Kitchen-less. Oh no no no!

You know what was the one thing that I missed so much when I was away in Malaysia??

Believe you me, it was my KITCHEN!!!!!! Oh my! I never knew I would ever miss cooking in my own kitchen but, I did. Three months away from my kitchen was what I would say, torturous. Yes, it really was. Not having that quick-get-something-ready-coz-Khairaldin's-starving stress was unbearable. In Malaysia, I had to literally stuff food into Khairaldin's mouth because he refused to eat. He wouldn't willingly open his mouth to eat whatever's been prepared for him. He will scream and shout and just refused to eat. Because of not wanting him to end up in the hospital, I did what I had to do, feed him regardless of anything! 


He was boney when he got back from Malaysia! Even Iskandar was scared to hold him because he was toooooo skinny! His leg was literally just bones and meat no fats what so ever. And for a 3 year old, that wasn't a pretty sight. I thought by the time we arrived the UK, I wanted to bring him straight to the doctors to get him checked.

Someway somehow, his behaviour changed straight away! The next day after we arrived, he was already asking for break AND cereals! He also wanted his Milo almost everyday now. Alhamdulillah shukur!! His appetite is increasing by the day. He asks for his normal rice, chicken and veges during lunch time. Dinner time is just a breeze. SubhanAllah. We have come to realise that they're just comfortable with everything in the UK, Alhamdulillah. Layina also had some issues in Malaysia, InshaAllah when I have the time I will update more on that. :)

Ever since we got back, I've only left the kitchen to breathe on the weekends.... And that was after being forced by Iskandar! Hehe It is so good to get the chance to cook for my loved ones. I never knew how to cook before I got married. Heck, even after I got married Iskandar was the one cooking for a few good years. I started to get the hang on cooking when I was pregnant with Khairaldin. I was made redundant and I just kept myself busy with cooking... Now also with baking! I love being in the kitchen and it's even better to know that my children prefers my cooking on top of everyone else!!!! The next time we go back to Malaysia, I'll make sure it will only be for a month, maximum. InshaAllah. Any more than that will only be a fight with me and my inner strength. :D Yeah, drama I know. But really, I miss my kitchen so very much and couldn't get enough of it. Alhamdulillah shukur!!!

Thank you so much Allah for giving me the chance to serve my family! Thank you for taking my job away from me and to give me a better one altogether. I am so grateful that I get to be there for my family. I am so thankful that I am the person they look for when their belly needs refuel, when they need a nap or even when they wanna play. I will always try to be there for my family during their happy and sad time, Amin!!!! May Allah give me the strength to endure what he has planned for me. Amin yaRabbal Alamin.

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12 hours plane journey with 1 infant and 1 toddler!!

Phewwwww!

 

That was a mouthful and tiring subject on its own yeah? Yes! That's exactly how I embarked my journey back from Malaysia exactly 3 weeks ago. As most of you might already know, the 4 of us went back to Malaysia in late March. The kids and I stayed on till May for my brother's wedding. Unfortunately, Iskandar couldn't stay on because he was on work probation and could only get 3 weeks time off. A lot happened when he went back to the UK and left the kids with me, but that will be a different blog update altogether :)

So, everyone asked me the same question every time they hear I was going back with both kids all by myself, "how will you manage with 2 kids on the plane??", "what if 1 of them starts to throw tantrum suddenly? Will u cope??". Everyone had their concern and was doubtful about my journey back home to the UK. To be honest, I couldn't give any rational answers when I was bombarded with these questions. All I could answer was, "InshaAllah, with Allah's will, I will be able to handle them on my own."

When we booked our tickets, the plan wasn't for me to bring both kids on my own. The initial plan was for Khairaldin to travel with my brother via Emirates and for me to travel with Layina via MAS on the same day. Somehow, the plan changed because Emirates didn't have any spare seat for Khairaldin. Since I've already booked for Layina and my flight via MAS, I had no other choice but to book for Khairaldin's flight with us. In all honesty, I wasn't prepared for this ordeal at all. But with so much faith in Allah, I took this opportunity as a Mother. Everyone who knew about my travel arrangements started to label me as a "SUPER MOM". All I have to say is, I'm no where near that title.

So, here's how our travelling went. I have to say, Alhamdulillah shukur for such a superb and easy travelling provided by MAS. Staffs were helpful and everything was just bearable from the check-in counter onwards. We + my parents arrived the airport at 8am and dropped our luggage at the check in counter. We requested for a travel assistance since I had 2 kids with me. At first they didn't have anyone to assist us but they had that initiative to get someone nonetheless. I had to wait for someone to assist us at 9am. So, we just continued waiting at the departure lounge. By 9, one of the staff came to help us out. Well, the reason I needed help was only to have someone to pull my hand luggage. Khairaldin was in the pushchair and Layina was in the baby carrier. It wasn't a problem in that sense.

Good thing about having assistance is that they assist you right into the aircraft and everything is priority; priority lane for passport checks, priority for boarding pass checks and of course the first one to get onto the plane! It was amazing! No hassle at all Masha'Allah. I was so glad. I would have given the young boy some tips, but by the time I settled down in my seat he has already pass his duties to the steward(ess). Didn't get a chance to say proper thank you. Guess he was scared if the plane took off hehehe. He'll be in my du'a, inshaAllah.

Oh yeah, I didn't request for a bassinet seat because when travelling with Khairaldin before, he didn't like sleeping in the bassinet. So I thought, it's ok, give others the opportunity. But I really wanted at least the whole row to myself. Before we took off, I asked the steward if there was any vacant rows. Unfortunately there wasn't any. Flight wasn't that full, there were spare seats but not rows. However, a guy sitting at the bassinet seatings offered to give his seat to us. I accepted his offer and swapped seats with him. It's very nice of him! After swapping seats we waited patiently to take off. Just before take off Layina cried for milk. I thought, that's good at least she'll get her nap straight away. Seeing that our flight was at 10:05am, it's the time she normally have her naps. So I breastfed her and by the time we took off she was already sound asleep. The stewardess then assembled the bassinet for her and I put her in it straight away. Little did I know, Layina is so different from her brother! She loved the bassinet and what I thought was going to be a short nap actually lasted for 4-5 hours straight!!! How good was that?

Khairaldin on the other hand, wasn't as easy as Layina. He suddenly had tummy ache and was restless. After putting Layina in the bassinet, I had a steward to look after her for awhile whilst I brought Khairaldin to the toilet. He had diarrhoea! Sigh. I did put diapers on him before we left for the airport, but being toilet trained, he couldn't 'do it' in the diapers. But Alhamdulillah, we only went for 2 toilet trips in 15minutes gap. After those 2 trips, he felt much better and fell asleep straight away! I was so glad. Since both of them were sleeping, I didn't waste anymore time and straight away 'joined' them to sleep. Alhamdulillah I managed to sleep for 2hrs straight. It was good!

By the time they woke up, we were already half way through our journey. We went for a few rounds around the aircraft, read a few books, played a few games and just made a mess on the floor! Thankfully Layina was already walking, saved me from having to carry here everywhere in the aircraft. We managed to catch some short naps. Layina wasn't awake that much. It was only for awhile that she was awake. Khairaldin was lucky as he got to just spend time with me :) Two hours before landing was a bit tough. Khairaldin kept asking what time we were gonna arrive and kept bugging about wanting to eat bread with chocolate spread from Nana's house! So I had to reason out with him until he really gets the idea that we are far away and there is no way he's getting his bread and choc spread in the plane. Hehehe

All in all, it was an interesting experience as it wasn't as how I expected it to be at all! I was prepared for the worse and Alhamdulillah, that was nowhere near my expectations. I am sure this breeze journey was from the numerous thoughts and du'as people sent to me! Alhamdulillah shukur! I believe that if we have a plan, we should tell your loved one about it so that they constantly du'a and remember you. JazakAllahu Khair, everbody!

 

Any tips or tricks? No really. I guess it was a rather "easy" journey on my side because I am with my children almost 24-7 therefore I know when they are restless or about to throw tantrums. If I was a working Mom, I don't think I would be able to take up this adventure. Basically, you really need to know your child when you're about to travel. Get them as comfortable as possible, InshaAllah everything will be great! :)) Personally to me, SUPER MOM are those working Mom's who would be brave enough to take such adventure seeing that they're rarely with their child during day time. But either way, mother instincts are the best!! :))

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SAHM in Malaysia

Sigh. As much as I enjoy having maids around, I get offended when people ask me to ask the maid to change my child's diaper or to feed my child lunch. It's as if ayong I don't know how to do my 'job'. I don't tell you how to do your job as an accountant or anything now do I? So yes, being a Mother is a job to me! I feel the need to clean and feed my child with my own hand. Looking aftery children is a reward to me. Please don't take away the only luxury that I have. It's fun having an extra hand but there are things that I would prefer to do on my own. Maybe preparing the kids' clothes whilst I bathe them is helpful enough. Anyway, that's me ranting. I love my job so please let me be. Even if you see me with eyebags, just kmow I'm enjoying myself. I will ask for help if/when I need it. Alhamdulillah, I am coping. :)

Malaysian citizen, soon..

We will be in London on Sunday & Monday! This is probably our 3rd time going to London this year and it's only March! I hope this will be the end, at least for this year. But apparently one of Iskandar's friend is coming over in May or June. Blegh. I never liked London as it's really a hectic city. Everyone's in a rush, somehow. I hate how we've to walk from one place to the other. The only thing I look forward to is, Iskandar wearing Khairaldin all day! Heheh He's never worn Khairaldin because when we tried once he just ended up screaming (Khairaldin that is). So both of them became restless. Today, Iskandar put him in the SSC and he was jumping away! That's a good sign. Insha'Allah. He's too heavy for me to carry all day. For an hour or 2, I'm ok but not all day. :) Obviously push chair is not even an option when you are in London!!! Going up and down the tube station? Torture! :D

Anyway, after 9 months, we are finally registering Khairaldin as a Malaysian citizen. We'll also be doing his passport since we are planning to go back to Malaysia Insha'Allah this year. So better get it sorted straight away while we are there. We're so excited to see his first passport picture! I still have my first passport picture and I was smiling away when the picture was taken. I thought u're not supposed to smile when taking passport picture or is that not true? I hope he'll be okay with other people taking his picture furthermore it'll be first thing in the morning!! Uh-oh!

So, this will be my last blog for this week. Willl be back on Tuesday. Insha'Allah. Oh having said that, I'll be busy baby sitting my brother's kids starting next week. Might blog about that when I'm free. As for now, have a great weekend all! :)
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Travelling with cloth diped baby

This is a long overdue entry request :) Sorry for not sharing earlier Mommies! So, as you already know, I started cloth diapering Khairaldin when he was about 1 month old. Ever since then, I've only put him in dispos about once or twice; when I'm travelling long distance + overnight. The only reason I wear him dispos is because I'm not sure how or where to wash the diapers. There's this one time when Khairaldin was 3 months old, we were going for a weekend trip to Middlesborough. Happily I bought dispos for Khairaldin because it was only for the weekend and if I wanted to wash it'll take forever, plus I was staying at my cousins place. I still did pack his cloth diapers, just in case. And of course thank god for my instinct to pack his CDs! I was so used to buying newborn sized dispos and when I wanted to change him, it just wouldn't fit! Hehehe I totally forgot that dispos doesn't come in one size fits all!!!

Until recently, I thought what's the point of wearing him cloth if I'm still going to put him on dispos once in a while. Last December, I had a few people to visit in London. So we decided to stay for 3 days 2 nights (it was sort of 3 nights because by the time we got home it was 10pm) since everyone was coming around the same time. At first I've decided to buy a few dispos because we were staying at a B&B. Then I thought, "hey come on, it's London! There ought to be a few laundrettes on one street. I can always wash it there!". Khairaldin wasn't on solids at this time. So he still had runny poop. But I always spray it off first before putting it in the washing machine. I then packed all of his diapers stash, not that he's got a lot anyway. Hehehe Ever since he could fit into his Coolababy diaper, that's the only diaper he's in. He only have about 14 pieces of Coolababy pocket diapers. It was such a gamble to travel with that much of cloth diapers!!

What I did throughout our stay in London was to put 2 inserts in his Pocket diapers. That way it will absorb more and it won't end up leaking on me/him (since I was wearing him all the time). So with Coolababy pockets + 2 inserts, it could last him a maximum of 6 hours if he only wees. I brought some prefolds along to use it as inserts. Best thing about prefolds as an insert is that it's not bulky but still very absorbent. I still managed to bring some fresh diaperS home with me even with the amount of inserts + pockets I brought.

Travelling with cloth diped baby is manageable. All you have to do is to know the place that you're visiting, how often you'll be changing & also to bring a laundry bag to stash all the dirty diapers. It's best if you try and find out how absorbent baby's diaper is a few days before travelling. That way you don't need to worry about any leaks. So during our 3 days 2 nights vacation, we only used approximately 10 diapers. The best thing is, he did not suffer from any rash even though I changed him every 6 hours. By the time we got home we still had extras so we did the diaper washing the next day :) Blame on the tiredness, not laziness. *LOL*

I used to be so 'scared' of travelling because I'm not sure how many diapers I need. But now, I am a pro! Hehehe So far Alhamdulillah, Khairaldin's never been short on diapers to actually opt to wearing dispos. I guess it's easier for me since we've got radiator and it takes merely 1 hour to dry the pockets + inserts. But saying that, Malaysia has natural Sunlight and could easily dry diapers in less than an hour, right? I still get amused when the diapers are ready to be used within the next hour. Hehehe

So, here's to more dispos free bumbum! ;D

Ps: Sorry if I don't reply to any comments on any of my posts. It's just that I update via BB (Hubby's busy studying for examS, so he hogs the PC) and to reply comments it'll take forever for the page to load. I definitely appreciate all your comments though! :))