Geng

last friday, papa took leave as it was the school holidays.

After FRiday prayers, he took the kids to watch geng.

Boo hoo! and it was my suggestion, and I was so looking forward to taking the kids watch geng, but ibu had a programme with the students at work that day.

It didn't help a colleague had watched it and said it was cool.

still a long time away

everyday, azraf will ask, 'ibu, how big is the baby now?'
november is a long time away :).

I should let him go to websites that chart a baby's growth in weeks, don't think they have any by days.

bad days mean lethargy and splitting headaches. I think the headaches are also withdrawal symptoms from caffeine. so I should be thankful, just nauseuos (sp?) without actual throwing up, it just that that might be a little uncomfortable when you're standing in front of class...

classes are over soon, beach whaling season coming.

hania wants to share the news with her friends already.

they keep rubbing my tummy.

like I said, november is a long time away.

a little excitement

was on leave wednesday.
we sent amjad and syazmi to robotics camp and then went to the dr with azraf and najwan.
azraf was like, why are we here? and we said, just wait and see.
it was a toss-up who got to see the dr first -- azraf was scheduled at the dentist next door.
but ibu's turn came first, and it finally dawned on abang de as he was watching the u/s image what was happening :) :) :)

and they couldn't wait to spread the word around as soon as they got home.
the u/s printout that we got is now pretty much well-worn.
and abang de is so into the new baby. he pored over the 'big book of knowledge' and carefully went through the diagrams and comparing it with the baby.
amjad was speechless at first but is now very protective -- najwan cannot squeeze the baby.
they couldn't wait for mummy to come out of the car before telling her the news.
syakira called mama but mama was at work and she just wanted to tell humayraa, she had to tell someone.
they all wanted to skype grandma to tell her the news.
they have to wait until atok comes home from fishing before they can tell him. the baby's EDD is coincidentally 5/11.

pets up-date

the fishes are breeding!

instead of three different 'homes' all the fishes are now in the nicely decorated pot that papa made for najwan's fishes.

and they're so excited, there are now 2 baby fishes in there.

usrah @ home

today, we begin a new programme with the kids.

after the solat maghrib berjemaah, the kids will take turns conducting usrah. how did we tell them what an usrah is? we just said, it's like cafe akhil hayy -- when he talks to the teens in the surau. so score 1 for tv :).

today we began with syazmi. he chose to read out a paragraph he found about the Qur'an. it went ok for a first try, not a lot of discussion, but insya-Allah, we'll get there by and by.

the current schedule is:
monday: angah
tuesday: kak de
wednesday: abah
thursday: abang
friday: hania
saturday: papa
sunday: mummy/ibu

pets up-date

Amjad's new guppy fishes are doing ok, and so is najwan's. One of Azraf's guppies died three days ago. Probably overfeeding -- Papa would feed the fish before he left for work, and Azraf would feed it again later when he got up in the morning -- a pattern we found out too late.

and they got pets

...again, papa just cannot say no to the kids in this matter...

So yesterday, off we trudge to the fish shop, (when we teasingly said it was closed najwan slapped his hand on his forehead and said 'alamak' a-la abah).

The boys got a pair of fishes each. Hania decided she did not want the hassle of taking are of fishes and declined the offer (smart girl :)).

At home, papa prepared the new home for Najwan's fishes, much to everybody else's envy coz it was much more than a bowl filled with water like Amjad's and Azraf's.

Papa's comment was he'd give them 6 days before the thrill went off.

This morning, Amjad's fishes died -- already!!

We were out when kakak made the call, so we dropped by at the fish shop and he got his replacement pair.

Today, Azraf was playing with his fishes. He swore they knew when he called their name -- oligo and koko, and he insisted they prefer the name oligo. He wanted to leave a candle outside the bowl at night so that his fishes would have light.

Ah, the thrills of taking care of your own pets. 5 more days, is it?

tech-gen vocab

so azraf got a rocket launch kit for his birthday.

it was a home-science kit.

so as they were waiting for the mixture to react and produce the CO2 which will in turn launch the rocket, najwan asked papa, "it's loading, eh, papa?"

yesterday, he was on the computer, and he turned around and remarked, we haven't "telephoned" uda in a long time -- meaning skype.

another trip to the doctor for stitches

as we were sitting slightly before maghrib, kak de came rushing over, shouting "ibu, abang kena pisau, keluar darah, banyak, CEPAT!"

so we rushed to amjad. Abah got to him first. He was in the bathroom trying to wash his wounds away (!) while shouting, "ibu, nak pergi klinik."

there were blood spots everywhere on the kitchen floor.

He had to have 4 stitches. Ugh, it was a deep wound -- at first glance it looked like he could have severed a finger. Deep enough that abah almost fainted after a while, luckily Mummy was there and could tend to Abah while I sat with Amjad.

He wanted to help Najwan make a hole for his "fake" bottle. Najwan had this bright idea he could pretend to be a baby again drinking ribena out of his now empty mini 'milk bottle' candy container, only thing was that there was no hole in the nipple. And Amjad decided to cut it with his right hand -- dominant left-hander that he is.

He has to go back Sunday to re-dress the wound, and next Thursday to take out the stitches.

The other kids -- and him -- have decided they're not going to use knives anymore. Najwan threw away the candy bottle right away.

Let's pray this trip for stitches will not be an annual affair.

we went shopping

two weeks ago with the kids in tow.

we have not gone non-grocery related shopping for ages, the last time was when we went to get things for haj.

so there I was, putting some things I planned to buy into the basket. And then there was Amjad, questioning the need for those things. And if my answer was not satisfactory enough, out went the stuff! And we were not even spending his money...

back home again

alhamdulillah, we're home again after being away for 45 days for haj.

We touched down at 8:20 pm, immigration was a breeze, as the counters were set up right at the arrival gate. But we had to wait a bit for the third bag -- it had to be in the last batch of baggage right, so we went out at 9:40. At first it was like, where are they? we saw all those people waving but none looked like those we knew. And then we saw the kids waving like crazy, and of course ibu went a little crazy waving too :).

Najwan was a bit shy. But he's making up for those times away -- he is either with ibu or papa these past 2 days. Oh, the kids had a little bit of a giggle over papa's new janggut and also new hairstyle.

My very bad cough seemed to decide to stay in Jeddah. Not complaining a bit -- still coughing a bit now and then but none of those muscle-pulling, phlegmy-filled cough.

No time for jet lag the first day as we had doa selamat after zuhur. I think we sort of self-adjusted since we left Makkah at 2:30 am, so not much sleep that night, lots of sleep the following day, and with the flight scheduled at 6:30 am we didn't get any sleep the following night until we got on the plane.

Jottings on the hajj itself will come later.

haj preparation

11 more days... okay, that's getting a little bit worrying.

not that I'm not looking forward to going for haj, it's the preparation part that's getting a bit worrying.

last sunday, we had the taklimat perjalanan. As they were showing the scenes of pilgrims checking in at kelana jaya, it dawned on me, this is for real, we are really going.

during the tea break, we got talking to a couple who seemed to be around our age. their bedroom was already full of stuff, which they haven't managed to pack because they have not collected the bag from rayhar yet. we? ummm... we haven't even got around to buying stuff.

so monday, we collected the bag at rayhar. then we went to mydin and bought pretty much most of the clothing stuff we need. the kids had fun shopping for their stuff. later that night, we went to guardian to get more stuff.

I also got a haircut. which later included a dandruff treatment. after 20+ years of dandruff-ridden, it felt a weird kind of nice to be dandruff free. no more really really itchiness catching me at unexpected times.

as I was going through the stuff at home, it suddenly felt like preparing to go back and live in a dorm again -- this high probability that the room-mates will have stuff similar if not identical to mine, and thus the urge to tag the items. haven't tagged clothing items since leaving mrsm!

and the nearer the day comes, the surer I feel there'll be buckets of tears from yours truly upon leaving the kids behind....

countdown

we have the flight date already -- check-in 9 Nov, flight itself is a little past midnight, and coming back Dec 23. According to the agent, still unconfirmed, but I hope changes won't be major like Kak Mas -- her flight changed from 25 nov to 5 nov!

Tons of stuff to get done. Papa is going to Dubai tonight, until Tuesday, presentation for a major project. Next week is the last week of class, on Saturday Azraf has his Ihtifal and Graduation day, the haj taklimat is on Sunday. Then have to finish all the gradings and submit all the grades in. I'm going to worry about clearing up the office later.

The kids are having their final exams next week.

And have to decide on the menu for the doa selamat.

haj 1429

alhamdulillah, have received written confirmation we are going for haj this year.
flight plans not known yet, should know by next week.

have to go, nia is pushing all the right buttons to make najwan scream.

Third time lucky!

We first hustled Azraf to the dentist for his first tooth extraction in April after we noticed his permanent tooth was already out. Dr Salwa took a look and said the milk tooth wasn't budging at all, and she said the permanent tooth would push to the front and loosen up the milk tooth and then it would be ready for extraction. She didn't want to have to inject Azraf and after our experience with Hania, oh yes, definitely no injection if we could avoid it.

In June, after MUCH persuasion we managed to get Hania to the dentist to extract her tooth. The previous visit, she was literally screaming when she was bundled inside the car. So Azraf also had his second visit with Dr Salwa. Nope, not loose enough. (and in Hania's case, that particular visit made her feel a little less terrified of the dentist).

This Wednesday (8 Oct), Azraf was playing with abang and he got kicked in the mouth, which knocked his tooth loose. So we hustled yet again to the dentist, with Azraf also knowing this time this was it -- he was finally going to get his first tooth out. I guess it's hard being the last kid in the class who still has all his baby teeth.

When the dental nurse called his name out, he rushed inside the room and right away went up the chair and smiled eagerly. The nurse was surprised :).

A little spray, and Dr Salwa has his tooth out. One more growing up milestone.

Azraf is eager for the next visit, he very proudly sported his cotton-filled mouth :). The person who seemed that wasn't a fun visit was Najwan who saw it all.

Hmm.. looking at the date -- he has to choose his dentist aunt's birthday -- happy birthday uda.

ramadhan so far: sahur

azraf has managed 7 full days -- or is it 8? bad mom, I know, but he's supposed to fill in his ramadan chart himself, so ibu got a bit too relaxed about keeping track.

Amjad and Hania have been going strong. And Amjad has been keeping to his words, getting him up for sahur is now no big deal, a little shake-shake and he's up like a shot, he'd go eat, pour his own drink, and go back to sleep. Hania is our side entertainment. Days she'll be like a zombie until she's halfway through her plate, and days she'll be little miss perky (but usually more zombie than perky). she eats as much as Amjad during sahur since she's too zonked out to realize how much I've put in her plate :).

Azraf is the story this year. The days he did not fast were the days he just did not (or could not?) get up for sahur. There were days he even took his food in bed with eyes closed and ibu feeding him. Only good thing was that he'd munch and munch without complaining until it's all eaten up. This week, no more of that, he's graduated to the little table -- not by his choice obviously. I think he'll be ready to join us at the main table next year :).

Ibu -- counting the days when she no longer has to wake up at 4:30 to prepare sahur. And no sleep after that either. But aghh -- not ready for raya yet though!

ramadhan1429: azraf's first

first sahur, in kelantan.
waking azraf up was papa's job. azraf was woken up and started to cry, he didn't want to eat, he wanted to continue sleeping. but he wanted to fast. so made him took his pediasure, that was all he would take.
and he managed to go on until 3 pm! impressive. if only waking up is easier.

second sahur, at home.
as usual, had everything ready before waking them up. this time, he was a bit more gentler and azraf had his sahur with no incidence. pretty good.
but he only managed up until 1, after he got back from school. it's okay, it's only training.

third sahur.
azraf refused to get up. so we left him upstairs. then, when everyone except kak ngah was done (no surprise there) he got up and went downstairs and insisted on having sahur.

it's 7:02 pm, another 19 minutes to go. so far, so good. I dare say he will make it today. he's been feeling the pangs but right now, he's watching syazmi playing computer games so time should pass a lot more quickly for him.

mummy bought otak-otak for abang de's first full fast.

ramadhan

we'll have one more 'rookie' this year with 6 year-old azraf. My kids have generally been okay with the fasting part (of course hania gets a bit lembek the first day but otherwise it's usually smooth sailing). It's the sahur part that tests my patience :).

preparing the food is easy, no one is a picky eater, very simple hot food is the only requirement. Getting the kids to the table is the challenge. Amjad will wake up easily, but woe is me if he has to wait at the table. His goal is to minimize his awake time. Get up, eat ASAP, drink two gulps of water, and go right back to sleep. I used to insist he finished his glass of water, not anymore. Hania's goal is to maximize her pre-sahur sleep-time. Waking her up is a waste of effort. Papa will just pick her up from the bed, walk her to the table, prop her up on the table, push the plate to her, guide her hand to the food and she'll take her first two mouthfuls with eyes still shut. Washing her face just doesn't cut it anyway.

so it will be fun to see how Azraf deals with sahur. The kids have promised they will be better this year, we'll see.

we'll be off to KB later today, kids want to have 2 days of non-fasting play with the cousins.

Happy birthday!

ok, so the nia's birthday party post is overdue, and this post is still not it.

the kids are going through the net and finding out their Hijri birthdays.

Abah. 6 Safar
Papa. 17 Ramadan
Mummy. 12 Ramadan
Ibu. 15 Safar
Along. 1 Syaaban
Abang. 12 Ramadan
Angah. 17 Zulhijjah
Syakira. 25 Jamadil Akhir
Hania. 8 Jamadil Awal
Abang De. 2 Zulhijjah
Najwan. 29 Safar

site: islamic-finder.org

another visit to the clinic

dum! oh no! someone fell!
it turned out to be najwan who slipped in his haste to pee.
and oh oh oh oh, there was blood dripping from his head.
oh no, ibu was the only adult at home.
but amjad was quick to follow ibu's instruction to take the kitchen towel to stop the bleeding.
the bleeding did stop, so he had his bath, and then waited for us all to say our maghrib prayers, and we made the trek to the clinic.
dr aminah said it needed to be stitched as it would continue bleeding otherwise.
and najwan was such an angel. not a peep out of the little guy, not even with the first needle for the bius.
3 stitches, and he has a little bow on his head right now.