Iftar at our house

I thought we would not be hosting any bukak puasa event this year. But it just so happened that my dad's birthday fall on this month and so I thought what best way to celebrate it than having Iftar together, isn't it?

So we planned a potluck at my house, and the big guy BOUGHT chicken briyani while the rest bring other dishes to complement it. It was fun, and the best part was it wasn't so tiring because ramai tolong basuh pinggan the food was store-bought! Hahaha!

I've been telling the little guy earlier that today is tok abah's birthday and once he arrives, you gotta sing him the birthday song. But he refused to accept the fact that it was somebody's else birthday and NOT HIS, so he had been giving me his long face until he saw the birthday card my sister got for our father. with his name in it. So he finally accepted the fact that it was his granddad's birthday, BUUUTTT his name was in the card wishing him a Happy Birthday. He was all satisfied then! Haha! Such an attention-seeker!

It was nice to gather with the family but still many of the siblings were not around. And all of the little guy's cousins weren't there so he got to be the center of attention tak lah meriah sangat kan! But we still had fun!

 See~ Very the menyibuk nak bukak hadiah tok abah dia! Jatuh henfon tu kang sapa nak ganti?!? Mak tak sangguppp!

 Then sibuk nak testing baju baru his granddad too! Tsk tsk

The next day, we had my in-laws over for bukak puasa pulak! I cooked simple-simple only lah! Tu pun penat k! I made nasi tomato and ayam masak merah plus my signature fried chicken and seriously I had no time to sit down and mingle so much as there was so much cleaning up to do afterwards. Nak ambik gambaq pun tak sempat! 

It was sure tiring hosting 2 Iftar consecutively, but I was satisfied because we get to give food for orang berpuasa. Alhamdulillah. Hope for more rezeki to host such events in the future.

What about you guys? Ada hosting any Iftar recently?

Family mak atau family bapak?

*Disclaimer : This post is not directed towards one single person or anybody in particular. It is just my thought put into writing. And it is also a reminder to myself to  do good unto others, in order to get good return.

You know, I've always had this 'argument' with the big guy about who will get the custody of a child when a couple is divorced. No, don't get me wrong! We don't plan to have one! *Mintak simpang*. But ermmmm, let's just say that I know a couple who does, and it's sad to see the mother not having the babies to herself.

So last week, I watched a programme discussing this issue. And the debate between the big guy and I is settled once and for all! FIRST, in the court of law, the most rightful person to get the custody of the children would be the mother. There's no doubt about that. SECONDLY, if for certain reason, the mother is deprived of the right due to her own doing, the mother of the mother (grandmother on the mother's side) IS THE SECOND person to be granted the right. AND the father would be the third person to be granted the custody.

I'm just wondering if this is the law according to the syariah law, or just our man-made law? Whatever it is, I'm sure us women have no complaint against that. Somehow, I'm pretty confident that if I'm not around, the grandmother would take very good care and give the kids the best kind of maternal love without fail. Not that fathers couldn't, but they have soooo many responsibilities to fulfill that they might not be able to give their undivided attention to the kids. Tu tak kira kalau depa kahwin lain lagi kan! The kids might not be taken care of with such love and care that their biological mother has given them before. We've seen a lot of cases like that around us. So...  I strongly believe that it is proper that the mother's mother gets the custody of the children after the mother.

On a different note, I also wonder on the fact why most kids are closer to their mother's side of family compared to the father's side? In some cases, the relationship is so not well-balanced that some mulut neraka people would say the husband kena queen control by the wife until he wouldn't let his kids mingle with his own family compared to the in-laws. Seriously, I'VE HEARD such accusations with my own ears before. No, no! Not directed to me. But someone I barely know. Luckily it doesn't happen within our family.  And I hope it never will.

Why does it happen anyway? Is it because mothers themselves are prone to lebihkan their family compared to the fathers' family and so the kids follow suit? Or is there any other reason for things to happen this way?

As for me, I admit that I was closer to my mother's side of family. That's because all of us grew up together in Penang, and we had a fun childhood together. While the relatives from my dad's side scattered all over Malaysia and we only managed to meet once or twice a year top, when they came back to Penang for raya. But whenever we met, it was sure fun trying to make our differences blend in! However, there are a couple of the family from my dad's side who lived near us. So I was closer to them compared to the rest of the relatives while growing up.

Whatever it is, I do believe that whatever 'vendetta' you might have against the in-laws, you still have to be fair and square to them. Because like the big guy always said "What goes around comes around". I have a son, the son that I hope will take care of his parents when they grow old. So if I don't want to get unfair treatments from my son's family later, I have to make sure not to give unfair treatments to my husbands family now.

SO. What's your take on this issue?

Main games macam-macam

We brought Irfan to watch Toy Story 3 on Saturday, as planned. Met Little Carliff with his gorgeous preggy mommy. Sronok Carliff anak dapat adik ya!

Since we arrived earlier at the cinema, we brought Irfan to play games! Since he loves playing computer games so much. Haha. I know I know! Kecik-kecik ajaq, esok besaq gila pi kedai games, mak bapak jugak yang hangin. Huhu.

Anyway. Back to the movie.

My review about the movie can be summarized in one word : AWESOME!!! The little guy watched the first 15 minutes without blinking. He even refused to talk to me while I was trying to explain the sequence to him.  However, after 15 minutes passed by, he requested for milk and terus dozed off into the lala land!. Haish! What can I say. We picked the wrong timing as it was around his nap time. However, it was still worth it, as I did enjoy the movie so very-very much! I haven't had so much fun watching cartoons in such long time, as the big guy would never agree to it if it's only the two us. Thank heaven for my little boy! Hehe. The kids around us were laughing so hard, and hearing them laughed like that, well, it managed to tickle my funny bone too! *lol*

So to all you guys out there, go watch it! Bring your kids, they would surely love it too!

Penat slaving over paperwork, but it was all worth it in the end!

Yesterday was a busy day for me. I had to provide excellent service to the little boss, as he had an important proposal to complete and submit to the big boss before night came. The proposal was going to benefit both of us, so I attended to all his need as much I could. WITHOUT any complains, ok.

See, he worked so hard sampai breakfast pun terpaksa send at his workstation. Siap request "Mamak, nak (peanut) butter and bread and cheese. And Ovaltine jugak!". Mamak pun "Ok, siap!"

But it was all worth it in the end. He submitted the proposal to the big boss, and that night itself terus big boss went to get the Toy Story 3 tickets for this Saturday!

Wowweee! After this, help your mother do a proposal to buy new high heels for raya plak ok shweetheart!

Gila meroyan : A mom's worst nightmare!

Postpartum blues. The worst nightmare for all mothers! Don't think that meroyan is only for the MALAY! It happens to all women regardless of their skin color, races and religions.

Well. Reason for this post is that WHI is discussing about MEROYAN on TV. Well. All women are prone to have the postpartum depression aka meroyan after they give birth.  That's because they are in their weakest condition after such struggle to bring another being into this world.

I have to say, the best piece of advice given by the ustazah in this session is : SUAMI JANGAN BUAT PERANGAI. Because she said, it's during this time that other people (husband and other people around her) could be most insensitive to the condition of the wife. Men should realize how the wife bertarung nyawa to give him an heir. How much blood she lost during the process. How weak her body gets. Worst is, it is during this time the devil can play a good role in messing up with the mom's head. Not only that, syaitan can come out with all sorts of  'gangguan' during this time as the wife bukan dalam keadaan suci kan.  Remember, syaitan will try it's hardest to mess up your marriage all the time, because if it succeed, SYAITAN TU DAPAT NAIK PANGKAT OKEH! Serious tak tipu!

So it is only vital that a husband should be there for the wife and not leaving her alone to tend for the baby and herself. Pamper her during this time. Be gentle and loving to her.  Take over the chores. Don't shunt her aside because she smells of herbs and looks undesirable with kain batik days and nights. TELL HER YOU LOVE  HER. Show your love to her. MAKE HER HAPPY! It's only for 2 forsaken months. She has done more for you by carrying your legacy inside her body for nine months! Do you think she is not depressed having to go through such ordeal? How would you feel the situation is reversed and you were to be in her shoes?

Oh I also heard that in some cultures, husband is forbidden to keep wife company. What an oppressive culture! Some men even refuse to touch - even salam - with the mother in confinement, which I believe just heighten the stress level of the mommies. Dah penat berhempas pulas tahan sakit segala, now she's being punished for it pulak? SADIS TAK?!? What the hell la kan! I  never heard that Islam forbid husbands to be with the wives during the confinement period, or does it?

Whatever it is, husbands should JUST UNDERSTAND YOUR WIVES. Put other things aside, as she is the most important being that you need to take care of during this time. You are the sole person who can make it all better for her. Who could help her get through the period with happiness instead of sadness and depression. SHE IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY and so is the baby.

And the advice given to all women out there :  Don't think too much of the hateful things other people do unto you during this time. Think only of your baby and the happiness that he/she brings into the world. Concentrate on the baby and how complete your life is with their presence. You're the only person who can control your own 'weather' and mood. So choose to be happy! And observe your pantang rules strictly.

As for me, I was depressed too during my confinement. Very depressed. Hanya Allah yang tahu. But alhamdulillah, I didn't get the postpartum depression. And pray that I won't get one if we are to have another baby in the near future. Ameen!

Makan sedap di DOME sambil mengurat CHLOE!

Being married to the big guy is one of the greatest blessings of my life. Though we're not rich, but I'm very contend with what he provides for me, as he always put the little guy's and my needs before his. It's always about us and seldom about him.

So the first thing that I wanted to do once I get the money is to treat him to good food! But the thing with the big guy is when it's eating out time, he really can't make up his mind. He would strike out all the places I suggest, and when I asked him to suggest a place instead, he would throw me a blank look and pass the ball back to me. So last night, the same thing happened :

TGI? : Nooo! Tak sedap!

Secret Recipe? : Noooo! Boy (a friend who used to work at SR) said depa pengotoq!

PHOP (Paddington House of Pancake)? : Asyik-asyik makan situ!

McD?!? : Gave me a look of disgust!

KFC?!? : Buat muka "cheapskatenya bini aku!"

But when the wife asked "So what do you want to eat?" he replied "I don't know, it's your call!". HAISH! Camana lah bini tak hangin!

So because we can't decide on a place, we just went to the mall and wandered around aimlessly until I finally put my finger on Secret Recipe no matter what. That's because I've been craving for Apple Crumble for so long! BUT.. Oh wait! There's the Austin Chase, we've never tried eating there before but then  again, it didn't get such good review from MamaEesya. Spaghetti masham katanya. So let's stick to something we're familiar with.

Oh lookie! There's DOME. It's been ages since we last step foot in there, so tunggu apa lagi? Jom sapedek!!

The moment we were seated, the big guy dramatically requested : "Can you please pass me the CHLOE?".  Sudah! nak ngorat pompuan mat salleh mana pulak nih? I was like "What the..???!!" and so he pointed to the row of magazines behind me. Hello pakcik! That's CLEO ok.  Like duhhhhh! Hahaha! Then as he was flipping through the magazines, he suddenly exclaimed excitedly "Haaaa!!! Look! It says here that you should wash your hair with COLD not warm water". He said this with eyes gleaming because now he found a reason to save on water heater electricity bill. Hahaha! Pi mana pun tetap lah cheapskate tau mamat nih.

                                          

Moving on to the little guy's story. The moment my yummylicious Honeycomb arrived, he was sooo excited looking at the "biscotti' that he finished them all in the blink of an eye! Nasib abah and mama sempat rasa seketoi kalau tak today we have to go eat there again! Haha! But the funny thing is, as he has been scolded countless of times  trained by his dad not to drink ice, he totally refused to drink the ice blended when I offered it to him. He was like "NOOOOOOOO!!! TAKMAU TAKMAU TAKMAU!NOOOO!!!" while trying to get away from me. If you  saw him at that time you would think I was trying to feed him his medicine. or something But the moment the big guy nodded his approval to the little guy saying "It's ok, you can drink it this time", terus dia slurp sampai licin! Hahaha!

The food was really nice. But the thing with DOME is, their portion is always a little too big for me. Even the big guy was full after a plateful of beef steak, and so we had to tapau back the fish n chips as it was barely touched by the little guy. It was a nice dinner anyway, made more interesting when the bill was presented to the big guy and he told the waiter "Oh bagi kat dia bang, hari ni dia big boss!". Hahahaha!

So lepas ni, hopefully ada rezeki untuk makan sedap lagi!

Irfan nak pi Sea!

I love spending time at the beach. I could just sit there for hours and do nothing else but sky-gazing, because I find peace and solace when I'm at it. However, my hubby feels differently. He'd prefer to lepak at mamak and chat, or simply drive around in the car with nowhere specific to go. He really couldn't sit still at one place like that for a long time, except when he's with his buddies, lepak berjam-jam at mamak and have their manly gossips! Or sleeping at home, watch TV. Orrrrr play computer games.


Langsung tak enviromentalists!

Anyway, last Sunday just before we headed back home from the in-laws, I had to put a gun to his head in order to make him stop the car by the seaside near Bayan Lepas. The son was sleeping, and refused to wake up so I had to cruelly jolt him from sleep, so that he could whine to his dad about going to the sea! Phewww! That is like A LOT of effort needed into getting our little family to go for riadah, don't you think?

Don't finish the rojak! Leave some for my momma, will ya!?

We had rojak buah by the seaside, but nothing beats the rojak buah selling at Padang Kota! The portion for this one was too little, and the gravy kurang kick tapi kami tatapppp bedal smpai licin!

The son spilled water on his shorts, and I was looking and looking around for his spare jeans in the diaper bag, but couldn't find it. He might've ended up looking like he came from the Flinstone's Age save for the cool Tee his big mommy got for him and the brand new Adidas he had on! He.He.He.

I think going to these places is a good way to teach Irfan about his surroundings, other than reading about it in his books. Here he was able to identifiy "motorboat", "sea", "water banyak", "batu" and a lot of other stuff in between.


Makanya, En. Suami, let's do outdoor activities again next week ok?

There's always a first time to everything, isn't it?

I guess most of you haven't know this, but I'm not a morning person. I enjoy sleeping in late and would only wakes up after countless of pokes in the eyes I received from the little guy. One of these days I really am gonna go blind because of him!

Anyway, after so long, I finally woke up early this morning so that we could be among the first queuing at the immigration counter tapi malangnya tataaaap lambat! Thus, as we were not as early as we hoped to be, we were there for quite a loooong time, in between lining up to get the forms at one counter, submitting them at another and getting the receipt from ANOTHER counter . And after all that, we had to wait for almost 3 hours for our 'business' to settle. Luckily there was the best-nasi-campur stall around so the big guy and I managed to grab delicious lunch in peace and later on, the little guy managed to burn the calories for us at the nearby pay-gown (playground)! Hiks.

On another note, I won't be online for a  couple of days next week. I can already predict the boredom I would have to endure without the internet! Most importantly, me, myself, and the little guy would surely miss the big guy as this is the first time for us to be apart for quite a long period since the little guy was born, so I hope little guy and I would be doing alright.

Let's make sure we would still  be able to enjoy ourselves without the big guy around, shall we, my little guy?

Birthday Pre-Celebration

Today is my hubby's, son and SIL birthday, oh yes they all share the same birth date, coincidentally. Happy Birthday to all, wishing you guys happiness for the rest of your life.

My special wish and doa for my dear Irfan :


Semoga jadi hamba yang taat pada Allah dan Rasul s.a.w, anak soleh, abang yang terbaik untuk adik-adik (insyaAllah), suami dan bapa yang penyayang dan bertanggungjawab (hehe) dan insan yang berguna. Mama doa yang terbaik untuk Irfan, and now that I'm a mother, I believe doa is the best gift a mother can give to their  kids. Ameen!

For hubby dearie,

You are one of the greatest blessings in my life. Thank you for being the greatest husband in the whole wide world. 143. ;-)

Anyway, last night we had a pre-celebration with my in-laws, to celebrate the boy's birthday. It was a close celebration with only my PIL, BILs, biras and nephew. Irfan received presents and angpow from everyone, but his mom was more interested in them compared to him. What  really got him geared up was when we sang him the birthday song and he got to blow the candle on HIS very own birthday cake, and it was a CHEESE cake some more man! He really loved the moment! He wanted to blow them over and over again, and I think we sang the birthday song at least 5 times before the celebration was over..

Birthday boy with new ugly hairdo

My MIL, suap kek to the son

Hubby said to his bro "Hang suap kek kat Irfan sudah la takyah suap aku, satgi jadi geli2 plak." Wakakaka!"

My biras with nephew

Last year, we had one celebration for all. This year since Irfan turns 2, we'll be having 2 separate celebrations with 2 cakes and 2 birthday moments for him! One was before and one will be after the birthday. As for today, 19th March 2010, we are just going to enjoy our leisure time together,  sleeping! Haha! And later tonight, hubby's colleagues planned a treat for him and me to a movie. Sorry Irfan, you're the birthday boy but MAMA gets to go to movie instead. Haha! That's one of the perks of being your father's wife. :-p

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BOYS. HOPE YOU GUYS HAVE A GOOD ONE THIS YEAR.

The Cameron Trip

How many of you have ever been to Cameron Highlands?

As for me, the last time I step foot there was during a school trip when I was in Standard 4 or 5. I couldn't remember much, all I remembered was there were lots of strawberries and roses. And not forgetting the cold weather as I remembered being bundled up in layers of clothing at night.

When we were about to get married, hubby suggested Cameron for our honeymoon getaway but I was totally against the idea as I wanted an island vacation, so after much persuasion, he gave in  to me. Oh, I'm just very very persuasive, if you haven't know by now. Haha.

Oh, ini bukan gambar di Cameron ya ini adalah gambar semasa honeymoon saja gatai nak letak hiks

And then after we tied the knot, hubby insisted that no matter what we had to go to Cameron at least once before we got a baby, but the opportunity never presented itself. We went to a few other places like Teluk Cempedak etc, but never Cameron. Thus, you can imagine how excited we were when the plan was made for a vacation in Cameron, this time with a baby in tow.

Unfortunately, just a couple of days before the trip, Irfan was down with a high fever and was still having it while we were there. Thus, both of us got pretty tired of calming down the cranky baby  and worrying about him, thus it kind of spoiled the holiday mood.

While at Cameron, we visited the common tourist attractions, namely the strawberries farms and the tea plantations. Among them all, the one I remember most is the Raju Strawberry Farm, as they served the most delicious strawberry cheesecake I've ever tasted! The waffle was pretty good too, strawberry milk shake was marvelous and the strawberry flavored teh tarik was to die for. However, the strawberry ice cream was just so and so.

I didn't take much pics because I was busy juggling between enjoying the scenery and  caring for my little boy, and hubby didn't take good pictures especially of me! I either look like humpty dumpty, a dwarf or like I've just been ran over by a truck in all the pics he took! And to think that I took all good pics of him, sheesh!

These were taken at one of the earliest tea plantation we visited, I forgot the name.

The kakak and abang were trying to cheer the cranky boy up, but to no avail.

This is the least distorted pic hubby took of me, he's hopeless, really! Haha..

At Uncle Raju's Farm!

The out-of-this-world cheesecake!

 

The teh tarik might look normal to you, but it's strawberry flavored. Very nice, I tell you.

The twins, they're like so cheeky yet so cute!

 Geram nak geget!

At MARDI

Budak sakit at MARDI's strawberry farm

If only I was still studying or working, surely I'd get all pschyed up upon seeing these books.

Before and during the trip, the ladies were all being typical mothers, fussing about what to cook and eat, while the guys were busy thinking on places to go. Hubby reminded me countless of times "Sila control nafsu membeli-belah ya" haha, but really there wasn't much to buy. The souvenirs are pretty typical, and after much thoughts, all the souvenirs we got were 'strawberry' based.

I guess if the son was in the pink of health, we would've enjoyed the trip more, but since he was down with high fever, both of us were busy trying to keep our patience in check rather than enjoying the whole thing.

So I guess, we should start planning for another family vacation soon. What say you, hubby?