Mary had a little lamb

merdunya suara mummy saya sampai tetidur

Do you sing for your baby? Well I did and still do. I know my voice is not something that can make me a Malaysian Idol winner, but at least to Husayn, that is the best voice he ever heard, judging by his response clapping and cheering everytime I finish singing. Haha, thanks goodness for Husayn, if not who else will listen to me torturing them with my singing!

When Husayn was still in my womb, it did feel weird talking to my ballooning tummy. I read somewhere that talking to your unborn baby during pregnancy will lead to an active baby. Every morning after Subuh I will have the same ritual of reading the Quran for my baby. Let's see there's Surah Mariam for easy birth, Surah Yusuf for beautiful, healthy good looking baby, Surah Luqman for smart and soleh kid. And I did sing and babble a lot too. I always think that Husayn's fav song when he was in the womb is Gwen Stefani's The Sweet Escape for he will do his summersault and kickboxing everytime he heard that song.

And during the pantang, I always watch MTV and Channel V with him and he will sleep soundly even when a headbanging song came on. I also sang Anak Itik Tok Wi (learned this at school aeons ago!), the Labah2 song (itsy bitsy spider malay version), this one was when he learned how to crawl and various other song that I also have a problem remembering now. Haha.

Currently his favourite is Thomas and Friends song where he will sit so still and then smile knowingly and start to move his body back and forth and finish with a clap. And everytime he cries I always turn on this mp3 from my phone titled Mariam jaga Kambing (malay version of Mary Had a Little Lamb!). Lyrics as below:

mariam jaga kambing
jaga kambing
jaga kambing
mariam jaga kambing mulut putih bersih

mana saja ia pergi
ia pergi
ia pergi
mana saja ia pergi anak kambing ikut sama

satu hari ke sekolah
ke sekolah
ke sekolah
satu hari ke sekolah buat mariam susah

murid ketawa riang
ketawa riang
ketawa riang
murid ketawa riang lihat kambing mariam

mariam jaga kambing
jaga kambing
jaga kambing
mariam jaga kambing mulut putih bersih


And after that song ends, he will continue to cry again. Haha. Susah macam ni.

Cubeecraft yourself

I really, really love this super cute cubee craft from cubeecraft.com!

Guaranteed to make you hook, cubee craft enable you to create various characters that include Ultraman, Supermario (yep like I did in the above picture), Indiana Jones and even Kermit the frog! You only need a printer, preferably a thicker paper, sciccors, and cutter. You don't even need a glue to combine it together!

By the way, I made one for Husayn, and he crumpled it and then just threw it away..so I had to put it somewhere where he cannot touch it. Hehe..This also would make a cute and cheap gift to anybody so hope you enjoy it like I did!

Let's cubeecraft!

Poo baby poo!

Husayn at 1 months trying to poo and I managed to capture it..wooho!

I have 5 younger siblings, but never once in my life have I ever clean their stools. Well, except once when my youngest sister was 3 and I had to clean up her poo when my mother was not home. Guess what did I do? While holding my breath, I took the toilet brush (yes the one that you use to clean toilet bowls) and as careful as I could I clean her using those brush! Maybe that's what being geli can do to you and maybe that's why my mother never ask me to wash my other siblings stools ever again.

So imagine my horror when I have to clean Husayn's poo for the first time. Well, it was in the hospital and to my utter amazement, I felt okay. Thank goodness for wet wipes, everything is clean and dandy less than a minute. One of the best thing about breastfeeding is, the baby's poo does not have that foul smell like I am used to. And of course armed with water spray and wet wipes, cleaning baby stools have never been so easy peasy.

But at nearly 14 months now, how Husayn's stools have rapidly 'developed'. From odourless, to smell that can lingers feets away, and from wet wipes to straight to the toilet, my baby has really grown. He even enjoys his 'kentut', laughing away at the sound. Haha, sorry if you found this entry disgusting. Anyway this entry is inspired by my son laughing fit in the toilet yesterday when he suddenly poop as I was readily dressed in my office attire complete with tudung. As I was washing his little buns, he kept laughing and shouting 'dah! dah!' maybe because of the cold morning water and as a sign of love, he bites me and presented me with this bruises on my shoulder. How sweet of you Husayn, babab nanti baru tau..haha..

Have an excellent weekend everyone!

Towards a frugalicious mummy

Mulai hari ni Husayn makan biskut marie je la ye sebab mummy are going frugalicious!

Yesterday as me and my husband stuck in the traffic crawl that originated from people rushing to nearby petrol station, I kept thinking haven't I been frugal enough all this while?

I mean, I'm the kind who think like zillionth time everytime I want to buy something expensive whether it is for me or Husayn. I shop at Brands Outlet and Reject Shop and I'm not that fussy over brands names products though there were times when impulse buying frenzy struck that I found myself with expensive so-called brand names that I don't know myself what got me into buying it. I usually fly Air Asia for holiday and I wait for their free tickets sales. My husband drives a Kelisa and we only have one car. And last but not least, our little family live with my parents. Isn't that frugal enough?

But maybe I forgot that I live in KL and KL of course has countless shopping malls, and when those little trips to shopping malls added up, those little trips seem not so little anymore. And there I was thinking I was frugal but maybe not!

So here's a towards a frugalicious mummy:

Give birth at Government hospital
I know it's cheaper and it's FOC for government slave like me but do I really want to do that? I spent more than 5k during Husayn's birth because I was c-sect at Kelana Jaya Medical Center and I really like the place. I don't know whether I am willing to do this for the next one.
Make your own baby food
I know how easy it is to grab Heinz baby food from the supermarket shelves, but I guess it is better if we make our own babyfood. More berkat after all from mummy own hands. But how would a working mummy like me manage this if as soon as we arrive home we are just too tired to do anything except sitting in front of the tv. Well, there's always wholesomebabyfood.com!
Learn how you can cook for your kids and store the food for everyday use!

Buy kids clothes at second hand shop/warehouse sales/sales
Well, I do shop at Brands Outlets and Reject Shop and sometimes I do take leave to rush to warehouse sales, and can you believe how many sales have Sogo organised this year. I think in most time of the year they are on sale until I don't know whether the items are really on sales or not. But sometimes price at warehouse sales are more or less the same as the price in shopping malls during sales, so beware.

Less toys, more creativity
I get excited whenever I see toys at the mall and thinking how Husayn would be excited playing those toys. That's why I rarely ventures into the toys area, not because I want to deprive my son of toys but because whenever I buy those toys he rarely plays with them. Instead he prefer to play with any objects that he found around the house. In fact he prefer to play with an empty box instead of his toys.

Always plan
I think the most important thing is plan your budget. Create a budget file for yourself in Excel and see how you fare in a month. Always plan your purchase (this is veryyy hard for me!) and set target for yourself for your child. Don't forget to save for your kids education too!

Well that's some of the tips that I can think of right now. If any mummies have any other tips in mind, feel free to share!

The hand that rocks the cradle

Baby cradle or 'buai' has long been the choice of the mothers in my family to put their tots to sleep. In fact when I was a baby, my mother said that I will always cried whenever I did not get to sleep in the cradle. And so, my 5 other following siblings also followed my suit and there began the journey of carrying the cradle anywhere we went.

When I first got back from the hospital after giving birth, my parents have been pestering me to buy a cradle for Husayn. "Nanti lena sikit dia tidur" my mother said. I agreed with her on that but silently I refused to buy the cradle. Not because I want to deprive my own child with a good night sleep, but because I don't want him to depend too much on the cradle, and certainly I don't want to be carrying that cradle every where we go if we travel, after all our car is only a tiny Kelisa!

The bouncer

You'd think my problems will be lessen if I refuse the cradle but of course challenges always found itself around the corner. Husayn refused to sleep without breastfeeding and I have to breastfeed him while sitting down for hours due to my c-sect pain. There were a lot of nights my husband had to carry him and dodoi him to sleep. And on one sweet day, I've got this idea to turn the baby carrier that I got from MyDear warehouse sale for only RM98 into a baby bouncer.

I really,really love the carrier-cum-bouncer. It can be rocked back and forth and for RM98 I think I got a good value for a sturdy, fit anywhere and multipurpose baby carrier. It fits perfectly in the car, he can sleep in the carrier, and I can bring it anywhere. It was really useful especially during last year's Hari Raya when we spent days visiting countless relatives.

And for nearly one year my parents keep asking me when to buy the precious cradle and I managed to resist. Came the day that I have to go for outstation and leave Husayn at home with my mother. That was the day I finally relented and buy a cradle. Husayn was 11 months.

Now at nearly 14 months, I can say that he definitely does not depends on the cradle to go to sleep. The problem is at night he depends on his night time breastfeeding session and this caused quite a ruckus when I was away from home. Oh well maybe my mother can solve that..hehe

Husayn sleep tight

Digital scrapbooking fun

How can you resist the colourful wonders of scrapbooking? The nifty little details and those polka dots ribbons and cute buttons. With scrapbooking photos that seem so plain look really meaningful, and with some creativity you can add some details that signify the photos; maybe ticket stubs, thoughtful notes or even newspaper cuttings.

Anyway, as much as I love scrapbooking, I prefer the faster and easier, not to mention cost-saving method: digital scrapbooking. Faster and easier because you can add any effects you want using Adobe Photoshop (nak lagi murah belila Adobe Creative Suite yg RM5 tu je.semuanya adaa..oops).The cost saving part is mainly because you do not need to buy any additional decorations for your scrapbook. The decorations can either be created yourself using Photoshop or downloaded at any other Scrapbooking free sites. My favourite is of course shabbyprincess.com where there are loads and loads of free downloads that you can mix with each other to create a wonderful mix and match that is unique and absolutely fabulous!

Here's a scrapbooking idea that I did last year for Husayn. I did 2008 calendar, maybe you could do the same for your kids, in 2009 maybe?

2008 Calendar Scrapbooking Style
Items Needed:
*Loads and loads of free downloads of scrapbooking fonts, templates, embellishments
*Adobe Photoshop of course or any other graphic software of your choice
*A frame to put the calendar (I use IKEA Finlir Frame- price is around RM49 I think)

The most important is to set the desired size for your photo. Mine is set based on 4R photo size. Then, just play around with all the photos that you have, fonts, templates and embellishments. Here is some sample from my calendar:







The photos are all printed in 4R size. Anyway, the size is according to your chosen frame. So once it is completed you can put it anywhere you like..mine is seating comfortably besides my work station! Happy Scrapbooking!

Most delicious cupcakes I’ve ever tasted!

Cupcakes are so cute and cool, and in some cases so beautiful and precious that I just don’t have the heart to eat them! Maybe because cake is so huge and common that cupcakes have suddenly become a craze among us Malaysians since I’ve stumbled so many cupcakes-selling blogs recently. You have to admire these Malaysian cupcakes wizards since I realized that these Malaysian cupcakes look a whole lots better and creatively design than our Western counterpart.

My first encounter with cupcakes was when a friend who also has a cupcakes online shop, Ellie gave me samples of her cupcakes. And so cute and delicious it is that I ordered her cuppies for last year’s Hari Raya open house. On my son recent 1st birthday, I decided to be a rajin mummy for once and so I successfully did my first cupcakes! It’s not that pretty but I think it is the most delicious cupcakes I’ve ever tasted! Perasan or not, I’m just grateful that the cupcakes did not get burnt or anything since I was including that cuppies to be given to my son’s friends at the nursery.
So if you want to try the cupcakes recipe that I got from chockylit’s, here goes:

Devil's Food Chocolate Cake
makes 24 cupcakes / 350 degree oven

2 cups flour
2 cups castor sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Van Houten’s)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
A pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Measure out everything but the eggs directly into your mixer bowl.
2. Mix on low speed just until incorporated.
3. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add eggs, beat on high speed again for 2 minutes.

Measure out into cupcake pan lined with cupcake papers. A 2" ice cream scoop works great for this. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool slightly in the pan then transfer to a rack to cool completely before frosting.

Chocolate Buttercream
enough to lightly frost 24 cupcakes

½ cup butter
1/2 cup cocoa
4 cups icing sugar
~1/4 cup milk

1. Beat butter on high for about 30 seconds until soft.
2. Add cocoa and 1 cup of sugar and beat until incorporated
3. Add half of the milk and the remainder of sugar and beat until incorporated.
4. Continue to add milk until you get to the consistency you want.

Since this cuppies are for kids I spread the coloured strands on top of the cuppies for colourful effects.

Enjoy!