The loss of our cousin

On the Dec 22, 2010 we had a very sad news of the loss of Pakcik Omar's only daughter, Nurul. The moment my dad told me the news, I was stunned and just couldn't believe it's true. My heart felt something.. Something that I can't really describe hw it was. I just felt sad.. I know she's the only daughter of 4 siblings. She had 3 brother and she's the youngest. I couldn't imagined how her parent (my uncle and auntie) shall bear the loss of their beloved daughter.

We were shocked, the whole family didn't know how to react. It was so sudden.. The cause? - the horrible accident, hit and run. I don't want to describe the details, cz we are now still grieving the loss of our beloved cousin.

No one knows why bad things happen to those so innocent and whose life has hardly begun. For now it will have to remain the painful mystery that it is. Losses like this can make us challenge our faith; however, this is precisely the time when our faith needs to be its strongest. I am praying that our faith will help us, especially our uncle n aunt, get through this very difficult time and help us to know that God's purpose, whatever it may be, is at work. I pray that we will find the strength to get us through our grief and sadness.

Innailillahiwainnalillahirajioun. To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return.

Sophie and the little horses - Last May, Summer holidays

Cuti-cuti 2010 - Dhaka

First question I've asked to my sister, Angah was "What? Takder tempat lain ke kena posting? Org Bangla sebok dtg cni, Angah plak nak pegi sana?" Then, we laughed... It's totally true!! I'm not sure whether she can survive but she did. Angah is staying in Dhaka now as my BIL posted to this new venture by Celcom, Axiata. I wished he could be posted to somewhere nearer or nicer places.. but u know.. work is work.. no one could say NO unless you quit..




But, i know Dhaka is not bad at all.. despite of what you've seen from the magazines, tvs or other media, my sister told me that there are several attractions for you to visit. Not to mention about places to shop.. definitely make the ladies damn crazy about textiles, beadings, children's apparels, men's apparel.. All of this because of the cheap labor in Bangladesh, which he imported clothes or apparel manufactured there.. Same goes to Indonesia and China. That why you can find lots of Fo in Bandung and Jakarta.. even there is no proper FO as in Bandung, but it's also easy to find cheap clothes in Dhaka.. sumwhere in... ouh forgot the name.. i just remembered one area..yes..Gulshan 2..


Anyways, last March we went there to visit Angah n family plus to shop and visit some places. But then several plans have been canceled due to tight schedule. We were there for 4-5 days only and it's definitely fun, enjoyable and memorable. The visit reminded me of Pakistan, which I went to Islamabad 5 years ago to visit Hubby (that time he's still a BF). Same thing happens in Indonesia as well. Lots of beggars especially on traffic area. Everything seems poor and messy, you may see those people look haggard even in their early age because of the oeverwork or life in stress. If you were there, I bet you must be thinking that you're grateful enough to live in Malaysia. In Bangladesh, they are still maintaining the 'kasta' system, which the poorer people would remain poor I would say. It was definitely made us feel sad to see all those poor people, .. bBt, Angah has told me the same thing that Hubby said to me once ago in Islamabad, "don't give it to them, unless there are no other else". Why? there are too many reason.. syndicate, encourage other beggars, etc.. and many more. Anyhow, the sympathy not only for the people.. but the whole thing...

So alhamdulillah, despite of these sadness things, we were happy with the tours. Mostly tiring with our usual activities of shopping but it was worth the single cent u paid. But, above all.. the best part was, not only we have met our beloved niece and nephew, Alisa and Akiff but we also knew some people which introduced by Angah.. very lovely people esp. Puan Hajah Latifah, a wife of Brunei Embassy and not to mention some party and shopping!! We had a several shopping trip. 1st trip, we decided to tag along with other frens of Angah, and that time Sophie joined to shop. Lots of places and we bought a lot.. Esp. for Hubby and Sophie. Mine..only some textiles... 2nd trip, Garage sale.. 1st trial of leaving Sophie with the maid and Alisa n Akiff. We decided to go without her since we saw her so tired on the 1st trip, plus she never understand what actually we were doing kan. Quite a bored trip i guess (for her). First few minutes we had a call from Alisa, which panicking when she saw Sophie's crying. After consulted by her Daddy, surprisingly she managed to handle Sophie. 3rd trip, another trip without Sophie and Alisa was proud about her 'achievement' on handling Sophie.. Bravo!! We also had custom made of suits since the tailor are well known by Angah and there were cheap with the tip top workmanship. Unbelievable!

OK.. dats all for the trip.. i can't think of what happened there but i assure you that was among the best trip we ever had. All the photos will be posted soon.

On July 2010, I've a department Teambuilding called "TIM Dynamic Converge" which successfully organised by us (TIM we-Care).. Alhamdulillah, all bosses and colleagues was enjoying all the activities.. Luckily Avillion have given full co-operation and gave a good services to us. Kudos to Avillion!! Btw, Niza and I decided to get additional 1 night stay in the hotel with the special rates given (special pun about RM400++ gaks melayang)..hehehe.. But, since we haven't gone to holiday in those past months, I thought it's better to have it with my family...plus it's Avillion!! Well, fun part was... Hubby had an 'awesome' experience while drove to PD with Sophie aside. HAHAHAHA!! I had a phone call from Hubby when he said that Sophie won't stop crying and insisted to not seat on her car seat. She's insisting to seat on her Daddy's lap even while driving. This happened when he was only an 1/2 hour away from PD (I think in Seremban's plaza toll). I knew Hubby sounded panic plus I won't be available to soothe Sophie but at least I tried talk to her over the phone... here are some of the conversation :

Me : "Sophie.. Hi sayang.."

Sophie : "uhuhu..sob..sob.. Mommy...uwaaaa!!!" cont. to cry..

Me : Hey honey.. mommy's here... do you want to see me? of course you do right? so please.. please let Daddy drives so you can meet me here.."

Sophie : " uhuuhu..sob..sob..."

Me : OK.. I promise you.. I will be right here when you arrived ok?? please just go and sit, please Sophie.. Please..."

Then, she kept cont to weep.. and I.. couldn't think of anything, just hoping Hubby managed to get here.. and at the same time... I was a bit panic.

However, surprisingly about 1/2 hour later, Hubby called and asked me to get Sophie at Hotel lobby. OMG!! I was so happy and speechless.. I ran to get her, felt wanna cry and kept saying thanks to her for being a good girl... i was relieved..

Beach walk at Sunday morning...

Feeding-the-Pet... she's enjoying with the bunnies
She's even touching them.. Geram kot tgk bulu2 tu

feeding the rooster

Ok.. i myself don't have the guts to hold that rooster
Tgk la tu.. relax jer dia peluk ayam tu..

swimming time.. as usual.. took longer than planned cz Sophie didn't want to...

Sophie's not so new toys

After we had our bonuses, as we took a 'pledge' to buy some educational toys for her (even I swear to you that some the toys given during her birthday still too many). I made some research and thought that these would make her life more exciting in our home.

Tag Junior by LeapFrog.. bought by Mommy

This bought by Daddy

so thrilled to get on her new bike, but kaki still x sampai to that paddles..hahaha!!

And this bought by Daddy since she really loved to play the slide in Aunt Elly's house

Salam Aidiladha

Salam.. Alhamdulillah the 'qurban' was running smoothly. I got one portion of qurban for Sophie, so now we are glad to have it for her. This year we celebrated at her grandparents house in Cheras. As usual she was really excited to see that cow, even she has the feeling of scared a bit when the cow moved. Funny!!

Btw, i loved the foods a lot. A festive like this, of course they were homemade ketupat, rendang etc which we actually couldn't stopped eating the whole day.. Haha.. And yes, we had a movie date yesterday evening ;) Harry Potter : deathly hallows part 1... Best giler!! ;)








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Her 2nd Birthday - 10/02/2010

I still remember the 1st time I saw in her birth suit right after I safely given birth to her 2 years ago. That was a very touching moment to feel her heartbeat, touched her lovely skin and to see the blood covered all over her... That's the moment i was thinking how great my mom to managed given birth to 6 childs and MIL to 7 child. Praise to Allah, Sophie is now 2 and the party was hosted after 2 weeks I came back from overseas assignment. Onshore training in Termez, Uzbekistan. Yeah.. it was an awesome 'time-off' but after a week, I was madly deeply missing Hubby and this little cutie. It was a short and completely a last minute preparation for the party, including the banner and the cakes. It was held in our lovely home, and since we never had a chance to host a housewarming since we've moved, we called it - Sophie 2nd Birthday Party cum Housewarming.

A night before the party, we were preparing for the balloons, decorations and goodie bags. In the morning I was a bit nervous waited for her birthday banner which only ordered a day before. Luckily they can managed to print it out. Then, I collected the cakes (since it was on the 20th, it's also Hubby's birthday, so I bought 2 cakes for both) at Secret Recipe. It was really really tiring and quite unorganized, which I wish i could have done better for her party.. even the VIPs came without the F&B not completely served..uhuhuh.. Btw, alhamdulillah.. there are a lot of people turned up, very overwhelming but we actually did not hv much time to mingled around with the guests..so sorry!! Nasib baik the foods were really scrumptious :). Thanks to caterer a.k.a my mum. Thanks to everybody who came..and sorry for any hiccups ya!!

when she first saw her Barbie cake, she was so excited and a really protective OK.. no one can ever got near to that cake ;)
The guests.. and a lots more in the porch area..

Can't wait to say a wish and cutting the cake.

2nd cake for her daddy...;)

Happy Birthday to my both Sayangs..!!!

Salam Eid-ul-Fitr

Salam to all our muslim friends out there... we wish you Eid Mubarak!! "Taqabballah minna waminkum.." (may Allah accept the good deeds from me and you..) InsyaAllah.. May this Eid bring you joy and happiness..

i definitely going to tell how our Eid was in Perak and Malacca.. it was fun i'll guarantee you..so what Sophie was feeling about that eventho her 'duit raya' not as much as last year..hehehe :)

Sophie vs Barney vs Minnie and vs Aidiq Zakuan

Ok now I know people will get bored with all my outstanding blogging, but I can’t help it!! I can’t just forget what I did and what her developments were. Sorry guys!! Hahaa.. I promised I try to keep blogging more rather than usual to keep her in track.
So.. Sophie started liking Barney and Minnie since we’ve bought her the soft toys. Barney was really big, even she couldn’t hold it. But I’m super glad that she could manage to have one Big Barney and a very small Minnie. Sometimes I can see her kissed and hugged them like I used to do to her. She’s adorable.. and cute of course..hehehe..

Sophie was trying to help her Barney.. well she's the one who puts Barney on her ride;)

Then, when she needs to sit, she would just lets Barney seats on that small basket.. hahaha

Ok then what about Aidiq Zakuan.. he’s my cousin’s son, which 6 months (I think) younger than Sophie. But despite of his cuteness and charming persona, he’s really really really loves Sophie. He can’t even look at Sophie where he would just pinched her cheek or tried to provoke in any way, till Sophie gave up. wut so funny was, Aidiq would only just make ‘blur’ faces when Sophie was crying after he pinched her.We just could laughed and tried to avoid things got worse by took them away from each other, even sometime we tought that both were trying to make friends.. hehehe.. Kids way.. By the way, sometimes we could see that Sophie was quite toughening up a bit. After sometime, she could fought Aidiq back .. Then both of them ended up crying.. hahaha..

don't be tricked by this 'Sophie-Aidiq happy moment' because it didn't lasts long.. hehehe.. 5 mins after this pix taken.. Sophie was crying out loud teased by him.. hehehe

Vacation vs Sophie

Well, after our 1st attempt leaving Sophie with her grand parents successfully happened, we went to Bandung again for another attempt.. hahaha!! It was planned earlier after we were actually addicted to Bandung’s foods, cultures and of course with shopping! Last time we went with Sophie around and we could see that she’s damn exhausted. Plus she might be bored with our passion.. Shopping.. and we did shop till drop! Hehehe..

For us to be out there alone.. it seems like a therapy for us -- to get a break, get a romance mode.. I’m not saying that we didn’t get enuff at home, with Sophie around.. no!!.. in fact Sophie was not the point since she is already been sleeping in her luvly room. But if we were alone, and went to the strange place, it does kinda remind us with our 1st honeymoon in London. Yeah!! Of course we were worried and always feel concern about traveling without her. There are so many reasons why we need vacations… One of them is we believed that our Sophie will have a great time hanging out with the grand parents. I think she’s definitely will have a great bond build between them and build many wonderful memories. Sometimes, there's an education only grandparents can give, which we never thought of it.. so just let them spend time alone with your children.

Then, FAMILY is depends on the strength of our marriage. We totally agreed that it's important for us to get away to focus on the relationship we have, not just raise children. Trust me… Your children feel secure knowing their parents love and care for each other. Give them security at home by renewing your marriage relationship - - not that we have to this because we had problems in our marriage.. it’s better to have it since we know we love each other. We've earned a vacation. Hardworking parents need a break, right?

And do you know actually the kids need a break from you? As the matter of fact, you can't shelter them their entire lives, they need to experience the world without you. Doing it in a safe environment like the grandparents house is a great first step toward doing things on their own. When you return you'll be amazed at the new things they've learned - - She did..

And for last January, we were decided to leave Sophie again for my birthday celebration & another trip. Yup, that was cruel if you say so, but this trip was not meant for her. Trust me.. Snorkeling and stuffs were not meant for babies and toddlers, ain’t I right? Therefore, we booked tickets for two and this time we were inviting my lil’ sister, Noi and her friend, Ila to travel along to Krabi. It was an awesome trip! We were there for only 3 days 2 nights and basically we just went to the snorkeling trip and did some shopping. All the pictures already been uploaded to Noi and my FB.

It’s been totally fun with the speed boat cruise and snorkeled around at those beautiful islands in the world. There was lots of tourist everywhere.. as if we were totally in the strangest world indeed.. I must say that we didn’t have much time to spend for other attractions, but we promised ourselves that we are going there again someday. There were lot of thing to do in Krabi and we regret we didn’t do it. However, if you plan to go Krabi soon, make sure your pocket is full since the halal foods is expensive and so does all the shopping stuff. I think they’re targeting rich ‘mat salleh’ people, so sometime they just being so arrogant if we tried to bargain. If you encountered this arrogant shop-keeper, please do ignore them. There’s a lot of shop you may go, and some of them are generous enough to give you the stuffs u need with a great bargain.
So back to my lil’ princess.. Sophie was being a good girl even she did mention about ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’ for several times, yet she’s ok. I made several calls to check upon her but overall, my mum said she was great.. so perhaps for the next trip she would be ok with her daddy then.. xoxo

OK.. not OK.. Mommy..Daddy..HELP!

Ok.. last Sunday’s nite was one of my challenging nite being a mom. Sophie was having a mild constipation (I hope so..) and it’s pretty sad to see her so much in pain. Normally she would take about 5-10 mins to get it done and she would ‘appear’ (cz normally she would be escaped or hide herself from us) to telling me that she’s now ready to get the diaper changed. But, not that nite.. I supposed after I’m done with kitchen cleaned up about ½ an hour, she would call me, but she hasn’t yet done and she was sweating like mad.
Hubby called me and told what he concerned about, and I was wondering what I have I given to make her suffer like that. It was surely nothing ‘hard’ solid food, so my worry is for the laxative a.k.a her milk supply. I’ve noticed that since we have changed the Pediasure Complete to Gain® Plus Advance Eye-QTM (still with Abbott products), she can’t bear with an over-the-counter laxative. Compared to Pediasure complete, she never had this constipation suffer.
So for that incident happened, after Hubby and I sick worried about her, we tried to make her calm and relax, which the hardest thing to do. She’s experienced the painful bowel movements and tried to get ‘rid’ of the stools I believed. After few attempts on making her calm and squat for a while, she did successfully get ‘rid of it’.
Since of that incident, my ultimate goal is to help my child to have soft, comfortable stools again. One of it, I’m definitely to cut down her laxative supply. It’s actually better use rarely and increases the fiber intake. Sophie is a picky-eater and to serve her with fiber may seem impossible. Hmmm… so I might stick with giving her banana instead of other fiber foods. By the way, from the web and books, you can try other alternatives if you are facing this problem, such as :
1. Make sure your child is drinking enough fluids -- juice, milk and water. If your child is dehydrated, her stool will become harder, leading to constipation. It is particularly important for your child to stay hydrated in hot weather. Since it's difficult to make specific recommendations as to how much fluid is enough, try following the pediatricians' rule of thumb: If your child is urinating at least every three hours while awake, then she's probably getting plenty of fluids.
2. Encourage your child to sit on the toilet after meals. Children who have experienced painful bowel movements are often reluctant to sit on the toilet. But the longer a child avoids going to the bathroom, the harder the stool will become. You can help break this cycle by having the child sit on the toilet for 5 or 10 minutes after meals, when intestinal reflexes make passing bowel movements easier. - - So I think this is the hint for me to get her ready for toilet training which I failed a few times.. u’huh!
3. Consider eliminating milk from your child's diet. On occasion, a child can become constipated due to a cow's milk allergy or sensitivity. However, because cow's milk is an excellent source of protein and calcium, which are both essential for growth, you should not eliminate it from the diet without first consulting your doctor. If you have tried the above strategies without success and feel that milk may be the culprit, contact your pediatrician.
- Do consult your doctor if constipation develops suddenly or is associated with pain or fever.
- Don't worry if there is a small amount of blood on the surface of the stool or the toilet tissue. This probably indicates an anal fissure, a painful but non-serious condition. Larger amounts of blood, blood mixed with the stool, or blackening of the stool, however, may indicate a more serious condition.
- Do contact your doctor if constipation develops in early infancy -- this might indicate a more serious condition, such as intestinal blockage, and should be evaluated quickly.
So good luck!!

Sophie was in Parenthood - My Beautiful Junior

It was me!! ME!! I’ve been rewarded a hamper from Today Publishing – Parenthood Magazines for being one of My Beautiful Junior! The issue was on Flattering remark for my Mommy for sent out my pictures to be published. Mommy said she was not actually sent only 1 or 2 but 5 pictures for each section in the magazines. But for her 1^st attempt, I was not bad at all. At least she only tried once and yet I was lucky to be one of the winner. The hamper was sponsored by Carrie Junior.  After a few months, Mommy tried several attempts sending out the pictures to Pa&Ma as well, but still no luck. At one point she stopped. Maybe she wants to give me a more

 challenging environment like a casting perhaps? ;)

Her 1st STUDIO Photoshoot

Studio : DOT Studio, Kota Damansara

When : Sept 12, 2009

Sophie has done a very good job for her first experience in front of the camera. Hmmm.. for the very first 5 mins I think. Then, she freaked out or stunned when she saw the train was actually running towards her, which I guess it's totally new to her. We were struggling to get her to act natural as she did at first but she's just stopped. Anyhow, it's good to see her pix actually turned out well and natural..even there were some pix so-so, we are blessed to have a healthy, pretty and the sweetest gurl in the world!! 

Sophie just stopped acting!

And the photoshoot is not going to end here.. we are going to have more and more soon.. InsyaAllah..

Congrats!! more gurls now!!

Zara

Ashadiya

After so much time and efforts (i guess) hahaha.. finally Sophie's Mak Long and Mak Lang (my sis) have succeeded to get a baby girl. Along has 3 boys and now 1 girl, Zara and Kak Ina, has 2 boys and 1 girl, Ashadiya now. Congrats sis!! Syukur Alhamdulillah...

And the more the merrier..Sophie definitely excited being with them around. Since she's already has Kak Alisa and Kak Long, Kak Ngah, Kak Dira (from her daddy's side), now with the new comer in her life, they would be make her life more enjoyable ;).. 

1st Trial

Last August, Hubby decided to go to an island for a vacation. He.. actually we..wanted to go somewhere for a snorkeling, which we never had a chance to do that since we know each other. He has been to Redang, to Sabah.. and we've plan to go to Krabi next year for my birthday celebration. And he bought it during the promotion of AirAsia (as usual)... 

As we planned to go for a short one, Hubby bought Langkawi flight tix and we straightly put our money for snorkeling trip online. Snorkeling..yeahh... i think it was obviously a bad idea to bring Sophie along.. uh'uh.. no way. It's not only a terrible idea for the fact she might be exhausted with the environment and the weather, but she might also bored with this trip. As you know Langkawi is one of our tax free city, definitely we're going to shop some stuffs for our new home. Its so true that i wasn't really agree with the idea, since i felt so sorry with leaving Sophie behind during my OJT, yet Hubby convinced me that Sophie would be just alright with her grandparents a.k.a my mum and dad.

so there we were.. its' our vacation cum short honeymoon. Yup, surely we missed her so much, i was nervous on our 1st day left her..but... she has done a very good job...she's not really noticed that we were away for 2 days, which totally made me proud.. she's very independent indeed..

1st Blog in 2010

Hi.. i know it's quite late to wish u all a Happy New Year.. but Happy New Year.. and may all our wishes/resolution will come true. I have had this copy of Sophie's blogs writing in my Mac, which I recalled it was from last year, so as usual I will put on the 'flashback' version first before i'll be back on track.

Sophie was in shape better than before eventho I was a terrible mom who has been so selfish not to giving her breastfeeding as before. We giving her Pediasure which costs her daddy around RM350 a month. Hmm... I know it sounds so much expensive but how would you give your children a rare or just a random formula as if you are not capable to give more? My husband and I would always feel guilty when actually the fact are we eat or eaten very spacious meal, but we were thinking twice to give the best to our children.. how the hell you have the heart to do that? hhahaha.. anyways, some parents would not agree with me, but i know most parents does.. lot of frens actually very fond on giving the best meal to their children aint I right?

Sophie and Pediasure are both demanding i would say.. hehe.. luckily she doesn't gave us hard time to make her get used with formula. My hubby said, the vessel trip is actually 'blessed in disguise'. Hmmm.. i don't know.. i must say it is idyllic but i'm still regret that i couldn't give her a full breastfeeding till she is 2. Sob..sob..sob..

Well, everything was alright and i really loved the way she acted now.. she was becoming more towards as girlish as i imagined before.. there was a lot of stories..which it would be in my mind forever. She is one of my soul anyway.. ;)