Irfan, Irfan..
The things he does...

What does Irfan do at 7.30am in the morning?



just like mother, u say? Of course! ;)heh macam betol jer.

so this december, we did our visit to jakarta and brought my parents nearby to kl and bukit tinggi and that pretty much wraps up our holidays out of the country. as usual i couldnt get enuf of holidays but i think i shouldnt be complaining.

december has always been the best mth for me. holidays, freedom to spend time with pple that really mattered and the end year bonus of course.
especially now that i have a son, it even gets better. the amount of time i could spend with him without having to compromise anything is just something im really really delighted about and thankful for. so hooray for holidays.

sidetracking a bit, i think there's sumthing really romantic about indonesia which i couldnt really put my finger on. it's probably the rice fields, or the hills of greenery, or the tea plantations and the image of a certain someone and me riding on a scooter through these tea plantations and the wind blowing across our faces. very romantic.
well, or it could just mean i have been watching too much indonesian love movies and listening to too much indonesian bands. yea, i think the latter is the one.

anyway, im rambling here. i better go do something, actually i still do have work to do and complete. im just choosing to delete it from my memory at the moment.

and besides i have 8 CDs of grey's anatomy season 2 to watch. i bought the dvd and im hooked. i could watch 5 series in a day and can still go on, if not for nature's call or the fact that im dead sleepy. or that im needed somewhere else.

life's good. hooray for holidays!

Irfan and his cuzzins



Almost 2 mths after his birthday, and presents are still coming in. Of course, he doesnt mind it one bit. Always delighted to receive wrapped up gifts, especially those that come in boxes coz, really, he is more fascinated by the boxes than the toy itself.



i have no idea why, but i was assured that this is normal behaviour. so next time, it'd probably be a good idea to give him empty boxes as gifts. save money and he would definitely play with it longer than any other toy.

i think it's easy to make babies happy, much easier than we think. :)



The present is not even opened yet and he's already over the moon!

Time Out corner

I screamed at nenek and wailed my lungs out when nenek took away the ladle I was deliciously biting on.
Ibu got very angry.
Ibu said I have to zip my mouth and sit at the time out chair.



This is what you get for having TEACHERS as parents!!!

Yesterday marks the end of the school year for the pupils. And yet another batch has moved on from 'my hands'. It's really fun being kids, there are happy most of the time and harbour no grudges towards anyone for long. I had a lot of fun and pleasant memories with them this year and i will miss them. It's funny but i will always remember the naughty ones more than the rest. Although they really do get on my nerves at that moment but when u think back, u just can't help but to laugh at the silly things they do.
so till next year, when another batch will fall into my hands and be at the mercy of my screams and sacrasm. well,as teachers, we cant do much when they make us angry, can we?
anyway, happy holidays to all teachers out there. we really deserve it, dunt we?

Ramdhan and hari raya have quickly flown by since i last stepped into blogger. work is pretty hectic at the moment, but i guess that's nuthing new. just when i tot my workload was up to its maximum, i'm always proven wrong time and time again.
i think ill take some blogger space to talk about work , coz i really need to rant about unhappy things. this is not the best place, i noe, but im the only one talking here, so thats gd.

being the exam i/c all on my own was no joke. doing relief planning at the same time was an even greater headache. we all noe, no teacher likes to do relief. and i have to be the bad guy who approaches teachers to do relief early in the morning for the past two weeks. well this is just some minor 'dirty' work that we 2nd floor people have to do. and the pay doenst even cover a tenth of the stress i have to go through, so dunt even try mentioning it.

i got the good luck of being shouted at by an uncooperative teacher first thing in the morning coz i put her down for relief. that really spoiled my whole day. thank god for supportive and understanding colleagues, we had a good time talking unkind things about her behind her back. that was therapeutic.

some were generally helpful and some others were just faking it. they said they dunt mind helping and then tell the rest of the school that they were unhappy with the relief. u can just say in front of my face, really. i was just getting used to being shouted at. sheesh.

two particular days were really bad coz 10 teachers were not around for each day and i was running around like a mad praying mantis. we were also having exams on those two days and being exam i/c, i was desperate for teachers to invigilate. i wished for many things that particular horrible morning; i wished for the school to be on fire, the pSI index to suddenly rise to 200, a flood to break out, just anything that requires everyone to evacuate from school. basically i just wanted to run away!

ok maybe im exaggerating a bit, but the past 2 weeks was really hectic. aside from that, raya was pretty fun and life is good.

so there. i feel better now. tomorrow is the last day im planning relief and wed would be the last of the exams. im sooooo looking forward to that and not to mention, the dec holidays!! CAnnot waaaittttt!!

First of all, i 'll like to wish this young man, A belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!
September does see a lot of birthdays.



my nephew SHEIKh AL HARIS!
I know he will probably be different from how he is now in a few years time. That’s the part I dunt fancy about seeing lil kids growing up.

and speaking of bdays, well i think i kinda got carried away with the birthday gathering at my place last sat. i was so excited over Irfan's and haris's birthday that i dragged the husband to get party stuffs; paper plates, cups, party hats, napkins and even birthday banners and balloons! hehe so unlike me, the always tak kuasa one. people who noe me will noe that im really not much of an organiser.
and i even packed goodie bags for my nieces and nephews comprising of candies, chocolates, party stuffs, like the blowing blowing, noisy thingy (watever u call it), soap bubbles and other funstuffs. so sanggup hor.
actually it wasnt suppose to be a party , more like a small family affair but after putting up the banners and balloons around the house, and after everyone wore the party hats, it DID seem like a party!
of course, irfan is too young to appreciate such things and us adults would like to think that he did enjoy himself. but honestly, i think all the excitement can be quite overwhelming for his lil brain to process. personally i think parties can be a lil too much for any one yr old to take...the noise does get to their heads quite a bit i think.
but he did put on a smile anyway.


the 2 bday boys and their cuzzins. look at the banner! look at the banner!


look at the blowing thingy!



overdosed on chocolate. look at the plates, the plates!



time to open the presents...with a lot of help of coz.

thank u so much everyone for the presents. to me it doesnt matter wat it is, but i really appreciate the effort in actually bothering to go around and taking the time to hunt for the presents. i really liked each and everyone of them and im sure irfan does too.

ok, that wraps up bday celebrations in september!

and lastly, HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY eryone!
looking forward to the long weekend break. :)

! HAPPY BIRTHDAY IRFAN!!!!



IRFAN turned ONE yesterday!!!!! HOORAY!!! *throws confetti*



his dad bought him some balloons and tied them to his cot the nite before. he woke up the next morning and got all EXCITED when he saw the balloons.



and he wouldnt leave those balloons alone eversince...

at nite, we bought him a lil cake, just for fun.
He got very excited.
he got SOO excited that he fell off the chair. Im not kidding. He really did!!!!!



BUT that didnt deter him from posing for more pictures. he wiped his tears quickly and pulled himself back up again. Like a true blue ONE YEAR OLD!! Hehhe

Time to smile sumore!!





He was sooooo happy, I tell you.
And we are glad to see him that way!
Happy 1st Birthday Irfan!!

Im sure you'll have more fun this sat when everyone comes over to celebrate september babies in the family! This time, we'll make sure the cake is closer to the ground orite

as promised, some pics from the jakatta trip...


keeping him occupied was crucial to the sanity of all pasenggers onboard.


good morning jakatta!


irfan and his two faithful helpers, serving him breakfast.

then, nenek and atok brought us to an amusement park, Dunia Fantasi..



where irfan took the carousel
and found an orange Rabbit....



we took some other rides, visited a couple of after places and after the tiring day, all irfan wanted to do was to take a cold, long bath..


the 5 days there felt really short and we left with a somewhat heavy heart. im sure they miss him terribly..


Goodbye, nenek and atok...Thank u for everything..Till we meet again, always BE COOL!

just for your info, my previious entry is unfinished but im just to lazy to post a new one. so i would just leave it at dat.

so...wat have we been up to?
irfan took his first plane ride, to jakatta to pay his grandparents a visit. as expected, he couldnt sit still in the plane, trying his best to squeeze his tiny body pass our legs, to walk along the squeezy aisle.

at some point, he climbed on the seats and started babbling to passengers at the back, some were asleep and were awaken by his screams calling at them,, which were followed by his toothy grin.

at other points, he was standing on the seat, leaning forward and pulling on someone's hair.

i suppose, if it wasnt my kid, id probably be irritated.

anyway, we survived both plane rides. my in laws were thrilled to see him. the last time they saw him, he couldnt walk yet and he didnt have teeth either. so u can imagine their excitement when they saw him.

we went to a couple of places. maybe id put up the pics if i have the time.

irfan and i got our first bday presents from my in-laws too..hhe.

last week was irfan's first lesson at gymboree. read a couple of reviews of the place before signing up. some were good but most were not too positive. but we decided to just give it a go and see if irfan likes it. he enjoyed himself thoroughly. dancing to the music, climbing everywhere and couldnt stop grinning at every new thing he got his hands on. surprisingly, we enjoyed ourselves as well. looking forward to our next lesson morrow.

sigh.....today is sat. tomorrow is sunday. and what comes next? :(((

i never knew how challenging teaching is until i joined the teaching profession. honestly, the prospects of having school holidays was one of the few reasons i joined the teaching profession.

it wasnt coz i had an undying desire to mould the future. or the burning passion to imbibe knowledge into the young minds. neither was it my lifelong ambition. i suppose MOE didnt know all these when they decided to recruit me.

i didnt know what i got myself into until i actually started my career. it was downright difficult, exhausting and very very very demanding. and when put in a situation like this, u either quit or struggle to overcome the challenges. i did the latter and i didnt even have time to think why.

i complain non stop, to everyone around me. and after six years, it made me wonder why im still here. and i realize, somewhere along the line, i have fallen in love with my job without knowing it. i must have loved something about it, if not i would have never been able to withstand the pressures and stress.

like most teachers, i'm here everyday in school for one one reason. the students.
they come to school everyday expecting me to teach them something, waiting to learn with me. they can be downright irritating most times, but u noe they dunt have malicious tots in them like most adults do. they are just innocently being themselves, no pretences.

Baby steps

1,2,3, PLOPPPP!!!!!



I think it's not bad for someone who just turned 10 mths. In fact I think it's pretty good!!

but then again, Im biased of coz! hhehe:)

Take your time, Irfan. We are in no hurry. We'll cheer u on, support your fall (if we r fast enuf) and give you plenty of time n space to learn.

as u can see, he's back in business.

the pathetic face and prayers did work after all.

but he didnt keep his promise. not even a teeny, weeny bit.

not only is he tearing magazines and chewing newspaper, he's more active than ever. he's just anywhere n everywhere! according to my very the wise mother 'irfan bayar balik hutang sakit'. he's covering up for the number of hours he has missed playing and making a mess when he was sick last 2 weeks.

and he has also found a new hobby now: CLIMBING!

i couldnt believe my ears when i was told by my mum that he could climb up the dining table on his own until i saw it with my very own eyes. i couldnt believe her too when she told me he got into and out of his walker by himself. UNTIL i saw it with my VERY OWN eyes! i've got it in video somehere. will put it up when i have the time coz i really dunt have the time rite now to wait for the video to be uploaded. poor mak has to keep up with him and stand by his side, guarding him almost all of his waking hours during the weekday. i dunno if all 10mth olds climb as much as he does. and here i was thinking that i could wait for him to turn one year old before i have to worry about him climbing. but i guess im wrong.


they grow up so fast, dunt they?

things aren't so peachy for me these couple of days. nope, i didnt bump my head big time and hence the size L handyplast. it's actually a fevr plaster which ayah said i should use so that my fever would go away. that's what i have; a fevr. im feeling just horrible. sometimes i feel very hot and other times, im just freezing cold. and i feel like i have something gooey stuck in my throat and i have a whopping cough that sounds very strange. and water keeps oozing out of my tiny nostrils. so uncomfortable. overall, it's just terrible!


Ayo yo, banyak sakit loh!!

oh god! im really burning up!!!. ibu takes my temp every few hours and so far it hasnt been good news. my highest temp was 39.5 and it has been going up n down. oh my, oh my, ibu looks worried and im just having a big fat headache.
And the heat; it just wouldnt go away. feels like a huge fire burning inside of me.



i dunt mean to be a whiny cry baby and make ibu n ayah carry me all the time, but sometimes i just cant control myself. i was thinking, maybe if i shout real loud and hit my head a couple of times, all the heat in me would just escape from each and every tiny pore in my body. i wish i wish.
but i soon learnt that didnt work out too well. the fever just wouldn't go away. so i resorted to saying a prayer.



Dear Allah, pls make my fever go away, I said. I promise to be a good boy and stop pulling ibu's hair and pulling ayah's specs away and chewing on them. I promise not to tear away all of ibu's magazines and albums. but i guess, my request is still pending. just like ibu's request to be a full time housewife and yet have lots n lots of money. that is also still pending.



so for now, i guess, this is the kind of face i can afford to put up. they said i have to take my medicine and be patient about the fever going away. nenek said, i have fever coz, im going to walk soon and grow all my teeth. but how come, kakak qistina has so many teeth, can walk so well and yet had fever a few mths ago. nenek always say strange things.
n by the way, i think ibu forgot to tell you that i have grown two teeth below. refer to the pic of me screaming above.


oh well, i've tried everything and the fever hasnt disappear yet. think im just going to sit here and be quiet for a while.
wait for ibu to take my temp again and wait for the verdict. meanwhile, i'll say a lil prayer again in a couple of mins.
think this pathetic face will speed up my request?
hope so. (sigh)

COLDPLAY

yes, we had tons of work. yes, it was monday nite and we had to be in sch by 7 the following day. BUT BUT BUT, it would jus be unforgivable to miss COLDPLAY!!!

so irfan was left with mum and my tons of work was completely forgotten as we attended the unforgettable concert. we had waited so long for this moment, and finally they came to town and we were there.

what more can i say. the concert was just amazing, the atmosphere was crazy and the set images and lighting was just great!!! we screamed our lungs out, all out of tune no less and we didnt care. yellow huge big balls bounced amongst the crowd as they sang YELLOw and chris martin ended the song with a pop on the ball using his guitar and strings of glitter came right out from the balloons much to the screams of everyone.

for that 1 and a half hours, we were just drowned by the music and atmosphere. they took us away. u should have been there, everyone should have been there!!

now listening to coldplay will never be the same. m getting goosebumps all over, just thinking of last nite.

the concert was just too great to miss. u must have been nuts not to be there!!!

Swim Baby Swim

Irfan loves water. he cries and make a fuss when his bath time is over, insisting to stay in the toilet somemore. hmm, wat else he likes?
swimming of coz!



macam real ajer! he really looks as if he could swim. but we didnt dare let him go and find out for sure.



getting all excited with abang haris.

im up to my neck with work at the moment. july is a busy busy busy month. the recent june holidays wasnt much of a holiday either but we did manage to squeeze some time for a short break nearby. we tried to maximise watever lil time we have to spend time with irfan and each other.


kayaking in the evening


reckless drivers


pit stop; by the beach


irfan, with nenek and haris


ready to go diving, err sorry, swimming



despite the gallons of water he must have swallowed, he was super excited and extremely thrilled by his first swimming experience.

we would definitely bring him swimming again.

if only time wasnt a problem.

9th June 2006

Happy Birthday my luv,
I wish we are together on this special day,
But you have to be some place
irfan and I shall wait for you,
so till we meet again,
we are missing you like never before.

Happy Birthday my luv.

Speaker's Corner?? or Singapore Idol??

Speaker's Corner?? or Singapore Idol??






We were celebrating Nenek Yah's birthday at Fig&Olive and couldnt resist the empty stage..... So with the help of the roadies, Irfan tried his hand at being the next Singapore Idol. Hehe....

And this one wants to make it into the Guinness Book of Records for the world's looooooongest.....................



.....tongue. Can make it or not?

Home Made Jokes

So in the car yesterday, the dear husband told me a joke. u see, jokes coming from him are usually silly, self composed ones which usually leaves me either tak faham langsung or half amused.
But this one, I just got to give it to him!! It left me laughing in stitches. KWAWWAHHAHAHHAA!!

I'm not sure if it has the same effect when it's written out like this, but it was damn funny when it was told by him! HHHAHAA!!

HIM:
Ok, satu hari Doraemon tengah jalan jalan, then dia terjumpa Hello Kitty. Doraemon berkata, "Hi Kitty!"
Hello Kitty buat bodoh aje.
Ok kenapa Hello Kitty tak jawab?

ME:
(thinks for a while) sebab nama dia 'Hello Kitty' bukan "Hi Kitty" !!!!! (I was pretty excited with my answer coz i tot it was quite the clever~~)

HIM:
Bukan!
Pasal Hello Kitty takde MULUT!!!!!!! KWAWAKWAWKAWAAAA!!!

ME:
KWAKAWAKWAAAAA!!! ya ya this time funny funny!!

HIM:
Ok lah, so Hello Kitty sedih sebab dia takde mulut. So dia pun jahit sebentuk mulut kat muka dia. The next day, dia terjumpa Doraemon lagi. Sebab Hello Kitty skarang dah ada mulut, Hello Kitty cakap to Doraemon, " Hello Doraemon!" .
Doraemon buat bodoh aje.
Ok kenapa si Doraemon tak jawab?

ME:
(pause for a while to think)
Sebab Doraemon tak faham English. Dia cuma tau cakap Jepun! (quite clever rite my answer~~:)

HIM:
Bukan!(burst out laughing even before he could complete his sentence)
Pasal.......
Doraemon takde TELINGA!!!!! KWWAKWAKWAWAWAWA!!!!!!

ME:
KWAKWAWWWAHAHHHAHHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

Sometimes it makes me wonder what is REALLLY going on in that lil, unassuming brain of his!

Standing Short

eversince he pulled himself up to stand at 6 mths, there was no turning back.
the 7th month was all about standing up; with boths holding on to something, with one hand and with no hands, just the belly leaning against a table.
he has bumped his head countless times and i suppose that didnt stop him from making use of his feet to stand; a new discovery for him as opposed to chewing on his toes. he has finally learnt that feet isnt meant for chewing but for an even greater purpose.so all in the house has to be more vigilant now. we've each had some great saves but unfortunately, there were some moments when he escaped our eyes and ended up wailing with a prized bump on the forehead.



the cot had to be lowered for obvious reasons.

it must have been sheer satisfaction when he managed to grab those darn mobiles that have been teasing him from up there for many many months. For 7mths he struggled to grab it while the fish and the crab and their friends turned round n round to that irritating music. AHHH...FINALLY!!!

and so with his new skill learnt, this is how i spent my hours after work,

getting ready to catch his fall, at the slightest signal of his wobbly butt and knees caving in.

Im not sure I'm looking forward to him walking. hehe

for more stories, if this hasnt bore you already, go here

now with all his developments charted on this blog, I wouldnt be stumped anymore when the next mother i meet in the nursery room ask me when my baby started turning over, crawling, stand up. I must have sounded like an incompetent mother when i stammered each time to come up with the exact mth. As excited as I am about his developments, I dunt think it matters if he crawled or walk at 8mths or 18mths and i dunt quite get it why it matters to some out there. 5, 10, 28 years from now, it wouldnt matter and no one would bother. has anyone asked you recently when you started crawling?!!! according to my mum i started walking at 10 mths, but hey look at me, I'm no genius am I? So let those poor babies develop at their own pace. their schedules are already packed with practice, practice and more practice. slowly but surely they will learn what they are supposed to. :)

Irfan is turning 8 mths tomorrow. his 8 mths have been jam packed with modules after modules of achieving one development after another. I realize babies are really busy beings; so much skills to learn, to perfect. and the amazing thing is we dunt have to teach them anything, just sit back, provide a conducive but guided environment and beamed in pride and excitement over their accomplishments.

before i start forgetting all these; here's a recap:


At 1 mth old. So tiny and definitely immobile.


At 3 mths. Started turning over. The beginning of his mobility and disappearing acts.The ceiling is no longer his only view. Now the floor will be his new fascination.


At 4 mths. Lifts chest of ground. On all fours, butt moving forward and backward but still stationary. Glides using stomach and legs to move around.
Gets stuck everywhere and end up at the oddest of places.


At 5mths. Irfan started crawling. So did all of us. shadowing behind him, shouted in alarm at the slightest signal of him going to fall forward, faced squashed to the ceramic tiles. he mastered it soon after, as we panted to keep up, especially irfan's grannies.


At 5 mths still, started sitting up without support. Finally, got a view of his toys and the world around him from a different perspective.






At 6mths, he sat and crawled confidently. starting pulling himself up to stand. and his cot shrinked into half as he realised he has indeed grown into a little giant. captivated by the new view from his cot.