Adam on the mend

Adam with his new power rangers toy









Adam was put under 24 hours observation so we stayed another night. We here meant Adam and his Ayah. While mommy crashed at home, on her king size bed. Hehe....


Anyway. When it came to staying put, Adam was no better than Amri. He was restless and only slightly entertained by the toys, astro and colouring book. Even a piece of hospital rubber glove became his toy.


By 9 ++ am, the surgeon declared Adam was fit enough to go home and signed the discharged papers. We however, had to wait for hours until everything, from insurance to pharmacy supply before we managed to get home. It was lunch time by then.

I cought him climbing near the lamp just before this. Checking out the many switches there

Adam clearly missed home. He visited all rooms and went up and down a few times. When Amri reached home from school, he was overjoyed and started chattering non stop. They played cards, watched tv and god know what else while I had a bit of lie in.


I needed to get a few things from giant and the two boys tagged along. Adam decided to wear a cap to hide the big tape on his head and persuaded Amri to do the same. The cap hid the bandage well enough but soon Adam complained about the edge of his cap was rubbing painfully into his stitches. Hmmm....

We had our lattes then headed home.




Upon reaching home, Adam decided to ride his bike again. So soon? Tak serik? I guess not. Can't blame him for that. I could not remember being prim and proper myself.

Unrepentant.

But still, between these two boys, I'll end up with a full head of white hair before I hit 50. I'm getting quite worried with the little unborn one. What if the baby is a girl? What if the baby is a girl who will ride her bike the way his two daredevil brothers rode? God help us....

Adam @ OT

Adam waiting to be taken to Operating Theatre










By half past eight, Adam was ready. He was definitely a model patient. Though he complained that he was hungry and his hospital gown looked like girl's dress, that was the extend of it. Really fuss free. And he enjoyed being pushed in stretcher to Operating Suite.

By 9am, he was well under GA and I kissed him one last time before being ushered to the waiting room.

Half an hour later, I was shown to recovery room, where Adam was retching badly and cried a bit. Upon seeing me, he said he wanted to go home. That made me sad, because, I've never heard such thing from him. Or from Amri either. Both of them were brought up to be flexible and could just survive everywhere. But he said that many times.


Adam post surgery. Spending his time watching cartoon network









Once he was a bit more settled, the nurses transfered him to his own room. A few minutes later, he asked for milk. I gave a small amount, fearing that he would vomit again. Thankfully, he slept soon after.

Adam woke up not even one hour later and asked for porridge. Then rice. Then polished off soup, milo and pudding, both mine and his. He asked for twisties and I told him that it would have to wait until his father arrived because I would need to go and buy it from the shop. He asked for milk instead and was content with that.



Adam enjoying dessert











Hubby arrived soon after and I suddenly felt extremely exhausted. That was about as much adrenaline this pregnant lady could handle.

Dejavu

It happened again. This time it was Amri who ran back home saying that Adam fell from bicycle and was badly injured. We found him sprawled and covered in blood in between two park benches. It was this all over again. I knew what to expect and what to do but still, my heart skip a beat. Maybe more.

Bundled a bleeding Adam (from top to toe, indeed) into the car and drove off to the nearest clinic. Dr. Rasool and his assistants were very prompt and efficient. They cleaned up Adam pretty fast, gave him painkiller, wrote a referral letter to surgeon and even called the hospital to expect us. Adam's cut on his head was a lot worse than I expected. The full length and depth of it could only be seen once the doctor finished shaving his hair around the area.

We went home after the clean up. Asked bibik to change Adam's bloodied cloth. Packed an overnight bag, fished out Adam's medical card, called hubby who was outstation and gave Amri his pocket money for tomorrow. Cu Nan would spend overnight here to keep him and bibik company (thank you, bro).

I went straight to ER. Adam slept the whole time. Asked the nurse to help moving Adam from my car to wheelchair. Once in ER, the bandages were changed and Adam cried again. He however, did not struggle at all. But once the bandages were replaced, he was back to his cheerful self. He then was taken for head x-ray just in case there was any fracture to the skull. Unfortunately,I am pregnant, thus could only accompany him to the door. Adam was okay though. The surgeon scheduled Adam for surgery the next morning, after 6 hours fasting.

Adam waiting to be sent to his room

Adam liked his hospital room well enough that he had trouble to go to sleep. He also found that being pushed in wheelchair was funny and grinned all the way from ER to his room.

The day I turned 35

Today I am one year older and still none the wiser but of course, grumpier than ever.

Adding to the grumpiness is the fact that i had very little sleep last night in between sneezing, gasping for oxygen whenever both air passage were blocked and get this, i let my not so little darling adam slept with me. On my bed. Reason being, he injured his feet during one of his cycling stunt.

Now here, I am not one of those supermommies who enjoy having their kids co-sleeping with them. Honestly, I'd have put the kids in their own room from day 1, if not for the inconvenience of stumbling around all night long for nightime feeding and diaper changing.

Anyway. Adam does not have Amri's high threshold for pain. He looked so pitiful that I finally gave in and let him sleep beside me. Big mistake. King size bed or not, there was no escape from his super active limbs. He slept like he was seriously practising tae kwon do and gymnastic at the same time. I was sorely tempted to push him down to the carpet.

This morning he declared he was not fit enough to go to kindy. I agreed because his ankle was kind of swollen and I doubted he could wear his socks and shoe. But a YM to hubby later revealed that he was cycling outside all morning and now was watching the contractor fixing our auto gate. Hmmph!

Blissful Sunday

I woke up in the morning without headache and just a very mild stuffy nose, which was a rarity indeed. Maybe I should do this every morning - gradually inched my way out of bed sometime after 9 am.

Feeling a lot better in weeks, I gave bibik the day off and sent her to giant for her monthly shopping. Then nagged the big boss to drive me around town. Managed to buy one thing out of a few hundreds that i planned to buy plus a whole lot more that I've never intended to purchase. So far so good.

I just wish that I could have more days like today. Then I wouldn't be so grumpy and whiny

Stuffy nose during pregnancy

Why do I feel congested all the time?

Believe it or not, it's pretty common to have a runny or stuffed-up nose during pregnancy. About 20 to 30 percent of pregnant women have congestion without having allergies or a viral infection like the common cold. This condition even has a name: rhinitis of pregnancy. It can start as early as your second month and last until you have your baby or even a few weeks afterward.Higher amounts of estrogen during pregnancy can contribute to swelling in the mucous membranes lining the nose and even cause you to make more mucus. What's more, the amount of blood in your body increases and your blood vessels expand during pregnancy, which can lead to swollen nasal membranes as well. Other hormones may also play a role.

How can I tell if my congestion is due to my pregnancy or to something else?
If you have no other symptoms, it's probably rhinitis of pregnancy. If your stuffy nose is accompanied by sneezing, coughing, a sore throat, mild aches and pains, or possibly swollen glands or a fever, you probably do have a cold or another infection.On the other hand, if you have symptoms such as sneezing and itchy eyes, nose, throat, or ears along with your congestion, then allergies are a likely culprit. Pregnancy can make your allergies worse or cause you to be sensitive to allergens and other irritants that never bothered you before.Of course, you won't always be able to tell what's causing your congestion, and it's possible that there's more than one cause. For example, you could be suffering from allergies as well as rhinitis of pregnancy.

What can I do for relief?
Remember to drink plenty of fluids and keep your head elevated at night. These measures can also be helpful:• Steam can temporarily relieve congestion and it's often very soothing. Take a warm shower and hang out for a while afterward in the steamy bathroom. Or moisten a washcloth with hot water, hold it up to your face, and breathe.• Try saline nose drops or a buffered saline nasal spray, available over the counter at the drugstore. Spritz or drip a bit into each nostril and within five or ten minutes you should be able to blow your nose more easily.• Use a humidifier or vaporizer to put more moisture into the air and keep it near your head at night. Be sure to follow the cleaning instructions that came with your humidifier. Change the water daily since it can become a breeding ground for bacteria. You'll need to replace the filter often as well.• Avoid potential irritants, such as cigarette smoke and alcohol (which you should already be avoiding!) and sudden temperature changes. Also avoid exercising outdoors on days when there's a lot of air pollution.

Are there any medications I can take?
If congestion continues to make you miserable, tell your practitioner about your symptoms and ask which medications are safe for you to try. It's generally best to avoid taking any medications during your first trimester, when your baby's organs are forming.If your practitioner says it's okay, you can try a decongestant. Avoid overusing decongestant nasal sprays, though, because they can cause rebound inflammation and make your congestion much worse

Source : www.babycentre.com

*sigh*

I'm living with this for weeks now. Nasal spray doesn't really work. And the so called safe medication make me drowsy but does not help me to sleep. I am so miserable that I felt like applying for unpaid leave until the day i give birth. But I guess, staying at home will make it worse since my next door neighbour is doing major renovation and across the road, contruction for dPuncak bungalows is in full swing. And so does the dust that come with it. Plus, not all part of my house is airconditoned. I'm better off in my office.

*sigh*

18 more weeks.

Halfway there

I have gone through a miserable 19 weeks.

Another 19 weeks to go. I'm due on 9/9/09

Hoping for better weeks to come.

Amri's Sport Day 2009

The school termed it Athletic Day. Amri gleefully spent three days of this week at mpsj stadium, rehearsing for the event.

Unfortunately, the transporter did not fetch the students for today so us parents had to get going earlier so that these students could be at stadium by 7.30am. Fortunately, Adam woke up and get dressed very early and fuss free. Amri of course, was on his regular schedule. Just before he get dressed, he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to wear long pants for today. Grr...mana nak cari school long pants di subuh buta ni. Tak kan nak pakai jeans kot. Hish...budak nih. But Amri, being Amri was just as happy in school short pant as in any pants. Ibu nyer pulak yg self concious sebab most of the students turned up in long pants.

Amri warning Ayah not to take his marching photo.

Brothers aka partners in crime

Amri waiting his turn

Huge mommy. Can't believe the baby is just 157gm. What are the rest of 3.8kg I put on?

Yey.....Primary 3 Blue House won first place.

Went home around noon and all four of us crashed out on the living room sofa later. Only Amri ate lunch. The rest of us couldn't be bothered with food. Besides, we were going out for a wedding at 2pm so catching 40 winks was more important.

Apsal penonton pulak yg exhausted lebih lebih ye....

A shiny new, red bicycle

Someone has a shiny new bicycle!
















Yesterday, Hubby brought it back from bicycle shop sometime near noon and Adam had been outside cycling ever since. Even Amri joined him even though his was not new. Then the boys were joined by a new girl whom family was in the midst of moving in to the corner lot house that day. The trio cycled back and forth half of the day, ignoring the heat and the occasional drizzle.




We were busy with our reunion guest and I guess the girl's parents were busy with a few huge lorries worth of furnitures to pay much heed to these kids. They were in and out of the house many times though. And every now and then they would line up at the buffet table and helped themselves to some food, presumably for sustanance for another few kilometres of cycling. Us parents were left blissfully alone with our guest :)







Amri with his new friend/neighbour. He was doing a power ranger pose initially until the girl gave him a good whack and asked him to stand properly :)











Now, when can we get rid of the training wheels?

eMBA6 reunion

We hosted a reunion for x-eMBA6 group at our home. Some of the photos are here, but the rest will be in the yahoogroup. I think I'll need someone to help me draw a proper road map. Giving direction was a pain.


Makan time. We had roti jala, meehoon, chili con carne and chicken kebab.

Some of the ladies















Some of the gentlemen

To mamarock, thanks for the heavenly brownie. It arived just in time when my muffins were almost gone. I didn't dare to bake a large batch due to the missing kitchen scale. And of course, agak-agak the quantity has never been my strong skill.

Faiz testifying mamarock's brownie. Serious, it was delicious. And it came with the porcelein bowl.

To the rest, thanks for coming despite the rain and the sesat all around BJ case. And many,many thanks for the gifts, though it was a reunion, not a housewarming party. Hope all of you had a good time.

Damage control

Rajin anak ibu buat homework....



















Or so I thought. Definitely not. He was busy sabotaging Amri's halfway done work when Amri dissappeared downstairs for a few minutes.







Gotcha!













Luckily the damages were done with pencil so i was able to quickly erased them all before Amri came back. Phew! This kind of thing could lead to a serious war. Honestly, Adam is dangerous if he is all nice and quiet for more than five minutes.





Adam acting like nothing happened.










They look strangely camouflaged by all that colours.

Homework blues

Adam starts to have homework this year. And boy, there are a lot! A page of maths, writings and some language skills. He'd usually brought back three books per day. At first Adam was thrilled with the homework. His status was elevated to almost the same level with Amri who had mountains of schoolwork. He gets to enjoy the same amount of attention during homework hours at night.

But the novelty soon wore off. Especially when Amri had lesser homework once he managed to catch up with new subjects at school and spent his spare time noisily constructing robots from his lego set. Adam complained, grumbled, sulked and one day refused to go to kindy. I, the most laid back mother in Klang Valley simply called his teacher and requested her to stop the homeworks. Which worked well for two days. Then Adam started to feel left out both at kindy and at home. To my surprise, he asked his class teacher for some homework. The equally surprised teacher promptly gave me a call to get an all clear.

I decided to meet his teacher in person instead. We sat down together with Adam and finally concluded that Adam was bored to death doing the repetitious dot to dot, ABC, 123. He had done all that last year. So now Adam brought back just one homework per day. Things like math, fill in the blanks with correct letters/words and the likes. He is happier with this arrangement and sometimes, when the mood strikes him, completed the homework by himself in the afternoon. Most of the times, he is just his playful self with short attention span. But the homework gets done. Sampai terkoyak rabak buku.

Well, I'm glad the way it turns out. Especially now that homework coaching falls under the category of nauseous activity. Not good.

Hiatus over

Quite a long break I have.

Well, to answer some questions...nope, I was not out of country. I was not even out of town. I was just busy baking little muffin. Since I was not much of baking person, this little muffin caused a big chaos into my not so orderly life. Many thanks to bibik who always came to my rescue.

But I'm slowly coming up for air. And, silly as it might sound, am back enjoying driving on the most right lane on nkve. Been out of action for quite some time.

Am glad to be back.

Adam is 5!

My baby is 5!

We had our usual family birthday dinner last night. And today I gave Adam his birthday present, a skateboard, ignoring hubby's horrified look.

Hehehe! Mothers privileged, I insisted. Afterall, I knew what my son could handle. What i really didn't know was, how to wean him off milk bottle but still maintaining his milk intake. How la to do that? Amri weaned himself off milk at 2 years old and later it was easy to trick him off bottle as well. By that time, he was a veteran eater and quite capable to request his preferred meals. Adam on the other hand, was a fussy eater and so far his only favourite food is chocolate cake. Thank God Adam was quite vain and wouldn't dream of swinging his milk bottle in public.

Happy birthday, my dear!

Oh oh..

OMG.... I am so in trouble.

Crashed again

I was typing an email to my aussie counterpart when the XPS screen suddenly froze. Shut down and restart (my ultimate cure all solution) did not work. The IT guy spent an hour trying to revive my beloved xps before he admitted defeat and announced it as a gone case.

Huhuhuhu.......

My photos. Dated all the way back from Raya Haji, Cu Nan's engagement, my new padang bola backyard, Adam's birthday and God knows what else. Adoi la. I've been too busy to transfer them to CDs.

While I was brooding, the IT guy told me that XPS shouldn't be paired with window xp. I needed window vista. But due to our new ERP security issue, it was downgraded to xp. And now it was dead.

*sigh*

I quite love this xps, despite the fact that it was really, really heavy. But since I do not travel much, then it was quite allright. I could handle a bit of weight from my room to the car park. I am going to miss it. But not before i insisted on data recovery. Namely my photos. The other files could RIP.

Btw, Happy Birthday to my dear sis, Kak Cik.

School blues

So far so good. Everything went smoothly in my household. Note that, our definition of 'smooth' may be a little bit different from others.

Amri woke up at 6.30am, showered and dressed up pretty quick. He was fuss free like that. However, for some unfathomable reason, he wanted me to feed him breakfast. Spoonfed him to be exact. Well, if I had 5 children, this might be the time when I turned into a banshee. But I only had two. One was still in bed. I could certainly afford the time to spoonfeed one eight year old boy. So I quickly showered, changed into office attire and went downstairs to meet the royal highness who has wasted a good 20 minutes waiting for me at dining table. I managed to get 2 spoonful of fried meehoon into him when his van arrived. 10 minutes earlier. The van driver accidently drove a few doors away and took some time to reverse back the bus to our front gate. During that time, Amri managed to eat a few more spoonful of meehoon, drink his ribena and wear his shoes. Then off he went. That was 7.20 this morning.

I had a ten minutes break before I went to attend to son no.2 who really took his time from opening his eyes, to putting his foot on the floor to getting undress. Then he refused breakfast. Then he wanted that ultraman socks that bibik had to dig back from washing machine. Luckily belum basuh. After a little bit of chasing around, bibik managed to put that little laughing tyke in the car and I drove of to his kindy. Only to be told that today was orientation day for 3 and 4 yrs old only. What? Checked his communication book and there it was. A letter from kindy stating the specific date for every age group. Adam's would be on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Signed by my other half. Grrrr!!! So I turned back and sent a very puzzled Adam home.

Well. For a smoother ride, I think I'll just need to readjust a few things. First, see to Amri's breakfast before my own shower time. He refused to be accompanied by bibik. So, for as long as needed to, I'll feed him breakfast. This kind of phase usually will only last a few weeks. As for Adam, no matter who already signed whatever letter, I'll need to read it and commit to memory. Or bberry. My memory can't probably cope with all these things.

Easy peasy

I had it easy this school year. Unbelievably. Minus a little bit of drama in the morning.

Amri woke up easily and was sent to his new school by his father. Pretty much undaunted by new school, new teachers or new classmates. Hubby left him after his break. Amri's only concern was that I should top up his cash card with as much money as possible since he would be eating lunch at school. And he wanted to eat at secondary school's cafe because it sold icecream. By the time i took a sneak peek at his classroom around 3.00pm, he was very much comot (from eating too much ice cream, of course) and exhausted. Poor boy, after 6 weeks of running around, he had to sit still for 7 hours straight. By 3.30pm, class was dismissed and I was introduced to his new best friends. 10 minutes later we were in the thick of huge chaos at school cafe, where everyone going back by school bus gathered. By 4.00pm, I left Amri with his new school van driver and went home. He was too tired to run around so I was sure he would be allright.

Adam meanwhile, woke up at 5 in the morning, grab a towel and went to my room asking for hot shower. Told him that it was too early and sent him back to his room. When I check on him 10 minutes later, he was still sitting on his bed wrapped in towel, pouting and very close to tears. Gosh.... my pujuk pujuk skill was practically non existent at 5 in the morning, okay. Tried to get him into his clothes back, totally failed, then simply tucked him into bed with towel and all. I let him slept until 7.30 and had quite a hard time waking him up. Adoila....fenin mokcik, tau. But things got better after his shower. He settled down in his class happily, sitting beside, who else, his best friend Syafiq. I was quite prepared to request for a change of class if Syafiq turned out in different classroom. But he was okay and I could hear him from corridor, admiring someone's Ben10 water bottle.

Phew!

Brave kids...

Not mine per se . I was just remembering Amri's school orientation the other day. Amri took it easy, probably because he was already in Year 3 and though new, it was just another school. The moment his class was called, he bounded off to join his class teacher and new friends. After an hour, the kids already memorised the layout and in the case of Amri, the exact location of school cafe.

What impressed me most were the Year 1 students. They looked tiny but very brave. None of them looked teary eyed or clingy. And this being a little bit out of the way school, the students must have come from various places. With little chance of meeting you kindy mates. But when their classes were called, none of them hesitated to join their respective class teachers. No one cried or at the very least, looked scared. I couldn't remember being that confident when i was 7 years old. Amri was very easy too last time but he was familiar with most of the kids. They either came from the same kindy or his playground mates.

Anyway, parents being parents....we were all anxious. As soon as the little ones left to join the class teacher, their respective parents started to tag along. Until the teacher gave this announcement on the microphone:

"Children, please leave you parents behind at the hall. We will be back in an hour"

The whole hall erupted in laughter.

We parents must have annoyed the teachers beyond words.

Saturday rambling

Phew! Saturday is God's gift to humankind. Nevertheless, I still had to reluctantly drag myself out of bed on this rainy morning.

First stop was q-dees. Paid the fees while chatting with some of the teachers. We were discussing on which class to put Adam. Not that it was of utmost importance but most of them knew how very extremely reserved Adam is. So we all agreed on en-graham bell, simply because Adam was familiar with the teacher. Whereas the other two classes would be taught by new teachers. Adam's new teacher was known as pretty strict but the rest assured me that Adam was so adorable that no one would feel the need to be strict with him.

Excuse me, but adorable? My not so little Adam who is capable of inflicting bodily injury to boys much larger than himself is adorable? But then, miracles do happen at school so I leave it to the teachers. If they say adorable, so be it :)

The so called adorable adam meanwhile clamped his mouth shut, pursed his lips and drifted around the building visiting one classroom after another, talking to no one and only answered a greeting from teacher azira. Well, knowing him, that was very good indeed. As long as there was no tantrum. However, I took monday off, just in case.

Next stop - section 6 wet market. One of my favourite place. I stayed away from this place during maidless months because, well, it was fun to buy fish etc but cleaning them up afterwards was not something I look forward to on a weekly basis.

I was glad that my life was finally going to be boringly normal again. At least for a few months.

Oh yeah...I am also coming up with additional new year resolution - I am going to learn how to cook. Seriously. Everything fancier than ayam masak kicap and sup sayur. Reason being, my new kitchen cost a bomb and it will take a full year of not eating out to get a reasonable ROI out of it. Of course, this resolution will inadvartently cause me to lose weight. A lot of weight. Afterall, how good a novice cook wannabe could be? I am so looking forward to this. Where do i start actually...buy a cookbook, chef wan dvd or sign up to cooking class?

Yesterday...

....were spent frolicking at Lumut beach and hotel pool from sun up to sun down. And eating a lot.













You'd have thought that after eight years playing mummy I would have morphed into a somewhat responsible mother over the years and spent an off work day to prepare school related stuffs for her school going child.

Obviously not.

After the boys turned a shade darker then only I remembered that I need to buy a pair of school shoe for Amri's orientation day tomorrow

I drove around Lumut town but unable to locate any shoe shop. But then, I was not familiar with this town. Hubby drove us later to a nearby giant where for some reason, I only bought 1 pair.

We ate a seafood dinner again and arrived at the front door by 11 something. Luckily the boys went straight to bed. Unfortunately, I was not able to sleep until i totally shower off the pool chlorin, the sweat and the seawater from every inch of my skin. It was way past midnight when I hit the pillow.

This morning, to my surprise, Amri was already up by 6.30am. By 7.30am he was ready to go to school and ask me to eat faster. I wolfed down breakfast sleepily while listening to Amri using the exact copy of my usual lines "Could you eat faster please, hurry up please, finish your breakfast now....."

Grrr.....

Well, enjoy your school year, dear.

Happy New Year

I've decided on my 2009 resolutions (or plan)


1. Am going to work in office for only one week in December 2009. Dec 2008 was a complete chaos. Managing new ERP, new house, new school and new maid at the same time was indeed very stressful. Everything ended up badly done. So this coming Dec, I'll dedicate 2 weeks for holidays/fun/balik kampung and 1 week for school stuff. Like buying uniforms, books etc. It was rather dreadful when I was in the middle of a long queue to buy Amri's school books and had to answer 11 calls from 4 countries. Embarrassing even but i still was not about to let go my position in the queue. I knew hubby was not too keen on this back to school part and would rather stay out of it. I on the other hand, enjoyed every second of it. But dashing from school-home-office a few times a week was, at the very least, bad for my health. Thus, i'm going to spend one week in 2009 just looking at uniforms and books. There. Everyone should be happy now.


2. Not buying furniture, lightings, cabinets or anything to do with house fitting from June 2009 onwards. Honestly, I've seen and bought enough to last a lifetime.


3. I want to spend more ME time. Be a little bit selfish. Pamper myself silly.


That's about it. Happy new year everyone!

When the going gets tough...

....yours truly ran away! Heheh.

Seriously, I was at my wits end. Nothing went right from the moment I step into the office. Internet connection decided to choose today to act up, something was terribly wrong with some of the servers (probably all of them), all the people i need to talk to were on vacation and...ermm...boss was no where in sight too.

So, after taking the remaining staffs to company year end lunch on behalf of the missing boss, i declared a half day off. It was new year eve anyway. Made a few phone calls, talked hubby into it and went home to pack. We were going to Lumut for an overnight stay so that I, the stressed out FC, could wind down and think straight again. The boys, blessed my new maid, were already dressed and packed.

Actually, it was hubby who was supposed to be at his Lumut office tomorrow for God only knows what. I rarely tag along. Honestly, who would have wanted to leave one office only to show up at another ? But this time, I was determined to stay at hotel with the boys and try to recuperate. And hope that all the servers were up and running by Friday.

Well...after a delicious seafood dinner somewhere at Lumut area...I felt almost human again :)

Home alone

I so love Subang airport. I landed at 7.20pm from KT and was home by 7.50pm. I'll use this route more often from now on, rather than driving all the way to KLIA/LCCT.

Aidil Adha this year was rather quiet and wet. Thankfully, the heavy rain was over. We had drizzle all day long though.

I wonder if my kids realised that their mom was not there at Losong.

Amri is 8!

Though he is still a bit confused - why just 8 years old when Year 2 is already over? He insists that he is 9.


He had a small party earlier at daycare, with Ben10 cake. Poor boy, he wanted a birthday party at home but I did not feel up to it. So we just had a birthday dinner









Birthday boy and his birthday icecream








Helping Cu Nan finishing dinner








An innocent post with Aunty Cik








Tuck in!

More school holiday programmes

Since people are asking, here are a couple more....

Swimshark School Holiday Swimming Lesson
Venue : Pusat Akuatik Shah Alam
Time : 9am and 5pm (err..not too sure), every Monday to Friday
Contant person : Shahir/Marilyn
Contact no : 012-3912513

Smart Reader TTDI Jaya
1. Craft Workshop (4-10 yrs old) RM25
2. Kids Cooking Workshop (4-10 yrs old) RM30
3. Intro to ABC (3-6 yrs old) RM30
4. Drama Workshop (5-12 yrs old) RM35
Contact no: 016-6842834



I think I have a lot more scattered around in my already chaotic house. But by the time I managed to wade through the mess and actually come across anything, the holiday would be long over.

School Holiday Programme

More than ten years ago, when I was still single and working at a Japanese factory, I was always baffled when, come school holiday season, my colleagues would start planning their vacation with military like precision. The three moms and one dad in my department were always gloating about the fact that their departments had two singles who could take over the workload. Our manager was single too but too scary to be counted in. In between the vacations, they'd be busy planning for the children school holiday program, from swimming to ballet to summer camp. Or, if none available, the kids would be carted off for a fortnight stay in kampung with their grandparents, with maid in tow. Of course, packed with loads of activity books that the kids were supposed to complete during their holiday.

I always marveled at the buzz during that period but secretly told my ignorant self to just take it easy when it was my turn. My kids could spend all day playing outdoor or watch tv all day if that is want they want.

Now I know.

I definitely do not want my boys to watch tv all day. It is too dangerous to let them play by themselves outdoor. Playing indoor is dangerous to my bank balance, the boys seem to break everything except the wall.

So, I found myself doing exactly whatever my seniors then did. Scouting for holiday programme, arranging vacations, balik kampung trips, intensive mengaji class etc. With military precision. My seniors at the jap factory are now enjoying kids free days (and empty nest syndrome for some). I'd better enjoy this while I still could.

Here are a couple of good holiday program near my place:

Sri Kayangan Language School Holiday Programme
Address: Jalan Opera U2/L, TTDI Jaya, Shah Alam (above Big Food Restaurant)
Period : 24 Nov 2008 to 19 Dec 2008
Time : 9am to 3pm
Activities
Weekly - Tae Kwon Do, Swimming, Yogakids, Computer, Cooking Class, Art&Craft
Daily - Quran/Moral Study, English Conversation, Speech & Drama and a lot more
Fee : 8 yrs and below RM480, 9 yrs and above RM650 . 10% sibling discount. Fees inclusive of food, material & weekly field trip
Contact : Aisha Zanariah Abdullah 016-2831002
Transport can be arranged.
My boys attended this programme last year and for some reason, preferred to converse in English for the whole school holiday. They still kept the art& craft project till now.

Akademi Qurra - Pusat Bimbingan Al Quran & Fardu Ain
Address : TTDI Jaya shoplot, above Pasar Mini Lina (cant remember the street name)
Activities : Daily Quran/Qiraati, Fardu Ain, Intensive Solat, Bahasa Arab
Fees : Rm70
Contact: Ustazah Roslina 019-3401053 (one of the most wonderful teacher that I know of)


Have fun.

My little dancer

Yesterday morning, hubby & I went to q-dees for the final parent teacher meeting this year. Adam had done unbelievable well. We just ignored the straight C's for his Mandarin. But the rest was great. And Teacher Azira mentioned that Adam loves dancing and enjoyed his concert training tremendously. He likes signing too. He has a bestfriend - Syafiq, and always shared food with him. Bless you, Shafiq dear. It is not easy for Adam to make friends on his own, always in the shadow of the very outgoing Amri. Must remember to invite Shafiq & his parents to Adam's birthday party next January.

I am so happy that Adam is no longer the introvert quiet mouse that he was 11 months ago. He now talks a lot in class, sometimes playing a goody two shoe - telling Teacher Azira what his classmates are up to, and volunteers for almost everything. Am also happy that he is developing his own personality, instead of trying to copy whatever Amri is doing at any given time. He finishes 4 1/2 of his english readers (out of 8) which i think is good enough for a four year old.

Before we left, Teacher Azira commented again that Adam could really dance and he has no stage fright. Okay....could be from following me to all those aerobics/hip hop & belly dance classes.

This morning, we were at q-dees again for their fun fair. Adam was excited to go but became dissappointed when he noticed none of his friends were there. Especially Syafiq. Muncung 14 le cik tembam nih. But he did joined the games , albeit unsmilingly. The games were conducted in 4 different classroom, managed by 4 groups of teachers. Every time we entered into a classroom, the teachers would commented how good Adam danced during the concert and how fast he picked up the step. Flawlessly.

Then I entered the principal office for next year reenrollment. The principal gave the same statement. And so does the admin manager there, adding that Adam should be narrator next year since he loves the microfone so much.

Gosh!

I did not noticed that I had one son that is musically inclined. True, he sings a lot at home but so did Amri during that age. To think that I only had two boys to pay attention to. What do I do now? Adam did ask me some time ago whether he could have a drum set for his birthday. But I was thinking about Amri at that age, whom changed his interest almost weekly.

I'll wait and see first.

Rest, recuperate and rambling

SOX Audit was over. Did much better than last audit but still, not good enough.

I am exhausted and stressed out.

I need a break. Something to put my internal system back into its track.

A cardio kickboxing session would be nice. (kick the auditor would be better)

Anyway, since juggling is my main job description nowadays, I'll settle for a few laps during the boys swimming class tonight.

Or maybe not. First, I'll need 3 pcs of 50 cents shilling for locker. And i'll be using outdoor pool while the boys are at indoor pool. I still could not get over the anxiety of leaving 4 years old Adam at 6 feet pool (or more) no matter how good his instructor said he is. The way I see these two rascals pushing at each other...oh no...the instructor will need a few pairs of eyes all around his head to make sure they are not trying to drown each other. Wonder if they will let a non student swim at the indoor pool...

*Sigh*

I'll just grab a book then and curl up somewhere at the poolside.

I'm thinking of taking up aikido. Perhaps after the outstation business trips season is over. Want to join?

It is only 9am and yet..

Please God....help me go through the rest of today. It is early yet but already I feel like throwing a big tantrum.

The microwave died on me just when I was rushing to get breakfast going.

My blackberry refused to start up after I left in on the charger the whole night. Was there a power surge or something?

I have a SOX audit this morning.

I had less than 3 hours sleep.

My laptop failed to detect LAN connection so I have to rely on wireless network.

So help me God.

Pizza online

I had a busy day. The big boss was out of town and so did the bogger boss at home. What is it with these two guys? I felt like they were planning their travel itenary together just for the fun of seeing me in the deepest trouble I could find myself in at any given time.



Since I had to rescue Adam from his daycare and be at home before Amri arrived from school but none of my report were completed yet, i decided to work from home. If I were to work from home, I did not want to spend the 'home' time looking for dinner and get drenched in the process. Plus, I needed to finish up quickly before we had to go out again for the boys swimming lesson. So i ordered pizza online. Clever me.



Only that, it rained heavily. It took me an hour to reach home. Pizza delivery only took 20 minutes. Fortunately, I've already paid the order by credit card. So the pizza boy left it on my doorstep. I must admit, it was rather a happy occasion to reach home and found a box of pizza smiling at you right on your doorstep.

Reunion 2008

To sum it up, we had a great time!

This time round, the reunion was 90% organised by hubby, while I just helped out a little bit here and there, thanks to my chaotic schedule. Anyway, hubby did just fine on his own. It was a smaller crowd this year and we opted for potluck. Which we all agreed was a good option because we ended up with huge varieties of yummy foods. Add to the fact that we were picnicking by the poolside :)

A big thank you to all that participates and very sorry because we were not able to give out vehicle pass to everybody. Priority went to those with babies/toddlers and who brought heavy food. Mind you, we even had a watermelon, still uncut by the end of the day. Thanks to Erma and hubby for handling the registration and collection. Thanks to May/Azlan for the bagful of pressies. All kids ended up with one pressie each :)

Due to one of the organisor too busy to think up of suitable activities, the reunion ended up as a makan a lot + sembang a lot session. All kids (except Amin's tod) were safely in baby pool so the parents were left in peace. Amri, Adam and Irfan refused to enter baby pool and opted for adult pool instead. which caused quite a commotion when the other children started to follow. I didn't know how other parents did it but all kids were back safely into baby pool after a few minutes. All except these 3 boys. Grrrr. But since no other kids attempted to join them again so we just let the three boys enjoyed showing off their half baked swimming skill.

We had trouble to get the kids out of the pool and enter the drawing contest though. But they were out eventually. After 4 hours inside the water. Gosh...these kids!

Anyway, we had loads of FUN. It was so lovely to see you guys again. Lets do another one soon. Something like this. A combination of pools and plenty of food. Perhaps somewhere where we all could drive and park right beside the pool. Bukit Cerakah is great but to carry the loads (kids+ food) on foot is pure torture. Lets get a beach resort instead.

For anyone interested to organise a small get together at Bukit Cerakah, the rental is pretty cheap. Pool (baby + adult) is RM200 and poolside (2 pondoks with powerpoint & fan) is RM100. There is also a cafe nearby for extra food/drinks. Changing room & toilets are horrible though.

Amin, Xanna & Intan....dont forget the photos, ok.
Sis May, thanks for the foods & watermelon
Edi & wife, we love the nasi impit
Whomever brought the mee....it was lovely. Adam ate twice.
Xanna, the choc cake was heaven
Amin, the pudding was just perfect on a hot day
Kak Azi & Nelina...you guys missed a lot..hehe

Kids at baby pool

My genius senior, Erma - volunteering as treasurer for the day. Thanks, Erma












Amin & family. Next time bring swimsuits ok.

Mr Organisor and his corporate gang






Organisors










Adam & Irfan











Yummy foods

xPKL Reunion cum Family Day

*copy and paste from externalzone yahoogroup*

Venue : Pool Side, Camar Rimba, Taman Pertanian Malaysia, Shah Alam (aka. Bukit Cerakah)
Date & Time : Sunday, Nov 2, 2008. 9.00 am - 1.00 pm

Events :
1) colouring & drawing contest for kids
2) water activity for kids (pls bring suitable cloth for their splashing time)
3) animal visiting and feeding session
4) makan makan for adult :)

1)Invited members:All former students and lecturers of UITM Pusat Kursus Luaran (ACCA,ICSA, MICPA, CIMA)

2) How to reach Camar Rimba:
Buy the entry ticket (RM3 for adults,RM1 for 6-12 yrs kids, free for kids below 6).
Take the bus, advise the driver that you want to go to camar rimba. The driver will drop you near the taman haiwan. You need to take a 5 minute walk before reaching Camar Rimba.

3) Things to bring:Your own food since its a pot luck event. There is a nearby stall, just in case you wish to order simple foods.

4) Cover charge:RM10 perfamily, to cover site rental, some drinks and gifts to our kids. Pay on the day itself.

5) Souveneir exchange - Please bring a beautifully wrapped souveneir for gift exchange session. Neither big nor expensive. Just a token for friends

Queries - pls email Mr Organiser - En Mohd Sidki Hasan (ACMA, MBA)

It is a sunny day

Good, isn't it? After weeks (or months) of battling with congested road due to flash flood somewhere, we are now blessed with a few days on sunshine. It was hot but it was allright. Up until last Friday, I was seriously considering to buy a cloth dryer. Or maybe a washer cum dryer since space is going to be quite an issue at my next house. In fact, I was already comparing between bosch and electrolux and wishing both companies would come up with a nice looking model like LG. A maroon washer would surely liven things up in my tiny kitchen :)

Well, anyway. Since the sun was out and loads of laundry were dried up naturally, I think I'm going to shelve the washer/dryer plan get a maid instead. Have to. My poor kids are now breeding lices on their cute little head, courtesy of some friends at daycare. And I am due in HK by mid December and I seriously do not want to ask my mom and MIL to come again.

Sigh! How did other moms made it look/sound so easy? To have a family, a career, a little bit of travelling, no maid and a hobby or two and still being sane enough at the end of the day to answer a few schoolwork questions from the kids...

Happy deepavali to my indian friends

Accounts mapping

I think it was a mistake when I decided to bring in the SL7 team to our office rather than I flew to Melbourne and did these things there.

For one, my big boss didn't feel the need to stay in office (or in Malaysia for that matter ) if I were around. Thus, all daily stuffs were automatically diverted my way. Obviously, big boss feeling was mutually shared with my bigger boss at home. Needless to say, household management were mine too.

I might be boasting about my multitasking skill numerous time but to pull a stunt like this, you'll need to be a qualified magician. The kids riled me up, ruined my schedule and the big boss was emailing with this and that requests. I ended up getting very bad tempered and equally useless at home or at office. I locked myself inside the meeting room with the Aussie team at office and then locked myself inside master bedroom at home.

Well, I completed the mapping beautifully and the two boys were still alive. Please pat me on my back.

I think I'll agree with doing the training at Hong Kong. Anywhere else for that matter. Or, if we were going to do it in Malaysia, I'll book a hotel + meeting room. Not just for the visitors, but for me as well.

Aidilfitri this year

Quite a quiet one. Tok was not well. She did not even recognised me anymore. Met some of the cousins but not all of them.

Amri and Adam had loads of fun though. Plenty of duit raya and bunga api as well as their favourite food. Amri was a little bit uncertain though during breakfast. He wasn't quite sure whether he was allowed to eat but the food spread were there waiting. So he gingerly nicked one ketupat. The another. Then after asking around for a gazillion times whether he could eat...he then really sit down and has a big feast. And that was before solat. Another round of feast after solat aidilfitri. Wonder where did all the food went to.