Wordless entry #1

Accompanying children in ward

Alhamdulillah, Achik was discharged from the hospital yesterday at 6.04 pm.  Hospital stay this time was a lot more bearable due to the short duration, the home leave and the collection of 'accessories' that we took along with us :-)

Cooking utensils ...

Cars ...

Books ...

Colour pencils ...

Bed time story book ...

I let Achik have them all at one time.  For longer hospital stay, you may want to consider not showing all of the toys at once.  Show one at a time and change when the child gets bored with the one she is currently playing with.  We also received a goodies bag filled with activity book, pen, pencil, stickers, pillow and stress cow - it's like a stress ball, but it's a cow.

Her next appointment with Dr. Khairul is on the 1st March.  I have to make sure that she recuperate well and is fit enough on that day so that she will get a clean bill of health for the umrah trip.  This will be her medication schedule for the next two days which adds up to the existing schedule that we have already had.

6.00 am	rhinathiol (cold), zyrtec (flu)
8.00 am	flyxotide (inhale)
10.00 am	antibiotics, ventolin (inhale)
2.00 pm	rhinathiol, zyrtec
4.00 pm	ventolin
8.00 pm	flyxotide
10.00 pm	antibiotics, rhinathiol, zyrtec, ventolin, singulair (diluted)
4.00 am	ventolin

Achik and pneumonia

It has been one and a half year since Achik was last admitted to the hospital.  She is back this time for the same reason.  She started coughing last Wednesday and didn't sleep well that night.  She was breathing fast.  We took her to a nearby clinic on Thursday night and the result was not good. We were given a referral letter, which meant that Achik needed to see a paediatrician.   I took her to see Dr. Khairul on  Friday and it came as no surprise when he told me that Achik had to be admitted.

Where we are this time

Because the rooms were fully booked and occupied that Friday, we only managed to 'check in' on Saturday, after Maghrib prayer.  Prior to that, we had to commute to the hospital every four hours for her nebulisation and Oxygen reading.

The timetable of a family without a maid

	Ummi	Abah	Along & Angah	Achik
6.00am	Wake up, wash clothes, iron clothes, solat	Wake up, bathe, solat (at the surau)	Sleep	(Please) sleep
6.45am	Prepare breakfast (or still ironing the clothes)	Prepare breakfast (if ummi doesn't)	Wake up, bathe, pray, have breakfast	(Please) sleep
7.15am	Bathe, preparing kids for school	Getting ready for work	Getting ready for school	(Please) sleep
7.30am	Hang clothes	Leaving the house	Leaving the house	(Please) sleep
7.45am	Getting ready for work	On the way to school	On the way to school	(Please) wake up
8.00am	Leaving the house	On the way to office	(Supposedly) At school	Leaving the house
8.30am	At office	At office	At school	At nursery
4.00pm	Pickup Along & Angah from school, take them to office	At office	At 'office'	At nursery
5.30pm	Leaving the office	At office	Leaving the 'office'	At nursery
6.00pm	Pick up Achik, drive home	On the way home	On the way home	On the way home, singing, yelling and sometimes crying
6.15pm	Arrive home, solat, preparing for dinner	At office?  On the way home?	Bathe, solat, freestyle	Bathe, freestyle
7.00pm	Preparing for dinner, solat Maghrib	Arrive home, do whatever with Achik as long as she does not disturb ummi in the kitchen, solat Maghrib	Solat Maghrib, hafazan	Freestyle
8.00pm	Serve dinner, have dinner	Have dinner, then pray Isya' (at the surau)	Have dinner, then pray Isya' (at the surau)	Have dinner then ask people to pray Isya'
9.00pm	Help Along and Angah with exercises/attending to Achik	Help Along and Angah with exercises/attending to Achik	Homework & exercises	Freestyle, making mess, watch 30 minutes with Ust. Don :-) ...
10.00pm	Doing some housechores	Rest with Achik	Freestyle	Freestyle
10.30	Putting Along & Angah or Achik to sleep	Putting Along & Angah or Achik to sleep	Sleep	(Please) Sleep

How's that?  It is not of course as rigid as a duty roster, but this is how our everyday is like most of the time :-)

Tabung Haji bonus 2012

Tabung Haji (TH) announced 6.5% + 1.5% bonus to be given to its depositors last Thursday and the amount was credited into the depositors' account on February the 10th.  But somehow, I think the formula for the bonus calculation shown in its website are missing the word 'Jumlah'.  They should read

(Jumlah baki minimum bulanan dari Januari 2012 hingga Disember 2012)/12 x 6.5%

+

(Jumlah baki minimum bulanan dari Januari 2006 hingga Disember 2012)/84 x 1.5%

The way they are written is confusing, at least to me and some of my friends.  We thought that it is the minimum balance of all rather than cumulative minimum balance that is to be divided by 12 (and 84 respectively).  If that is the case, then the 8% bonus is meaningless ...

And this is mine, a total of RM596.80

My pocket money to be spent in Makkah next month :-p

Umrah: All are set

One more month to go and the needed documents are all ready.

The required documents

I went to the travel agent yesterday to submit the documents. It was a long journey to Batu Caves, but managed to get there without getting lost, thanks to the google map and the built in GPS. Yes, we have chosen to travel with Wira Saujana Travel & Tours after considering and comparing some eight to ten travel agents. Hope that we have made the right choice.

Because of the visit to the travel agent, I was late by one hour to pick up the kids from school.  And the price that I had to pay was ...

the injury that Angah had sustained from falling down while chasing after Along.  The rain had just stopped and he was pulling along his school bag behind.  What a scene.  Moral of the story: with these superactive boys, just be on time!


posted from Bloggeroid

Passport renewal at Kajang Immigration Office

We arrived there at around 8.45am yesterday. The initial plan was to renew my mum's passport only. On a second thougt, I decided to take Achik along, half hoping that I would be able to renew her passport within a reasonable waiting time.

Right after coming out of the lift, I immediately saw the excessively long queue, extending beyond the office door, almost forming a square shape around the still escalators. Alhamdulillah, I managed to skip the long queue because I came just to collect the renewed passport and because my mum is over 60 years of age, hence eligible for 'warga emas' turn.

As for Achik, Alhamdulillah, the officer was kind enough to give her some consideration. All in all, we left the office at 11.15am. Still AM :-)

posted from Bloggeroid

Updates on passport renewal procedure

I am not sure about the procedure at other Immigration offices.  This was what I experienced this morning at the Immigration office in Kajang.  I had already renewed my passport online last Tuesday.  I came to collect it this morning.  I was told that I have to bring one copy of my passport size photo, even though I had already uploaded one when I did the online renewal.  It doesn't have to be the same as the one that you have already uploaded, which means that you can simply shoot another set of passport size photos at a nearby booth if don't have any with you and lost another RM10 of course.  That was what happened to me.  And in my case, the photo that I uploaded was exactly the same as the one used in my existing passport.  So it was rejected and they used my newly taken photo instead.

No form filling is required anymore for both, renewal and new passport application.  Just bring your identity card (IC),  its copy and 2 pieces of your passport size photos.  They will retrieve the information from the system and print the filled form for you.  Then you will just need to sign the form.  So don't bother to download the forms from the internet anymore.

I didn't find the above information on their official website.  Their website apparently needs updating.