Raya Get-Together

with 4 boys in tow, its difficult to attend festive open houses or birthday parties or any type of get-together. usually hubby would go taking 50% of the 4 boys with him. if we do go with the whole gang, it would be a quick hi-makan-bye.

i do miss being part of the celebration so when yam called up saying she wants to come over, with her big big family, i was excited. within 2 minutes i planned what to cook. it would be just a simple soto, pasta and jelly. in the end i didnt even prepare the jelly due to lack of time and pots and pans.

yam came with most of the boys' teachers - ummu, cikgu dina, cikgu kak long, kak kimah, kak imah and their respective other halves, children and emmm...adik mamat. it was wonderful as i got to eat, hubby got to take pictures and the boys were looked after yeayy...

so cikgu, next year boleh lah datang lagi ye?

Triple Birthday

october's a happy month...its filled with 3 birthdays, hubby's mine and ariff's (in descending order). last year, when ariff turned a year old, we had only 1 celebration, that was all for ariff (turning 1 is a big deal right?)

this year, i planned a different type of celebration. a 3-in-1, adding another love of ours, hotel-stay! i surfed for a good deal at any nearby hotel and found one for pullman putrajaya. hubby and i love taking the family away for a short break, putrajaya seem to fit our criterias for that kind of break.

we didnt tell the boys of our plans, we didnt want the 'bila nak pegi ni...' questions. hubby and i took the luggage to the hotel, unpacked and let thomas and the whole island of sodor familiarise themselves with the room. we went to pick the boys up, who were all geared up in their jammies. when they got into the car, we were bombarded with 'kenapa lambat' from amir and asyraf. then when we took the klia turning on nkve, amir demeanor changed from questioning to anger. he was going on about how hubby missed the turning. he kept quiet for a bit when he saw the lights of putrajaya, and then screamed like mad when we drove into the hotel parking.

all in all, it was a good getaway. we had a nice cake-blowing session in the room for ariff and me. hubby got some nice pictures. the boys got their 'nak pegi hotel' wish. thanks to helly of bake at home, for the yummy cake!


















the weekend after i planned a birthday brunch for hubby. i asked around for a good family-oriented restaurant and was extremely happy with angela's suggestion of marmalade (will try the PJ restaurant soon...)

Ariff Is Two

to describe ariff iqhwan in one word would be 'easy'...from conception (not many people can come back from a maternity leave being pregnant! and with a 'kucing gatal' title to boot) to pregnancy (no morning sickness - not that i get any for all my pregnancies, no cravings, not even extreme weight gain - i gained around 12kg, of course i didnt lose any from pregnancy no 2, but hey, lets not dwell on that) to delivery (only 3 hours in the labour room) to confinement (proudly managed a sendirian berhad confinement) all the way to taking care of him (ariff would sleep through his bath, sleep through the night almost immediately, sleep through...basically everything). one thing i loved about ariff was how easy it was to soothe him. if he starts getting fussy, i would just take him into the kitchen, put him in his bumbo seat on the island in the middle of the kitchen and let him watch me cook. he immediately would calm down.

but good things dont last. the 'easy' ariff is now becoming 'not-so-easy'. ariff bites, he's spoilt, he whines, he's rough, he bullies, he doesnt listen, he's greedy, . and who's fault is that?! i put my hand up. its entirely my fault. why? because he was so easy. he's so easy that i spoil him. ariff gets away with everything. he gets a smack on his mouth when he bites, then it'll be "oh baby mummy..." and the mother ends up crying. hah!!

having akmal changed him a bit. he wasnt too happy about getting the limelight stolen from him, he cried when akmal was brought home for the first time but once he warmed up to the idea of being a big brother, he was an angel. he would look for izzat (he refuse to call him akmal) the first thing in the morning with his sepet eyes still all sepet. he would run to akmal when he cries. he loves sitting in akmal's cot keeping him company. the bullying, the biting has gone down a notch...hopefully he'll be less spoilt soon.

having said all that, ariff is a wonderful toddler. his smile, his one-line eyes, his gemok-ness, his laugh, his bontot burger, his 'i'm not afraid of water so i'll rendam my head in the bathtub' attitude, his love of food (no one gets to be that gemok without liking to eat), his obsession with buses and brooms, his love for akmal and the 'big brother' status, his 'uuuu' when someone says 'i love you, ariff', his willingness to stop formula and bottles (yeayyyyy...). so my wish as we celebrate his 2nd birthday is for ariff to start talking properly, for him to be ok in his new class (he has started the toddler class in school), for him to not be so greedy with food (and stop hiding cookies under his shirts) and for him to be, well...ariff.









































oh...an entry on ariff is just not complete if there's no gomok pictures of the yesteryears...

Aidil Fitri

raya this year was not bad - a lot of 'see no evil, hear no evil, say no evil' had to be practised throughout the first 3 days. that and a lot (times gazillion) of patience. and, of course, my berry helped! hahaha...

we went with all yellow for the first day. looking back at the pictures, i may opt to suggest equally bright colours for future Rayas. some pictures from the 3 days.

the boys had their jamuan raya in school last friday.