Papadom rocks!!

Last Wednesday night, my sister, hubby and I went to watch the much talked about Papadom. And I have to say that it does live up to its reputation.
Personally, I think it is Afdlin's best movie yet. The father-daughter relationship is so heartwarming to see. The comedy scenes were also refreshing to watch, there were no slapstick jokes thrown around. Even Harun Salim Bachik who is known for his somewhat slapstick jokes manage to tone down his usual spirit to more suit the humour in this movie.

Norkhiriah, as always was wonderful. Vanida looks sooooo beautiful and I think no other actress could have played the character Miasara better than Liyana Jasmay. Sure, she can seem precocious and a bit pretentious at times but hey, it works with the character.

I also love Que Haidar in this movie and I think he has potential to become a very good comedy actor. One more thing worth mentioning is Mia's bestfriend, Yvonne. I think Chelsia Ng is a great actress who is greatly under-estimated by lots of people. Farid Kamil and Scha were good, but that is to be expected.

I would have like to see more of their relationship while Mia is growing up. For example, the first time Mia got her period. That would have add more depth to their relationship, I think. I would also like to see more of Mia's friendship with Yvonne and maybe more information on Saadom's and Mia's extended family. A Nenek or Opah would be nice to see ;)

I was switching from laughing and crying throughout the movie. Overall, I think this movie is on a different league than all movies in Malaysia, no wonder they bagged all the major awards in FFM. Papadom rocks!! and as he said, Power to the people ;)

She Crawls!!!!!!

Yeay!!

Bibik - extra help or extra work?

I have heard soooo many talks about having a bibik (maid) in the house. Some agrees that its good having an extra set of hands around, some argues that teaching the maid to be competent is a hard task on its own. Honestly, if it was up to me, I am somewhat reluctant to have a maid living in the house (macamla rajin sangat ;p). But, one look at my mom's exhausted face every time we reach home after work convinced me that we do need a maid to help her around the house.

We have gotten our maid for two weeks now, and she's like God's gift from heaven. The first day she came, we gave her some time to adjust but already she insisted on cleaning every room. Heh! The next day, she vacuum and mop the entire house. Then, she clean every room and she does all the cleaning with an enthusiastic spirit, and the best thing is, we don't even have to ask!

Of course, we paid quite a hefty sum to get her, but I'm glad to say that each cent is well spent. Even Sara can get along with her (and we all know that Sara hates strangers!). She's also a fast learner, for example, she caught us ALWAYS talking to Sara in simple English instead of Malay, so the first time I left Sara and bibik alone (I was actually spying from upstairs), I caught her playing with Sara and singing twinkle-twinkle, brother john and when Sara started crying, she would soothe her and say, "Sara, don't cry...come, we see bird" and carry Sara to the backyard to hear the birds chirping.

Okay, I know it has only been two weeks and she is still on her best behaviour but I believe she is sincere and again, thank God we have her. Having said that, until now, we haven't left her alone with Sara in the house. I guess I'm not ready to do that just yet.

Happy Birthday to me!!

PhatMoMMy has turned 29. One more year to the dreaded three-oh. Overall, I think I am where I want to be in life, hmmm, lets see...on my checklist:

a husband (checked!)
at least one baby (checked!)
a stable job (checked!)
a house (checked!)
a car of my own (checked!)
a whole lot of money to spend - this, I'll have to postpone until I'm forty :(

My mom told me that out of us three siblings, I was the only one who never missed out on a birthday celebration from I was one year old until I finished primary school. After that, since I was in boarding school, we only celebrate my birthday if I'm back at home. Back then, each and every celebration was special. A must. But now, as I grew older (erk!) there are more important things in life than having a big party for my birthday.

This year's birthday is extra special for me because I am now a mommy. I don't care about presents anymore, I have the greatest gift in the world :)

Happy Birthday Mommy - she says with fingers crossed...
Hmm...now what does that suppose to mean?? :)

My Idea of a perfect Friday's long lunch break

Hanging out with two of my most wonderful girlfriends. We usually go out in quartet (me, Mama Idraki and mummy-to-be), but Mummy Allysha is still in confinement.

On Friday, we will have 2 1/2 hour lunch break (one of the beauty working for the Government). We will spend our time with window shopping, catching up on gossips, eating good food but mostly just talk. Girl talk. A pouring-your-heart-out *read : whining* session (mostly done by yours truly ;p)

I don't know about them, but I treasure our Friday getaway and I look forward to next Friday and the next one after that. Girls, you bring spice to my mundane life and thank you for lending your ears to my emotional outbursts every now and then.

Sara's update

Sara is now 9 months! She can now officially sit unassisted. So much so, the first thing she did when she wakes up is sit down and slap the wall, that gave us the fright of the day ;p

We haven't been to the clinic for check-up so I don't know her current weight, but I think she's around 9ish kgs. Maybe she dropped a few pounds due to the food poisoning. All in all, she remains a happy baby. She's showing signs of crawling. She can get down to all fours but haven't quite grasp the moving concept yet. She'll remain on her hand and knees for 5 minutes than back to sitting down.

Her hair got sooooo long, I've had people suggested that we cut 'em short. It hasn't reach the masuk mata stage yet, so I guess I'll leave it at that for the time being.

She has learned lots of other things such as:

"flying kiss" - she'll pucker her mouth (kiss) and put her hand on her mouth but haven't quite got the concept of "flying" yet.
"clean yourself" - she'll rub her hands all over her body as if she's soaping herself ;p
"who's the champion??" - she'll raise her hand (sometimes right hand, sometimes left)

Now, we're teaching her twinkle-twinkle-little-star. I'll try to capture her video once she can do that. I know I always said this, but that little bum is growing up sooo rapidly. I'm so gonna miss cradling her like a baby.

The chronicle of food poisoning

Thursday (15 October 2009) - Hubby text me saying that he has severe diarrhea coupled with nausea and light-headedness. I was worried, but he's a big boy, I'm sure he can take care of himself.

Friday (16 October 2009) - My little angel began to develop such symptoms. Her body felt warm, I thought she was feverish due to a little tooth that is beginning to show. However, during midnight, she began to puke her milk. Twice. I'm beginning to worry.

Saturday (17 October 2009) - I brought Sara to the clinic and it's confirmed that she also has food poisoning. On top of that, she also has a fever and a very bloated tummy. She pukes during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Her big round eyes lost their usual sparkle and I felt soooo powerless, I couldn't make her feel better.

Sunday (18 October 2009) - Hubby is better. Sara is still puking, we've tried every remedy to help alleviate her bloating tummy but nothing gives. But, she begins to feel better as evening comes. HOWEVER, my dad and I begin to develop severe stomach ache. I feel like the pain is worse than contraction. Ha! We had diarrhea all night long and the pain was excruciating.

Monday (19 October 2009) - Despite the pain, I still have to go to work since I have a few pending task. Tsk. Sara is getting better. Alhamdulillah.

The doctor at the clinic told us that this food poisoning does not necessary means that the source is from the food Sara consume. It may also come from her bathe water (I suspect this is true, last week the water quality in Selangor was sooooo bad), her contact with person with same symptom (in my case, most probably from hubby ;p) or the toys and other things that she puts in her mouth (I very much doubt this, she seldom put things in her mouth).

It's really heartbreaking to see my lil angel who loves to eat becomes somewhat afraid to eat, because if she eats, she'll just puke it back out. We really hope that this episode will never happen again in the future.

Baby Food Intake Guide

Disclaimer : The below post is excerpt from "Panduan Pemakanan Sihat Untuk Bayi" prepared by Unit Pemakanan, Bahagian Kesihatan Awam, Jabatan Kesihatan Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur. I'm merely putting it in my blog for mu future reference. God knows I'm a complete mess when it comes to keeping and organizing hard copies ;)

As a reminder, the guide also states that if you are breastfeeding, BM should be given first before each meal to encourange prolong breastfeeding. Other important facts in the guide are:

1. A balance meal for babies should include four categories of food :- CARBS (cereal, rice), PROTEIN (fish, meat, chicken), FIBER (veggies, fruits) and FAT (butter, oil)

2. You have to add oil, butter or any form of fat in your babies' food to increase the energy content in each food intake.

3. Food texture has to be prepared according to the baby growth :- 6 months (blended food), 7-9 months (mashed food), 10-12 months (finely chopped food)

4. The most important advice is "Make meal time = fun time for your baby". Do not force the baby to eat if he/she is not ready and doesn't want to.

Our Open House

First of all, thank you to those who came to our open house last week. Second of all, sorry for those who came late and only have mee goreng and nasi himpit to eat. Third of all, sorry for those who didn't receive my invitation. Honestly, I'm quite forgetful these days and I forgot to post the invite on my facebook. Sorry guys.

Anyways, our open house was a blast. I mean, what's not to love? Good food + good company is always welcomed in my book. This year, we serve nasi minyak with ayam masak merah, acar and kuah dhal, nasi himpit with kuah kacang, konnyaku jelly, cupcakes (as picture above - made these myself), fruits and Grenadine Neanderthal (sirap la!)

This year is also the first time our main dish is finished (tak cukup!) and not enough for all the guests. Just for my own personal record, there were 8X4 (32 cups) of rice, 7X14 (98 pieces) of chicken, 7 cucumber and 2 pineapple for the acar, 4X5 (20 packs of nasi himpit), 2 kgs of sugar (for the sirap), 150 cupcakes and konnyaku jellies. So, next year, if we plan to do the same, we should add at least for another 20 guests or so.

It was d*mn tiring not only because of all the home made cooking but because my beloved dad has this so-called policy regarding open house.

1. "Kalau nak buat open house, masak sendiri. Kalau nak panggil katering, baik ajak kawan pegi makan kat kedai"
2. "Jangan nak guna pinggan polisterin. Buat apa beli pinggan mahal-mahal, banyak-banyak tu kalau tak nak guna"

Since we don't have any helpers (maid/bibik) to clean the dishes, we end up doing everything ourselves. Which is why my little angel and dear hubby slept like a log ;)

Penat gile, okeh...

Still standing

See Mommy, I can stand...bluekkk

I can even let go of my hands...

Okay, my legs are getting wobbly now...

Mommy, I'm falling...catch me!!

Yeah, she STILL can't stand on her own ;)

Mashed Potato with carrots

Recently, I read a guide book by the Ministry of Health Malaysia on how to start feeding your baby and various baby food recipes. I tried one the other day and it was yummy (even Mommy likes it). Here's the recipe :

1 medium-size potato
1 small-size carrot
1 table spoon of butter
1 egg yolk (boiled)
A teenie weenie bit of salt
Milk or hot water

Just boil the potato and carrot (skin the potato after boiling, helps preserve the nutrition in it). Add everything else and mash with fork. In my case, I'm too lazy to mash everything so I just blend everything together (I did try to mash them but the mashed version comes off too grainy)

As for eggs, I know that some medical opinion said that you shouldn't be feeding eggs to babies below 1 year old. HOWEVER, the doctor at the clinic told me that it actually would be wise to start feeding your baby egg yolk at 8 months old. This is because at 1 year old, the baby will receive an injection which consists of egg yolk to determine whether the baby is allergic to eggs. However, at one year old, the baby could be eating lots of other stuffs so it would be hard to know whether the baby is actually allergic to eggs or other stuff that he/she has eaten.

For me, I'm inclined to believe that explanation. I have been slowly putting egg yolks in Sara's porridge and so far, she appears okay with it. Alhamdulillah.

My current TV addiction

I am so into True Blood right now. I just love the whole complexity and manipulation of each and every character. For those close to me, they know that I can watch TV like nobody's business. I can watch soap dramas, Korean and Japanese series, cartoons, anime, reality tv series and the list just goes on and on...

My favourite TV series are Grey's Anatomy, The Amazing Race and True Blood. I don't foresee any major problems with Grey's and TAR, but True Blood is somewhat a heavy drama with lots of gory scenes (something that I doubt any good parents will approve)

Its true what they say, becoming a mommy comes with certain sacrifies. I mean, I will gladly trade watching True Blood with The Wiggles if it means I never have to answer questions like "Mommy, why is that man biting into that woman's neck" from my little angel's mouth ;p

Clingy Sara

My Sara is now at a separation anxiety phase. She'll cry on stranger's arm. She cried when we were back in Kuantan for Raya. She even cried on her babysitter's arm. Perhaps it was because she now lives with Nenek and the familiar faces she sees everyday is only Mommy, Babah, Atuk and Cik Ngah.

During Raya, I have to hold her all the time. See the above pic, she's crying because I am the one taking the pic and she wanted her Mommy. I'm not complaining though, I just feel sort of guilty towards her Mak Tok and hubby's family. I read somewhere that this separation anxiety phase will last until she is one year old. Don't tell anyone but I'm secretly loving it though :) (helps me to avoid doing household chores. Haha)

These last few days, Sara is obsessive with her Atuk. She'll cry every morning when Atuk goes to work and her face lits up every evening Atuk came home. She even cries when we try to take her off Atuk's arm. She's so lucky she has that gorgeous, huge, sparkling eyes that can melt your heart.

On another note, she can now wave bye-bye, make aeroplane sound and scrunching her nose if we say "bad smell". She also still remembers to clap her hands EVERYTIME we sing pok amai-amai, and pat her chest when we ask "where is adlyna qaisara?" BUT she no longer dance to sounds of music. As for her physical development:

can she crawl? NO.
can she hold on to something and try to stand? NO.
can she hold her own milk bottle? NO.
yeah, she's a lazybum ;p

Sara's prominent features

Everywhere we go, the thing that people would comment about my little angel is usually :

Her mop of thick, black hair
and

Her big round eyes :) and, do I have a specific thing that I did during pregnancy to ensure she have those features?
Yup, I did.


I just watch a lot of anime. Heh.
See that mohawk black hair and big eyes? Hihi...(Mommy *heart* Sasuke-kun, eventhough he became a baddie ;P)