One woman show

Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in my life where I have to do the house chores, handle the kids and everything single handedly.  Abah has started a new job venture far far away in a northern state, about 3 and a half undisturbed at a speed that can kill driving hours away from home.  It is not easy, especially when it comes to doing things that all this while fall under his job specification like getting the kids out of bed, bathing them and serving them breakfast, taking the garbage plastic out into the trash box and the list goes on.  I have lost my other pair of hands, and will have to make use of whoever's pair of hands that I can get, especially Along's hands :)  Angah, while putting on his clothes this morning said, "Abah dah pergi Penang kan?  Kesian ummi kena jaga diorang semua."  The pronoun was not quite correct but acceptable :)  Thank you for your concern.

EBM stock counting

I did some stock counting today.  There are:

16 bottles/packs x 5 oz = 80 oz,
6 bottles x 4 oz = 24 oz,
10 bottles x 2 oz = 20 oz,
1 pack x 7.5 oz = 7.5 oz,
1 bottle x 6 oz = 6 oz and
1 bottle x 3 oz = 3 oz.

A total of 140.5 oz and three more months to hit the second milestone of our breastfeeding journey.  Hope we can make it, Insya-Allah.

Back to 16 oz a day

Alhamdulillah, I didn't get any call or SMS from the babysitter asking for more milk this week.  In fact, on one of the days, Achik-the-little-princess took only 3 bottles, taking home a bottle of 4 oz home that can be used for the next day.  All in all, supply is more than demand this week, so I can have some stock over this weekend, Insya-Allah.

Achik's lunch and breakfast and tea times box

Have we asked enough?

Have you ever been in a situation where someone offered RM1k (talking about money lately huh?) to give but you only requested for RM100 and as a result, RM100 was what you got?  Yes?  No?  Well, we have always been trying to strive to get the most of what we can get from other people, our bosses, our company - err ... the company where we work for I mean, not our own company :-).  But have we striven enough to get the most of what Allah wants to give us?

A doa that I heard over my favourite radio channel recently, which is meant to be recited after a Dhuha prayer, made me contemplate about this and I confess that indeed I haven't asked enough (read: being arrogant, as if I am self-sufficient).  Despite that, Allah has given so much to me (and I am sure to you too).  Indeed He is the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.  But we rarely appreciate His Mercifulness and Compassionateness,  despite reciting basmalah every day.

Turning 10k into 100k

Is it possible?  Well, I am going to attend a half day seminar that tells me how to do that tomorrow.  Just adding one more zero and makes 10 become 100 is not that difficult, is it?  :)  *Off course it is difficult.  Otherwise you won't see people getting up so early in the morning to go to work and coming back late evening, causing massive traffic jams!*

Looking for what works for me

My little super slurper a.k.a Achik the little princess has been consistently consuming 16 oz of my mommylicious milk since she started taking solid food.  I am not producing that much daily, so we survive our breastfeeding journey thus far by pumping over the weekend.  Last Monday rang an alarm when she finished three and a half bottles of milk (14 oz) before noon!  As a result, I had to supply an additional 6 oz to the nursery.  A total of 22 oz a day!  Yesterday was about the same story.  She finished the three and a half bottles at about 2.15 p.m. and I decided to pick her up and return home early.  As of 2.44 pm today, there is still no sms from the babysitter asking for more milk.  Hopefully (really, really hope), it was just a growth spurt.  She is entering her 9th month now.

In the mean time, I am still searching for a milk booster that works for me.  I have tried almost everything that I can get my hands on, but none seems to work for me.  Soybean drink slightly improves production, but so very slightly that I am still hunting for other milk boosters.  Care to help, anyone?

Mothers day cards

On this very special day this year, I received two cards.  One from Angah (the one on the left) and another from Along.

While the card from Along clearly says "Selamat Hari ibu!!!", I am not quite sure what Angah is trying to express.  HAPPY (AZZAM) DAY? :-)  Let's have some little inspection into each ...

Card from Angah has a big blue love pasted upside down in it.  On it, I can see cars, houses, a stick lady (is it me?  Oh my god!) and a small fruit that looks like cherry.  Can you see them?  Anything that implies mothers day?  Hmm ...

Card from Along has some wordings in it.  Let's zoom in.

Oh so touching.  I hope you really mean it.  Be a good boy and a good brother to your brother and sister okay.

Thank you very much to the both of you.  Although bringing you up is extremely challenging at most of the times, it is a responsibility that I will neither regret nor give up doing.  May Allah give me the strength that I badly need to nurture these little caliphs of us, amin.

Class A versus class B

I am blessed with a son, whom, at the age of 5 years old, can talk nonchalantly spontaneous but yet, sensible.  I storied about this before.  In his kindergarten, he is qualified to be in Class A, a class for smarter pupils but chooses to be in Class B.

Me: Kenapa Azzam tak nak masuk kelas A?
Angah: Tak nak.  Kelas A tu belajar banyak.  Kelas B belajar 1 je, lepas tu makan.  Kelas A lambat.

:)