Dania's School Sports Day

Last Saturday was Dania's Sports Day. Both hubby and I had planned to go to her school to give support eventhough the school had discouraged parents to attend allegedly because of the H1N1 epidemic. Yeah right, like anything is going to stop me from jumping up and down, cheering on my girl from the sidelines.

This is Dina. She wanted to come also. Siap pakai kasut sukan lagi. She was supposedly to be Dania's main cheerleader but even before the event started, she complained about the heat and being tired. Hampeh punya cheerleader.



I had sms'ed Dania's teacher to inquire when the sporting events would start. 8am he said. Hmmm..yeah right, even at 9am, nothing had really started. Since we hadn't taken any proper breakfast, hubby took Dina and me to a nearby restaurant for some roti telur.


We went back to the school at 930am and Dania and her team mates had proceeded to the field to prepare for their event. It was another 1/2 hour until it was time for Dania's event to start.


The rules were simple; walk or run across a wooden bench, then jump over a hockey stick, go round some cones and run back as fast as you can. Pass the baton to the next person and go to the back of the line. Here's a video of Dania sprinting her way across the course.

The girls did ok but lack a bit of coordination when passing the baton. In the end, the green team got 3rd placing. OK la, each team member got a tupperware for their efforts. Better luck next time. What matters is that everyone had fun.

One Hurdle Down

Yahooooo!!! Finally, my presentation paper to management was presented and approved!! After going to the damn meeting 4 times and not being able to present (despite staying back until 11pm..uhuk!), we finally got a session this afternoon and finished the presentation in record time. Granted, the committee members were just as anxious to get the whole thing over with also. Hahhaa...bagus, lain kali macam tu. Approve je la..

Dania had her school sports day last Saturday. I'll update more on that in a later post. Oya, also as a treat, hubby took me and the girls for a karaoke session at Mid Valley. Heheheh..best woooo, dapat lepaskan tensen.

Well, I'm off to bed. Just because I've finished one work hurdle, that doesn't mean there aren't anymore ahead of me. But for the time being, let me just pat myself on the back one more time. Haha..

Later, peeps!

Not Again!!

At another presentation meeting right now. I was suppose to start my presentation at 5pm. It's now 630pm and they are currently arguing whether or not we should be presenting the slides to this committee in the first place.

ARGHHHH!!!!

Bleh tak bagi aku balik on time sekali sekala? Sedih tau tak dapat jumpa anak2 tiap2 malam...uhuk.

What la. I have a feeling that this is going take until midnight. Mati laaaa...

Raya 2009 - Day 2 & 3

We headed back to my in-laws on the first day actually, around 5pm. Traffic was light since most people were already back in their hometown. Before getting to my in-laws house, we took a detour to visit hubby's cousin who had just delivered a baby girl.
Here are the girls playing with sparkles in front of the house. Hubby kept watch while Daria didn't really care for all that smoke.

For the 2nd day of Raya, we really didn't go anywhere. My SIL was getting engaged the next day so we had a lot to prepare.

Day 3 and still we didn't go anywhere. Here are pictures from my SIL's engagement ceremony.
The self appointed flower girls. Apparently the theme was maroon. Luckily the girls already had the appropriate dresses.
The girls with their Maksu. The engagement dress actually belonged to my othe SIL but Su had added beads to make it her own.
Su with her future MIL.
The gifts from the families. The maroon colored ones were from our side while the turqouise ones were from Wan's side (Su's fiancee).
And we end with another cute picture of the girls. Hehehe..

My Friend's Loss

Last night I hardly got any sleep. Daria refused to sleep and insisted on playing instead. Remember she only went to bed at 10.30pm last night? She woke up at 1.30am, then again at 3.30am and then again at 6am. Then she totally refused to sleep again. OMG...I had already started to forget what it was like to wake up every 2 hours. The thing is, it wasn't because she was hungry or wet. She just wanted to play.

I hope there will not be any repeat of last night tonight. I could hardly function at work today. It's bad enough I have a tender report to finish up ASAP. Grrr...

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Today I visited a friend. Her stepson passed away this morning. He had died due to a brain tumor. He was 6 years old.

Now this friend of mine, we used to be close. Then life happened and we drifted apart. We meet once in awhile on occasions; she came to see me when I delivered Dania, I visited her when she had her 3rd son. Visits were few and far apart, despite her living in Shah Alam, just a stone throw away from my parents house.

She married a Singaporean Pakistani and became his 3rd wife. While he was still married to the first two. OK, before any of you judge..let me tell you this: it works for her. Somehow, the whole polygamy thing...sharing a husband, staying in the same house with all the other wives...yeah, it's mind boggling and even I'm still trying to come with terms with it all, even after all this time. But this post isn't about that and is not meant to undermine her life, so let's move on.

Her late stepson is about the same age as her eldest boy, so naturally she was the one who breastfed the boy too. Kira jadi ibu susuan la member aku tu. See, harmony...but then again, moving on. Apparently the boy was having trouble concentrating in school and had slight hand tremors. The family took him for a check up and it was then they got the news that he had a big tumor at the base of his spine (behind the neck). It was untreatable since there were too many blood veins involved. This was in March. The boy went for radiation therapy and for a moment, the tumor shrunk to half its size. Then in July it became aggressive. A few weeks after that, the boy lost feeling in his left side. During his last days, he was unresponsive and had medication pumped in 24 hours to prevent him from having fits and choking on his own saliva.

He passed away around 730am today. Innalillahiwatainnahirajiun..

I almost didn't go and see my friend because of the insane workload I had but I'm glad my other friends insisted in dragging me there. For one thing I got to see my friend after so long. And also, I got a reminder about how fragile life is and how we should always cherish the ones we love.

To Y, be strong. I hope we'll meet again soon. Love you.

Raya 2009 - Day 1

Daria finally fell asleep at 10.30pm tonight, a record for her. Usually she sleeps at 8.30pm. Tonight she just wanted to play and hug. I think this is her way of telling me how much she misses me during the day. Hmmm..yet I hope this is just a one off thing and not the norm from now on.

I wanna blog about our Raya before it becomes too stale. This year, Raya was special because of the latest addition to our family. And boy, was Daria a big hit wherever we went. People wanted to hug her and carry her everywhere. And she loved every minute of it!! Needless to say, she got a lot of Raya money!! Hehehe...

Here are some pictures taken of the family during raya. This year we spent Raya morning at my maternal grandma's house in Keramat. All my cousins were there except for my Pakngah's children as they followed their mom back to her hometown.

These are all the female cousins and nieces. I'm the only girl in my family but I contribute three daughters so that balances things out. My aunt from Melaka has 5 daughters!! The eldest is now a doctor; she's the one at the back in the brown baju kurung. FYI, she's also single and looking so any available bachelors..ehem, please contact me if you're interested. Hehehe..If you look to the bottom left of the picture, you'll see part of my grandma's wheelchair. She cried when she say all of us together taking pictures; I guess she was just so happy everyone was with her to celebrate yet another Raya.

These are all the boys; from left to right: My youngest brother (Kamarul), Hubby, my 2nd brother who's getting married next year (Salehin), my 3rd brother (Zulhazmi), my cousin who has 5 sisters (Azad), the other 3 are brothers; Firdaus (orange baju melayu), Amirul (purple) and Aiman (silver). Missing are Hirzan and Faiz.
Here's Daria with her aunts; Makteh Taty and Maklong Aina. Aina's the doctor I mentioned earlier. Taty is currently studying medicine in Bandung. I bought the dress Daria's wearing at during the raya sale at my office. The tag said "for 1-2 years old". Muahahaha..Daria can wear it and she was just 4 months old.
Here are the girls again, minus Daria who had been kidnapped by her uncles. That's my mom's youngest sister on the far left, beside her daughter in the black headgear. Yeah...tell me about it, she doesn't look old enough to have a 18 year old daughter. Then again, people tell my mom the same thing!! People think we're siblings!!
Here's Daria getting to know her Paksu Aiman better. What can I say, the girl sure knows how to melt people's heart with her cheeky smiles and baby talk.

Those are just some pictures we took during the first day of Raya. It's getting late so I'll blog about the rest of Raya in another post.

Lagi-lagi Gambar Daria

Ko tengok la bibik aku ni, dia buat anak aku macam anak patung. Ada sumbat dalam bakul?!Sabar je la..bak kan la si Daria tu tak kisah apa orang buat kat dia, asalkan ada orang layan. Dah le pakai topi, macam anak pesawah lak rupa dia. Kekadang aku dah dress up dia macam ni pun, orang bleh tanya boy ke girl. Kan pakai topi bereben tuuuu, takkan boy kot!! Sabar je laaaa....
Ah...susah nak dapatkan gambar si kenit ni pandang camera. Dah ok dah gambar ni, ada plak minachi sibuk kat sebelah. Cet!! Ada2 je yang enter frame..
Ni si Daria tengah pandang apa ntah...Kak Ngah dia letak anak patung dalam bakul tu sekali kot. Letak gambar ni bukan apa, nak menunjukkan bulu mata anak aku yang amat panjang itu. Fuyooo, bukan palsu punya ya...asli, 100% ikut macam ibu dia. Wakakakaka...nak jugak puji bulu mata sendiri cantekkk!!
Dah bukak topi, bibik dia pakaikan sepit rambut lak. Dah tu Kak Ngah dia sumbat lagi soft toys banyak2 dalam bakul tu. Memang seminit lepas aku ambik gambar ni, si Daria dah menjerit. Rimas!! Kelakar sket tengok muka dia kat sini...terperanjat dek flash. Hehehe..
Ni muka Daria macam pasrah je...apasal la akak2 aku ni giller ambik gambar?! Aku rimas ok...rimas!! Ni Daria dah bleh duduk dalam Bumbo seat yang aku belikan Dina dulu. Punyala kotor seat tu..kena pinjam dek akak ngan cousin cik abang. Apala, tak pernah lap ke?! Last, ibu aku jugak yang sental ngan cif sebelum bagi Daria cecah bontot.
Gambar ni sikit gegar tapi aku suka sebab Daria tengah ketawa. Hubby cakap muka Daria nampak kecik; aku rasa dek rambut dia la. Bak kata adik ipar aku, macam rambutan! Hehehe...tapi aku suka sebab lembut sangat. Ni bibik dah crop sikit rambut dia tadi, nampak balik tembam pipi tu.

More About The Fishes

So these are the fishes the girls bought. At least this is what they looked like when they were still alive. Oya, Dory? Yep, she went to heaven also. RIP.
This is the tank my mom bought for the fishes. Dania chose the colorful stones. I bought the goumari fishes (ikan sepat). If they survive until this weekend, then I'll buy more of them. And maybe some of those plastic seaweed to decorate the tank. And also a small Plecostomus fish to help keep the tank clean. What's a Plecostomus? Orang Malaysia panggil ikan bandaraya laaa...

Nemo and Dory

Yesterday my mom came over. Since I had to work that day, I didn't meet her until I got home at 3pm. Hubby was out with the girls. Guess what they were doing?

Buying fish!!

Not the type you eat...the type you put in a bowl and watch swim.

Yep, hubby finally relented and bought the girls their very own goldfishes. One for each of them, except for Daria since she can't feed them on her own. Hehe.

The GREAT thing is hubby bought the fish and fish food....only!! Where the heck were the girls suppose to put the fish?!!

So in the end, my mom and I took the girls back to the fish shop to buy an aquarium. In the end, we also bought two more fishes (goumari), some colorful stones and some chlorine for the water.

Pandai cik abang, dia beli ikan sekor RM3, mak mertua dia kluaq duit beli benda lain sampai RM50. Hampeh tul!!

The girls were super excited about the fish. Bibik, not so much since she knew she would be the one cleaning out the tank everytime. Sabar je la bibik..layan je.

This morning when we woke up, one of the goldfishes had died. Terapung je badan dia. Dania cried a little bit which makes me anxious because if memory serves me right (I used to have goldfishes during my Uni years), there's always a very high potential the rest of the fishes are going to die soon. Hmmm....

ps: Nemo and Dory are the names of the goldfishes...I think Nemo is the one that died. Innalilah...

Stung

This was in the paper today. When I first read it, my heart nearly stopped. Recall this post? To think it could have turned out really badly for Dina and my bibik.

Thank god both of them go away with only one sting each.

So sad the same can't be said for these little children. To lose 3 children in one go...and at such a young age....oh dear god, I've started crying.

* click on image for a larger view.

Work Slave

I need to blog here that I am currently in the office on a beautiful Sunday morning because I have 162 pages of tender documentation to print, make 4 copies of for 5 vendors, bind and bring with me to CBJ on Monday for our testing session.


This is not what I signed up for, people!!!


Fortunately I'm not alone. No, I dragged my staff out of bed to help me. I mean, who says I have to suffer alone. If I can't lounge around in my pajamas, watching Sunday Cartoons today, then no one can!!

Gaga

I know it's catchy but when you hear your 7 and 5 year old girls singing about taking a ride on someone's "disco stick", it's little bit unsettling.

I should lock MTV and Channel V during the day. It's getting waaayyy too raunchy during daytime. Same goes for channel Hitz.fm. Can we save all the "humping and grinding" video clips for after 10pm?

Sheeeshh!

Another Milestone Accomplished

Daria has learned how to roll over. And lucky me, I happened to be there when she first did it. Yesterday's meeting ended at 11pm (still considered "early" since it was scheduled for 12pm), so this morning I went to work a bit late.

I love playing with Daria and watching her smile. As she rolled onto her tummy the first time, she gave a HUGE grin from ear to ear!!
That's my girl!!

Old Friends

It’s 8.30pm and I’m still at the office. Our presentation session is about to begin but my part is still way into the future. Looking at the agenda, this meeting is scheduled to end at 12 midnight. Mampos!!

I hate going back home late. One main reason is because of the kids, especially Daria. Being only 4 ½ months old, she still needs to be breastfed in order to fall asleep at night. And it’s not only for her sake; I love those special minutes with her especially since sometimes it’s the only time I really get to be with her on weekdays.

Since I’ll be stuck here for another 4 hours, I’m taking this time to blog about my reunion with my dear friends, Amani and Rina.

I met A&R when we all joined The Company as scholars. This was 14 years ago. Man, I feel old.

First thing I noticed about A&R is how gorgeous they were. Me, on the other hand, didn’t know the first thing about make up or dressing up. As time went by, I learned that not only were these gals beautiful, they were funny, smart, kind, caring and CRAAAAZZZYYY!!

We spent 2 months together at ITM KL for our English course, except Rina had to cut the course early because she was selected to go to the US early. Amani and I became roommates and God bless her heart for bearing with me during my “Nirvana” days. Also for being there for me when I had my heart broken by my stupid crush on SA. OMG, how stupid was I then?

After the English course, we headed to Lumut for our OBS (Outward Bound School) course. Or what we all fondly recall as OUR TIME IN HELL. Blast you Rina for not having to go through this.

Amani, I can’t believe you actually miss our OBS days. Don’t you remember kayaking around Pangkor for 15 hours?? Fifteen!!! Having to run 5 km every morning! Having to do our business in the freaking woods! And having to eat uncooked canned meat for 10 days! God, even the sight of those cans make me sick.

Gal, you crazy. I said it before and I’ll say it again.

After OBS, Amani went to Canada while poor, old me stayed behind for my A-level course. We all tried to stay in touch as much as we could but I really missed our carefree days at ITM.

Years went by and we saw each other during special moments; when Amani got married, when I gave birth to Dania, whenever Rina came back to Malaysia for the holidays.

Last week, we all got together after not seeing each other in years. And blast those women, even after all these years, they still look gorgeous. We met up after work and Amani drove us all to MV. After much debating, we settled on Chillies as our destination for food.

We talked and updated each other about our lives. We reminisced about the good old days and laughed about how much we had all changed. We shared stories and secrets and reminded each other why we were each other’s kindred spirits.

Our time together was cut short by a phonecall from hubby who had gotten into an accident. Which I shall elaborate on in another post.

To my dear friends A&R, thanks so much for being there for me, throughout these years. Forgive me for all my shortcomings. I hope we meet again soon. Love you guys!!

A Birthday Note to Dina Yasmin - 5 Years Old

Dearest Dina,

Looking at my previous posts, it just dawned on me that I didn't write you a birthday note for your 4th birthday. Trying to remember why, it must have been due to my pregnancy with Daria. I would have been 6 weeks in; my HG would have just started.

I apologise my dear, it was not my intention to abandon my obligation during your special day.

For this year, your birthday fell during the raya month. For this reason (and because your abah didn't want the hassle of entertaining so many kids at the house...yeah, right, like he's the one doing the entertaining....or cleaning up...*eye roll*), we decided to celebrate your birthday at your school with your friends.

Our usual bake lady was busy so after much internet searching, I found this site on Kak Dilla's blog. Thank you so much Edina for entertaining my late request. The cupcakes you made for Dina really made her day. After we had picked them up from you the other day, she was so excited, she kept saying "I love my cupcakes!! I wanna hug them!!"

Your birthday fell on a Sunday but since we had several open houses to go to, we didn't get to have the family dinner as planned. But you being you never complained. Going to bed, you excitedly exclaimed, tomorrow ibu is coming to my school and bringing my cupcakes for my friends.

When you saw me at your school, you greeted me with a huge smile. Your teacher asked your classmates to sing Happy Birthday and you just couldn't stop smiling. You looked so proud giving out the cupcakes and goodie bags.

My dearest Buttercup,

It's amazing how big you are yet how manja you can still be at times. You're so funny and cheeky, you leave us all rolling on the floor laughing with the things you say. You're still into all things Princesses and for obvious reasons I wish you would stay like that forever.

I love hearing you read your books because you still have some pelatness. I love riding in the car and listening to you sing. You may not know all the words but you sure have the beat in you. I love smelling you after you've taken a bath; you smell like cool breezes and warm sunshine.

Thank you for all the smiles and laughter you've bought into our lives. Thank you for all the hugs and kisses.

My prayers for you this birthday is that you grow up healthy, happy and full of life. Just remember, no matter how big you grow up to be, you'll always be my cheeky, little girl.

I love you so much Dina and I hope you know everyday just how much I do.

Happy fifth birthday, my Beautiful

Love, ibu.

What I Owe My Blog

Have so much to blog about but no time. A list of intended blog posts:

1. Raya complete with pictures.
2. My SIL’s engagement ceremony also with pictures
3. My meet up with long lost friends, Rina and Amani.
4. Hubby’s car accident…sob!

We won’t be going anywhere this weekend (other than a few open houses) so hopefully I’ll be able to update then. Until then, everyone have a great weekend.