August retrospectively

Dear Amir,

August was a whirlwind month for us so it's expectedly quiet in here. There's the takeover of a big project in K. Selangor, Pak Ngah's wedding in Endau and Alor Setar, then our short trip to Penang, our low key uncelebrated 4th anniversary, Tok Ma's and Che' Su's bday, Tok Ma & Tok Pa's uncelebrated 30th anniversary, Tok Ma's admission to hospital (again), 5 tenders to complete and company account submission.

I guess yang lain2 tu not a big deal but when Tok Ma was admitted that day due to hypertension mcm biasala everything went haywire (ie work, home, social, emotional, physical.. etc) cos we never learn our lesson the last time she was hospitalised and everyone is still patheheticly dependant on her like a baby. It's frustrating and i feel sad for her. But she has stabilised now and I am determine to not let her go back there, if only I can control what goes on in her overactive worrywart brain and of course how others act/say around her.

So Ramadhan is here, halfway through the course already. Only managed to go for terawikh once..heh. Out the first week (timing baikk punya.. ceh), 2nd week saw us working like zombies then I had stiff neck that went for 5 days, resulting in me crying like a baby 4 nites in a row due to excruciating throbbing pain whenever i lay my head on the pillow (Dahla bulan puasa, tido interrupted.. cannot properly sleep some more). We have been break fasting at Tok Ma's every day weekdays at her request cos she needs the help to clear up after dinner.. and it's fun that way too. Weekends are solely for Papa where i grant him his (menu) wish semampu mungkin. And we have rice for sahur... the complete rice with lauk pauk deal cos your dear Kedahan Papa just cant live without his fix of rice. So far manageable so I dont mind the cooking and stuff. In fact I dont really mind having less sleep nowadays.. perhaps cos Adik has established stable sleeping pattern at nite so i dont feel the rush to clock in hours of sleep as soon as she doze off kot. And i've learned to just let go and have my time now - give adik to kakak, let papa play with you and then sleep like a queen.. haha!

So Adik is 5 months old now. Unlike when it was your time, I didnt document her every single firsts for the last 5 months . Unlike when it was your time, this blog is not filled with what she did every single day or week. It's kinda sad but kinda expectedla kan.One thing about having a blog to jot down your development is that it helps to recall your progress, as benchmark for Adik's. So far, Adik is developing superbly. She's an expert at turning, either side. She can turn back to tummy to back. She can move her body backwards and in circle. She can lift up her upper body on both her hands. She's also starting to lift up her butt. Overall her progress is ok, alhamdulillah.. and she's also one bundle of happiness, always.

She cant keep still when we hold her up, she's the bouncing, jumping kinda baby, so unlike her calm and content brother. In fact, in terms of physique, she's lean and long (leggy lady) not round and stocky like you were.

She puts everything in her mouth and she drools a lot too. Now i know why they make supersmall bibs for small babies like her - never have to use them with you then. She love sucking on her fingers. She's showing sign that she's ready to wean. Smacking her lips when she smell food. Sucking on her thumb vigorously when she see us eat. I think I'll wean her off veryvery soon. Just waiting for her eczema to clear a bit before trying to feed her so that I can clearly identify if there's any allergy reaction. Paed diagnosed her with acute eczema, she cant be exposed to hot, stuffy places too long else her face'll develop red spots that looks like scalding marks. In fact, your uncles endearingly call her Si Tompok (my bros la ni, kerja sapa lagi?). Paed gave me some cream to put on those spots but it doesnt seem to work so we brought her to skin specialist who prescribed her with more cream. Frankly, i hate putting on those medic on her skin.. but who am i to wait it out and hope everything is fine without doing anything. Oh well, usaha and hope for the best.. the experts should know wat they're doing.

Oh, her fav person on this universe now is YOU. Nampak kelibat je she will chuckle and start jumping around. It melts my heart over and over again when I hear her gedik giggles playing with you. Yes, she sounds very gedik when she's chuckling/giggling.. or maybe i'm not used to a baby girl's sound cos boy, your voice were faar different back then.. very mm.. boyish? haha.. Apart from the giggles, she vocalise a lot, she likes to babble/shriek using her high pitch voice.. very 'makcik'-like. Just like you, she 'nags' herself to sleep.. (babble not stop when i cradle and sing lullaby for her)

As for you.. you've grown to become my best little chatterbox buddy ever. Your vocab has multiply tremendously and your words are now illustrated with full expression, so it's great fun to chat with you now. It's also much much easier to communicate with you since we can reason out with you now. You like to use expressive phrases like 'pun', 'lah','kot','amboi (my fav). You love stories, will ask us to tell you a particular story again and again then repeat the story for us in your own words.. total cuteness. But as usual, you prefer stories of your surrounding, ppl that you know, things that you like doing.. rather than stories from books which u cant relate to. You are also getting smarter, able to process logic and link between one info an another. You saw a premature baby on Nat Geo documentary the other day and exclaimed.. Baby sakit.. papa dia hisap rokok (referring to the 'baby' pic on a ciggy pack). When you see a tent, you'll say Uncle kawin.. banyak telorr.. (referring to bunga telur..)

As a big bro, you're still loving, helpful and protective. It's amazing looking such kind of big bro character in a young fella like you. You will help me to accompany Adik when she's fussing for milk while i'm making some for her. You'll say things like "Adik dont cry, Abang adeee.. ". When I ask you to hold the bottle for her, you will chat while feeding her. "Yaya nak susu? Mama buat, Amir egang (pegang)". And yes, when she cry and I'm at a dead end to make her stop, you'll contribute your own words like, "Dont cry Yaya, shhh.. notty ni.. notty Yaya." But of course, there are instances when you will show the siblings rivalry normalcy like fighting over Tok Ma's attention (rarely happen with me though, i wonder why), taking her toys away, insisting to sleep on her side of the bed. So i guess everything is normal.. better than expected perhaps.

Penang 2009 - Travelling with two

Dear Amir,

Last weekend, we went back to Alor Setar for Pak Ngah's wedding. It was our first trip driving back with both of you. (We didnt bring Sarah along to Endau for the bride's side a week earlier.. and thank God we didnt). The trip back was kinda ok with more stops than usual, hence longer than usual too. We stopped in K.Kangsar for the infamous pau (siap call to book upfront) and the ikan bakar lunch by the kuala. You didnt sleep till after lunch, which is so unlike you who normally fall asleep within 15 mins once we hit the highway. You were babbling all the way, commenting on every single thing you see. When you got tired, you asked for your carseat which we didnt bring to make space for Adik's one instead. Adik on the other hand is so unlike you when you were a baby. She's such a wakeful baby that she only took several short naps throughout the trip. But after K.Kangsar, it rained and you both sleep (you celah my ketiak, sandwiched by pillows) till Alor Setar.

The journey to Penang was smooth, both of you slept well till we board the ferry. It was your third time on Penang ferry ride, but this time you're old enough to understand and were enthusiastic about it, although you didnt really understand that we're on a ferry rather than just watching ferries sail by. On the other hand, it was Adik's maiden ride, and just like you she just doesnt get it and seems irritated by the wind.

Before checking in, we stopped by Hameediya to pack our nasi kandaq lunch. Upon arrival, both of you were ssooooo excited. You were literally running and jumping and shouting about (sorry neighbours!). Adik was squeeling, chuckling and babbling non stop too. We stayed in the whole day, reclaiming our sleep from the past chaotic and hot nites in Alor Setar. Then we went out to tapau dinner from Gurney's drive. I must say, i'm dissapointed with the food there.. halal food lah. Limited choices and tak sedap. I mean, when i'm getting Penang delicacy in Penang's main eating hotspot, i deserve to have high expectationla kan. But nevermind to that, we still managed to stuf our face silly and it's rezeki alright.

Next day pretty much the same thing. Buffet breakfast (which i find more challenging with 2 to handle) then off to the pool, then lazing around in the room (while papa go tapau Nasi Kandaq Line Clear pulak), then Gurney plaza, then tapau dinner. We also managed to have some quiet time that nite with tall coffee in hand since both of you kong-ed early. We left the next day at 1pm, after tiring you out at the pool the whole morning. Journey back was kinda relaxing since both of you sleep most of the time.

All in all I think it was thoroughly enjoyed trip, just the way we planned it to be. The journey was surprisingly manageable, i think thank to you for behaving and undertstanding that Adik needs more of my attention now. It was also liberating for me to know that I am capable of such independance, i mean a trip without maid, or tok ma.. u know. Although we stayed in most of the time (H1N1 alert), I guess we did manage to make the best out of the trip (foodwise and claiming lost sleep). I think it'll be another half yr till we go there again (looking at the previous trips pattern) which is cool since Adik will be 1 then, probably able to toddle along, so that we can go eat nasi kandar in it's hot, curry-smelling ambience.. and oh.. the Penang Rd cendol that we had to give a miss this round.

Nak naik ferry!

MiniMe!


Jumping happily in Adik's cot upon arrival

All ready for the most looked forward activity

Bought her a teenytiny swimsuit, which she didnt get to use. Sampai pool je terus tido

And she woke up a happy little thing

Went back to the room for some snuggling time

We were the only guest at the pool the next day

Bliss

Dear Sarah,

Your brother, Abang Amir turned 2 recently. Ever since then, he has been living up to its reputation, demonstrating what TERRIBLE TWO actually means. But i wont dwell on that, cos as usual, i keep on reminding myself that at leastI had it easy the last 24 months.

So I try to laugh it out when he wont stop crying and insisted to sleep naked in the office lounge yesterday, took back Aunty Mazidah's jar of sweets and insist to CHEW them one after another and smile cheekily when we scolded or reprimanded him. Of course, there are instances that I dont find it funny anymore like when he spit on Aunty Mazidah today, keep on opening one mineral water after another and throwing it away after only few sips (also today) or shouted on top of his lung when he noticed that you just fell asleep (today and last few days).

But you know what? Despite the fact that he wont let you sleep nowadays, he love you too bits still. He loves singing tepuk amai2 for you now. He also sings praise for you. He said Yaya comeyyyy angat.. Yaya wangiiiii angat every single time he plays with you. And he's catching loads of words fast these days though not that keen on structured learnings such as colours, shapes.. Well, at least he knows his ABC and 123 although he'll immediately say 'Tak tau!Tak andai!' when we asked him to say it for us. What he's more interested now is unconventional things like the names of her uncles' gfs, the type of car we drive, the names of petrol stations (ie shell, petronas, etc). Wont even learn names of animals but knows the different parts of the car interior (dashboard, meter, handbrake, steering, gear.. etc)

He gets on my nerves a lot these days that boy, but i sure love him dearly. Hope you bare with him too and enjoy his endless tepuk amai2 while he still care to sing for you ; )

(recorded at bedtime via 'hidden camera' cos he hates being photographed, but noticed it at the end and went off immediately despite being very sleepy)

TWO

Dear Amir,

I hope you have fully recovered from the birthday party excitement. More specifically, the singing and candle blowing and cake cutting. I know I havent.

So we did throw you a party despite the fact that we're on a strict budget. Needless to say, it was totally worth it (refer pic below). Will write more about it later, still compiling pics from various paparazzi that day.

Anyway, before it's 'too basi', Happy Birthday my dearest Amir. Hope you had great fun the other day, and a blessed and happy life ahead. Bila besar jadi manusia berguna k dear? I love you loads.

(Pic cilok from Oja's fb, thanks Aunty Oja!)