March 21st 2007. Today, as I type this post, at 2.22pm, I think about how Musa will be 21 months old tomorrow on 22nd Mar 07. Alhamdulillah this not so little baby of mine is growing up to become a gorgeous little toddler.
Anyway, to try and cover the last few months in one post, this is my best attempt at doing so:
31 Dec 06 - Hari Raya Haji celebration at Kenny and a very uneventful New Year's eve celebration. I was in bed asleep, woken up with a Happy New Year wish by Amil around midnight. Or am I referring to the previous year celebration? Yes, it was that uneventful...
1st Jan 07 - New Year Day slightly more eventful as we spent the day at Baba's kampung in Rembau. We had Wyn with us, whilst Hannah and Harris was in Singapore with their dad. It would have been more fun for the kids if they all could be together, but nevertheless a good New Year's day, with some part spent watching Umar and Amil sailing their newspaper boats in the drain...it was a nice and cool rainy day... and most of the other part chasing Musa around. Did he enjoy having no furniture and little ornaments getting in his way!
3rd Jan 07 - Umar starts at his new school, ITQAN. However he is fortunate to have the same principal and teachers from his previous school, QIDS. Thus making OUR life easier in terms of settling him in into the new school year. He started off in level K1 and after two weeks was upgraded to K2. Hopefully it will work out well for him, insyaAllah.
11th Jan 07 - Il Divo concert. If I could afford it, I would send Amil a rose every day as a gesture of thanks for giving me his only complimentary ticket to the concert at KL Convention Centre. He was, at the last minute, given another ticket, but he made sure I got the one with the better seating. Il Divo. Fantastico.
14th Jan 07 - Aby goes back to Japan. It was certainly nice to have her home from Tokyo, albeit a short visit. I do look forward to having her home for a longer time. Spent the day in Genting with Wyn and kids.
21st Jan o7 - Lake Garden followed by a visit to the Butterfly Park with Amil and the kids. Topped the day's outing with yummy ice-cream that Musa insisted he feed himself!
26th Jan 07 - Boyz II Men concert. Wyn and Hannah joined Amil and I for the concert, whilst Umar, Musa and Harris stayed at the hotel with Ijah. Amil truly enjoyed himself. His equivalent of my Il Divo.
3rd Feb 07 - Bought a real kids bed for Umar at Ikea. Thought he should enjoy his childhood the "kid" way. Also bought a NordicTrack treadmill at Ikano. Big health investment! Amil and I take turn alternate days on the treadmill. Baba has joined the club too. I have been out of the routine since my severe limau kasturi allergy reaction on 20th Feb 07; and subsequent chest infection and recurring asthma. So far recovering, alhamdulillah.
13th Feb 07 - Amil's 34th Birthday! And officially he is 3 years older than me. Early in the morning the boys and I each gave him a British India shirt. After dinner we had fun cake blowing session, an egg free cheesecake we bought from Secret Recipe. Later on we had a lovely, cosy dinner for two at Alexis in Jalan Telawi, Bangsar. This was the place we went to early on during our courtship to have dinner and view my 2000 South Africa trip photos.
14th Feb 07 - Lyn is pregnant! And makes me choke on my water when she told me so. This is the news of the year! Though it is still a family secret. It goes without saying, though I still have to type it, that we are all truly happy and excited for her and Epin! Can't wait for the birth. InsyaAllah all will go well for her and the baby in all aspects. Due date is late September / early October 07.
17th Feb 07 - Zoo Negara Malaysia, here we went, for the second time. Musa's favourite animal was the giraffe and giant tortoise. Umar's was the reptile display, in particular the snake enclosure where there was a tiny little mouse trembling for fearing for his life. Umar couldn't wait for the snake to devour the mouse, which sadly for him did not happen whilst we were there. My favourite was the new baby Nile hippo. So cute in such a big way...
18th Feb 07 - Chinese New Year day and a trip to Aquaria at KL Convention Centre. Went with Amil, the kids and Ijah. Musa was fearful of the shark. Smart. He knows which ones to be afraid of. Most of our time was spent sitting in front of the giant aquarium where the kids were treated by feeding of the sea creatures, including a giant stingray, turtles, fish, etc. I suspect they had stuffed the sharks to the brim to ensure no unpleasant, accidental devouring of the divers. Oh yes, and there was another treat. A live mermaid wearing a bikini top, which Umar described as "not real", but more than thrilled the daddies and other men watching the show....
19th Feb 07 - Lunch BBQ at Mama & Ayah's and Afternoon tea with Nena and the Lion Dance at Raintree. At Mama's we congratulated another set of soon to be parents. Jojo and Ijan. Due date is in October 07. Another joyous occasion to celebrate and finally, insyaAllah, a cousin for Umar and Musa from Daddy's side of the family! In the afternoon, the kids were excited by the Lion dance at Raintree despite the loud clanging of the cymbals and banging of the drums!
26th Feb 07 - Promoted to Business Manager at Linfox! This is my tenth year with Linfox (previously was Mayne Nickless Logistics cum Mayne Logistics). Alhamdulillah, I was given this promotion and, what goes in hand, the opportunity to do something a bit more different and challenging. No more time to check my ninemsn.com.au or thestar.com.my on a daily basis. Busy, but good busy, so, good.
3rd Mar 07 - Our 6th Year Wedding Anniversary! Time does fly when you're having fun! Alhamdullilah Amil and I have been blessed with a great relationship and marriage. The good times more than outweighs the difficult ones and insyaAllah may we continue to have an even deeper love for, loyalty and commitment to each other for always. We gave each other pressies (a top for me and a pair of shoes for him) and we spent the day at KLCC shopping!
4th Mar 07 - Dani admitted to University Hospital. Sadly, this night Umar's and Musa's beloved Uncle Dani was admitted to UH as he was unwell. After several days stay at the hospital, Dani was discharged with a positive outlook for him, that he was going to get better, alhamdulillah.
10th Mar 07 - Kenduri Arwah Aunty Dah at Bangsar and ITQAN's Open Day and Jumble Sale. After the kenduri, which for me the highlight was to see Aris after almost 2.5 years, we headed to Umar's school. Lyn, Epin, Is, Long, AJ and Aimran joined us there later to while the afternoon away eating, drinking, shopping and for the kids - jumping on the bouncy castle and just running around. Umar had his first attempt at real archery whilst Musa's highlight was drinking a box of Milo from no one knows where he picked up from!
11th Mar 07 - A wooden splinter in Umar's big toe! When Amil and I were trying to take out a splinter from his toe, one that shortened his earlier excitement from getting a green light sabre, we had to use a combination of a nail clipper, tweezers and needle. The whole ordeal that lasted almost half an hour, made Umar's discomfort grow quickly, turning into pain, which was the trigger point for him to cry and eventually through gritted teeth and sobs and exasperation that we were still unsuccessful, he cried out to us "Are you trying to kill me?!" That made us pause, then burst out in laughter, which in retrospect gave us the much renewed energy and patience to give his toe one last dig, finally taking out the tiny dot size of the offending brown splinter.
Point to note, whilst I was clipping at Umar's toe, I could feel a little activity by my own toe. And looking down at my feet, I saw Musa clipping away at my toe with the other spare nail clipper :-)
13th Mar 07 - Baba's 73rd Birthday! This year's celebration was a comparitively low key one as it was only Baba, Mummy, Long's and my family there to celebrate with Baba. Mummy cooked up a lovely spread made up of chicken stew, garlic bread, chinese fried rice, fried macaroni... and Long presented the yummy Haagen Daaz ice-cream cake. Unfortunately I was not able to join in the later part of the night as was still recovering from asthma... so no ice-cream cake for me...
12th to 16th Mar 07 - Umar's 1st term School Holidays. So that he would not totally terrorize his little brother Musa at home, I decided to enrol Umar for a holiday program at his school for 4 out of the 5 days. This consisted of daily 3 hours of art & craft, cooking, story telling and solid fun & play sessions, which he thoroughly enjoyed. Some products of his efforts was a picture frame painted and stuck with glittery buttons, craft boxes with shells and stick-ons, yummy biscuits and cookies (which mostly Musa and I ate because Umar's allergic to the egg ingredient) and a lovely dinosaur crayon painting.
17th Mar 07 - Overnight at Saujana Hotel in Subang. The kids and I joined Amil for his 2nd night at the hotel. During his work conference thingy he was given a huge suite (equal to the size of 3 rooms), which we were able to stay in one extra night for a bargain rate. Of course the kids loved the hotel stay. The bubble baths, the chance to sleep with Amil and I in the same room and same bed, to name a few. We went to Dome at Subang Parade for dinner. Musa enjoyed and devoured his fish and chips dinner and was delighted by the tiny bit of Chocolate drink he got from Umar. Umar, as usual preferred to start the meal with the drink and finished off his pasta much later at the hotel. A typically enjoyable hotel outing for us four.
And the most recent highlights:
20th Mar 07 - Musa said "Work"! When I went to say goodbye to Musa before going to work, I asked him to salam me and after he did so, he said the word "Work". So I asked him "Where is Mummy going to?" and he answered "Work". I repeated my questions in various ways and each time he answered "Work". Aaaawww, my not so little baby is beginning to not only communicate by using body language and just plain "aah-aahs" but he is beginning to use specific words for specific actions! Aby asked me in an earlier email how many words can he string. Well he hasn't really gotten there yet but the several individual ones that he can say more than makes me proud!
20th Mar 07 - Shopping with Umar at the Mall. We spent 2 hours at the mall shopping for my stuff and a toy for Umar. After exhausting all options to choose for Umar a toy, I told him that I was getting tired and that we should go home. In all positiveness, he said to me words to the effect of "Don't give up Mummy! You can do it! Try harder and we can find a toy for me!" Wow, does that echo me or what?! Anyway, eventually, after many, many selections, trying to find Umar a toy that was "really cool", I picked up a Dinosaur mould and paint set. Finally we could go home!
Next time, when you want a shopping buddy, you can borrow Umar. He makes a good buddy. Just ignore his running around, jumping around and all time fidgeting and he'll be able to last the distance with you. And when we got home he remarked that "I want to go shopping with you everyday!"...
