All Packed

i'm ahead of schedule. initially planned to pack when the boys are sleeping tonight, but they slept quite a bit during the day, so i started early. plus is better in case there's things we need to buy.














we're travelling pretty light this time around (compared to the gold coast trip). well, as light as you can get with a toddler and a baby (rafiqah...prepare yourself!) we've only got 2 small suitcases (without the toiletteries, which usually takes up half of the suitcase). we've got 3 backpacks - hubby's, amir's and asyraf's (which we will get at the airport as its currently with tiza...)














i just hope this trip will not be marred by asyraf's current condition - he's a bit under the weather. he's feverish, but perks up after his paracetamol. i hope it doesnt turn out to be something bad, insyaallah...

Baby Names

oopsss...tagged by aidan's mummy...i think i did a long entry about names earlier but i wont disappoint dot :)

baby #1
everyone who knows me, would know that i only wanted to have boys. i was very, very confident of getting one as well (alhamdulillah, with nightly prayers, i did get my wish). so i never looked at girls names. i wanted a boy for a first born to lead his younger siblings (so unlike pappy eh?) so a good leader's name should be chosen. the first name i found, that meant leader, was "amir". i mmediately fell in love with the name. as hubby's name had the initial I, i wanted my boys to follow and have a name that starts with I as well. that's where "iskandar" came into the picture. i've always felt that that name was so distinguished, and to add it to amir would emphasise one's leadership attributes. so amir iskandar (leader and defender of humankind) was born.

baby #2
people usually say, well...after getting a boy, i'm sure you'd like a girl. noooo...not me! i wanted another boy. i wanted amir to have a playmate and i didnt want to bother thinking of setting up another bedroom since they both can share. alhamdulillah...allah gave us another boy. since amir had the initials e-a-i (e being the family name brought down by hubby - engku), my little no2 would have to have the same initials.

i dont know how i came up with asyraf. i've always loved that name (a friend was going out with a boy with that name in uni). it wasnt a common name, and choosing names that start with A you're bound to choose one that's quite common. i'm not sure hubby actually like that name when i proposed it to him. but i really wanted it, especially when i found out that it meant "most honourable". to compete with amir, my second son would need a name with a powerful meaning. then i thought of the baby's responsibility to the family...that's how i chose a name. since the first born is the leader, the second would be the one that is knowledgeable from the religious point of view. one that the siblings would go to to ask for religious advice. naturally, his name would end with a "din". going thru the baby names, i picked out "izzuddin" which means might of religion. i proposed it to hubby, he was against it. he said it reminded him of a friend who had the same name, but he's ok with the name without "din" - izzat. but i was determined, i told him my reasons for chosing the name. i think he finally relented when i said i wanted a third generation of "din" (from my father to hubby and now to my son). so we decided on asyraf izzuddin (the most honourable might of religion).

baby #3
after a leader and an ustaz, baby no 3 would be the one that holds the family together. our first task was to choose a name that means family. i found a name that comes closest - brotherhood. so now to choose the name that begins with A. that was difficult. hubby chose first. we both loved the name but it didnt sound right when we put all the names together. so we looked some more. we have sort of chosen a name that means knowledge, hoping baby no 3 would have the knowledge of brotherhood to bind the family together. amir's been calling him baby A**** so i guess the leader approves of the name...

who should i tag now...
1. man & ckn (because i just love the name erica...)
2. trueblue
3. nolie
4. ila
5. nae
6. the ibu of 4littlewans if she has the time...

Craving

i had different craving during all three pregnancies.

during my first pregnancy, i absolutely loved and had to have milk. i would gobble down cartons and cartons of milk a day. no surprise, i put on a lot of weight. amir too was affected, he was born with 1 tooth and had his 2nd tooth by the time he turned 3 weeks old.

when i was pregnant with asyraf, it was fast food. i ate just whopper and big mac during the 9 months. poor asyraf tends to be under the weather quite often when he was younger. maybe its due to my bad eating habits.

for this current pregnancy, i love fruits. i would stop by the fruit stall outside the klcc lrt station everyday to get my daily dose of "mixed fruit" plus something else, either rambutan, grapes of apples. rambutan was a month ago...now its grapes. maybe baby eai#3 will be all nice and sweet, insyaallah...

Smile

to those who've never seen asyraf smile...

















and one of my 2 boys together...

Look Away...

...if you dont want to know what happens in book 7.

i fnished it within a day (a little bit more). told hubby i'd be done overnight (which i did lah, technically), now i have to patiently wait for him and mock to read the book so that i can discuss it with them.

my views on the book-
1. it was a bit too short for my liking;

2. having read it, i'm glad it was short - its a bit too heavy and anything longer than what it was would not have been a nice read;

3. some of the things that remained vague previously, have been put to pen and paper (dates, for example). so now the story kind of has a timeline, which somehow bring it down to earth;

4. upon dumbledore's death, he left a few things to a few people. dumbledore's magic wasnt explained in detail previously. now that his things are in the hands of others, more info was given to his posessions. it makes the book more "magical" then the other 6. which is a bit contradictory to point 3, so its sort of a juggle between the two;

5. there are more danger, more deaths and very action packed. i was not happy with some of the deaths. the first was a bit sad, she was harry's friend from the beginning, it was sad to see her go. the second was, shocking but expected - even by the person who died, i'm sure. the third, tak apa lah...no biggie. the fourth was the saddest, i cried and i felt cheated of a good character. there wasnt much details to the death of the fifth and sixth, but that too was sad. so the paper that stated there'll be 6 people dead was right, in a way. there were more, of course - cant be just 6 people dying in the big battle, can it - but these 6 were pretty profound;

6. the best chapter ever (out of all 7 books) was towards the end of this book - the prince's tale. it was jaw dropping and by the end of the chapter, one would go...aaaaahhhhhhhh...now i get it;

7. i like the epilogue;

8. i still cant accept the fact that since voldermort's gained his power and all the death eaters are on the loose, and the dementors are on his side, he still cant manage to track down 3 17-year-olds running from one part of the country to another. i mean, harry's not the best of the wizards, is he - he's been more lucky than great. hermoine's more of book smart but not really equipped with dealing with the dark lord and his ally, while ron is just...well, ron. those 3 against malfroy, bellatrix, even snape yet they cant get to them. a bit the pelik, i think;

9. but all in all, i like the book and i'm sad to end the series.

now we wait for the 2 movies. i dont think the movies are as powerful as the books. those who only watch the movie wont feel the story as those who read the book. the book is more descriptive, more detailed, it pulls you more than the movies. but then its nice to see how it differs from how we readers envision it to be...

My Favourite Shop

i went in to get windbrakers for my 2 boys. but i got 4 t-shirt for my little angel instead (even though he disturbs me at 3am every night...). it was on sale...i couldnt help it!! and i got a pair of pants for myself...

Bits and Pieces

a bit of a rojak-rojak update. last weekend was practically a stay-at-home weekend. hubby went out for an interview on saturday morning, so the boys and i stayed at home. wasnt difficult taking care of 2 boys at one time, for those who may think its a great big chore. it was actually quite nice. i could even have a nice breakfast with amir while asyraf was playing with his teether. then asyraf was crawling round the room, stopping to pick at every single toy, food crumbs, dust he comes across. amir was eating, running and basically terrorising the dining and tv room. so i opened the dining room doors, and let him run outside.

which brings me to my next update. the landscape people came over on sunday to have a look at our garden (aka hutan belantara). the cost to plant new grass is right on my budget, so we've decided to proceed. he can only start after we come back from our holiday, though. and it will take around 4-5 months for the grass to grow completely...just in time for asyraf's birthday.

speaking of which, i have made 1 sample of the party favour i'm planning to distribute to the mummies. it was quite easy to make, surprisingly. now i only need to make another 50, which should take just 1 weekend to complete. i've got the cover ready but hubby didnt approve of my first draft, so i have to re-do it. then its all done. the favours for children has been booked with rafiqah - who was so kind to entertain all my long emails (haha...mummy yang sungguh excited, i ni kan??) the other 3 things for the favour will be bought in 2 weeks time and closer to the date. rafiqah also gave me an idea for another group of guests - the under 1s. i initially thought i wasnt going to give them any favours as they are to small to enjoy the ones prepared for the children, but rafiqah pointed out that they too should get something, so i decided on something simple, yet useful for them. so basically the planning is done, the work is half-way done, just waiting for a little bit more things to complete the preparation. hubby still have not decided on the caterer. we have a couple in mind. their food is great but they are more of a 1 or 2 man show, so we're afraid either the food will come late, or the leftovers will not be cleared in time, or there will be no one to help serve the guests.

this weekend i'll be having my week 28th check up. its 28 weeks already, i'm already in my third trimester. time flies. i honestly didnt feel the first trimester flying by. maybe i was too busy with the boys. now the baby's kicking, its impossible not to feel anything. this little man is pretty laid back compared to his elder brothers. if i thought amir was a kicker, i was totally wrong. asyraf is the footballer in the family. his kicks are powerful, even hubby's giving up changing his diapers, and the boy is not even 8 months old. that's what we get for having a baby with birthmarks on both legs. amir's birthmark is only on his right leg. but little man no 3 is very relaxed. stops kicking when i tell him to, doesnt disturb me during the night, especially after a shower, doesnt disturb me much when i'm doing my work, he also loves to kick asyraf when asyraf's having his susu. his name has been picked and amir calls him "baby a..." and gets angry when baby a starts kicking mummy. "oh diaaaa..." amir would scold him...

after the check up, we'll be going to mph, 1 utama to get our hands on the harry potter series finale. hubby wants to read first, but i told him i'd finish the book by sunday (yeah...right!!) then he can have it. i also need to get to get small luggages for our holiday. i've got the huge, gabak one and a smaller sized one but with no handle. so both cant be used.

holiday pulak. i've done my clothes-to-bring list a million times since june before finalising the list last night. had a quiet night, with amir watching his mickey mouse in my room, hubby was on the net looking for new jobs, while asyraf slept from 8pm (ah...mummy's little angel). so i managed to go through the boys cupboard to decide on what to clothes to bring and also where to go. saw my dad on monday, he suggested some places. well, he would know. he goes to perth as often as he goes to temerloh - just to play golf. one more thing that's missing from the boys' list is windbreakers for the both of them. saw 1 that i like in mothercare and they have a size for both amir and asyraf. so that's where i'm heading during lunch...

Review

mock wanted me to give a 1 word desciption of the movie. i sms-ed her and said "i would have paid 3 times what i paid, the fighting scenes were out of this world...the best of the lot, so far" heh...so much for 1 word!

seriously...it was just...for lack of better words...best siot!! i was straight to the point, cleverly edited but not missing out on any important stuff (although i did notice they didnt show aunt petunia receiving the letter from the owl, and the 'it could be harry or neville' bit).

it didnt dwell on any bit longer than it should, like umbridge taking over the school, hermoine & ron being made prefects, percy's defection, harry's anger (which was the irritating bit of the book), ron trying out for the quidditch team, harry's crush on cho and her whining over cedric. they took a bit of everything and packed them quite nicely.

the fighting scenes at the ministry of magic is something everyone waited to see. how would they envision it to be. it was seriously great! the scene in the room of prophecies, the death eaters vs the auror, sirius scene with bellatrix and especially dumbledore v voldemort, that scene was jaw-dropping!

daniel radcliffe has matured so much, gary oldman was just fantastic, the girl who played luna was great (even the guy who played neville) but i espcially loved - in his limited but great scenes - ralph fiennes.

Today's The Day

its out!! been waiting for ages...got chills watching the trailer. even amir's been asking for it.

even at the gold class (our first time in there...gasp!!) its sold out. but at least the boys, and us, will be comfy. we wanted the 9pm show but its totally gone, so we went for the next one. an earlier show would mean a wide-eyed asyraf (more so than his usual wide eyes) and that's not good.

bought this with hubby yesterday.

mock...arent you excited?! 10 more days for the series finale...

Barbeque

amir went to the movies with my sisters on sunday. while asyraf slept, hubby and i got down to some serious business...cleaning! he vacuumed the whole of the upstairs, even moving our bed, the tables and the bookshelves and vacuumed underneath them (we found a lot of amir's "lost" toys under the bed). then i mopped...i cheated, actually. i just threw water on the floor and walked around with a towel under my feet. penat lah...i just finished a great urut session and my muscles ached.

my cousins told us last week they wanted to come over and see the boys. so hubby and i planned a small barbaque. nothing fancy, just some grilled chicken, barbeque wings and kebab. i cheated with the side dishes, i got my cousins to bring over kfc's whipped potato and coleslaw. also got my sisters to bring over ice cream for dessert. simple dimple...

amir came back to a house full of people (fuller than usual, that is). then start lah, his hyperness. screaming here and there, jumping here and there. asyraf found it very amusing, laughing everytime abang long jumped and screamed near him.

the kebabs...














the barbeque wings and grilled chicken...














final product...














asyraf and my cousins...














amir swimming

Rindu

they didnt see each other the whole day, one followed hubby to a wedding, the other stayed at home with me. when they finally saw each other, both wanted to lepaskan rindu...

Reading Time

got myself some free, boys-less time recently. bought a book during my long friday lunch and finished it on my day off on monday. i didnt realise my favourite author had a new book on the shelves (lia...tak cakap pun). i was first a bit sceptical, i thought it would be her normal "guy meets girl - guy and girl gets into a fight - guy apologises in front of the world" kind of story but i was pretty surprised towards the end of the book. its a nice twist to her normal stuff.


now that i'm in a reading mood - maybe i'll have another lunch session at the kino coffee house again on friday - i'm counting down the days to the day this book comes out...

Planning

yeah...i'm a planner. zu gets upset everytime i talk about my plans for asyraf's birthday. she's getting married around the same time, and she's not finished planning, while i'm already ticking off most of the things on my "to-do" list. hehehe...sorry zu, terpaksa lah...

i've been planning asyraf's birthday since he turned 3 months. yup...that early. it was around that time that i found out i was pregnant and due to give birth a month before asyraf's big day, so i didnt want that to have an effect on his first birthday. i wanted to make sure his party would go on, and it would a great one. i would probably still be in confinement or just about to finish my confinement so i wouldnt be able to give my all in planning his party at that time. so i have to start now and have to buy what i can while i still have the energy.

at the moment, i have the following things sorted -
1. date - it will be 24 november 2007, from 3pm-6pm (coincidently its the same day as my office annual dinner, and a day before zu's bertandang, but i hope my colleagues will be able to make it). bloggers - mark that date on your calendar!

2. theme - not much of a theme person, but we have to find something so that the cakes, invites and party favours, at least, would match. for amir we had a football theme party. for asyraf i wanted something cute, so we went for a "first birthday" theme.

3. cards - bought cards to match the theme from party @ world at ikano.

4. party favours - the favour bag matches the card. inside would be the normal chocolate, sweets, balloons but i'm also thinking of adding something of rafiqah's (hehehe...tak sabarnya!). for the mummies, i got an idea of what to give them from one of the magazines i bought. its really quite nice, quite different and can be enjoyed by the mummies, the children and maybe the daddies would find it useful as well ;)

5. cake - i'm getting shida to create a design to match the theme, the cards and favour bags. shida made the cuppies for amir and my sister's birthday earlier this year, and i really loved it.

6. caterer - i'm handing that over to hubby but we basically have decided on the menu. since we're doing it after lunch, we're going to go for a hi-tea menu (as one would for a birthday party).

7. guest list - that sort of have been decided. hubby and i would need to qc the list again nearer the date but its pretty much sorted.

8 the birthday boy - i'm thinking of getting something for asyraf, like a "birthday boy" bib or hat or something like that.

that's about it, i guess. i'm scratching my head to think of what is missing but i cant find any. i cant wait to celebrate the day my little baby turns 1...

Hari Kecemerlangan Pelajar

amir had his prize giving / speech / concert day on saturday. ever since we got the letter informing the parents that the school was organising a concert, we've been asking amir if he's singing (his answer was "haa...") or if he's dancing (his answer was "haa...").

come the day, we were so excited and so curious. we were quite impressed with the school. they put up 2 canopies for the parents, a small stage for the perfomances, the teachers even wore matching baju kurungs with name tags (so we finally knew who cikgu sally, cikgu ummu that amir's been mentioning were).

amir's performance was the first. being the youngest, i guess, the teachers were afraid they would start acting up as the day progressed. amir was getting a prize for being no 2 in his class in the recent mid-year exam. the headmistress, who seem very motherly, informed the parents that the year-end convocation would be held in a cooler, bigger hall in november. i might not be able to make it, darn it.

amir and 5 of his classmates stepped on stage at around 9am. hakim cried seeing his mother so there were 5 left, amir was right in the middle, he was the tallest. he seemed calm but a bit shocked seeing the crowd. then he saw us and had a big smile on his face. as usual after that, he started introducing (from the stage) his friends to us and us to his friends.

the the song started. everyone clapped and laughed seeing 5 very cute kids, all dressed in blue overalls and caps, singing and dancing to "twinkle, twinkle little star". unfortunately hubby was too busy with the video camera and amir's mummy was too busy crying seeing her little baby on stage, that we forgotten to take pictures. maybe hubby can get some from his colleagues. then we were entertained by children from different age groups with singing, dancing, some acting, nasyid and recital of sajak, poetry and surah, hadis & ayat al-quran. we were very impressed with the children and the effort the teachers had put into making this a great morning.

amir having breakfast and in his performance attire...

taking prize for being 2nd in class...

we belanja-ed amir pizza hut (cos i had craving) and amir so tired on the way back...