i’m 28 and 1 week old today :)

I really couldn’t find the time to write in here lately. Work has been quite crazy for me. And the life of a weekend-family requires me to focus my energy in making our weekends filled with fun-packed activities! haha…sounds funny pulak when i put it that way :p

it has been over a month now that mr. hubby is assigned for worked in Melaka. The first month went by easy since he’d come back every Friday evening and will go back to work on Monday morning. but starting this month, it’ll be quite tough for us, especiall lil Arissa. Hubby will be on shifts schedule since the plant turnaround take place in July. we only get to spend saturdays with him because he’ll be working on Sundays. Arissa has started to look for heer Daddy last week. She’d call out for daddy whenever dia teringat daddy, “diiii? diiii? dahdiii?” it sure does require me to fight back tears. But i have to be tough and teach her that daddy’s away for work…

Lucky me, hubby’s Sunday shift started this week so we get to celebrate my birthday last week! Alhamdulillah…i’ve given the opportunities to live and breathe on this earth for 28 years now. There are many things that I can whine about…but there are more things that I should be thankful for. a great husband….a beautiful daughther…loving parents and brothers…I choose to count my blessings rather than listing what i don’t have…as human beings, there will always be a lot of things that we WANT. I hope i can be amongts those that lives with what we NEED, and lives in wasathiah.InsyaAllah…many people been asking what i got from hubby for my birthday? i didn’t answer directly to them sebab rasa segan…because i’ve never gotten this much present from him before…huhu…best sangat!

Arissa? she’s 18 months now…She’s growing prettily and healthily. we have started to understand what she’s saying now. i can foresee what she’ll be my best friend for life. why? because she loves handbags, make ups and shoes…Just like mommy whenever we walked passed beauty products, she’d pat her cheeks as if she’s putting on blushes or something. She’d try on shoes if we were in the shoe stores. i think she has about 10 pairs of shoes now…tp byk yg dah tak muat lah…hehe.. This year she has 2 pairs of kasut raya already hmm so yeah, she’s my best friend…hehe…

The first week without Daddy…

Hubby has started his plant attachment in Melaka last Monday. So we’ll be a weekend family for the next 3 months (minimium) or more. I was ready for this, but when he really went off, I still miss his presence around me. Plus, Arissa’s fever spiked to around 39C soon after her daddy left. She was unwell for the whole week and it really breaks my heart to see her crying all the time…

It was quite tough to single parent a sick toddler. I had to take EL to bring Arissa to see her paed when the fever didn’t settled after 3 days. I was so worried that it might be dengue since I had one end of last year. Her doctor did a blood test to ensure that it’s not dengue fever. Alhamdulillah it wasn’t. It’s just a viral fever and her doctor said that the fever will last up to 5 days before it’s gone. Of course Arissa cried when the doctor took her blood. I wanted to cry too seeing how painful she was during that process. But I have to toughen up myself and console her, telling her that it’s gonna be all right. This is what she looked like on the day I took her to the hospital.

Sock puppet to cover the handiplast

I had to cover her hand with the socks because she’d cry when she looked at the handiplast after the doctor took her blood. I’ve never seen her so unwell before. When she had fever before it was just for a day or two and she would still be dancing and smiling. But this time, all she wanted to do was lying down in her rocker and watch her favourite Hi 5 DVD, or want me to cuddle her. She lost 400g over the week too because she doesn’t want to eat anything except breastfeeding. Alhamdulillah today she seemed to be getting back her strength and there’s no more fever Her appetite is slowly picking up too. I’m going to make some jelly for her and hoped that it’ll soothe her sore throat. Oh, she’s also teething. With 4 tooth sprouting out at once! I guess that explains the long fever too. Kesian my baby… it’s ok, it’s just part of your growing up journey. You’ll be all right with Mommy

After a tough week, Hubby came home with a good surprise…

A rose for me

It’s just a stem of Peach Rose, my favourite color, but I hope he knows how much that lil gesture means to me. I felt like all my sleepless nights of taking care of Arissa and backache washed away with this flower. Thank you Sayang…for the lovely Rose!

Now let’s have a great weekend before another hectic week at work begins this Monday~

I guess Arissa misses her daddy too...

The Gem of my Life

Daddy & Daughter

The handsome guy is my hubby. A very caring Daddy and Husband who shows his love towards his girls in his own way. He may not express it through words, but he will always ensure that we are happy. At 28, I think he is very successful. I always wonder how he does it. Although he is in a division that goes through re-organization (they call it transformation, and some people even label it as sinking ship!) almost every year, he managed to keep his drive and motivation up. He consistently think of ways to improve the company through his area of expertise. I find this amusing because unlike other people in his group who’s consistently whining about how bad the organization has become, he is still on course. He goes around the division selling his ideas and want to make it work because of the company. There’s absolutely no personal agendas attached to his plan. All he wants is for the company to do better, in his case, to find more oil & gas.

He is a consistent performer. Even from school, he’s always at the top (sometimes I wonder doesn’t he gets tired of working hard?). Alhamdulillah, this year is the highlight of his career. All his hard work payed off and I feel like I played a big role in it too (nak jugak interframe kan?). Honestly, I am so proud of him and myself. Understanding his job, I made myself independent. I don’t want to stop him from reaching his dream and do what he likes. Even though I was 8 months pregnant, I made it easy for him to leave me and lil Arissa in tummy, to conduct his research work in Australia. I always pray that he will get back in time to see the birth of Arissa and true enough Allah has grant my wishes. I took unpaid leave to follow him to Australia. Although I risk my seniority in the organisation to get my promotion (despite my performance, grrrrr!), I felt happy because I took good care of him, keep him happy and didn’t miss out Arissa’s growth if we were to be apart. When we got back to Malaysia, he’s even more busier. His project got lots of commendation and a lot of people wants to know bout it. I don’t mind if he misses Arissa’s scheduled appointments with her Paed because I know he would want to be there if he has the time. Now, he’s going for a plant attachment somewhere 1 hour away from our home. We’ll be a weekend family but I can settle with that. I will raise Arissa to be strong and independent like me with all the love we get from him. InsyaAllah… He showed his appreciation to me by giving me my dream watch, Le Locle Automatic. It was my own personal target to get this watch as a reward when I’m promoted, but he said it’s ok… I can wear it earlier. Thank you Sayang!

Now onto my lil toddler, Arissa. Arissa Sofea is true to her name. She’s one bright and beautiful girl, Alhamdulillah, all praises to Allah. I haven’t updated much about her because it’s really hard to catch up! Everyday she presented to me new tricks and dramas. She is my daily dosage of happiness and as my friend put it, she is insanely cute. At 16.5 months old, she weighs 10kgs and her height is 77cm. She doesn’t eat a bowl of rice, but somehow maintains chubby. Probably because she drinks tones of milk. I agree that she has her father’s brain and hardhead, but I have to admit that she has my looks (ahahaha) and manja like me *wink* She mimicks people like nobody business. Sometimes I have to scold my mom because she said ‘bodoh’ in front of Arissa so many times while watching Kejora dan Bintang (I don’t know why people watch that drama sebab mmg rasa geram and bodoh bila tgk). Arissa still can’t say mommy, but calls out “Dah-dieee” very clearly, in British slang. She’s such a loving lil kid and would kiss us in the cheek whenever she feels like it. Sometimes out of nowhere, she will suddenly give you a big hug and a peck in the cheek *cair ok…* I can’t imagine not having her around me. I can’t even leave her behind for movies or holidays. Nasib baik dah ada Astro First.

Arissa watch High-5 religiously. Pagi petang siang malam I can already sing along all of its song. Whenever she sees Barney (even on her dinner plate and cup) she will sway her body a-la “I love you, you love me” song. She loves to ‘help’ me around the house. Her toys are all over the floor if I leave her for 10 minutes. My senduk and sudip would be at the living room and her plastic patatoes will be in my fridge. If I lost the TV remote, I have to check if it’s in the kitchen cabinet. I love her nontheless.

With these two people, I can’t ask for more from Allah except to keep on blessing our family and give us good health. Thank you, syukur Alhamdulillah ya Allah

A door to my dream…

Early this week, a friend of mine gave me a good news. She’s getting married at the end of this year, and she wanted me to be the ‘flower girl’ for her wedding. No, not the one who walk with flower baskets down the isle… I’m too old for that :p But, I’ll be the one who decorates her wedding hantaran with pretty fresh flowers and make 40 flower centre pieces for the tables at her wedding hall! I feel so honored and happy that she picked and trust me to do this job. Thank you, dear! Not only you make me happy, but you actually open the door to my dream

I’ve always felt happy when working with flowers, especially to decorate wedding hantaran. I love everything about weddings actually. During my wedding I wanted to do everything by myself but of course, that failed miserably because I was trying to be the bride and the wedding planner. Brides out there, trust me, you can’t do it by yourself…you NEED a wedding planner to help you get your ideas and dream wedding come true.

Since before my wedding, I have always kept this dream of becoming a wedding planner. Give me the theme color, I can already imagine what the hantaran should look like, how the flowers stood in the middle of the table, the door gifts, the bride and groom…. what the flower girls are wearing and carrying… aaah! weddings are just so beautiful! Last night I was smiling to myself before going to bed and my hubby noticed it. He asked, “what’s wrong with you?” I said with a grin on my face, “i have several ideas of how to do that 40 centre pieces already” hehe… I hope I’ll be able to make my friend’s wedding hantaran and centre pieces so beautiful that people will snap 1000 pictures of it…hehe…

I’m also glad that my future sis-in-laws (my brothers’ girlfriends) are also into weddings. I have a team to do this already. The 3 of us will use this advantage to start a small business. But hubby said I need one more person. I asked him who. He said I need a Mak Nyah. Siut je kan :p

Anyway, I’m gonna start my ground work for this assignment from now on:
- what is the cost of fresh flowers, decorations, tools, etc.
- where to get those things…
- what are the designs?
- what are the average prices for fresh flowers hantaran and centre pieces?

I’m just so excited about this!

Observing leaders…

I just realised that haven’t been writing for almost a month now! I was busy settling down at my new workplace. Alhamdulillah, I’m quite comfortable working in my new office and around new faces. The calmness (you’ll get this in most OPUs), the conveniences (15 mins away from my house) and the cost saving (loving this the most!) that this place is providing really adds to the quality of my life. But bearing in mind of my boss’ advise, I don’t want to be stucked here for the rest of my working life. Huhu..

My line of work has always required me to be close to the top management of this division. I get to observe their thinking ability, their decision making and above all, their true colors. Sometimes I wish half of them are not leading this division. It’s really hard to observe a true leader. I can only name a few and I feel sorry that the company has only a number of genuine leader. Most of them have their own agenda and they will work towards it by hook or by crook. Some would do or say anything just to cover their assess infront of their big boss. Some have the nerve to point their mistakes to other people, i.e. people like me… the balaci :p

A genuine leader to me is someone who is able to make decision purely to improve the business and who mold the capability of their staff to be the next leader of the company. I have yet to found someone that fits this criteria. I always remind myself that if I ever get to the top, where all these bosses are sitting now, I hope I can be that genuine leader. I hope I will remember where I was once from… and E1, E2, E3, Senior Manager, General Manager… wonder where I’ll be in the next 10 years… Anyway, I hope these leaders will lead this division to the right path.

Managing uncertainties

Uncertainty #1
Most people out there might think that it’s really fortunate to be part of this O&G company, P. I do feel fortunate, alhamdulillah, with the salary and benefits that myself and husband are enjoying from company P. But what most people do not know is that our job is only guaranteed year by year since company P implemented this Career Transition Offer (CTO) program. Every year we have to ensure that our performance is good enough to stay out of the low-10% group after performance appraisals being ranked. If you fall in the low-10%, you might have to leave the company. Yup, that’s how big the consequences are.

Despite performing and working our asses out for company P, hubby and I have came out with our contigency plan. Mainly to ensure our survival should anything happen to one of us. We did a brief plan & budget exercise during the weekend and agreed to: 

• have a 6 months times salary as saving in our bank accounts – this would take care of my wish lists for 2011. yup, bye bye wish list *koyak-koyak kertas wish list*
• clear credit card debts – I have 2 more cards to be cleared and it may rest in peace.
• priorities our plan & budget for 2011 – looks like no London + Paris this year… tsk tsk tsk… but he said we can go to the nearby countries if I want.
• discipline in jotting down the monthly expenses – this is a real tough one for me. sigh.  

Uncertainty #2

Hubby is due for his promotion this year. BUT it’s not as easy as “OK, congratulations you’re promoted” like in the dramas. There are so many hurdles and requirements to be completed before that. He has done all except for plant attachment, which he requested to go even before we got married but never released by the boss. So only now the management realised that he needs to go. The minimum requirement is 3 months. It may also take up to 6 months. I understand that it is part of him that I married. I married a man who’s passionate in his work, who’s willing to do anything for company P to be successful and sincere in delivering the work. I have always prepared myself for this, for him to be posted elsewhere. It’s ok. Arissa and I will be fine and will always support him. It’s just plant attachement somewhere in the east coast or Melaka or paling jauh pon Sabah Sarawak. This will be in the near future. I’m not surprise if in 5 years down the road he’ll be posted to Sudan pulak.

I love my family. They made me manage these uncertainties well. Hubby will always be my personal financial advisor who constantly reminds me that there are better places where I can put my money instead of in the cashiers at the shopping mall. My parents will always understand my husband’s career path and give me the support I need whenever he’s far from me and my daughter. I feel blessed to have a husband like him and an understanding parents in my life. Alhamdulillah

1st April…

Effective 1st April, I will be transfered to the site office which is only 15 minutes away from my house. And effective 1st April also, my company has decided to be so nice and implement the Flexi Hour that we have been waiting for so longgg. At first, I didn’t really want to believe it because it was just news from my senior manager’s mouth and the Flexi Hour rumors has been going on for quite some time. It’s also on the 1st of April, so we might be fooled. But when I received the official letter for my transfer of location AND the formal circular on Flexi Hour, I am so happy. Arissa also seems happy. Of course, my hubby is the happiest. Hehe.

Upon receiving the good news, he said, “Wahh.. we can eat healthy after this!” I know what he meant. “Mommy can cook for us every day again after this!” Huhu. I know I couldn’t spend time in the kitchen at all during weekdays when I’m working in KL. I couldn’t even see the sunlight during weekdays. I am already on the way to work before 7am and it’s already dark when I reach home. So with this 1st April news, I hope to be a better (1.)wife, (2.)mommy, and (3.)employee (please take note on the rank :p). InsyaAllah…

Haven’t been updating much lately. There are lots to talk about my lil Arissa too. She’s not so lil anymore. Here is Arissa, with her new gardening set:

Arissa about to dig nanny's plant

According to the books and newsletter I got, and my sis in law who is a future doctor currently in the Paedetrician rotation, she’s quite ahead in her development. Alhamdulillah. She has started to copy almost everything we do and say. I’ve been observing her imagination skills. I gave her a bowl and a spoon, she pretended that she is the waitress. She put the spoon in the bowl (many attempts, and would mengamuk every time she failed to put the spoon in the bowl), and walk carefully to the coffee table to put it there. And then she clapped her hand for the victory! Hehe… It’s really fun to watch her play pretend and explore her creativity. She can associate the object with the task really well e.g. Comb for hair, lipstick for lips, make up sponge for face, spoon to mouth, etc. She used handphone charger as stethoscope (she place the wires around the neck, and the charger to check her heart). I tried to look for a doctor patient set, but haven’t found it yet. I bought the gardening set to help her develop her imagination skill. She always spend her evenings at my mom’s garden, watching the gardener maintain the plants. When she got the spades, she immediately knows what to do with it!

She melts my heart easily. She pecks kisses at my cheeks anytime she feels like it. And I think she loves me more than her daddy. Haha. She’s always trying to protect me from daddy, even though daddy is just hugging me (a-la wrestling). She thought daddy is hurting mommy. Nanti terkedek-kedek dia datang screaming to daddy, suruh let go of mommy But when she had ‘accidents’ like tersepit tangan or something, she would scream for daddy.. “daaaadiiiiiii”

She’s my sunshine… look at her trying to do ‘peace’ with her fingers… hehe…

with her favourite grandpa early in the morning

I hope to have a great weekend this week. Finally we will have weekend for ourselves after a long time~

Secupak bijan dan segantang keledek

One of the nights in Damai, we went out for dinner with my hubby’s colleague who is originally from Sarawak. She brought along her parents. I assume kakak P is in her 40s because her eldest son is already in the university, and she’s the 6th out of 11th siblings (OMG!). So I think her parents should be at least in their 70s.

I didn’t have lunch that day because I had a heavy (complimentary) breakfast at the hotel and it was too expensive to have lunch in the hotel every day. By the time it’s 6 pm, I was already so hungry that I could eat a whale. But when the dinner was set on the table, I let hubby ate first while I take care of Arissa. Arissa can only sit still in the baby chair for 10 mins max. After that, she would demand us to take her out from the chair so she could roam around the restaurant. I let her do so because to me, she’s learning from her surrounding and I don’t want to stop that.

So that night, while hubby enjoyed her dinner happily, chit chatting with kakak P, and mommy trying to keep up with Arissa’s curiority (bukak can drinks fridge, nak naik buai, nak main straw), suddenly the atok said, “ini lah dia… kasih ibu bagai secupak bijan. kasih bapa bagai segantang keledek”

His Sarawak accent was so pekat that kakak P had to translate it to us. But she has never heard of those ‘kata pepatah’ too. So we asked the atok to deliberate….

He said he was observing us, me and hubby, and the lil toddler. Hubby makan sedap2, while mommy struggling with Arissa. When he said kasih ibu bagai secupak bijan, it means… mommy’s love is so much. Too much that you can’t even quatify it. Can you count a can full sesame seed? I don’t think we can… so that’s how much mommies love their kids, that they are willing to attend to their sons and daughters first even though they are hungry. And kasih ayah bagai segantang keledek is simple, although it is a bucket full of sweet patato, we can still count it right? I think you know what the atok is trying to say about fathers

After we heard the explaination, I feel like hugging the atok because I feel so appreciated by him. Haha! Hubby looked dumbstruck and tak puas hati because he loves Arissa so much too. I know he loves her dearly too… but I think he has to accept that he can’t beat mommy! Haha :p

I am so proud to be a mom, and I love watching other mommies around me too. I know what they’ve gone through from the moment the test sticks showed two pink lines, the 9 months of waiting and carrying the baby, the exhausting labor hours… even days and months after that, we still have so much energy and love for our kids.

Mommies, I love you!

while Daddy of to workshop sessions…

at Damai Laut Resort

This is the view from our hotel room #1214…beautiful isn’t it? It’s just so calming and soothing to look at…subhanallah…

While Arissa is sleeping, Mommy painted her toe nails with red inai. I like!~

We went to the beach in the evening…

Mommy’s and Arissa’s sandles~

tanned and hungry after spending time at the beach…

his 28th birthday getaway~

Hubby is attending workshop and Arissa is fast asleep. This is good for some mommy time. I just painted my toe nails red, with inai of course. So now onto the blog

It was hubby’s 28th birthday last Friday. There are no super special gift from me coz I just got back to work. But I did got him a new perfume since the old one just finished and I ordered some cupcakes from Kak Eleaka who decorated it with super cute Angry Birds ornaments. He loved it! and ate the green pig right away.

The Angry Birds cupcake

We agreed long before his birthday that we would go somewhere for a short birthday trip. Our initial plan was to go somewhere around 2 -3 hours away from klang valley only. Maybe it was a blessing from Allah, that hubby was nominated to attend this upstream workshop in Kuching from 24 – 25 Jan. so we were like, hey, let’s spend the weekend there before his workshop starts! So off to Kuching we went …

We really enjoyed our time in the Kuching town. We had seafood dinner at this place called Top Spot, Medan Kereta for TWO nights in a row. It was the best egg salted crab ever! And I still crave for that thirst quenched tebu lemon even tho I’ve had 3 jumbo glasses of it. And for RM 70 for 2 person, fresh delicious seafood n the local sayur midin, I don’t mind having dinner there over and over again. Tapi takut high cholesterol la pulak kan from all the king prawns and crab :p

Hubby enjoying his seafood dinner

The weather has been nice to us that weekend. We were told by the locals that it was raining the whole week before we came. Since it was a nice day out, we hopped on the perahu tambang to go across the serawak river. There’s this famous place to get Kek lapis sarawak, called Dayang Salha.

RM0.50 je for the tambang!

On Sunday morning, we went to the Sunday market. Just to see what is the local market like. They sell some souvenirs there too. From fridge magnets, key chain to sumpits and shields. I love looking at the fresh midin…you won’t get that in semenanjung.

The sky was clear till evening so we decided to hop on the Sarawak River Cruise. It’s RM60 for adult, and free for arissa. The cruise took us along the river for 1 hr and a half, till sunset. It was a nice trip especially for those carrying DSLR. My hubby definitely enjoyed taking pictures from the cruise deck.

And now we are about 1 hr away from the Kuching town. We are just beside the Gunung Santubong actually. This resort is just 5 mins away from the sarawak cultural village. I had a good time there…siap rent full iban costume for Arissa and myself. It was just RM 10…so why not kan

Mummy and daughter Iban :p

Ok, I need to wash off the inai at my toes now. I will upload some pictures when I get the chance. Daa~