The Kids Register For School

We finally managed to register the girls for kindergarten last Tuesday after having delayed it for months. The school term had started as early as January, but then since Hannah was due to travel with her parents to Germany in February, we had planned to put it off until March. But work came like tornadoes after that and we never got around to doing it. After much nagging from my mum, we finally got around to set an appointment with the school principal to register the girls. And thank goodness there were still places..

Hannah was buzzing with excitement before we left home for the school that morning, making sure she was wearing / carrying what was appropriate. "Abah, i cannot wear pampers (diapers) to school because otherwise my friends will laugh at me". Talk about peer pressure at such a young age! She then went on talking about what you should and shouldn't be doing at school, telling Insyirah the same. Being a few months younger, Insyirah's reaction to the idea still had a feeling of nonchalance and she was mostly playing on the excitement exhibited by Hannah.

As we got to the school, the sight of other kids in their uniform running about and doing their class activities proved too much to the girls: they asked to don their new pair of uniform as well and even took the chance to join in the classroom session for a bit. Had she be given the choice, Hannah would have wanted to stay on in class for the rest of the day. Insyirah on the other hand had already asked to go home (!), obviously not used to the idea of missing her usual morning routine just yet. Their official first day at school would start in the first week of May. Hannah would just have to be patient till then while wifey and i would have a task in our hands to get Insyirah mentally and physically ready for her new routine of going to school in the morning by then...

p/s: you would have noticed that incomplete version of the above posting was posted a number of times over the last few days. I had attempted to post the posting above via mobile blogging (as has been the case with most of my postings of late) but there seem to have been a bug with the mobile blogging feature. I am still clueless as to the cause of the bug, and the above was finally posted via my laptop.

Talk about an anticlimactic experience...

"It's Gone!"

After performing my Maghrib prayers with my parents in their room, I returned to my room to get ready to go out for dinner. I was greeted by my wife at the door, who looked distressed. Something was amiss.

“What’s going on?”, I asked.

Wifey had walked away from the door almost immediately she had opened it, and responded distressfully, “Your wedding ring is missing. Insyirah was playing with it while I was in the toilet”. She was searching through the curtains leading to the balcony as she responded.

“I left it on the dressing table”, I responded, almost duh-like and obviously not affected by the stress and alarm that wifey was exhibiting.

“I know”, annoyance beginning to surface in her voice. “Insyirah climbed onto the chair at the dressing table and was messing up everything on it. When I came out I made a check of the items that were on the table, and to my horror I couldn’t find your wedding ring!”, she concluded in one breath.

Only then did my attention turned to Insyirah. She was standing motionlessly in the middle of the room, her teddy which she only recently became closely acquainted with held close to her chest in her two small hands, looking down on the floor. I deduced that wifey had already grilled her about the ring already.

“Insyirah, do you know where Abah’s ring is?”, I asked my daughter gently.

Nervously she looked up at me, and with one of her hands that was up to that point clutching on to her teddy extended out, with the palm showing upwards she replied, “It’s gone”.

She was now looking at me earnestly, giving me the look of someone who knows she’s done something naughty, and was apprehensive of the consequence that she might have to face. I was now searching on the table where I last left my ring. I asked Insyirah once again, while I continued with my search. “Did you play with my ring just now? Where did you put it?”

Like a broken radio, she chimed again, “It’s gone”. You could almost sense guilt in the way she answered.

“No point asking her abang. That’s all she’s been saying when I asked her the same. She kept on saying, ‘It’s gone, it’s gone, it’s gone’!”, annoyance apparently creeping on wifey.

I was slowly overcome by guilt. Really, it was my fault rather than this little girl that my wedding ring is now misplaced. I should have known better to keep it well out of her reach like in the drawer or something, rather than out in the open like that for her to play her games with. Father and daughter were now feeling the heat of wifey’s wrath. My eyes were fixed on Insyirah, feeling rather sorry for her. She took her eyes away from the floor again to look at me, still not moving from that same spot when I first came into the room, and probably sensing that I was going to ask her again, she prompted again “It’s gone Abah”.

I opened the drawers and searched the table again. At that point, I heard the sound of small metal falling onto the floor. My eyes quickly located the sound my ears had sensed, and I found the ring still moving in circles from the falling impact, right behind Insyirah. The ring must have gotten stuck to her sleeves or pocket and fell off from her.

I moved towards her and reached for the ring. “Insyirah, there it is! There’s the ring! It must have fallen off from you!”, I took the ring from the floor near her small feet and showed it to her face.

Her expression changed so suddenly upon discovery of the ring. The frown on her small face was immediately replaced with a look of relief, and covering her mouth with her small hand in a gesture of excitement, she responded “It’s not gone!”, and laughed out loud in relief. I gave her a hug just to give her the extra reassurance, although I sensed she was clever enough to know that she was already off the hook.

My precious...

It amazed me how my 2 year old girl could comprehend the seriousness of the situation, and how she could feel she was responsible for what had happened. I gave her a kiss on the forehead, and stroked her hair. In a matter of seconds, she was away from the spot she’s been rooted to in the last 10 minutes or so and went about the room doing the usual stuffs a 2 year old girl would do.

Moral of the story:
1. Make sure you keep your fine and valuable possessions in safe places, and far from the reach of your children, especially if your children are still at the age when a wedding ring has the equivalent sentimental and monetary significance as a Spongebob soft toy.
2. Don't get upset with them for any losses incurred due to failure to follow moral of the story no. 1 above. Be fair to your children, and own up to your own mistake. You can however show them that you're upset that you've lost something you value very much. That would teach them to determine what is valuable and what is not, and teach them to be more careful the next time.
3. Tell them you love them nevertheless, and as upset as you are over your loss, keep things in perspective. This will teach them the right values, and the art of being forgiving.

The above is also an excerpt of an entry in my new holiday blog, A Break to the East Coast.

Finally… Launching of my Holiday Blog

It has been a long while since I posted anything meaningful in here. Well, it has actually been just over a month, but if my resolution for this year is anything to go by, the rate of update has been rather poor. But it feels like my excuses are more valid this time, because when I say that I’ve been busy with work this time, I REALLY have been busy with work. Work in my previous place now feels like child’s play in comparison, and I really have been slogging just to survive and meet what is required of me. But it has been a very fulfilling learning experience at the same time, and not to mention humbling. The hard learning experience has somehow made me more receptive to learning and my surroundings and I am happy to say I feel a much improved person altogether.

The last couple of weeks have been rather eventful, and from the look of things to come, so will the next couple of weeks be. In fact just about 3 weeks ago, my family and I went on a vacation in Cherating Kuantan, a vacation which I had planned for as long as last December. We had originally plan to go for the vacation in February, but given work commitments we had to reschedule for a month later. It was a memorable affair by any account, and I have dedicated a specific blog just to capture the experiences that we encountered during that 5 days vacation.

It was actually part of my own personal project really, i.e. to create a new blog specific for the purpose of this vacation. I wanted to capture every tiniest moment that we had, and to capture the experience of the whole vacation in the mode of a road trip. My personal project was probably inspired by some road trip movies I’ve watched like RV and Eurotrip (although the latter is not exactly a good example to model for a family vacation!), and I endeavored to make sure my eyes were open to the tiniest detail. It actually had the effect of making the whole vacation a most memorable one as I was driven to plan our activities more carefully than usual, and was also more receptive to the things we were doing and the environment we were in. It sort of gave me a fresh pair of eyes to view probably the same world that I had been to before, only now I was looking at the pleasures that I could actually extract from our environment if I looked carefully enough.

If there is anything that I’ve learnt from this little project of mine, I would like to be more prepared with my camera the next time. For instance, it only occurred to me that I should have taken more pictures of the scenic views that we encountered along the way of vacation after the event, and even some landmarks of our journey that would probably give the whole trip a dramatic feel. Insya-Allah there will be more such similar vacations in the future, and hopefully yours truly will be better prepared then.

You can find the link to my holiday blog in the sidebar to this blog, or just click here for access.

Real Love

Today is the second day of the Chinese New Year public holiday in Malaysia. I am currently lounging at home with Insyirah, although Insyirah won't exactly allow me to lounge around when I'm with her alone at home. When I'm at home, she gets rather restless when I'm out of her sight. She'll be clinging on me all the time, which makes it rather difficult for me to do anything else. It's 'Abah do this' and 'Abah do that' all the time, with me being clueless most of the time of what she wants. Being a parent apparently requires you to have the skill to decipher your child's language, mood swings, and things which you could not deal with your normal understanding of good reason. Because to children, good reason is when they get what they want, even though they themselves do not know what they are. You get what I mean?

At the point of writing, I'm sitting in front of the TV with Insyirah watching the Tigger and Pooh Movie on Playhouse Disney, Insyirah doing so while sucking milk from her bottle. She's temporarily distracted, which leaves me with some little time to write this post. She has one hand holding the sarong I'm wearing, for extra certainty that I won't be going anywhere. Hehe... well, I've always wanted a girl to want me to be around so badly. I guess now I get my wish.

Songs and Nostalgias

Anyways, I have been in a rather nostalgic mood of late. I'm not quite sure what triggers it, although I suspect the stress that is created from my work at the office might be the reason. I've found out that when I'm so stressed out, some old memories will suddenly surface to my consciousness. It is like the stress is trying to use up all the resources of my mental capability that it pushes out some memories which are in the archive of my mind. Some memories dates back from as far as my days in kindergarten, and some are melancholic in nature like the lonely days when I was in a public boarding school in the UK doing my A-levels. These memories come back to me in dreamlike replays. And some of them do have the effects of stirring the emotion to some extent.

Dogged by this feeling of reminiscing old memories, I have been browsing e-snips to search for some songs I used to listen in the past. You know how songs have the effect of stirring old memories? I would listen to some songs that I used to listen in the past, and I would almost instantly get flashbacks of certain past events, and the emotions that I felt back then. For instance, whenever I hear Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On', I could almost feel the same winter chill in London in December 1997, the same loneliness of being in isolation, the same feeling of being deserted, just a few days after the girl I had a crush on dumped me for my room mate. There will be more on this story at another time. My point is that songs do have that funny effect of playing with your emotions and stirring old memories, to almost a physical extent.

So while browsing through e-snips today, I came across the Beatles' Real Love, a song the legendary British group recorded in the mid 1990s when they reunited temporarily. I was in my first year in the UK at the time, and it was during the Easter holidays when I first heard the song. I was staying with friends in the apartment rented by our scholarship sponsors in Bayswater London, and I remember those days to be one of the most carefree moments in my life. There were no such worries about work, no heavy responsibilities, and no one depending upon you. It was all about looking forward to the next day, and enjoying the spring in the UK. I remember waking up listening to the song, to the smell of the burning heater in our cold apartment rooms, and having a bowl of Kellog's Crunchy Nut for breakfast. Everyday during the Easter holidays was either about playing football at Hyde Park, or going to the movies at Whiteley's. Those really were the days...

My Real Loves

Apart from it's nostalgic value, the song also has such a meaningful lyric. It speaks / implies of finding true love, and that the purpose of our whole life is probably to wait for that true love of ours to find us. All my life, I have only probably experienced that feeling of arrival, of my true love finding me, twice. And even then I was caught by surprise by those moments.

When did I know I loved my wife? I was about to board a plane to the UK for my brother's graduation in July 2004. I had yet to marry my wife back then, we were engaged and about to be married in September. We had never separated for very long since our engagement. Given that we work in the same place, we would get to see each other almost every day. My going to the UK meant I would not be seeing her for 2 weeks. It didn't appear to matter much to me at first. Until I spoke to her over the phone before boarding the plane.

It began like a casual conversation, and the normal stuffs you would say when saying goodbye. But when I was about to end the conversation, a sudden choking feeling overcame me, and I felt a lump forming in my throat. I said my last goodbye before boarding the plane with my voice shaking, and with some tears welling in my eyes. For the first time ever, I shed a tear over a girl. And it was only a goodbye over 2 weeks! My feelings have been taken hostage by her since then, and I've not spent time apart from her for more than a day without feeling miserable. I knew then as I know now, that my real love has arrived.

And the only other time that feeling has been topped or equalled? Of course, when Insyirah came to our lives. The feelings that I have over my daughter can only be described as magical, and there's nothing I wouldn't do for her. A father's love for his child is one that needs to be experienced to be understood. It will change your values to the core. It turns you into a totally new man altogether. I guess, real love does that to most of us.

I have to go. Insyirah is now crying out for her favourite snack, the banana.

Here's the Beatles' Real Love. My tribute to the loves of my life.

My lovely wife.
My beautiful daughter.



(Tip to listen to the song: Click pause at the page default music widget at the right bottom of the side bar before clicking on play on the above widget to avoid the 2 music overlapping. TQ!)

Real Love
by The Beatles

All my little plans and schemes
Lost like some forgotten dream
Seems like all I really was doing
Was waiting for you

Just like little girls and boys
Playing with their little toys
Seems like all they
really were doing
Was waiting for love

Don't need to be alone
No need to be alone

It's real love
It's real, yes it's real love
It's real

From this moment on I know
Exactly where my life will go
Seems that all I really was doing
Was waiting for love

Don't need to be afraid
No need to be afraid

It's real love
It's real, yes it's real love
It's real

Thought I'd been in love before,
But in my heart I wanted more
Seems like all I really was doing
Was waiting for you

Don't need to be alone
No need to be alone

It's real love
Yes it's real, yes it's real love
It's real, yes it's real love...

Child's Play

In my room on a Sunday evening, a conversation between 2 girls were overheard:

Hannah: Insyirah... let's play robot.

Insyirah: (Preoccupied with doing her stuffs... not really responding to Hannah's invitation).

Hannah then takes an empty medium sized basket meant for filling folded, newly washed clothes and puts it over Insyirah's head.

Insyirah now looks like a medium sized lampshade, and walks about in slow, mechanical footsteps, a fair imitation of a robot. She advertently walks out of the room in this state. Hannah then closes the door, leaving Insyirah outside.

A soft knock was then heard on the door from outside, the tapping of the small knuckles of a little girl was unmistakeable.

Hannah: (Opens the door to find Insyirah with the basket now off her head, looking rather discontently at her). Insyirah, you're a robot! (Saying it disapprovingly and grabbing the basket and putting it on top of Insyirah's head again).

Insyirah once again walks about in robot-like manner, and walks outside. Hannah once again closes the door behind her.

This time Insyirah could be heard babbling from outside already, once again knocking on the door. Hannah opened the door, to find Insyirah now with a pouted look on her face, the basket once again removed.

Hannah attempted to put the basket on Insyirah's head again, but this time was met with disapproval by the feisty smaller girl. She started babbling in her own baby language, but a few distinct words could be made out such as "I'm tired...walking... outside". Her hands were placed on her waist in a show of disapproval, and she was following Hannah all over the room voicing her discontent for being made to play the robot on her own outside while Hannah stayed in the room.

After close to 5 minutes of lecturing, Hannah finally responded:

Hannah: Ok! Ok! Alright! Alright!

There was later a cacophany of their voices try to talk above the other, one stil unhappy at what she was made to do, and the other in defense saying that she gets the point by now and was (probably) sorry for her actions. This was when I interrupted the two of them and played the peacekeeper once again.

It is just absorbing to see the two of them play together. One moment they are in harmony and approving, the next moment they are shouting at each other, even involved in a mini scuffle at times. Insyirah sometimes forget that she's the smaller of the two, and stands up to Hannah like she's her equal. All the same, they would forget their dispute almost instantly it started and play together again.

*Sigh*... kids. I just adore them.

Family Day

The department of the company I work in held a Family Day event at the Putrajaya Botanical Garden today. To be honest, I had been looking forward to this event with some great anticipation. I guess such events are more meaningful to you when you already have a family to bring with you, as compared to when you're still single. I have been to a number of family day events in the past, but the motivation of going as a single is of course different. It was probably to check out the babes (if there were any!), and failing that the food and telematches provided some consolation. Now with wifey and Insyirah in tow, I was all bubbly about going to the Family Day.

Me: Ok Insyirah. Here's the game plan!

We got to the place close to 9am, after taking a wrong turn along the way. Without talking about it at length, much needs to be done about the road signages in Putrajaya I have to say. One can get easily disoriented with the confusing road signages, especially when you're late and your tummy is empty. The Botanical Garden itself is a beautiful place. But for such a huge and beautiful place, I felt it was rather deserted of people. Perhaps the place needs a little bit more marketing to create more awareness of its existence.

Me: Insyirah! The race is about to start! It's no time to eat pudding!
Insyirah: Munch.. munch.. i haf juzh a wibble bit more... yum... yum..

After her usual inhibitions, Insyirah really had a ball of a time. She was rather inhibited at first when taking part in the kids telematches. In the "Run to Daddy" game, wifey had to coax her to run towards me who was waiting at the finishing line.
She practically didn't want to run the race and broke down crying in the middle of it, much to the amusement of others. But even then, she managed to get 3rd place as there was another kid who chose to stay static at the starting line. So I guess Insyirah didn't do too bad...

Insyirah: No Ibu! You're going the wrong way. This way!

Later in the morning, we had an adventure treasure hunt ala Explorace. If there's anything I've found out about myself after the race is that I know nuts about plants. The puzzles in the hunt required us to find the names of plants based on the clues and descriptions given, and to be honest I had no inklings what they were about. So I just tagged along with the team, who weren't any wiser. The solutions to the puzzles were

Me: No Insyirah! You're supposed to take the chocolates to the finishing line. Not eat them!
Insyirah: Sorry Abah. I can't resist. Cadbury's my favorite chocolate!

scattered all over the huge park, I must have probably covered about 2 kms running all over the place looking for them. I know I might not bee feeling it now, but I have the feeling my body will be aching all over come tomorrow. It probably served my Weight Loss Challenge well however...

Insyirah on the tram with her new friend, Razin

While I was burning fat running around the Botanical Garden wheezing like a fish which unfortunately got tossed out of the water, wifey and Insyirah sat through a tram ride around the place. The tram is such a good vehicle to get you around the place without having to break much sweat, and I noticed the kids were all excited during the ride. Insyirah made

Razin: Hiya good looking. How ya doing?
Insyirah: Cool hat!

herself acquainted with the son of a colleague of mine while on the ride and they became rather close thereafter. It's just amazing how children could make friends so easily. They have no inhibitions or preconceived perceptions of anyone that they can easily strike a friendship within minutes of meeting each other.

The maestro at work... with mummy at hand of course!

The Masterpiece

Insyirah's spoils at the end of the day

The whole event wrapped up around 2pm, after lunch and the prize giving ceremony. Kids are the ones who enjoy the most in events such as this as they tend to gain so many prizes, even if they didn't do well in any of the events they participated. Insyirah ended up bagging 3 prizes at the end of the day, even finishing 2nd in a coloring contest. Well, the coloring was really mother-assisted as my wife held Insyirah's hand with color pencils in her hand and helped her to color, but who's contesting?

Everyone got his/her prize at the end of the day and went home happy, and that's what matters the most.

Happy Birthday!

I know this is rather belated, but then it has only occured to this slow pea-brained of mine that family birthdays make excellent themes on one's personal blogs! Silly me... Happy 33rd birthday Affeedz! May you have many prosperous years ahead of you, and all your dreams come true! Unless of course if your dream includes Liverpool winning the Champions League or the English Premier League, then I hope it won't as I'm pinning for Arsenal to achieve that this year! Hehe...


The Cake


The girls lining up for a picture with the birthday boy


"Affeedz: It is my birthday, and I get to blow the candles alright?"


Fat chance. The girls took over and had their salivas blown all over the cake...

The Two Cousins

The Two Cousins

I was at home lazing around today, having travelled from Ipoh yesterday. It's usually like that. I get the 'jet-lag' effect whenever I've travelled for anything longer than an hour. Was playing around with my camcorder today, taking videos of my daughter Insyirah and my niece Hannah. Boy I missed Hannah. Having not seen her for almost a week while away in Ipoh, it was a delight to see her again today. The girl could walk a few steps already! Boy, what a difference a week makes. It's no surprise really, babies do learn new things fast. Insyirah herself has managed to steady herself in a sitting position over the last week.

The sight of the two cousins frolicking around was a joy to watch. Obviously they missed each other over the last week. Insyirah was screaming in delight when she saw Hannah, and it melts my heart to see the two of them babbling in baby talk to each other. I can foresee these two growing up to be really close friends in the future.

Aren't they lovely?

The Cycle of Life

The Cycle of Life

Inevitably, after an incredible lack of updates lasting almost half a year, so many things and events have taken place within that time. Perhaps arguably, I could say that could have been one of the main reasons why I've not managed an update for so long; too many things to tell and talk about, that I had prefered to just bask in it rather than trouble myself typing them on a computer. Or perhaps I need a laptop, with a Streamyx internet connection, where I could just log on to the blogger site in a matter of seconds, where I wouldn't get bored out of my mind having to wait for our super slow home PC to dial-up to the internet, and just lose interest the moment I've got myself logged on. Perhaps... but let's not digress too far here.

So what's happened since July last year? Well, there have been the highs and the lows. Births, deaths, marriages, promotion, and the English Premier League to name a few of that matters to me. But really, the main highlights of last year really centred on these 2 following themes; birth and death.

A few weeks after my last entry, my wife and I were blessed with a healthy, cute baby girl. The arrival of the little one has brought a lot of change to my perspective of life. The whole makeup of my marriage has been given an added spice and joy with her arrival. We've named the little one Nuha Insyirah, which in Arabic means the "calm intelligent one". Her first 2 months were anything but calm however, where she would wake up often in the middle of the night crying, which we suspect was due to colic. Wanting to be the exemplary father and husband, I would often stay up until very late to put the baby to sleep. But sleep deprivation is really not something I could live with, and I was no different from a character from House of The Dead when at work the day after. Needless to say my wife has since taken over the night shift full time, and I've now reduced myself to more minor role of the ocassional diaper change. Well, at least I could claim that I've changed my kid's nappy.

My little girl is now almost 6 months old. Here I have some latest pics of her over the last couple of months.


Insyirah yesterday. In the car on the way to Jitra.


Boy she loves to travel...


With her "Tok Neena". When she bites her lips like that, she resembles a picture of her mother so much when my wife was her age.


The last couple of months also witnessed the passing of some important people in my life. Two uncles of mine passed away in September and October respectively, of which one of them I was particularly close to, and was even my family's spokesperson at my wedding over a year ago. He died from a heart attack. It was so sudden that it took a while for the fact to sink in with me. It made me to reflect that when the Angel of Death comes knocking, there's no postponing him.

And then most significantly, my beloved grandmother passed away recently on the 18th January this year. Remember her? Who offered me this advice of wisdom of hers? I will always be haunted by the last thing she said to me before she went away. It was a couple of days before the day she died, and she was still strong enough to move about on her bed and chatted with me. She was complaining that her back was aching, and she was feeling most uncomfortable lying down on the rubber-air mat that we got her. She had been ill for over a month by that time you see, and we had to get her a special rubber-air mat for her to lie on so that she won't get blisters on her back.

I helped her to move her body to the spot she felt most comfortable. She asked me to push her hair back, and unbuttoned the top button of her blouse, as she felt it was choking her. Even when unwell, she always wanted to wear her nicest dress. She's that kind of person. She takes pride of her appearance.

I stroked her hair, and touched her forehead. When I told her I was going out, she reminded me after a brief pause,

"Come and see me when you get back dear".

I just nodded obligingly, not quite realising the significance of that request, that it was to be her last from me. I did come back to see her that night, but she was already asleep. And she pretty much slept most of the time until her last breath on the 18th. I can be happy with the fact that I was at least by her side when she breathe her last. In fact, my whole family was there at that time, Subhanallah. I was reciting the Yasin by her side, while my wife was whispering the Syahadah to her ear. By grace of Allah, she almost breath her last after I'd finished reading the Yasin once, just before I was about to read it for the second time.

Mak Tok, Pakcik Mat, and Pak Long. May Allah's grace be with you in the hereafter, and Insya-Allah may we meet again in His blessings one day.


My beloved late grandmother, with Insyirah. You'll always be loved, and missed grandma.

It's Raining Babies

It’s Raining Babies

It's Raining Men! Hallelujah!
It's Raining Men! Amen!
It's Raining Men! Hallelujah!
It's Raining Men! Amen! OW!

- It's Raining Men, Geri Halliwell -

This weekend had been a rather hectic one, and the theme of the weekend certainly evolved around the subject of babies. Both my wife and I began the weekend by making our routine monthly check-up to the gynae on Saturday morning. The pregnancy has now come to its 32nd week, and after this last visit, the routine check-up will be more frequent at once every two weeks.

I think it was the first time that I ever made an appointment with the gynae on a Saturday and the queue to see her was breathlessly long. Our appointment was scheduled at 9.30am, and when I arrived at the allotted time, there must have been like half a dozen couples already there in the waiting room. Dang… and the doctor sort of practices first comes first serve despite the so called appointment that we made. By the time it came to our turn to see her, we had waited for almost 2 hours. That famous Malay phrase ‘penantian itu satu penyiksaan’ could not have felt more true.

I was met with 2 surprises on my visit to the gynae this time. I found out that a friend-colleague of mine was also seeing the same doctor. It was her second routine check-up, and her fetus is now 13 weeks old. It seems that every one of my friends at my age or near my age is having babies these days. I’ve been getting news about this friend or that friend, either informing me of the good news of their conception, or news about the safe delivery of their new born. And on that note, I just received the belated news that my good friend and blog guru Sarini safely gave birth to a baby girl on the 16th June 2005. Congratulations Sarini! May this be the first of many for the both of you. :-)

Oh yeah, and the other surprise was seeing the comedian Azli of the Senario gang in the same place that day. Apparently his wife was due for labour on that day itself. He must have brought his whole clan with him as the place was crowded with his relatives and friends.

Anyway, had another glimpse of our baby when the doctor performed the scan on wifey. I always look forward to this moment when we go for her routine check-up. It gives me the chance to catch a glimpse of our baby, and what the little wonder is doing in mummy’s tummy. I remember seeing the baby on the scan machine for the first time on our first visit to the gynae, and I got excited more than I thought I would. I guess I was still grappling with the reality of my wife being pregnant then, after just being married for just over 2 months (and still grappling with the reality of being a husband), and the experience felt rather surreal. I wasn’t quite sure how to react to the whole pregnancy idea until that day when I saw the fetus, only about 16 weeks old, flailing her arms around in my wife’s tummy. From that day onwards, I got connected to the little one. It was like she was saying hello to me. And she certainly had me at hello...

The baby weighed at 1.864kg, and that’s slightly under the ideal weight of 2kg as the doctor advised us at this stage of the pregnancy. Hmm... I guess I must have not been stuffing wifey enough.. hehe. No worries, said the doctor. I still have enough time to do that. Wife has gained about 13kg so far, and I think she’s getting a bit worried about the weight gain. Hehe... don’t worry dear. You’re still as lovely as the person I married in September last year, if not lovelier.

Anyhow, the rest of our weekend was spent attending toddlers’ birthday parties. As I’ve mentioned in my post on Friday, we had a birthday party to celebrate the birthdays of my nephew and niece, who turned 3, and my younger brother Didi, on Saturday. It occurred to me again that I would soon belong to the bapak budak group. The place was littered with toddlers and babies that you could have been forgiven for thinking they had all fallen from the skies. Man I feel old... And then today, another birthday party, this time another niece’s of mine 1st birthday. It was a good place to exchange notes however, and conversations were naturally engaged about my own upcoming baby and my preparations for the baby’s arrival.

It’s raining babies I tell you. And soon enough, there will be one coming this way, Insya-Allah.

Letting The Cat Out Of The Bag...

Letting The Cat Out Of The Bag...

I have an announcement to make. I have been keeping the news for quite a while now, biding my time for the right moment to spill it. Not that I want to make a big deal out of it either. The big news is? Both my wife and I are expecting a baby come this August.

So finally I've said it.

Don't get me wrong. I'm as excited as the guy who finally got his full driving licence after driving with a probationary 'P' sticker for 2 years when I first got the news. And just like that guy who finally managed to move on from the ridicule of having that red hot 'P' stuck on the front and back of his car, I would have loved to inform the whole world about this piece of news of joy for me and my wife. But somehow, I just didn't feel right talking about it, especially when the pregnancy was still at its early stages.

For one, I've heard some of the elders said that it is not wise to talk about it so much, or make too big a deal out of it, especially when the pregnancy is still at its early stages. Maybe they felt it sounds a bit boastful or too early to sound the gong and tell the whole world about it, at least not until the pregnancy has come to its last trimester. I guess there is some validity to the argument. It has a 'don't count your chicks before they hatch' ring to it. And even as my wife's come to her last trimester, I've never stopped praying to The Almighty for the good health and being of my beloved wife and baby until the day of the delivery comes. Amiin.

But of course as time progresses it becomes increasingly difficult not to talk about it, or the anticipation of the little one's arrival. Inevitably, I would feel compelled to talk about the preparation for parenthood and a lot of other stories relating to pregnancy and babies. And after doing our first preliminary shopping for baby stuffs today, I felt perhaps it was finally time for me to come out clean about it.

Getting ourselves started on the shopping felt a bit weird. None of us had done this before, obviously, so we weren't quite sure of the essential things to get first. I have been getting some tips from friends who are parents themselves on what to get, and the advices are pretty much the same: ration your purchases ie buy little by little, to go easy on the wallet. The main things to get first would be the essentials, things you would need urgently after the baby's born. So with that in mind, and not to mention that I'm desperately waiting for the next pay day, we bought some diapers, towel, baby wipes, and 2 pairs of baby outfits. Nothing much to get any baby jumping up and down to get excited about, really. The next round of shopping shall take place in 2 weeks, and it promises to be a more exciting outing than the first one. Am thinking of looking around for a baby cot and a small cupboard for the baby's stuffs.

And speaking about cats, my pet cat Neo died yesterday after being run down by a car. Poor cat. You would always be remembered for having foot fetish and play with our feet whenever we do our laundry. And despite the name we gave you, we know now you were never meant to fulfil any prophecy. Nevertheless Neo, you will be missed.

Roger and out.

Baby Hannah

Baby Hannah

I had promised to put up pictures of my baby niece a couple of months ago when she was born. What with my limited knowledge of uploading pictures on the net, and my own lack of a camera to take pictures with, I've been unable to do so. Until today that is.

Since then, my brother has taught me the whole new world of uploading pictures into my blog. I guess some of you would have noticed the sudden bloom of pictures available in here recently. It's a development you could associate with my jakunnes. Hehe... and then recently I've taken the liberty to buy myself a thumb drive, perhaps the most significant step I've taken in my quest to be a more IT literate person. A pittance of an investment to some, but a huge step in IT investment for me. I'm learning something new everyday. But then, I seem to digress...

Here's a series of some of Hannah's pictures, since the first few days she was born, until today. I tell you, she's been a bundle of joy in the house for everyone. Though she might not be the only one for long now. Someone else is on the way I hear you ask? Well, that's another story for another time I guess... ;-).

For now, introducing my cute niece to the world!

"Whatcha looking at?!" On her 2nd day. Showing her attitude look only my sister could do better.


"Hi mama!" This kid knows how to look adorable.


"Is this for the latest issue of Babies Times Pak Ngah?" Her features resembles many of my brother in law's. Future Daddy's girl I see.


"Come ere you. I'll give you a gentle head butt!!".


"Enough with the modelling Pak Ngah. I'm sleepyyy.....zzzzzzzzzzzz...". When sleeping however, she looks like a small copy of my sister.

Hope you ohh-ed and ahh-ad as much as we have. :-).

Welcome Hannah!

Welcome Hannah!

Last Sunday, 6th March 2005 was a very happy moment for my family. My elder sister Lili, safely gave birth to the cutest baby girl. Welcome to the family Hannah!

Her birth was also close to being coincidental with Lili’s own birthday, which is on the 4th of March. I guess the baby wanted my sister to be over with her birthday dinners and celebrations first before deciding to come out to this world. We took my sister out for her birthday dinner on the night of the 5th of March 2005, and after dinner we had her cut her birthday cake. I could see that night that she was looking very tired. I felt a sense of pity and admiration looking at her that night. I asked her how was she feeling as she edged closer towards her labour. She replied in her usual good spirits,’I can’t wait to get this over with’.

The next day after Subuh she was bleeding. My brother in law took her to the hospital, and the doctor said she was beginning to come into labour. When I arrived at the hospital later that morning, she looked in agony. Man, that must have been the first time I saw my sister in such pain and agony, and she had not even gone to the labour room yet! I noticed that my mum and my sister’s mother-in-law were by her side, giving words of calm and encouragement. I have to say la, these 2 mothers were very calm. My brother-in-law on the other hand, looked understandably anxious and nervous.

Wonderfully, my sister wasn’t in labour for too long. As a matter of fact, it was a very short while. She went into the labour room at 11.45am, with very minimal contraction at that time. I was already contemplating spending the rest of the day at the hospital. By 12.30pm however, my brother-in-law appeared from the labour room with the new-born Hannah. Alhamdulillah... I’ve heard of stories where the mother goes through contraction for hours. Someone even told me that the average time of contraction for the first born child is about 12 hours. So to get it over with in less than an hour is a God gift.

I guess Hannah must have heard what my sister said the night before... :-).

Will try to get her pics on the blog next. Stay tuned!