An amateurish book reviewer

Ok now how do I start. This feels like sitting for a composition exam where we definitely have to write eventhough we do not have the ideas or inspiration to do so. As for me, its not that, but just for the plain reason that I do not have a flair for writing! Seriously I envy those who can write/blog beautifully with a touch of elegance.

(ok for the record, I think this is like the tenth time I re-read the paragraph above! That's another thing, I feel like I have to make everything perfect, perfect grammar, perfect spellings, perfect sentence, and in the end because of too much analysis I decided to scrap it! Its just not good enough! I know..I have issues..)

Ok so actually for this entry I need to do a book review! Had I done one before..hmm..I don't think so. So pardon my inexperience and rough review for this definitely-deserve-a-better-review book: Its "The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown"

First and foremost, I would like to say that if you are not a fan for conspiracies theories, Masons, mysteries, symbols and stuffs like that, this is definitely NOT the book for you.

But for me, I can relate to it very well as I love to read on these and found it quite an eye-opener. Although at most times I also do feel like the author gave the masons an excessive apotheosis, which I found quite annoying, coz its like ooo the masons are so cleverly intelligent and exclusive that only them deserve the 'highest knowledge' which they name it 'ancient mysteries'. Which by the way, the mystery turned out to be the Bible (oops was that a spoiler).

But anyway, it also got me thinking, they really put their Bible at the highest possible level, giving it the utmost respect. So how about us Muslims, do we treasure our Quran enough? Have we really truly understand what's in there? Have we even tried to? I mean its Allah's words! Straight from our Creator, no addition or reduction. Its THAT special. If we do, I think all the problems in facing us will vanish and we will definitely be the one in power in this world. Seriously. (deep huh, there you go a review from an Islamic theology student)

There are also other points in this books, which I found very interesting indeed. Like mind over matter. And like how most secrets or mysteries are always in the form of pyramids. And of symbols, do you realize that the world is full of it. Be careful that we do not actually copycatting the wrong symbol. Like the peace sign, or blowing candles on birthdays and so on.

Ok so there you go! Hopefully it can be considered as a book review?

Anyway why am I doing this? Because I actually borrowed this book from this not only smart but kindhearted lady who definitely trust a total stranger to lend her treasured possessions - her books! To you Dr. Hidayah, I deeply appreciate your effort and  time by doing this, totally pro bono. She even has to fork out the postage charge in order to mail the book! Hats off!

So for those of you, book lovers, on tight budget - or not, you dont have to wait for your paycheck to satisfy your hunger for reading. Simply give here a visit!


Up next - Time traveller's wife! I know so out-dated right.

Sweet nothings...

Umaira: Do you love me Mama?

Mama: Of course I do baby! Lots till tiny bits and pieces!

Umaira: Yay! I love you too Mama!

The Immobile Housewife

It is truly frustrating I tell you! Everything that involves going out will have to wait for Abah. N he is sooo busy nowadays. Yep I have no licence so I am immobile here in Kuantan! Help!


It feels like being locked up

I can live without it in Singapore, coz everywhere is within reach by bus or MRT. But not here, I desperately need a LICENCE! Car is already available as Abah has his own ride already.

Stakat utk pegi keje je katenye...yelah tuu

Several things that had to be done actually: - Sunat Umaira ( 4 mths already!)

Pity Baby!

- Open a new bank account..thinking CIMB.
- Surveying pre-schools (for my BIG project *excited!*)
and other lots of places I want to go like that LAFONIS shop, they sell pre-school toys and materials! or maybe a quick trip to KL coz there is so much going on there!

So ya..I NEED TO GET A LICENCE DESPERATELY.

( a hinting entry to Abah.:) )

Picture Perfect

Their only defects are that they are missing the 'Sleep' and 'Mute' buttons. Wldn't that be great?

Mama and Abah want to eat...press 'Sleep' button.

Yay it worked! Peaceful mealtime = Happy parents

Mama and Abah want to talk among ourselves...press 'Mute' button..

press...press...press...uh-oh...'Mute' button doesnt work! 

So on and on she goes...

But Mama and Abah love you both still!

Very non-halal?!

Have you seen this...

We saw it at Sunway. It took me and Abah by surprise I must say. I mean, what do you feel, as Muslim, when you read it? As for us, we thought it was somewhat offensive.

Very non-halal?? What do you mean by that?! It sounds like they are making fun of our halal term which I assume whoever came up with this thought they are super creative, NOT.

It just shows the shallowness and narrow-mindedness of knowledge in respecting others' religion.

~ My lil sepet angel love to play tongue sticking ~


Its been dusty here. Only 2 entries so far this month! lol!

Actually had quite a few things I thought I would post, but whenever I told the stories to Abah first, it feels like retelling the same story all over again and I think its pointless as the only one who reads my blog that I'm aware of is Abah. hmm..

Anyway will just post random pics on the events that happened. For keepsake purpose.

God I look so fat in that pic!

Anyway we were waiting at the airport for my younger brother. He's working offshore...so its like 6 mths at sea then a month home.

Can you spot lil Umaira? We did not bring her pram so we ingeniously use the airport trolley as a 'tandem stroller'...heheh 

Then we had Swensen's for late dinner..



We love Swensen's but we just do not love Swensen's at T2. Service was poor.



Amira sure is loving the attention!



And Umaira is off in her lala land...

No more coaches for us?

Do you realize....just how many express coaches made the news nowadays??

Sampaikan tak berani nak naik bas skarang ni. Of course, life and death are as God's will. Naik ape2 ke, kat mane pun klau dah ajal innalillah jgk. But then again, that doesn't mean yang kite tak perlu berusaha dan mengharap, berdoa agar dipanjangkan umur. And because of that we would rather drive on our own nowadays though its more tiring, especially for Abah. And terpaksalah scarifice a whole day for journey, since Abah cannot drive at night. Coz klau naik bus we wld prefer the night bus, so bangun2 je dah sampai. Tu pun klau bleh tido lah, coz sometimes I feel that I was riding a roller-coaster rather than a coach (klau Abah mmg ltak je kepala trus zzzzzz..oopss heheh).

I still remembered during our last minute-midnight-3hrs journey to Terengganu last week (as Moktok was unwell), we saw several coaches driven at an unsafe speed. Siap bleh potong kite lagik..we were driving slow and steady at 80-100kph. So can you imagine at what speed they were at?? 

And during our journey back to Singapore at Pekan, we saw the remains of the Transnasional coach that fell into the water the night before. Serammm...

Dahlah service Kuantan-Johor only limited to Transnasional and Cepat Express. Cepat express lagilah is a NO-NO. Utterly disappointed with the service and coach. Bas yg I think dah lebih sepuluh tahun, mmg teruk giler, siap rosak during the journey. Jual tiket plak lebih dari seats yang ade....haiz..

In my opinion, since the ultimate reason for these accidents is SPEEDING, that should be the main concern and they (I dunnolah the government or the coach service provider) should nip it from there. Cant you just set the speed limit for these coaches at say 80kph max? Hmmm...

Accidents may happen..

just anywhere!

Last Sunday, when we were at EC Mall, we actually watched a little girl (I think she's only about 4 or 5 years old) hanging on to the railing of the escalator just like the video below. Only that time A LOT of people were looking but like I said they only looked and panicked. Luckily someone was quick enough to press the stop button and another someone from the upper floor caught the girl.

I can just imagine it could happen to us too...with the likes of Amira..so better be extra vigilant from now on..

  

Dedicated to you ...

Abah with ♥

hmmm...actually wanted to go to his concert...but tix sold out...*wailing*

Hope you will come again...

Table for one?

Recently while dining out with Abah and Balqis'es', sitting across from us was a lady. Dining alone. It suddenly made me sympathize with her. Can't help the feeling. I was thinking where's her friends? family? colleagues?

But then again, it takes quite of courage and self-confidence to be able to dine alone. For me I'd rather 'tapau' and eat at home if without company.

But if I really have to, I'd keep this in mind:

1. Appear confident, nicely dressed. At least it doesn't show that you are dining alone because you are lacking partners, but instead maybe you just don't need them!

2. Have a book! Its the never-betraying BFF. So when you are waiting for your order, at least you have somthing to do. Twittering, sms-ing will do too. It helps to look occupied.


3. Relax! Enjoy the food. Have a I'm-HAPPY-and-COMFORTABLE-to-be-alone look.


4. hmm...maybe if its your lucky day a cute guy might just come up to you and ask for your number...*wink* - oh ok thats obviously not for me..hehe


Chills!



Overwhelmed...

by a toddler and a baby!

Phew! I forgot just how tiring it can be caring an infant. And to make it much harder, with a 'terrible two' in hand (I agree with the "terrible two" thesis - hoping it will end soon and well!).

and oh ya! by the laundry too!


I wish! but this is googled..mine's worse

Seems like the enormous heap is unmoving. Not helping that we were going places a lot recently and currently we are at KL. Hope I will manage to 'ground' the heap by next week as we are planning to do an open house. Not too late for a RAYA open house I hope. 

And after all that I really hope that everything will be more settled...insyaAllah!

Open House at Mum's

Some pics taken during the open house:



~ Forever Posies ~




By Mum - Lontong, Briyani, Soto




This cutesy lil boy is my ex-colleague's son. Her hubby's Morroccan. Lil Ayman is just so super friendly and CUTE! 

No he's not sleeping. They were truly the entertainers of the day. lol!

xxxxxx

 

Chinese side of me

People will find it quite hard to believe that I have Chinese blood in me.  

But not my younger sis, she has I'm Chinese written all over her face..hehe

My mum's pure Chinese, she even has a convert card. She was actually given to a Malay family since baby. She had never met her Chinese mum till she was about 20 years of age. But it lasted only till 6 years, as my Chinese grandma passed away and my mum lost contact with her Chinese family ever since. 

I actually remember snippets of Grandma's funeral. I remember seeing her in the coffin and she was fed with a handful of something. Not really sure what it was. 

Now mum is already 50. And thanks to Facebook, she was reunited once again with her Chinese family. My grandpa had passed away too. So there's only the siblings of 7.  

We did an open house yesterday at mum's, and some of them came.

~ Lot of friendly, joyful and generous people ~

And did I say on my father's side, my grandpa was an immigrant all the way from Pakistan. The race in my IC also reads Pakistani. Another shocked faces I would get when people saw that. Hmmm..I wonder why I look so Malay?

How much to deliver in Singapore...

More specifically @ Parkway East Hospital, 321 Joo Chiat Place, Singapore.

Just a guideline for those interested in delivering at the above hospital.

My bills summed up to:
S$3668.23

Medisave claimable:
S$2420.21

So total cash paid was: S$1247.42

Above is for the one-bedded package with assisted delivery by Dr. Abdul Aziz B. Md Ali Sujak and 1 lodger (abah stayed with me). Keep in mind that they will impose additional charges, example, if you are in the labour ward for more than 5 hrs, each additional hour will be charged.

For those with risky pregnancy, advisable to deliver in government's hospital. A friend was charged close to S$7k because baby was detained for a week.*faint*

Apart from the 'big' bill, I love Parkway East. The staffs there were incredibly helpful and friendly. The food were superb! :) Felt like staying at a hotel instead..hehe. Even better, 3x meals plus snacks, adjustable bed, one-push button service..lol.

We opted for one-bedded room, but turned out that it was full on that day. So we got an even better deal! They let us have the 2-bedded room all to ourselves! Yippee! So we got 2 beds, 2 flat screens and a bigger space.

Check out the toiletries:

All to ourselves:

~pardon the mess~

The toddler years

If I had my Child to Raise over again...

"If I had my child to raise over again,
I'd fingerpaint more and point the finger less.
I'd do less correcting and more connecting.
I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I would care to know less and know to care more.
I'd take more hikes and fly more kites.
I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I;d run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I'd do more hugging and less tugging.
I would be firm less often, and affirm much more.
I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I'd teach less about the love of power, and more about the power of LOVE."
- Diane Loomans

I am thankful that my doter is still a toddler. Not a breezy period at all, I must say. But still it has its fun part and I am still learning and striving to be a better guide to her.

This is the period whereby your child is still dependent on you. A little more years down the road, it will definitely be lesser and lesser. I wouldn't want, for the whole world, to miss being a large part in her life. I want to be there in every little achievements she gained, I want to be there witnessing every development she made, and what better years of grasping a wide range of milestones than from birth till their toddler years. From babbling to talking, from crawling to walking and much much more!

And for that, I am ever so THANKFUL for being a stay-at-home-mum.*alhamdulillah*

"It will be gone before you know it. The fingerprints on the wall appear higher and higher. Then suddenly they disappear." - Dorothy Evslin

Parents' nightmare: Tantrums!

Sample pic

Imagine this.

Your toddler wants to have something that YOU do not think he/she should at that time or ever. You had already said NO a dozen times or so. Threatened to leave but never really did. Then he/she started to throw their body on the floor and screamed at the top of their lungs! You couldn't even pick them up as they are kicking and struggling. All the time, people around you are looking and judging. The shopowner/salesmen are getting agitated as you are scaring customers away.

What would you do? So far I only see 2 options:

1. Relent and give in to the child so that he would stop his tantrums, and stop the people around you from staring and giving you the 'what-kind-of-parent-are-you look'.

2. Stay firm on your foot and just let him finish his tantrums. Just let others think what they want, its your child and its your way of disciplining them.

For me I would go for the latter. Why? Just simply because I do not want them to think that they could get away with anything just by throwing their body around. And I simply do not care of what others might think of my approach, as those who're judging either do not have a child or they are the lucky ones who get the well-behaved children at all time.

I believe that tantrums and toddlers are inseparable. It shows their determination and I do not think that's bad. Its just that they are still clueless on how to behave and be patient, so that is our responsibility as parents to guide them. Not to confuse them further, by taking the wrong simpler decision -in my opinion- to just give in.

Of course sometimes when I see other children throwing tantrums I wld silently say that "Alhamdulillah that's not my child" heh, but SURELY I know that some other day that wld be my doter and I just have to face it too, just like yesterday. I think that was the worst tantrums ever being thrown by Amira. She was really determined to have that thing, screamed, kicked, struggled, for about 15 mins I think, and finally cried to sleep. When awoke, she was still talking about having that thing. So Abah, you think we should get one for her?

She wanted this BADLY!

Fasting during pregnancy

1/3 of Ramadhan had left us. How time flies.

Alhamdulillah, managed to cover all the days and I have one more week to go! *excited+NERVOUS*

39th week baby is getting ready to pop!

I believe that as Allah had ordained us this responsibility, then He will be the ONE who will give us the strength to carry it out. I also believe that it is safe for some to carry on fasting as Allah did not exactly rule out pregnant mothers from fasting, except that leniency is given for us not to fast if our health does not permit it.

Just be sure to always tune in to your body as you yourself must be aware whether or not you are fit or otherwise.

Just to share some tips and info for soon-to-be mummies during Ramadhan:

- Do not skip your Sahur. Drink plenty of fluids. Hydrate yourself as most likely the reason you are  feeling unwell is because of dehydration.
-Keep cool during fasting. Do not frequent hot and crowded places. It will dehydrate you faster and even put you off your mood.
-If possible, get more rest. To conserve energy and fluids.
-Do not attempt to continue fasting if you feel really unwell, such as dizziness or lightheadedness. Those are indications that your brains are not getting blood flow and oxygen as well as your baby's.
-Also do not continue if you are having uterine contractions (a balling up or tightening feeling, or the feeling menstrual cramps) as it might lead to preterm contractions and preterm labour.

No two pregnant ladies are the same, so do not be discouraged if you feel that you are unable to fast. Allah is Most Compassionate.

I am also thankful that I came across a fantastic health supplement - just tried their sample pack for the past 3 days. I only had a handful of cornflakes, a cup of milo + the supplement for my sahur and hamdanlillah it lasted me well throughout the day.

Blogs..

I love stalking good blogs. 

A lot of things were benefited from some of the blogs I encountered, and inspired me to do such insyaAllah.

♥ Homeschooling

♥ Early education

♥ Cloth diapering

♥ Eliminating communication

♥ Blog Tweaking

♥ Great cooking, reading..

etc..etc..

♥ Not to mention, the opportunity of making new friends especially those sharing the same passion. 

So, thank you for sharing ♥ 

Yeay for Sleepy Kittens Storybook!

Remember Despicable Me?

Pic taken from Wiki

We managed to catch it with Amira, cant remember when though. Not too keen in 3Ds however. Coz its such a hassle to put on the glasses! The lugs are simply too long to put in my scarf and its not helping that I do not have a 'nose', so most of the time I had to hold it *leceh!*. Plus its not worth -yet- to get Amira one -we never get a ticket for her, stingy parent hehe- so she had to see a blurred picture instead *sorry dear!*

The movie was not bad, simple story line with lots of humour here and there. But what I liked most was the bedtime book 'Gru', the lead character, read to the girls. I remembered mentioning to Abah that it would be great if I can get my hands on that book! It looks so adorable and fun, with the little kittens finger-puppets!

Actually I did find it on amazon costing USD7.99 without shipping. But estimated shipping period is maximum a month for the least shipping cost which is USD4.99. Such a long wait!

So put it off for quite some time now, and alhamdulillah guess what! Chanced upon a mummy spreeing for this particular book at S$16.90! Books will arrive around 2 weeks from now. So yes! I have placed an order for it! Cant wait to receive it and read it together with my lil princess who is simply smitten with cats...

Alhamdulillah we are at Terengganu now. Reached here at about 5+ and straight to the food bazaar!

I have been wanting to get my hands on the AYAM PUSING! Specially marinated whole chicken slow roasted to perfection...Love it! It costs RM20 per whole chicken..but its a BIG chicken though we couldn't even finished it and there were 7 of us.

I also love the RM1 only ABC! and the triangle ketupat pulut fried till crisp. They do not have the ketupat nasi like we do in Singapore.

When I first celebrated Raya in Terengganu, it shocked me quite a bit. Do you know that their must have Raya dish is LAKSA! How weird huh...

Moktok also prepared her yearly awaited bubur lambuk..she actually asked Abah what I would like to have for break fasting, and Abah told her its Bubur Lambuk and he did not even asked me!:p Thank god I am not like him, the fussy-eater type. But as fussy as he is, his other members of family are even fussier! Alhamdulillah Abah can eat my cookings *you better or else...heheh*

Ok better get some sleep, tomorrow Moktok will be holding a yearly Ramadhan 'jamuan' -break fast- for neighbours and surau people. Next awaited dish : Moktok's gulai daging. *drools* Cant help it, its not me or nafsu makan, its the baby..heheh.