From Cherating to KT

We had another fine morning of sun and sea. Took the boys to the beach after replying a few emails and gosh...it was already very hot. The boys played happily for quite some time before suddenly Adam screamed. My heart skipped a few beats.

It was nothing actually. Just that he stepped on some siput sedut like creatures that were still alive and moving. But when Adam was scared, there was really no point of trying to comfort him. He kept on screaming, ran all the way from beach to the poolside with Amri and I behind him and straight to a shower booth. He then proceeded to turn the shower full volume and vigorously scrubbed his feet while still sobbing sadly. Amri just stood by gaping at him and trying to comprehend the babbling that came with the sobbing. Apa daa... Half a minute later, he was fully recovered and jumped into the pool.

Intan & Co came to visit us on Thursday afternoon and took us out to a sumptious gulai kawah lunch at a well hidden place. I wouldn't know how to go there again on my own. God... I'd surely put on weight if I were living here. Food were really cheap. Last night we had ikan tombak bakar plus some other side dishes and vegis and it came to only RM38.

Bade farewell to Intan and her troops after a very heavy and noisy lunch (read: 5 kids) and drove straight to KT. Amri and Adam slept all the way.

Adam and Irfan. Amri was too busy eating to join in the photo


OUr compulsory stop. Lemang by the roadside

A night at Cherating

Amri came back from school on Monday and told us that school would be off on Wednesday. Cool. I frantically searched online for a place to stay overnight at cherating and managed to secure a place at Suria Cherating. Never been there before but hubby said it belongs to his friend's wife, plus it provided wireless broadband so it was good enough.

Actually, it was pretty good. We were given welcome drink and a ground floor room. It was small but open directly to a beautiful garden equipped with children playground and a pool on the left. Long sandy beach was just a shout away from the pool and garden. The boys were super happy.

View from our back door














The boys alternating between the pool and the beach. I'm a bit scared of the wave actually.
















Amri in power ranger pose


















Anyway, just in case people (all five of you who read this blog) thought I was one of the tai-tais that could set off to a holiday destination at a whim, the answer is NO. Not only I was overload with my own unfinished works (too many CNY lunches) but I was (and still am) also taking over the management of the company in the absence of a boss. Anyway, no escaping from work as I was well equipped to work from any part of the world, provided it has internet. Plus, I am the self pronounced last minute queen. I worked best in haphazard condition and the boys and I could go a few days with a few basic essentials missing. Or at least, they could.

note: maxis broadband network coverage is worse than hampeh in this part of the world, luckily the resort provided wireless broadband for free.

This is the ultimate reason I could escape from office

Jalan jalan tengok kem khidmat negara

Hubby works for a national service camp, conveniently located at a little place very near to Lumut (read : beach). And the camp had an open day today where parents were invited to take a closer look around, have meal at their dining hall and watched performance by the trainees. So the boys and I tagged along.

Those teenagers were superb. There was one very energetic Indian dance show that I enjoyed tremendously. Wonder where they had that kind of energy. But then, they were teenagers. Amri loved the dikir barat, though I found it utterly boring. Adam had a meltdown because he did not win a lucky draw hamper. Ceh!

Had lunch at their dining hall, which to me, who grew up at boarding school followed by college hostel, felt it had a lot of room for improvement. But compared to the time before hubby took over the management, it was pretty good. The rest of the facility were okay, though it looked more like a boarding school than a training camp.

By the way, could the new management plant some trees and grass please. The place was scorching hot that my Adam si putera lilin broke out in very nasty heat rashes. It was so bad that it looked like Adam was bitten by some very poisonous bugs. When 3/4 of Adam turned maroon from the rashes, I braved the unfamiliar road and head out in search of a clinic. Ended up in front of a pharmacy somewhere in Sitiawan, about 20 minutes later. By that time, Adam was peacefully asleep and the rashes were totally gone. 20 minutes in airconditioning car cured that.

Checked into marina cove resort after another 20 minutes navigating my way very confusedly out of sitiawan.

Back to kitchen tales

I have three cakes suppliers. People I regularly ordered cakes from, be it for own consumption or as a gift. One is a neighbour but she has moved to trendy upmarket BJ and has yet to finish redecorating her kitchen and made final decision as to where to place her oven and stuffs. So until her grand tropika 2 kitchen is up and running again, I have to look for other alternative

The second one made heavenly cakes but has serious time management issue. If I do not die from overdose of her marvelous cakes than I'd surely die of panic attack when she still does not turn up with my orders a couple of hours after the agreed time. Or murdered by my hungry guests. But her cakes is something to die for....

So come the third one. She makes pretty cakes but the taste is so so. But my boys love them to bits. So if it made the boys happy, I'd order them by the dozens, never mind if I had to drive quite a distance to collect them. But then, the lady rang me up saying that she had to attend this meeting or the other and the cakes would be a few hours late. The she called again and said the cakes would be ready on time because she will rush home and let go her lunch/tea break so that she could bake the cake. And she'd go on and on until it made me feel very guilty for ruining her day just for the cakes. So I cancelled the order. Immediately she changed the tune, everything was running well now. Hmmph!
By the time I reached her house to collect the cakes, her kids were lining up by her car to go out for dinner. And she started again on how she did not have time to cook dinner because she was busy baking cakes. Duh! I'd never ever order from her again. She probably did not bake cakes as a source of income but rather as an annoying hobby.

Probably I should start baking my own pretty cupcake. If mdm gartblue could do it, surely I could too. It can't be that difficult. Sigh!

So if you people still want the contact numbers, sms me. Maybe you'll have better luck.

Pets

My boys want a pet each.

Amri wants a dog

Adam wants an elephant

Ibu wants to scream

Kiddy party

Since we already had a party last month, it only made sense that Adam's party should be at his school with his new friends. He was also super happy last Thursday when one of his classmates celebrated her birthday there so I knew, it was just right for him.

Since I had enough of spiderman/superman/batman theme to last me a lifetime, I decided to do everything spongebob this time. At least, spongebob is funny and no one died in his story. And considering that the guests were a bunch of 4 year olds (most are not yet 4), I went for cupcakes. And they are so cute......

Amri and Adam decided that they wanted another go at candle blowing so they took one spongebob each, stuck a candle, get bibik to light them up and blew them again. All these despite both of them were already asleep on the way back from collecting the cake

Cute little spongebobs ready to be sent to Adam's class

Since the boys like the cupcakes so much, I took 10 pcs from the box and put aside for them to eat. By the time I took out the plate, only 6 were left to be arranged.

For some reason, Amri said he wanted to do some maths on the laptop. At dining table. Fine. It was late and I was sleepy. So I said goodnight to the boys and reminded them not to stay up too late.

The next morning, there was only one spongebob left on the plate. Luckily they did not eat the whole boxful.

Adam turns 4 years old

My baby has turned 4 in a blink!
However, the birthday boy was so sleepy he could hardly blow the candle. The long face however, was due to his royal shyness, i.e malu kat waiters. We had spent the day visiting a sick cousin who had just came back from a 24 days coma at Hospital Temerloh. And both boys spent the travelling time either bickering or at each others throat. Amri was still nervous at the sight of all the tubes and life support machine but that was understandable.
Anyway. We had a birthday dinner, with Cu Nan and Auntie Cik as well. Auntie Cik had her birthday on 9th January so they practicaly shared the party.




Birthday boy and birthday girl.















Birthday boy enjoying his sweet treat, an icecream brownie . Birthday girl wouldn't touch it though.

Birthday present from Cu Nan. Ibu and ayah had no time to get him a pressy yet...apa lah nak jadi.

All smiles now. He loved the racing cars so much he he slept with them. And had nightmares about Amri taking his new toys from him two times where he cried so loud he had me rushing to his room without really opening my eyes.

Adam goes to kindy

He was very excited but still, not a morning person. Quite a job to wake him up, get him into the uniform but still failed to put any breakfast into him. He just drank his milk.
All of us, Amri, hubby and I would be there for him on his first day

Despite me imagining the worst, Adam was very okay, especially after his teacher gave him and his little friends some balloons to play with and put on music. I was worried because he used to be accompanied by Amri everywhere. Amri was the outgoing extrovert one, while Adam was simply reserved. He did not make friends on his own but rather just went along with Amri's friends. So this is the first time he did things on his own.



He was rather quiet in the beginning but at the end of the day, he had already made friends and seemed to be enjoying himself. I was very relieved that he did not cry and insisted to go home. Though he looked rather uncomfortable when a few classmates started to howl. I stayed around and took a sneak peek now and then. Adam would gave me a little wave and a big smile everytime he spotted me

School ended earlier at 10.30am since this week would be orientation week. I sent him home and the first thing he did was grab his milk bottle and lie down on his hammock to enjoy. Shoes was taken off by me.

Jalan jalan tengok wayang

Hubby was not in town. Which is not uncommon. But not to have him around on weekend could dampen the mood a little bit. Anyway, we still had fun.



Took the boys to watch Alvin & Chipmunks at Cineleisure Mutiara Damansara. Love the place. They have allocated a few parking space, directly in front of the entrance for single female drivers. Truth was, the first time I read that, I thought the spaces were reserved for unmarried woman. Hehehe... But, what other word could describe it anyway. Unaccompanied?



The downside of not having your other half with you during this kind of outing was, I had to handle all the toilet breaks myself. Of all the 6 hours we were out, the boys had 9 toilet trips. Duh!



Went to Ikano playland afterwards and the boys promptly went after a clown. Amri got a baloon. But I guess Adam was too short that the clown did not notice him. So we had one very distraught boy here. But a baloon and a lunch later, he was back to his normal self.


waiting for balloon


close to tears


forced smile












Went home when Adam could no longer walk and attempted to sleep on the shopfloor.

Sleep over

While we were at Pusat Akuatik yesterday evening, hubby received a call from one of his best mate - Nik Arif (& co). Apparently they were in Shah Alam and planned to drop over for dinner. Cool! Amri was so exited it was a breeze to get him out of the pool.

So we had dinner and catched up on each other while the children ran around wild till almost midnight. Arif, Intan and the girls left for their hotel while Irfan stayed behind for his first sleep over. Amri was super thrilled to have his best friend spent the night over while Adam was simply happy because he has two big brothers to fight with. Needless to say, it was difficult to get them to bed. At the end, I just gave up and let them had pillow fight or jedi fight or whatever until they either felt asleep on their feet or simply too exhausted to play.

Batrishia, Irfan, Adam and Afiqah



























Past 12 midnight but these 3 boys were still busy












Half past 7 saturday morning. Wonder what happened last night sampai bedsheet pun dah halfway gone

Amri is seven years old today!

How weird to turn seven and the first year of school was already over. I meant, you're supposed to be seven on your first year.

Well...bringing up Amri was never easy. He was sickly for the first 3 years (read: high hospitalisation bill) then exceptionally super active for the rest (read : ER) . And now he was diagnosed with dyslexia (read: costly therapy). Which made him quite a high maintenance child. Fortunately, he was blessed with a highly resourceful parents and strong family support from both side of the families. Plus, we did not pass out at the sight of blood.

Amri received his birthday present from us last night, and so was Adam who insisted that his birthday was on the same date, except that, Amri was out of Ibu's tummy first. I wanted to give them skateboards but at hubby's raised eyebrow, quickly changed it to a safer Lego set.

We celebrated his birthday (and our wedding anniversary) at Colonial Times and had a really great time because the place was practically empty. To our surprise, Amri was embarrassed when the waiters sang Happy Birthday song to him and hid behind his father. So much so that he refused to blow the candle. Fortunately, Adam coolly blew the candle on his behalf because, well, as insisted by him, it was his birthday too.


Happy 7th Birthday!













Though we talked, chatted and planned about going out just the two of us to celebrate our anniversary, at the end we decided againts that. Hubby and I always met up for lunch or went out together after work. There'll be plenty of opportunity for us to have a private celebration later on. We'll celebrate this day as Amri's birthday for as long as it takes then perhaps one day he'll prefer to celebrate it alone or just with his other half...then hubby and I could sit down together and reminisce about the good old noisy times

I owed Amri a birthday party. Now, when could I squeeze one?

School holiday program

I finally found a decent school holiday program for the boys at Children's Playhouse, located at Bukit Jelutong. Monday to Friday, 9am to 12. Doing a little bit of everything including art&craft, mengaji, computer, swimming (not a lesson, just splashing in the pool) and a few more things. Cost me RM700+ for one month but the cost was well justified.

These are what happened when both boys were at home at the same time without me, the evil sergeant around:
1. Curtain rod was pulled off from its bracket
2. One mirror in bibik's bathroom was broken followed by another mirror in their own bathroom
3. Adam ended up with a deep cut on his toe because of no.2
4. My room had a drawing of spongebob
5. Most of the foods I bought for them was sold to their friends and neighbours kids. Sales proceed was used to buy ice cream
6. My house perpetually looks like the aftermath of a hurricane attack
7. My usually well dressed bibik looks like someone with a bad case of gila meroyan
8. They took turns to call my mobile phone every few minutes
....and a lot more

*sigh*

A weekend at BBR Batu Feringgi

Actually the main reason for this trip up north was to attend cousin Ira's wedding at Butterworth. But any reason was good enough reason for us to squeeze in a little bit of short vacationing.

The drive took longer than anticipated because some part of PLUS highway (Rawang-Tg Malim-SlimRiver) was undergoing some verrryyyy slooowww major upgrading works. Why now, for god sake. Expected completion date is Dec 2007, duh.















The beautiful beach seen from our balcony

Anyway, we attended Ira's wedding first. Met my parents and most of our relatives there. Seemed like half of Langkawi folks were there, enjoying the event and catching up with each other. Abg Caq was the photographer and Abg Cik the videoman.

Checked in to Bayview, which, after the slow drive, the scorching nothern heat, the superb food which I overate and the constant bickering of the two boys, seemed so heavenly. My first thought was just to crash out till dinner time. But the two boys had other plans. The rate the changed into their swimming gear was amazing :). So this makcik grudgingly hauled her heavier body down to the beach....
















Adam waiting for the wave























So we had two days of sand, sun and sea plus occasional dip into the pool. I even managed to squeeze in a wonderful massage that straightened out the tight knot at my neck and shoulder. Should have done this more often, the relaxing trip that did not involve sightseeing or shopping or rushing everywhere. The two boys were contend to play at the beach and pool. Next time I'll leave them with hotel's babysitter and get hubby to join me for 1/2 day spa :)






















We checked out on Sunday. On the way to Penang bridge, we decided to stop for a bowl of mee udang at Miami beach. The boys asked whether they could check out the beach while we were ordering, to which i said yes.















Adam and Amri checking out the beach

Next thing I knew, Adam was already inside the water while Amri was rolling happily on the sand, both fully clothed. Sigh!







Adam, covered with sand from head to toe plus pockets




















These two rascals were on their last piece of shirts. So after letting them get enough sand on their hair, pockets and underwear, we almost physically dragged them to the nearest public shower that was surprisingly clean. Much to the dissappointment of the two boys and a group of Japanese tourist who found their antics were highly amusing. Luckily hubby found a pair of spare pants each for them so they were bundled up into the car wearing just long pants and promptly felt asleep five minutes afterwards.

I had to make a pit stop at metrojaya penang to buy them shirts. Adehhhh..... where are they roadside-made-in-thailand sellers when you need them...

Selamat Pengantin Baru to Aimi Syahira

This sweet little cousin of mine has suddenly grown up to a beautiful princess and get herself a prince charming to spend the rest of her life with. Wonder when did the growing up took place. I still remember her as a five years old girl singing at the top of her voice while swinging wildly at my parents porch.

Hope you and Waffi will be blessed with all the happiness in years to come.

Eid 2007

Raya was great this year. No one get seriously sick (though Amri had runny nose), weather was perfect, enough food, no baby that needs constant feeding and diapers and nobody is pregnant.

One snag though. Amri had been asking for duit raya from people. Which to us, was extremely embarrassing. He was still okay last year so I was quite unprepared for it. It took the whole day of reminding him sternly for the message to sink in. Made more difficult by constant flow of guest with their little ones blatantly asking for duit raya without anyone reprimanding. Must have seemed unfair to him.

We went visiting relatives in the afternoon, knowing that tomorrow the traffic would be terrible so we'd better do our jalan jalan today. True enough, traffic was clear all the way

This year menu:
Pulut kuning with rendang daging (chicken was sold out...isk)
Ketupat palas with serunding
Nasi impit + kuah kacang
Sate
Nasi minyak given by Che Non
Lontong given by Mak Su

Sedih pulak tak dapat my favourite rendang ayam. Maybe I should rear a couple of chickens there then by raya next year, they will be ready to be turned into rendang.

Eve of Eid

Nothing much for me to do, everything was already prepared by Ummi. So I just crashed out till late afternoon when I suddenly remembered that I still did not have any tudung to wear tomorrow. Nagged hubbby to drive me to town who in turns nagged Cu Nan to drive us to town instead. Great. Then Amri nagged us to tag along but ended up sleeping inside the car.

Managed to get the tudung (and cheap too). Traffic was not as hellish as I expected, probably because everybody were busy doing Eid preparation at home

Saw this when Cu Nan stopped to buy ice cubes. In fact, Ummi wanted us to buy these lot too but I put my foot down (hard) on that. And asked Cu Nan to buy regular sunquick orange juice instead. Apparently, these are official drinks at most of Terengganu homes during Eid.

Change of plan

About all those travelling plans we discussed/argued? We aborted all of them and chose to drive at the stroke of midnight instead. Or more specifically, 11.46pm Thursday night. Reason being, our stuffs were miraculously packed the day before so there was no more packing to be done. Unless I wanted to pack house furnitures as well. Another reason was, after sending bibik off to her brother's house, we did not dare to turn the two boys loose on the house that was already painstakingly tidied up by bibik.

We reached Kula Terengganu about 9.30am Friday morning. 9+ hours of driving. Which was 4 hours earlier than expected.

KT was swelteringly hot. Kesian tengok Amri puasa here. Especially with cousins yang mostly tak puasa.

It is a sunny day...

With lots of drizzle..heh

Thank God the PMS yesterday only lasted a day. Used to be many days a few years back. And, no physical discomfort either. So I considered myself lucky. Just one wretched day per month when I feel the whole universe is out to bring me down is quite allright. Even that one day was usually taken care of during normal months due to my regular exercise. But this is fasting month now, and I've been busy checking out every stall at bazar ramadhan than exercising. In fact, jostling through bazar ranadhan and shopping complex are my only pathetic exercise for the last 29 days. How wonderful!

Well...enough of that. Lets concentrate on current task at hand. The topmost is, I need to get a tudung. Followed by everything else. 'Everything else' could easily filled two pages of A4 paper if I were to write them down. But being me, making mental notes and forgetting half of them then finally remember at the very last minute is more appealing. Plus, I tend to misplace list and notes. Or put in one bag/car and go out with another bag/car. Maybe I should get a PDA.

On the other note, I'm still amazed at how easy it is for Amri to fast. Frankly, I thought he would only lasted 3 days. Or perhaps half day fasting everyday. Surely there was a temptation to buy food at his school canteen. But his teacher said he was either at surau or running around with his friends. Sahur was easy as well. Some days, he'd even woke up on his own but just lie down on his bed waiting for me, face already washed and hair combed. He ate well, menu ranging from fried rice/meehoon/egg to snickers, mcdonald burger and honey star. Drinks was either 100plus or orange juice. How much easier could it get.
The truth is, I do not expect anything as easy as this. Everything about bringing up Amri were anything but easy, right from his overdued birth. Strangely though, I honestly did not mind the trouble. I had blessed with more than enough resources to see these two troublemakers through the next couple of decade, God willing.

Trivia

Am having a bad day....

No car

No iftar at colonial

Lost my mac lipstick

Company secretary lost the resolution so I cant sign cheque. No money then

Haven't talk since the past 4 hours

No trip to buy bagus cake mix

Not enough sleep

No coffee

No tudung to match my baju raya

....am getting very cranky now

This coming Friday

My plan : To wake up and have long shower and change tudung 10 times then drive off to KT about 8am something and hope to God that we could make it there before iftar.
The risk : We may end up driving for 14 hours with no place to eat

Hubby's plan: Toss the boys into the car at 3am and drive off to KT
The risk : He may have to carry and toss me in as well

Plan B : To drive away merrily after Thursday iftar
The risk : Half of Klang valley may be doing the same thing.

There is no decision yet. But thank God my boys are easy when it comes to travelling. Even more easier now since Adam is 100% diapers free and eats/drinks anything that Amri eats/drinks.

New kid on the block

Congratulation eiseai on the arrival of 3rd EAI. Hope to see you two soon

Shopping Raya

Had a busy day. I worked at superspeed from 9am to 1pm then off to 1U with hubby for our annual raya shopping. And to Ikano afterwards. Though I've completed my shopping (and exceeded budget as well) at 1U, I still could not resist buying the boys a cheap power ranger tshirt each I found at brand outlet. They could wear it immediately if they want to. Hubby made a reservation for his office staffs iftar at one of the eateries then off we went to MPH at the curve. I slumped off here until it was time for my own office iftar do. Weird eh? Initially we planned to have these two office iftar on seperate day so we could join both but unfortunately hubby's car was at workshop and sharing one car for these two persons who used to go seperate ways was so very inconvenient, thus, we did it on the same day but different place. So hubby was off to Ikano and I met my colleagues at Colonial Times.

Good food there. Their naan bread was divine. I could even eat it on its own (eh...cam bunyi iklan roti je..) But honestly, I wouldn't want that ttdi jaya bai punya naan bread after this. There was also another bread that was paper thin and simply melt in my mouth but cant remember the name. I wish I did not order the briyani so that i could feast on all kind of bread alone. (I am so into bread this year)

I want to go there again.....

Met a weird guard on the second floor of the curve on that day. The curve was so near my office that I had never need to use their surau. So, I have no idea where the prayer room is. But since this was iftar do, I decided to do my Maghrib first while waiting for the foods. So I asked the first guard I spotted, where is the prayer room. He pointed at a signboard on top of our head and said " Signboad tu kata pergi straight ke depan tapi kalau kamu jalan straight ikut signboard tu, nanti kamu tak jumpa suraunya. Jalan la sampai hujung pun, tak akan ada suraunya. Memang tak de surau kalau ikut signboard tu. Tak payah la susah susah cari surau. Balik sembahyang kat rumah"

I gaped.

One passerby noticed how lost I looked so he kindly pointed out where the surau was. Just up the escelator and turned right.

p/s Yati, if you read this, Happy Birthday!

Innalillah...

I wept when I read about the death of Nurin. I'm sure thousands, if not millions across the country felt the same way. Such an innocent life, taken brutally for reason known only to the murderer. We failed to save Nurin. Police did not seemed to have any clue about the murderer. However, that was not a good enough reason to start accusing the parents of neglect. Just try harder and save the blaming mentality for another day.

Much need to be done in order to make the world a better place, especially for our children. But lets just start with a simple one, i.e to care. And of course, to trust your instinct. Lots of things happened everyday at a crowded place but how many (if any) of us did actually care. A child was left alone inside a car while the father was busy buying kuihs from bazar ramadhan and all the people that bypass the car ever did was gave a two seconds glance and kept on walking. What if somebody just get inside the car and drove off? Or the child decided to venture off somewhere? Would the publics who walked past the car still remember it and cared enough to try to help by providing information? Or would the memory of it been wiped clean once in the vicinity of mega food feast that is bazar ramadhan.

I am pretty sure that in the case of Nurin, many people would have seen a girl walking alone to the pasar malam. And surely after the abduction, many more would have seen her somewhere. But nobody cared enough to actually took notice that; a girl was unaccompanied, somebody had grabbed her, she might have screamed and struggle and a lot more that would have looked suspicious. Out of the many people there, some would have the instinct that something has gone the worng way but did not feel like following through the intuition. We had become a self absorbed community (that only become busybody if there was a road accident). I wonder what the powers that be could do to change that bit of mentality. But I think they would suggest to put our poor kids under lock and key at all time.

I hope each and everyone of us had learnt something from Nurin's case. I hope she did not died in vain. That other children would have a better world to live in because of her.

Al Fatihah. This was a very sad time.

I hate the way media published Nurin's dead body on the front page and in the news. Did they asked her parents for permission?

Ramadhan Day 5

Amri is still fasting, which has began to amaze me. Sure, there were some accidents. On Friday morning, he woke up and went straight to fridge to drink his soya bean, which was his usual routine. Yesterday he was helping me with lychee pudding and inadvartently (I'm assuming) put the lychee in his mouth. Again, this was his die hard habit. Other than that, he took it quite well. With the exception of Sunday afternoon when I went on cooking binge. The whole house smelt of nasi tomato and of course, the lychee pudding cooling on the kitchen table plus some murtabaks brought by Cu Nan. Amri understandably, whined. Especially when he caught Adam eating nasi tomato, curry and watermelon in the kitchen.

I had removed all kind of tempting food from fridge and cabinets. And I've decided to leave the cooking to bibik and spend the time entertaining Amri instead.

Other than that, I think it was not as difficult as I imagined it would be. Amri did not complained of tiredness, hunger or thirst. He was his usual playful self, bickering with Adam non stop and made me wonder whether he secretly managed to eat a few square meals even under four pairs of watchful eyes. It was also surprisingly easy to wake him up for sahur and he ate well enough that I do not have to be worried about nutrition. He did not gulped down gallons of drinks during breaking fast either, which was a lot better that myself (and hubby too). He went to solat terawih as and when he felt like it and it was pretty much okay with us. Having said all that, I think I had underestimated Amri.

Ramadhan 1248H

Amri was born on 1st Ramadhan 7 years ago so we could say that yesterday was his 7th birthday! I still found it hard to believe that he has been around for seven years.

Anyway. Amri managed to complete full day of fasting yesterday. Well, I was overly proud! I knew other parents only had to inform their children that tomorrow is Ramadhan so please wake up earlier for sahur and no eating/drinking till Maghrib. Not so easy for me. I had to explain the concept of fasting for about a million times while stating firmly that it has nothing to do with power rangers and its equivalent. I had bibik cooked his favourite nasi lemak but he only ate one spoonful but ate chocolates instead. With tea. Whatever. He went back to sleep after subuh prayer and we let him sleep as long as he wanted to. His ustazah was not coming during fasting month anyway. He looked pretty tired after school so to keep his mind and hand from food, especially that bibik was cooking up a storm at the moment, we took him and Adam to pasar Ramadhan. Which was a bit of a mistake. Amri immediately asked to buy a drink. Okeh....we bought everything he wanted but only to be eaten during buka puasa. Adam on the other hand, was listless. He looked like he was the one whom is fasting. We cut it short and walked home. Since bibik was setting up the table, we put both boys in our room, switch on the aircond and watched tv together. Hadn't done this for the longest time. The boys were always out somewhere playing with their friends. I was always at seribadan. Hubby....ermmm...everywhere I guess :) Alhamdulillah.....Amri lasted until breaking fast time. With a lot of extra attention, pujuk pujuk, RM5 reward (positive reinforcement), some flattery and big boy ego booster. Hopefully I can do this for the next 29 days.

Something wrong with Adam though. He kept on vomiting and at times had a little bit of high temperature. What's up?

Congrats to Cu Nan

Congratulation to my youngest brother in law, Hasnan on his graduation day at UM. Another accountant in the family. We certainly are very proud of you. Seen here with his future partner-for-life, God willing :) whom is also a distant cousin and his kindy sweetheart.

A dip in the forest

Nowhere to go so we decided to go trekking at nearby bukit cerakah. We've been here many times but the boys still insisted on riding the park bus. I guess when you were chauffered around everywhere by car, riding a bus is a novelty. Even though it was not a proper bus you see on the road. Did the our usual routine - feeding the deer, climbing the lookout tower and when we arrived at the pool, it was starting to rain. We had the pool to ourselves for hours. It was cloudy so nobody get sunburnt this time.