S is for STRENGTH

Photo courtesy of Aunty Rina

Kuching 10 bulan!

Nadirah is 10 month young already?!

Uwa. How fast time flies eh. Mummy seriously cannot catch up with the speed anymore . Fly fly fly. Then come happy gugugaga Friday and next tup tap the depressing Monday morning starts again. The cycle begins and after 4 times, nadirah grows older by another month!

Anyway, where were we last weekend? KUCHING! yeah, you heard me. Meowwww! We went to Kuching last weekend, went on Saturday morning and came back on Sunday. 2 days 1 night trip. Haha. How kewl is that? Yes and No. Not so kewl coz Penat mak enonnnn! BUT BUT BUT we enjoy the short gateway tremendously!

My sister and hubby are residing there so we stayed at their place for the night. Arrived in Kuching Airport around 10am and Aunty Nen, Uncle Yasir and Aisyah were already there waiting for us. We came in a HUGE group of 6 - Mummy, Abi, Opah, Maryam Nadirah, Maryam Harmoni and Mama Pikok. Alhamdulillah Mummy and Abi didn't have to pay for Maryam Harmony and Mama Pikok. Mummy sorok both of them in large handbag and they were quite troughout the journey. Oh yah, it was Nadirah first journey on a plane! Hiphip Hurrey! She's soo like Mummy, attention-seeker-bebeh. Bising btol dalam flight buat bunyi AAaaaaAAaa..AaaaAAAaaaa..AaaaAAAaaaaa. Alhamdulillah tak nangis and the journey just took about 1hour and 40minutes.

Ok, then we straight away serbu rumah Imah and ate our breakfast. Then we went to Pasar Sarikin/Serikin. Wowweh. It's situated at the Border between Sarawak and Kalimantan. We spent almost 3 hours there + journey to and fro around 2 hours plus plus so total time spent for the trip = close to 7 hours! Mmg sampai kuchingg all of us were flat. We had our dinner at Aunty Nen's house sedap giler maid tu masak seafooodd, menjilat jari kaki. Nadirah ratah ikan terubuk goreng macam orang tuwe and I have to stop her from eating after her long eat-ton marathon! Fresh terubuk, not masin. Mmg sedappppp. Ikan terubuk goreng 4 ekor besar mcm Giant. Cicah air kicap cili padi. Siakap asam pedas. Udang sweet sour. Sambal tempoyak. Ulam. Air ribena. Nenas. ^_^

We lepak there till magrib. Mandi2, refresh ourself and then balik rumah Imah. by 8pm we called it a day already.

Sunday morning, we were still tired and lepak at home till Zohor. Mind you Zohor in Kuching is one hour earlier than us so around 12 plus, zohor dah. After Zohor we went to Dayang Salhah kek lapis shop and borong RM200 worth of kek lapis. Opah la borong banyak. Dapat satu kek free. Hehe. Then had our lunch at ChilliPeppers @ Rubber Road, sponsored by Uncle Yasir and Aunty Nen. TQ so much! Moga murah rezeki selalu! Oh yah, it's Imah's birthday anyway! Happy birthday MakYang dari Nadirah tersayang. :-) Then borong ikan terubuk and finally our final pit-stop is Waterfront and borong some sourveniers.

A brief tour to Kuching but definitely we'll be coming back! So many places to see and so many exciting eating places that we missed, so Kuching: Version Revisited is now park in our diary next year, insya-Allah. A lay back, clean, relaxing city. Great place indeed!

Last but not least, Happy 10th month birthday si sayang comel Mummy! Mummy Abi love you so much!

The snuggMT and I

These days it seems impossible to leave the house without my snugg MT. Especially when I have four, I repeat F-O-U-R bags to carry at the same time when I rush to work every morning. 2 nadirah's and 2 mine. Like Mummy like daughter la. :-)

We have 3 baby carriers; 2 pouches and 1 MT. I'm hoping to try other types of slings, if money in the bank permits ;-)

Abi balik cepat! It's friday..la..la..la..


:-)

Irresistable

Can we have one Abi?
^_^

Mommy vs. Mummy

This entry is dedicated for Nadirah. Call me Mummy ya sayang. Not Mommy :-)

I've read this entry (below) long long long time ago, from one of my old time fav author's blog, Jane Green.

I realise in my last blog The Maniac phoned me up and said, ‘Mum, can you come and get me.’

He didn’t actually say that. What he, in fact, said was: ‘Mom, can you come and get me.’

I am still trying to get over the fact that all of my children call me Mom in thick American accents. I don’t want to be Mom. I want to be Mummy.

They say yo-ghurt instead of yog-urt, bath instead of barth, and tomaytoe instead of…well, you get the picture.

But here’s what’s really worrying. I am so used to it that when I go back to London and listen to the children of my friends, I am mesmerised by the perfect English accents coming out of these small people.

‘They’re so adorable!’ I will literally clap my hands in delight. ‘Say something else! Go on! Anything!’

And yet, if you watch any of my videos on YouTube (also, I think under the press page here), you will see that even after eight years here, I sound as English as can be.

My only change is when people ask me where I live, I say Connecticut with an American accent. It’s just easier than clipping the T’s. But at least I never said it the way my 99-year-old Grandmother says it, bless her: Connect-icut. Pronouncing the not-so-silent ‘c’.

Surely being called Mummy once in a while isn’t too much to ask?

My 1st Walker

Last Saturday morning was a big day for me. I woke up and heard Mummy excitedly asking Abi to open up my present. A present from Abi. I'm so happy!

Can you see my face there? I was so excited seeing the big blue box. Can't wait!

Leave this to me Abi, I know how to handle this. I'm a big girl already!

Abi, cepat Abi. I want I want!

What's this Abi? Hmm..

I'm ready anytime Abi if you need the blue log.

Hmm.. Why does this creature come with tyres? Is it a car?

A car with a phone? Musykil..

Ok, almost done, almost done!

Finally, masuk bateri...

And the car sings! Wowwwiiii! How kewl is thatt!

And I can call Mummy too! Is this Xpack or what Mummy? What's Abi's number? 1-2-3-4?


The day after (Sunday)...

Ape mende bawah ni.. tpt isi susu Mummy ke?

Where's the milk department Harmony? OUR milk?

At the back ke Harmony?

Mummy, can't find the milk..Can I have some now, pleaseeee..


Thank you Abi for making her days brighter and my ears bingit-er! :*
(Honestly, the sounds can drive you close to craziness if you listen non-stop more than 3 hours. You've been warned =)


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Change Ur Driving Experience

I've been meaning to write about this since Ramadhan but always forgot about it.

How to make your journey to work as Ibadah?

Of course, one can always enter the car, starts the engine and says, "Sahaja aku menekan minyak pergi ke kerja pada pagi yg mulia ini kerana Allah Taala.."

But many don't even remember to bace doa bangun tidor every morning including me, inikan nak pasang niat every morning at the very peak hour - I'm going to work for Allah. Unlikely.

IMHO, since going to work is a routine for us, so why not we try as much as possible to make our driving experience from the normal daily doses of radio panas DJs rambling to smooth soothing Al-Quran recitation from your fav Qari. These are few suggestions that I can think of:

1. Tune in to Radio IKIM.fm 91.5 Klang Valley area.

Every morning, if you're an early bird and already in the car by 6.30am, then don't miss the Tafsir Ayatul Quran by Ust Zahazan. (Ulangan siaran 7.30pm) I strongly recommend those who got time to listen to this, even when you're not driving. Worth every seconds listening to his fængslende explanation/tazkirah. He wrote the book below; a good book for every home and a perfect gift for newly weds or new moms and baby showers.

If you're a late come like me, don't be despaired. 7.30am every weekday, there's a slot called 'Durrul Hikmah' that last for about 15 minutes. Every specific day, the slot is occupy by different Ustaz and different topic. My all time favourite is Ust Zawawi, every Tuesday and his tazkirah is on Hadith-hadith Akhir Zaman. Sangat la best Masya-Allah. Last time, once in a while Ust Zaharuddin appears in the show on Monday.

2. Tune in to Quran Recitation

Sheikh Mahir and Sheikh Masyari Rashid are our favourite!

3. Listen to CD Kuliah2 Agama

One of the best place to download free Kuliah/Tazkirah is here. Download them in your thumb drive as many files as you like, then use the gadget below (connect to the lighter plug) and tadaaa.. millions of ilmu will pouring our of every corner of your the car speakers. How's dat sound?

Ok, I'm sleepy already. Whoever has any other suggestions, shout! :-)