All Three

amir
he had his final exams yesterday. of course we didnt know about it until an hour before the exam. when hubby wished him good luck, he just replied with "i la u, daddy." was i scared? i was a nervous wreck! i kept looking at the clock and thinking...he should be done by now, he should be done by now. when he came home, i was literally screaming out "how was your exam?" amir's reply...amir shem kat school. okayyyyy...i guess i wont be getting anymore information from him, then.

amir actually has 2 personalities. on 1 hand, he's the nicest abang long...saying bye and kissing ariff when he's about to leave for school, saying me'kom and kissing ariff once he comes home from school, saying "jom asyraf" every morning before getting in the car, taking both his brothers' bottles come susu time, comforting his brothers with "dah...dah...dah" when they cry. but he could also be the nastiest brother...pinching asyraf when he thinks hubby and i are not looking, grabbing toys from asyraf, poking ariff in the eye, pushing asyraf when asyraf gets in his way.














he also has a wild imagination and the memory of an elephant. he could make trains out of our sliding door, remember every single landmark and billboard on nkve from the shah alam exit to the damansara exit, he would sing to ariff in the same tone as i would, he's scared of the balcony as he think voldermort is there.

he's also getting naughtier..."no" is not something he responds to, neither is "stop". he's very determined and currently he's hell-bent on dressing and undressing himself. it doesnt matter if his pants is back to front or if he only manage to get one arm out of his t-shirt (making him look like tarzan). its another step to being independent, i know, so i really shouldnt complain.

he's starting to imitate hubby to perform full prayers. it used to be just sujud or rukuk, but now it can be the full solat. he would even conquer the prayer mat and hubby has to pray next to him. i think i should find his own sejadah and kain for him.














my wish - that he will be toilet trained soon.

asyraf
after 2 weeks of ignoring his younger brother, asyraf has finally softened to ariff's presence. he likes kissing ariff and touching his hand now. when i carry asyraf and put him near ariff, he would reach out and touch ariff's arm, hands and hair (no more than that...it could be result in scarring!).

asyraf can also clap his hands now. he was watching hubby and i clap in front of him for the longest time but he just refuse to follow suit. until last saturday. and now, he's clapping and clapping and clapping.

he's also able to stand without support. he hasnt started walking yet but he's already pushing his body forward - although his feet has not caught up with his upper body yet. we think its just a matter of time.














he's also got 3 teeth which has just cut his upper gums. he will surely be wearing braces when he's older. his top teeth are showing signs of being crooked. (5 minutes after i took the photo of his teeth, he fell and cut his lips. thank god his teeth are still intact)














he loves watching the tv, especially when he hears songs he's familiar with. he doesnt watch the whole show, just the intro songs. and he'd watch from really up close and would tilt his head like so. asyraf is still his crying self...especially when he's sleepy. last night he was crying and whining until i gave him his bottle. one minute he was happily drinking and watching tom & jerry, the next...he was off to dreamland.














my wish - that he can walk before he turns one.

ariff
ariff seems more attentive the his 2 brothers at the same age. he cries less than them, preferring to lie down looking at his sorroundings. his eyes would follow the voices around him, especially when people call out his name. he can focus on the tv shows for a couple of minutes and loves watching his mobile. he's also reached out to tap abang long's face when amir lies down next to him.

i'm glad that he doesnt wake up so many times during the night. 2 nights ago, for example, he slept around 10pm and woke up at about 3am. his next feed was around 6am. that's good enough, especially when i start working again. it would mean i am able to get around 5 hours of sleep and then a couple more after his first feed. by 6am i'll already be up to get ready for work. maybe once he starts eating when he reaches 4 months, he can sleep through the night, like amir.

he doesnt require burping after his meal. as soon as i take the bottle out of his mouth, he burps. its so easy with him. i could even go through a couple hours of my urut+tungku session before he wakes up for his bottle. and all the while, the makcik urut and i were busy talking next to him.

after asyraf's birth, we'll plan for ariff's cukur jambul. hubby and i are thinking of having a small ceremony around after asar followed by a family bbq. maybe around christmas time or around new year.














my wish - that he stays this way

Noisy House

some may describe our house as "meriah" with 3 boys, we just call it...noisy.



and this is just 1 of 3 noisemakers...

Amir's Twin

we saw how ariff would look like sometime in my 27th week of pregnancy. we did the 3D scan and saw his features clearly (the earlier scan was clearer but its lost somewhere in 1utama). hubby and i immediately said...he look exactly like amir. i added...with a flat nose.















after ariff was azan-ed, hubby said he couldnt find a feature on him that doesnt look like amir. so we dubbed him "amir's twin".

so which is amir and which is ariff (the dates on the photos are giveaways, arent they?)

Toddler - Adult Dictionary

ango - touch n go (also known as tit tit)

anjeri - the forever-fighting cat and mouse duo

bubble - bath time

balldaddy - arsenal

ballmummy - astro, celcom, man united (i have no idea why astro & celcom is ballmummy and not balldaddy when the mummy hardly watches footie matches nowadays)

bodider - can he fix it, yes he can

bulat - creepy crawlies

fok - 1. a type of utensil 2. animal that goes ribbit, ribbit

gers - those so-called "superheroes" that comes in green, pink, blue, white and whatever colour they come in

gooboi / geeboi - i'm a good boy, arent i?

mikut / cookie monter - snacks, biscuits, cookies

mots - what mikut attracts

nak - give me now, if not i'll repeat it till i'm blue in the face

pifit - penguin aka happy feet

poon - utensil used to eat rice with

finally...omigoddd - omigoddd (and he does say that!)

Blocked

i want to update but i have no idea what i should update. the boys...they go through so many changes, it would be a long entry. my daily activities...what daily activities, i've been at home for the longest time (not that i dont love it...i absolutely love my time at home). my house projects...that's been put on hold till my next ker-ching. asyraf's birthday project...that's almost done (i gotta go book the cake & finish the adult favours). work...urgh...who wants to talk about work (i think i wanna ask for departmental transfer).

so this entry will be all pictures. as they say a picture paints a thousand words...

amir with too much energy last night, he took a late afternoon nap. ready, get set...














go...and go some more...and some more...just like the duracell rabbit...



















asyraf follows abang long everywhere...















the ultimate budak baik. did not cry when given his bath, heck...he actually continued sleeping while hubby bathed him. woke up when he was being dressed...














first pictures of my 3 heroes. ariff looks so small compared to his abang long and abang...

My Precious One

before ariff's arrival hubby and i were always anxious and nervous thinking how are we going to handle 3 babies under 3 years old. there were days when i didnt want to face labour for fear of the baby being like asyraf...a bit difficult (a bit?? that's an understatement)

but when ariff was finally here, he truly amazed us. even when he was born he didnt cry outloud. hubby called his cries "menangis sopan". he didnt disturb us during the 2 nights at the hospital. he didnt disturb me when hubby was out running errands on the 2nd day. he didnt make a fuss at night. he was just quiet and he just wanted to sleep.

towards the end of the first week, i cried. i was worried...why is he not crying...why is he always sleeping. its never right, is it? we worry when they cry a lot, we worry when they dont cry enough. he was quiet while i was already on my feet, doing various house chores. i rested enough for a week, now i want to fuss over my baby.

this is by far the best confinement i ever had. during amir's time, although he wasnt a difficult baby to look after, but it was my first time and i didnt know how to handle it. during asyraf's time...well, we all know how asyraf was like as a baby.

now with ariff...he's just so easy, alhamdulillah. he had no jaundice (or not yet...shouldnt speak too soon), he wakes up right on the clock for night feeding (only twice, mind you...at 1am and 5am every night), he's easy to bathe, he's easy to put to bed, he's easy to change, he's easy to handle in every sense. at times it doesnt feel like anything has changed. we still take care of the two boys with no disturbance from ariff. we can enjoy our dinner with no disturbance from ariff.

yesterday, i laid down next to him to take my afternoon nap. he didnt stir at all and continued sleeping. and then i cried...i cried thanking him for being so good, i cried thanking God for making it easy for us to handle all our 3 babies. i'm so grateful for my 3 boys. they are all special in their own way.

amir loves baby ariff. he's always climbing up the bed, saying he wants to "tengop baby ariff"...he would say "amir tengop dulu ye?" or "amir pegang dulu ye?" while holding ariff's bottle. asyraf refuse to acknowledge ariff is around. he would frown when he hear ariff cries, as if thinking "i thought i was the only one who makes that sound in this house."















its ariff's 10th day today. he cord stump dropped off last week, his circumcision has healed nicely, he's drinking more often and sleeping longer, he's starting to look around and can follow sounds (especially the sound of abang long's voice), he's starting to break free from his swaddle, he's slowly putting on the fat and its so nice to hold him.
















because ariff is so easy, i cant help but feel...i want another boy next year.

Syawal

ramadhan came and left in a blink of an eye. i didnt have time to fully experience its holy-ness (for lack of better word), unfortunately. now its already the 3rd day of syawal.

when i first got married, my vision of syawal celebration is at my own house. i wanted to start a new tradition of cooking in my own kitchen the night before, getting my children ready for prayers, going to the nearby mosque or surau with hubby and my children and then having a nice family breakfast together. i didnt want the hustle and bustle of getting ready and spending the morning of syawal in someone else's house. hubby didnt like my idea. his idea of raya is spending it at his parents house among all his siblings and nieces and nephews then going from one house to another from dusk till dawn.

for three of the four of my married years, i managed to celebrate at home as i was not up to travelling. two of the three years, i spent raya apart from hubby as he could not raya without going back to his hometown (its just not raya, he would say). i'm so happy that i finally get to beraya in my own home this year. hubby was not up to it and wasnt giving his 100% but its ok.

i've waited a long time for my dream to become a reality and i was not about to waste it. i dont know when i'll be celebrating syawal like this again, i'm sure hubby has different plans next year. i bought kuihs, i ordered lemang and rendang, i bought the boys new clothes (enough for 3 days), i cleaned the house, i got my friends to come over, i was happy. to hubby, it wasnt different from any other weekends we spent at home. well, i guess if you want to make it special, you can...if you dont, it wont be. so i left him to wallow in his own misery...i had fun.

amir went to the mosque with hubby on raya morning. i think he had fun watching everyone in their baju melayus and songkoks and sampins and loved that he too was in full outfit just like everyone else. when they came back we had a nice family breakfast (just hubby, me and amir) together. then we went off to kajang to visit my aunt. i had a few friends over for lunch and later on in the day went to my dad's house to have nasi dagang (the pure kelantanese nasi dagang...yum!!).
















on the second day we spent the morning at home. we went to my dad's house again for lunch as my cousins were visiting. had laksa this time around but my heart was set on having soto that my mom initially planned to make.














on the third day, my aunt came over to sent ketupat and pulut. ahhh...i've been craving for ketupat since forever.