Ramblings of a Mami of Two

I live with three of them. If you have been following this blog you would know how much feeding my family good, home cooked meals means to me - I would risk harmonious relationship for it. However, fortunately, I have matured (kind of) and realized that nutritious meals aren't worth breaking relationships for. But that's for another day.  Given the above, I am more than happy to pack Kimi bekal when he started school early last year. Fancy tools are a pre-requisite - I bought, of course, fancy lunch boxes with fancy sandwich cutters and fancy food picks. Pancakes, check. Sandwiches, check. Roti jala, check. Roti nutella, check. Sausages, check. Sometimes Kimi makan habis, sometimes tak. One time I asked him why didn't he finish his bekal, he said, "Tak sedap". That got me a laugh from the husband, "Would you rather him lie about it?". Yergh, boys.   One month later I had run out of ideas what to pack him for bekal.  Thennn it occurred to ...

Before you read on, I will have to say the tips are based on my recent trip; I was travelling with a 2-year old and a 6-year old, with a two-day ticket to HKDL. Day to Visit Try to schedule your visit during the weekdays. We entered the park on a Friday and Saturday – on Friday, the park was kind of empty during rope-drop time (i.e. opening time), there was no queuing time for the first three rides that we rode on. The crowd built up after lunch time. On Saturday the crowd was significantly larger and most rides had at least 15 minutes waiting time. Avoid special dates like Christmas, New Year, Halloween (we went on Halloween, of course there were special attractions built just for the event, but the waiting time was too long, one went for as long as 2 hours, that we decided to skip them. Not worth tugging two children along for two hours).   Accommodation & Ticket If you’re traveling with children, I would definitely recommend staying at one of the two...

I prepared my hospital bag as early as month 7 - in case of early labor. Alhamdulillah I delivered as scheduled - three weeks earlier actually tapi still in the same month. When the time came to actually use the bag, I found out that NONE of the stuff in the bag was usable. Apparently the bag was prepared with one thing and one thing only in mind - leaving the hospital in style: A new dress from the poplook A pair of underwear Adik's new towel, receiving blanket A pair of adik's baju (plus barut) 1 kain napkin untuk... just in case. And that's it. Three words - Kepala hotak aku le. What I forgot was how to actually survive in the hospital the three days I was admitted. Aku rasa ada sedikit bongok - mentang-mentang last pregnancy was four years ago satu haram pun aku tak ingat. Or probably I am so unobservant that I didn't really learn last time. So to help myself in the future, Ajan, here are the things that you will NEED and USE that should ...

Akhirnya setelah beberapa minggu proses reno oleh kontraktor, rumah kami dah 'siap' untuk didiami. Kawan letak ' quote ' sebab rumah ni belum 100% siap lagi. Cuma reno asas sahaja yang dah siap. Kami dah putuskan untuk menggunakan khidmat kontraktor untuk kerja-kerja asas yang melibatkan simen, tiles, elektrik dan bumbung. Kalau ikutkan hati memang semua ni nak dibuat sendiri sebab nak jimatkan kos, tapi kawan tak berkemahiran dan tambahan pulak kerja-kerja melibatkan elektrik perlu orang yang mahir, kalau silap langkah, boleh jadi lintar-pintas dan menyebabkan kemalangan yang lebih teruk. Nak berjimat beberapa ringgit punya pasal, lain pula yang jadinya nanti. Oleh itu, untuk kerja-kerja asas dan memerlukan kemahiran, kami gunakan kontraktor. Alhamdulillah, semua kerja-kerja tu dah selesai. Kalau menggunakan kontraktor ni selalunya bajet awal akan lari jauh dengan kos sebenar, seperti mana yang kami lalui masa reno dapur di rumah dulu. Kali ni kawan cuba pantau d...

When I came across this article in New Sunday Times (1 January 2012), my first thought was, oh no wonder la I love reading the news as much as I love reading the sports section ( read: not interested at all )!  As far as I can recall, my parents seldom ( almost never ) asked for my opinion / how I felt / thought about things. It was like, I was a minion whose opinions do not matter. Alright, I am of course exaggerating but that is exactly how I'm feeling now.  Richard Addis  wrote in the article that discussing current events with your kids improve their reading ability significantly and make them smarter. Quoting Addis: Reading ability at 15 is a major predictor of success, happiness and wealth and one of the few controllable ways in which it is known that we can counterbalance those two great impostors in the lottery of life: wealth and genes.   In other words, if you keep them up to date, stimulate critical thinking by constantly discussing ( debating? ) t...

but he only knows how to do no. 2 in the toilet. Well, I've won half the battle already! Anyways, he seems to only be aware of the need to stay clean of his poop, not his pee.Lemme share with you our potty-training journey so far: We started a couple of months ago, by just telling him how awesome it is to stay clean from his poop and pee. We also taught him what to say when he wants to pee, "Mommyyy mommyyy Kimi nak pee! (or yak)! Toilet jom!" And he'd happily repeat this, without really understanding when or how to use it.  Occasionally we would get him to go commando (i.e. without diaper) for half a day, scheduled his toilet trips every half hour, and taught him how to position himself comfortably on the toilet seat.  Then magic happened. Sometime between a couple of months ago and last week, I suppose Kimi began to be aware of his bodily functions. Last week, he told me that he needed to do No. 2. He came to me and said, " Mommyyyy nak yakkk. mommy...

Mak, jom kita kemas rumah tiap2 hari sabtu. Kalau jual boleh kaya mak. Just Say No to Too Much Stuff Stuff. For many of us it's worse than any four-letter word. That's because "stuff" can weigh you down and hold you back, says Gail Blanke, author of Throw Out Fifty Things. And, in the end, much of what we accumulate in life isn't all that important. As Marilyn Bohn, author of Go Organize! , points out, "No one ever says, 'I wish I'd kept more stuff.'" Still, getting rid of our discards can be a challenge. Carla Eskelsen, a mom in Farmington, Utah, admits she had trouble letting go of stuff until she figured out how to manage her "pioneer DNA." Once she figured out that donating and recycling "honored" her pioneer ancestors, she found it much easier. "It's about sharing and blessing others instead of keeping it all for yourself," she says. Here's how you can share and bless others with all of you...

About Gender-specific Stuff Me : Hey Google, I have a 2-year old son who likes to cook. Google : You mean, your 2-year-old can cook?! Me : No, he likes to play pretend. He acts like he's cooking. Using my mom's pots and pans and kettles and whatever he can get his hands on. That is driving my mom crazy. Google : Get him a kitchen play set then. Like those in IKEA .  Me : I've set my eyes on those too. But aren't kitchens for girls and trucks for boys? Then again, I want to send a message that its ok for boys to cook! That it doesn't make them less of a man. Guys who can cook are sexy, y'know? Google : Heh. According to Joan Bramsch, founder of EmpoweredParent.com , for parents who want their child to play with toys meant for the opposite sex, the best ones can be found in the kitchen. "For a little child, a parent begins by providing pots, pans, plastic containers, empty oatmeal boxes, wooden and plastic spoons and turners," she says. ...

About raising a kid Kids respond better to positive words. eg. " Baby, promise mommy you'll behave tonight. " instead of " Kimi jangan naughty tau nanti mommy puk ". 85% of the time he will behave. For the other 15%, terpaksa la marah when you've passed your patience threshold. Sebenarnya they are testing you, they just wanna see how far they can go. They like to get involved with whatever it is ur doing, like pushing the luggage trolley. They like to feel important. It keeps' em well behaved too. eg. " Kimi, mommy nak pack barang. Kimi tolong pack toys kimi and put them in this bag boleh? " Kids will be happy if you said you trust them to behave. More often than not they WILL behave. But sometimes hitting them does the trick just as well. There is nothing much to worry about if your kid doesnt wanna eat at mealtime. They will eat when they're hungry. But this is made easier when he can talk, because he will let you know when he's hu...

Kawan rasa ini merupakan perkara yang paling sukar dalam sebarang proses ubah suai rumah. Kawan dengar macam-macam rungutan rakan-rakan tentang kontraktor mereka. Ada yang cabut lari lepas dapat deposit, ada yang buat ala-kadar dan cincai, ada yang asyik minta naikkan harga dengan alasan barang dah makin mahal. Macam-macam yang kawan dengar tentang pengalam rakan-rakan lain ubah suai rumah. Sebab tu dari awal, kawan nak pastikan kawan tak sama tersilap langkah dalam proses ni. Kawan akui bukan senang nak cari kontraktor yang boleh puaskan hati sampai siap ubahsuai sebab tu kawan senaraikan dulu apa yang kawan mahukan. Kontraktor tu nanti mestilah Harga Murah Harga merupakan faktor utama yang kawan kena fikirkan. Kalau boleh cari yang paling murah. Kawan rasa apa saja yang kawan boleh buat sendiri, kawan buat sendiri, dengan tu boleh kurangkan harga keseluruhan projek. Lagi satu tips untuk dapatkan kontraktor yang murah, cari kontraktor yang buat semua kerja. Dia tauke, dia juga kul...