Pabila Usia Menginjak 40...
9 hours ago
I would be lying if I say I don't wish for a son. I remembered years ago. If my memory is still good, I think I have delivered 3 daughters then. My eldest daughter said something like this, 'Along doa dapat adik lelaki'.
I said my little prayer as well. I prayed to Allah that if a son is what is best for us, please grant us a son. I have also put in extra effort as well like Chinese calendar la, ovulation time la and macam-macam lagi. Two daughters later, I'm sure, this must be the best for us. Well, I have to admit that I may have felt a little bit of disappointment when I found out that I'm going to have another girl.
And once, I came upon this FB status on a friend's wall who shared it from a mufti, which I couldn't agree more:
Mufti Ismail Menk
When things do not go exactly the way we wanted, when we do not achieve what we have tried so hard to or when we feel so let down by others then always know that for as long as we have faith and trust in the Almighty, He definitely has something better in store for us, has saved us from a calamity or disaster that would have been in our path or has elevated our status through surrendering to His Decree. We are not considered believers until we are pleased with the Decisions of the Almighty. This will save us from much anxiety and depression. Try your best and leave the rest to Him.
Cuma orang lain je yang tanya, tak nak try lagi for a boy? Naahh... my family is complete as it is. I feel so blessed to have these daughters. Alhamdulillah for this tremendous rahmat.
Now, tunggu menantu je la. Dapat ala-ala Seth Tan pun jadik la...:P
Now, tunggu menantu je la. Dapat ala-ala Seth Tan pun jadik la...:P
I have 5 kids and I breastfed all of them. At least for a year. In fact I'm still breastfeeding my youngest child who is now 8 months old. Breastfeeding is supposed to be an enjoyable experience for the mother and I'm enjoying it. However, I have my share of frustrations and despair.
1. The first few weeks are the toughest. Milk flow is still insufficient. The baby seems not getting enough. And you tempted to turn to formula milk. But the key is, you just have to continue feeding the baby. Until your body recognize the demand induced by the baby sucking and more milk is produced.
2. During the first few weeks too, it was vey painful to feed the baby. And sometimes I dread breastfeeding time. In addition, the nipples could bleed. And it freaked me out when I saw blood smeared on the baby's lips. They said you have to feed the baby in the correct position to avoid this painful and bloody experience. Ntah la, dah anak 5, and dah try adjusting the position, still sakit jugak. The key is, let the bleeding and throbbing nipple heal. It heals quite fast. In the meantime, can express the breast milk and give it to the baby via feeding bottles. With time, the pain will cease and bleeding no more. But frankly, the thoughts of giving up occured numerous times in my mind.
3. When my maternity leave was about to end, I started to stock up on the EBM. But when the baby refused to drink from bottles, susah hati woo...
4. On working days, I have to find time to express the milk, at least twice. For convenience, I have a mini bar fridge in my office room. But sometimes, I have to travel to HUKM and some other places for meetings and teaching commitments. I have to standby ice and usung Coleman ke hulu ke hilir.
5. Sometimes, working commitments delayed milk expression. And left wet spots on my clothes you know where.
6. Sometimes the delay in milk expression will cause engorgement. Boleh demam dibuatnya. And I have to swallow Panadol to relieve the feverish state.
However, there are a lot of benefits. Such as:
1. It's money saving, no need to buy formula milk.
2. No need to wake up at night to prepare milk.
3. Maintain body weight. Ye ke? I still have to work on my abs... Lemak degil tahap maksimum.
There are other benefits but the best is the bonding between mother-child. The way the child holds on to your fingers or your hair or your clothes during feeding and the way the child looks at you with doting eyes and the lalok expression the child has on his/her face as he/she breastfeed. Priceless...
For those who are breastfeeding and plan to breastfeed your child, remember the up and down of breastfeeding: when you're feeling up, milk letdown would be easier, InsyaAllah. :)
It was Federal Teritorry holiday the other day and both hubby and I had the luxury of a day off from work while our kids were at school. Hubby suggested this really crazy idea of a holiday. Just the two of us.
We got in our car and entered PLUS highway south bound. At 10 am, we had breakfast at R&R Ayer Keroh. This restaurant is located on the overhead bridge, hence the name OB Restaurant.
I had this egg sandwich dish while hubby had a tongkat ali + ginseng drink.
Then we got in our car again and traveled further south until we reached this place.
Johor Premium Outlets.
From the highway, exit route 253 Senai (U). Immediately after the toll (RM40.90), take the 304 exit (Senai). Soon after the exit, you will see the JPO signboard and the building itself on your left. We arrived there at 12.15 pm.
JPO, the one stop center factory outlets for branded items selling items such as handbags, shoes, clothes, lingerie and watches at discounted price. The building and the landscape is beautiful. Even though nampak mcm tanah gersang sikit especially the surrounding area. Besides the shops, there's a police station, Maybank, praying room and kids' playground.
One can easily go gaga in this place. Too bad I'm not one of them. Honestly, we didn't go into any of the handbags or shoes or lingerie shops. Rugi kan... Travel jauh-jauh, tak beli. Well, there isn't a necessity to buy one, so better avoid. If not, nafs override needs. He he...
We only bought 2 items here. One of them are chocolates. For the kids.
We had lunch at the food court.
There are also other eateries such as Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Absolute Thai and few others.
I had this Chicken Ramen. Lebih kurang macam maggi kari je rasa dia.
Hubby had this fried rice from the Thailicious stall.
We left the place at 2.45 pm. It was a fine day. But very hot weather. And it was a challenge to my sleep-deprived hubby who was driving. Tu la, sape suruh stay up tgk bola the night before.... And he refused to let me drive coz for sure, we would have arrive much later then. We made several pit stops, mainly for hubby to refresh himself. These keris are available in Pagoh rest area.
We finally reached Sg Besi toll at 5.40 pm and arrived home at 6 pm. Ample time to pick up the smaller kids from the nursery.
Pheww!! Crazy eh? But fun. Well, they say life begins at 40. Almost la kan... And hubby had other crazy-fun ideas up his sleeve. :)
My 4th daughter, Syafiqah, enrolled in a kindy for the first time this year. She's 4. On the first day of school, I took leave from work and sent her to school. I was quite confident that she would be ok since we have been sending her to nursery all this while. And she was ok. She obediently followed her teacher inside. I remained outside the gate while she went to her class which is located on the upper storey of the kindy.
Seeing she was ok, I went back home and went to the school again before school ended. We have arranged for her to go back by bus and I just wanted to make sure she got into the (correct) bus safely. But I don't have to worry about her getting into the wrong bus since the school has their system to avoid that. So, there I was, outside the school's compound, trying not to be seen by her and at the same time observed her getting out from school.
Muka macam nak nangis. I can see that she was looking for me.
2nd day of school, I was back at work. Hubby reported that Syafiqah cried when he sent her to school.
3rd day of school, it was her birthday. I didn't apply for leave from work but I felt pity for her thus I sent her to school and, again, she cried. She refused to go inside unless I followed her. When I tried to sneak out, she started crying. Thus I stayed with her and celebrated her birthday there. I have already bought a cake to be shared with her friends at school and prepared food packs for the kids.
I got her a nice angry bird cake.
Despite the lovely cake and me being there, she looked so distressed and unhappy. What a traumatic experience for her, I suppose.
The teachers and the 4-year-olds singing the birthday song.
Blowing the candles. I think the kid who sat in front beat her to it.
The principal, Mrs Sheila, cutting the cake.
Comot masing-masing. Ada yang kena baju. Sure the moms bising bila tengok baju anak2 kena kek... Mujur it was a Friday so school uniforms dah memang kena basuh. Quoting Breeze tagline, 'Biar terkena kotoran, demi pengalaman'. He he... Peace moms!
After staying with her in school and making sure she got back to the nursery, then only I went to work. Phew....
Later, we celebrated her birthday and the birthday of Syahirah aka Angah at home. They share the same birth date.
I got another angry bird cake for Syafiqah
and a Spongebob cake for Syahirah. She's 10 and is catching up with me in terms of height (and waistline too...).
Throughout the weekend, I slow-talked with Syafiqah and made her promise not to cry again at school, and that I will buy her toy if she don't cry. Monday came, and the drama started again. Isk..isk..isk...
Anyhow, I'm proud to announce that now she goes to school tear-free and is so excited in her showing her artwork from school. Alhamdulillah. And yes, I kept my promise and got her the fishing toy that she wanted. Let's just pray that I don't have to write a sequel to this story next year.:)
RCK strikes again last month. This time, the rendezvous was at Alexis, GE Mall. It has been quite a while since our last meet and it was timely indeed to have another lunch date. Besides, Linda Omar, who resides in UK, was back in town for a while.
Us... Sitting from left: Zaira, Mas, Hemy (yg bukak kasut tu....), Sheila and Linda. Standing: Yus and yours truly.
The food.
Appetiser. Deep fried school prawns. Macam rupa udang geragau pun ada jugak...
I had carbonara.
And cranberry soda. Macam secoet je dia punya cranberry...
Yus had seafood spaghetti.
Mas had pizza.
Sheila had the lamb dish.
Hemy ordered garlic bread and button mushroom. Seddapp... Tak tau berapa banyak Hemy dapat makan sebab jari-jari yang lain pun tumpang sama.
I think that's why Hemy also ordered lasagna. Dia dah tau kawan2 dia macam mana. But again, looking at the portion size of this dish, tak tau Hemy kenyang ke tak.
Zaira yang slim melim itu had Caesar's salad and her daughter had Laksa Sarawak, no vege. Hmm...mcm familiar je script no vege tu...:)
Linda had Tumeric Rice.
Can guess la kan which ones lidah melayu yang dah jemu makan nasi and which one lidah melayu yang rindu nasi. :)
And of course, we had mouth-watering desserts.
Pavlova.
Blueberry cheese cake.
Chocolate mousse.
And apa ke nama ni ntah... lemon meringue pie??
Sensational lunch definitely, and ber'sen-sen' la jugak bil dia. Masing-masing hulur duit and we ended up having extra money which everyone refused to take back. Thus, tabung RCK is launched for future RCKs... Oh btw, RCK stands for Rombongan Cik Kiah. But Alexis kot... Cik Kiah kena upgrade sikit and tukar nama jadi Miss Kay...;)
This is a recipe sharing entry again. While I'm at it, I'm sharing 2 recipes in this entry. Bread pudding and steamed moist choc cake. I got the recipes from the net.
Recipe 1: Bread pudding
6-7 pieces of bread
Butter
650 ml fresh milk/evaporated milk
3 eggs
Sugar (agak-agak dalam 6-7 sudu)
1 table spoon of vanilla essence
Pre heat the oven (170 degree Celsius).
Prep the baking tin. Spread butter evenly on the bottom and the sides of the baking tin.
Spread butter on the bread. Cut each bread into 4 pieces.
Placed the cut bread into the baking tin.
In another container, beat sugar and egg until the sugar is dissolved. Add in milk and vanilla essence.
Pour the milk mixture on top of bread.
Put aside to allow the bread to absorb the milk mixture.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Vanilla sauce (to go along with the bread pudding)
300 ml evaporated milk
8-10 table spoons of sugar (ikut sesedap rasa)
Corn flour (pre-mixed with water)
2 egg yolks (placed in a separate bowl)
Vanilla essence
Simmer milk and sugar in a pot.
Add in corn flour (letak sikit je, if not, pekat sangat)
Scoop a ladle full of the milk mixture and add into the bowl containing the egg yolks. Mix thoroughly.
Pour the egg yolks mixture into the pot. Add in vanilla essence and mix.
The mixture is prone to lumpiness so for better results, sift the mixture.
Sorry, no pic. I remembered taking a pic of the bread pudding but that was aeons ago. Now could not find the pic. I may have accidentally deleted the pic.
Recipe 2: Steamed moist chocolate cake
250 gm butter
1 cup castor sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
1 cup warm fresh milk
1 1/4 cup self-raising flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
Grease a baking tin with butter and flour.
Heat steamer on a stove.
Sift flour with cocoa powder.
Beat butter with castor sugar and brown sugar until fluffy.
Add in vanilla essence and mix.
Add in eggs one at a time and mix again.
Add in milk and flour alternately and mix thoroughly.
Pir the batter into the baking tin and cover with aluminium foil.
Steam for 1 1/2 hours.
Once cooked, let it cool on a plate before decorating it with chocolate ganache.
How to make chocolate ganache:
150 gm cooking chocolate
1 table spoon condensed milk
1/4 cup hot water
1 table spoon butter
Cut the cooking chocolate into small pieces and put them into a bowl together with condensed milk and war water. Heat the mixture the double boiler way. Turn off the stove and add in butter. Stir until the butter melt.. Pour the chocolate mixture onto the cake and decorate ikut kreativiti masing-masing.
This is the outcome. Very the comots.
I had enough batter to make these too.
Sedap kalau dah disejukkan dalam peti ais.
The bread pudding is my eldest's favorite. Once, while having the bread pudding, she mentioned, 'Kenapa mak tak masuk Masterchef Malaysia? Kalau masuk, mesti menang.' Ha ha... first round pun tak lepas kot. Anyhow, to be the Masterchef for my kids is good enough for me. :)
In the effort of giving the best education to our kids, hubby and I browsed the programmes offered by MRSM or dalam bahasa omputihnya Mara Junior Science College. We are keen to enroll Syakila, our eldest, in the Ulul Albab programme, offered by only 3 MRSMs (Besut, Kepala Batas and Gemencheh). Not willing to separate too far from my daughter and tak sanggup berombak rindu di kemudian hari..., we chose Gemencheh. The closest to our home.
So we applied for that and she was scheduled for an interview in MRSM Gemencheh couple of weeks ago. The interview was set in the morning thus we traveled to Gemencheh the day before. From PLUS highway, exit at Simpang Ampat (toll price RM13.60), head towards Tampin. Gemencheh is located between Tampin and Gemas. We stayed the night at Gemas Golf Resort. In reaching the place, you will pass in front of MRSM Gemencheh.
Gemas Golf Resort is located quite near to Gemas Railway Station but the road leading to the resort is a bit confusing because there's a lot of constructions going on and lack of signage caused us to go in circles before finding the right way.
The entrance and registration counter.
We took 2 adjoining rooms.
The master bedroom with a queen-sized bed.
The rooms are spacious but quite ill-maintained. The usual amenities are provided but no room service (the cafe is not even opened) and no house keeping service after 7 pm. In fact, there is no phone at all in the room. The water heater in the shower does not seem to be working. But the surrounding and the lush green of the golf course is lovely. The pool is adequate to satisfy my kids yang amat suka berendam dalam pool.
The resort is 3-storeys high. The rooms are on the 2nd floor and there is no lift. Good exercise though.
View from the 2nd floor.
Kids enjoying the pool.
Jalan-jalan cari makan in the area of Gemas. Tak de le jauh sangat jalan-jalannya. Pekan kecik. In terms of fast food outlet, KFC je yang ada kalau tak silap.
We had dinner in one of the restaurants nearby.
Breakfast in one of the stalls. Not bad. Sedap sambal nasi lemak dia.
Lunch at Nasi Ayam Gemas Mustafah restaurant. This eating place is quite famous. Ramai orang. And when I surfed for Gemas previously, the shop is listed in the 'where to eat' category in many websites.
One turn-off thing about Gemas-Gemencheh area is that there are lots of flies. Irritating betul. There must be chicken farm somewhere.
Anyhow, we went to MRSM Gemencheh that morning for Syakila's interview and test.
Registration table, with all the info on the interview process. Helpful and friendly students of the school are available everywhere to assist you in any way that they can.
Briefing by the principal. Can't remember his name but he declared 'Saya bukan ustaz'. I suppose lots of parents called him ustaz.
Well, we have approached the door and knocked on it but whether our daughter will be let in, we have yet to find out. And in case this door remains shut, I pray for more doors to open wide for Syakila in future. Amiinnn....
