The Lunch Boxes Journey - February & March 2016

february's a short month due to the long chinese new year break. march is as well as the first school holiday is right smack in the middle of march. coupled with the boys being ill and amira under the weather, my lunch boxes preparation was not as extensive compared to january. therefore, i'll combine both months into one entry.

i think this type of entry won't be a long one, after a while my lunch boxes would look the same. unless, of course, i step up a bit, and prepare heavier meals, especially for amir and asyraf's morning school recess. maybe i'll do that…after fasting month. yes, let's procrastinate from now.

this is how my prep table looks like. nothing fancy, just simple bread, filling and sides.

anyway, for february, beef sandwiches take centre stage. because hubby bought a month-long supply of beef strips. i do try to vary the sandwich filling between beef, chicken, tuna and sardine, but since there is over-supply of beef, that's the main filling.

there's also the 'leftover' lunch boxes - dinner leftovers straight into their containers.

and the 'extra effort' days, when i prepare simple food - nuggets, sausages, boiled eggs.

ariff and akmal's been asking for nutella toast for afternoon school. easier to prepare and they don't have much of an appetite at 3pm-4pm on a hot day. i offer cookies and zip wafers and fruits but they just settle with one or two nutella toasts. amir and asyraf want a big portions of food for morning school but for agama school, they settle for something simpler and light. they would come back form agama school and have snacks while they do their homework.

i gave them lunch money more than a couple of times in february. amira being unwell means less sleep for me. and i just can't get myself psyched about lunch boxes so early in the morning during those days. i should look up make-ahead breakfast menus to counter that. and start making big batches of cookies of muffins for the sides.

Amira Is Five Months

if amira surprised us with her development when she was four months old, she's got more up her sleeves as she turns five months. all of the sudden she laughs out loud, all of the sudden she babbles for hours, all of the sudden she's giving out precious smiles.

amira's most obvious motor development is her grasping. initially it took her a bit of an effort to reach our her arms but now she's quick to pull out and grasp things that is put in front of her, mainly small towels, her doll and abangbee's baby jaguar.

she's also fond of grabbing her feet. whenever she's laying on her back, she's bring up her feet and her hands would automatically grab them. soon she would start pulling them towards her face.

she is also slowly turning her body, indicating the start of rolling over. she rolled halfway and would be on her side quite often. the next step would be a complete roll over from her back to her stomach.

amira's more patient now. she can wait a bit for her bottle before her full-blown screams. she can wait a bit while i run around before screaming out she wants to be carried or she wants some attention or she's bored of being alone. more waiting and less outbursts.

night feeding is still one per night. i'm hanging on to dear life sometimes. i'm tired and i need my sleep. only the thought of it being just another month before she starts weaning and hopefully, oh please please please, doing away with night feed, keeps me going.

amira loves bath time. as soon as i step into the bathroom with her, she'll be all smiles and jumping in my arms. she's filling her tub well, there's no space for her to lie down anymore.

she's only put on a bit despite how it looks. she's now 5.5kg, only 3kg above her birth weight. despite being small and only 5 months old, she's starting to wear some 6 months old clothes. especially dresses and skirts. maybe due to the cut. time to stock up on those lovely dresses…yeay!!

Akmal is Seven

my baby boy, who dubs himself the baby boy of the family, is seven. oh so big. he gets this 'i can't believe i'm seven' moments every so often. yeah well, i can't believe it too baby. seems just like yesterday when you were entertaining us with your sing songs and your 'nak makan ape's and falling asleep after school and in the car.

despite the apprehensive period of starting primary school, akmal's adapted well to both schools. he's quick to grasp the preparing school bags routine and remembers his teachers' reminders well. he doesn't understand the study-before-exam bit yet but its ok. for the first few exams his teachers are always on hand to help out.

he had his last day of exam on his birthday. plus it being a weekday, we prepared him for a day of no celebration and instead move the dinner to the next day, a friday. he, as the birthday boy, was to choose the venue. can't believe something so simple felt like a heavy task for him. he couldn't think at all, so i gave him a piece of paper and said, list down 10 places where you like to eat. he did that. then i said, out of the 10, cancel out those you don't feel like going to today. he did that and was left with 2 places. he went to school thinking about those 2 places and when he came home, he finally decided on the venue for his birthday dinner. phew…that was difficult.

after dinner, he asked for a surprise cake. we didn't have a cake for him, not even a dessert and there was no birthday song. i guess he felt it was not a complete birthday without those two. he said…tomorrow, can you prepare a chocolate cake in the kitchen and then everyone go to the kitchen and then you call me and everyone yell…surprise!! that's a specific surprise from the birthday boy.

we told him, dinner was enough, we don't need to get a cake. but he repeated his request the whole of saturday, finally giving up at dinner time. after dinner, as everyone watched footie in the tv room, i prepared 6 slices of cake, got everyone ready in the kitchen, called akmal and when he walked in, we all yelled…surprise!! and boy, was he surprised!

akmal's a blessing to the family. he's giving me problems with food intake and with his mood swings and his screams whenever he's disturbed by his brothers, but he's showing wonderful exam results, he's showing love for football, he loves going to the weekly football practices, he showing good football knowledge, he loves reading, he can play on his own, he's helpful around the house - sometimes, he's great with amira. a balanced boy, a wonderful baby boy.