Holy Hotness Batman

after days of rain (and facing the effects - slow lrt, terrible jam) the sunny weather we faced this weekend is a refreshing change. i managed to do a total of 7 loads of laundry (another 1 waiting in the wings tonight). i dont like drying my clothes on the gate but the sun was directly "directed" to the gates so i made this an exception. 2 hours and my bedsheet and duvet covers were warm and toastie. the cleaner changed all the bedsheets and duvet covers in the house yesterday. if the sun wasnt out today i would have to take all the bedlinens to the dry cleaners.

so i did bedlinens, the boys clothes (2 loads), working clothes, our casual clothes, towels and ariff's new clothes he got for his birthday. i love empty laundry baskets. hubby even managed to wash asyraf's and ariff's shoes.

now that all my clothes are out of the way, please rain tonight...

for some rojak updates:
- thanks to everyone who commented on ariff's birthday. hubby and i truly enjoyed outselves and we were happy with how the day went. cant thank everyone enough. we're still waiting for the pictures. the photographers, apis & saiful were away from the office the past week. hoping to get them before they basi...

- asyraf has made some changes recently. he doesnt cry as much (key words here are 'as much'; the crying is still there...just mellowed down some). hubby said he looks 'grown up'. maybe because he's talking now. after almost 2 years of expressing his feeling with tears and screams he now manages to speak and show his feeling. and he's speaking and showing his feelings non-stop now. no, we're not complaining...asyraf has got a nice voice.

- asyraf is able to move up in school. he can join the playgroup 2-3 years class, but his teacher wants to hold on to him till she leaves in december. asyraf is attached to her anyway, so we dont mind. plus he's in the same class as ariff. next year he'll be in a different class, learning and having exams while amir will move on to the kindergarten side of the school. hubby and i plan to have a double birthday celebration for amir & asyraf before amir moves, maybe some time in december. amir wants the theme to be thomas.

- ariff has finally shaken off his laziness to walk and is tawafing his room and the tv area. i love watching that gomok shake his bum bum. asyraf is a wee bit too protective of ariff that it gets in the way of him walking.

- hubby and i have decided on baby no 4's first birthday theme. the favour will include what i did not manage to give for ariff's birthday. i hope i can find them, though...

- we need a sofa for the tv area. its getting more difficult for me to stand up.

next update (with pictures) on friday...

Ariff's Jungle Safari

party info -
date / day: 18 october 2007 / saturday
time: 3pm - pm
venue: ariff's home
guests: family members, daddy's friends from work & ex colleagues, mummy's friends from work & the cyber world
theme: animals (i actually dont want a theme that guests would have to follow, my theme is just for preparation of the party, gifts, deco and cake)

invitation - personalised invite. printed a few to be distributed during hari raya.
















favour - cookie-filled cups. uncoloured paper bags with colour pencils, mini camera, mini puzzle, stickers, balloons, glasses and hats. all to suit the theme.

















cake (thank you to syerah for the pix)
















the zoo - we had rabbits and monkey.
















the after-party. these are the only pictures we took. the rest we have to wait for mr apis.


















the presents. we love all the gifts given by the guests, clothes, thomas (gee...how do you guys know we like thomas wink wink), football, elmo, books, puzzles...everything. thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all who came and made this party so wonderful.




















note of thanks
hubby - slept for days before the event so that he could recover. spent satuday morning running around getting the cake and spaghetti sauce and ice. set up tables because the caterer was darn slow. monitored the canopy on friday. put up balloons on saturday.

amir - my wonderful helper. give out the favours to guests.

asyraf - my runner...literally. he ran everywhere. my water boy...he changed clothes 3 times because of was busy playing with water. ate on his own, sat quietly in front of the door on the floor eating sauce-less spaghetti.

ariff - the perfect birthday boy. sat happily in his exersaucer. smiled for the camera when asked. drank his milk on his own.

tiza & tisu - brought the animals over. prepared the mini zoo. brought down the favour bags. helped look after the boys, especially when hubby and i slept 'tak sedar diri'. roped in help to blow the balloons and clean up after the party.

auntie emi - prepared the spaghetti sauce.

hafiz and gang - my excellent photographers. i had 3 on that day...jangan marah. thanks for coming early. thanks for clearing the empty cans, saiful :) boss, mana gambar?

andy & fadz - for babysitting while hubby and i cleaned up. asyraf is a handful huh? penat uncle andy layan dia...

to all who help, to all our guests, to all who came from near and far, to everyone involved - thank you, thank you, thank you.

Moving On

its been 4 days now. hubby's on the mend, alhamdulillah. he got proper rest the past 3 days. we've been picking the boys up late from school so that hubby doesnt have to over exert himself. plus the boys would be fed and bathed if we are late, so by the time they get home they just wait for bedtime.

there's still some effects left. hubby cant remember bits and pieces of what happened on that day. while i still harbour feelings of hurt and anger - i've released most of the feelings. i felt the same when i was pregnant with asyraf (a lot of hurt and anger within me) and i dont want to have the same feelings during my pregnancy this time.

thanks to all who left the well wishes and comments. to 'visitor', taking a maid at this juncture is not something we would do. we're comfortable with just us in the house and not about to let strangers in. the solution actually is not in my hands and there's nothing i can do about it. about hubby being sick - well, we know he's not well since forever. i knew i married someone with his condition and we took a lot of steps to ensure he wouldnt get his episodes - it worked for almost 6 years. eti - thanks. yes...we do have help with housework. i dont do any housework except for laundry and weekend cooking. the rest, we have someone who comes in to help. the daycare is also a great big help with the boys. if we need a break, we just get ask to take care of the boys. the boys are more comfortable with their cikgus then they would ever be with a helper.

moving on...preparation for ariff's birthday is almost complete. confirmed the time the caterer and canopy will be here. balloons are being blown by tiza's army. animals will be over tomorrow (not that many - mini zoo tak jadik), first part of the favours are done, second part i'll be doing today, the cake will be ready at 11am tomorrow, extra food is ready to be picked up from kota damansara, the others will be on the stove tomorrow morning. photographers (i'll be having three of them...thank you, apis) will be over late tomorrow morning shooting the preparation and then the party. we've also been getting presents, thanks to those who gave even though they cant make it. it wont be so big, i know, as most people are still on menziarah mood but its ok, its big enough for us. amir's over the moon...he's been singing happy birthday ariff for days.

speaking of the birthday boy, he walked yesterday. bless him. so fat and lazy this boy. but he waddled from one end to another last night. we thank the teachers at school - they've been encouraging him to walk for weeks. ariff had his mmr jab today. no tears, no whiper, just a smile from him to dr azizi. my gynae says ariff looks like me and then threw in 'macam tok dia pun ada' aisehhh...

had my week 17 check up today. everything is going well. baby's developing on schedule. i've not been putting on weight. surprising, since i had 2 roti canai for breakfast. the baby was moving about a lot during the scan. we saw every angle...the best one was from the bottom, where we saw 'something' between his 2 legs. alhamdulillah. amir's been saying the baby's name, it sounds wonderful when he says it, so its confirmed - that's baby eai#4.

Tired...And Sick

i had bad feelings...extremely bad feeling...before it began. i was already showing my displeasure. hubby knew it so he didnt discuss his plans with me. he told me what i needed to know and left the rest of the details out. its ok...i didnt want to know either. all i wanted to know was when he'll be gone, when he'll be back and how long will he be away.

i didnt like it...not one bit. sunday night, while he bathed the boys, i was upstairs alone. i told him i wanted to clean the room and put away the boys clothes. i did all those...i cried as well. i didnt like this one bit. i hate crying because of this, i hate wasting my tears because of this but i cant help it. i cried on sunday, i cried on monday and i'm still crying now.

of all the trips he's done, i hated this the most. i felt this trip could be avoided, it could have been done better. i'm tired as well...we have 3 boys, we're expecting another. i know hubby tried to work out something best for us...he left late at night, while the boys were asleep, he promised to go and come back as soon as he can. but it wasnt enough. my instinct told me it will bring bad results.

it did. hubby came back in one piece but he wasnt fine. i knew he'd be sensitive due to the lack of sleep. my hubby cant get less than a certain number of hours sleep. if that happens, he's bound to fall sick, get dizzy spell, faint and even get his fits. and he did...he got all those. after sending the boys to school and me to work, he came back extremely tired. he's been driving for almost 20 hours in the last 24. he had almost zero hours sleep during that time.

he called me before the episode started. i was already on edge. he didnt sound good...he didnt know what he was saying. thank god he wasnt alone at home...we had an astro technician over. and the technician soon became a nurse as hubby fainted and had his fit. and thank god for tiza as well. at least she could get to him before i could. thank god for my caring neighbour too, she gave him food and drinks.

we spent half the day at the hospital. made appointments to see the neurologist, to have an mri scan.

the last time this happened was 6 years ago. ever since we got married, i took care of hubby. i made sure he had enough rest, that he doesnt overdo himself and he's been fine for as long as i've known him. but it was out of my hands this time around. and hubby suffered, i suffered, my boys will suffer.

why does this have to happen? i know hubby would hate me talking about this. he told me off once but i'm upset...i'm disappointed...i'm frustrated...i'm angry...i'm worried...i'm scared.

i dont want to be blame anyone (as much as hubby thinks i do), i dont want to hate anyone (as much as hubby thinks i do). but all i think of is...this didnt have to happen, it could have been avoided. it just didnt have to happen.

to hubby - i'm sorry but you know how i feel and you know i'm trying to keep calm about it. but who is facing the after-effects? we are, arent we?

Ariff Is One

turning one is a big event for a baby, sometimes even more so for the parents. i was majorly excited when amir and asyraf turned one. but to see ariff turning one, i'm not sure whether i'm happy or sad. happy...happy because it is a big milestone; to see his developments and to see what he can do. sad because...he's been such an easy baby, a joy to look after that part of me dont want to see him become a toddler.

in ariff, i see myself. not in terms of looks (although some say he's a mini me) and personality (we are as different as the sun and moon) but i just see me when i look at him. may its because he's such a quiet baby, he would just lie down and respond when we talk to him, that its easy to look into his eyes. for asyraf, he would just be crying that his eyes were never visible.

ariff seldom fall sick, which is an extra blessing as i dont know how we would handle 2 screaming babies. of course when ariff do fall sick, its a different story altogether. alhamdulillah it doesnt happen that often and its not the 'asyraf' level just yet.

true to his name, ariff is astonishingly smart. he knows to differentiate daddy and mummy, and would call out "daaa..." whenever hubby passes by and "mamamama..." whenever he sees me. he's slowly calling "baaaa..." to asyraf as well. during raya he also called out "tok..." to tssc. he knows to say "naaaa" (minus the k) when he wants a cookie. feeding him rice is a joy because he would eat till there's nothing left in the bowl, with each spoon, he would say "aummmm..."

ariff loves making people laugh. when he realises something he does makes someone laugh, he would repeat it again and again. he also loves to laugh. ariff has the bubbliest laugh and when he laughs out loud, his sepet eyes become almost invincible. he enjoys communicating and laughing with amir.

ariff doesnt drink much milk - kind of like amir. i've never seen him finish more than 6oz at one time. he only drinks 3 times a day, 4 at most although that is very rare. he was that way since he was born. he slept through the night on his first day, giving me the opportunity to get enough rest. he then slept throughout the second day and hubby was able to run errands while, again, i recuperated. he's even slept through his bathtime on many occasions. he doesnt need night feeding for as long as i can remember.

now that he's almost one, we're just waiting for him to take his first step. he's done a lot of things before schedule - eating, sitting up, rolling over, crawl, stand - but when it comes to walking, he's not as fast. we noticed he's a bit lazy...he loves it when people walk with him, holding his hand, but he would quickly go back down on all fours when we let go. scared...no he's not...he's just lazy. sigh...

putting aside that small matter, he's wonderful (i know all mothers would say that about their children) but he just is. he's a God-send, a treasure. he's my little busuk hitam gomok.

Aidilfitri 2008

clothes prepared...

food cooked, cookies bought...

heads botaked...

raya this year was good. i would like to spend all my rayas like this. first day was at home (ahhh wonderful). i felt relaxed, i could prepare breakfast for my family, dress the boys in matching clothes and spend the morning together as a family...

after breaksfast, we went to damansara,

and then to kota damansara,

and back to damansara with some illegal substance...

second day we went to maran. the boys were hyperly active. they didnt nap at all. and of course, they screamed the car windows down on the way back.