Wa Tell Tales

Comeback

3:51 AM

Salam and hi.. Hope all is well. First of all, Eid Mubarak everyone .. I've been silent for the past 4 months or so despite having tonnes of things to tell. I won't use 'too much things to do yet too little time' cause obviously I'll be lying if I said so and it sounded too cliche ha ha. The mood just wasn't there what to do.

Let me briefly tell you what's been happening for the past few months in a pictorial form since I don't have much time and before baby wake up from her nap. Most of the picture was from my instagram and FB feed..

:: Winding down memory lane..Me during my second trimester pregnant with Erin ::

::Me 'sarat' with baby no 3 craving for some melon. Don't I make a good couple with melon? We even donned same theme attire bahahahha::

On Aug, exactly on Eid morning, I delivered a healthy 3.47 kg baby girl via c-sect. Gotten myself admitted 7th aug morning. We're practically beraya in hospital room.

:: The girls making themselves comfortable ::

Meet our new little chief in town..

:: Baby day 4. My mom arrived from Malaysia on 2nd day of Eid to help care of the newborn and me ::

:: Day 7 : As per sunnah we named her and got it registered. So she's officially Zahra IMaani, our lil 'bunga keimanan' :) ::

:: Erin shocked me by picking up, holding and feeding baby Zahra by herself!!! -___-. I was in the bathroom, mom in the kitchen and Zahra was crying. She got herself both a pat on her back and a longggg nagging on baby rules which goes something like only mummy, papa and nenek is allowed to do all the above. Her limit for now is caring, playing, kissing and loving the baby endlessly ha ha ha ::

:: I can say that she got the memo! ::

:: Zahra's second week. This is exactly around the time when the RON 95 price was increased by 20 cent, thence the expression. Babies nowadays are very alert with national issue I must say ha ha ha. Okay tak kelakar ::

:: 4th week of Syawal, our good friend leaving Kuwait to start a new journey in Oman. Despite feeling extremely sad, I can only wish and pray for their great success and happiness. May Allah's barakah be with them always, wherever they are ::

:: Zahra 1 month old trying her skill on tango since she didn't have much thing to do he he he ::

:: My babies and their birthdate respectively. I had this posted on both Instagram and Facebook with a caption Allah knows best and He knows I am THAT bad with numbers bahahah.. And nope.. none of them are planned! Sweet coincidence, pure luck and Allah's decision.. Alis's EDD was on 30-3 but she came 4 days late. Erin's EDD was exactly on 3-3 while Zahra's EDD plays around 7-8 to 9-8 each time we scan :) ::

:: Dejavu.. Mister with Alis 8 years ago and present with Zahra. Same pose, same excitement, different baby. It's like falling in love all over again. I'm sure I had the same one with Erin's but couldn't find where the picture ::

:: Zahra day 40. She's practically living on my lap by now hence we had to borrow a swing from a friend since I can't get any work done. Plus, my mom will be leaving soon so I won't have any extra help as much as now after this. She's doing fine after a while despite constantly giving me her protest face each time I put her in swing. Sorry baby, you just have to even if you don't like it. You will starve your family if you don't co-operate ha ha ha ::

:: Selfie at 45 days, photo bombed by my husband in kain pelekat ha ha.. I think my post baby fat is being plain rude. I'm fully aware that I had been a very generous host. I kept feeding them with carbs, RVC, beriani and whatnot which could be the reasons on why they're not leaving. Dear my post baby fat, I don't like you anymore, please leave and don't come back another day ! ::

:: At a month and half doing what she did best. I have one happy baby here she even giggles to our table lamp and clock kahkahkah ::

:: It's okay nenek. I'm almost 2 months now. You can talk to me about anything. Bring it on .. ::

:: Terlekok! It doesn't look very comfortable if you ask me but she dozed of to la la land in no time. As long as it's mummy's fluffy lap, comfort is just a small issue ::

:: Haiiii I'm 2 months old today and my favorite snack at the mo is my blanket. Wool-licious !! ::

:: ?????? Zapin? Tango? So you think you can dance ? ::

:: My favorite accessory right now. She goes anywhere I go ::

:: The last supper with nenek at airport. She went back to Malaysia after two months in Kuwait sob sob sob. Bye bye nenek, you'll be terribly missed. Thank you for everything ::

:: Not wanting to let go :( ::

:: Zahra on Eidul Adha .. It's still pretty hot in Kuwait despite temperature has dropped tremendously from 46 degree C to 24 degree C therefore no baju kurung lah for her ::

:: Ziarah raya at Lisa and Yus's place in Salmiya. Thank you Lisa for having us ::

:: Mommies .. Linda in shocking green, me in mustard if you didn't know already ha ha ha, Ija in orange and Lisa the host in black abaya ::

:: Eid Mubarak from our little family to yours ::

:: The ladies ::

And lastly, as a parents, our job is to take care of what is possible and trust Allah with the impossible. Insha allah we will try our best with this 3 amanahs. May Allah grant us yang baik baik sahaja :)

Assalamualaikum. Till I write again...

.. of latest us circa June 2013

1:33 PM

Salam to all..

Hope all is well. As for me, besides the usual package that comes with pregnancy like back aches, muscles pain, coughing and drastic phobia of weigh scale machine, I am doing great in case any of you've been wondering he he he.

Anyway, I paid a visit to my favorite gynae while I was in Malaysia, Dr Raja, for routine checkup and also to get consent letter to travel since I'm already in my third trimester. She's the one who received Erin 5 years ago if you must know.

Without further due, presenting baby no 3... This is the best image we can get out of her because as per Dr Raja, there's too much ( too long?) umbilical cord and coincidentally, the cords were gathered in front her face thus it was difficult to get clearer image so we settled in with whatever we can get. Do not know whether it's a good or a bad thing, the long umbilical cords I meant. Nevermind then, I am going to meet her very very soon insha allah..

:: She was drinking air ketuban when this image was captured. Her mouth can be clearly seen mengunyah ngunyah and although this is like what, probably my 40th time doing ultrasound, the image never failed to amaze me. Subhanallah .. ::

On another note, Erin completed her pre-school session last 2 weeks and we attended her graduation day to which I will blog about it some other day. This got me thinking, by this September, Alis will be in her Year 2, Erin will started her Year One and my life as a mother of 3 will too begin. Phewwww please pray for our smooth journey..

Moving on to more delicious topic.. As far as I can recall, my post usually not complete without food story.

My girls are currently on summer holiday till early September so they're basically home 24*7. And since it's almost 40 degree C out there, we spent most of our times indoor rather than outdoor which could only mean 2 things. They don't have much to do and they got hungry ALL the time! I had to do triple the cooking than I usually did. Still, regardless the fact that they drove me crazy and pushing me to the edge of my patience every day, I couldn't imagine not having them with me, period.

So here's what we have for the past weeks mostly from my insta-feed with caption I used.. Hopefully I don't bored you too much :)

:: Nasi Minyak Terengganu - "All you need is love. But a little carbs now and then doesn't hurt"

I can smell self-denial here ha ha ha ::

#Simple cookies baking project to keep them busy... "I am still convinced that a good, simple, homemade cookie is preferable to all the store-bought cookies one can find"

.......errrr with an exception for Famous Amos cookies :)

"And yet, I've been questioning where all those extra kilos came from!! Duuhhhhh "

We had late lunch few days ago so I decided to bake bread for dinner.

:: Sweet bun or roti naik ::

:: After ::

:: A must Red Bean bun before ::

:: After ::

Often when I baked, the result is either one or another. Awfully taste good looking bread OR tasty ugly bread. Miraculously, this batch I made looked and tasted alright. Alhamdullilah..

And as for today, I cooked Curry Spaghetti. I was coughing since 2 days ago and couldn't get much sleep lately. I was not in a good shape due to sleep deprived in the morning when my husband came back from night shift so he asked me to sleep in and he went out for some errand after quick shower. I only woke up at 10:30 am and immediately noticed that he had fried sausages for the girls's breakfast and tend to them while I was sleeping eventhough he himself didn't sleep much last night due to work. Of course I'm feeling guilty but at the same time grateful for having understanding and caring man as my husband. I wouldn't want anyone else.

It's 30 minutes before 11 and I don't have much time left to prepare for lunch so I decided to whip up something simple although my husband said not to cook today and just rest. He will ordered something online for our lunch. Since I had my rest, I decided to just cook and all my mind could think of is Curry Mee.

I substituted mee kuning with spaghetti because making a homemade mee kuning from scratch within 1/2 hour time sounded impossible. Just boil your spaghetti longer than usual and add a pinch of tumeric powder to create the mee kuning look alike he he he. Taraaaaaa.....

:: I bet one wouldn't be able tell the different if I didn't tell right? ::

:: Bumbu bumbu nya.. Mee Curry is best eaten with kerang and tauhu pok but I don't have any in stock. Infact, there's no kerang in Kuwait and I never have tauhu pok in my fridge ha ha ha so I just used whatever I have laaaa. Beggars can't be chooser eh.. ::

Ticking the checklist..

5:20 AM

Or at least about half of it, alhamdullilah ... As I said, our schedule is quite hectic so we tried to make the best out of time that we have.

:: The very first drink that came to mind ha ha ha. What Malaysian without Teh Tarik eh? This is basically our national anthem ::

:: Yong Tau Fu. My pasar malam must-have-item ::

The next day, we made a move to Lumut as my husband's training started on Tuesday. We stayed at Swiss Garden Damai Laut for all those 4 days although my parents did owned a house at Sitiawan. Simply because the company covers the lodging, easier for me to get a lunch by staying at hotel rather than home because I'd be car-less during the day, and because I felt like having a short holiday. So why not?

:: On the way to Lumut via old Kuala Selangor route. I made my husband stopped and buy me this he he he. Along the way we kept making a stop because of me. Let's see, there's goreng pisang stop, air kelapa pandan stop, fruit stall stop and I even tried to make her stop when I saw pau panas stall ha ha ha ::

:: Jambu madu with petis.. Blisssssss ::

:: Char Kuey Teow near Pasar Warisan, Manjung. Kerang is his and prawn is definitely yours truly's. New favourite! We had this two nights in the row ::

:: He bought me a kilo of this after training one day so that I can have it in room if I felt somewhat hungry during the day ::

:: My mum whatsapp me this photo of the girls feasting on siput sedut like they don't have any care in the world and I really thought they would be devastated and missing us dearly ha ha ha ::

Most of the time, we ate outside the hotel but during one of the night, he had set an appointment for massage so it was more convenient to eat in the hotel restaurant. There's few restaurants inside hotel for us to choose from and I chose their BBQ and seafood restaurant by the sea called The Gayam.

:: OOTD.. Lycra dress from PTB-chiffon cardigan from PMJTAR-tudung Ariani.. If you was wondering, PTB stands for Pasar Tani Bangi and PMJTAR is Pasar Malam Jalan TAR ha ha ha. Baju pasar malam je ade jugak hati nak OOTD !! ::

:: At my 30 weeks. I indeed looked very very 'healthy' don't I? Heheheh perkembangan yang sangat memberansangkan ::

:: They had buffet style that costs RM 76 per pax. As for the seafood stall, we arrived slightly earlier so it wasn't ready yet as the chef just started the grilling bit so he made an effort to sent few plates of a little bit of this and that to our table after he's done with the first batch. If you like a second helping, you may request again or just take the grilled one from the buffet counter ::

:: Fat, plump and juicy.. Their chicken bbq also very very tasty and totally recommended ::

We left Lumut after his 4 days training is complete. By then, my mother and father in law has already arrived in Bangi from Terengganu to meet and spend few days with us considering that we have only few days left. I knew it was going to be short term balik kampung but never expected time to flew this fast.

That night, my husband decided to treat his family to a nice meal so we picked Perantau Hill restaurant at Sg Merab. Neither any of us have tried this place before but the place always jam packed every time we passed by.

What we ordered that night. Nothing unusual, just normal typical menu we always order during dine out..

:: Siakap sweet and sour ::

:: Siakap masak perantau ::

:: Sotong masak curry, chef recommendation ::

:: Kailan Ikan Masin ::

:: Telor bungkus ::

:: Ikan selar bakar for father in law because he didn't eat siakap or any type of big fish ::

We also ordered sate willy. My opinion is, sate willy is the only thing that worth recommendation. The rest was so so tapi abes la jugak ha ha ha.. Tak baik membazir.. Sighhhh...

:: This is taken at Wangsa Walk, during our yearly sushi fix. The only makan makan part I don't really enjoy hahaha ::

:: Unagi and raw salmon. Urghhhhhh I've been married to him for 8 years by now but I still can't stand the view of him chewing raw salmon and unagi. And worst, now I have 2 kids with exactly same liking for raw stuff!! ::

:: Old Town ABC. Our staple food. We had this all the time, day and night, without failed ::

:: Another thing that we couldn't afford to miss is ayam kampung. We usually had ours at Restaurant Tuan Faridah Puchong, or Velodrome Cheras. This one however, was from another restaurant near Tuan Faridah because Tuan Faridah is closed that day ::

:: My plate ::

:: Erin and siput sedut, tak bleh dipisahkan ::

:: Alis opted for nasi ayam instead ::

The night before we left for Kuwait, we brought my family to Dagang Avenue for Burger Bakar Abang Burn. Honestly, since everyone is talking about burger bakar almost everywhere, FB, blog and whatnot, the visit to their stall was merely out of curiosity. I really want to see what was the hype is all about because based on experience being Malaysian, sometimes certain stuff tends to get exaggerated especially when celebrities got involved and again, this time I wasn't all wrong.

In all honesty, personally I don't really think burger bakar was really that great. But considering this coming from someone who doesn't eat meat, so I can say that my view is biased because I had tasted only their chicken burger. The patty was too dry and nothing really stands out that makes me crave for more. On another note, according to my husband whom tried both beef burger and meatball, he said the taste was not really bad but not impressive either. We certainly had better! However, their effort in coming with something different and innovative totally deserved a mention.