids.

Once we were out, we felt the instant chill. It was bone freezing cold! We stayed outdoors only for a while. Everyone started to have runny nose, best to go back and stay in the warmth of our own home.

Once we reached home, it started to sleet and later became something like ice storm. (Hujan air batu?) They were not flaky and fluffy snow. It felt like you've been hit by hundred of white icy stones, seriously. We didn't take much photos when it "snowed" again recently. The photos with Amar and Sarah were taken when it was snowing in February.

It was supposed to be Springtime already but it snowed on Sunday and it was Mother's Day too - but instead of putting up my feet, I worked double hard that day. I was on my knees cleaning the oven and scrubbing the bathroom. Not complaining, a clean home just gives me the good feeling. Also after a good meal of Kung Po Chicken (which I prepared too) and Babah's constant reminders asking me to rest, all have channelled the good vibes in me.

It was around 8pm, Sarah was already asleep. Amar was still up watching Toy Story the movie. Babah has just made me a mug of Milo, and I was just about to sit down and relax when suddenly Sarah woke up and cried.

Accident happens. She must have dreamt she was outside soaked in the wintry showers.

There I was giving Sarah a change of pyjamas, putting her back to sleep, rinsing the thick duvet and hanging it on the heater. By then, my milo has gone all cold.

But it's OK. It's all good. It's Spring and it snowed.

Touchwood shopping centre, Solihull

2007-03-19T14:26:00.000Z

It looked like it was going to be a very sunny day last Saturday. Arep and Dina contacted Babah and suggested to explore a place we have never been before. We all got ready as fast as we could and made our way via M6 then M42 (exit junction 5) towards Solihull town centre.

As soon as we entered the district, we were all amazed by how beautiful and serene the little town was. Radiant yellow daffodils sprouting along the road, truly a very good first impressions.

We parked our cars and walked to Touchwood Arcade. May be it's not as big as Bullring Shopping centre in Birmingham. But it has it's own characters and specialities. The interior decoration is more traditional and ordinary compared to Bullring, still I like the place a lot.

Babah offered to buy me a handbag as a Mother's Day present. Ooh la la... but after some serious thoughts, I declined the offer. (Arrrgghhh ruginya!!!)

Anyway, I was very excited to see Lakeland (the home of creative kitchenware<-- their slogan) and felt like buying everything on display. Luckily common sense hit me and bought only measuring spoon and cup set.

We had lunch at Wagamama. It was a pleasant lunch. The food we ordered came swiftly. We ate and shared our food. Don't worry, we were well secluded in a corner so no one really saw our plates flying around the table. (Unless we were caught on a cctv!)

Amar behaved himself the first three quarters of the time in the restaurant. Well, he chewed on serviette paper and wooden chopsticks; that kept him occupied for a while. Then he decided that he was going to have Dina's drink and made her hold the straw for him. While he sat back with both arms behind his head and devoured the whole glass of fruit juice.

The rest of the afternoon was spent around the town centre. It was still bright with blue sky but the temperature must have dropped a few degrees Celsius. Suddenly it became very chilly with recurrent frosty wind streams.

That didn't stop Sarah from enjoying herself on the fun-fair car rides. She got to ride on two different rides. A colourful car adorned with drawings of spiders and cobweb. Also a giant spinning yellow teacup.

Our sojourn in Solihull was a breath of fresh air. We have all enjoyed each other's company at a new place. Arep and Dina have both showered our children with attention and treated them fondly. Not only that, they have actually treated us at the restaurant too. Thank you ever so much guys for the fun outing!

A Newborn

2007-03-16T12:05:00.000Z

photo taken just moments after her birth

Another bundle of surprise! The baby arrived 7 weeks earlier than anticipated ~~by C-section~~ (Sorry for the wrong information earlier. It was a normal delivery). Alhamdulillah, both mother and daughter were reported to be fine. The newborn looks quite healthy in the picture, don't you all think? Mind you her birth weight is 1.6kg! I cannot imagine how tiny this little fighter is.

Lin and Yaya
Princesses no.1 and 2

To Ayah Ji, Ummi, Lin and Yaya;
Congratulations!!! Looks like Ummi will have to buy 3 pairs of similar hair-clips from now on eh? Make it four pairs, the fourth for Sarah ;)

p/s: I don't know if I have just heard a small sigh of relief or frustration from Amar, that he's still the only 'boy' or no mate to play with?

Let's hope that Princess no.3 will have a steady weight gain and will be discharged from the hospital soon.

More Development

2007-03-14T15:12:00.000Z

Inspired by mom2Ashely and endless Photoshop tutorials with Babah, I finally managed to produce a few amateurish designs as follows;

For the past few days, Amar hardly eats any solid food (ie. rice and meat). His main intake is warmed fresh milk, yoghurt and sometimes some slices of fruits. I am not that worried though. He has this weird eating habit, he eats a lot and non stop for two weeks. Then, he may refuse to eat anything at all for two days! He'll be back to his normal eating self after that.

Sarah picks up English quite fast recently. She is still "pelat" but has improved a lot from before. However, all her words that begin with "H" are pronounced with a silent h!!!

We are also teaching her comparatives and superlatives;

big, bigger, biggest
small, smaller, smallest

Yup, that sort of stuff. So it's nice to hear her comparing things and explaining which one is bigger or taller or wider. She also uses the adverb, "very" quite a lot. We manage to understand from her, the intensity of an action that she is describing to us.

A couple of Sarah's sentences:

I like Mr Tumble, he is very funny.
Mama cepat! Ada ladybird. Very big!

Yesterday, Sarah created another breakthrough in English language using the word very. Sarah was playing with Amar. Then, Amar wanted the pen Sarah was holding. Sarah who has just learned to share her things said, "Amar, wait!" while she tried to finish off her colouring. Amar attempted to snatch the pen from Sarah again, hating to wait!

Sarah still in her composed voice said, "Wait for your turn, Amar. Very Wait!" She repeated the words "Very wait" in a chanting manner until she was done, and passed the pen to Amar.

I guess she meant that Amar has to wait a little bit longer.

Wonder Years: Registration Day

2007-03-12T17:25:00.000Z

"Someone" has been escaping from going to school (or nursery) for four-five months now! Or was it the Mom who kept on delaying sending her three year old? Probably, a little bit of both.

It's about time, I guess. Both Babah and I registered Sarah with Wonder Years Day Nursery. We stayed there for exactly one hour with Sarah. She had fun playing with moulding clay. Although she kept her head low whenever the staff tried to speak to her.

There will be another induction session on 27 March 2007 before she properly starts twice weekly from 3 April 2007. Someone is very nervous! Who can that be?

Makaton - Something Special

2007-03-10T13:10:00.000Z

Once upon a time, I used to watch Ready, Steady Cook everyday. If the normal journey to University took 40 minutes by foot, return journey normally took 30 minutes or less for I didn't want to miss the programme - every 4.30pm Monday to Friday.

Now is a different story. Sarah and Amar dominate what to be watched on tv. I know some parents control what their children can watch and limit the time too. I do not mind my children watching the Cbeebies channel. To me, the programmes are all very educational and informative for the whole family. (I'm hearing some older children retching already!)

Remember we learnt a recipe or two from Big Cook, Little Cook programme? And you don't have to remind me of Sarah's numerous attempts on craftworks from her favourite programme, Smarteenies.

image: kudos Makaton official website (http://www.makaton.org/about/about.htm)

I am so tempted to list every single programme on the Cbeebies channel and share why I think they are very good. But I will just elaborate on one; Something Special. The presenter is Justin Fletcher. We all love Justin! He has this special charm to attract especially young viewers to watch his programmes.

In this programme, Justin uses Makaton signs and symbols that easily fascinate children in the early stages of language development. Sarah has learnt a lot of signs just by watching this programme. She sometimes uses the signs UNintentionally while she talks to us. I find it very interesting and started to learn some signs too. Sometimes Sarah and I test each other if we know so-and-so sign, just for fun.

image: kudos This is Lancashire - Life's one big circus for Justin.

Of course the best part of the programme is the ever so lively Mr Tumble. He is actually Justin dressed up as a clown. Sarah and Amar would stop doing anything just to watch this show. You will even see them rolling on the floor laughing at Mr Tumble's funny facial expressions and Laurel and Hardy sort of gestures. You will get "Mr Tumble is very funny" and "I like Justin" a lot from Sarah.

The above is the only clip I could find on you tube. Not very good quality. But enough to give you an idea what it's all about. Of course you can surf on Cbeebies: Something Special website for more proper videoclips.

By the way, Something Special has already won the Royal Television Society award for best early years programme for the last two years and it recently became a BAFTA nominee for best pre-school programme.

Highly recommended for educational purposes!

What is...

2007-03-06T12:12:00.000Z

We went to Nottingham during the weekend. As usual the kids had such a tremendous time there!

Amar, approaching 2 years old

2007-03-01T15:05:00.000Z

Quite some time ago, I had a 'discussion' with this special someone. I disagreed with her style of treating sibling-A differently from sibling-B. Unwisely, I said she was being unfair. In response to my comment, all she said was something like - one day in the future, you will understand and see things more clearly.

Indeed I have.

So far, I have two children - Sarah and Amar. Both are different, but special in their own way. Amar is a very quiet boy, too quiet that at 22 months (almost 2 years old) he only say one word; "Ba" or "Baba".

Recently Amar showed his talkative side by starting to babble. I welcomed his babbles although they could be so noisy like a chicken clucking.

The above used to be Amar's favourite toy. He could sit at the toy corner and push the cubes, one by one, from one end to the other. And I'm quite sure his 'air-liur' meleleh due to his very high concentration playing the game.

This is another obsession. The pink beetle was actually a birthday present for Sarah from Auntie De and family. Amar has just found out that if he pushed the car key into the keyhole, the boot will flung open. Everyday, he will have a full session playing with the car - opening and closing the boot.

One thing, he doesn't share his toys. When you see Amar gets upset, you'll know it's either he is hurt or Sarah is trying to "play together" with him.

Amar is a reasonable boy. I remember having problem to have a five minute peace from Sarah. When she was little, she tagged along wherever I go. Unlike Amar, he is easily pleased. Give him toys or let him watch a DVD - then he will stay put for hours.

Precisely opposite from Sarah, it was difficult to "introduce" books to Amar. Sarah has a memory like an elephant. She remembers well and it is always easy to teach her things. Amar is a different story. Whenever I sat him on my laps and start opening a book, he will find a way to wriggle himself free. He is just not interested -full stop-

Well, of late - Sarah and I have managed to excite Amar into reading! The only book that has an effect on Amar was; "Aaaarrgghh, SPIDERS!" by genius Lydia Monks. (Sadly, the book has to be returned to the library a few days ago)

The same with writing or scribbling. Lots of friends made a huge fuss when I was slow to act to a very young Sarah holding a pen. I was not worried as she really has very good control when holding a pen and she even knew to scribble only on paper.

Amar picked up a pen very late - I was always worried that he was not interested in books or writing. But last December (at the age of 20 months) he picked up MY pen and scribbled NON STOP on MY sudoku book. Sarah knew she must not touch my sudoku book. She must not scribble on my book. But when Amar held the pen for the first time, I let him scribbled my Sudoku book. I was too happy that he finally showed some interest!

I was too happy I recorded the important milestone on my camera-phone. Unfortunately, I still have problem to upload it to Windows Movie Maker.

My current weakness is I compare Amar's development with Sarah. The health visitor who came to visit us recently said I shouldn't. Back to the story between the special someone and I, now I have learnt that every child is different. They grow at different pace and it's up to us to give them the support they need.

I have also learnt that we are not treating our children differently intentionally. But because they are different, the approach is different too. The best thing to do now is to take it easy and celebrate every achievements accomplished by them.

Oh yes, that special someone is my mother.

Bertuah betul!

2007-02-28T12:23:00.000Z

Initially I wanted to write about Amar's progress. But there are still a few photos and "video-clips" to be edited. So I thought I could squeeze a short story about a few things first.

On Sunday, Babah went to London to meet up with Muhammad - our very close blog friends' son. Babah stayed in London for two nights, while Muhammad will be going back to Malaysia on tonight's flight at 10pm. I'm sure Babah will be updating his fotopages in good time with lots of photos from London.

At home, the children and I had some fun too. We went out for a short trip to a "fast food restaurant" (guilty!). We baked yet another Banana Cake for tea and watched lots of "Flushed Away" movie.

I have also called K.Ros to see if we could visit her on Monday afternoon. She has given birth to a baby girl on 13 February 2007. I didn't manage to take Husna's photo when we were there. But she was very fair and cute just like her sister, Huda.

We brought a little gift for the newborn and roasted chicken with lots of black pepper for the mom. Both Sarah and Amar were treated heavenly with sweets and chocolates. Huda was shy at first, but later I saw Sarah and Huda playing and whispering to each other in one corner. I hope she understood what Sarah was saying!

About half an hour later, I announced that it was time to go. You know who protested, right? Yes, our dear Sarah - jumping up and down - she said, "Tak nak balik lagi. Kita belum makan nasi lagi!" (Our host jumped to his feet, and went to the kitchen and gave Sarah a plate of rice)

Aduhhh! It was very embarrassing. Kids will be kids, yeah?

Build n play: Toy Car

2007-02-25T21:48:00.000Z

These sets of photos were taken on 26 January 2007. Sarah was obsessed with assembling a build-n-play toy car on her own. She was very good at it, I forced myself to get up and get the heavy camera just to capture the moment.

I noticed Sarah arranged the items in groups, ie she grouped the screws together, the wheels etc... Then only she started to assemble the body of the car. If she was not sure, she'd ask me - "Like this, Mama?"

We bought this toy car last August when Atuk and Nanny came to visit. Atuk was the first one to teach her to assemble the car. I've always wanted to buy a build-yourself toy knowing that Sarah would love such toy.

I remember when Sarah was still a little girl, she was fascinated by bottles that have screw tops.
Quietly, she could sit for hours, screwing and unscrewing a bottle cap. I knew then, she has very good fine motor skills.

Not long after Atuk and Nanny went back to Malaysia, I hid this toy car. Just because, it was hard to teach both Sarah and Amar to share a toy. And it was also quite dangerous that Amar kept on putting the tiny screws in his mouth.

Obviously, Sarah found it one day. She automatically became absorbed with the toy and played for hours.

She even knew the functions on the handheld battery operated screwdriver. Click up for clockwise rotation to screw, and click down for unscrewing.

Sarah is such a lively and clever little girl. She's at the stage of trying to learn everything in one day and asks lots and lots of questions. One has to be very patient with her curiosities. And I always remind myself that she means well and it's all part of her growing up process.

Our latest visitors from Cardiff

2007-02-21T20:59:00.000Z

It is school half term in Wales. Ju left a message in my comment box asking if she could come to our house with her family during the school holiday. Of course the answer was a 'yes'! The first time she came to our house was last year, on the first day of the fasting month. What I didn't mention last time was that she was pregnant with her fourth child.

I was very excited to meet Nasya, the new addition to her family. I've only seen her photos on Ju's blog. MasyaAllah, Nasya is such a darling. She rarely cries and so friendly with everyone. I think she likes me (haha! perasan) because she kept on looking at me, and when our eyes met she automatically flashed me her gummy smile.

As I've described before, her other kids: Farah, Hazman and Hazim were very active but obedient children. They were very helpful and respect each other. Farah is only 9 years old, but she is so good when it comes to taking care of her little sister, Nasya. Whenever Nasya was sleeping or sitting on her rocking chair, Farah would come to me and asked if she could help with anything! (Imagine that coming from a 9 year old!)

Not only that, she played with Sarah and Amar too. Sarah was very attached to Kakak Farah and kept on asking her to play hide and seek. You have to watch them play together, they were funny! Obviously, Farah is a girlie type of girl. She doesn't shout, she talks softly and she is an expert at taking care of the younger ones! I like her to bits!!!

Throughout their stay, Babah was working and stayed at the hospital. On Sunday, the weather was very sunny that we just had to go out. We went to the city centre and visited Coventry Cathedral, Coventry University, a little bit of the town centre and finally we had lunch at Nando's.

When we first arrived at the town, Sarah wanted to sit in the push chair and insisted me to push her. She was really testing my patience infront of Ju the Supermom! I had to carry Amar and push the stroller at the same time. Half way towards the Cathedral, I let Amar walked with Farah.

On Monday, Ju took all her children to National Sealife Centre in Birmingham and also the Bullring. We would have gone along if Babah was at home. From the photos they have taken, I think they have had a fantastic time in Birmingham.

On Tuesday, I tried to lure Ju to go to Stratford upon Avon. She tried to make us to come along too! In the end, we decided to visit Shakespeare some other time. They went back to Cardiff just after noon time. A few minutes after they left, Sarah asked this, "Bila Kakak nak balik sini lagi?" (Balik = datang)

To Ju and her kids; Thank you very much for coming. We are terribly sorry for not taking you personally to Birmingham and Stratford upon Avon. Otherwise it was definitely a fun time having you all here. Sarah and Amar love your children very much. And I have definitely enjoyed your company too (Especially our late night conversations - after the kids were asleep. Hehe I will always remember the phrase "Ibu Tiriku Sayang" forever!) Oh, thank you for not complaining about my cooking. We wish you all well and hope to meet you all again next time.

p/s: Outdoor photos were taken by our old Sony Cybershot.

Pondok-pondok

2007-02-16T17:45:00.001Z

As if I have not enough things to do already, I have started another blog specifically for recipes that I have tried before. So those who have asked for sushi, custard pudding, cupcakes and other recipes from my previous entries, please feel free to find them there.

---> CLICK ME <---
to get you to my personal collection of recipes

Come and join me play "pondok-pondok". See you there!

Baking Virus!

2007-02-14T13:35:00.000Z

Pink Cupcakes time!!!

Sarah and Kakak Princess. Photo edited by Babah.

I must be barking mad! Despite several failure attempts at baking, I still had the nerve to bake "Pretty Pink Iced Cupcakes". Recipe found in Your Home Magazine (March 2007), Babah has just bought for me.

One thing for sure, it would definitely make Sarah happy if I make them with her. She has requested several time to do some baking. Pink cake! That's what she wanted. So this recipe would be perfect.

Coincidentally, D said that she was thinking of baking herself. Her children are on school holiday so it would be nice if we could all just get together again and bake together. I was sure I'd get a baking tip or two from the expert.

D arrived with her children around 1.30pm yesterday. They brought along some snacks and ice-cream AND also a gift for me.

*Flattered*

I remember going to this particular shop and drooled on the baking ware. Thinking when would I ever own an item from their line? Thanks to D, I'm now a proud owner of a non stick silicone baking pan.

Soon the mission began. Almost everyone was in the kitchen trying to help the mums. I took out the ingredients and utensils needed. And let the expert (D) do the measuring and mixing. While I took some photos.

Before long, Sarah and little D has started on flour fight, senduk fight and sieve fight!

On the other hand, Amar and D's twins bonded well together, sharing the same sofa watching a DVD peacefully in the living room.

According to D, little D has done these sort of activities in the nursery. If only Sarah knew!!!

The above photo was the first batch of our cupcakes. Since there were also boys in the house, we've decided to make three different colours for the icing. Pink, green and white. Expect some messiness dealing with the icing. It was purely fun decorating the mini cakes, although I kept on chanting that I am not going to do this ever again!

This is the finished products, that took us the whole afternoon to complete!!!

Star of the day

So they say "practice makes perfect". I think I'm not going to give up just yet. With the new baking tray from D, I am looking forward to try some other cupcakes recipes. (D, care to join again???)

At the end of the session, we all sat down and had the cupcakes, banana and cashew cake (also freshly baked the same day) with little D's favourite teh-tarik.

My only concern was the icing was very sweet! Obviously it was made purely with icing sugar. But the cakes were very tasty. Must have been the precise measurements and perfect technique of whisking by D!

We had fun, didn't we guys? Five minutes after they've all left, we found Sarah sleeping on the sofa!

Susheee!

2007-02-12T10:16:00.000Z

Pardon me, but it's a makan-makan entry again. Our weekend was quite bland and dull. We just had to do something as the kids were so bored staying at home and drove us mad! Since we had no plans of going anywhere special, we thought of inviting D and her family for dinner. That way, Sarah and Amar will have some friends to play with.

We've gone Japanese cuisine crazy this weekend. Sushi is Babah's best trade in the kitchen. I was not at all worried whenever he made Sushi for friends. He normally produced the best quality and generous in size sushi compared to the prepack ones sold in any superstores or even any restaurants in the UK!

Just be prepared that he will use 50 different utensils and item and will use every inch of the kitchen's counter top. And leave a huge pile of dishes in the sink just 5 minutes before our special guests were due to arrive!

I don't do Japanese food. But, just to tie in the Japanese theme, I studied two recipe books for some side dish ideas. I chose some 'easy' looking recipes; Japanese fried rice, Teriyaki salmon, Yakitori chicken and seafood and vegetables tempura. For dessert, I was inspired to make "chocolate rice coated sushi" from Miss Ifos's blog. (All this while I thought she made them herself!) and caramelised sweet potatoes.

Sarah was really keen to help in the kitchen. Thinking there was plenty of time to kill, Sarah and I made Banana and Hazelnut Cake (Sherin's 'secret' recipe ;)

Yakitori Chicken
Nama melayu: Satay ???

See, I've told you all I'm a lousy cook. I knew I shouldn't have ventured into this unknown territory, especially not Japanese cooking! Mama Sarah and Japanese cooking just spell disaster!!!

Nama Glamour: Teriyaki Salmon
Nama melayu: Salmon masak kicap

All Japanese food look simple to make. But I thought wrong. The preparation was tedious and elaborate, which was beyond my norm, campak-campak kinda cooking.

Seafood and vegetable Tempura
Nama Melayu: Makanan laut dan sayur goreng celup tepung

The hardest was to make tempura. Babah laughed when I got panicked at this point. He suggested to ask D to come a bit later. Pressed for time, I just had to text a message to D pleading for an extra time.

Time was out, the idea of making caramelised sweet potatoes had to be ditched. We had to be happy with the sweet sushi and the cake.

Last but not least, I made "air cikang" (bahan kering, courtesy of Nanny :) Not so Japanese though.

Sarah fell asleep just minutes before our special guests arrived. Had I not asked for some extra time, she would be up.

Amar had a good two-three hours sleep during the day. He was also happy when D and family arrived. But soon continued playing with Sarah's pink beetle, alone.

Sarah woke up only after everyone has finished eating. It took her some time to warm up, asking us to carry her all the time. Finally, Cadbury's mini buttons did the trick. And soon after that, Sarah, Kakak Princess and little D started to chase each other around the room.

As before, the twins were so loyal infront of the tv. Babah put on House Monster dvd and they watched from start till the end!

It's our fourth meeting, and I still couldn't determine who's who? I thought I knew the first time we met, but that was because they were wearing different outfit. Last night, they wore identical jacket and jeans. But let me just have a guess, I think Abang is the one on the left in the photo above. (Am I right D???)

Sarah refers D's daughter as Kakak Princess. Sometimes, she adds "Kakak yang ada boots warna pink and crown." They played well together last night. I'm sure Sarah has had a whale of a time with Kakak Princess and everyone else too.

Now, this is little D! He is so cute and funny. Right after dinner, he specifically asked for a cup of 'tea'!!! He obediently waited in the kitchen while I made a teapot of (kononnya) teh-tarik. (You made me nervous, little one!)

All in all, he had at least 3 cups of tea! Babah straight away claimed of founding a new tea-mate and welcome little D (and family of course) anytime again.

Brrrrr~rr, bring the snowman inside, Mom!

2007-02-08T13:17:00.000Z

It's no ordinary Thursday. It's been snowing since early in the morning. It was only yesterday when the sun shone brightly. I managed to hang our laundry outside. I even changed the curtains and bedsheets for today's laundry. Oh dear, I have so much washing and nowhere to hang now!

Sarah and Amar woke up quite early this morning. Groggily, Sarah asked where her jacket and boots are. She wanted to make a snowman!

So, we let Sarah and Amar play in the snow for a while. Babah said that it's a once a year thing and who knows, this might be our last opportunity to see snow before our very own eyes.

It's not that thick, but the thickest we have ever experienced in Coventry.

Babah managed to spend five minutes with the children before going to work this morning. We didn't expect to witness another 'heavy' fall as this again. It snowed last year, but it didn't quite settle on the ground.

Amar was 'frozen' when we first took him out in the open. He was still too little when he first witnessed his first snow. This time, he stumped all around the backyard wearing a smile on his face.

You might all noticed that both were still wearing their pyjamas that morning!

Later this morning, after everyone has had a quick shower, I took the children out again. Only about 50 steps away from our house is the Blue Ribbon roundabout.

It was still snowing, I was quite scared to use Babah's camera in such weather. So I brought along our old and faithful Sony. At the set, I didn't waste any time. I just snapped photos of Sarah and Amar at different angles. Only when I checked if I got the right setting that I found out that there was no CF card in the camera. (Buang karen aje!)

Nevermind, our little but hardwearing Sony came to the rescue immediately.

Sarah has enjoyed tremendously the 'short trip' to Blue Ribbon. There were lots of 'untouched' snow. She gathered some snow and formed them into snowballs. I showed her how to make little snowman.

Not long after that (we were there for at most 15 minutes! Seriously.) I said it was time to go home. Sarah said, "I want to make snowman." But it was too cold and it was still snowing. I promised her we will be going out again in the afternoon. So she dragged her feet and obeyed my instruction. But then she stopped and said, "I want to bring the snowman home. Kesian dia. It's very cooolddd"

Oh dear!

We're going back to the same place later after Amar wakes up from his nap. Hopefully I remember the CF card this time.

________________

As I'm typing this entry, I'm chatting with D via googlemail. We were just about to say our goodbyes, when she said something like this "You know how people joke about snow - buat ABC.."

5 minutes later...

Haha... I didn't wait for her further instructions nor did I ask her if she was serious. Amar was still asleep, so I could afford the time to materialise her wish. (In other words, kerja yang tak pernah dibuat dek orang! heh heh!)

Anyway, for further reads about this ABC, go here. And additional snow stories at our place, click here.

Roaming around with Hila and her family

2007-02-07T15:26:00.000Z

It ended up that we had a merry time during the weekend after all. When we came home from D's house that night, we saw Hila and family in their car at our house. We knew they were coming after we have confirmed with D that we were going to her house for dinner.

Hila and family looked so exhausted that night after the long hours of travelling. Everyone went to bed shortly after we had a light snack for supper.

The next morning, Hila suggested to go to Bicester Village. Bicester is only 8-10 miles from Oxford, so we went to Oxford after a short spree at the village.

We've been to Oxford at least twice before. But this time, it was not as straight forward and easy. It took us some time to find parking alone! It was quite ridiculous although it was on a Sunday.

Luckily, there was Alynn who studies in Oxford. We have troubled her to meet at a different place. But later changed the venue to another place due to lack of parking availability and we were more or less 'sesat' in Oxford town. We had our lunch cum tea at Chicken Cottage (a Halal fast food restaurant).

Then, we stopped by at Alynn's house. Chit-chat for a while and then we went back separately to our own home. Yes, it was a short meeting with them all but as usual it was a pleasant one. Jemput datang lagi ya, Hila?!!

2nd invitation!

2007-02-05T09:15:00.000Z

Where do I begin? Probably I should start with how I was NOT looking forward to the initially thought another boring weekend. Our car was due for a proper check up on Saturday morning. Babah solemnly suggested to take the children to a nearby retail park by 'foot'! Or to the town centre by bus.

When Babah was at the service centre, D rang up and invited us for dinner. It was only last Monday when we had tea at her home, and now she has invited us for dinner!

Excluding the events that happened between the phone call and the actual dinner, we arrived at D's house around 7pm. We didn't realise that it was actually an exclusive invitation. We felt so special!

It was obvious that Sarah was so happy. There were so many toys for them to play with.

Amar... our dear Amar, he has kept us all agitated and breathless that night! Amar tried to touch every single item on display. All our sentences ended with "Amaaar, No!" Plus, Babah had to make several leaps, dives and rescue missions before Amar break D's possessions.

In return, he gave us his cheeky and non-guilty look.

D has again went to MEGA lengths preparing all the delicious dishes. We had a good time digging in the food. D made 'nasi hujan panas', to me only experts could make them properly. Amateurs and those who lack patience (like me) would end up making nasi ribut taufan (wink*wink Hila!)

Look at this fusion roast chicken. A special blend of East and West recipe that I never get around to ask D properly.

There was also king prawns masak merah. The colour, the taste and the look was simply perfect reminded me of a dish by a seasoned cook.

Some salads and every kid's favourite, crunchy poppadums.

Not to forget, rojak where D made the sauce from scratch and hand pounded the nuts herself. It was truly scrumptious!

And there were more! Titillating tastebuds tiramisu and specially brewed tea. D's tiramisu was by far better than mine. Hers was very nicely decorated and I'm sure was made with more or less the same ingredients as mine but somehow hers tasted light, indulging and one serving was definitely not enough!

We were so glad that we accepted D's invitation. Our children had so much fun (sorry about the mess D!) and thank you for the food you've packed for us to take home.

Now I'm itching to invite D for another dinner date at our place. But I'm running out of idea (and skill) of what to cook. Any idea, anyone?

Dinner

2007-02-01T13:43:00.000Z

It has been an eventful week so far. Beginning with tea at D's house on Monday. Amar had his Pneumonia jab on Tuesday afternoon followed by a brief visit to K.Ros's house. I heard that she is pregnant so since her house is very close to our GP, so we stopped by to say hello.

K. Ros is due in two weeks' time! She has all the baby stuff ready except for muslin squares. I told her that she can get them at Mothercare. But they only come in pastel yellow and green colours only. I offered to hand down Amar's if she didn't mind used ones. Well, they were still in good condition and mainly used for 'bedung' and lap susu.

I invited K.Ros and her family for dinner last night. They arrived around 7.30pm and stayed until around 9pm. As usual Sarah was very excited knowing that someone was coming to our house. She insisted to wear a pair of pink baju kurung complete with pink hair-clips!

Amar was happy too. He kept on running wildly and bumping into my way. Sarah and Amar played with Huda, 3-4 months older than Sarah. Poor Shukri (8-9 years old) was bored because he had no one to play with.

The menu was simple. Popia for starter. Ikan bakar with air asam, ayam goreng for the kids, Salmon masak asam pedas, Kung Po 'King Prawn' and fried mixed vege. Kastad berkrim for dessert and air sirap limau to wash everything down.

K.Ros was very kind to bring along a huge pack of biscuits and SAMBAL IKAN BILIS. She has just received the goods from Malaysia earlier that day and straight away made sambal and gave a tupperware full to us. Who'd want to eat my cooking when there is sambal ikan bilis???

Even Sarah was happy to eat 'fish' with rice. It's just that she had to drink 2 glasses of water to one ikan bilis!

To me, it was a pleasant evening. The Babahs were talking gadgets in the living room, the children were playing in one corner and the Mamas just sat in the kitchen exchanging news and stories.

Since it was a school-day night, they had to leave early. Sarah, who has just warmed up to her new friend protested! She cried and said something like, "Janganlah balik lagi" "Nak main dulu". Sarah really needs friends her age!

Sarah was alright again when I let her carry the "present" (used muslin squares!) and gave it to K.Ros. I promised Sarah to take her to visit her friend, Huda after her mother has delivered the baby.

T-time!

2007-01-30T21:32:00.000Z

The beginning

Borrowing D's words, it was a visit long awaited. We paid them a visit finally, after receiving the long awaited parcels. D invited us over for English Tea. We were so excited beyond words! Especially Sarah.

I had to keep on reminding her that we were going at 3pm, and she asked me every 5 seconds, "Dah 3 o'clock ke belum?" I made sure that Amar and Sarah have their afternoon naps earlier than usual. So that they were up by 3pm. We didn't want to be late for our first visit. Good first impression matters very much.

We walked to D's house. (So you can imagine how close it is!) It might have taken us only 5 minutes but at Sarah's pace, it took us 10 minutes or so. But it was fine. The weather was good.

The English Tea
D has stretched herself at preparing all sorts of tea snacks for us. When we arrived, the food was all laid out nicely on the table. There were at least four different type of food! Her children were decorating the home-made biscuits with colourful icings. I was so impressed with everything and I kept on making mental notes on how good D was. Even better, the food was served on Denby tableware! Yes, be very jealous.

I'm definite now that she is a very good cook. She has done her research well and she has even involved her children with the tea party. I was the one who didn't bother to make extra effort to bring 'English' buah tangan (oh malunya!).

The curious children
Also upon arrival, my children have really made themselves at home! Sarah straight away climbed up the stairs, while Amar went into the second reception room. Both tried to ransack D's house. I was really worried that they would break D's collection of antiques. D was so cool (sporting) when Amar started to juggle with the satsumas. There were loads of toys, but he still chose to play with the fruits.

I pledged and swore so many times that I was not going to D's house again until I train my children to behave themselves. But I think I will not resist if we were invited again to have another round of English tea!

Forgetful
Babah has reminded me early in the morning to bring along the camera. I thought I have instructed my head to remember too. But alas, I still forgot. How am I supposed to blog without photos? I think the best way is to redirect all of you to D's blog, where she has beautifully written about the day. And you will get all the precise details of the menu.

Or perhaps, I should be naughty and pinch one of her photos?

The Parting
Not only that D has prepared all the delicious delicacies, she has also kindly sent us all home by car! When we reached infront of our house, Sarah invited D's daughter, Princess inside. Obviously, she likes Princess very much. D let her daughter to stay for awhile and agreed to come and fetch her later.

Sarah was elated! They were both playing happily together in the living room. Not long after that, Babah got home from work, and 5 minutes later D arrived to fetch Princess. It was a very short stay, Sarah was not happy to let Princess go home. She started to cry, wail, bawl (you name it!) in the living room. It was a little embarrassing but I am taking it positively that she is showing some positiveness on making new friends.

Credits
Thank you so much D for your special treat (and the photo I nicked from your blog!). We have really enjoyed ourselves at your house. And yes, we should do this again... soon!

Happy Birthday to Nanny!

2007-01-28T09:37:00.000Z

Today is Nanny's birthday. Late last night, Sarah spoke to Nanny via the telephone to wish her Happy Birthday. Sarah was really into the talking and further told Nanny about our surprise gift that still hasn't reached Nanny. In her own words, she hinted Nanny what she is going to get - while we tried to stop Sarah from spilling the beans.

We hope you have enjoyed your birthday. May Allah bless you always.

Happy birthday again from all of us!

Meet the Ds

2007-01-25T10:10:00.000Z

Someone was definitely worn out after a long full day of helping her Mama tidying up her toys. Surely her Mama didn't want to face an embarrassment when her friends come over for dinner scheduled after isya (isya around 6.30pm).

Amar was already asleep in the room upstairs. Sarah said she wanted to help me cook dinner. I was gathering the ingredients around 5pm and I noticed that there was suddenly an utter silence from the living room. So I went to check, and found Sarah in that 'dangerous' position already asleep.

Our special guests were actually D and her family. There have been some guesswork before they came to our house. We had to solve some puzzles and riddles just to give away our house numbers! It was actually quite fun.

We've met each other at least twice before, but they were just brief meetings. Little that we know that the other party has a blog of her own, and we were reading our own neighbour's blog! It was D who first left a comment on this blog. And it was D who noticed that we live in the same neighbourhood.

Ever since we knew that we live close to each other, D has invited us several times to her house. We haven't managed to pay them a visit yet because we had to stay in all day waiting for a couple of special deliveries.

Eager to meet D in person again (just to reconfirm that I've got the right person), we invited D and her family over for dinner. After all, we should have done the welcoming bit much, much earlier. So, it was a belated reception for them.

D and her children arrived with some buah tangan. They were home-made trifle layered with delicious peaches and a tin of English shortbreads.

From her special dessert, I just knew that D is a great cook. I'm intending to learn some other recipes from her.

We let the children play in the living room after the main course, while the adults sat around the dining table and enjoyed the desserts with a cup of teh tarik, prepared by Babah. It was such a nice moment that we got to sit and learn about each other.

By the way, D is the right person I was thinking all along. Pheww! I further learnt that D is intelligent, ambitious, determined, shy, makes delicious trifle and very beautiful too ;)

D has four children including a set of twins. I've asked her permission to publish her children's photo here. If I'm not mistaken, the above photographed is Abang.

This must be the 2nd twin. I hope I'm right! Both of them sat quietly on the sofa and watched a DVD. They were both so well behaved, masyaallah.

The third one is 6 year old Princess. Sarah loved to play with 'Kakak'. She tailed Kakak all the time. And she loved to brush Kakak's long beautiful hair. Sorry, lots of Kakak's photos were blurry.

And this is the fourth one. He's four years old with a pair of beautiful eyes. (I must remember not to begin a sentence with the word "and". Especially not when D is reading!)

We've thoroughly enjoyed their visit last night. Even Amar was quick to warm up to them. We are lucky to have made new friends with some great people again. We are looking forward to visit them after we have received our parcels.

Thank you D for coming!!!

Happy Birthday Ayah Ji (And an announcement)

2007-01-22T21:36:00.000Z

Today is Babah Izlin and Yaya's birthday. We are guessing they will be having a special makan-makan session back home. Too bad we couldn't be there. Otherwise it would have been a great gathering, especially for the children.

By the way, Babah Izlin and Yaya is actually Mama Sarah's older brother. (You're excused DITH dear. The photo was taken sometime in 2005) He is one of the many people that I look up to in my life. He has always been the good, sensible and intelligent one and set such high standards for us siblings to follow. (I meant that in a good way) At the same time he is also a kind and thoughtful Big Brother who has given loads of support and encouragement to us.

So here's to you Bro, Happy Birthday! We hope that you will be successful always and forever. Also we hope that you will encounter many more good opportunities in life. And may Allah bless you and family always.

p/s: thanks Babah for the artwork :)

________________________________
Sad Announcement: Al-Fatihah

I am also sad to announce the demise of my beloved grandmother,
Ninda Hajjah Hasnah bt Abd Manaf at 9am (Malaysian time) at the age of 84. She was treated at Pontian Hospital, then transferred to Johor Bahru Hospital shortly before her passing. I am proud for my grandma that despite the Banjir, some of her 12 children, 60 (at least) grandchildren and countless great-grandchildren managed to look after her while she was ill.

My late grandmother will always be special in our hearts. She was the most affectionate and fair (impartial) person I have ever known. Among her advices to me was "Jaga maruah diri dan nama baik keluarga", which I have always remember and will pass on to the next generation.

May Allah bless her with peace and grace, And place her among the first ranks of His beloveds. Al-Fatihah.

Muffins

2007-01-17T13:58:00.001Z

Last weekend, Sarah and I were quite busy in the kitchen. Sarah could do with some useful activities other than watching tv and dvd 24-7, so I suggested baking! We almost abandoned the plans when we found out there was just not enough ingredients to every recipe we chose. Until we saw this Chocolate Chips Muffins Recipe. Still, there wasn't any chocolate chips and yoghurt in the larder. We had to improvise.

I have always wanted a digital weighing scale. Babah has kindly bought an "Anthony Worral Thompson" one just to add up to my personal collection of his product. So that day, I proudly used it for the first time.

Sarah did all the mixing and whisking. She didn't let me touch the mixture as much as I didn't let her touch my brand new weighing scale.

Do you remember when I said in my previous post that Sarah just hates her photograph to be taken? But, she generously posed whenever she is baking. This is because the very first time I let her used the electric mixer, I had to bargain her with a smile for the camera. Since then, she automatically smiles when she is baking in the kitchen.

Just look at her, she insisted to pour the fresh milk and egg into the flour, butter and sugar mixture herself!

Little Amar wanted to help too. We could see he was very curious.

He tried to help, but Kakak didn't let him near the bowl! She said, "nanti tumpah nanti!"

This is the improvised bit, we didn't have any chocolate chips. So we grated the required amount of chocolate bars that we have in the cupboard.

That was the final stage before scooping into muffin baking tray.

I must remember to fill up 3/4 of the tray only next time. Just to give enough room for the muffins to rise nicely.

So here is the results. Overgrown muffins made by Sarah and her mama.

The verdict was simply fantastic simple recipe for any 3 year old child! (And, remember not to let Sarah lick the uncooked mixture!) We had a fun day making the muffins, we couldn't wait for our next baking project together.

Safiya's Birthday

2007-01-15T16:00:00.001Z

Also during Hari Raya Haji recently, Auntie De enthusiastically baked a special cake for her dearest daughter, Safiya who turned 1 on 20 December 2006. Sarah has represented her Mama to help Auntie De in the kitchen. She was very good at asking lots of questions and giving her hands at anything Auntie De has assigned her to do.

Sarah obediently stood on the stool next to Auntie De, waiting for further instructions. While Safiya, normal for toddlers her age, was busy tidying up the bottles and keeping herself close to her Mama.

After baking the chocolate cake, Auntie De cut it in half right in the middle and spread a layer of strawberry coloured filling with real cherries.

Then Auntie De spread chocolate icing all over the cake and decorated with colourful and creative writing. All specially dedicated to little Safiya of course.

The final stage was to decorate the sides of the cake with even more colourful and flowery decorations!

The final product of the cake was definitely a beautiful home made cake, elaborately decorated fit for one year old Princess Safiya.

Here is the pretty Princess. At one, she is already walking and very friendly. Her baby talk is so cute! We wish her many happy years ahead of her.

Because Sarah was so good that day, Auntie De let her have a piece of cake. Sarah was free to decorate her own piece. She was extremely happy for that, that I made a silent promise to make an effort to do lots more baking with Sarah in the future.

30 December 2006: Hari Raya Haji

2007-01-10T19:18:00.001Z

We were very lucky to be able to celebrate Hari Raya Haji with Auntie Wa's family in Nottingham. Apart from our tummies were well fed with great food, it also meant that we spent the special day with some great and special people.

It will always remind me of home (Malaysia) whenever we visit Auntie Wa and family in Nottingham. Like many other students who are missing their families, we felt like Auntie Wa's house is the next best thing for us to "menumpang kasih".

I doubt Auntie Wa is using some sort of "ubat guna-guna" but those who have been there would want to go there again and again and again. And the whole family's special treatment would make you feel special and guarantees warmth,

love,

fun,

affection and,

definitely good food!

Even though we are far away from our own family, by no means we do not remember them or we do not want to be with them. After all, life has lots to do with qurban.

We just hope that soon enough, our children will be spending hari raya with their own grandparents just like the way we used to do when we were children.

As for the time being, we are grateful that the grandparents are still well, very supportive and only a phone call away.

We would like to thank from the bottom of our hearts to Tok Ayah and Opah for the gift of baju raya for my children and a pair of green kebarung for me. Babah's stunning green shirt and my beautiful jubah (worn on second day) were courtesy of Atuk and Nanny. Must have cost them a fortune to send them here.

We're not worthy, but we appreciate your kind thoughts and your forever sacrifices mean a lot to us. May Allah grant all of you with good health and hoping that we will be able to celebrate the next hari raya together.