Recent happenings

I just got back from Melaka attending PETRONAS Instrument Forum at Melaka Refinery. Ahemmm.. well, 'attending' may not be so appropriate to describe it, as I was a part of the organizing committee doing the role I do and love best: emceeing :D

Luckily Ain and Aishah were around to accompany me and babysit Zara while I was away from the hotel. Although Holiday Inn Melaka is indeed a very nice hotel (not to mention expensive!) it is quite far from the refinery. Yeah I know 22 km sounds near, but try driving using the bumpy village roads, surrounded by reckless drivers.. that 22 km everyday felt like forever in the car. For one, Melaka sure has a lot of bad drivers! I'll think twice to come back there driving on my own.

Here are a few pics we took along the days. Very few, but memorable indeed :)

Zara all geared up to travel! Yay~

Mama and Zara at the hotel lobby.. ready nak jalan-jalan cari makan

My sisters who helped me look after Zara  :) Malam je boleh keluar.. nak lunch kena order room service je la.. Sian korang sure boring kan..

Zara sound asleep despite the noisy surrounding. Penat sangat la agaknya ni..

Time sure does fly fast. And in a few days' time, Zara will reach 6 months old. Mama sooo can't wait! Wonder how will Zara feel about eating pureed food after this. She has already shown 'interest' to eat whenever she sees me eating in front of her. Last week, she grabbed the bread I was holding and quickly put in her mouth. Okay okay, very soon you will get to eat okay darling.

Now I feel kinda settled to go outstation again. The phase of I-so-wanna-work-from-home is kinda fading. I can concentrate on both work and family now. Kabi said that one can't win in the game of succeeding in both working and parenting. But I strongly beg to differ. I want both. It's better to have both 80%-80% than scoring at work and losing touch with our children. Well, maybe dads just have different ideas than moms do.

Okay, I'm hearing calls from Miri..

Zara Soraya, get ready!

Episod rumah baru: Garden Homes Bangi

1st October 2011. A fresh start for Papa, Mama and Zara. In our new home ;)

Finally.. after months of waiting, we have now moved to our own house in Garden Homes, Bangi!

The house was started to be renovated soon after Zara was delivered. We knew we shouldn't wait any longer since we already gotten the house key before Papa got back from the UK.

After like 2 months + of renovation, designing our own kitchen and TV cabinets (and getting them to be completed by the contractor pun lama jugak!) and a few weeks of scouting for furniture (believe me, we were sickeningly choosy..) we were ready to move in.. yay~! after all the hard work.. Sian Papa.. he was the planner, he was the designer of the bathrooms and cabinets (and I got to do the approving part je.. hehe.. was in confinement kan.. sure la tak larat) he was the project manager.. semualah. Really, kudos to you sayang :) Memang well-rounded habis.


Right now, the basic furniture are already in. Maybe if we have time to go to HomeDec exhibition this weekend, maybe we'll find more interesting things to buy. I just can't stop thinking about that Dyson fan... arrghhh..


So peeps, these are a few pics of the house that we took over the months.. and how it looks like now ;)

Renovation works ongoing. Everything was dumped at the car porch, huhu.. Belum scrub2 lagi lantai porch neh..

Air cond guy installing the mounting bracket. I think the guy in white was Acin, our plaster ceiling + wiring contractor. I call him Chuck Bass cuz he had the berlagakkss attitude.

I love the mosaic on the wall. The cabinet installation really took quite some time to be completed. Yeah, alright, impatient me.

So okay.. rumah dah siap.. So here's how it looks like presently..

The living room. Someone asked us if we bought the TV cabinet from Ikea. Haha, no we didn't. It was designed by Hubby and me, after doing a lot of googling on modern TV cabinets. The curtains were tailored by The Living Depot, Bangi. They measured, helped us with the curtain choices and installed them up. They have good discounts too. 

The dining room. Yeah, you must be thinking that we may have this 'white' fetish kan? Haha. not really anyway. Just suka dengan dining set ni. Tu je :)

The kitchen - my face place! While my Hubby was in the UK, I had lots of time to shop alone. So I did my share of scouting for choices of kitchen cabinet (especially!) among other things, and learned a lot from cabinet vendors. I was thoroughly educated on pressboards, solid surface top, granite top, concrete top, melamine door, acrylic door, 3G door, 4G door....etc. If you are a choosy lot, you'll find that there are many ways to minimize the cost (and many ways to increase the cost too, haha!). We chose to use quartz top, which costs more than granite top. Yeah, agak mahal la.. but it's worth it, because I know myself. I'm careless. Quartz top (and granite top) will not be stained by spills of turmeric powder or curry power. Ni pun dah a few times tersprinkle curry powder atas top. A lot of things I can write about cabinets. Tapi hm, malas la nak cerita lebih2. Just ask me (or pergi je la kedai cabinet kan :D) if you wanna know more.

The bedroom. The bed pun putih jugak. Ornamented divine bed and 11" Sweetdream mattress. Tilam memang sedap la kan.. Lesson learnt from the mattress in my room back in Sg Buloh.. asyik sakit pinggang je. The red background tu saja je. Nampak meriah sikit.

The main bathroom. We totally revamped this bathroom. The color was inspired by KL Convention Centre toilet (claimed by Hubby lah.. he usually has events going there.. and he actually snapped a few photos of the toilet there and bought the tiles to follow its color)

And my little darling Zara makin enjoy mandi in her Puj Tub. Got it soon after my boss told me I had to go outstation. It's like a mobile bath place for babies up to 6 months. Mandi kat sink je eh sayang.. kurang la sikit sakit pinggang mama.. :)

Housewarming? In the plan.. In the plan.. Hopefully before end of the year. Hubby says we might need to do it in batches, sebab kitaorg malas nak rearrange the furniture. Nape malas? Because we are the only 2 adults in the house.. and orang perempuan mana boleh angkat heavy things.. Especially after delivery. Lagi kena jaga tau. 

Hehe. Just wait for our invitation ya bebehs!

I'm writing this with Beast's Fiction playing in my head

Hye guys :)

Just to write it down here. I connected my blog to my Facebook notes. But the full blog post will not be shown in the notes. To view the entire text, click at the 'View Original Post' button (kiasu takut orang baca truncated post.. Afraid if anyone will get the wrong idea..)

If there is one thing I feel like doing now, it's still shopping. And if I think I'm about to go broke, well then window shopping is fair enough :p Surrounded by Groupon-crazy girlfriends only makes it worse. I know I know, Internet shopping can be an alternative.. Hmm I guess it's not the same with walking into nice-smelling/ perfume-scented retail shops. It somehow feels tranquilizing..

And.. If there is one thing I wanna wish for, I wish that I will be able to continuously feed Zara exclusively with breast milk. So far I'm doing good, all praises to Allah. Zara has reached 6.25kg last weekend, syukur alhamdulillah.

Oh yeah.. Did I mention I already reached below pre-pregnancy weight? Hehe. I think the credit goes to breastfeeding and that Shaklee ESP shake. Exercise? Hmm, I only do short distance walking everyday for about ten minutes. No rigorous exercise yet.

I was rearranging my hanged clothes last night when I found a pair of maternity pants still having its price tag. I totally have forgotten about it. It's not that I have many maternity wear anyway. But I still like to wear one of those baggy maternity slacks.. Very comfy and airy.

A few days have passed with me being busy at the office preparing the 2012 budget for I&C. Being a budget preparer may sound cool if I'm a planner or a HR personnel, but doing so in my department somehow makes me feel lame. Somebody told me before never to decline any work from the boss. But I wonder does that statement apply to very occasion? I don't really think so. But neither can I decline anyway. Somebody has to do it. I know that I have the 'can do it' attitude. Though at times the positive vibes can somehow be affected by negative and judgmental remarks from boastful chests. Oh well, people come into your lives and will soon leave..

I really envy people who get to do what their hearts or minds are fond of. But one in my list is already labeled as 'just forget it'. I do have another thing in mind, but I'm kinda clueless on how to go about it even though I've been doing it for more than half a decade. Poor thing. I wonder if Beckham weren't a footballer, would he be this successful? It's not that easy to tell eh..

Some blabs before Raya arrives

My Eid this year will be a lot different than the previous ones. Of course it will be extra special with Zara's presence :) I'll be celebrating the first two days of Eid at husband's grandma's place. It may be a lil awkward I suppose since most of the relatives there are very much new to me. Oh well, like husband always says, that's how grown ups celebrate their raya. Yeah.. And in a few weeks' time we'll be moving to Bangi. Gosh.. I'll have my own set of neighbors.. Even the neighbors around my parents' house, most of them I hardly recognize their faces. I'm kinda sure that I'll meet many friendly faces in the new neighborhood (I hope!)

Guess this year is the year of adjusting.. Adapting.. Totally grownups' affair..

Last year, we celebrated Eid in London. Though husband and I were surrounded by newly-met friends, but it was certainly a fun Eid. Perhaps it was due to our talent in the kitchen, cooking all sorts of dishes usually prepared during Eid, so missing Malaysia didn't feel that bad. Or maybe because we just knew how to adapt ourselves being far away from families..

The preparation for Eid this year, I think, is more centered around Zara. I guess it's somehow true that parents do shopping for their kids more than they do for themselves. Well, never I mind, because shopping for little girls has this sense of never-ending excitement. Can't wait for Zara to grow.. So that mommy can dress her up! :D

But too bad I'll only have 2 weeks to celebrate Eid. The remaining 2 weeks will be spent in Bintulu for work. Though Zara will come along, but honestly I can't imagine myself staying with only her without her daddy, aunties and atoks. I am beginning to think that being a working mother is not at all easy. But staying out of work is never a good idea.. No matter how thick-pocketed a husband is.

Oh well, Ramadhan is ending in about a week's time. Time flies.. Scarily fast..

If I can make wishes on Eid, I guess I would wish for the most time with Zara and husband. The whole-week leave is the best time for me to compensate the time I am away at work. And oh, I hope that we'll make it to move to our new home :) husband's really worked his b*** off to get all the renovation plan completed on time. This week, we'll be shopping for a few more items. Can't wait to get them done!

Alright, til then, I'd like to wish you guys Selamat Hari Raya, maaf zahir batin :) Enjoy your time with your beloveds!

Hmm..

Never thought 'Stop and Stare' by One Republic would again be the almost-perfect words to describe how I am now.

I need to find out what I want exactly. Seems like I'm moving but actually, I am going nowhere. God, help!

The last days of pregnancy (and the thank-yous)

Hello guys :) it has really been a while hasn't it? I wrote that I'm gonna write another post before I pop, but it didn't happen. Trust me, the month of May was a hectic one. Even though I spent most of the time only at the office, but the hours at the office were really occupied with reports and updates. Then, occasionally I wasn't fit enough.. a bit of fever and fatigue at times.. so, I couldn't really write.

Well, I'm gonna tell you what happened on the days that I really felt were eventful.

May 22nd. Mr. Hubby and I had the chance to go on another mini honeymoon. We got this great deal to stay at Pullman Hotel, so we chose to go to the one in Putrajaya for 3 days and 2 nights. I must say we were lucky to get a room facing the lake. The scene from the room was splendid!

The view from our balcony

A view of the hotel

Mr. Hubby and Mrs. Fatty Me

May 26th. I had my checkup with Dr. Idora. This checkup was a bit different from my previous checkups where Dr. Idora performed what I call the 'finger' examination. Ala, the type of examination where the doctor measures how much a pregnant lady has dilated. Not sure what I am talking about? Ala, go google it lah :p I was pretty much excited about it. New experience lah katakan.. It didn't really hurt like what my colleagues told me. Well, maybe it's a different experience for different people.

May 27th. I was at the office completing my work, hoping that they would finish before my baby's due date. Anyway I was feeling a bit weird that day after the 'finger examination'. After lunch, I noticed there were extra discharge and I didn't feel good about it. Colleagues around me urged that I should go to the hospital. Yatt took the trouble to drive me to the hospital and waited for almost 2 hours until I completed the checkup. Luckily I was not ready for labor. The nurse in charge performed the 'finger' examination and said my opening was only about 1 cm. She advised me to go home.

May 28th. From just mere clear-pinkish discharge, it turned to be period-like discharge. I was really nervous. I spent the night at the labor room whereby I was placed under observation. Minor contractions started to take place (well, even though they were minor, they were painful ok!) Dr. Idora was away on leave, so I was put under Dr. Premitha's supervision instead. She came the next morning and had me examined. The opening was still 1 cm. So I went home that Sunday morning.

May 29th. I really couldn't sleep that night. My abdomen was aching like every 10 minutes the entire night. I wondered what sort of pain it could be. But never in my mind would I think it was the early stage of labor pain.

May 30th. That morning I woke up feeling drowsy, tired and in pain. I told my mom I felt like passing motion but I couldn't. She said I should go to the hospital. Luckily Mr. Hubby decided to take EL. After being examined by the nurse, she confirmed that the opening was already 5cm. "You're ready for labor, Sharifah!" The nervous feeling was no more at that time.. it was more to 'come what may' mode.

So 12 hours in labor room.. and at about 10.30 pm, Zara Soraya was born. I never thought that 'Zara Soraya' would really exist in my life, but thank Allah, she's here. And what's more important, she's mine :)

"Hello World!"

I would like to thank my parents, siblings and friends (especially Yatt, Caah, Aween, Kak Nedd, Kak Wahida, Zamila and Ziadora) who helped me when I was going through my pregnancy. It was a great and a fun journey. Zara was really strong inside me, even though when I was chasing Dayabumi's elevator or the LRT or doing brisk walking. 

I am now near to the end of my confinement (which I think I'm gonna miss!). Thanks Mak Abah for taking care of me and the baby, thanks Ain, Aishah and Ozal for helping me watching over Zara, and thanks Mr. Hubby too for going through the sleepless nights with me.I'm not sure if I'm gonna miss not being able to sleep, but I surely don't wanna miss watching Zara grow.

Oh well, motherhood's here to stay..~

These final few weeks..

Okay nampaknya saya memang sungguh pemalas nak update blog tahun 2011 ni. One update per month.. it used to be 3 average posts in 2010 and 4 in 2009.. Well, nothing big to tell, really.. what I'm undergoing now is very much similar to what other women have experienced.. so I guess it's not a big deal..

Ok, so I'm in the final stage of my pregnancy.. soon reaching 9 months' mark. Yeah, I'm kinda feeling excited about it.. always imagining that my baby and I will lie on the bed together.. with me looking at her in disbelief since she was formerly inside me. Ahh, saya memang suka berangan!

Hubby's back for good. Good :) No need to skype anymore, what more with the lousy wireless connection at home (Cisco modem pun boleh buat hal eh? Kalau Huawei boleh la terima..) I just hope the 1st shipment he sent back will reach home in time.. if not, I'll be missing my Medela and will have to scout for a manual breastpump instead. Cis. Tak nak!

I'll be having my checkup today. Usually it's on Saturdays, but I will be attending antenatal class with my hubby this Saturday, so I have to reschedule the visit to the doctor. There are a lot of things going on for us presently.. We're not only focusing on the baby's arrival, but also we are in the preparation to get our Bangi house ready. Last week, hubby and I went to Homedec at KL Convention Center, and we bought the kitchen hob-cooking hood-oven set and a Coway water filter. It sounds like we didn't really shop, doesn't it? Those 2 items already costing us more than RM5k ok. Baru 2 benda.. lom lagi cabinet idaman hati itu. Well, the cabinet issue is something to be deeply thought about. I booked promotional prices with 2 cabinet vendors, but I am having second thoughts on their available range of colors and materials (dem!) Nasib tak bayar banyak pun.. if not.. sob sob..

I think this won't be the last post before I pop. I'll update later. Til then, latersss~

:)

.. He's coming back on a jet plane..

Episod perut buncit

I'm writing this to fulfill my promise to Ziad: to write something on my experience so far in this almost 7 months' journey.

Right now, if I were to line up my friends: Ziad, Zamila, Caah, Diyana, Kak Nedd and Kak Wahida, I'll be 4th in waiting to rock the delivery room (haha). How macho (read: calm) can I get being in the delivery room? Well, if it's not my usual macho moment, being more macho than average ladies would be satisfactory already (tapi time sakit nanti apa pun dah takleh fikir kot!)

Hmm.. perut saya tak selonjong ini..

What do I feel right now? Hmm.. I dunno. Can't exactly put my feelings into accurate words. There's a bit of being excited, worried, scared, and then worried again.. totally mixed. Hubby's still not back yet. I guess that is the normal destiny for most wives in GTS. Seeing my friends being okay despite their husbands' absence makes me feel that I'm not alone.

This afternoon, I just had my 3rd checkup at Pantai Hospital Kuala Lumpur. I really look forward to meeting the doctor and asking her tonnes of questions about the baby. So far, the doctor and her nurse are terrific. My doctor is very soft spoken, never fails to give me assuring answers about the uncertainties I have, though every check up means I will have to wait for my turn at least 2 hours, no matter how early I arrive. Oh yes, I am very patient in waiting for my turn. Unlike waiting for Ain after work. 5 minutes late and all the words are already in my head.

Mood-wise, I would say that I am getting to be more 'telinga nipis' than usual. So, if you don't have good or important things to share with me, better shut up and stay away.

Food-wise, I prefer the non-spicy ones. So the easiest choices would be tuna or egg sandwiches, nasi ayam, milk, soy drinks, oats and bread. But you know, it's hard to be choosy when there's not so much of choice to eat, especially around Dayabumi and Central Market area, where mamak food rules. Boring gila hari-hari makan thosai or fried meehoon. Wanna eat pancake? I will have to wait till weekends for that of course.

Oh, I avoid fast food too. Sounds really yucky to me.

For the record, I really like sweet things presently. There was once, I spent nearly 1.5 hours on the road (I wasn't aware that Le Tour de Langkawi arrived in Shah Alam that day, so the traffic was damn terrible) to get from home to SACC Mall to buy Big Apple doughnuts. Central Market's Secret Recipe is a regular lunch place now (seriously I am starting to feel economically burdened by this appetite for sweet stuff!) So to ensure that I eat healthily, I channel the sweet cravings to taking raisins daily. That somehow curbed my appetite for cakes and chocolates.

Nevertheless, I am proud (should I feel proud anyway??) that my weight hasn't really gone up the scale. To date, my weight has increased about 7.5 kilos. Today's checkup showed that my baby is already 1 kilo. But I am a bit concerned if the not-so-significant weight increase may mean that my milk production isn't going to be as much as I want. But yeah, there's always certain food that I can take to grow the milk production. So I suppose I shouldn't be worried that much.

I still take the LRT now and then to commute to work. The worst part is, no man who sits at the 'Aren't We Courteous?' area will ever get up and offer his seat to a pregnant lady like me. And every time that I see a young man sitting at that area, all the curse words in my head, I dedicate to him. Trust me, a LOT of curse words. Tinggal tak cakap aje.

But thanks to Asri for lending his City parking card, I can now save on parking when I feel like driving to work. Well, that is until he is back in KL anyway.

I guess I'll continue later. Talking too much about this, I'm afraid it might give signals that I am more thinking about my pregnancy than my work. Well, that's not true. If random readers were to think that way, they're wrong.

Well, people tend to judge when they don't know you.. that's what I think la..

To my baby, stay in there well okay. Mommy will try her best to eat nutritious food for you :) Mommy just ate her oats. Hope you liked it :)

It's not a break

Hey hey.. I'm not taking a break yet alright.. Many things in mind to write about.. but am spared with too little time.. I'm foreseeing an update would be.. hmm.. soon enough?

To this important someone in my life

I'm writing this because suddenly I feel like I need to. Because this person played a very important role in my growth. I consider her to be too old now, and I don't want to be writing this when she is gone, because she showed and taught as many things as she can to me. I hope anyone who reads this post, who knows her will tell her that I wrote this for her. No I won't tell her of course! Why? Because I'll cry before I get to end what I want to say. Yeah, I want her to know that I wrote this for her.

She's my grandmother. The one who has the life impossible to believe. The one who once walked with kings and ministers and great women, the one who always cooked for us (and yes, no one could beat her in the kitchen).. and now she's too fragile even to take care of herself.

I always observe her and I will always have the thinking that growing old is not fun at all. Especially after the age of 60s.

She came from a great family background. The family that brewed a few of the earliest national figures, and she herself was among those were involved in the the party who sought independence for the country. During her leisure time, she would be giving cooking lessons at the WI. I am proud of the fact that she was well-known. But the history has left us so far.. she could not really catch up with those days anymore.. only the stories of what is left in her mind.

She took care of us since we were mere infants. She taught us to recite the Muqaddam, to sing nursery rhymes, learn English and Math, and she would cook for us the wondrous dishes.. among our favorites were terutup, pajeri, masak kurma, masak semur, roast chicken, nasi tomato, roti canai sardin, roti jala,.. in short, we just name it. Whatever she cooked, it melted our senses. No matter how long it took for her to cook something, it never bothered her.

When I stepped into primary school, there were a few things that was hard for me to get. Like 'tolak-pinjam' mathematical operation in Standard 2. When she was trying to clear things for me, I was like, "how on earth can numbers know how to borrow. I thought only humans do that!" and I still remember how I told her to justify why the sound of the word 'knife' was pronounced without the 'k' sound. She seldom got mad at this cucu loyar buruk. In fact, to what I can remember, she never did. I used to hate playing 'congkak' with her, because I knew I would lose, but she was always generous of teaching me the strategy to win, even though I was full of resentment.

And every time I aced my exams, she would tell my siblings that I was exemplary. It made me feel great. No need fancy gifts. A praise like that was all I need. It was good in my quest to boost self-confidence.

There was one day, when she followed my sister and I to school, because we asked her to become our supporter for our all girl-band to perform during Teacher's Day. She came to cheer for us, and we won the juries' vote. Knowing that she was not so well, we were really touched by her gesture.

During exam seasons, she would be constantly performing solat hajat for us. She even knew what subjects we were sitting for each day. And when we got back from school feeling tired of answering the exams, she would make us lie down and massage our foreheads while reciting some doa. 

She's a great fighter too. Dark life episodes, deadly diseases came her way. We thought we would lose her. But she made it through. That is also one of the reasons why I really believe she is an iron lady with a life impossible to believe.Yeah, who would believe if she told that she had dinner at the table together with the late Sultan of Johor? Well, we saw the pictures a few times before..

But yeah.. right now, age is really catching up with her.. and I feel bad of watching it.. I really miss the days when she was up and about. Thank God that my mom is watching her closely, like how my grandmother used to care for her mother, our great grandmother.

If any of you guys who knows her is reading this, please tell her that I wrote this for her.

To my sisters and brother, let's cherish her while she's here with us. We know she means the world to us. So let's prove it.