My Team

ei is hubby. i can safely call him my (almost) best friend. almost is because there's some things you just need to share with a girl (guys would just go...yeah so?) above all, hubby and i are friends who share a lot of thoughts and opinions. during our early years together we would get into huge fights because of our info sharing but over time, we know when to say what so that we dont step on each other's toes.

people sometimes think we're arguing because we get very animated when we talk. amir especially gets very sensitive and would quickly ask us to be friends again (when actually its just us talking above the volume of the radio)

hubby is very helpful in the house, the main reason why we can survive without a maid. i dont think i would be able to handle the boys and the housework, if not for him. usually we divide the work - he would take the boys and i would take the housework. he's not fussy when it comes to food - as long as its salty. he's ok with trying new food, although it takes him a bit of time to get used to them. for now, he sees himself as jamie oliver or the 'bob' guy from license to grill. he's aiming to get a big bbq grill and i'm all for it.

hubby is excellent with the boys. strict when he needs to be, soft-hearted when he needs to be. he would entertain them when they want to have a run around or a swim in the garden. he would bring them to the playground to let out some energy. he's already planning activities he would like to have with the boys when they grow up - football training, camping trips (yes please...let me have the house all to myself).

hubby likes to have all the family together. he hates it when i'm on leave and he drives the boys to school alone. he would quickly text me saying - its not nice to not have everyone together. emo sikit kan?

one of hubby's drawback is that he takes things too seriously, be it the housework or the boys. he finds it difficult to meet in the middle. sometimes it doesnt require him to go all out but he would until he gets all tired and refuses to do it again. he used to do the cleaning in the house. but when he cleans he would sweep, vacuum, mop, clean windows (we have a lot!!), clean the cobwebs on the high ceiling, move all furniture when i would just say 'buat simple-simple je lah'. he would spend up to 4-5 hours cleaning until he needs to sleep for 4-5 hours.

hubby also procrastinates. a phone call to the plumber would take weeks to be made (opps...it still hasnt been made!). on weekends he usually have a couple of chores like putting up picture frames or changing the bidet in the bathrooms. one weekend would pass by without him doing anything. he would say 'make a list of what i'm supposed to do'. come the next weekend, with a list in his hand, he would say 'banyak nya...nanti lah'. so another weekend goes by and the courtyard still hasnt been cleaned.

note to hubby - take it easy lah...but not too easy!

s is mua. ihatetalkingaboutmyselfsoiwont. haha...okay, okay.

i'm a happy (read - stressed out) mother of four delightful boys (read - terrorists).

i hate depending on people and want to do everything on my own, much to hubby's dismay. sometimes i dont realise i cant do everything on my own.

i wish i can sleep during the day because the boys need attending to at night, but i cant.

i have this urge to cook and bake for my boys - something i couldnt do when i was pregnant due to swollen ankles. i'm not a great cook, i have a lot of recipe books and i just need the time and the ability to get away from the boys for a couple of hours to be a ble to cook for them.

i honestly dont go by the name 'sally'. i'm more known as 'nina', a name i used to hate when i was younger because there's no N in my full name. but a lot of people call me 'sally' so i guess...its ok. but you wouldnt catch me addressing myself by that name.

hubby and i hold on to the believe of its 'us against them'. when handling the boys, we're united (opps excuse the word used) and we dont do the 'bad cop-good cop' routine. we dont have one parent scolding and the other pacifying. to us, if one scold the other supports. the boys cant run to the other parent and whine.

eai#1 is amir iskandar. amir is our abang long or pot or just plain amirrrr (as asyraf would call him).

amir talks a lot. if he was a superhero he would be mr-mouth who talks his enemies into surrendering. even when he's crying he'd still say things. irritating, honestly! just cry lah, nak cakap-cakap buat apa.

amir is extremely loving with his brothers. from the time we brought asyraf home to ariff and now akmal, he's always been very loving with them and very attentive and very helpful. he's the epitomy of a big brother - then! now that his younger siblings are older he's rough with them. he would push, shove, kick them when he feels like it. he would rile them up, especially asyraf because he wants to see them cry.

amir is close to hubby. being the eldest, hubby would take him out when doing grocery shopping, when washing the car, when visiting the barber. in the car hubby usually tells him what he like to see him do, what we dont want him to do which gets a nod from him and quickly goes out the other ear.

amir over-uses the word 'kita'. everything is 'kita' to him. 'kita nak makan nasi' 'jangan marah kita' 'kawan kita tak' 'tapi kita best sangat' - which is his favourite line when asking for something (translated to 'but i like it very much').

amir is reliable. during parties, he would be the one helping me distribute the party favours. at home, he would help put together clothes to be washed. he's also helpful in the kitchen and can put away cups and plates in the sink to be washed.

he's got a very good memory. he would remember what asyraf wore the night before and would question why he's wearing a different pajama pants come morning (night change). he used to remember routes to different places when we was as young as 18 months. hubby would say he used to cry everytime they passed the honda showroom in taman tun because he knows he would be dropped off, and he would squel with delight when he sees the lrt track because he knows that mummy is back from work.

amir is doing pretty ok in school. he can recite a lot of doa, he remembers a lot of words and pictures, he knows his ABC 123 alif-ba-ta, he can perform the solat, he can colour pretty ok. but he tends to daydream and needs to be called back to earth. he tells hubby and i what happens in school and is quite accurate in his story-telling.

eai#2 is asyraf izzuddin. asyraf is known as abang (because hubby doesnt like the word 'ngah' to be used on boys) or acaaa. i just love asyraf's name and i remember lobbying for it to hubby for months.

asyraf wouldnt utter a single word for the longest time. now he talks a lot. he would talk in the same manner as amir and uses the same words. ask him a question and his answer will always begin with '(se)bab...' and ends with '...lah'

asyraf loves cleaning up toys. he would clean up 3 times when he's playing shouting out loud 'masss...masss' (kemas...kemas) then he would throw everything back on the floor. good thing we only have 2 boxes of toys at home and all stored in one room.

asyraf is still the same even though he's already 2 years old. hubby and i have said we would never wish a child like asyraf on anyone. we still feel the same. we love asyraf to bits but he tests our patience all the time. he would scream and scream and scream his dissatisfaction, he would throw things and jump to show his anger, he would cry out for hours (literally...he can cry for hours). we would always get amir and ariff to let go of what they're playing with or stop what they're watching and leave the room because asyraf all of the sudden wants to play with the toy or decide to watch a certain dvd. what asyraf wants, asyraf gets...if not it will be a "blue in the face, screaming" asyraf.

when asyraf gets angry even hubby and i have to leave the room. if not we'll be thrown with bottles or trains or whatever asyraf's holding. talking to him nicely will get a scream back in your face, shouting at him loudly will also get a scream back in your face. we have come to accept that is asyraf and just need to approach whatever tantrum he brings with patience. it really gets very bad at times and we do get frustrated and angry, but he's asyraf and he's that way.

the bad thing is that at times he isolates himself from his brothers as they too cant take his tantrums. in the car, amir and ariff will sit together at the back and bond while asyraf would sit alone, staring outside holding his bottle.

despite that, asyraf has the most angelic face, the sweetest smile, the loveliest eyes, the fairest skin. he's just a beauty...i know all mummies say that about their child but asyraf is beautiful. asyraf is shy, he's animated, he's listening and he's watching. when he sees us watching him, he would get all shy, covers his mouth and laugh. asyraf smiling is a rarity and is wonderful to see. most people say they like asyraf because of his looks and because he's so active but no one knows how asyraf is like behind closed doors.

asyraf and amir are always fighting. maybe because they both have preferences and are able to show their feelings. asyraf and ariff gets along. ariff is slowly giving asyraf a piece of his mind when asyraf takes ariff's things but we would always be the moderator and take ariff away telling him 'biarlah abang ambik dulu, nanti ariff main pulak'.

asyraf just had his first test two weeks ago. he surprised us with his performance. asyraf scored well in english and bm and maths and came out no 3 in his class. there's a boy with a lot of potential underneath the screaming facade.

eai#3 is ariff iqhwan. ariff is my little mok, my anak mummy, my anak manja, my mat hitam, my mat busuk. ariff is abang adik but mok is being widely used in school and at home. he really is...he's just so gemok walking around with his chest out like he owns the world.

ariff is patient, very relaxed. maybe because i desperately tried to be patient and relaxed handling asyraf in his first year.

ariff is so easy to put to bed. he would walk around, doing everything and anything by himself while we attend to asyraf with his milk and diaper changing. then we would switch off the lights and call out to ariff. he would come waddling, throws himself on the mattress, takes the milk bottle and doze off just like that. on nights he feels like staying up, hubby or i would raise our voice and say sternly 'ariff...sleep!' he would get all motionless and not look at either of us (konon merajuk lah tu). then in 2 minutes, he's asleep. he's just so cute!

(note to tiza) ariff has perfected the 'throw your head back and laugh' action.

ariff is more mature than asyraf in terms of action and the way he talks. asyraf uses baby language while ariff is quite defined when he speaks. he can say abam, nak, tak nak, tutup. and can call out to us...bapak to hubby and mamak to me. wherever did he learn that? ariff loves animals and would imitate the sounds of dog, cat and bird.

what ariff loves the most are buses. he loves buses. he would turn his body towards the back to follow a bus driving next to the car. i have to get him a toy bus soon.

initially ariff did not want to see akmal. he gave me a tough time the first 2 days. he wouldnt look at me or come to me when i call him. he was a very jealous abang adik. but now he's warmed up to akmal. coming home from school, he would give akmal and i a kiss before going off to look for bags to play with. he's also into backpak now.

eai#4 is akmal izzat. akmal's name is much 'simpler' than his abangs because we ran out of names with the same initials. before we left the maternity ward with akmal, one of the nurses said...if you get another baby, it will be a boy. my first thought was erk...no more, i dont have anymore names.

we're still learning about akmal, obviously. but he's got a lot of ariff's traits. he's quite relaxed and patient. he can sleep for 5-6 hours straight except at night. he hates the air-cond and we can get him to sleep for 3 hours if we switch off the air-cond (we tried last night for the first time and it seemed to work).

we think akmal is going to be slim and tall, maybe good looking as abang. although i still hold to the notion that he looks more like ariff than asyraf.

so here's the eiseai team...
the coach

















the manager

















the captain

















the striker

















the defender

















the winger