Nuffnang Gift Ideas

Dear Nuffnang,

I thought it was so very nice of you to hold this Nuffnang Gift Ideas Contest. I mean do you know how hard it is for a small time blogger like me to earn even RM1 from you? This contest is really cool, and if I am destined to win it, it will be even more cooler! Who will in their right mind give voucher worth up to RM1500 to spend at Real Mart. And since 2 August is my BIRTHDAY it will be amazinglyfabulouslysuperblydeliciously super duper uber marvellously wonderful to win this!

So what do I have to do to snatch that grand prize? I guess I have to be extra generous and awarded fellow nuffnanger a gift. Well, before you turn around and buzz me off for the fact that actually the correct word would be virtual gift, mind you it could be real if I do win. Haha.

And so, the lucky nuffnanger would be..

the Husband! (please ignore Husayn's picture)

So why would moi choose the husband?

I admit that I am guilty for frequently coming out with excuses every year for not buying anything on his birthday, I think my husband really need this..

A Panasonic Man Travel Shaver!

Before you ask why the Husband needs a travel shaver, have a look at this first..

and you will understand why..I mean the Panasonic Man Travel Shaver is desperately needed so he can get rid of that hairy janggut for the sake of our marriage's harmony..hehe

Here's another 7 reasons why the Panasonic Man Travel Shaver is perfect for the Husband:
1. The hairy janggut is dangerous for my son, Husayn. It can cause scratches when Husband
nuzzles Husayn's face.
2. Even my aunt has nicknamed him Taliban because of the hairy janggut
3. He looks a whole lot more better without those jangguts
4. He does not need to go to mamak barber shop to shave his janggut and this will save money!
One shave cost around RM 5 or RM6 and he usually shave once in 2 weeks (yes that's how
fast the janggut grows)!
5. It will take less time for him to get ready in the morning, so I can go to the office earlier (if the
janggut is like the above picture he will need to pamper it with Johnson's baby oil and sikat all
the janggut, and it took too much time!)
6. My friends will stop calling him Wolverine

Pic of Wolverine for your references

7. He can shave whenever or wherever that he pleases
8. The Wife (which is me) don't like the feel of the janggut on my own face
9. I prefer him looking clean and clear like this below picture:


If I do actually won the Real Mart RM1500 voucher, I pledge to buy the Panasonic Man Travel Shaver because I simply love him and I want my child to be cuts-free around him!

To all Nuffnangers out there log on here and pick your gift now. You are also welcome to award me with any gift should you won. Heheh.

Pixart that perfect pics

I accidentally stumbled upon Pixart website nearly two years ago as I was preparing for my wedding day. It was a delightful surprise for me as this website is actually a local website. I thought about using Pixart for all my wedding pics but turns out I have so many wedding pics that I decided to print all my wedding pics at a nearby photo shop instead.

So fast forward 2 years later and my son actually turns one year old and I thought it would be nice to compile all the pictures of him growing up in one neat photo book. So to everyone who are still looking for the perfect photo book, do try Pixart! You just need to download the software and you can add and edit photos as you wish, and then you can just email it back to them. They will do everything and once it is ready they will just post it to you! You don't even need to go out of the house! And look out for the promotions that they always held!

The most daring thing you've done during your pregnancy

Husayn in the womb

Don't you love being pregnant? Your skin will start going all glowy (don't mention the stretchmark please..hehe), suddenly all the attention is on you, everybody start to rub your belly to feel the baby kicking, and you will most probably get a seat if you are in a crowded public transport ( it depends actually especially here on Malaysia! sometimes the able ones will just pretend to sleep and the pregnant ones will be left standing..believe me, I've witnessed this one!).

Husayn made into my womb unexpectedly, so the morning sickness and all that crazy mengidam things was quite new to me. Here are the list of 'unexpected' things that I've done during my pregnancy:

#1. Walk from Damansara Uptown to One Utama.
Damansara Uptown was where my previous office was located. I was 5 months pregnant, and at the time I was so pissed at Husband because he was supposed to pick me up at 6.30 and when I called him he was still in KL. And with the jam and all that I believe he will reached my office around 8. Until now I don't know what driven me to actually walk from Uptown to One utama. I remember walking beside the crowded highway, then passed to TV3 and only then I arrived at One Utama. Mind you I've tried hailing a cab, but all the cabs were full!

#2. Crying just to eat apam balik
It was a rainy day and we were on our way back from work and I just had to have those scrumptious apam balik! We were searching for every stalls that we know sell apam balik, but ironically not even one was open, maybe it was due to the rain. The one in front of Giant kelana Jaya was opened but they ran out of apam balik. At the end of the day I don't get any apam balik, and Husayn kept drooling when he was a few months old. Hehe.

#3. Craving to board a flight
This one i think is a little bit weirder because I rarely heard a pregnant woman craving to board a flight. So what I did was, booked tickets to Kuching for two, and I went to Kuching when I was 7 months pregnant. I had to get doctor's approval and everything, but at the end of the day I think the trip was really worth it! I love, love Kuching and I was even more in love with Kek Lapis Sarawak! It was really heavenly.

Well, those are the 3 things that I can think of right now. Thanks goodness I was not craving for something even more weird like craving for daging kuda ke..It would be hellish for Husband. Haha. All in all being pregnant is heavenly, the only thing that I dread was the giving birth apart. Huwaa!

Before it's too late..

Husayn licking his baju

Husayn bullying mummy!

Husayn needs a haircut!

Husayn really needs a haircut, so if anybody know where is the suitable kedai gunting rambut to cut little Husayn's hair, please drop a message, and not to mention the price please! And he really loves to bully mummy too! He wil simply get on my back and pretend that I am a motorbike and he will start making this motorbike noise. And the best thing is if mummy says " Sayang ..tolong picit !" he will picit2 on mummy's back and when he finished he will shout "Dah!" Haha..macam macam budak kecik ni.

Anway on a more serious and sombre note, I was browsing The Star's website today and I found this news:

Toddler Drowns in pail of water

Apparently, Irdina Nasuha, 18 month old was found drowned with her head inside the pail of water. As a mother I always found this news related to baby and toddler accident extremely horrifying, because deep inside I feel a great fear of this kind of thing happening to me, well as they say accidents do happen sometimes, right? And did you read about a 4-year-old kid falling to death from apartment's balcony last week? I was deeply saddened by the news and at the same time I was also horrified because I think that can happen to anybody.

Before it's too late, I guess as parents we could always take extreme precaution to prevent this thing to happen. Always keep the door shut in places such as bathroom and kitchen. And as your child grows, and as that little hands start creeping searching for something to play with ( well unfortunately they usually found the dangerous ones to our utter horror!), please keep your home (and your babysitter's!) safe for them to play with. The most important thing is to monitor your child closely to prevent this kind of unfortunate incident.

Fuming Friday

awas! jangan dekat!

Sorry for the fuming Friday mood. Yesterday I was talking about the Husband and today I wish I could knock some sense into him without resorting to physical violence. Haha. Not that I ever resort to physical violence but have you ever gotten sick of hearing your own nagging/membebel voice over and over again? I guess it needs patience and tons and tons of patience. The good thing is I'm at the office and I'm the kind of person who will automatically forgotten all my problem once I step into the office. Well on the bright side, tomorrow is weekend and I'm looking forward to lazing around the house with Husayn! Yippee! Happy weekend everyone!

The Husband

inspired by Andra & the Backbone's Sempurna

It's Batik Thursday!
Anyway for today,enough about Husayn (but mummy still cannot get enough of you though, hehe), let's concentrate on the Husband today.
I got this from Kelly and I thought it will be fun to do it. Well here goes:

Where did you meet your husband?
I first met my husband during my internship at PJ. He was one of the staff at the company that I was doing my internship with. He was this chap with curly long hair (ala2 mat rock pulak..haha) and my initial reaction was "ok..he looks fine..but i think i'm in love with someone else". He even called me notorious girl because I was so full of mischiefs (that's what he said anyway) and always slept at the office.

What was the first thing you said to your husband?
Nothing. I just smiled. (Malu punya kes la kot kononnya ni!)

Where was the first date?
I don't think I remember our first date because I'm not sure which one or even where is the first date. Bole ke camni? You see, we were friends first before we were labelled as couple. And I always bully him to be my driver to ferry me from my uni in Cyberjaya to my home in PJ. I guess after a couple of those bully session it just grew on you and suddenly you just felt that he has to be with you all the time.

Did you have a long or short courtship/ engagement?
We started dating back in 2002 until 2005. But believe it or not he never actually met my parents until we were engaged! (kes takut la ni..haha)

Where did you get engaged?
We got engaged on August 2005 at my parents' house at PJ. It was a low key affair attended by his relatives and mine. He did not attend the engagement ceremony because his father asked him not to because he thought it was improper. What I love most about the engagement is designing the hantaran. That was my favourite! In fact I think I spent more thoughts on my engagement hantaran than my wedding hantaran.

one of the hantaran

Where did you get married?
We got married at my hometown in Batu Pahat on Saturday, June 3, 2006. It was lovely and I enjoyed every single minute of it, minus a few minor incidents. Incident #1: A few minutes before we were supposed to 'nikah' I asked my sister to iron the 'selendang' that I was suppose to wear. And guess what she accidentally burnt the selendang! Luckily it was still wearable and the burnts marks were perfectly hidden. And to add more woes, the selendang was actually rented from the mak andam and I ended up paying for the selendang as ganti rugi. Now the burnt selendang is actually mine. Hehe.

Incident # 2: My aunt has forgotten to do the sireh junjung! We realised that at the morning of the nikah. The sireh junjung was done around 1 1/2 hour befor the nikah. It was fine at the end and the sireh junjung looks ok to me. Besides the sireh junjung we also has forgotten to buy the cake which was supposed to be one of the hantaran! I told you how I spent more thoughts (and money!) on my engangement hantaran. Luckily we found a kek lapis inside the fridge and we simply put it as one of the hantaran.

How did the reception go?

friends who came

The reception was held at my hometown in Batu Pahat, the same day of nikah ceremony. It was so full with relatives and friends. There were a few tolls for the pengantin lelaki with the mak andam one the highest. We were married at Johor, what did you expect anyway..haha. It was a very memorable day, only thing is the next day me and my husband had to cuci all the periuk, that even all my inai came out!

As for the reception at my husband side, it was held at Taiping. Knowing me, there was one incident before the reception at Taiping that left me crying. It was at Taiping Resort and we were ready to go and with me complete with my bersanding outfit and makeup, that was when I realised I lost my wedding ring and engagement ring! Everyone went searching for it while husband was already fuming with me because I have forgotten where I put the rings. I was in tears searching for the rings and alhamdulillah at last we found it! Actually I accidentally put the rings on a kain batik and without me realising it I folded the kain batik and passed it to my mum who was going to the car. Luckily the rings were neatly tucked inside the kain batik when we found it. Just imagine what if the rings fell onto the street, then there would be no chances of finding it!

How was the honeymoon?
Ah the honeymoon.. actually we never had the chance to exactly go honeymoon because one month after we were married I got pregnant with Husayn. But we did go to Kuching when I was 7 months pregnant because I was really mengidam to naik flight! Haha. I had to get doctor's approval just to board the flight but everything was fine and dandy. I even walked from bandar Kuching to Pasar Satok which was quite far, even for non-pregnant human! Anyway Kuching was really really nice and I really loveee the Kek Lapis Sarawak! Nyum Nyum

To all mummies or mummies-to-be who are reading this..you have just been tagged by me!

The day I stop pumping

mine is like this, only more comot kot

I never thought I will stop pumping milk at the office as early as this. Well ok, so Husayn is already 15 months++ but I thought I will continue pumping until he nearly turns 2, which is April next year. Gone are the days of bringing my trusty Avent bag everywhere and spending nearly one hour in the surau because I will start pumping right after my Zohor and Asar. And oh yes, the headaches I felt everytime my milk supply is running low, and drinking Horlicks three times a day to increase my milk supply.

Breastfeeding is certainly an adventure and I really love every single minute of it.

Here are tips that I have gather for all mummy and mummy to be out there that I have tried and experienced. I can’t say it will work well for other people, but you don’t have anything to lose if you try right?

During pregnancy:
1. Focus
To start breastfeeding is you have to set your mind that you really want to breastfeed your child. For Muslims the most powerful weapon is of course doa.
You can refer to this post for my doa.

2. Comb your breast
Yes you read it right! Comb or sikat your breast during your pregnancy especially when you are 7 months and above pregnant. I read somewhere it will improve you milk flow and prevent milk duct. I admitted that I ritually did this during my morning bath starting when I was 7 months pregnant. Husband will usually give this weird look, but just ignore it. Men are always like that anyway, haha.

4.Research
A little research in this age of internet won’t hurt. Go to laleche or kellymom for thorough info on breastfeeding. To read others breastfeeding experiences for local there are always susuibu.com and Parenting Forum in Cari.com website.


After giving birth and during pantang
*Please note that I was c-sect, so I can only relate my experience through a c-sect person point of view.

1.Baby Friendly Hospital
Some private hospitals will right away give your baby formula milk. So if you give birth at private hospital the most important thing is tell the doctor and nurses that you want to breastfeed. I was c-sect at Kelana Jaya Medical Centre and I only got to nurse my Husayn the next day after he was born. The Dr was even helpful enough to show me position that is effective for me to breastfeed Husayn. She called it ‘football’ position (imagine American football or rugby). Don’t think it was fine and dandy though. I remember Husayn crying his heart out, maybe because the milk is running slow. But I just fed him and the more he sucked, the more the milk came out.

2. Nursing on demand
During pantang it is important to nurse your baby on demand. This will make the milk comes out freely, but beware you may have sleepless nights, just what I have experienced! You see Husayn always woke up during the night and I still cannot nurse him while lying down so I have to nurse him for hours until the wee hours of the morning while sitting down!

3. Use both breast
This is to prevent engorgement. I won’t lie to you that the first few days of breastfeeding was really painful and I even cried everytime I have to breastfeed. But hang on, and you will get used to it. For me, I switched breast in every breastfeeding session so this will ensure the milk supply in both breasts are well, balance maybe?

4. Start pumping for milk supply
This milk supply is for the purpose of when you start to work. Milk in freezer (referring to two doors refrigerator) can be stored up to 3 months. Buy loads and loads of milk bottles (or storage or however you choose to keep your milk stock). I started saving for stock 2 weeks before I started working. As you know, I use Avent manual for pumping and it works really well though you will end up have sore hands due to enormous hand exercise.

5. Teach you baby to drink from the bottle
This is the hardest part for me! Husayn totally refuse bottle when I tried to teach him to drink the pumped milk from the bottle. I never actually succeed in getting him to drink from the bottle but miraculously the frst day at the babysitter’s house he did drink from the bottles with no problem at all.

bolehkah saya nak susu lagi mama? husayn at 3 months
(dulu montel sekarang buncit kat perut je!)

At the office
1. Pump at the same time everyday
This really works for me. I remember for the first 8 months, I will pump milk at 11am, 2pm and 5pm at the office everyday. I even did the same thing during fasting month and I have no problem of low milk supply at all during puasa.

2.Boost milk supply
I regularly take Horlicks, sometimes up to 3 times a day to boost my milk supply. Supplements that I consume include obimin, kalsium and vitamin c. And most of all just drink gallons and gallons of water!

That are some of my tips that I can share. Well currently, I still have my milk supply, it’s just that I’m too lazy to pump it because it’s too little. I prefer going back at the end of the day and straight away breastfeed Husayn. Anyway, if he’s with me, Husayn still cannot sleep without breastfeeding and he even screamed “Mak! Nenen!” and pulling at my tudung in public. Haha.

Good riddance acne ridden face!

top: current
bottom: 4 years ago

I was browsing through all photos on my pc when I came across photo of mine with all this big, painful acnes ridden face which was actually around 3 or 4 years ago. Let me tell you about my battle with acnes. I won't call mine pimples because to me pimples are all those tiny little dots on your face. But mine was worse than that! And the worst thing about acnes are people around you will start asking what happen to your face/ why aren't you doing something to your face/ why is it getting worse/ kind of questions. I remember dreading going back to kampung because it will mean endless questioning by aunts, uncles and relatives alike about my face. Hey even my boss ask me why there are so many jerawat on my face! How embarassing was that!

And I felt pressured.

So what did I do to stop all those mocking and endless questions? The acnes started sprouting back in 2003 during my final year in uni and it has ups and downs after that. I remember going to Adonis using my student loan money ( bukan PTPTN ya..haha) to 'fix' my face. And spending 1k++ for all those facials during student days are not cheap either. But the acnes still kept coming back.

I tried all sorts of products but it will work for a while and then it will started to show up again. And then I came across this supposed to be miracle cream - 'Natasya'. I found out about Natasya after browsing through cari forum and a forumer there was raving about how Natasya really works for her pimple problems. And so I decided to try it, and it was really working! Not only acnes were gone but the acnes marks were also easily removed. Suddenly I have my face again and that was the best feelings in the world! So, imagine my shock when after using Natasya for 1 1/2 years that I found out the cream actually contains hazardous ingredients that can even claim your life! So I stopped using Natasya and I started using Olay Total Effects, which also works well on my face.

I still have my occasional pimple days especially when PMS strikes but the pimples are minor compares to all those acne-era that I have gone before. It really felt good to pinch your own face and not accidentally touching those big ugly bumps that was acnes. My advice drink lots of water and don't forget to wash your face before going to bed..and stop touching your face because your hands are really full of bacterias even though you think they are squeaky clean!

Gift Ideas: Diapers Cupcakes

Have you heard of diaper cakes? The first time yours truly heard about it, the initial reaction was "gelinya!". The reason was I thought they were making cakes using dirty diapers! How gross is that! But thanks goodness I was proven wrong. Actually diaper cakes are a bunch of diapers being rolled up and bunch together to create a sort of cake look-alike. I rarely heard or saw diaper cakes in Malaysia but I always stumbled upon websites, especially from the US selling all this absolutely cute and creatively done diaper cakes. They even have this 2, 3 ,4 or more tiers to their cakes just like the real cakes!

These are some of the samples that I found on the net:

Thomas-inspired diapers cake

got milk inspired

And I myself after browsing all through this super cute diaper cakes made an attempt to create my own diaper cake, eh cupcake. Because it was first attempt I thought I should be making cupcakes first. The results are the elephant diaper cupcakes! Details of ingredients are as below:

ELEPHANT DIAPER CUPCAKE

Ingredients:
6 pcs Huggies Dry Size M Diapers
IKEA's Hocus Blanket - (85x110cm)

Topping:
IKEA's Barnslig Elefant
4 pcs Anakku Safety Pin

It was fun and I gave the cupcake to my ex-colleague who was having a baby at the time. And she really loves it! I just wish all those baby shops start making diaper cakes instead of the usual baby hampers that we give to someone when they have babies. Or do we already have that here but I still have not realise it? Haha.

Enough about diapers, anyway yesterday we went to One utama to look for Husayn's new sandal. The current shoes have gone tight as Husayn's feet is growing fast. It was really tiring going from Jusco to Parkson and scouring every kid's outlets that we can find but they all don't have his size! It was either too small, or too big and we even found one that was his size but the sandals are koyak at the corner. It was really unbelievable!

And to make it even more tiring my 'smart' husband decided beforehand not to bring Husayn's old shoes because he assumed that we will find the new sandals first so we did not need to bring his old shoes for him to wear. And husband ended up carrying Husayn all the way. Kehkeh.

Bila nak dapat kasut ni mama?

And to make unbelievable more unbelievable we bought his sandals at Jusco, which was the first shop that we went. What a waste of those time walking from old wing to new wing! Bengang ni..haha. But the good thing about all those long walks was I found this shop:


I love FOS and Reject Shop and Brands Outlet alikes because I can find branded items for less. Well, I'm too kedekut to spend money at the respective brands outlet. Hehe. Since we were rushing yesterday, I did not get the chance to really browse through the shop, but well there's always next time. Til then!

Lazy Saturday

Sama gaya. Lain saiz.

I'm trying to make up for the lost time that I spent away from blogging and here I am on Saturday! Today me, husband and Husayn went to Endah parade for bowling! Well, my company have this bowling competition and I sort of accidentally got into it. It was fun but well I spent most of the time avoiding the longkang. Haha. Husayn was behaving really well that I think maybe next time I can bring him to bowling again. We got home by noon and then we proceed to sleep all day. Heaven!

The first post (after one month)

It's been a month since my last entry!

Life has been so hectic lately, and alhamdulillah I have completed my Induction Course and BTN - yes, saya yang (tak berapa nak) menurut perintah<-- keje gomen la ni maknanya. Husayn was so good during my BTN course, mind you I did my BTN at Kulai, Johor and it was really exhausting 5 days and 4 nights. You would not believe how much they keep brainwashing us from all the lectures and group activities even to kuliah subuh! No wonder as soon as I reached home from BTN I was down with fever and worse even Husayn was affected too. But all is well now, thanks goodness! Anyway Husayn has caused me this 2 weeks ago:
Ha, now that is a perfectly nice round marks. And the bruises still have no come off either (ignore all the bulu please..hehe). Actually I tried to run after him because he was running to the kitchen to play with the pinggan mangkuk and dustbin but I have totally forgotten that before that he took his milk bottle upside down and goncang2 the bottle ala-kicap and some of the milks spilled all over the floor. It was really an excruciating pain and at first I could not get up. Eh, I was even crying! And then my husband came over and helped me to get up and Husayn was puzzled why mummy is crying, and then he hugged me and kiss my tears away. Pandai pulak nak ambik hati mummy.

And now 2 weeks later the marks and bruises are still there, but it's ok I'll live. Biarlah mummy yang jatuh pun takpe, kalau anak jatuh lagi sedih. Betul tak kaum ibu sekalian?