Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Breastfeed on the run

When AIR2 was between 1-2 months, and we went out shopping, I will carry her in the sling. It was the most convenient thing ever.

What I loved about it was also the fact that I could even BF her while shopping and walking around without people realising it. I didn't have to stop, find a seat or a suitable spot before I could feed her.

I've also BFed AIR1 while driving...ok, I know it is dangerous, but I had no where to stop and the poor baby was crying himself silly. It was a short stretch before I found a place to stop. And that was only once!

But today, I found out that there are some people who are able to do more amazing things! On the way for some so-called last minute grocery shopping in Gurun, we were tailing a motorcyclist. What caught my attention was the toddler standing on the bike between the dad (driver) and mum (pillion) was that she had brownish hair. THe kind of brown where I read that is actually some mineral/vitamin deficiency in toddlers. Then I noticed that she was crying out and all of a sudden, the mum laid her down. Hub thought she was putting her to sleep, but I suddenly saw that she was slowly lifting her blouse. I just exclaimed - OMG, she's goona BF that lil' girl!! Amazing! I'm sure she's done this more than once. She's probably and expert at it already.

Now, talk about breastfeeding on the run!!

Salam Aidilfitri

Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir & Batin to all my Muslim friends out there!!

And Happy Merdeka & Happy HOlidays to all!!


Monday, August 22, 2011

Dark days diguisesi

Is there always a silver lining (or gold maybe?) underneath every dark cloud?

How to wake up early?

Eversince the mobile phone with alarm was available, I've stopped using the 'traditional' alarm clock. And that has been my loyal device until AIR2 came along. More like until the last few months.

AIR2 used to awaken at about 5am plus for her morning feed, and she's my alarm every weekday. I've had occasions when I over-used the snooze button until I was almost late, but my 'reliable alarm' AIR2 never fails to alert me right on time. But of course there are occasions when her 5am was 3am instead cos the night was cold and of course the lil' tummy got hungrier faster.

During the month of Ramadhan, she wakes up approximately an hour earlier. Now is that plain coincidence or she just wants to remain being my ever-reliable 'live' alarm?

Friday, August 19, 2011

Buka Puasa in KL Hilton

Dissapointing buka puasa last night. Hub had an invitation to attend Proton's Buka Puasa with the Media at Hilton KL. Hearing the good feedback on food there, we were excited.

It was also because last week we had buka puasa with Les' Copaque in One World Hotel's Cinnamon Coffee House and the spread was endless. If I sampled just one bit from each, I think I'd explode. There was just too many types and the variety was endless. Pasta, Desserts, Dim Sum, from the Grill, Japanese, Chinese, Yong Tou Foo, Roasted Lamb, Malay dishes, Indian food & curries, Salads, Fruits, Drinks, Soups and I can't even remember how many dishes they had. It was just endless.

So expecting the same spread, we were totally dissapointed. The event was held at the Ballroom, and not in any of its restaurant. Hence, the spread was specially catered for this event. And as you can guess by now, it wasn't very impressive. Bubur Lambuk seafood, Oxtail soup to start. Some gado-gado, strange looking Malaysian/Indon salad which I have no idea what it was, roast duck, roast chicken, rendang kerang, serunding and some other light stuff which didn't look too apetizing. Mains had rice, nasi minyak and fried lou shi fun (short fat noodles ;p), rendang beef, dry curry lamb, curry chicken, sweet and sour fish (which was totally hard), sambal prawns, mix vege and one other curry like dish which I don't remember.

Desserts wasn't that appealing either. Some sago jelly thing, coconut pudding, pandan jelly/truffle like stuff, mixed fruit platter and bread pudding (which was not up to standard at all). Fruits pun so pathetic. Only thing different, they served markisa.

In the begining they had an array of about 5-6 selections of drinks and juices and teh tarik and nescafe tarik. By the time I wanted my juices, it was all gone and no refills. Pathetic. Thank goodness I had my fill of teh tarik and nescafe tarik, which were good. Tried their coffee and it wasn't that nice.

Oh, forgot, they served curry noodles, roti boom and roti canai and some kebab/pita thingy which I wasn't bothered.

Sorry no photos cos I'd look weird trying to snap amongst all those hungry faces :)

Wasn't satisfied. Had a large iced lemon tea on the way home and that was totally refreshing! It was a long hot day on site and that was what I wanted most!

Now, I wonder if we may have any next week?

Thursday, August 18, 2011

What's for sahur?

Running out of ideas. I'm the no-fuss,no-frills-type during sahur....Laziness personified ;p

For the first week, I had roti jala almost every morning. 2nd week, I continued but on certain days there was fried bihun or just egg sandwich. And now, running into the 3rd calender week, I'm out of ideas. I even had just vege yesterday morning with 1 slice of bread. I guess I couldn't sustain on roti jala because the quality of the curry which comes with it just deteriorated as the days went by. Alternative curry was not easily accessible hence I just stopped.

Siu mai which I had 2 days back was superb. Too bad today we didn't go to the TTDI bazaar so no supply :(

Now what shall I have tomorrow? Tempted to cook spagethi tonight but then AIR2 suddenly awakens and now I'm stuck. Oh well....save that for the weekend perhaps.

Well....

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Half of Ramadhan is over!

I barely have time to do anything at home during the fasting month.

Sadly the routine has been - feed the kids, break fast (or concurrently), rest a while (20-30mins depending on what permits) and then AIR1 and AIR2 will make sure you are part of their games, or TV/DVD watching sessions. This goes on till 1030 - 11pm on most days and even almost 12midnight on occasionally days where AIR2 refuses to sleep.

Adoi...on the other hand, am looking forward to waking up at 4am, spin and then sahur. After 16 days, I've only done that twice. Resorted to sahur then run at 715am instead. Consistent but I just don't have enough time to run more than 4km each session. Does not help in improving my stamina. But I guess its better than nothing :)


the huge butterfly which visited us on the 14th day of Ramadhan....as much as both of them like watching it, they were afraid of getting close to it



AIR2 at 14 months

And today is one of the rare days where they're asleep by 10am (we were on the way back home) hence I have some time to do my work.


Noticed that I've also been slacking at posting pictures. I guess handling 2 fellas while eating or doing something occupies us. And I tend to forget. Not to forget my 'diva' son who dislikes to be photographed. :)


Selamat menyambut Nuzul al-Quran!








Thursday, August 11, 2011

Want not, waste not during Ramadhan....

From my personal point of view, there are a lot of wastage during the month of Ramadhan. Why do I say so?

1. Majority of the people who fast would at least take-away (tapau-lah) from the Bazaar every evening. Some a few items, some just one or two but how many actually carry their own recycle bags or reusable containers? If lucky, maybe a handful, otherwise none at all. Plastic and Styrofoam waste are generated, and in large quantities too.

2. Food – all that we buy from the Bazaar or even from the buffets we go or get-togethers, sometimes go unfinished. Organic waste.

3. Buffets – is so common during Ramadhan nowadays. And they don’t come cheap. A decent one in a relatively decent hotel may cost from RM50 and above. Some go up to RM100+. Some eateries/restaurants offer buffet too and are not that cheap. And how many times a week do you frequent these places? That compared to normal non-fasting months of the year. Some don’t even go to a buffet at all until the fasting month. And how much do you actually eat which is of that value? Waste of money!

But seriously, don’t you think so? The month of Ramadhan has become so commercialized. Now I wish people would realize this and save the environment. Their pockets – I don’t care, but the poor environment gets an additional influx of waste one month a year.

Sadly, I am one of the contributors too, especially when hub does the tapau-ing. But I’ve always got my reusable containers and bags ready! :)

Anyone has a trend to share?

Monday, August 8, 2011

The weekend that wasn't :)

All systems were set to go. Plan was to wake up at 4am on Saturday, train, sahur then maybe squeeze a short run before the anticipated time AIR would wake up. Unfortunately things were not as ideal.

Woke up at 4am. As I was gettin ready, AIR stirred at 410 asking for me and his blanket. Then I made him milk hoping he will sleep. After finishing the milk, he started to chat with me. Oh dear, I knew that spelt trouble. I coaxed him to sleep promising to take him for a swim later after he sleeps. But no.

445 and seems like my plans are already down the drain. Went to reheat some food and made drinks for sahur and he sat with us. Refusing to sleep. After sahur, I tried again, hoping I'd at least get to run. No way he was backing down.

He did his big business, saw a firefly and got daddy to catch it for him and I don't remember how long it was as I eventually dozed off. And he woke me up again at 730am. I doubt he actually slept.

Sunday was a different story as I slept late and 4am was impossible. And of course while waiting for the sky to brighten a lil, proved much difficult without caffeine. Lesson learnt for next weekend.

Was a glorious Mon as I managed to spin. And now I await the evening for a short miserable run. :)

Monday, August 1, 2011

Stressed out!

Kek si lang!! (Hokkien - sakit hati)

Emo day I guess but then again...its unexplainable. I dunno.

I'm just bitter about things I suppose.

I hope this dark cloud will drift away soon.

Ramadhan

Salam Ramadhan to all my Muslim friends.

Please forgive me if I would have been harsh in my postings/comments in this blog or yours or even in our meetings.

Hope this month will bring allow us to know Him better and make us a better person.

I'll try to forget the past, but somehow 'forgive and forget' is easier said than done. Everytime Ramadhan comes, it brings back memories. Memories of which I do hope to erase forever but it never gets done that way. It just haunts me more.

Maybe Ramadhan this year will be the beginning of something better?

Selamat bersahur & berbuka! :)