Bon voyage Mak Anjang & uncle Pat

Yesterday we went to KLIA to send off the Marshallsays who were going back to Adelaide. At first i told my mom why don't we take Luq n Leia on an adventure and go to KLIA via lrt n erl n ask Mr A to pick us up from work later but she didn't agree. We were lucky coz my Pak Ngah is also staying in Wangsa Maju so he offered us to come in his car.

I can't remember when was d last time i went out with Luq n Leia without Mr A n no stroller. Tak pernah kot. Before we reached KLIA, i told Luq dat he can walk by himself but don't go too far until he can't see me. Sampai sana mmg hampeh. Terus berlari mcm kambing keluar kandang. Fortunately i have my cousins to watch over him. Seeing Luq running everywhere made Leia wanting to join too so i had to put her down (tangan pun dah lenguh sebenarnyer).

It is very difficult to handle 2 kids without ur spouse around. I was so lucky yesterday coz i had my cousins, aunties n uncles to help me look after them. Kalau x mmg fengsan sbb KLIA tu kan besar nak mengejar 2 budak!
Inilah naughty girl yg xmo dgr cakap. At least Luq will come running to me when i call out his name but dis girl will run even farther.

"Luqman nak airplane ni mummy, please". Ermm.. rm100 for d small plane?! I'll buy u a different airplane k sayang. On d way home, Luq n Leia immediately fell asleep as soon as we were in d car. Penat sgtlah tu dah tawaf satu KLIA. I always have a 'happy' feeling when i go to KLIA eventhough i only get to send or fetch other people. Australia is definitely on top of my to- go- list. Wait for us Mak Anjang n uncle Pat ;)

The Marshallsays in KL

My Mak Anjang n her husband uncle Pat, who lives in Australia came to KL last Friday. They're here for 4 days n will be going back dis evening. The last time she came back was in 2008 when my late grandmother was ill. As usual, we will all meet up when they come up to KL.

Last Saturday, myself, Luq, mama n my sis Arie accompanied Mak Njang shopping in Bukit Bintang. Later dat nite, we went to Hartamas Square for dinner cum 'lepak' session with d rest of d Abd Kadir clan. Since Luq was tired after spending d afternoon with me, Mr A volunteered to look after d kids bcoz Hartamas Square was not an appropriate place to bring kids, especially during weekends.

We had to combine 4 tables. Luckily mama n i arrived early so we got to 'reserve' d tables. I have a very boisterous family so when we meet, we'll talk n laugh like nobody's business. Hehehe.

Yesterday, we had a potluck lunch at The Tams in Nilai. There were lots of food but i only took a small portion of rice but plenty of 'lauk'. After lunch we juz relaxed while d Abd Kadir sibblings sat together reminiscing their childhood times.


We don't know when we'll meet the Marshallsays again but we do hope we'll be able to come down to Australia one day.

Little miss naughty

I was in d kitchen juz now when Luq shouted from d room "Mummy!!! Adik main baju!!". When i came into d room, i saw Leia rummaging through her drawer n taking out her clothes. When i called her name she juz gave me a cheeky smile and said "apetu". Oh dat's her favorite word by d way *sigh*

Hey doodle doodle

The above is a pic of Luq which Mr A doodled last 2 days. It may look silly to us but to Luq, he loves it so much dat he requested me to keep it at a 'safe' place out of Leia's reach. When i told him dat if d pic was erased i could draw him a new one, he said "Luqman nak daddy tulis". I know he will be devasted if d pic was erased bcoz everytime he looked at his pic on d mini doodle board, it reminded him of his daddy.

Pritha Argadiredja in KL

Last nite we went to Royale Bintang Hotel @ The Curve to meet my cousin in law who came from Jakarta. She's working with N*stle Jakarta and is in KL on business matters from 18/01 - 20/01. Since she works for N*stle, she gave us some free Nestum, Milo n KitKat chocs and not to forget she also brought 'abon' (beef floss) which my dad asked to pass to us. Yeay! It was nice meeting a relative from Indo n it made me miss them a lot, especially my dad. Wish we could go there again dis May for my Mbah Ti's birthday *wink*

Missing him

It's 6pm and Mr A has not returned yet. I juz received a text message from him saying dat he might be coming home late today. Today is his 3rd day working after 4 1/2 mths being out of permanent job. Although i am very grateful but i miss him a lot bcoz everyday has been a weekend for us for d past 4 1/2 mths. And it's not helping either when Leia keeps calling out "daddaaaa" n Luq constantly asking "bila daddy nak balik?" I guess they miss him too. I can be over acting sometimes. Hehehe.

Can't blame me though coz since we're married, we've never been apart for more than 12 hours. Even when Mr A went for job interviews before dis, he would ask d interviewer about d working hours, will there be any travelling outstation or will he have to work during weekends. He is really particular with all dis bcoz he values his time with his family a lot and he'd rather decline a job offer rather than be far apart from his family. To him, family always comes first. But i am not implying dat people who travel as part of their job do not value their family. Life is about making choices n it's up to u to make d choices.

Who's in charge?

Aaahhh.. The house is peace n quiet now. It's 12.30pm n i've switched off d tv at 12 noon earlier. Luq n Leia are drinking their milk n will be taking their naps after dis. Dat's d normal routine for me n my kids. They are only allowed to watch cartoons from 8am - 12pm n mostly Play House Disney Channel bcoz i find it very educational for Luq. He's learnt a lot from watching PHDC. His english vocab is getting better n he speaks better english too but of course it has to be a two way communication. He's only allowed to watch Cartoon Network for Ben 10 but after dat either change d channel or switch off d tv. Luq already understands dis rule but occasionally he will throw a tantrum when i or Mr A tells him dat it's time to swith off d tv or change d channel. Dat is when we (Mr A & i) hv to be strict. We will not let d kids conquer d tv.

I wouldn't say Mr A n i are strict parents but firm is more like it. Luq needs to know dat there are rules in d house dat he has to follow n we will explain to Luq why we have d rules n why he should obey them + what will happen if he disobey them. Usually when Luq is naughty, we will punish him by telling him to go to his room. If he cries (which is often d case), he can only come out when he stops crying. When Leia is big enough to understand, there will be no exception for her as well.

Sometimes i do let Luq watch cartoons in d evening but if i do, it's only from 5pm - 7pm bcoz this is d time when i usually cook. As parents, we shouldn't be too strict with our children n at d same time not too lenient. No point of not allowing them to watch cartoons at all but letting them play with computer/ video games or PSP all day. Let them have fun but there must be rules to follow. After all, they are juz kids.

My World

Dis blog is meant for me to express my feelings about my life and i don't have any intention to seek sympathy from anyone reading (as if anyone's reading.. haha). I'm merely sharing my experience, be it happy or sad and it makes me feel better having to write it down. Some days i may feel down or angry and some days i may feel very happy. Dis is My World after all :)

Helpless or pathetic?

Today i felt something dat i never knew i could ever felt before. The sight n smell of it all. It really made me sick. Sick dat i actually regretted following Mr A. Why do i have these feelings? Am i not normal or juz being too 'mengada2'? I even almost cried when i reached home. This was what i felt when going to KLCC dis afternoon. I know i sound pathetic but dis was what i felt.

It has been a few months since i'd gone to any malls. In fact, i think it has been almost a year since i ever bought anything for myself. These days i would juz avoid going to d malls coz it juz hurts me to not being able to buy anything for me or for my kids. I juz feel helpless. I am not a shopaholic but i am still a woman and i believe all women who goes to d mall must at least hold a paper bag when they leave d mall.

Nowadays it's all about Luq n Leia. I don't care if i don't get to buy new clothes or shoes. I juz know dat someday i will hv back d spending power but until then, i'll juz have to be strong.

Forever n ever

I still remember d day i met Mr A. It was 10 years ago at V*DS n i can say dat it was love at first sight for me. We are entering our 5th year of marriage dis year n i'm so blessed to have Mr A in my life. Whatever happens, he will always be there for me. He's right next to me each night before i close my eyes and each morning when i open my eyes. We've gone through a lot over d past years. There were happy times n there were tough times. He is my best friend n my soul mate. No one knows me better than he does.

Eventhough we are going through a tough time, he will try his very best to make things happen for d family. His motto is to live life to d fullest day by day. Often i worry about d future (our future) but he will always tell me not worry bcoz we will go through it together when it comes.

The most precious 'things' dat we have right now are our two jedis, Luq n Leia. InsyaAllah things will be better for our family from today onwards as Mr A will be starting a whole new journey. I love him to bits n only wish him d best in life coz what's best for him is best for d family too.

A visit to Zoo Negara

More photos in my facebook

I've been pestering Mr A to bring d kids to the zoo since d school holidays last December and on Tuesday nite he finally said "let's bring d kids to d zoo tomorrow" and i was like "ok". It was a beautiful day (not too hot) and we arrived at d zoo around 11.30am. Mind u but Zoo Negara is juz 15 mins drive from our house :p

It wasn't d 1st time for Luq n Leia to Zoo Negara. We 1st brought them there April last year but Leia was still a baby and eventhough Luq has already recognized most of d animals, he was still too small to fully appreciate d trip. However, we were happy to see him exploring d zoo today n since it was a weekday, there were not many people so we didn't have to worry about letting him run free.

Leia slept halfway but Luq did not complaint about being tired at all. Myself n Mr A had a good exercise too :)

After we finished one whole round of d zoo, we sat for a while to have a drink n before going home we went on a ride on one of d zoo cart. We went home around 2pm n Luq couldn't stop talking about his trip today. He was one happy boy. We don't think we'll be bringing Luq n Leia to Zoo Negara again anytime soon bcoz sad to say but everytime we go, everything seems to be d same. Mr A and i are planning to take them to d Singapore Zoo one day but by dat time i don't think we'll need to bring d stroller coz Leia will be running too!

Atta boy!

Yesterday at my mum's, while i was watching Luq play with his numbers book i noticed dat he could recognize numbers. This was actually not a surprise though coz i know Mr A has been teaching him to memorize the numbers on the clock. However, I thought dat he could recognize d numbers bcoz they were in sequence so i pointed at the numbers randomly n asked him to tell me what they were. Amazingly, he got all the numbers correct n i was one heck of a proud mummy! He's almost 3 1/2 years n already knows a few alphabets but it's time for me to teach him to master the whole 26 alphabets.

And the journey continues...

It has been one month + one week since i started my no rice diet and to be honest i am very dissapointed with d result. Juz like i mentioned in my previous entry, i juz don't know what went wrong. Despite not taking any rice at all and doing daily exercises, my weight is juz d same! I did not lose nor gain weight.

I've heard friends who've lost weight juz by not eating rice but they still consume high calory food and not exercise at all. Maybe my body needs more time to adjust coz each person's body is not d same (ayat penyedap hati). So, i'm not going to give up. I will still continue with my diet but dis time i'll be a bit lenient to myself.

I will eat rice whenever i feel i want to (at least once a month or on special occasions such as weddings or 'kenduris' but small portions) and will only exercise on alternate days in a week. Hahaha. Penat weh nak kena shampoo rambut tiap hari sbb asyik berpeluh. In fact, after one month of no rice, i juz had my favorite chicken rice from Melawati yesterday and when i weighed myself dis morning, it was still d same. It wasn't like i was craving for rice, it was more of an experiment (yelah tu). Hehe. But seriously, since i started dis diet i couldn't care less if i don't eat rice.

Enough said. We'll juz have to see how it goes. If by end of Feb 2010 i am still unable to lose even 1kg, then there is definitely something wrong with me coz one of my resolution is to weigh 45kg by end of June 2010!

Happy birthday ayah!

Today is my ayah's 63rd birthday and i juz spoke to him a few minutes ago over d phone. I actually texted him dis morning to wish him happy birthday but somehow i still need to hear his voice. I miss him so much! My parents hv been divorced since i was in high school but neither hv re-married. They're still good friends though. It's juz dat they fell out of love i guess. Eventhough they are divorced, ayah lives nearby and we (my siblings n my kids) still get to see him often.

However, May last year my mbah ti (grandma) requested him to come back to Jogja to take care of her (she's going to be 94 yo dis yr if i'm not mistaken). The last i saw ayah was when we went to Jogja for Idul Fitri last year and i don't know when i'll see him again :( Happy birthday ayah. I wish u were here but i also wish u good health n may Allah bless u always.

My 2010 resolutions

Why set resolutions if u can't accomplish them by end of d year? Each year i would set resolutions but by end of d year, i don't ususally accomplish all. Hence, i will bring them forward to d following year and every year will be d same. So dis year i'm going to be more realistic n will only set resolutions which i MUST accomplish by end of d year. InsyaAllah.

1. To lose weight. My weight should be at least 45kg by June 2010 (i'll write about my diet journey in another entry)

2. I want to keep my hair long again. Therefore, i won't be going to d hair salon to cut my hair anymore until end of dis year. Boleh kah? We'll see. I juz miss having long hair. I think d last time i kept my hair long was 2007!

Picture taken Sept '07

I don't think my resolutions dis year are hard to accomplish ;)