Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Raya 2011 Prep! (Part Two)

We finally completed our Raya attires and shopping for this year. Yippee!

Now it's packing time and travelling time. There are so much to pack since we'll be hitting the roads (roadtrip this time round) and visiting 2 states within a week. Little Mia will be doing some very long journey by car and this will be her first time in terms of duration. Hence, there is a LOT to prepare and pack!

My mind is running in circles thinking of things we must take with us tomorrow.
1. Baby monitor
2. Mia's portacot
3. Tonnes change of clothes and raya attires
4. Get small change for 'duit raya's (ok this is actually a to do list)
5. Toys for entertainment in the car
6. Tab and all it's cables
7. Camera
8. Snacks and food for Mia
9. Mia's blanket, pillow and sleeping needs
10. My homemade Raya cookies :)

To name a few. I hope nothing gets left behind. Oh yes and I may have to send Koda and my kitchen plants to Bangi for their dear life during our time away.

Yay for Raya! :):)

Monday, August 22, 2011

Raya 2011 Prep!

I have a confession to make.
I CANNOT WAIT FOR RAYA!!

I just can't seem to put a finger on my Raya excitement this year. We have about 8 days left and I'm ecstatic! I guess it may be because we're celebrating in my hubby's hometown this year and oh my god I think the last time we were there was last year! It could well be almost a year since last we visited.

So in my mind is all about baking cookies, cooking Raya favorites, my lil bug playing and socializing with her cousins (whom would be speaking a different dialect and language all together!), fire crackers, spending some quality time with my in laws and just relax having to be so far away from the city bustles.

I am a city girl, I must admit. I don't think I can ever live too far from civilization. But a different environment and change is always good once in a while :) My MIL is the only one living there now with one of my BILs. She must miss us dearly. I wonder what we can get her this year for Raya.

This is also the first year we are celebrating properly. New clothes for all of us (last 2 years we were on 'recycles', except Mia due to poor planning and adjusting) and home baked cookies :) The first year Raya in Msia we were back too short of a notice to tailor make our attires. Last year we were living in the suburbs and was too tiring to prepare much. So this year was just nice for us. I'm planning to bake cookies and bring them over for my in laws. I might enjoy the visit this time round since we will be back for almost a week and not many people will be around before the day arrives so I'll be able to conquer the kitchen tee hee!

Okay so that's maybe the reason why I'm so ecstatic this year. Plus Mia is much older now and knows what's happening around us to actually join in. I hope her cousins will accommodate her lack of language understanding :( You see, our lil bug has been going to school at 16 months. It is a full-on school with music classes, dance classes, sandplay, playground, lunch/snack time, nap time, art classes, writing classes etc etc so she's learning heaps and has a daily routine. It is structured just the way I like a school to be for her age. The downside is that the school is operated on mainly English language. There are Mandarin classes but no so much Malay. So our bug has a very high command of English vocabs with a few Mandarins but close to no Malays. Though I recently heard her pairing English words to Malay words ("ooh..rain!" waits for me to acknowledge then continues "..hujan") So she is learning some Malay words. Hopefully it's enough for her to understand during playtime with her other cousins. On second thought, may be not. Her cousins may be talking in thick Malay dialects *facepalm* Oh well, the older cousins will be okay I guess. Plus, she's only two and they say toddlers adapt well *crossfingers*

Sigh.
Welcome Raya 2011 :)

Friday, August 19, 2011

Frustrations

I am almost 30
I am married
I have a child
I have a family of my own
I'm no longer living with my parents
Yet I still do feel like running away
*sigh*

Monday, August 15, 2011

Goodness Me! And Ramadhan 2011 update!

Yes, goodness me! I haven't been updating this blog for such a long time. So many, many things had happened since. Trip to Singapore and Universal Studios in May, trip to Guangzhou end of June/July, Mines Wellness Hotel free night stay and buffet, 3rd year anniversary, Mia made cinnamon rolls, Malacca Zoo trip for Daddy's day, red velvet cupcakes order, Mia's first asthma attack!, Bi passing away, Papa admittance to Gleneagles, Mommy's raya cookies!

Though there are so many things to document and blog about, the Universal Studios, Singapore and Guangzhou trip will be without pictures. Unfortunately the camera has been 'stolen', according to Abg.

Mia was potty trained rather unsuccessfully this time. She has shown some keen interest to the potty and knows when she has done a poop or wants to 'sheeshee'. She can very well tells us when she needs washing since was one year plus but not necessarily before she does a wee or poo. Guess the training will have to be put off for some time now. Although Mommy and Daddy had excitedly bought 2 types of potties :) Oh but she does use the potty to wash poo or wee so hopefully she'll get the idea soon *crossfingers*

We are exactly halfway through our Ramadhan 2011. Ramadhan this year is extra special. We managed to have iftar almost every night as a family. Our first Ramadhan as a married couple did not turn up as I had expected. I was in the midst of recovering from morning sickness (although my morning sickness wasn't bad actually), I suppose because it was  my first time. And some food being sauteed from the kitchen just makes my stomach churn so bad. Then come second Ramadhan, darling hubby was not around to celebrate - out stationed. Last year was worse. He left 2 days before Ramadhan and was away for more than 2 weeks! Half of the holy month was without him and I had to stay in Bangi with my parents. This year is definitely special. We had iftar together, cook together and hit the food bazaar together. Best of all, we have our lil toddler with us every time. Bliss :)

Tonight I'm making "paceri terung" (brinjal curry) as per requested by my darling hubby for iftar and maybe we'll buy some delicacies at the food bazaar. Among our favourites every time during Ramadhan is "murtabak", "roti jala", "roti john", "ayam percik", "popia basah". I see these or any one of these at our table almost every night for iftar. Now married with a kid, I still see these at the table. Though not as often, but the smell gets to me every time :) Love it!

We had received some very exciting news yesterday. Hopefully we can manage well and prepare as best we can for our future. And I also see this as a small token to celebrating this festive season a little more extra than we had before. Alhamdulillah..

This Eid will also be special as it will be our second time celebrating in KB. Our first celebration was not too much of a celebration since darling hubby had very little leave time hence we were only able to celebrate on a short notice. We had also just returned from Australia. We are lucky this year hubby gets many days off and so do I (hopefully! It hasn't been approved yet!). If everything goes well, we may be celebrating few days of Ramadhan there as well. I'm ecstatic that I'll be able to cook for Eid and spending time with my in laws properly this time round :) And now that Mia's a lot bigger, she'll be able to run around and experience her Daddy's hometown much better than before.

Speaking of Mia, she has not been too well lately. Lots of phlegm equals to heavy wheezing and vomiting. Her paed said by the end of this week she should be all better. Last week she had to use nebulizers to clear her lungs and airways out. She also had infections on her left lung. She's doing much better today, in fact she's already in school :)

Papa was also admitted earlier Ramadhan for his createnine levels running too high. He looked yellow on the day of admission. He has been discharged since and is looking way better now. Mama's cousin, Bi (Ma's brother) passed away a little before Ramadhan hits. He had been unwell and in and out hospital few times. No one thought he wouldn't survive this time round but he succumbed to his illness this time. May he rest in peace with his other siblings, parents and one son who left us way earlier than him. Amin.