Arissa before turning 6months...

3rd March, Vaccination:

Doc said: Clever boy!

Boy??!!!

8th March: The first time she could turn over

11 March: FIVE months!

Her skill at 5months...?

Otw to Mama's fav place with Mi, The Curve

26th March@ clinic due to coughing

Well-behaved Arissa!

family day 2009

When will this happen again?

GTP

Working in a private sector narrows my exposure to governmental knowledge. I hardly read newspapers anyways. So each time people around me talk about the current issues, projects, what's hot, happenings, events or politics, I could only offer my blur face. I am such a neglected person when it comes to politics, very ignorant I suppose. I don't even recognise ministers, their names and departments, and what they do. Err does that make me a bad Malaysian?

Last night we(me, hubby, AbgJa & KakFazi) went to Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil for Malam Transformasi Bersama Rakyat. It's not something new, because there was PM talking, PM launching, video clip about activities that government did, and artists singing - Siti, Suki, Daniel Lee, Zainal Abidin, Atilia, and Bob AF. We sat at VIP area which tickets AbgJa got them for his office..since the event was actually organised by PEMANDU.

However, it somehow impressed me. REALLY?!

What? And Why?? There were clips about the points that PM Najib spoke in his speech at the beginning of the event. The points were structurally divided into six, which they call them as NKRAs(New Key Result Areas), "attached with Key Performance Indicators KPI, including efforts to reduce crime rate, the war against corruption, expanding access to quality and affordable education, raising the standard of living of the lower-income group, strengthening infrastructure in the rural and remote areas, and improving public transportation." Each artist represents an NKRA so as to make it more interesting and attract the Rakyat to support this GTP (Government Transformation Programme).

My two cents: It's good. Very well structured programme based on KPIs, where it also reveals numbers and stats, and compares how well the govt was doing in 2009 and 2010. However, govt should minimise unnecessary spending. (unnecessary items to me include: stack of books printed in colour and almost hard cover as give-aways to those who attended- I have more but not gonna list them here yet).

At the end of the show, Najib followed by his wife + other Ministers walked to a small expo located behind VIP seats. I was standing by the aisle and managed to shake hands with Najib, Rosmah, and TPM+wife, and a few other ministers. Come to Sharizat, I almost wanted to say 'Datin'. Unsure of the title, I simply said Hi or Hello when we shook hands. I like how she looked into people's eyes while shaking hands unlike the rests of them..whoopss!

Forgetful me

What's happening to me?! I tend to forget many important things nowadays. Last week I forgot to bring bottles(for my expressed milk storage) to office so I had to run to Ampang Park to buy a new one. Lucky Guardians sells cheap milk bottles otherwise I would have to buy glass bottles from TinyTapir (the nearest baby shop) which cost RM 40 for one 5oz bottle.

And today the very Monday, I forgot to bring my medela pump. Grrrr! THAT MEANS manual pump during lunch. Goodluck to me! Not just that, to make it worse.. I also forgot to bring Premium Beautiful girdles which I promised my colleagues since last week. Badddd baddddddd impression even though I was just helping out my SIL to sell off her PB sets.

And mr Ginko, I need you..end of story.

Chuppp belum end of story!

The cheese bluberry tart made my day...which I pre-ordered last week. One box for my house and another for my neighbour@brother. Yumminess.. It's RM25 for 1box consisting 50pcs. Oklah! Reasonable.

Sundays

20.3.1984 is always a familiar figure in my mind. It's the day my hubby was born.

SUNDAY: So last week, was his 26th birthday. No party, nor dinner on that day(but celebrated a week earlier... see below) because we spent most of our time on the road coming back from Kedah to KL. Quite a bad traffic in conjunction to the last day of school hols. We were too tired to go out that night, (I had promised to take him to Japanese cuisine)..plus it was raining. We ended up having dinner at Abg Ja's place.

SUNDAY : Two weeks before his birthday, hubby reminded me NOT to buy him any expensive gifts. (Note that I bought him PSP last 2 years, which hibernates in the drawer most of the time.) He said he only wanted a book by Dr M's Doctor In The House.

SUNDAY: On 12March I tried searching for the book at MPH@The Curve, unfortunately they were sold out! But next day, I drove alone to Borders@The Curve(yeah, I am a TheCurve person) to check out the book. Gosh, it's selling like hot cakes! Almost everyone queuing up at the counter was holding the book. Lucky I managed to buy one too! That late afternoon, we bought satay and some noodles + ice cream cake from Baskin Robins.

And last night, I finally treated him dinner at Rakuzen. Love Japanese cuisine so much, addicted to it.

To my hubby, Happy Birthday to you, hope it is a good read! Love love!

Nuqman shared birthday the same month so every year he would blow the candles with Uncle Miji.

she loves barney

Just now at 9ish I woke her up, gave her cough n flu medicine. I was not surprised, she hated it so I had to distract her with toys but sorry to say, it just didn't work.

What works best - anytime anywhere? One of my apps on my phone. Animal flashcard! She could fall asleep while listening to the music, and sometimes I let her tap the screen(I found scratches on the screen already, oh!). Mothers sacrifice!

Anyway, around 10.30pm my hubs put on Barney video from Youtube, and guess what, she loved it. She watched it till she got sleepy.. hmm not a good practice though, but but but... it's always amazing to learn something new about her.

Arissa's flashcard. Lion!!!

Drooling Arissa while tapping on the flash card(the first time)

Arissa watching Barney with Papa :)

time..

It's so hard to discipline myself to update my blog.. too many excuses. But seriously weekdays I hardly have time for myself. Sometimes I don't even bother to switch on my laptop. Maybe because I already have access to FB through my phone..? (Now you know the reason why I go online, ha ha. Hubby was right indeed.)

By the time I reach home from office, it's already dark. I don't even get the chance to play with my baby. Sedih kan? When I got home, she's already asleep. Her sleeping time is fixed, 7pm-5am.

At around 9pm I need to prepare myself ie clothing, work if any, for the next day. Need to stock up milk, usually I spend 20minutes to pump. Thanks to Kakna for buying me FreeStyle which I find it so very useful. Double pump really saves time. Efficiently I could get 10-12oz sometimes in 10minutes!(This normally occurs during lunch)

Sadly, TV is no longer my friend. No entertainment, though I enjoy sudoku till my eyes feel tired, till I fall asleep. I hardly read nowadays. Arghh I need some good reads!

Anyway, I just need more time, not that I'm not thankful for there is 24hours a day. I probably need to change my work schedule...in other words, change job! My next target is to move and work in KTganu. Praying hard hubby could get a job there! Insyaallah...

your first laughter

you grew so fast it made me feel scared..

and today in the afternoon, u were seated in your pram when we played pickaboo at mph@thecurve.. for the first time i heard your cute little chuckle...(uve no idea that i have longed for this).. u were laughing for atleast 5minutes.. it lasted till uncle ja came into the picture.. (u really dint get along well with uncle ja..poor u.ja!).. mi saw me in tears cuz i was too happy.. :) phew!!

love you pumpkin pie! xoxox

p/s: this occurred on your cousin nuqman's 9th y/o birthday.

Happy 5 months pumpkin!

Dearest Arissa,

All I could say is..TIME REALLY FLIES. Please behave my little darl. You're the best gift Allah has given me. Please be a good girl. Please listen to me and Papa. We love you so very much even though your colic keeps us awake in the middle of the night(till now though reducing but still waking me up for food), even though I have never slept more than 3hours straight, even though you whine in tears sometimes in 5-10mins, even though you poop till it leaks(sorry I have to reveal), even though your clumsy little hands scratch my skin(my fault for not cutting your finger nails but I am still and always scared to do that), even though you once puked on my face while I was lifting you up(hoping it wont happen again), even though you splashed your poo at Tok's house, and even so..we still love you unconditionally.

my girl is learning

I just love to see her development.

And tonight, praise to Allah.. she fell asleep on her own(that means without me holding her) in her little cot while listening to lullabies... Amazing Arissa!!

And to my dearest Arissa,

Sleep tight dear. Sweet dreams... Mama wants to see you shine when you wake up tomorrow... Love you muffin!

Exhausted

Dear Arissa,

Reached home around 8.40pm today after having a monthly meeting at work. You're asleep.. so as usual I started washing breast pump gears to proceed to my stocking up session. So after solat Isyak, I managed to get 5-6oz. Could have gotten more but I had to stop cuz you started crying. Fed you a bit but you still cried, so I changed your diaper.

Dinner - I ate a lot AND so fast that I couldn't enjoy the food, I simply swallowed without chewing cuz you started crying again.

Eventually you fell asleep right after I held/cuddled you. And, pacifier inventors are just GENIUS! Your NUK pacifier really helps a lot in reducing your crying, and easily puts you to sleep. Amazing!

But Mama is really tired to wake up in the middle of the night to feed you. Not to mention your colic sometimes really kept me up all night especially during the confinement. Arissa dear... I miss my 6-7hours sleep. OK I'm not blaming you. I am just sharing it with people(if there are readers la) cuz when you let something out.. especially when you tell those who you are close with about your feelings, you will feel a little relief.

Don't worry dear, I still love you so muchhhhhh Aririii!

words arent easy to explain

Dear Arissa,

Mama discovered something cute today. When I change your diaper I would normally apply some Baby Johnson powder to your bum and hips too. I would rub your hips up and down to your knees a few times. So when I did that again today, your legs moved straight so fast (from a curvy "A" forming a sharp "V") like electric shock each time I rubbed up and down. I assumed that you'd probably felt ticklish. It's so hard to explain. I should have gotten someone to take video of that. Sigh..

It's a new record!

Dear Arissa,

Bought the 8th NUK pacifier just because Mama forgot to bring it along when we went to The Curve this afternoon to meet Papa's friends, Uncle Fizi, Aunty Yani, and Uncle Che We(not sure what you should address him).

Anyway, today you made Mama proud because you slept by yourself in the stroller. BIG achievement. *Pat pat on your shoulder. Well done!

Love you always!

Mission accomplished

I have been seeing O&G Dr Delailah since I was 20 or 21 years old due to irregular menses, so that was about 5-6 years ago. Alhamdulillah, my baby girl was safely delivered by the gynae.

The photo above was taken this morning when I followed Ayah to SDMC. Ayah had appointment to see a skin specialist, so while waiting, I dropped by at my gynae's clinic to show my baby Arissa.

**And to my dear Arissa, Dr Delaila said you looked so serious when you were in my tummy. We saw it through the ultrasound scan. Indeed, she is right..especially when I saw your sleeping face.. as serious as Papa's. :)

Love you! xoxox

time flies

Dearest Arissa,

Mama has a hard time keeping track your development throughout your four months. I should have started writing it in my diary since day 1. That did not happen till today.

I get so tired easily. Do you know that every morning I have to sleep in the train to replace my sleep when you wake up for food at 1am, 3am, 5am every night. There's one time I was sleeping in the train till I missed my stop. In fact, slept till I skipped 4 stations. I acted cool when I saw the blue sign written Jelatek while pacing to the opposite platform. **Blushed**

Cooking with love

Just now, I called my mom to ask about her iPhone story..cuz there was a post on FB which says "Just had lunch at Na's. Best daughter ever". I told that I was jealous by the words, and she actually told me that it was posted by my sister herself. Ha Ha. Anyway, that is not the point here.

I actually wanted to share what my mom said to me in that very short telecon. I was complaining about the red velvet cake which did not turn out to be a cake, and that Adik (nephew Nuqman) complained that my spaghetti I made this afternoon "tak sedap". My mom pointed out that I was not cooking whole-heartedly. I did mention, about having to rush everything out. But her advice was "tak boleh masak separuh hati", it would not give you the right taste.

Talk about whole-heartedly cooking. I managed to dig photos of Nasi Goreng kampung hubby made... which I thought it was done whole-heartedly. Honestly it tasted really good..even the rice itself looked very simple.

Hubby made & decorated this back in June 2009.

Anyway, my hubby loves decoration when it comes to us preparing food. Check out the photo below.

Me: Marinated chicken, boiled potatoes, made coleslaw

Hubby: Grilled chicken, baked potatoes, decorated the above

*Dinner on 12 Feb 2011.

Out to pick Papa

Dear Arissa,

Yesterday, 14th February.. was the first time Momma drove a car with you sitting next to me. So only the two of us in the car. I was scared in the beginning.. just worried if you cry while I was driving. But, you behaved even though you almost cried after being in your car seat for about 5minutes. Thankgod, Papa's office is just nearby.

Red Velvet day!

I woke up this morning with so much of excitement to baking a cake.. despite the sleepless night attending to Arissa. So I thought why not I bake a butter cake. I wrote down the ingredients to buy and went to Cold Storage with hubby after late breaky at Uncle Lim's Subang Parade. I told hubby that I should start with a simple and easy cake, which was why I chose butter cake. It's because this would be the second cake baking after more than 15years. I still remember that only Ayah could eat the chocolate cake which came out with less than an inch from the oven. It tasted like rubber with choc flavour. I knew ayah ate just to make me feel good about the attempt.

Anyway, hubby quoted Idris Jala in one of his speeches, that TARGET MUST BE IMPOSSIBLE. He suggested RED VELVET. Why not, I thought. So we started buying items (not in my to-buy list) relevant to red velvet cake ingredients.. one of which is the colouring. RED!

After I finished cooking for lunch, I had to feed Arissa first..whilst hubby helped prepare the ingredients. Thanks to Mummy's antique mixer which I found was very useful. Together with Nuqman who was around too, we mixed up all the ingredients as instructed in http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/red-velvet-cake-i/Detail.aspx. Everything seemed to be in accordance to the recipe.

The ingredients(some may not be applicable.. like caster sygar and self-raising flour).

These are to make the cream cheese frosting.

Baby Arissa joining Momma baking.

Impressively hubby prepared this.

First, always start with flour!

flour+baking soda+cocoa powder+sugar+salt

vege oil+egg+(vinegar+fresh milk)substitute to buttermilk

Those who are concerned with health..please do not do this at home! :p

Mix everything in.. Piece of cake!

Looks yucky, creepy and bloody!

After about 30 minutes in the oven, we took out the cake. But turned out it's not fully cooked. So we baked again. And guess what, the cake became CRISPY! I realised that I have breached the rule of baking a cake. We are not supposed heat a cake twice in the oven.

Ready to bake.

Walla! But not so walla lah!

Topping of creame cheese. Messy huh!

I knew something was not right when we re-put the cake in the oven. Ended up me and hubby laughing at each other. The plan to take the cake to Abg Ja's house had to be cancelled. I guess we were too ambitious to start baking a red velvet cake. Oh Idris Jala, you made us bake a funny cake! Nevermind the crispiness, it was a good attempt for both of us. Pat pat on the shoulder!

Better next time I guess... :)

Cough..

Dear Arissa,

You coughed so very badly. Pity you.....

But watching you sleep peacefully just feels so wonderful. Love you Rissa!

Dear Arissa..

you are four months today!

Mama hardly has time to take notes of your development, but I will try to list down as much as I could remember..

Here goes some memorable little things you did throughout the four months:

11 October 2010: You were born at 2.29pm via C-section due to complications. You were blue(whitish)! Mama kissed you for the first time. And I cried when I first heard to your cry.

14Oct: PD Dr Sofea came and told me that you had jaundice. So we decided to stay for another night at SDMC. I was a little worried but I could feel that were strong to heal. When nurse was monitoring your heartbeat before you were born(via CTG scan), it was really consistently strong. Mama and Papa had agreed on induction because you grew quite drastically towards the end of the third trimester. But you did not want to come out. I waited for more than 24hours with so much patience..and everyone was excited to finally meet you.

15Oct: It's time to show you your home. At the discharge room, nurse told me that you cry the loudest. They said you're the 'leader'! Oh.

16Oct: Mi bathed you for the first time. Mi said you're so small but tough. I loved playing with your fingers and toes. They're just so tiny.

19Oct: At around 1am you cried non stop, and you made everyone panicked. I was so very worried, and we packed to take you to the hospital. I called up the nursery at SDMC but they asked me to bring you to the emergency room. Mi calmed you down and you eventually fell asleep. I was relieved.

21Oct: In the morning, you vomited. I was in shock to see some blood together with the reflux. Immediately I rang Papa at work. Papa, Mi and Ki brought you to the emergency room. I had to stay home. I cried so badly. You had to be admitted to hospital for one night for monitoring.

22Oct: I came to the hospital to visit you cum see my gynae for checkup. In the afternoon, the PD confirmed that it was some stale blood which she could have swallowed during the time she was born or it could be nipple crack. And you were discharged at around 3pm and we went home.

6Nov: It's Ki's birthday. And it's the first day out for you. We had lunch at The Curve. Mama took the chance to do a quick shopping.

12Nov: It's time to go back to Terengganu. We had to stay in Terengganu for about a month since it's much more easier for Mi to look after both of us. You also got a new cousin today, Nuha Aisya.. whom I claim your BFF!

16Nov: Took you to Klinik Muslimah for your 1 month old injection. You weighed 4.6kg! You gained 1.8kg!!

23Nov: Celebrated Mi's birthday at Parkroyal.

24Nov: I realised after more than a couple of times, that you would make your little sounds when I was about to feed you. You always did that(and still do) when I put you on my lap. It sounded like a cute fake cry "uhuk uhuk uhuk". Sometimes, even when you already latched, you still continued making that sound. Call it Amazing Arissa's trademark.

27Nov: Aqiqah. Arissa & Nuha. You cried a lot in the beginning of the ceremony because you refused to drink milk through bottle. So I had to find a corner to feed you. Marhaban started after you fell asleep. Your little hair had been cut. Both Nuha and you get a Habib diamond necklace from Mi.

28Nov: You started cooing. When you looked at me in the eyes, and cooed, I felt like crying. You're just so wonderful to look at.

6Dec: I told Papa about you crying and having difficulty to sleep. Papa read somewhere on the net that some babies love the sound of vacuum cleaner or perhaps hairdryer. So he suggested that I try switching on vacuum cleaner to ease you down if you cry. And guess what, you fell asleep! Amazing Arissa or sometimes we even called you Miss V(Vacuum).

11Dec: You attended the first wedding. Fairly you behaved. But I did not dare to stay long, so we went home after Mama & Papa finished eating.

12Dec: Returning to KL..again we(you, Mi and I) took up FireFly to Subang. You just loved the sound of airplanes. You were asleep all the way. Papa drove Ki's car to KL.

26Dec: Papa cut your fingernails for the first time because I'm scared if I might cut your little finger instead. In the afternoon, we decided to shave off your hair because you had cradle cap. You're bald, but hey you looked even cuter. A little mischievous look. MMSed the photos to Mi, Ibu Nana, and Aunty Nadia(in Terengganu). Everyone was shocked.

30Dec: The first time I left you at home. I went to office to clear some of my emails before I started work on 3rd Jan. Oh yes I received more than 3000emails to read out of which 1/10 to be attended to.

31Dec: Took you to Empire to meet my friends, Mie and Masni. Mie brought baby Nuh along. Baby Nuh is such a muffin!

IT'S NEW YEAR! Hello 2011!

1Jan2011: BBQ at Uncle Ja's house. Ordered RED VELVET from That Last Slice. You slept all the way, phew.. Oh well, everyone would get panicked when you cried.

2Jan: Celebrated Uncle Ja's birthday. Mi treated lunch at Holiday Inn Glenmarie.

3Jan: Mama started work. Go Mama Go! I have to carry all the breastpump gadget in that huge bag from Medela. By the way THANKS to Ibu Nana for buying us Medela Freestyle as your first gift. The most useful items of all after Uncle Ja's Quinny Zapp stroller. Thank you thank you....not to forget Uncle Yi's travel bag. The best presents ever!

5Jan: You're now learning to see your hands. You're so fascinated by opening/shutting hands. Ki asked me to remove that handwrist I bought on 31Dec..so that you could understand your own hands.

24Jan: You really liked talking to Papa. I recorded it on video, and guess what.. you actually said "nak makan" and "oh yeah"!!

OK it's getting lengthy for one post.. I should stop and continue it later..