“If you don’t think life is great, try going on without one"– Jim Evans

It’s been too long. Do people still read blogs anymore? I still do, although not on daily basis, but there are a few blogs that I still follow religiously. I just don’t think people still want to read my shit when there are faster mediums like Instagram, Twitter and what not (these days I don’t even tweet or read tweets daily anymore!) Until recently at a relative’s wedding, a pretty lady came up to me while we were queuing for buffet (didn’t catch her name but she said she’s Shanim’s cousin, so hi hello if you’re reading!) and she told me she reads my blog and asked why don’t I blog anymore. Honestly, I’m just plain lazy, that’s why. 

I’m gonna start with a summary. Fast forward 4 months after my last post, I’m still a lawyer and have been branching out on many other areas of law so you can give me a call if you find yourself buried deep in legal problems hew hew hew. Oh I do entertain “friendly” legal questions - you know, the pro bono kind which doesn’t lead to real cases with real fees, but please remember that a lawyer gotta eat (and have needs for pretty clothes) too. Am still very much happily married to the boss (d’uh) and he’s getting me a new car soon (amen!) so I’m loving him even more these days hew hew hew, oh and I caused a dent to a rented car few weeks ago so yeah oh baby I love you so. My parents and MIL are in good health and I thank Allah everyday for this. My Hadi has been in preschool for almost a year now and I’ve seen improvement in his everyday English and socializing skills although he is still very very shy around strangers (including friends at school)! He is the complete opposite at home though; very loud, talks non-stop, always jumping and running and up to some mischief. I wish I could combine these two very different personalities and create one perfect Hadi, sigh. My Noah is already 10 months old (time flies so fast with this one, phewww!) and he is still the calm and darling baby that he is. I have so many things to share about Noah but maybe later. Still fully breastfeeding Noah who doesn’t really like food so momma’s milk is all his nutrition is coming from and honestly I don’t think I am able to keep up with his demand! God help me! 10 months later and yeah, I’m still fat, far from my dream weight, belly full of baby fat (more like full of teh tarik and nasi lemak) and lotsa fat hanging loose here and there (don’t picture it!) Maybe I should just get pregnant so I could justify all my eating and what not. I want 5 kids anyway (if Allah permits) and I’m already 32 now so I think we should act fast! I have so many everyday issues that I share randomly on Instagram, Whatsapp and Facebook, I couldn’t probably list them down here in one post. But all in all, by Jim Evans’ standard, life’s really good. 

That’s a lot of useless facts in one para. This is fun. Maybe I should pick up this hobby again.

“My mother groaned, my father wept, into the dangerous world I leapt.” ― William Blake 

Noah and I, we clicked the first time we saw each other. He, of course looked a bit dazed as to whom I am and why am I shoving my you-know-what to his mouth, teaching him to latch on it. But me, I fell instantly in love. I mean, I have loved him from the moment I knew I was carrying him in me, but the first time I held him in my arms, I fell in love. Head over heel. Told ya, a mother’s love knows no limit, has no capacity. 

Anyways, the birth story. Alhamdulillah, this time around, shorter labour, easier delivery. I told my doctor that I was determine to try for vaginal birth for this baby, which would make it a Vaginal Birth After Caesarean (VBAC), which naturally, comes with more risks. 

Two days before Noah was born, I was admitted for heavy blood show. Pad-soaking heavy, it was quite worrying. So they attached me to the CTG machine for almost the whole night to monitor the baby and did vaginal scan the next morning but everything seemed normal and there was no other labour symptom just yet. Blood show, Braxton Hicks, 1 cm opening but nothing else. They sent me home and I went on a date with the husband the whole day. 

October 18th, at night, I was starting to feel more sharp contractions, lebih sakit dan lebih kerap, and by midnight, rasa dah sakit sangat. My firstborn Hadi was already asleep so we angkut him and sent him off to his Tok’s, not without some drama of course, sebab dia terjaga and wanted to sleep with me. Berjaya lepaskan diri at around 1 a.m. and they immediately admitted me and called my doctor. 

Starting from around 2-3 a.m., the contraction semakin sakit but baru buka 3 cm! 3 cm! Rasa nak meraung when they told me that. Still a long way to go, man. There was no single room that night so I had to share with 4 other heavily pregnant mommies in distress, macam berlawan-lawan mengerang. Sometimes I would remember to change position, berzikir, do the labour breathing and what not, but other times I would just join in the mengerang session (which as we know, was so not helping with the pain sebenarnya!) 

After Subuh, the nurse told the husband that my bukaan was only at around 4 cm and they estimated paling cepat akan beranak petang, so husband went home to mandi etc. By then I was already in so much pain I was determined that I wanted epidural. They asked me to wait for the doctor. The doctor came at around 8 and I was so ready with my script nak request epidural but they checked and I was already fully dilated! How did I go from 4 cm to being fully dilated in only an hour, I do not know! 

So they immediately wheeled me to the labour room, while one of the nurses frantically called the husband and the others telling me to try to push. Tapi sebenarnya takyah suruh sebab masa tu all I want to do is nothing but push, push, push! They coached me and cheered on me and honestly, the delivery process was so quick I can barely recall what happened. Pushed a few times lalu dengarlah tangisan Noah bergempita. I thank God for making the delivery bit quite easy, phewww. Husband arrived 10 minutes after I have given birth, with Hadi and his Tok. 

One day old Noah Rashad. Mad love.

 

I wish I came up with a post-delivery plan for the doctor though; would have loved to have the baby placed on me immediately after he was born, he must have felt really scared without his mommy! He was only sent to my room an hour after that and I was told that they have fed him with formula. Apparently it’s the paed’s practice. Pfftt. One of the nurses even “advised” me that newborn need formula milk, to make sure cukup sihat, kenyang and to minimize jaundice risk. Say what?! I was feeling so much love and gratitude ketika itu so I just held back and said nothing much. So yeah, mental note, next baby, tell them: immediate mommy-baby body contact, and no formula please! 

Noah is 47 days young today and Alhamdulillah, he has been a very easy, fuss free baby from the start. He almost always seems contented, only merengek sikit when he wants milk or diaper change, and wakes up at night only for feeding. MasyaAllah, what have I done to deserve this blessing, I do not know; not a day passed without me thanking Him for Noah, the easy baby that he is (setakat ini! Hehe) 

One thing for sure, Noah certainly lives up to the meaning of his name; my darling peaceful baby :)

“Through the blur, I wondered if I was alone or if other parents felt the same way I did - that everything involving our children was painful in some way. The emotions, whether they were joy, sorrow, love or pride, were so deep and sharp that in the end they left you raw, exposed and yes, in pain. The human heart was not designed to beat outside the human body and yet, each child represented just that - a parent's heart bared, beating forever outside its chest.” ― Debra Ginsberg 

Alhamdulillah, on October 19th, 2013 I gave birth to a perfect little baby boy, another heartbeat of mine. InsyaAllah I shall share the birth story soon. Muhammad Noah Rashad, my peaceful and wise baby, insyaAllah.

“In their innocence, very young children know themselves to be light and love. If we will allow them, they can teach us to see ourselves the same way. ” ― Michael Jackson 

Research has shown... Har har har. You know a piece of writing is going to bore you jika bermula terus dengan research result or statistics and what not. I’m going to bore you anyway and share that research has shown that play time for kids helps develop crucial social skills, preparing them for adulthood. But you don’t need to have a PHD in Early Childhood Education to realize this I guess. Emak-emak memang tahu.

My preschooler has yet to begin any formal early education (next year insyaAllah), of course he plays a lot during the day, but I like to bring him to play rooms and such on weekends to get him to interact with other kids and learn new stuffs. Sememangnya after a while memang sangaplah duduk tengok budak-budak main; most people leave their kids with their bibik (maybe I’d do that one day so I can go shopping or watch movie) but social skills are important, and the only way to develop that is through social interaction. 

One of my favourite places to bring Hadi is the Kidz Room at Danga City Mall (I think I’ve written about it before, in my write up about the Little Play Loft). The parking is easy and free at DCM, they have quite a number of eateries, and I get to go to Metrojaya and SSF then after (ngeee!) Besides, I really like the Montessori feel of the Kidz Room, They have many sections for many types of activities; pretend play – there’s a shopping mall, a little kitchen and a small dining place, video games, reading corner, colouring section, blocks, puzzles and many more. They assign at least 4-5 people to man the room (especially to take care of the older kids – kids below 5 must be accompanied by parents/guardians) hence the room is always clean and the kids are always in order (except of course, for a few uncontrollable kids once in a while – once, there was this one boy, around 5-6 of age, asyik mengacau other kids, girls especially, keep throwing things and shouting stuffs; his parents got called up and I never saw him after that) 

Anyways, here are some pictures from our last visit. They don’t usually allow picture-taking, but they seemed cool about it on that particular day. 

The reading corner; they have many good books (including the dinosaur series that Hadi likes) And yes, perlu pakai socks, for both kids and guardian. Bring your own socks or else boleh beli from the counter. They also insist on spraying hand sanitizer and checking your kids' temperature, which I thought is good!

Colouring corner and Hadi kept asking me why are all the colours so small? Eeek budget saving.

Hadi was quite hesitant to join this singing and dancing activity because he had to hold strangers' hands. But that's part of social skill! So I paksa juga, and he wasn't happy about it. Har har har.

Book reading time. Hadi and few other kids kept on menyampuk when the kakak was telling them the stories, and the girl shushed them and told them to just listen; I thought that should be handled differently as they were just expressing their views, which is crucial and good! Tapi tak apalah, the girl bukan a trained educator pun.

The fee is RM15 for unlimited hours. On days when they have extra activities, ada different charge lah. Oh they also have packages for birthday parties, looks pretty cool I must say.

Last weekend we went to City Square Mall dan baru tersedar ada kids play gym on Level 5. All these while I thought tempat main game saja because it’s always packed with teenagers. Turned out ada small space for younger kids. RM5 for 20 minutes and RM9 for an hour or so. Bolehlah, ada many stuffs he got to play and lompat with. Hadi had too much fun that I practically had to drag him out of it. Pfftt. Always my least favourite part. 

If you know any other recommended play rooms/gyms in JB, do let me know. And if you haven’t been to the above mentioned places, I’d recommend you to. Just be warned, it will be a pain in the ass to get them out once you’re in.

"No road is long with good company." - Turkish Proverb 

One of my Oz photobooks has arrived and they still have yet to reply me on the whereabouts of my other book. Pfftt. Anyways, today my Oz travelogue is gonna be on the famous Darling Harbour attractions! A touristy thing one must do lah when you're in Sydney. This is on April 17th, the day my mom and dad union turned 32! It was just 10-15 minutes leisure walk from our apartment to the Chinese Garden and from there we boarded the train to Darling Harbour. 

No, Azwan Ali is not a good role model, kiddo.

Train fare is as per stated.

The boy really enjoyed the train ride.

There are so many attractions to choose from but with a toddler and a baby tagging along, you gotta plan your day and pick and choose. Since we already planned nak pergi the Oakvale Farm later (see previous entry), we skipped the Wild Life Zoo and chose Sydney Aquarium and Madam Tussaud’s. We took the Combo package which costs around $50 per adult I think. Free entrance for children under 4. 

Oh fakta: We had lunch at the food court; the usual sea food buckets of course.

Personally I thought Sydney Aquarium was too huge and kinda boring. Hadi was excited at first but he grew tired selepas separuh perjalanan and only got excited whenever we passed souvenirs shop selling sea life toys. It was alright, but a onetime thing lah, sekali masuk cukup dah. 

See, even Baby Dora was like mehhhhh, boring!

Then we went to Madam Tussaud’s which was interesting but I did not get the chance to tengok puas-puas as the little boss was already cranky by then and asyik ajak duduk, so tengok sikit-sikit and left the others inside while we wait outside and feed the birds. Asalkan anak tak cranky, emak tak dapat enjoy pun tak apalah! 

The Boss and Izzue Islam. Oh wait, an actor who looks like Izzue Islam. Haha.

#caughtgramming ;P

My Ironman!

And this has got to be my favourite pic of the day! LOL!

We then took the ferry to Sydney Harbour, on which Hadi and I slept all the way, so yeah no pictures. But that's for another entry. Till then, here's us resting and snacking by the harbour after all the walk, phewww!

 

"To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour." - William Blake 

So OK, Birubi Point Sand Dune. After Oakvale Farm and Fauna World, we headed to Birubi Point for sand boarding. The weather was still awesome and Hadi had slept all the way since we left Oakvale so he was quite recharged. Kenapa penting? Supaya tidak cranky. Mothers of toddlers would understand this. 

First, important facts: WHAT IS A SAND DUNE? A sand dune is a mount, hill or ridge of sand that lies behind the part of the beach affected by tides. They are formed over many years when windblown sand is trapped by beach grass or other stationary objects. WHAT IS SAND BOARDING? Sandboarding is a board sport similar to snowboarding but takes place on sand dunes rather than snow-covered mountains. 

I can't remember the fees they paid for it but only those yang nak main had to pay for the board. And tak mahalpunlah. The rest can just menumpang hop in the rides for free to enjoy the bumpy journey from the beach to the sand dune. You can also choose to ride the camels and 4WD, at a different fare I guess.

Look at the blue, blue sky! Subhanallah!

Isn't my dad the cutest? Posed a la sand board konon but refused to do the real thing, takut sakit belakang.

The very chatty instructor, whose dreams are to finish grad school and go to Brazil for World Cup 2014. Yes people, my mom is a very, very friendly woman. Very. T____T

Hadi finally has woken up from his nap at this point and I was free of 15 kg load. Phewww.

Then it's little Baby Durrah's (Hadi calls her Baby Dora, super cute!) turn to nap. Nenda happily babysat while her Mummy sand boarded.

Yep, that's the boss, y'all!

They say the journey down was exhilarating and fun tapi look how far down they are! Imagine nak kena panjat balik the sand mountain for another ride. Phewww nasib baik sejuk.

Thank God Hadi wasn't bored. He happily played with the sand and I just let him lah. Asalkan bahagia.

One for the camera!

“Animals are born who they are, accept it, and that is that. They live with greater peace than people do.”
- Gregory Maguire

I really want to share with you our Oz (Sydney-Newcastle) trip last month but masyaAllah, sangat malasnya nak mengarang. So I decide that I shall share with you whatever about it, whenever the mood strikes. And at this particular moment, I feel like sharing what we did on April 21st, our 6th day in Oz, 3rd day in Newcastle. And our first activity of the day has got to be Hadi’s highlight of the trip: Oakvale Farm and Fauna World!

Useful facts: The farm is opened everyday, 10 am to 5 pm. The admission is free for kids under 3, $12 for kids between 3-12, and $20 for adults. The animal food costs $2 per bag (mahal kan?)

You can also feed milk to the goats but we were too lazy to queue up for the bottles. They use Avent feeding bottles for the goats, OK, Avent! Kelas kau, kambing!

This ayam has the fluffiest bulu in town, she must be one of the hot stuffs here.

At 3, my boy is somewhat shy around (human) strangers but he's really at ease around animals! Here he was actually asking the sheep to turun from the bench, nanti jatuh. Ngeh.

I can't really tell the difference between kangaroos and wallabies. They look really alike! I know kangaroos are supposed to be larger with darker colour so I guess this one must be a wallaby? I don't know!

They sell some usual Oz snacks here; seafood/fish bucket with chips.

Can't tell whether Papa is excited or scared. Ngeee.

The day before on the 20th, it was a gloomy and rainy day in Newcastle. We were lucky that it was such a beautiful day on that day; perfect cool weather, with blue sky and just the right amount of sun. Simply perfect.

We went to Birubi Point Sand Dune in the evening but I guess I'll save that for another entry. Blogger is being annoying and I need to get going. Talk to you soon!