Bunged Up With A Beanie In My Oven

This terribly cold weather is seriously no fun. Especially as it would seem that we're only getting the severe cold and not much snow to make up for the suffering. If we had some decent snowfall in our area then it would more than make up for the cold. And of course buckets of snow means schools tend to also remain shut. No snow means school is open as usual so the school run is simply no fun. Walking in below zero temperatures in intermittent snow showers whilst trying to avoid black ice on the pavement is horrible I tell ya! And it's the school run in the freezing cold that has brought on my cold, fever and hacking cough hence being totally bunged up and feeling bleurgh.

I've doused myself with Olbas oil for some sort of relief......sometimes it works.....sometimes it doesn't. Drank endless mugs of hot lemon and honey. Still bunged up. Oh how I wish I could take some powerful decongestant but with a beanie in my oven my options are limited. Thank god my mum is around to help with the girls. I need rest and lots of it. And I need this cold snap to snap out of it!

Here's a sneaky peak of our latest beanie.

Sophia's Birthday Cake

This year I made a conscious decision to make all my children's birthday cakes. Shop bought cakes are nice enough and professional looking but they do cost a bomb. Growing up my mum used to get her friend (an amateur baker) to make my birthday cakes and I had really cool cakes. Imagine how cool I was to have a barbie doll cake in the 70s complete with a real barbie in it? So I figured if that was possible in the 70s in Malaysia how difficult is it now when everything I need to make a great cake is available so easily. 

I made a number 3 cake for Aiesha and Sophia wanted a ladybird cake for her 2nd birthday. The actual recipe called for a pudding bowl shaped cake but with the relatives I invited to Sophia's little party (with the unpredictable October weather we had to keep her party small just in case we have to contain everyone in the house unlike Aiesha who has a summer birthday so we have always been blessed with good weather), a small pudding bowl cake definitely wouldn't be enough. I baked two cakes and attempted to shape the top as much as I could but I was too freaked out to trim it too much so the cake didn't look as rounded at the top as it should. But I think it turned out ok for a novice like me. Everything except for the candles are edible.

I don't have a happy photo of Sophia with the cake as she was bawling her eyes out when it was time to cut the cake. She later explained that she cried because her friends were trying to blow her candles and get her cake. My poor baby.

Happy 2nd Birthday Adik!

Today, my little Sophia is finally 2. She's such a joy and we can't remember a time without her in our lives. She loves to sing and knows quite a fair few nursery rhymes. For her age, she speaks very well and has an impressive vocabulary. She's still my little booboob girl and I love her to bits. Happy Birthday adik!

Hours old

A year old in KL

She asked for chocolate cupcakes with 2 candles.

First Day At School

So, I've not had any entries for awhile......too busy and not particularly inspired I suppose. Apologies to those who've been kind enough to take a peek and a belated Eid Mubarak to all.

At their Aunty Fifi's

With their cousins Aidan and Ferran

Last Friday was Aiesha's first official day at school. I think I was more stressed and nervous than she was. My tummy were in knots from the night before thinking of how she would cope.....more to the point, how I would cope. Apart from leaving her with my mum, my MIL and of course their Daddy for a few hours, I have never left either of my children in the care of strangers. They go where I go. 

My worry was totally unfounded as she was perfectly fine. Actually she was more than fine and went straight into her classroom without saying goodbye to me or her sister. I had to ask her to come back out and say goodbye to us properly. She's even made a new friend which was great. They met a week before when we had a short visit to the school. All week long she went on and on about her new friend Olivia who is also 3 years old just like her. Yup, they were both amazed that they were the same age. Bless their little cotton socks! When we arrived at school Olivia was already there and also excited to see Aiesha. They started playing together immediately and poor little Sophia seemed a bit shocked that her Kakak was playing with someone else. Sophia was again very, very miffed when not only did Kakak have a new friend, the new friend went into class with her Kakak and she wasn't allowed to stay. Poor adik bawled her eyes out all the way home.

Excited about going to school

Finally at school

Skip, skip, skip

Look mummy, I can open the gate.

I'm oh so sad I have to go home with mummy.

Styrofoam Fun

I have some styrofoam to use for my gardening which is kept in the greenhouse and away from my girls. I took a piece out to use as I needed to re-pot my herbs. Whilst I was busy tending my pots and had my eyes off my girls, this is what I found when looked up. Little girls tearing the styrofoam to pieces!

After all the fun, I gave them both a bag each and asked them to collect all the bits. Although we didn't get all the pieces, we managed to get a substantial amount into the bags. If I left them in the garden it could possibly fly into my neighbours garden and I doubt they'll appreciate it. They're tricky little things and we've still got traces of styrofoam in the garden. I wonder how long it'll will take before they're all gone. 

Booboob Oh Booboob.

So last week was World Breastfeeding week and both my girls are (and in the case of Aiesha, were) breastfed babies, we nurse on demand and direct from source. I admit schedules, pumping and the like just do not appeal to me (Read : Mummy too malas and would rather go with the flow). I pumped for a bit for Aiesha but didn't see the point of it as I am a SAHM. I pumped once for Sophia and she rejected the bottle much to my relief. We once had to attend an evening wedding reception when my mum was around. I left a bottle of  expressed milk and my mum said she totally refused. It's direct from source or nothing at all I suppose.

Aiesha was a booboob baby all throughout my pregnancy and I was quite prepared to tandem nurse as she was 6 months when I found out I was pregnant again. Obviously still very much a baby and I felt it would be too cruel to cut her off (hardly her fault mummy is up the duff again). Knowing that my supply would dip/change we got a box of formula just in case. But we never needed it at she persevered with the dips and change in taste. However, a few weeks before Sophia arrived Aiesha weaned herself. I still remember the last proper nursing session we had.  She was almost 15 months old at the time. It was an emotional time for me as I just knew that it was the last time. You see with Aiesha, I didn't know what I was doing as she was my first. We had terrible latching issues and every feed was such agony for me. Even with the guidance of a lactation consultant, it would take us close to 3 weeks before it all finally click and our booboob sessions stopped hurting mummy. I was determined to have her exclusively breastfed so the end of our nursing relationship hit me quite hard. I knew that if not for my pregnancy she would definitely nurse for longer. She would still have the occasional nibble at bedtime but never again did she have a proper feed. And kept offering as I read that once baby arrives the older child starts nursing again once the milk supply is back to normal as it were. But it wasn't meant to be and the end was permanent.

By the time Sophia arrived I was already a pro at all this breastfeeding lark and nursing her was a breeze from the first latch. We would nurse on demand....anytime, anywhere. This was almost 2 years ago. Sophia will be turning 2 this coming October and our nursing sessions are going strong if not stronger. She speaks rather well for age and will ask for booboob. Recently she has become even more articulate and would actually say 'Can I have some booboob please, mummy?' How can I say no to such a lovely request from such a lovely little girl? As she is older her nursing sessions are usually confined to the home. We rarely if ever nurse in public anymore as she's always too busy when we're out and about. So she's quite capable of not having booboob all day long if we're out all day. But when we're home she can't get enough of booboob and recently it's as if all we do at home is booboob. What's up with that? A few weeks ago booboob was mostly during nap time and bed time with the occasional quick sip. Now the moment I sit myself down, Sophia will come over and request for booboob. And my little girl can nurse and nurse and nurse. :) Hope it's just a phase as I can't be booboobing all day long now can I? Unless of course I was booboobing a newborn.....my Sophia is almost 2, can ask for it and is quite capable of helping herself.

I of course plan to booboob my next baby. Whenever that may be. I'm hoping for sooner rather than later. InsyaAllah.

Burung Kakak Tua?

One of my bedtime rituals with my girls is to have them 'Baca Bismillah'. They know when mummy says 'Baca Bismillah' means to recite surah Al-Ikhlas. Depending on how tired they are they will happily recite it without much fuss and of course lots of praise from mummy helps. They know it rather well and very the sejuk perut when I hear them recite the surah as they don't really get a lot of Islamic exposure living in a non-muslim country. They are still little but I try my best to teach them the basics. I'm not an expert and I can just about teach them the basics and I'll worry about the heavier, technical stuff when they are older. (read : private lessons during our trips back to Malaysia)

Anyway, seeing that they are rather good at Al-Ikhlas I thought it was time to progress to Al-fatihah. It's a bit longer so we haven't mastered it yet but Aiesha knows about 50% of it now and again very the sejuk perut. She's keen to recite it all but gets a bit frustrated when she falters halfway through. But I'm sure she'll get it all soon enough as we didn't master the Al-ikhlas overnight. 

Sophia is not yet 2 so when recites the Al-Ikhlas I can make out what she is saying but not others. You would have to concentrate very hard to make out what she's saying but she does know it. She mimics everything Aiesha does so now she too is listening very intently to Al-Fatihah when I recite it. By my estimation she gets about 25% of it which is again a sejuk perut moment for me.

After Al-Ikhlas and Al-Fatihah it is time to sleep but not before Sophia does her rendition of Burung Kakak Tua. My little darling has somehow got it in her head that Burung Kakak Tua is also a surah that needs to be learnt for bedtime. I guess she hasn't yet realised that the surahs are in Arabic and Burung Kakak Tua is in Malay. She must lump them all together as not English so by her logic must all be the same.

Children truly are little sponges and given proper guidance they can learn anything. Case in point, my girls speak better Malay than their father who is now learning from them.

Beddy Byes

On most days Sophia has one daytime nap and Aiesha doesn't. I say most days because sometimes Aiesha will nap and on those days if she naps too late in the day it spells trouble later on. So a couple of days ago Aiesha had a late nap and of course she had trouble sleeping later on. 

Being a full time SAHM I'm pretty relaxed about bedtime. I normally stay with my girls until they are asleep and as long as they're asleep by a certain then I'm cool with it all. Usually Sophia will fall asleep first and within 10 to 20 minutes later Aiesha will follow. But a couple of nights ago Aiesha was still wide awake half an hour later. So I figured I'd have my shower and by the time I'm finished she'd be asleep. I took an extra long shower to be on the safe side but was she asleep after mummy's long shower? Nope still awake. I knew if I opened the stairgate to go downstairs she would call out for me. 

On that night I had to climb over the stairgate and went downstairs without her noticing. About 10 minutes later we hear little footsteps and a cry. I went upstairs and found Sophia standing on Aiesha's side of the bed crying 'I want my mummy, where's my mummy'. Aiesha was lying on Sophia's side. I then asked Aiesha what happened to which she replied 'I don't know'. I then proceeded to ask if she woke her sister up. To which she replied 'I don't know'. My cheeky little girl says 'I don't know' whenever she has done something wrong. She knows that she if she were to call out for me or her daddy she would get a telling off for still being up. So what does she do.....wakes her sister up, mummy or daddy will come up and then deny any knowledge of her actions. She knew that once mummy is upstairs mummy isn't likely to leave until she's asleep. Mummy's soft like that. Mummy will be a little bit cross but not for long. Luckily she fell asleep soon after even though she kept saying 'I'm not tired mummy' in the hopes of getting a free pass to go downstairs.

I seriously need to get Aiesha back into her room again. Oh yes, my girls now sleep on our super king bed and we sleep in the guest bedroom. We got Aiesha sleeping in her own room on her first birthday as I needed space in our bed being 6 or so months pregnant at the time. Once Sophia arrived she would mostly sleep in her own bed but join us around 6am. We then had both girls in bed with us after a bout of throwing up last November. However, we decided a couple of months ago it was too crowded and we left our bed. Now we play musical beds. 

Yes, we are a bit crunchy with our child rearing.

Off To School

This September, Aiesha, will be attending Nursery at the local school which is about 5 minutes away....maybe 10 minutes if we take our time. There are only 3 schools where we live and we picked the nearest one. It's a good school with a good Ofsted report.

Well today was the new parents meeting at her school where we met the headteacher and various other people. Not sure who they were as there wasn't a microphone and they didn't really speak up plus they waffled on about god knows what at which point I zoned them out. :) The headteacher was nice enough and went through what the children will go through at school....curriculum and the skills they expect the parents to teach the children before they start school eg. dressing/undressing themselves (for PE I suppose), recognising their name and going to the loo. We didn't get to meet her actual class teacher as she was ill but from what the other mums who have older kids at the school are saying, she doesn't sound all that bad. Let's hope it's true.

The meeting was also an opportunity to have a look at the uniform. I actually ordered the bits of uniform I thought we needed from the school a few weeks ago when we sent in our acceptance form. Initially I only ordered the school sweatshirt and the book bag as that were the only items I thought would have the school logo on. I figured we could then buy the polo shirts externally as it would be cheaper than buying from the school. Turns out even the polo shirts have logos on them so we ended up ordering a couple of them too. She's only 3, will only go for 3 hours a day and we've spent almost £50 on her uniform! It wouldn't be so bad if the uniform pieces would fit Sophia when she starts nursery but I highly doubt it will. Aiesha, will be among the youngest in her class so I got her 3-4 age pieces. Sophia, on the other hand is an October baby so will only start school in September 2012 and be among the oldest in class. So I really doubt she'll be able to fit 3-4 age clothes as she'll be almost 4 by then. She's already into 2-3 year old clothes now and she's not even 2 yet.

Aiesha is very excited about school and I really hope the excitement lasts. She has many, many more years of school to get through.

Aiesha is 3!

My Aiesha is now 3 years old!!! Where did the years go?? Happy Birthday Sayang! Mummy is oh so proud of you and loves you more than life itself.

Minutes old.

A year old.

2 years old.

3 today!!!

Going Potty

After months of trying to get Aiesha off nappies with not much long term success it looks like it has finally happened. She's been wearing knickers (daytime only) for 6 days and has not had a single accident. Yay! Next step......ditching the binky.

Doodletots

Every Tuesday we attend Doodletots at our local Scouts Hall.  Every sessions starts of with a story time, singing and an explanation of what we can do for the session. The usual set up would be 4 different activity stations and an easel in the centre of the room for the children to do some free painting. The 4 activity stations usually consist of a colouring table, sticking/cutting table, painting table and messy play area all based on the chosen theme for that particular half term. 

We've been going since Aiesha was 18 months and Sophia only 3 months. For the first month or so Sophia would normally sleep through the sessions but as she got more alert I would either let her play in the travel cot provided by Doodletots  or wear her. I must admit those early days at Doodletots were hard going as I was the only one trying to juggle a toddler and a baby. The sessions are run by a group of mums but you must supervise your own child or in my case children. Now that my girls are older it is much easier but still a bit crazy as they rarely want to do the same activity at the same time. So mummy runs around the hall like a maniac so that both girls are happy. Thankfully Aiesha is often quite happy to do her chosen activity without my assistance unless it involves cutting and sticking.

At the end of the session there is 'tidy up time' where they provide little dustpans, brushes, spray bottles and rags for the children so that they know the session has ended and for extra play. The actual tidying up are done by the adults. Aiesha really gets into the tidy up time and loves using the spray bottle and rag to clean up the paint spills around the easel. Sophia is still figuring out the spray bottle and often gets frustrated when it doesn't work. I'm confident she'll figure it out soon enough.

The summer holidays are coming up soon and so will our sessions at Doodletots until school re-opens in September. Come September, Tuesdays will be our crazy day as Aiesha will start school. 12 noon to 3pm from Monday to Friday. We can't stop going because it wouldn't be fair on Sophia. We will have to rush home after the session, have a quick lunch and off to school straight after. May even have to have lunch on the run. I'm sure we'll get used to crazy Tuesdays.

We love Doodletots!

Seeking Puddles

It was a wet day yesterday with intermittent rain all day long. My girls love water so yesterday was puddle seeking day. I love their Togz suit. It keeps my girls totally dry although Sophia refused to wear hers as she wanted to wear the Fifi raincoat. Oh well they want what they want.

Aiesha showing her Adik how it's done.

Late Nights, Little Lady, Rice and Fish.

Aiesha's sleep has been totally out of schedule this half term. I suppose being ill has a lot to do with it although she is rather well now. A busy day was had yesterday and she passed out on the sofa before I could give her dinner and bath. This of course lead to her being wide awake at midnight and hungry!

I'd made spaghetti bolognese but she didn't want that. My first born wanted rice...rice and fish to be specific. Tekak melayu betul anak ku ni. :) So mummy being mummy and wanting her to eat, cooked the rice and fish. She has been quite ill recently and didn't eat much at all so as long as she eats I'm happy to cook. Even if it means cooking late at night. Thank god for rice cookers, freezers and microwaves.

Sick Bunnies

I have two sick little girls in the house. Poor bunnies. Sophia started off having a snotty nose over the weekend and woke up around 5am on Tuesday with a temperature. Yesterday, Aiesha developed a temperature and is very poorly indeed. Poor darling slept most of yesterday, had hardly anything to eat and to top it all off she threw up in the evening. Thankfully Daddy was home yesterday to help out as both girls are quite clingy at the moment and need lots of extra cuddles.

Sophia still has a temperature but is still pottering around the house playing with her toys. Aiesha on the other hand is very weak. She managed a bit of cereal for breakfast but nothing else. She did ask for an apple but did not even take a bit out of it. My poor little bunny. Times like this reminds me that she's only 2 (well 3 very soon). Still so wee. Really hate it when my girls are unwell.

Get well soon my little darlings. Mummy loves you so.

Jet Lag.

We're back in Malaysia! Yay! But my girls are still quite jet lagged especially Sophia. Poor thing is still on UK time so her sleep is a bit all over the place at the moment. Aiesha never had jet lag this bad.

Was anticipating cramped sleeping conditions when we got here as the last time Sophia slept in her cot was last December (a bout of throwing up between the girls for a week got them into our beds permanently) but miraculously she has slept in her KL cot with not much fuss. As for Aiesha, she sleeps with her Ne. Although Ne would love to have them both with her but Sophia has been a bit clingy since we got here. I suppose she's still adjusting to everything here. Back in the UK it's only the 4 of us at home but at my mum's there are 11 so must be a bit too much for Sophia. She now does this cutest little pout if she's annoyed or uncomfortable with anything. She'll get used to the family soon enough I suppose. But I really hope her internal clock adjusts soon. Poor thing gets so cranky and doesn't get why mummy is waking her up rather than allowing her to sleep.

The Day of 'The Procedure'

Had the procedure on Sunday. We were told to ring the hospital at 6:30am for instructions on whether we could go on in at 7:30am. As we had to be there so early my mum-in-law stayed with us the night before so that she could watch our girls. On the way, I gave my cousin a wake up call. Initially she was to be at ours by 7am but as MIL decided to stay my cousin and her family didn't have to rush over to ours like zombies.

I was under general anaesthetic for the procedure so didn't really feel anything. If not for the pad left between my legs it didn't feel like anything was done as there was no discomfort whatsoever after the procedure. I seriously have a high pain threshold. I was warned of the cramping and nausea I would feel after it was done but I felt just fine. It was all over rather quickly but we were at the hospital for ages just waiting for a doctor to discharge me. We eventually got fed up of waiting and we went in search of one with my bum hanging out of the hospital gown.....not a pretty sight. Didn't have my dressing gown with me as I was told it was an in out thing which didn't require an overnight stay.

Finally got home at 4pm ish to be greeted by my lovely girls. Aiesha was playing with my cousin's daughter and Sophia was attached to MIL's hips. My super efficient and great cook of a cousin whipped up lunch from whatever was available in my kitchen although initially she didn't notice I had an extra freezer and was going to send her husband out in search of chicken. She whipped up ayam masak kicap for the kids, prawns sweet sour for the grown ups with sides of telur dadar and sayur goreng. As I was technically sort of like supposed to be under confinement she made me HUGE pot of bubur ikan complete with shredded fresh ginger, coriander and spring onions garnish. It was all yum!

Before the procedure I was a bit of a wreck but I am coping so much better now. We are blessed with our 2 girls and InsyaAllah we will be blessed again.

Dengue outbreak at 16on6!

Mum was to arrive tomorrow but has just discovered she has dengue. Her Doctor has told her she's not allowed to travel. She's not the first dengue case in the house as Aunty Gayah had it a couple of weeks ago. Watch out DBKL! Mum is not happy and once she a bit better I'm certain DBKL will get an earful from her. They got it when Aunty Gayah got it and now mum's suffering. Get well soon mum!

Sadness

I'm mostly coping quite well but there's a sadness within. A sadness so overwhelming I never thought I could ever feel like this. Even with all the sadness I am happy. I have two gorgeous girls and they bring me such joy. Their smiles, hugs and kisses helps lift the sadness. I'm so blessed.

My 4th Beanie

The sac was empty. My beanie is no more. May Allah give me strength.