Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The kids' first trip to Cameron Highlands :)

We had a blast escaping the city heat and tripping to Cameron Highlands last couple of weeks for some fresh cool air :) This was the first time the kids had ever been to a high-altitude area where the air is cool all the time without someone having to pay the electricity bills on aircond. Sure they won't be running amidst rows of tea bushes nor will they remember much about it a few years from now on but still, we had a blast.

I wanted to book a room at Century Pines Resort where we enjoyed staying at a couple of times before, but unfortunately the trip coincided with school holiday period so most of the hotels are fully booked. We almost gave up on the trip until we tried agoda.com and boom! An affordable, value-for-money family room at Titiwangsa Hotel in Brinchang for less than RM200 which included steamboat dinner & breakfast for 4 pax. I was sceptical at first when I read a few negative reviews about the hotel at tripadvisor.com but hey, turned out the family room was spacious, clean (including the bathroom & toilet which was super important because I can't stand icky bathrooms & toilets!) and definitely value for money :) Sorry did not have any photos though since we were so tired and immediately crashed on the bed after checking in!

That morning everybody woke up early even Khayla, who was excited because she could sense something different in the air - the way everybody bustled around packing food, diapers, milk bottles, getting them ready. As usual I've packed our clothes the night, choosing warm clothes and jackets for the kids. In order to reach Cameron Highlands before 2pm, we left home at 7.30am - quite a challenging task when you have 2 small kids! But we managed to do so, and only stopped to refuel and bought some kuih for breakfast. My mom stocked a lot of food (snacks and fruits) for the journey and even bought few packets of nasi lemak, which we had for lunch when we reached Cameron Highlands :) I told my mom she would most probably be in charge of food ration if she was posted in military coz she managed to pack enough to feed an army!

Since if was a long journey our girls were strapped in their car seats. I posted a picture of both girls sleeping serenely in the car like little angels but that was not the case for most of the journey though! 😛

As usual, she slept throughout the journey and only woke up when we reached Cameron Highlands. I quite envied her because she has the best and most comfortable seat in the car!

Unlike her sister, Khadeeja only slept for half an hour and spent the rest of the 3 hour-journey being a cranky traveller :|

Thankfully we reached Cameron Highlands by noon. As expected there was a lot of crowd of tourists still in Cameron Highlands but half of them were leaving already. Khayla woke up from her nap and the first thing she exclaimed was, 'Look! Shoobayyliiii (strawberry!)' Hehe.

Someone's so excited to see this strawberry replica!

We stopped by S Corner Kea Farm first to have lunch, stretch our legs and use the restroom. I eagerly tried their scones but was hugely disappointed because they did not serve them with fresh cream. Then we proceeded to the hotel even though it was not 2pm yet. Luckily the room was ready so the hotel staff allowed us to check in earlier :)

After checking in we took a nap since we were exhausted (especially yours truly who had stayed up doing revision and then having to entertain a fussy baby throughout the journey). The blissfully cool temperature was also conducive for the afternoon nap! *heaven*

Later in the evening we went to Bharat Tea House / Plantation for some English-inspired tea (milk tea since it was cold, and hot scones with butter and strawberry jam - yummy!).

After our very scrumptious and heartwarming tea, it was time for some photos at the tea plantation:

Khadeeja regained her cheerfulness and didn't mind being dressed in thick one-sies as the weather is cold

Our first family photo at Cameron Highlands :)

Khadeeja being so curious over tea leaves (or any leaves for that matter!)

At night, Mom and I decided to explore the Brinchang night market which was just a few hundred meters away from the hotel. It was drizzling so the weather was super cool but enjoyable. There was a lot of food hawkers selling a variety of local favourites, vendors selling souvenir shirts and other souvenirs, and even farmers selling plants and flowers like cactus, roses and other local harvests. Mom got really excited looking at all the flowers on sale but since she couldn't bring them back on flight, so she didn't buy any. We bought lots of food (I went crazy with chocolate coated strawberries - so sweet and packed with vitamin C!) before going back to the hotel at 9pm for the steamboat dinner.

The next day, after breakfast we went to Boh Tea Factory to see how tea leaves are processed.

Hubby in front of the factory building - looked so old and rundown

The inside of Boh Tea Factory - quite an old factory but most of the process are automated

And also to have some tea and more English scones at the Boh Tea House :)

Best scones so far - melt in the mouth with a slight sweet taste *swoon*

We noticed a few of the visitors making their way to the top of a look out spot on top of a hill behind the factory, so we joined them - even my mom! It was like climbing a shorter version of Broga Hills :p

One helluva of exercise carrying my 6kg+ baby up the hill!

Khayla refused to walk so my bro had to carry her down the hill :p

Back from Boh Tea Plantation, we went back to the hotel to shower, pack and check out of the hotel. Then we went to a few places namely flower nursery (which my mom loves), and the weekend market to buy some fresh harvests from Cameron Highlands farms (cheap vegetables - yummy!) and of course, more strawberries dipped in melted chocolates! I think I must have eaten dozens of strawberries because they are fresh and juicy and sweet :p

Last but not least, we made a stop at the latest attraction in Cameron Highlands - the Lavender Garden.

Crazy about purple lavenders!

Looking forward to more family trips again :)

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Letter to My Girls: Khayla (29 Months) & Khadeeja (5 months)

Dear sweethearts,

My apologies - I've been dawdling on this month's letter until it dawned on me that the next one is due in a couple of days! I have to whip my lazy bum bum and start writing because one day, when I'm old and wrinkled, and hardly able to feed myself, this letter will remind both of you that you owe me BIG time, girls! Khayla for the amount of time I chased you with a bowl of rice while you ran helter-skelter because you refused to eat. And Khadeeja - my sweet little Khadeeja, for the laborious effort I took to mash bananas, carrots and sweet potatoes, and mix it with breastmilk plus lots of love - because my 5 months old has decided to follow in her sister's footstep of starting solid early!

Let's start there, Khadeeja. The moment you tasted food, glorious food.

Sometime after turning 5 months old, I noticed that your drools have become more than just a passing hobby - something to pass the awfully slow time while you grow up. Whenever we all sat at the dining table, you watched with interest as we ate our meals. Then you drooled. And grabbed something - anything, to shove into your mouth.

My chubby, jolly baby early in the morning

You are no longer sleeping fitfully throughout the night as you did when you were four months old. Several times you woke up searching for my boob and the way you suckled so hungrily and so enthusiastically sent an alarm signal to my brains - this baby of mine is ready to be weaned! Where did those few months go, how fast time flies!

The first time we fed you mashed banana, you were so eager and leant forward with open mouth. The moment you realised that unlike other objects you kept trying to put in your mouth this one actually tasted nice and edible, you swallowed it like a pro. This was not in the case of your sister previously because her first meal ended up mostly on her bib. Not you though - most of your first meal safely ended up in your tummy and I had very little clean-up to do after that. Bravo, Khadeeja!

So far you have had a taste of banana (which you love), carrot (which you don't, and kept spitting it out with the most outrageous sound!), mango (you enjoy having it in the baby feeder, which you can hold yourself and shove in your mouth) and sweet potatoes. Occasionally I gave you baby cereal rice as well, which most of the time you eagerly finished without much complaints.

Someone's sitting in baby chair for the first time!

My super-adorable baby,

This month also marked another significant milestone - you could sit unassisted. This way, you enjoy your toys so much more because you can busy your hands pushing buttons and cranking sticks on the toys :) While you were on your front, you could also push yourself up in half-sitting position - almost like doing a one-hand pumping!

I can sit!

But sitting still and playing is not really your cup of tea. No-uh. You prefer to half-crawl, half-wiggle your way all over the living area, the dining area and even attempted to go down the hallway if we let you. If you must have a middle name, I am tempted to name you 'Makcik Kepoh-chi' for the ultra-curious nature that you show at this age.

Exploring the tea leaves at Cameron Highland

Yes, for a five months old baby, you love exploring every niche, nook, corner and whatnots of this house. Everything fascinate you even for just a short while. To make it worse, your hands are super-quick to grab at things - even your sister's hair and especially her favourite possessions. Then all hell break loose and I ended up having two babies bawling out their lungs!

Wanting to grab the lit birthday candle while your sister protested

Sadly to say, you hate travelling that the moment we buckle you up in the car seat you scream, twist your body in protest and cry big fat dramatic tears! It isn't the idea of motion-sickness that makes you miserable - no. It's the fact that you have to sit quietly in the car seat, or in our hands when your father grew tired of hearing you throwing fits in your car seat - that sent you to the edge. Being confined is a dreadful experience to you because you can't be mobile and explore your surrounding. Our recent trip to Cameron Highland was an excitement until the time we have to travel in the car - and then I wished that I have a time machine so that we could spent just a moment in the car on our way back to KL.

Not such a happy traveller

And then there is my other, adorable little toddler named Khayla.

Dear Khayla,

One day you came back from school and surprised me with the sweetest gift ever - Mother's Day gift! Whoa! I never dreamed that I would be celebrating Mother's Day before you could talk in proper sentences or narrating your day at the school, yet here you are handing me a bouquet of flowers and a big, heart-shaped card with your hands' prints on it! My heart was practically bursting from so much pride of being a mother to this wonderful little girl!

She made this Mother's Day card herself!

This month you are ultra-happy because two great things happened - one, you had 2 weeks school break and therefore did not have to battle it out with your father on having to wake up early and taking a shower to go to school (joy, joy!). Two, Mak Yeng is here and that means you can go for 'walk-walk' every day! Mak Yeng and you shared the same passion for car ride and window-shopping, so it is no surprise that you are her favourite granddaughter.

So many wonderful things happened this month as well - you've perfected the 'Gwiyomi' act, went swimming almost every day and you even surprised us when you sing the national anthem. You continued to add a lot of words in your expanding vocabulary, which you enjoyed pointing out and exclaiming them whenever we came across one.

You exclaimed, 'Aahh… Stobeli!' when you saw this replica of strawberries

Another notable development this month is you can already share some of your toys with Khadeeja without much coaxing. Like the other day you offered a rattle to her in exchange for the toy you want to play yourself. Mak Yeng said one day you came back from school and then sat with your sister with a book. Then you began pointing pictures in the book, asking her 'What's that, Khadeeja?' before answering your own question, 'Giraffe!' I guess you have been busy observing us as we read books to you and Khadeeja and even brought both of you to the children's library recently. You also offered to comfort your sister when she wailed in the car, shushing her and telling her, 'Look Khadeeja! Sky!' in your attempt to distract her. For that, I love you :)

You like the idea of blowing candles and singing 'Happy Birthday'

My darling daughters,

I just want to say that I don't regret my decision to get off work this year so I could spend my time being around you two. Every day you both came up with something new to make me fall even more deeply in love with you. Watching you both grow up in front of my eyes - are just too precious. If I could freeze time, I want this year to never end and you two stay the same - delightful, loveable and cuddlesome for as long as I live.

Sweet sisters sleep together

Love you both incessantly,

Mak

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Caterpillar babies...

I'm not talking about those creepy-crawlies, people. I'm referring my own babies as caterpillars or in Malay we call "ulat beluncas".

Last night during bedtime both of them were behaving exactly like caterpillars - squirming on the bed and refusing to sleep. We had the light switched off and the aircond turned on, hoping that a soothing environment would make them settle down.

But nooooo... Khayla soon sat up and bounced on the bed. Boing! Boing! Boing! Khadeeja became excited as well and rolled over, sticking her bum in the air as she attempted to go on hands and knees. And when she's excited, she lets out a high-pitch shriek that goes like this - 'Ehhhhhhhhhhaiihhhh!'

Khayla began to sing and act out Gwiyomi song in the dark. Khadeeja then got in the groove, rocking her small yet chubby body back and forth to her sister's singing.

Despite being exasperated by their antics, I couldn't help bursting in laughter. They both reminded me of those wriggling and constantly moving caterpillars - but a CUTE and ADORABLE version of course!

Tonight luckily Khadeeja decided to be an angel and went to bed early. Khayla is, however, still an unrepentant rule-breaker when it comes to bedtime.

Good night folks an sweet dreams!

My adorable "ulat beluncas"

Pengalaman yang sedikit mengerikan!

Semalam lepas ambik Khayla kat sekolah dia, aku bawak dua adik-beradik ni jalan-jalan kat Prima Sri Gombak. Nak beli laundry net bag yang baru memandangkan yang sekarang zipnya dah rosak beyond repair dah. Huhu. Pastu, aku nak belikan seluar pendek untuk si Khayla pakai kat rumah sebab sekarang ni cuaca panas. Khayla ni jenis yang cepat berpeluh bila pakai seluar panjang kat rumah. Tidur dalam aircond pun boleh berpeluh-peluh jugak! Heee… macam la dia lahir kat London!

Anyway, lepas je parking dan dukung Khadeeja keluar dari kereta, mula-mula aku decide nak cari seluar pendek Khayla. Tapi lepas tu aku berubah fikiran pegi kedai barangan rumah kat seberang jalan dulu cari net bag.

Dengan dukung Khadeeja sebelah tangan dan pegang tangan Khayla di sebelah lagi, kami pun terkedek-kedek la pegi masuk kedai tu. Lama jugak aku cari net bag tapi tak jumpa. Last-last aku cuma beli benda lain je. Khayla pulak pantang masuk kedai je mula la berlari sana-sini. Ambik satu barang pastu letak kat tempat lain. Ambik pulak barang lain. So agak lama jugak kami kat kedai tu (padahal tak jumpa pun benda yang aku nak).

Lepas setengah jam, kami keluar pergi ke kedai baju di seberang jalan. Hubby kata kedai ni jual baju murah, tapi bila aku masuk takde jual seluar pendek untuk budak perempuan. Pembantu kedai tu bagitau mungkin kedai sebelah ada jual.

So kami pun masuk ke kedai sebelah. Senyap-sunyi je kedai tu. Kat dalam, ada dua orang pembantu kedai perempuan tengah borak-borak. Aku cari seluar pendek tapi sama jugak, takde. So kami pun keluar dari kedai tu dan pegi pulak kedai jual barangan bayi kat sebelah.

Dalam kedai tu, ada la jumpa seluar pendek yang aku berkenan. Ok la not bad harganya, RM19.90 sehelai.

Time pembantu kedai tengah tolong Khayla cuba seluar tu, dua orang lelaki masuk kecoh-kecoh tanya perompak naik kereta Wira hitam ke?

Tak lama lepas tu, bunyi siren kereta polis dan polis pulak yang masuk soal siasat kat dalam kedai. Sebabnya pembantu kedai barangan bayi tu yang nampak jelas kereta perompak tu dan jugak rupa paras perompak tu.

Aku terpinga-pinga. Apsal citer pasal perompak ni? Alkisahnya kedai kat sebelah yang aku baru je masuk sebelum tu kena rompak tak sampai setengah jam sebelum tu. Bulat je mata aku tengok Khadeeja dan Khayla. Nasib baik terdetik hati aku nak pergi kedai di seberang dulu sebelum pergi kedai baju tu. Kalau tak, mungkin kami akan jadi mangsa rompakan jugak!

Syukur alhamdulillah, aku dan anak-anak aku terselamat dari bakal bencana. Walaupun kedua-dua pembantu kedai tu tak diapa-apakan, aku rasa mesti gerun jugak bila berhadapan dengan perompak.

Moral of the story, ada hikmah bila Khayla naughty-naughty main sorok-sorok kat dalam kedai barangan rumah tu. Hehe.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

My first Mother's Day celebration

... Is not really a celebration. I've been a mom for almost 3 years now but for the past two years it was just a day to wish my mom Happy Mother's Day and forgetting that I'm a mom too.

Before I proceed I hope it's not too late to wish my blog readers (if there's any) Happy Mother's Day & Happy Teacher's Day! :) Hope you had a good celebration with your kids / students too ;)

Anyway this year I had a pleasant surprise from my baby girl Khayla. I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary when I fetched her from school last Friday. As usual when I arrived, I honked to let the teachers know since I couldn't leave my baby Khadeeja unattended in the car.

From afar I saw Khayla's teacher helping her put on her shoes and holding her hand as they walked to the school gate. Khayla was holding a red piece of heart-shaped paper in one hand which I assumed was her school project. In the other, it appeared like she was holding a small branch.

When they stepped out of the school gate, it turned out she was holding a bouquet of carnations, which the teacher explained with a smile, is a Mother's Day gift from the school. But she quickly told that Khayla also has her own gift - a Mother's Day card which she made herself!

My first Mother's Day card from my two-year-old

My heart swelled so much as I took the card from my baby girl (she's only two years old, peeps!) and then her teacher took a photo of us. Awww…

Being a mom is not always easy for me. When I had Khayla two years ago, I was so overjoyed to receive the much-awaited child of ours that I overlooked a lot of the challenges of being a mom. Khayla was a clingy baby but I did not notice because I was as clingy to her as she was to me. When Khadeeja arrived, although I was as thrilled to welcome my second baby and love her as much as I love my firstborn, that elated feelings sort of toned down considerably with experience of raising a baby before. I began to see things in a more practical manner, and being practical is just so… exhausting.

Having a precocious toddler and an active baby means I have to do everything quickly and fit things around their clocks. For example, cook three dishes in less than 15 minutes. Accompany Khayla in the toilet and while waiting, wash Khadeeja's dirty diapers. Read my study notes while they are busy playing (5 minutes tops before Khadeeja wails to be picked up), breastfeed her while feeding Khayla.

Sometimes I did not even have time to take my bath, then I would have to rush to Khayla's school without a shower. Sometimes I have to sacrifice my studies to put the kids to bed for their afternoon nap (the girls would sense that I was not sleeping and would stay up till I settled down and napped with them). Sometimes when the girls fight over toys I just want to throw the toy out of the window just to stop the loud cries and screams. Always, my house is messy because I just do not have the time to tidy up or because I know it would stay tidy for just half an hour. And you know I have this obsession for organisation, so this stresses me out a lot :(

But every time I thought I just want to throw up my hands in surrender / exasperation, the kids will do something to remind me how lucky I am to have them around, even though nothing much gets done and I'm living in a pigsty.

Things like flinging their arms around me in a tight hug. Mouth-to-mouth kisses. Khadeeja's wild chuckles and bright eyes as I make funny faces or sounds, or tickle her. Khayla's very adorable gwiyomi acts and just the way she says 'Ma-mak'.

To this, I wish myself 'Happy Mother's Day' because it is just that - being a mother is a happy experience, every single moments every day.