My Hip-Hop Daughter

After been searching hi & low for a suitable cap for Eryna's day out to Zoo Taiping, here's what we found for her...

Cute huh? ( anak sendiri mestila ckp cute.. ;p )

Zoo Taiping

Title : Zoo Taiping

Description : A trip with family to the above-mentioned on 26th April (Sunday); morning session

1.0 Problem Statement
Total boredom staying at home

2.0 Objective
2.1 Hubby : To try out his newly bought lens
2.2 Mommy : To settle task undone; 1 yr overdue (POPIAH!)
2.3 Asyraff a.k.a PakSuK : To spend time with niece
2.4 Eryna : No choice lerrr..have to followw...

3.0 Tool & Equipment
3.1 DSLR Sony alpha200
3.2 Lens : SAL 55-200
3.3 Umbrella
3.4 My Dear portable fan
3.5 Stroller

4.0 Methodology
Step 1 : Drive to Zoo Taiping
Step 2 : Buy admission ticket
Step 3 : Enter
Step 4 : Look around + snap picture
Step 5 : Exit

5.0 Result & Discussion

5.1 Before Step1


5.2 Entrance


5.3 Animals Involved


5.4 10mins Break - Eryna's one & only smile all da way inside the zoo. She's a bit cranky initially since we've invaded her 10AM morning nap when we arrived. And have been really moody all da way until we're back inside da car ready to go back.

5.5 Exit


6.0 Conclusion
Definitely will NOT go to any zoo again until Eryna a bit older..Say, 12 or 13 yrs old? Next trip will be to an air-conditioned facilities; i.e- shopping complexes, museum.


Prepared by,
mommyeryna

Motherhood made me stronger

The past 2 months since I came back to work after a loong maternity leave (but still, not quite enough. In fact, ANY kind of leave are never enough!) has been very hectic for me. A lot of undone number of works, documentation not updated, piles & piles of customer complaint, tools not verified & calibrated, new procedure for implementation, upcoming customer audits, etc, etc, etc...Well, I should expect dis coming since dis is what would happen if you leave work without a proper pass-down to your colleague/sub-ordinate...To my defense: I do plan to properly pass-down all my current work to a colleague of mine but my delivery had been un-expected one (another story for another day)..I guess Eryna knows dat her mommy had been waiting for her impatiently & decided to surprise me a bit earlier with her arrival.. :)

Nevertheless, I'm quite amazed by how I had survived the last 2 months & I told this to a friend of mine & she told me dat it's because I'm a mother.."it makes u stronger" is what she said..hmmm..? Have a look at my schedule these days..

615-630 AM : wake-up + bath + Subuh prayer
630-730 AM : prepare Eryna's EBM for nursery + change her diapers + breastpumping gear + getting ready for work.
730-740 AM : off to work
815-825 AM : arrived
830 AM : work start (replies mail, received phone call from customer regarding complaints, argue with boss, scold my inspectors, start morning rounds,etc,etc)
1100 AM : pumping session1
1125 AM : work resume
1200 - 1240 : lunch hour
1240 NOON : work resume
300 PM : tea break + Zohor prayer + pumping session2
330 PM : work resume
530-545 PM : Asar prayer + pumping session3 (if time permitted)
600 PM : work end
630-640 PM : arrived home
640-740 PM : bath + start making dinner + nurse Eryna + start laundry
740-830 PM : Maghrib prayer + getting Eryna to go to sleep
830-900 PM : dinner + doing dishes + jemur kain + angkat kain (from yesterday, I do laundry EVERYDAY, I also dunno why?? there are only 4 of us in da house but the clothes are just tremendous!)
900-1030 PM : watch televisions + lipat kain + pumping session (for stock) + sembang2 + Isyak prayer + update blog (optional)
1030-1100 PM : getting ready to sleep + Eryna wakes for nursing
100-130 AM : Eryna wakes for nursing + tandem pumping
300-330 AM : Eryna wakes for nursing + change diapers (klu rajin)
530-615 AM : Eryna wakes for nursing
615-630 AM : and the cycle starts again

Wow...juz realized dat I have never sleep more than 3 hours straight for the past 4 months! Not even on weekends! Well, I guess my friend is right. Motherhood does make me stronger...I'm not alone though...I have a very supportive hubby...despite his addiction to his RPG games, badminton with his friends, snapping pictures here & there, he would always find a time to pitch in to help me around. Thanks for helping to make this work for me..

Then again, thanks to dear Eryna for making me a bit stronger, I guess? ;) Mmmmmuahh...

Eryna's Moments

Each & every moment with my dearly beloved daughter is a precious one...

Check out the eye brows!

Check out da eye-brows people! Dont u think its a spot-on resemblance?!

Well, I do.. :) It's a little too soon to tell I know..But luckily Eryna got her abah's eyebrows instead of my bushy-messy-one! Got many compliments on it though, I must say.. ;) Muahaha.. (masuk bakul angkat sendiri nmpk..;p ) But stillll, conversation of da year goes tooooo...:

brother @ 7-e : abg, cukur bulu kening ker?
dear hubby : eh tak lah..original ni..

Note dat the conversation is between a 'brother' ok...can u imagine? A guy asking another guy whether he did trim his eyebrows?? Not to mention strangers...hu3..But seriously, my dear hubby's eye-brows are naturally trimmed dat way..."dahm...wish someone would ask ME dat question.." *wink*

Things I am Thankful For...

26years of my life have been a great one. There'a a lot of things to be thankful for.

1. I'm thankful for being a Muslim. I'm still attaching myself to al-Quran & Sunnah to remind me of da right path & constantly trying hard to be a faithful Muslim despite my worldly desire to enjoy life. Praise be to Allah for His grace. I beg help from You alone; ask forgiveness from You alone, and turn towards You and praise You for all da good things and I am really grateful.
2. I'm thankful for my husband; Afzal, to whom I've been together for almost 3years (married for almost 2yrs). Thanks for being a loving husband.Thanks for being a patience father.Thanks for being an understanding friend. And most importantly, thanks for being a WONDERFUL person that you are. It has been such a wonderful journey with you & hope dat we will always be together in many years to come & hopefully with many kids to cherish with.. ;)
3. I'm thankful for my daughter, Eryna. I'm thankful for da wonderful 9months of pregnancy. Thanks Eryna for ur sweet smile.Thanks for ur cute face. Thanks for ur loud cries. Thanks for ur small hand. Thanks for ur lovely smell. Thanks for waking me up in da middle of da night for nursing. Thanks for everything dat u are. You are da most amazing thing dat ever happen to me. Please remember dat u will always have mama & abah in whatever situations. Mmmmmmmmuahh...
4. I'm thankful for my parents; abah, mak & aunty J. I'm thankful for ur constant reminder to me to always be a better person. I'm thankful for all of ur advices. I'm thankful for ur worries over me. I'm thankful for all da allowance during my study years. I'm thankful for all da kisses. I'm thankful for ur love, I know I can be a very DIFFICULT daughter at times. ;) I've truly been blessed to have both of u as my parents.
5. I'm thankful for both of my brothers, Hadi & Asyraff. Despite me acting like an ugly-stepsister instead of a cinderella-like-sister, I know dat I can always depend on both of you. Thanks for putting up with me through all da years. Thanks for all da help. Thanks for all da encouragement. Thanks for being just da way u are.
6. I'm thankful for my family. I'm thankful for my grandparents, my uncles&aunties, my cousins, my PIL, my SIL, my BIL & da rest of my families.
7. I'm thankful dat I have such an amazing friends. Without them I wouldn't have many people to talk to when times get tough or have someone to share good news with. There are a lot of names to list out. You know who u are. Thanks for being such a good friend.
8. I'm thankful for my sight (although I'm far-sighted; which leads me to be thankful for contact lenses). So many are blind and can't see da world around them. I'm thankful I can watch my daughter grow up. Dat I can see da wonderful sights of Malaysia and other countries have to offer, and hoping to travel more in da future to see even more. I'm glad I have been able to see what life has to offer and have seen what I have done in my 26 years of life so far.
9. I'm thankful dat I have a job.
10. I'm thankful dat I have a car.
11. I'm thankful for my education
12. I'm thankful for food.
13. I'm thankful for an occasional grey rainy afternoon
14. I'm thankful for day off from work!
15. I'm thankful for dis blog so dat I can list out all things dat I'm thankful for.

Despite all da ups & downs, despite all da bad things & good things, I still have a lot to be thankful for. If I were to list it all, would take me years. So, what are YOU thankful for? :)

My Flower is a Gangster I

Hope dat da title wont come true though.. ;) OK I really hate to admit this but the truth is, my little eryna dont like camera dat much..whenever her abah wanted to take a picture of her, she would suddenly go from laughing-happily to no-photograph-please-britney-spears-style. "slalu wat muke xpuas hati jer anak mama ni"...aiya...wut to do huh? :)



Hopefully as my dd grows older, she would show her sweet smile more often. :) Her sweet smile would never fail to bring a smile to myself.

Preparing for bath

My dear Eryna would always choose the right time to get her 'nen-nen'..NOT!..Juz right before we want to bath her, she would want her milk at the exact minute after we open her clothes..so, it would be a rather lengthy 30mins instead of the normal 5mins to get her fully bath & cloth...since after milk, she would want to main2 first..then nk dukung2 pulak...haiyo..."Eryna..lepas ni xmo main2 dh k..."

Confessions of a Shopaholic

I love to shop online. And I even manage to spread da habit to my dear hubby. Every now & then, our home will get a short visit from poslaju, posekspress, fedex, skynet; u name it. We got it all. *wink* If it's not mine, then it's his. We juz love to surprise each other with our 'surprise parcel'.. :)

So, truth be told. I'm a fanatic online shopper, Believe it or not, I bought everything from the screen of my monitor. Thanks to online banking. OK that's been established; let's have alook at what products that I've bought so far. So here goes:

1. Perfume
2. Tudung
3. wallet
4. bag
5. books
6. soft toys
7. breast pump
8. MLO bottle
9. playtex milk liners
10. Soya milelea (I even bought drinks online! God help what come next)
11. Flash cards
12. nursing cover
13. baby tight (with da help of a fren of mine. Jerry, thanks a lot!)
14. baby rompers
15. baby crochet shoes
16. nursing bra
17. cloth diapers
18. pen ( u would have thought dat we have enough stationery shops, but NO, i have to bought it online)
19. stockin
20. watch

Ok da list goes on & on & on, so let juz stop here. Do u noe dat there are people even sell diapers online! And I'm not talking about cloth diapers, people! It's da normal huggies, drypers, mamipoko kinda diapers. Seriously, I'm really tempted to buy as it's really2 CHEAP & if not for a fact dat I've heard rumors bout contaminated diapers; I think I might juz have.

But seriously, it's juz becoz most of the things dat I bought are quite difficult to get here in Kulim/Penang. Or maybe I'm juz too plain lazy to go look for it. Plus, I love da 'surprise' feeling while waiting for da item to arrive. To see whether izit as I thought it would be. And luckily until today, I havent been disspointed yet. And lets hope it stays dat way, as I do not plan on stopping. So guys, lets shop online! :)

My Breastfeeding Journey

Alhamdulillah; Eryna at her 31/2 months is still enjoying mommy's milk. My target is to fully breastfeed her until 6months; (hopefully) & only start her on solid food by then. 6 months is my target but I'm hoping dat I will be able continue breastfeed Eryna until she's 2yrs old. Been praying hardly dat I will be able to do that.

At work, currently I'm da only one who is still fully breastfeed eventhough already started working & a colleague of mine asked me how did I do it. Well, I'm not an expert though (first time mommy & baru 3months liao, loooong way to go..another 21months in counting!! ), but whatever I know, I will gladly share. So here's my journey to supply breastmilk for Eryna.

Ok first, what we need is DEDICATION , COMMITMENT & DETERMINATION..dat is da most important thing. Da next important is to equipped yourselves with knowledge on breastfeeding. There's a lot of myths about breastfeeding (susu kurang la, susu xdak khasiat la); so be prepared..Luckily a friend of mine introduce me to dis website; susuibu.com ; in which we can find A LOT of useful information. Plus, another useful website such as; kellymom.com ; anythingmaternity.com ; etc..Next thing is to have the right breastpumping gear. For a working mommy like me, here are what I have :

1. Breastpump : If you are working, I would suggest you to get a pump dat can do a double pumping; to save time & I believe it's also good to maintain your milk supply in da long run. As for me, I bought Spectra3, mainly because, for a double pumping pump, dis is da cheapest (economy down lerr..have to save cost! ;p but still, Medela Free Style is in my wish list..maybe next round lar.. ;)) Nevertheless, I absolutely luurvvee dis pump; really works for me. As my work requires exactly 9hrs of my time, i need to be able to pump as quickly as I can & Spectra3 serve this purpose.
2. Expressed Breastmilk (EBM) storage : Dis is to store ur EBM when u are at work. Currently I used 3 types; MLO bottle, Avent via storage & Playtex milk liners. If your workplace do not have any fridge, you might want to invest on a good cooler bag & a chiller. (I'll blog on breastmilk storage 101 later aite).
3. Pump bag : Well, actually dis one depends on you lar...Use any bag oso can..but in da market, they have specific type for each pump. For me, i juz use a big Fendi bag, able to fit my Spectra3, 2 sets of breastshield, 2 Avent bottles & my liner. So, shud be good enough for me..Plus I'm totally in love with da chick looks & design..Dear hubby choose da bag for me..He has such a good eyes for a nice bag, if you ask me.. :)

Basically dat's all you need. All of da above I bought online except for da bag, mainly because I'm really lazy to go searching for all of it. Better do it with just da tip of my finger..That alone would tell you dat I'm a fanatic online shopper..ha3..Aiyak..have to go back to work lorrr...I can see my boss coming..will continue in my next post ya...