tranquility

when i went into my bedroom to check on my lolly pops sleeping, i saw my son had rolled away from his bedding on the floor. my daughter had moved to the edge of the bed. i exclaimed, oh my god, anakku. so i adjusted their sleeping positions and sat down by nadia nasira to watch her sleep. so peaceful was the look on her face... i love her even more at that moment.... my son, he is soooo comel in his sleeping position!!!!

love is so intangible that you can never measure how much you actually love someone. maybe because Allah has blessed me with generosity in loving. my heart is able to feel the love for the entire human kind and that, in abundance.

my heart is ever overflowing with love for my dear children that can't be contained in mere words. it is a feeling that leaves you with teary eyes. i am so thankful to the almighty lord for blessing me with my treasure, indeed, they are!!! i find solace and tranquility in loving them endlessly.

and a heap of thanks to their daddy (for co-production)!!! hahahaha

dunno

as i was going to fuel my car, nadia nasira asked for 'satu ringgit'. since i only had an RM5 note, i gave it to her. when i came into the car after fueling, i saw a torn RM5 note. i asked her, 'why did you tear mummy's money?' and she said, 'dunno mummy, dunno.'

i turned my face and smiled. she actually spoke in english!!!

e-filing

the last day for tax submission is approaching, 30 april 2009. now that it is all done electronically, i had postponed it till the last minute, till today. one of the reasons for the delay was that i have forgotten the password.

in an attempt to get assistance from IRB to reset password, i called the toll-free line but to no avail. i surved the net and found another number which was dedicated for the citizens abroad to call in. i got through and it only took less than 2 minutes the whole process of resetting the password!!! hehehehe that line was freer, i suppose. i congratulated myself for being smart.

i logged into the system but the pageloads took forever due to the traffic congesstion. i'm sure that there are so many of them like me, keeping it to the last minute. it took me the whole afternoon to log in and re-load numerous times. i'm at the last stage of the declaration process and the computer hang!!!! so, while i wait for it to re-load, i'm putting my thoughts here.

my husband and i decided that separate tax declaration is more beneficial. therefore, we opted for separate declaration and i get to claim tax examption for the children. let's call it the benefit of child bearing!!!

oh well, i'm glad the whole process of e-filing was completed on time and guess what, i have overpaid tax through the PCB deduction. Now, i shall wait for a refund!!!

a good son

there is one thing i can say about my husband.... he is a good son which was one of the reasons why i chose him for a husband....in anticipation of a good husband and father. he will have to proof that to me!!!

a tranquil moment at his dad's grave

interest in monkeys

one day, daddy drove pass the bird park where there were so many monkeys entertaining the tourist outside the bird park. so, that was how nadia nasira's interest in monkeys began. we went back a number of times but either it was raining or too hot that we could not even see one monkey. so, one evening i decided to bring the children to bukit gasing where i used to hang out during my university days. there sure to be many many monkeys. the next day was our trip to the lake gardens, yet again there were no monkeys at the bird park. it was daddy's turn to bring them to bukit gasing.....

will i be evil to say...look at these three monkeys in the car looking at the monkeys outside the car!!!!

lake gardens

mummy told daddy.... we are going to the lake gardens tomorrow (last sunday)...your mum and the children too, you wanna come? and yes...we had problems waking daddy up in the morning. so, it was a little past 10 am when we reached the lake gardens. mummy was kind enough to cook pasta and meatballs gravy for brunch.... the children had a wonderful time. nadia nasira was all sweaty and too tired to eat. muhammad nashwan nasr had his fun too although he is a little too young for the playground.

twinkle twinkle little star

as we were leaving home this morning, nadia nasira pointed at the sky and said, 'mummy, how i wonder what you are, up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky'. i looked up and was i surprised....nope! she saw a star in the sky.

i drove off feeling proud of my little princess.

happy 11 months old muhammad nashwan nasr

my dear son is 11 months old today...his adjusted age should he have been born full term is 10 months old.

he has been creeping so well... everyday, i would play "catching" with him when i returned from work. he would creep away from me and turn to look whether i was coming after him. if i was, he would laugh out loud, creep away even further and again turn to check on me.

i have not seen him sit up on his own but my MIL says he has done so many times. sure thing, he has pulled up from his four to standing position many a times.

he knows how to merajuk and cry to a certain tone to signify that, has been making so much sounds to babling (i wonder all the times what is he saying), pointing at things to communicate his needs especially wanting to go downstairs and play or watch tv in the evenings when i am trying to put him to sleep, gets excited when he sees a milk bottle, eats everything including nadia nasira's food, puts everything in his mouth, tries to grab everything he can from nadia nasira only to have nadia nasira say "jangan adik, jangan" and grab it back, slowly understanding the gesture of salam, claps his hands to any rythem, loves to watch bunny town, barney and pocoyo, sleeps only when you rock him and sing twinlke twinkle little star or laa ilaha illallah, al malikul haqqul mubiin muhammadur rasulullah saadiqul waqdil amin.

he wants his mummy all the time, has separation anxiety when i leave him in the morning, beginning to recognise his daddy, greets him and wanting to play with him (its ok to be with daddy when mummy is around but not for too long), looks at his sister lovingly and longingly and loves to play with her.

those are some of the things that occupies his days... i am determined to have my camera handy to capture all these moments!!!

a walk in the neighbourhood

just after saying goodbye to daddy who was going to work, mummy took the children for a walk in the neighbourhood, a rare one that is. the sky was clear. it felt really nice to go for the evening walk in your own neighbourhood, saying hello to all those neighbours you have never seen.


thanks to nadia nasira who wanderred off on her own regardless of what mummy said just to make friends with lokman and alisha. lokman is a malay boy aged 3 and alisha is an indian muslim girl aged 5. i said hello to lokman's mummy and also to alisha's mummy who then appeared from inside her house. they live in the 2 and a half storey section of the neighbourhood. much to my surprise, alisha's mummy is an indian citizen married to the owner of a chain of restaurants. she has 5 children, all conversing in english. she comes from the same district as my mummy, has a degree in physiology and appears to be a contented housewife. she is as thrilled as i am to have met. then came joshua... i thought to myself... a real multi-racial environment which i am happy to stay.

it was about maghrib time and we said our good byes...see you soon!!! on my way back, a chinese lady said hello and 'don't you recognise me?'.... i was caught offguard and had to be honest to say no. she introduced herself as jenny, poh kong subang parade.... 'ooooooohhhh, im sorry i didn't recognise you'. she attends to my husband's gold buying sessions before i came into the picture, they even bought my merisik ring from her.

we came home, feeling happy to have explored the neighbourhood and neighbours.

an old friend

i just got of the phone with an old friend who works continents away in egypt. it feels good chatting with him....that is how it is with real good friends you have not met or spoken in many months. the gap in time is never felt. we hit it right away, teasing and arguing over nonsense and had a good laugh afterwards.

i first met him in 2002 (i think) when i went to one of the power plants owned by the company i work for in a god forsaken place called mirpur mathelo, punjab, pakistan. the head office is in Islamabad, the capital city of pakistan. to cut the story short, we hit the friendship journey right away and along the way, became friends with his wife, mother, children, his friends, my mother, husband and family. i should post some of the pictures here especially my experiences during my 5 trips to pakistan... karachi, islamabad and mirpur mathelo.

after 6 long years serving in pakistan, he was posted to one of the power plants here. maybe, work wasn't as challenging or for some other reasons, he resigned and joined another company which owns power plants in egypt. he is the station general manager there, i think so.

i admire his wife so much. she is single-handedly managing the family while he is abroad. even if i could, i wouldn't do that. i figured it would really be taxing mentally and physically to do so. hats off to you, thila.... and be a good boy, anba!!!

excuses for rejecting food

mummy: nadia nasira, come let's eat.
nadia nasira: tak mau, nadia batuk.

whenever she wanted to eat peanuts or some oily stuff or crackers, nanni would give her very little and say...nanti batuk.

mummy: nadia nasira, come, lets eat dinner.
nadia nasira: tak mau, nadia dah burp.

burping signifies full stomach.

an envelope of affection

there was this family who lived in our house as our tenants for many years. they rented part of our house as it was convenient for them. their house was quite far in the outskirts of the city. the lady of the house, auntie nirmala was a nurse and the man, uncle jeyaraj, was a school teacher. they had two sons, raja and vino. they were about my brother's age. the boys went to school together, literally as the boy's father would send and pick them from school. they don't live there anymore but they are close-by. as time passed by, we grew really close like a part of the family. i fell in love with auntie nirmala. i was always at her doorstep...any time of the day....confiding in her about anything and everything. that was during my school days, university days, working in KL days and continued until i got married and even after marriage but no longer at her doorstep but over the phone. i remember that there were so many little little things that she would advise me in my growing years while relating to me her experiences in her nursing college days in the UK as well as other stories. many years ago in my teenage years or was it during my university days, auntie nirmala said to me... life is like a horse drawn carriage and we are carriage driver who must hold the horses by the reins in order to reach the desired destination. something that she said to me over the phone her after a few weeks i got married sealed the envelop of affection for her in my heart ....baseri, i always think to myself that i have a daughter living somewhere. recently, she said to me... baseri, patience will take you very far in life. i always thought to myself that her daughter in laws are very lucky and should be thankful to have a mother in the form of a mother in law... auntie nirmala had been there in my life for more than 25 years....there are so much to say about her in that 25 years. i still dropby her doorstep each time i go back to my hometown as she lives five minutes drive from my mum's. she had always looked as radiant to me as ever, though i would have loved to see her in sarees as often as possible. in a nutshell, she is a simple lady, loving simple things yet so rich with love and wisdom, so she is, auntie nirmala. i am so glad to have known her and i hope my children, my nieces and nephews would appreciate knowing her.

happy birthday, syahama

it was my dear niece's 11th birthday yesterday. i called to wish her and ahyani syahama sounded like a teenager to me...oh yes, she is. 11 years ago, i rushed back to ipoh on the day she was born and was at the hospital to see her. i remember the feeling i had as i looked down at the pink bundle. i fell in love with her instantly. i cried as i thought to myself, 'she is mine and i can take her home. i have my own niece to play with and i don't need to crave looking at other babies'. she made me an aunt and that was my part time job until i had my own children!!!

i was in my final year final semester when syahama was born. i went back to ipoh so often to play with her. i used to fight with my sister (syahama's mother) for the baby. my sister only came home during the weekends as she was in her second year university when syahama was born. my sister and brother in law had to accomodate my request all the time.

as a birthday gift, i think i would start her off with sewing cross stitch and if she does like it, she could take it up as her hobby....

happy birthday, baby. may Allah bless you with all the beautiful things in life starting with iman, hidayah and rezqi.

karsemani

it is part of my culture that a bride would be worn a specific necklace (chain) called 'karsemani' either by her mother or mother in law to signify that she is married. it is something like wearing a wedding ring. the ceremony takes place momentarily after the bridegroom said oath during the nikah ceremony.

i have mine too...a chain with red 'pavalam' and 'karumani'. since we have been so malaysianised and my husband is very westernised in his taste, we had both the ring and karsemani. i wear it all the time until a few days ago i realised that one end quite gave way and need to be repaired. my son loves to pull it at all times but now, i feel quite weird not wearing it.

negaraku

the other day, i heard the national anthem of malaysia, negaraku on air..... and i thought to myelf....my, my... it must have been ages since i last heard it, let alone sang it. it brought me back to my school days and the assembly time where we had to sing it along with other patriotic songs.

i am so glad that the government had reverted to the original form of the song instead of the remix version of a marching rythem. i think the original form brings out the patriotic spirit and the remix version was like main-main.

here is the song i am so proud of.....

mother

as i was driving to work the other day, i kept on changing the radio channels and stopped at 91.10FM. i am not so sure of what language was it....jawa or orang asli...is there such, i am not so sure? the song that was on air was 'syurga di telapak kaki ibu' by Aishah. it was such a moving song.... i cried as i was listening to the song, thinking of my mum.

i am glad that the Almighty Allah had given me the opportunity to be a mother. i realised as i was listening to the song that Allah has given a mother such a divine position. the only prayers that gets Allah's special attention for immediate granting is the prayers of a mother for her children.

how many children do actually realise the position of a mother in their lives. mother, she put her life at stake in bringing us into this world, converts her blood into milk to feed her children, she endures every discomfort to tend to her children, her countless sacrifice.... and the list goes on. we are indebted to her eternally.

have we ever said to her in simple words 'thank you, mother'? maybe we have on a rare occasion but rather than in mere words, i call upon all children to show their gratitude and appreciation in actions.....as the saying goes, 'actions speaks louder than words' and that is everyday in our lives.

and to my mother....let the world be witness, maa, i love you unexplainably and may your endless prayers for your children be heard and granted by the Lord Almighty. and how do i forget my dearest atta, i remember all your hardwork to provide for us, your firm upbringing, your encouraging words and how we all feared you and studied hard but only i had my way with you, hahahaha.

on this note, a tribute to my mother in law and the father in law i never knew.

green sunday

finally, i got to do some gardening yesterday... in two episodes. one in the morning after the children had breakfast and one in the evening after the children woke up from their afternoon nap. it was a fulfilling time... i found some solace in it.

i relocated some of the plants into bigger pots, did some weeding, helped nadia nasira to plant some long beans and chilli and shaped up some unruly plants. there are a lot of rooms for improvement and i hope that along the way, i would find some time beautifying my little patch of land.

before...

after...

inculcating reading habits

mummy saw daddy showing nadia nasira a book at her playschool. it is called Allah's Zoo. mummy thought it was a good idea to buy her the book since her experience at the zoo is still fresh in her mind.





mummy is wondering whether she could take nadia nasira to a library as an introduction to her. let's see if mummy can find a suitable one for a 2 year old.

mummy also can't wait to have a mini library at home too. nadia nasira and muhammad nashwan nasr have a collection of books already and that need to be managed.

unconditional love

i wonder what is unconditional love.... does it exist anymore? of course it does. the love of a mother towards her children. i miss you...maa!

gardening

i hope to pick the children up early today from nanni's. i don't plan to take the children to the playground but we are heading home instead. i plan to get busy and do some gardening before it's bedtime for the children.

yesterday, as we were heading home from nanni's, we dropped by at the nursery beside Giant Bandar Putri and bought some pots and seeds. so, i hope to plant them today, rearrange the pots and beautify the little patch of land.

when i reached nanni's, nadia nasira announced that she wanted to go to the playground.... the gardening plan got halted.

Zoo

sunday - zoo negara

daddy wanted to take the children to the zoo.

it was what we did when nadia nasira was about muhammad nashwan nasr's age. although my son didn't really know how to appreciate the outing, it was sure an experience for him.

daddy wanted nadia nasira to look at the real bear and tell her that it is not so huge as the A&W bear. it sure worked, i suppose. nadia nasira now thinks that bears are some cute little thing like her soft toys and i don't hear anything about the bear anymore, not even 'haaaa, bear, big bear'.

the sad part was it rained. so, we couldn't cover as many animals as we did the last time. well, we can always makes another trip though.

this little fellow wasn't too happy...what an expression!

wow, what had tickled this little fellow, it's the parrot!!!

looking at the tortise

what now? nadia nasira is thumb sucking




waiting for the tram


on the tram...



nanni wanted to feed the ellies


friendly son of mine