:: weekend project ::

i find myself jarang sangat update blog lately.

pretty much, i'm a bit energy-less, plus work load is piling high in office. back at home, the two kiddos are demanding my attention, thus my 'me' time has reduced significantly.

anyway, just to share my weekend story ngan korang semua..

OH told me that he'll be away for a week in turkmen. and seperti biasa, haruslah diri ini sulk for a day or two. :P ye la. last week, i was so tak larat, nak jalan pun tak daya. in fact i walk like a penguin. :P (ye, gelakkan saya) i think the c-sect has its setback on me already. maybe my pelvic ligament dah weak, that i find it hard to move around painless.

anyway, we had an early saturday, starting with breakie kat ikea. sebab i wanted to buy a pair of slippers for the boys. (they've outgrown theirs) sebagai peminat setia thomas and friends, mmg apa pun yang ada gambar thomas menjadi po-jaan hati diorang. so, mak dia yang agak kedekut ini pun belilah kat brands outlet. lepas ikea, gie pulak mengukur tanah kat midvalley. penat mengukur tanah kat midvalley, benti makan kat food court the gardens. and err, i'm falling in love with the food court, because i feel the food court is different from teh normal food court yang selalu i pegi. mahal sikit la tapinye. but food wise, different.

lepas penat buat kerja-kerja ukur tanah kat shopping mall, balikla kami ke gagang. :P i remember my boys asking me to bake some cakes for them. seminggu dok suruh mommy buat kek. celik² mata subuh alam cakap pasal kek. so, i decided i should bake some for them, but this time with a twist. i let them bake with me, and i'm proud to say, my dapur tak chaos! hehe. i let the boys to have their hands on the mixer, and i let them to deco their own cakes. (ala, tabur² choc chips, starts, moon, etc jek on the cakes). punya la suka. lepas tuh, made some for hubby to travel too. i pun suruh la si adib letakkan choc chip dalam cup cakes, and yes he obeyed me. dia letak SATU saje choc chip dalam OH's cup. yang lain masuk mulut dia. choc chip tuh nampak gila surut. dan anak² kecil itu bertukar menjadi tersangat la hyper. sugar high!

i enjoyed that moment so much. looking and gazing at my kids on how focus they're while i baked was truly an awesome experience. i should find more time to do so with them. prehaps lepas nih buat cookies pulak kot? sure diorang lagi suka. bukan setakat happy, but we also get to get them to practise to refine their motor skills.

okay la peeps. sampai sini dulu..

babai..

:: antara sama dan tidak serupa ::

dalam hidup, kita kena ada 2-2 elemen nih. barulah namanya saling melengkapi. tapi dalam masa yang sama, dua-dua mende nih kenalah kita balancekan. kalau tak jadikla ia macam kereta yang jalan tak best sebab dah lama tak buat balancing.

perempuan dan lelaki memang berbeza, tapi dalam beza ada yang serupa. harus dihalusi perbezaaan itu dan diimbang agar hidup saling melengkapi antara satu sama lain. apatah lagi dalam kehidupan berumahtangga.

relationship is about give and take. relationship works its balance for it to stand. hazardous/potential risk that may harm relationship should be managed and mitigated, rather than leave it aside, hoping it to subside on its own. that's running away from problem shall i say, rather than solving.

apsal aku tetiba bebel pasal mende nih?

ntah kepala aku serabut.

aku banyak keja. just a school of thought from me. perhaps, a point to ponder.

da!

:: 27++ week check up ::

another round of A&C yesterday, and i get a clearer picture of the detailed scan that has been done the week before. dr kata, as long as the baby's growth doesn't drop below 10%, insya Allah it's ok. hopefully, it's true..

so yesterday, dr assigned me to have my tetanus jab and dexa injection. huwa.. huwa.. 3 jabs within 24 hours. gulp.

ATT amek lepas A&C. dexa terpaksa amek malam, sebab kena amek 2 dos. dos tuh kena amek within 12 hours. FYI, dexa injection agak sakit. sebab ubat dia minyak based. susah sket kot nak flow. in personal view, lepas 2 pregnancy kena amek dexa nih, errr amek injection nih lagi sakit dari epi kot? epi tak rasa apa. so buat la kul 9.00 malam yesterday night, and another one today. tapi semalam memang lawak yea. i terkunci dalam toilet kat hospital sebab latch lock tuh rosak. imagine ibu mengandung terkunci dalam toilet?? nasib baik toilet bersih. to think of it, nasib baik la i yang kena. kalau kids?? kalau disable (FYI - toilet tuh toilet disable), org tua ke? nasib baik la mind boleh berfikir utk tekan button emergency call staff. kalau tak melolong² la aku sengsorang dalam toilet yang sungguh canggih lock nye tuh. being rescued within 15-30 mins. jenuh jugak la technician tuh nak pecahkan lock. sampai buat aku terpk, apsal la kena pakai lock canggih sangat utk toilet? :D

satu lagi cerita, hmmm.. next one month aku kena go thru glucose test. sebabnya, i've got a history of stillbirth. dr agak yakin i'm diabetic free, but she said, just to be on the safe side. i heard it's pretty 'tasty'. adehhhhhh. udahler i nih mmg anti air yang too sweet, tho i love cakes and stuff. :P takpe la.. i'll try to do whatever within my capacity to ensure that this pregnancy moves on smoothly and sound, deliver safely. amin.

okayla kengkawan. tuh jek hapdet untuk A&C semalam. we had the 3D pics too. nampak gayanya si adik macam ikut rupa adib. (tinggikan imaginasi kitorang?? hehe) doakanlah keselamatan ibu dan anak yang dikandung yek..

da!

:: dalam hati ada risau ::

last thursday, i had my detailed scan done. dr suggested me to have this one, due to my past still birth history. so, there i went, menyerahkan perut untuk discan for about 30mins.

mainly, dr check the structure of the baby. meaning, no chromosomal abnormalities will be checked. syukur alhamdulillah, structurally the baby is fine. looking good. that was what he said, until a point he deliberated further. dia kata the baby is within the range of growth, but it's on the lower side. and it's immature to conclude IUGR (intra uterine growth restriction). more scans need to be done to conclude this.

frankly speaking, it sparks some 'uncomfortable' feeling and anxiety in me and OH. we have gone through bad experience, and we're praying and hoping that this time round everything will turn out fine.

i googled up to find the causes of IUGR. hypertension, diabetic, plasenta abruption, plasenta previa. that's the cause, and IUGR puts baby in higher risk of still birth.

mengambil langkah berjaga², terus aku gi shopping for 'better' food lepas scan. grabbed myself a box of cereal (i hate cereals) and fresh milk. that is for a start. better late than never. and i have cut my coffee intake tremendously, tho all this while pun i minum maximum 2 cups a day. (skali skala ada la terlajak). nih dah masuk 2.5 days tak amek coffee, and yes my mind goes haywired.. :P

hari nih ada follow up dengan gynae. for my 28th week check up. gonna wait and see what the dr says. hopefully, there's nothing wrong with me and the baby.

anyway, dah ada satu set of name yang dah terpahat di jiwa.. :D and for the first time, tak perlu argue dengan OH. :D

doakanlah i yea my dear readers.. moga² i dapat melahirkan anak dari kandungan ini dengan sihat, selamat dan sejahtera. anak yang lahir itu sempurna sifatnya, sihat tubuh badannya, cerdas akalnya, fasih lidah dan merdu suara untuk membacakan ayat² alQuran. amin.

ps - hari nih rasa bersalah teramat² sebab semalam marah budak afiq sebab tak nak makan nasik.. adeh..

:: Trip : Our Way ::

was feeling 'under energy' for the past few days. body clock masih beum return ke asal sepenuhnya and kondisi (ecceh!) diri pun dah makin sarat.. tido malam dah tak lena, pernafasan pun makin sukar.

anyway, as promised, i'm gonna blog about 'Our Ways of Travelling'. memula ingat nak kasik tips, tapi rasanya bukan la tips sangat pun, it's merely on the story of planning and executing the plan of holidays in our way.

:: Transportation ::
most of our hols trip (i mean air-bound la) were impromptu plan, i.e. tetiba tiket murah, tetiba boleh redeem point cheaply. maklumla poket duit bukannya dalam sangat nak seluk to finance the trips. tapi dah dasar laki bini suka berjalan merewang, we normally try to satisfy our crave that way. one thing i learn from my OH who's an avid travel planner (haha!) is rajin²la check miles point redemption. sometimes it is awkwardly cheap, macam yang kitorang redeem pegi UK recently. only 30,000 miles point. (redeem masuk lounge pun 5,000. jangan marah aaa din..)

so far, trip yang betul² bayar seniri adalah 2 kali kot. satu gie gold coast via air asia x and another one was to sydney via lauda air (austrian air - masa they still transit in kl, now they transit in bangkok). tiket beli masa tuh pun murah gila baban compared to nowadays punya price. bought our tix to GC (return) for 1200++ per person and sydney pun lebih kurang sama. GC tuh beli masa air asia x buat offer, while sydney tuh 'kerja gila'. sesaja call our 'fav' holiday company - G** yang biasanya boleh offer pretty cheap price for air tix compared to other airlines.

satu lagi website yang boleh direfer kalau nak cari cheap airflight tix is - www.dohop.com. this website akan kasik u a list of airlines yang offer cheap airlines tix for the destination that u wish for.

tuh baru satu cerita. cerita dari KL ke destination. another thing that we have to consider is while abroad, u nak naik apa. cam kitorang nih, personally memang prefer pakai public transport when abroad, especially to countries yang dah agak familiar, i.e. OZ and UK. when i say public transport, i don't mean cabs, but merely busses or tube/train etc. sebabnya, u see more and mind is free from thinking mana nak park kereta etc. tapi sejak ada anak nih, and bringing them along, we memang opt for own transportation. maknanya terpaksala allocate extra untuk parking fee, and be prepared to pay some 'ridiculous' amount of parking fare. (baik aku gie shopping guna duit tuh tau!!). except in Europe, whereby kat sana left hand drive, kitorang tak naik kereta, but naik metro. but we were shocked to find a city like paris, metro dia errrrr tak wheel chair/children friendly la. no lift, no escalator. so u can imagine cemana la aku n OH as well as other family members juggle bawak twin stroller kat dalam metro station yang banyak turun naik tangga. pergh.. boleh naik muscle.

:: Accommodation ::
different people ada different ways of managing their hols. ada yang call jek holiday company and mintak arrange everything. like us, we enjoy the planning part as well. so, sampaila ke bab nak tinggal kat mana pun kitorang carik sendiri via pakcik google. :D we prefer to stay kat 'self catering' accomodation or in other word, 'fully equipped kitchen'. :D normally bila search guna google engine, we either guna keyword 'self catering', ''holiday apartment', 'short stay' etc. that's how we settled in for accommodation. untung nasib, apartment mmg best gila macam masa gie london.. nasib tak best, merasalah tido sebelah dapur macam masa gie NZ during our study years.

:: up and about ::
selalunya, we all akan buat research sket la kat tempat yang dituju tuh, so that we could briefly plan our 'kunun²' tour. :D it saves a lot of time if u do it ahead of time. bila buat planning ahead, u could put aside some budget kalau attraction yang u nak pegi tuh kena bayar, etc.

we also akan print out jadual waktu solat, so memudahkan urusan perjalanan. u can find international time prayers kat sini - www.islamicfinder.com.

:: kids ::
haha. part nih kena la lalu trial and error process kan? hehe. sebabnya kita tak boleh dictate kids. in fact they are the one yang actually determine your journey. :) my simple advice, pack lotsa snack, like my kids diorang suka makan kismis, so i make sure i have enough stock dalam my bag (which i find bag pack is more practical than handbag for travelling moms). don't forget their medicines, we won't know bila anak nak sakit. and being in a foreign land, u won't know how does the system work. apa lagi?? make sure u ada enough clothing for your kids, travelling with kids in soaking clothes is definitely unpleasant.

i also pack 'some' toys to take their mind off for a while. it doesn't have to be exspensive and fancy. macam masa gi UK hari tuh, i bawak a small bag of masak² toys and some small cars for them to play. if your kids love to read, then, books will be handy, or just hand out some crayons and papers for them to scribble.

if your kids are attached to something i.e. pacifier and in my case, their 2 busuk teddy bears, make sure u bring it with them. u don't want to handle kids who turn cranky sebab tak leh tido tak dapat their thing. (just hoping takde yang ada bantal busuk gabak.. hehehe)

make sure u have enough stock of formula milk if ur kids are drinking FM. tau² jek la budak, bukan senang nak tukau susu sekelip mata.. :D

guess sampai sini dulu. kalau ada lagi our ways of travelling i'll upload later in blog. for meanwhile, hope this entry helps a bit.

da!

:: UK : the trip ::

i thought there would be a second post from UK, but time did not permit me to do so. was extremely occupied with the kids and when there're times, i was left with zero energy. so, takde la update dari sana.

the trip was actually 'unplanned'. it was an impromptu decision. some would know that my OH has been travelling a lot for the past months that he accumulated enough enrich miles to be redeemed by all of us. takdenya we all nak spent our money unwisely bayor tiket memahal naik flight. kebetulan, MAS buat offer redemption yang crazily cheap, so that's the reason why we arrived in UK.

we pushed off on december 25th, midnight flight. syukur alhamdulillah, the kids behaved well and did not caused much of a tantrum. slept almost 3/4 of the journey. but i didn't really sleep. felt very uncomfortable.

first day of arrival, we were greeted by a 16 seater mini bus, instead of 9 people mover. nak buat cemana kan? 'free' upgrade that has caused lots of trouble to us. we waited for my brother to arrive from dublin and we then made a move to birmingham for 2 nights stay.

the main reason we went to birmingham was to bring the kids to thomasland park. birmingham was very, very cold. and i would say i was caught by surprise. i normally can take winter cold very well. what more with hit flushes that come along. but this time i surrender. sejuk gila!

thomasland is a simple park, mesmerized by the characters in thomas and friends. both boys were amused by the trains' characters. i believe they would enjoy it more if the weather is not that cold. we spent quite a fortune in the park, buying books and some clothing for the boys.

we stayed in an apartment next to the bullring shopping complex. but we didn't shop much, thanx to the boys that occupy our time a lot.

journey back to london was lengthy. there was heavy traffic and urggghh lama gila dalam kereta. upon arrival in london, we checked in at the apartment in kensington high street. the apartment was lovely, and i truly love the apartment. conveniently situated near the tube station and only 2 bus stop away. best.

in london, masa habis banyak gi shopping complexes. what with VAT freeze, mmg people shop like crazy. i got the chance to visit bicester village, that housed branded goods and the buy is value for money. TOD's handbag for RM1500? who would have dream kan? tapi mimpi jek la mak nak beli. handbag yang dua nih saja tak terjaga, takkan i nak spent 200pound dalam sekelip mata tanpa sempat membelek2 kan? so i'll keep on dreaming la. hopefully, murah rezeki and i would be able to come back here again, one fine day. :D

other than that, i enjoyed M&S a lot. i love the fruits, i love the food. :D for a caffeine addict like me, cold winter means more caffeine. gila banyak minum coffee, sampai kena ingatkan diri seniri that i'm carrying!! and i just love costa's toasted panini with tuna.

after spending 5 days in london, we then moved on to paris via eurostar, with our main goal - disneyland paris. harharhar.. paris weather is even worst! lagi sejukkkkk! huwwaaa! first day outing kat paris, we all cuma keluar 3 jam saje. afiq melalak2 tak tahan sejuk despite being layered with thick clothes! he insisted to put his hand in my winter coat (which he refer as 'cookie monster mommy') but syukur, they did enjoy their time in disneyland despite the cold.

all in all, it was a beautiful trip despite the kids throwing tantrums and mommy didn't get her enough dose of shopping. i have to learn to let the urge goes away as i have kids to attend to. mungkin ada hikmahnya.

we were so lucky that our plans turn out right, that we escaped the blizzard in london on the very final day, and eurostar work well despite earlier email warning possible cancellation. the kids learnt a lot too, and i believe they had a good time as well.

it was a beautiful memory, and we are now left with jet lag. hehe.

:: live from UK : part 1::

it has been such a long hiatus!

i was very busy over past few weeks, rushing for datelines, but fail to do so.. :( tak pe la.. nak buat guane??

this is actually a live update anyway fro UK, i'm away for 2 weeks hol with dearest OH and kids, not forgetting my family and in laws.

the hols doesn't seem to jive, lotsa things didn't turn out smoothly that it practically spoils the holiday mood. still have 6 days left here, and i'm praying that days will get better, insya Allah.

the weather is extremely cold. there're moments when the temperature is below 0 degree. pity my boys, and they started to throw tantrums sebab sejuk sangat.

i wanted and dream of doing lotsaaaaa shopping. but guess with the two kiddo around, i just have to learn to let the urge pass by. nama jek pegi holiday ramai2, tapi bila time shopping we split, and actually most of the time we split. guess after this hol, i'm ready for any challenge. it's not easy to juggle with the kids, diaper bags, showing belly, and heavy winter wear in the middle of high street while braving the crowd. not to mention putting up pity faces so that ada la yang kesian tengok mak buyung nih terboyot2 naik and diri dalam bas sambil pegang 2 anak takut jatuh. nevertheless, i still feel proud of myself, that i manage to handle the kids, pretty well. syukur, Allah permudahkan urusan dengan bagi diri ini kesihatan yang baik walaupun sejuk sampai ke tulang. so does my kids and the OH.

nanti bila balik kl i'll try to sum up some tips for travelling with lil kids i.e. 2 year old and specifically with twins. okay la peeps. i've got some ironing to do while the kids are asleep.

see you later!