Teddy Bear Picnic

one fine day, all of the sudden, i felt like taking the boys for a picnic. i have friends left right and centre taking their children for picnics all the time but we have not reached that level. with 4 boys in tow, all so young and needs constant monitoring, going for a picnic isnt the best idea. going to the beach, per se, is not bad. we can look out for them. but with other activities, many many things to look after, well…just not yet.

then when our dentist called to postpone the boys’ check up, i got the idea of going for a picnic. i surfed for a good place to go, a park, lake, waterfall, beach and finally decided on bagan lalang. not too far, reviews about the beach not too bad. i informed hubby of my idea and he loved it. then we roped in tiza and tisu.

tiza and i planned the menu. i prepared sandwiches – sardine and cheese, bought cakes, drinks while tiza got the silvers poons chef to make nasi goreng daging cincang for us. we also decided on nuggets, which i prepared the morning itself.

we decided to start the day early, leave after subuh, get there early and leave by lunchtime before it gets too hot. we were a bit behind schedule, we left around 745am. there was the boys to take care off, tiza and tisu to get ready, the nuggets to fry, the nasi goreng to warm up. so our 7am became 745am. but traffic was on our side all the way and we got to the beach before 9am. wonderful!

the day was great - not too sunny, right amount of clouds, nice wind. we followed the sign and it took us to the camping site. everyone’s tummy wanted to stop there but we weren’t too happy. there was just bricks everywhere. not really beach-y. but we stopped and had breakfast anyway. i thought there must be another place, this cant be the beach people were talking about. we sat and had breakfast on a bench and table for crying out loud. so much for picnic by the beach.




















after the tummies were fed, we decided to drive around to look for the actual beach. didn’t take long, a 2 minutes drive took us to the other side of the sepang gold coast resort to a proper beach. it was still quiet at 930am. we parked and took out the foodstuff yet again, this time with the mat and the boys clothes. aahhh…now that’s better. we sat for a bit, arranging ourselves on the small mat, before the boys started to get antsy. so we took them for a stroll, which later became a full blown swimming, by the beach.

an hour of frolicking topped off with an ice cream session, then a quick shower and a warning by asyraf ‘mummy…lepas ni kita nak balik, main puzzle lepas tu kita nak tido’ spells the end of our morning by the beach. all in all it was great. we drove out to a beach, had a lovely time, ate quite a bit, tire the boys out and were home before zohor.




























nice start to the weekend. should do this again, maybe this time slightly further away.

He's Unwell..Again...

usually i dont make a fuss when the boys fall ill. to me, its part and parcel of growing up. a fever and flu and cough here and there, i dont think is a big deal. falling ill once in a couple of months is seriously nothing to shout about. i dont go 'oh they are always sick' (like some people do, as though they are with my boys more often than me) or blame the school, the babysitter, the maids etc for their condition. forever finger pointing, pathetic betul. furthermore, oi...demam je kot, relek lah.

so anyway, a normal thing to me, this fever and flu. but when it comes to akmal, i'm a bit concerned. him being unhealthy generally is already a big thing, with his small nasal airway and bird's chest. admitted into NICU before he turned one month old, while staying with his mum at home (therefore not the nursery ye for those so against us sending the boys to nurseries) and subsequently, falling sick once a month. we've been warned by his pead to expect a gloomy first few years, eventually he'll grow stronger and out of it, insyaallah.

true to that, akmal was admitted no less than 5 times before he turned a year old. i went into 2010 with a negative leave balance due to that. then although the frequency decreased, he was constantly on the nebuliser, had to take ventolin up to 4times a day and was prescribed seretide daily unless given the a-okay.

even then i was, ok lah...not that worried. still can survive. until recently. he's been wheezing extra strongly. he stops when he's laughing to grasp for breath. he pulls in a strong breath in between sentences. his nose is running till he has blisters. he coughs so bad its like an old man's cough. his temperature goes up and down. its been that way for more than a week, 9 days to be exact. althought i usually dont worry, now i'm starting to worry. nothing his pead cant fix, i'm sure, but first i gotta find time to see him before i can quit worrying...