Bye Bye Enfagrow, I am going Dutch Lady!

Husayn loveeeee the Honey flavour!

I am officially changing Husayn's milk from Enfagrow A+ to Dutch Lady 123. The price for Enfagrow A+ is really absurd! I mean RM33 or sometimes RM34 of 650gm of milk! Sometimes I wonder, am I buying the milk or the brand of the milk? Does drinking cheaper milk make my son less smarter? To me it does not matter which milk you choose to feed your kid, most important is how you raise your kids. Dutch Lady 123 for 1.1 kg is only RM20++ (sometimes even RM19++!) people!

Anyway I've done a test run on Husayn last weekend and he seemed perfectly at ease with Dutch Lady 123. His stools are fine and he does not seemed to complain anything. So I guess this is a good sign for me to change milk. Anyway I don't even know why I gave Husayn Enfagrow at first place. When Husayn was born, besides breastfeeding, the nurse at the hospital fed him Enfalac. So I thought it would be natural to use Enfagrow since Enfagrow is an expansion of Enfalac or something like that. If you cringe why I did not breastfeed my child, I actually exclusively breastfeed him for the first 10 months. And as he grew up, and as I change my job, the job scope got me in this crazy schedule of meetings that I cannot get out of, which means I have to forgo my pumping routine in the office.

I still breastfeed him now when I am at home and during the nights. He will sondol2 his head to my breasts and shouts "mama! nenen!" over and over again. Anyway when actually are we suppose to stop breastfeeding according to Islam? Is it 2 years or 3 years? I read somewhere it is suppose until 2 years but someone tell me it's 3 years. If anybody know about this do let me know and share. Thanks!

Special effects to spice up your photo

I found a few websites related to special effect for images tools on the web. I daresay I am really impressed! I used to be a graphic designer, so I know how tedious it is to create all this image. And now with the click of a button you only need to choose your desired picture and just submit and they will do everything for you!

You just have to love the guys from bighugelabs.com! Here are some of the pictures that I've done using their toys! It's so cool you just have to check them out!

1. I created this using one of the toys called Hockneyizer. You just have to submit your photo and they will create collage using a single photograph. You can choose how many collages that you wish to create and you can reshuffle the collage to create different outlook.


2. This one is created using the Calendar toys. I really love this because now I can put the calendar as my desktop background and I can incorporate it with any photo that I like! It is really easy to create this calendar. You just have to choose your preferred size, preferred month and year, and submit your photo. And voila! You are now a proud owner of your own customised calendar! By the way the above photo is for month of September! Yay!

3. Interested to create a picture cube of yourself or your family and kid like the above? Then go here! You just choose photos that you want to put on the photo cube and you will get outcome like this:
After that just print the cube on a piece of paper (preferably 100gm or more) and then you follow the instructions and fold it accordingly. You will have a nice photo cube that you can put on your work desk!


4. You can also add caption to your photo! Just like previous toys just submit the picture and some captions and choose your preferences, caption is added!

These are only some of the cool findings at bighugelabs.com.
There are a few others worth trying like framer where you can create frames for your photos, jigsaw to create customised jigsaw puzzle for your photo, movie poster or even wallpaper! Happy experimenting!

Of Eiffel Tower and the Olympics

The eiffel tower climbing boy and his father

Did you read about the 4-year old who is to scale Eiffel Tower? I was amazed but at the same time I kept wondering why Malaysians love enter the record books in the most ironic of feats. Well, there's the biggest, the strongest, the longest, the youngest you name it. Instead of all this, why don't we actually train great athletes? I mean after all this feat, we would expect Malaysians to actually have a great athlete, at least. Ok, maybe you will say this post is actually inspired by Malaysia's only winning the silver medal in the Olympics. Well,maybe part of it is true, but I am certainly not quite satisfied with Malaysia not having any athlete that worth mentioning, okay so maybe except Nicol David, but mind you squash is not even listed as one of the games in the Olympics!

The day they announced that they are giving one million ringgit to Malaysian Olympic gold winner I was aghast. I mean why would you waste taxpayers money on the athlete when there are so many unfortunate people around the country? But a few days after that it hit me. They are giving the million ringgit because nobody will actually get that million ringgit. And how right I was!

I mean how could Jamaica with a population of only nearly 3 million people won 6 gold medals in the Beijing Olympics as opposed to Malaysia with nearly 25 million population only won one silver medal. How ironic is that? Something is wrong there and I hope at least a Malaysian will break that barrier and win a gold medal, well at least in my lifetime.

As for the Eiffel Tower climbing boy, this mummy here pray for your success and hope one day you will be a great athlete and maybe win a gold medal for Malaysia in the Olympics!

Baby First Teeth

Husayn's teeth does not come out until he nearly turns one year old. I was really worried, thinking that did I not provide him with enough calcium or did I not provide him with enough milk. But once the teeth comes out, it comes out in twins! And even when his teeth did not come out yet, Husayn really bites! I mean once the teeth is there, the bites are really painful too bear, yes eventhough he is only one!

Worse thing is, he not only bite me, but everything, or anyone he can chew on he will simply bite. And this bite case was at its peak when he bites other kids at the babysitter! He actually 'attacked' this lurus-looking 2 year old kid (bear in mind he has not yet turn one at the time) and bite the kid's cheek. I came to the babysitter on that day looking aghast at my own child because the aftermath of the bite is really for all to see! It is dark in colour and round, sort of like wearing a blusher only it is dark and on a 2 year old boy. I mean how do you tell a one year old not to bite a 2 year old? Haha. Thanks goodness Husayn is sort of out of that phase right now. If not, can you believe how awkward it is we as parents have to explain to that parents that your own child just attacked their child and how sorry we are? Anyway luckily the mother of the kid that Husayn attacked was understandable. Oh well, I do understand if he feel like pinching Husayn though. Haha.

Anyway during the Parenthood Expo I came across this booth selling toothpaste for babies and toddlers. They have this really cute looking brush that you can insert into your finger to brush your child teeth. I did not buy it though, as it cost around 30++. Currently I just clean Husayn's teeth using clean cloth. Heheh.

The toothpaste. The pink thingy is the toothbrush that I mentioned

The day Husayn start using stroller again!

The crowd at the Parenthood Expo

So did you manage to catch the Parenthood Expo at Midvalley? I went to the expo around 4pm yesterday so I think I missed most of the events that they had. We first went to the Immunoland, but nothing really interest me. There was this long queue to enter the Immunoland sort of like tent or something, so that kill off my intention to go in there with Husayn. Kids who enter the tent can wear this space-looking Immunoland vest or something. There are lots and lots of parents with strollers that I think I've never seen strollers that many in my whole life! Haha.

Husayn on his stroller at the expo where he kept trying to reach for people's bums..haha

It also was Husayn's first time in a stroller, well sort of. The last time we used the stroller was when he was around 3 months++! Husayn is 16 months now, can you believe how long have we been peram-ing the stroller in the store? Haha. I blame it on Husband. He said the stroller is too big and too leceh to carry around, so for all this while we only used the baby carrier to carry Husayn around. I love the baby carrier since it was usually Husband who carry Husayn (which means I can shop peacefully,yay!) and we will not ended up banging people with the baby carrier (which I never did with Husayn's stroller but somehow other people's stroller always find its way banging me from behind). Anyway the decision to use this stroller again is because Husayn is getting bigger and heavier to carry around, furthermore he can sleep peacefully inside the stroller if he feels like it!

Ok back to the Parenthood Expo, it was so-so to me. There are a lot of booth alright, but I wish they have booth for more well known brands like the one from Mead Johnson, and more diapers brands, but it is enlightening to see a few online baby shops such as LilCaliph and The Babyloft. But I guess the best part of organising the expo at Midvalley means I get to go shopping afterwards! I managed to shop a few t-shirts for Husayn which is suppose to be his Hari Raya t-shirt. Anyway, I am also searching for his Hari Raya baju melayu, preferably the Teluk Belanga type. Anybody knows any good shops selling Baju Melayu Teluk Belanga for 1 year old size? The other day I meant to buy the baju Melayu from LilCaliph but it seemed that I was too late and my favourite colour is already sold out!

Listing on Supermummy Fab Shopping Sites

Don't you love online shopping? There are so many online shops these days that you don't know which is your favourite! Sometimes you even got lost in that maze of online shopping (yes it is that many!). In view of this confusion that I always experienced, I would like to invite all Malaysian online shop owners (especially selling kids and mummy related stuff!) to register in this new listing for that has been created. It will make it easier for all of us to browse all of our favourite shopping sites and best of all the listing is for free!
It does not matter what are you selling, or where do you hosted your websites, you are so very welcome to register!

Once you have register and submit your site do remember this 2 important things:
1) Please activate your account by checking your email. If you does not activate, you are still considered not registered.

2. Then, please link back to us by inserting the voting code at your website. Any sites that do not link back to us will get a reminder from moi, and if it is ignored will be taken out from the list.

It is really simple , so what are you waiting for? Just log on here and voila, you are listed!

A balance of money and happiness

I was browsing through Malaysia Homeschool Unite's forum today when I came across this thread about favourite quote. I thought it's a good one and guess what is my favourite quote? Here it is originally by Bo Derek:

"Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping."

Does that make me look really materialistic? Haha. Anyway did you remember when we were in school which was like aeons ago, we used to be given this particular essay topic related to money or happiness, which one would you choose. Anyway if me I would love a balance of both. What is happiness when you don't have any money anyway? At least not in this trying times of rising costs in almost everything. And money without happiness sounds really distressing. I mean if you have all the money in the world but you feel so dead and empty, then what would that make you?

Pardon me for all this thoughts, must be that I cannot wait to get my gaji or paycheck this month!

If money can buy happiness it would be one Toyota Harrier and a Changkat View Condominium in Jalan Duta (which by the way is really near to my office)for me!

Anyway to all parents out there, I found this Parenthood Expo event that is going to be held from today until Sunday. It's admission-free and best of all it's at Midvalley, which means you can go shopping or movie watching afterwards! I really would love to go to this expo and hopefully Husband will agree to it. Hehe. Happy Weekend everyone!

I feel fat, maybe I am really fat!

Have you ever had those "I feel fat" days? Well I did this morning. It's not actually I feel fat day, more to like I feel fat moment-when I saw my reflection in the mirror. I admit I have been eating so unhealthily this last few months. I never gave a thought about what I eat, which actually reads I eat everything that is being offered to me.

And I guiltily admit, I eat CHOCOLATES everyday people! If I cannot get my hands on chocolates I will settle for the Tiger Biscuit - The one with Peanut & Chocolate Flavour, I so love that!I can finish the whole thing by myself! And the other day at my office's co-op I found another Tiger Biscuit must-have - The Strawberry Yogurt Cream Flavour! I feel really guilty everytime I finish the whole bunch of biscuits, but it did not stop me from eating it less. In fact I am eating it right now. Haha.

The TIGER and the ROCKY is a must!

I must be a real glutton to swallow all this. I checked the scale the other day and my weight is intact at 56kg, that is my original weight before my pregnancy! My weight before I gave birth is at 72kg and that 16kg that I piled up during my pregnancy! Sweet isn't it? But you cannot help but realise even though the weight is still the same, the thigh is getting as big as tree trunk and there's the tummy which bounce slightly when I walk. Haha, yes it is that bad. And worse, I am not doing anything about it but eating more chocolates and sweet things! I need to do something about this, and I hope from today I can eat chocolates once in a a week only. At least there's a start right. And I really need to do exercises at least once a week. Begone tummy, begone!

I've tried this Nona Roguy thing before, the Phytonatal pills during my confinement. It is really help in shedding those lemak away and returning me to my 56kg weight. I wonder if it will work if I use it now in helping me to shed those lemak. Anybody have any experience with that? Any success stories using any methods or products are also welcome. Haha..I do sound really desperate here! Haha.

Diaper Cakes Tutorial

I got lots of questions regarding my previous diaper cakes post. Anyway here is a tutorial I found on YouTube for Diaper Cakes tutorials. It is really easy to follow and will help you in kick starting your first diaper cakes. By the way, I made my first diaper cakes based on this tutorial. Maybe next time I can create my own diaper cakes tutorials. Have fun!

Tutorial by Megan E Mills

You've come a long long way, baby!

Husayn at 2 days - already have sideburn!

Husayn at 4 months

Husayn at 16 months!

When you were pregnant, have you ever had this sordid thoughts about what your child is going to be? Pardon me, but I always think for the worst and I will be drowned in my own thoughts eventually. When Husayn was born, I thought of teaching him what my mother has never taught me before and letting him exploring his newfound world. It was the best of feeling watching him grow and sometimes I regret missing even a few minutes of it. I guess the best moment was when he recognize me as his mother and that special feeling when he clung to me when somebody tries to take him away. But of course there are times when you feel like pinching your own son when he does something wrong, or screamed at the supermarket and throwing tantrums in the public. And since he just turned 16 months on the 11th, here are his development milestones:


Turns the pages of a book
He not only turns the pages of the book, he can tear the whole book into pieces too! He will also take one of those doa books and pretend that he is 'mengaji' everytime he saw those arabic characters.

Discovers joy of climbing
He is climbing everywhere! You name it, the stairs, table, chairs and everything that is climb-able that he can get his hands on to.

Has temper tantrums when frustrated
He is so getting good at this temper tantrums thing that I always felt like pinching him! At home, at public places, at other people's houses, you name it. If he feel like he has to have that thing , he just had to have it. And besides screaming his heart out whenever he don't get his way, he will bites, and I really mean bites with a capital B, or even you are luckier, he will actually slap you in the face. My son sounds really scary, eh?

Gets fussy about food
Food is a problem here. He won't have his breakfast if it is consist of that baby cereal, he will only eat what the adults eat like bread or rice. If he don't want a certain food he will shout "dah! dah!" or he will stuck out his tongue and the whole food will come out of his mouth.

Becomes attached to a soft toy or other object
I don't think Husayn is becoming attached to a soft toy or object. Yes he love his cars, but there are a few of them and he still can play with no problems even without those cars.

Learns the correct way to use common objects (e.g. the telephone)
Ah, he loves the telephone! First he will take Husband or my handphone and put it to his ear and say "hello?", and then he will smile at people around him and show them that he actually know how to use the phone, and next thing I knew, he will throw that phone away! Throw it to the floor, under the bed, inside the cupboard or anywhere he feel like to!

Switches from two daytime sleeps to one
Husayn can sleep peacefully whenever my mother babysit him. I wonder why but I think because he is afraid of my mother. But comes weekend or if I am around, he will have the least sleep as possible so he can play.

Plays with ball
He will shout "ball!" and throw the ball away. For some reason he refuse to kick the ball (a sign of kaki bangku kot? Haha) and prefer throwing the ball away.

"Helps" around the house
Heling around the house is a favourite of his. He loves going to the kitchen and take all those senduk and bang the wall away. Some of the senduk are already broken because he just bang too hard. And for some reason, he also love to take a bowl and one senduk and pretend that he is cooking. And then he will look at me and said "sak!" which actually means masak. Hehe

Adopts "no" as his favourite word
"No" is so orang putih, Husayn instead will keep saying "ha..ha..tak tau" while moving his finger. When people around him start laughing everytime he repeats that, he will keep saying the tak tau thing.

Vocabulary increases up to five words
I don't know about this. Five words? Let me count..he can say tak tau, solat, bas, bike, bird, gunung (thanks to Gunung Kinabalu!), makan, masak, nenen (does this count? haha), tok, mama, abah, all of my sisters name and my brother's name, dah, ok so that is more than 5. The funny thing about Husayn is he will call anybody that look old as Tok. The other day he saw Nik Aziz (yes Nik Aziz of PAS!) in the newspaper and he keep pointing his finger at him and shout "Tok!Tok". When we went out and saw men who are around my father's age or older he will also call Tok.

Responds to directions (e.g. "Sit down")
He will sit if I say sit, but only for a few minutes. Yes, he is that restless!

Dances to music
He loves dancing to music! In fact everytime he watch Bob the Builder or Thomas and Friends at Playhouse Disney, he only layan the opening song of the cartoons. Once the cartoon starts his attention are just not really there anymore.

Tips and petua to help you get by

If you have kids, you know how difficult and challenging life could be, with all those fever, poo poo problems and various other health related matters that you can think of. Here are some tips that I have been using and it actually works!

Fever / Demam
1. Aloe Vera
Aloe Vera is what I call the multi purpose plant. It should be mandatory for all houses in Malaysia to plant have aloe vera plant in their house, yes it is that useful! The aloe vera plant has been known to contain anti fungal, anti bacterial and anti viral properties. And for this reason, when Husayn was down with fever recently, and I still failed to insert that ubat punggung (what's wrong with me and this ubat punggung anyway), Husband suggest the aloe vera. So what we did was peel the skin of the aloe vera and take out the gel inside. We mashed the gel to be more even and smoothed the gel on Husayn's head. Yes, it will look messy and sometimes the gel will be all over the bed, but it works miracolously in keeping his head cool.

2. Tamarind or Asam Jawa
I'm sure most of our house have this, especially for Malays. The tamarind or asam jawa not only work wonders in our cooking, but it can also be use as natural healing for fever. Just mix the asam jawa paste with water. Once ready, sponge the mix all over your child. From head to toe, sponge it all over the body and it really help in lessening the fever temperature! This surely beat any ubat punggung! And best of all, it is easy to do and natural!

Besides that, I suggest drinking lots and lots of water, and give him some barley ( to prevent panas dalam), and also regular intake of madu (especially for child above 1 year old) will help to make sure your child is in good health.

Constipation or Sembelit

Have you ever had problems where your child is suffering from constipation? During my recent trip to Sabah, Husayn has not been poo pooing for 4 days and I was really worried. So what I did was take a little bit of Sunquick (the size of 5 cent would be enough), and give it to him. 30 minutes later, voila! All problems solve. Haha. Anyway my babysitter provided me with this tips and it's really really useful. Wonder whether it works on adults like me.

Well those are a few tips that I have been practising all this while. If you have any other tips that you want to share related to your child, please do share!

Poco Poco Sunday!

My first poco-poco was during my Induction Courses and my moves were all horribly wrong! The moves were actually quite simple to follow, but being a beginner, I had a problem in following the steps at first, but once you get the hang of it, it is really really fun! For all those of you who have just heard of poco-poco, it is actually a type of line dance originated from Minahasa People in Sulawesi. The background song is actually a really catchy one from Yopie Latul. Well currently there are a few versions of that song, we even have one here by Inul Dartista

The poco poco wave has caught on Malaysians and currently you can see it is being integrated in aerobic and dance classes, and also performed in events or even at schools. And government offices really love doing this poco poco thing, well at least in my office. If you are like me who are just too lazy to follow that rigourous aerobic moves, then poco poco is the perfect exercise for you. Oh, and even all the Mak datins love this poco poco thing!

Here's a video of poco poco that i got from you tube


And I love love this version of Yopie Latul of poco poco! You can download Poco Poco MP3 of my favourite version here and start to poco poco away! Here's the lyrics:

Yopie Latul - Poco Poco

Balenggang pata-pata
Ngana pe goyang pica-pica
Ngana pe bodi poco-poco

Cuma ngana yang kita cinta
Cuma ngana yang kita sayang
Cuma ngana suka biking pusing

Ngana bilang
Kita na sayang
Rasa hati ini malayang
Jau… uh… ci ya … ci ya

Biar kita ngana pe bayang
Biar na biking layang-layang
Cuma ngana yang kita sayang

Best Romantic Film Ever

Alhamdulillah, Husayn's fever has subsided and he is rapidly going back to his old self as usual, but the fever has been replaced by flu and cough though. I guess his fever always came with a package after all. Anyway I'm in a lovey-dovey mood, maybe because I've been watching too much Grey's Anatomy. I've never really watched the series on tv but my sister bought this Grey's Anatomy Season 3 DVD and now I am really hooked! I've been watching 2 or 3 episodes per nights this week! Enough about Grey's Anatomy, what I really want to write about is my most favourite romantic film. I could never choose one, in fact asides from what is listed here I might have other favourites that I have totally forgotten. So here is my list of favourite romantic
film(s) in no particular order:

1. The Notebook
This movie is based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks, a love story between Noah (Ryan Gosling) and Allie (Rachel McAdams), two people from different background, the girl is a rich debutante, while the boy is a mill worker. It was really a beautiful story of love found, love lost and then found again and on the verge of losing it again. Yes, it's a cliche' romantic movie but it is so beautiful that everytime I see this movie I will have tear in my eyes. Go see it today if you haven't and you will understand why.

2. Pretty Woman
The film that introduce Julia Roberts to the whole world. I'm sure most of you have watched this one. A modern sort of fairytale between a rich man and a prostitute. I guess the combination of a handsome rich guy, pretty girl and endless money make this movie a real hit not to mention the superb chemistry between Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. This is really the movie that make you feel like marrying the rich, handsome sensitive guy. Haha, don't we all?

3.Gone With The Wind

This is the classic that you should not missed! Yes it is quite long but this is an epic film, people! Scarlett O' Hara is lovely to watch as a spoiled and hard headed Southern girl who fell in love with the roguish Rhett Butler. This movie is certainly timeless and go to your nearby DVD shop to get the DVD if you still haven't watch it!


4. While You Were Sleeping

I love love this one because it slightly resembled my own love life! Haha. This movie starred Sandra Bullock as a ticket collector who was so in love with a man who is one of the commuter who passed by her everyday and of course he did not know that, but she ended up falling for the man's brother! Ok so how it relates to me? You see when I met Husband, I was really falling hard for this other person, without him knowing that, but I ended up with Husband! Back to the movie, it is a really super sweet movie with the ever klutzy Sandra Bullock as the lead and this is my favourite Sandra Bullock's movie besides from Speed. Snuggle yourself with your loved ones and watch this movie. You'll certainly fall in love with the movie yourself!

This unbearable heat is killing me

Blood shot eyes with koolfever - pic taken during his feverish bouts last year

Husayn is still having this on off fever and I've been having sleepless nights for a few days now that I felt like zombie everytime I punched in to work. I felt even more zombie like because my babysitter is also on medical leave which has been for more than a week now and Husayn has to be taken care of by my parents. Oh how I felt like crying!

Well, it's not because I don't like my parents to babysit Husayn, it's just usually when Husayn was down with fever my babysitter is the one who always knew what to do. I'm fine if my parents are babysitting Husayn when Husayn himself is in good health. I mean it's not like I have never left him at home with my parents before while I went for days of courses.

I guess I have to admit now that I am too dependent on my babysitter. I mean I can't even insert the ubat punggung on my son because he kept crying, while my babysitter can do it with so much ease. Let me tell you about my babysitter. She is 40++, she also babysits a few other kids besides mine and best of all she's my own auntie! I mean since she's my auntie, I know that Husayn will always be well taken care of. Husayn usually will be down with fever every month or every once in two months and he is so very very cranky and cerewet whenever he became feverish.

Anyway last night, me and my mother went for the traditional way. Mother mix the air asam jawa with daun limau and then we lumur the whole thing on Husayn so the fever will cool down. To tone down the heat even more, we took the aloe vera and cover his head with it. Alhamdulillah he slept without no problem at all last night. But this morning when I went to work I felt his body starting to heat up again.

And I really felt so futile!

Anybody care to share the right technique to insert the ubat punggung? Maybe it would really really help. After all, I am a clueless first time mother, so please bear with me.

Puff puff your life away

The man and his smoke

I have a husband who smokes. Do you?

Well, actually I have been surrounded by friends who smoke since my uni days but to have a husband who smokes, well that's another thing for sure. So ok, I admit that to stop completely from smoking is quite impossible since he has been smoking since he was 17, but at least it would be nice if he do it bit by bit and smoke less. Ironically during fasting month, he can go without smokes during the day and he will not be complaining one bit, but come during the night he will puff like there is no tomorrow.

The thing is we have Husayn now, and I don't like the smell of his smokes around Husayn, or even around me! The good thing though is he only smoke outside the house. But still it would be nice to have a husband who does not smell of niccotine all the time. By the way I did ask him once, what if Husayn too will start smoking when he turns 17. His answer was he will not allow it. There ladies and gentleman, the weird and sometimes ironic life of a smoker. I mean for me it was ironic to not allow your child to smoke when the father is a smoker.

He used to smoke Marlboro but he smoke Sampoerna now because he's banning US products (bole ke alasan camni..haha)

Even our paed once lectured Husband on his smoking habit. And the paed even guess the right brand of cigarettes that Husband was smoking that make me instantly amazed at him. And Husband has the guts to answer that he is not that heavy smoker. Haha. Funny that. I guess you could really understand what I meant if you has a smoker as your husband. Won't blame my husband though, because my late grandfather used to secretly smoked in the bathroom to avoid nagging by my grandmother and he was 70++ when he did that.

So, if you has managed to successfully convince your husband to stop smoking do share with me. I desperately need it, really!

An off day should do me good

It's Monday and I'm on emergency leave! Well actually emergency leave because my parents went back to kampung and my babysitter is in the hospital, so there is nobody to look after Husayn and I had to take a day off. It was quite a week with Husayn down with fever and diahorrea with a little blood in the diahorrea that got me scared, he also refused milk, either mine or the formula milk, my babysitter has been in the hospital for a week for dengue, works have been hectic and marriage sometimes do takes it toll on me..haha.

Anyway yesterday me, Husband and Husayn went to Giant Kelana Jaya to buy something for Husayn. We were toying of buying him a bicycle or a tolo car, and at last we opt for the latter.
Here are pics of him with the tolo car. He can actually ride the tolo car backward but not forward. And he calls the tolo car Bob maybe because he thought the tolo car resembled one of the characters in Bob the Builder. But don't you hate the name tolo? I mean we can always include L in the end and that it will become something else..hehe.

Riding Bob while munching on amplang

The story of Carrie and co.

I've finally watched the movie that most womenfolk in this planet got excited about - SEX AND THE CITY! I've never really watched SATC the series even when it was showing on HBO. I don't know, maybe because I thought those women lives are too good to be true. I know they are supposed to have careers or something but all they did was shopping for more shoes and bags and look at those fabulous clothes! Or maybe looking at their designer labels wardrobes make me want to switch channels because it reminded me of my limited amount of dosh to spend. Haha.

As one Australian review put it, "Sex and the City is an unashamed celebration of materialist values, an orgy of labels, brands and product placements as sinful, by implication, as the behaviour of the characters". I thought that was totally true! But on the other hand, I did enjoy the women's close friendship among each other in the movie. It just make you want to rush to your best friends' house and hug them!

One thing that caught me during the movie was one quote:

"She was a smart girl until she fell in love"

That was straight to the point but oh so true! I mean I've seen that happen in some people that I know. I know a girl who is so smart that her parents are really proud of her and she has this really stable and steady job with good income but the moment she fell in love everything started to go rapidly downhill. She did marry her man, and really really tried to hold on to her marriage but at last the marriage was dissolved. The good thing that came out of the marriage was her son which thankfully resembled the mother!

All in all, go watch Sex and the City with your girl friends, I mean they will really appreciate this movie much more than your man at least. As for me I watched the movie, thanks to this pirated DVD that husband bought for me, in the quiet of my own room while breastfeeding Husayn. And no, Husband was not with me when I was watching the movie. Hehe.

Lastly take a look at this wonderful room for Lily, Charlotte's adopted child, taken from lilsugar.com.
It is simply divine and absolutely delicious!

Stellar Sabah Part 4: Back to the real world

Oh I dread to think that today was suppose to be our last day in Sabah! We had such a wonderful time in here but I guess everything nice has to come to an end so quickly. Our flight was scheduled at 4.25pm, so we bid Keningau goodbye around 10 something in the morning. But before that, Husayn still had time to play with all the Vespas at my aunt's house. You see my uncle is an avid Vespa fan that he actually owned 4 types of Vespa at his house in Keningau. And Husayn, kept pestering people to place him on the Vespa. And these are some of the pics:

After kemas2, we headed back to Kota Kinabalu. The road from Keningau to Kota Kinabalu is more or less like this:

We arrived at Kota Kinabalu Airport around 3pm. We checked in and guest what, our bags totaled up to more than 40kg of weight! And we are charged RM150 for that. Adoi, bencinya! I kept thinking how many pearls or brooches I can borong with that RM150 and now we have to pay for the exceeding weight. Ish. But then, nak buat macam mana. We came here with 2 bags, but we came back with 4 bags. Who else to blame but ourselves. Haha.

Alhamdulillah Husayn was okay during the flight back to KL but look at what he was doing in the flight:




But then all that matter was he did not cry or scream like he did during our flight to KK. All in all, it was a greaaaat holiday, but it's back to work!

Stellar Sabah Part 3: Pasar Tamu & Picnic

Today was more relax compared to yesterday. At 11 in the morning we went to Pasar Tamu Keningau which is located not far from my aunt's house. It was so hot and the Pasar Tamu is closing anyway. But I still managed to continue shopping for brooches while Husayn was asleep in Husband's arms.

Sleepy Husayn wondering what is his mummy doing shopping so long

I even found out that they sold avocado fruits at the market!

Tok looking at the avocado fruits

Sabah is not for durian lover though. After the Tamu, we went to a local supermarket and they sold 1 durian for a whopping RM13! I wonder why. After that we went home and prepared to marinate some chickens for BBQ that was supposed to be this afternoon! We will be having a picnic at a nearby sungai and I am really excited!

Two tents for us!

We set up two tents by the riverside and prepared for the BBQ.
Some of us was in charge of the BBq while some already went for swimming. The weather was clear but the water was really really cold! As for Husayn, he was terrified everytime Husband and I rendam him in the river!

Let's get out of here mummy!

The only time Husayn was laughing in the water was when he threw some pebbles into the river.

Jom baling batu!

My cousins

After having a swim it's makan time!

While Husayn was in the tent doing this!

Dog!

The most tiring during this picnic was chasing Husayn around the river side because he kept chasing a few stray dogs in the area. I did not even get the chance to really mandi in the river! But all in all, it was a really enjoyable day and we went home that evening feeling tired and we even finished the whole 3kg of chicken! Sweet! Hehe.

Stellar Sabah Part 2: Really eventful day

Today is my birthday! So after Subuh me and Husband enjoyed the scenery from the porch while Husayn was still sleeping. I saw a Chinese woman next door deep in meditation and then she started doing all this qi gong moves that I found fascinating. We watched the sun rise and we were really grateful that Gunung Kinabalu were still visible and clear. My aunt told us that the first time she came here the Gunung Kinabalu was hidden by the clouds.

View from the porch during sunrise

Husayn woke up and after having our breakfast we went to Rabbit House behind our rented unit.

Husayn feeding the rabbits his breakfast leftover

And then mummy and Husayn went to take photo with Gunung Kinabalu as the background. We also went for a walk to the playground and fish pond.

Muka bangun tidur mummy and son

After check out, we went around Kundasang area and see for ourselves those amazing vegetables farm. One thing at Kundasang is, the vegetables were quite cheap while fruits can be a tad expensive. We bought a kilo of mata kucing for a whopping RM10! We stopped near Kinabalu Park but we did not exactly go into the park since Cik Shahrul was afraid that the Vanette will not be able to climb on the steep road inside the park. Since it was really at kaki gunung, the weather was so cold eventhough it looked sunny.

With Husayn's little uncle near Kinabalu Park

After finish taking pictures, we suddenly found out that the Vanette petrol was leaking. Can you imagine being stuck there with no petrol? Haha. Luckily my uncle just sumbat it with something and we were moving fine and dandy again! As we bid goodbye to Gunung Kinabalu, we made our way to Keningau, to my aunt's house. The journey would approximately took 4 or 5 hours! We passed by Tamparuli and we found the famous Jambatan Tamparuli! The bridge was actually jambatan gantung, and all this while I thought the jambatan can be passed through by car! It was a really gayat experience!

scared of height but still managed to take some pic

After having lunch at Tamparuli, we continued our journey to Keningau. As we passed by Tuaran, my uncle decided that we were going to the Crocodile Farm at Tuaran! The Crocodile farm was quite big with a few other animals besides crocodiles such as ostrich, deer, fish, and some other animals.

Husayn playing with the kerbau

Husayn was really excited that he kept running here and there. It was really tiring trying to keep up with him.

At the bamboo house

At the shop outside the farm, they have this bags shop made from crocodile skin. The bags were quite nice but take a look at the price tag:

This one is priced at RM30k ++!

The Green Bag is "cheaper" than the first one..RM4k++ only..still not that cheap! hehe..

From Tuaran we passed by Kota Kinabalu, and then to Papar where we stopped for our maghrib prayer at a nearby Petronas station. Ironically the surau is a unisex surau so we have to wait for quite a while until the surau was cleared. We continued our journey to Keningau which was around 2 hours++ from Papar. But beware, you have to go through this Banjaran Crocker to get through Keningau.

And it was at this Banjaran Crocker when the van suddenly stopped in the middle of our journey through a steep bukit because of the van's heavyload. And can you imagine walking in the middle of banjaran, with a steep gaung at your side at 9pm? That's what we did exactly, well except me and Husayn actually. Since Husayn is still considered a baby, we got to stay in the car while the others have to climb the steep bukit. It was really cold since it was at the peak of the banjaran but alhamdulillah we all made it ! We arrived safely at Keningau around 10 pm, all tired and sleepy but thanks goodness we made it through that Banjaran Crocker!

It was a really adventurous and eventful day, but all that matters was we really enjoyed it!

Stellar Sabah Part I: Sabah stole my heart away

Note: This is the first part of a 4 part series of my trip to Sabah. Any geographical mistakes, mispronounciation, misspelling are purely unintentional.

Our flight landed at Terminal 2, KK around 12.30 midnight. I have never felt so relieved in my life because the longer the flight took, the longer Husayn will cry. Haha. Did I mention about my worries about him crying during the flight? Well I was right to be worried! He actually cried non stop in the middle of the flight because he was so restless that I felt like crying myself!

Husayn at LCCT's McDonalds : before boarding the flight

My aunt, Cik Ameng and her husband, Cik Shahrul picked us up and we went straight to Marina Court Condo at KK where they (Cik Ameng, Cik Shahrul and their 5 kids and her husband's mother aka Tok) rented a 3 bedroom unit. It was nice and we even got our own room!

view from our unit at Marina Court

The next morning, me, Husband, Husayn and Cik Ameng's kids went for a swim at the swimming pool and I was really excited because it was Husayn's first time swimming! And he seemed to enjoy it too!

Husayn in his new swimsuit!

After checking out from Marina court we were all bundled together on in Nissan Vannette. Yes the 11 of us! It was sempit alright, but it was fun! My cousin said we all were like pendatang with all those mountains of bags visible from at the back of the van. Haha. We went to Filipino market which was not very far from Marina Court while Husband, Cik Shahrul and my cousins went for their Friday prayer at a nearby mosque. I thought the market was open air but actually it was not and it was really really extra hot inside! I managed to borong some brooches which I myself am not sure how much the price differ from Semenanjung but I bought it anyway since I've already arrived at that place. I shopped while holding Husayn who kept merengek. And as soon as we got out of Filipino market Husayn went into crying fenzy that I didn't know what got into him. And he didn't stop until 1 hour after that! I suspect maybe he was hungry, tired and sleepy all at the same time. He kept crying and refused milk or food and I was so worried because he has never cried like that before. At last we took his shirt off because the weather was so hot and Husband dodoi him to sleep and thankfully he stopped crying after that.

Husayn post crying photo

Our next destination was Kinabalu Pine Resort which was located in Kundasang, near Gunung Kinabalu. The weather was so clear that we managed to see the famous Gunung Kinabalu so clearly!

behind the semak is Gunung Kinabalu!

The weather was a little bit cold and as soon as we arrived we proceed to our lunch and it was already 5pm. The area was beautiful and hilly, the Gunung looked surreal and we really loved it!

Husayn with his uncles and aunt at Kinabalu Pine Resort

At the porch after having our dinner

Isn't it time for a big big break?

The last time we went for holiday (me, Husband and Husayn) was on April where we went to Genting Highlands to celebrate Husayn's birthday. I was skeptic at first because I was afraid Husayn will be all cranky since Genting is supposed to be cold and I was also afraid he will not be getting enough sleep. I mean we are not going to stay for overnight at Genting but instead we went in the morning and went back at 10pm.

But it turned out he really loves Genting and luckily I brought a long tupperware full of his favourite Honey Stars so I can just sumbat his mulut everytime he started to go restless. As for milk, everytime I have the chance me and Husayn will go hiding into a nearby surau so I can breastfeed him. No problem there, thanks goodness!

Playing with the dinosaur
nearly getting hit by red bus

running from the dinosaur



riding dumbo with Husband

waiting for the ulat train

All in all Genting was absooolutely fantastic and I love watching Husayn's face when he looked at all those things or games he's never seen before. Well, at least it's worth the flu that Husayn got after going back from Genting due to the weather. Haha. Kesian, tapi takpe sebab bestkan!

Anyway, me, Husband and Husayn are going away again for our vacation this time at Sabah. Yippee! This will be Husayn's first time boarding a flight and I'm really really hoping he will sit still or even better just sleep..Kehkeh..I will be back on Tuesday! Catch up with you all later!