Whooosh – Maternity Leave Is Over!! March 30, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in breastfeeding, development, my two girls, myself.31 comments
How time flies, my 3 months maternity leave came and went, WHOOOOSH…. just like that.
So how did I spend my time at home these 3 months? What have I achieved?
I moved to wordpress, did some blogging, watched a few DVDs, read a couple of books. I looked after the girls (bathed them daily & fed them), brought them out couple of times in a week, played with them at home, brought them to the park every evening etc.
Books read and movies watched
Achievements :
~ Toilet trained Zara. She tells us when she wants to poo and pee, and with our help, do it on the toilet bowl. We only let her wear her diaper when we go out (just in case we can’t find a toilet) and in the night for ‘accidents’ (but she wakes me up when she needs to go to the toilet in the middle of the night and never wet her diaper the last 2 months)
~ Almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight, 2Kg more to go
~ Successfully breast fed Zaria exclusively (except the time she was in hospital for jaundice she had to be supplemented since I didn’t have milk stored)
~ Stock up on breast milk : 100oz (close to 3 litres) of frozen milk, almost enough for Zaria’s 5 days feed, just in case I have to go for any business trips.
~ Hired and trained a new maid
Play time – KLCC Water Park
Play time – Kidzsports
Play time – Park
Watched Her Grow
On Monday, it’ll be BACK TO WORK. Bummer!
Where Do I Want To Go? March 29, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in myself, trips.23 comments
Michelle and Shoppingmum wanted to know this, so they tagged me.
I absolutely love travelling. Before the kids arrived, Daddy and I made sure we went on vacation once a year. We like outdoors and nature and love to go to places which offer this. When I went on business trips, I tried to find time to visit National Parks nearby. Been to Maldives; Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia; Turkey; many national parks in Northern California; Great Wall of China; French Alps and Riveria; Scotland; around Athens and Eastern Europe and would like to see more! Since the kids arrived, we only went to places and countries nearby. I hope when they are older, we could either bring them along or leave them behind to visit these places : (in sequence of desire) Grand Canyon, Meteora, Santorini, Mykonos, Ayers Rocks, Niagara Falls, Mongolian Grassland, Bhutan, Sahara Desert. Wonder when it’ll be but one thing for sure, I need to start saving now.
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**Start Copy**
Proposition : Where do you want to go Next, OUTSIDE OF YOUR COUNTRY, for tourism, work , study, whatever.
Requirements: Find some info about the place, itinerary etc, pics if possible so you get MORE Traffic coming in, and maybe some people can find somewhere to go to. Excludes your NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOUR, ie Singapore,Malaysia,Brunei, a country that borders yours.You must register for MyBloglog so we can blogwalk ah…..get it?
Quantity : FIVE PEOPLE.
Tag Mode : Chain Link. 15 of them.
You leave 15 people and their DEEP LINK of their Blog Name and TAGGED POST and hit out for five more. So it will look like
Azrin going Down Under
MaRLinda in Disneyland Paris
Athira Baby and her Balamory Antics
Msau to Japan
Shoppingmum to Europe
Angeleyes off to Bora-Bora
Giddy Tiger snorkelling in The Maldives
Jess to Europe
Michelle go around the world
**Add in the blog you got the tag from and tagged post.** (In this case, for example, you should add “Zara’s Mama wants to experiance nature around the world“)
Extra Rules: you cannot Tag another person who has performed the Tagging Rights to Travel. Check yr commentators.
You MUST PASS this tag within 7 days of receiving it , or lose a day’s worth of Blog Revenue or $10 to charity. Can?Makes it interesting anyway. So no Lazy Tags running about, and yeah, eventually, there will be less than a 1:3 chance you can’t tag that someone. And pay those people in the list a visit, you never know if you can pinch / recycle some ideas for your next entry!
**End Copy**
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And I tag :
King’s Wife (Bags shopping?)
Sasha (Persia/Iran? So you can buy more of your sharp sharp shoes?)
Sesame (I know you’d seen lots of places, with Gavin now, where do you want to go?)
Mom2Ashley (diving paradise?)
Chooi Peng (quick, last trip before you deliver)
Crazy Parents Crazy Trip March 27, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in my two girls, parenting, trips.42 comments
I married a man who’s very ‘spontanous’. When we were dating, we would meet up with no plans in mind, and then suddenly he would be heading to Genting Highlands, with me in shorts and a sleeveless top. He has not changed even now that we have kids.
We wanted to take the kids for a holiday before I started work. So, on Saturday 1am, still surfing on the net, wanting to know where we should go for the w/end. Port Dickson? Cameron Highlands? Penang?
On Saturday morning, when the kids are all bathed and dressed up, I still didn’t know if we were going anywhere.
Me : Are we going any where or not?
Daddy: I thought we’re going to Fraser’s Hill?
Me : *Were we?* So? Confirmed?
Daddy said: Let’s pack first, we can always decide later
We packed a few pieces of clothings, and started our journey. The 2 kids, Daddy and I (NO MAID, crazy enough). In the car, we had to stop at the toll gate, still considering where to go.
At 5pm, we were at Fraser’s Hill. I was feeling queezy from the journey up hill, and hastily booked the first hotel that we came across, Shahzan Inn Resort. We realised, with 2 kids now, we actually need bigger room. We got a family room with 1 queen bed and 1 single. The room is basic, and very worn out, with smelly pillow and musky carpet.
There’s really not much Fraser’s Hill can offer to family with young kids. We went out for a walk, and stopped at a play ground for Zara to play. The air was cooling and fresh, but because we had to walk along roads meant for cars (since we have Zaria in a pram), inhaling some exhaust fumes was unavoidable. Kids were good during dinner, and we managed to eat without much problem.
On Sunday, we went to the Paddock in the morning, a place where Zara could ride a horse; and then headed to The Smoke House for a bite. Daddy shared a cheese sandwich with Zara, and I had the famous Dorset Tea (2 scones and a cup of tea). Scones was creamy and nice, but they actually used frozen whipped cream instead of fresh clotted cream. Sigh.
(Clockwise) : Zara at the play ground; Zaria sleeping (most of the time) in the pram; Ocassionally, Zaria wakes up to take in the view; Zara chasing chickens in the Paddock
(Clockwise) : With Zara on the horse; The sisters; Zara playing in the fields (and falling down, staining her t)
(Clockwise) : Zara on The Smokehouse swing; The famous Dorset Tea; Zare enjoying the garden in The Smokehouse; Zara being loving
Since there isn’t much else we can do at Fraser’s, we headed down hill after our meal. While driving towards home, Daddy asked if we should stop by Bukit Tinggi. However, it seems Genting Highlands is on the way, instead of Bukit Tinggi.
Me : So Genting Highlands then?
Daddy: Yeah, why not?
Me : Staying over?
Daddy: The kids have enough clothes?
(they did, but I didn’t prepare them for the cold)
So by 6pm on Sunday, we were checking into the newly refurbished Resort Hotel in Genting Highlands.
I don’t know why we never brought Zara to Genting Highlands before, this was really an over due trip. With its theme parks available, Zara really had a wonderful time; and best of all, for the Outdoor Theme Park, she got in for free because she’s still not 90cm tall yet. We tried to go on most of the family rides together, I have Zaria on the carrier, and Daddy handled Zara. It was a lot of fun.
Genting Indoor Theme Park at night : Fun for Zara
Genting Outdoor Theme Park in the day : More fun for Zara, but I didn’t want Zaria to miss out the fun too
The worst bit – for dinner on Sunday, Zaria cried the whole 1hr we were dining. I had to rock her on 1 arm, and tried to scoop slippery kuey-teow (flat rice noodle) into my mounth with the other hand. Luckily Zara was behaving, with Daddy helping her to some chicken wings.
Ok ok, now since we didn’t really get ourselves prepared for the cold weather in Genting Highlands, and Zaria is too young to handle the cold like Zara, I have to improvise. For day, I put on Zaria’s long sleeve overall over her short sleeve romper, and for night, even without the fan on and the window all closed up, it’s still freezing cold in the room, Zaria hands were cold and she wasn’t able to sleep until I dressed her up like this.
On top of her long sleeve overall, she had her socks as gloves, Zara’s socks as added warmth for her feet and my t-shirt became her sleeping bag
What a fun trip it was!
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Answer for previous post :
Top Left and Bottom right Zaria, Top Right and Bottom Left Zara.
Who’s Who? March 23, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in my two girls.36 comments
We used to look at my nieces’ baby photos and wonder who is who.
I was going through some of Zara’s old photos and then realise, oh boy, my girls look a like too at that age. There are subtle differences in the features, but maybe many years later, I’ll probably take more than a minute (just like my SIL, King’s Wife, used to with her daugther’s photos), checking a photo to see who is actually in the photo.
Can you tell who’s who here? I’ll post the answer later next week.
New Found Favourite March 21, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in my two girls, notable, trips.38 comments
We used to bring Zara to Lake Gardens on weekends when we have no where to go, to feed the monkeys and also to play at the big play ground. Now, we found another nice place to bring her, Taman Tasik Titiwangsa.
What’s there besides the recently erected Eye of Malaysia? Zara’s favourite animals -> Horse!
We always go to the stable directly. You get horse carriage riding as well as horse riding there, and it’s cheap.
Horse Carriage : Adult RM1 Kids RM0.50
Horse Riding for kids : RM1 per round (a handler will actually pull the horse)
This is cheaper than going on a kiddie ride in a shopping mall which will normally be about RM2.
And for Eye of Malaysia, it’s RM15 for adults, and FOC for children below 3. For this, we only went once, and that should be enough.
Here are some of the photos taken during our recent trips there.
She just loves horses! She prefers the horse riding to the horse carriage though.
Eye of Malaysia close up
Zara enjoyng herself in the Eye of Malaysia
We brought Zaria there the 2nd time we went, but she only spent the entire time sleeping, in the baby carrier. Zara running around the park after horse riding.
A to Z about me March 19, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in myself.21 comments
Kitty Cat wanted to know more about me and tagged me this.
[A is for age]: 30+.. ahem.. age is a woman’s secret.
[B is for booze of choice]: Ameretto & Choya Umeshu. Actually, these 3 years, I’d either been pregnant or breast feeding, I don’t really drink any more (except for herbal wine during confinement.. blech).
[C is for career]: Full time mum, and my part time job is doing Business Processes and in the midst of being groomed to be a Program Manager (Zzzzzzz)
[D is for your most dreaded]: Having a migraine, really hate the pain, and what it can do to you.
[E is for essential item you use everyday]: My alarm clock, to tell me it’s time to wake up, it’s time to tuck in the kids, and it’s time for Zaria’s feed
[F is for favorite song at the moment]: None really, we only listen to nursery rhymes at home and in the car. When Zara is being generous, I’ll listen to the MyFM and 99% of the time, I don’t know the song titles they are playing.
[G is for favorite games]: Pictionary is nice, but I’d not played for more than 10years I believe.
[H is for Hometown]: Kuala Lumpur
[I is for indulgence]: Food.. I think we spent most on dining out, Daddy and I.
[J is for favorite flavor of juice:]: Mango
[K is for kids]: 2 lovely girls, love them to bits.
[L is for last hug from husband]: Gee, must have been after Zaria was born in the delivery room, he hugged and said, “good job, mummy”, something like that
[M is for years of marriage]: 9 years this year (can’t believe we could survive this long)
[N is for name of your crush]: Brad Pitt (he looks oh-so-nice in Babel, even when he’s supposed to be more ‘elderly’)
[O is for overnight hospital stays]: 4 nights for fever caused by UTI, I thoght I almost died-ded
[P is for phobias]: cockroach, grasshoppers, blech!
[Q is for quote]: Carpe Diem (Seize The Day).. (err like I do)
[R is for biggest regret]: Not going to the right Doctor from the very beginning to treat my fertility problem, or my kids would be 6 & 4 the least.
[S is for status, married or single]: Married
[T is for time you wake up]: 8.30-9am (if any of the kids woke up for milk before that, I’ll just give her her feed and go back to sleep)
[U is for underwear]: 100% Cotton
[V is for vegetable you love]: Petai
[W is for worst habit]: Eating breakfast without brushing my teeth (only brush them when I have my morning shower after breakfast)
[X is for x-rays you’ve had]: Once a year if I’d made it for the yearly health screening
[Y is for yummy food you make]: Pasta, Pies, Sugee Cake (but nowadays, I hardly spend much time in the kitchen)
[Z is for zodiac sign]: Virgo
I like to know more about lots of people, so if you feel like sharing, just do this tag.
Learn English From Zara March 14, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in development, language, Zara.39 comments
Zara is aware you say the verb differently for past tense, and is also aware of comparatives and superlatives, conciously or not. And here are few of her attempts lately playing with the English Grammar :
“Mummy I cry-ded just now” (Mummy I cried just now)
“I stand-ded and watered the plant” (I stood and watered the plant)
“I want to make the plant grower and grower“ (I want to make the plant grow bigger and bigger)
“I brushed my teeth already, now my breath is small smelly only” (I brushed my teeth already, now my breath is a little bit smelly only)
Terror huh? Her English?
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Some other ‘good’ conversations.
Me : *pointed to a fly in the living room floor* Girl look, a fly!
I tried to kill the fly by smacking it, but the fly flew away every time my hand almost landed on it.
Zara : *excitedly* Mum, the fly can perform tricks!!
We were in my sis’ place and Zara has taken her milk and used up the milk powder we brought from home. While trying to get her to nap,
Zara : Mummy I want to drink milk
Me : You already drank your milk. We have no more milk for you.
Zara : I want milk!
Me : Do you want Norman’s kor kor’s milk then?
Zara : Norman kor kor has no breasts! I want powder milk
Aiyo, I actually meant drinking my nephew, Norman’s, growing up milk and she thought I’m asking her to drink from Norman’s breast!
At bed time, Daddy getting ready to sleep on his side of the bed.
Zara : Daddy, you cannot sleep here. You go sleep there (pointing to the matress the confinement day used to sleep on) This is women’s bed, men’s bed is there!
Just because Daddy slept on that mattress a few nights after the CL has left to make night feeds easier for me, Zara thought he no longer can sleep on our bed.
Zaria at 2 months March 9, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in development, Zaria.33 comments
2 months came and went and Zaria is growing well, feeding well.
At 2 months +, these are things she can do :
~ supporting her head for a few minutes
~ putting her fist into her mouth and licking it (I think she’s planning to suck her thumb, but her aim is not so accurate yet)
~ rubbing her eyes with her hands
~ moving her head and eyes to follow person’s voice or face
~ raising her legs high up
~ hitting and kicking the items on her baby gym (not sure if she did this intentionally or unintentionally)
~ sleeping through the night (YIPPIE for ME!)
She is still purely on breast milk, drinking 3 hourly during the day. I try to fix her feeding time to be around 7am, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and then 10pm, and she seems to be adjusting to this timing too. She’s taking about 3.5oz.
She hates the heat and fusses frequently in the house (since our house is not fully air-conditioned), but once we’re in the mall, she is very happy and cheerful and able to takes longer naps. The good thing is, no matter how fussy she is in the day, once she has her last feed, she settles down and falls asleep on her own (with Zara, I used to carry and rock her until she’s asleep; and even now, she needs me to be by her side or she won’t be able to fall asleep) pretty easily (the air-condition turned on probably helps).
Babies they grow up so fast, and mummies, their maternity leave just zooms by so quickly too.
First few days after she was born
These are her more recent photos, see how much she’s grown compared to the1st set of photos?
Tricks she knows : Raising her hands and legs; Cooing to her mobile, sucking her fist, supporting her neck
I still have about 20 odd days to go before I go back to work! *big big sigh* And boy, I must say, the feeling of not working but still getting an income is oh so great! I’ll enjoy it while it lasts.
5 wishes by a parent for her children March 9, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in parenting.9 comments
My long time friend Ah Pek asked me to do this meme/tag. I haven’t been doing tags for a long long time, but for him, I’ll oblidge especially since it’s some thing close to my heart.
What he mentioned in his post is definitely what I feel too, and on top of this, here are what I wish for my girls..
1) That they will be strong and healthy
2) That they will be protected from having any major accidents and mishaps
3) That they will not be targets of any psychopath or people with evil intentions
4) That they will grow up to be good people
5) That they will find happiness in being a doctor, lawyer, or marrying a rich man whatever they do
I would like to tag Eve, WMD, Michelle, Jasmine and Simple American
My Wedding Band March 6, 2007
Posted by Zara's Mama in language, myself, Zara.35 comments
Since Zara was born, my knuckles became bigger and I could not put on my wedding band any longer. Of course my knuckles did not miraculously shrunk after Zaria’s birth, no matter how much I wish for. I can’t resize my ring since the jeweller we bought the ring from can’t do it as the ring was imported from New Zealand. I asked Daddy to get me a new ring for this reason, and he agreed, giving me a RM400 budget. Hence, the hunt began.
Gold prices have gone up 100% since we got married 9years ago. His RM400 budget probably could get me a ring as thick as a wire band, so I just ignored his set budget. Our original ring was a platinum + 750 gold band. What used to cost us RM750, now it’s going for around RM2000. I was contemplating whether to go for one which is the same design as ours, or go for one which is totally different. It was a long hunt and I’d been dragging Zara along visiting jewelry shops.
Last Saturday, we finally made the purchase, I got myself a puny small eternity ring instead.
On Sunday morning, upon seeing the ring on my finger, Zara commented, “Mummy buy (bought) mummy’s ring already.”
I responded, “Yeah. Zara leh? Zara got ring or not?
Zara replied, “No. I have no ring. When I big girl already, I get married. Then I get pregnant. Then when doctor take baby out already, I buy ring.”
Let’s hope she stick to the get-married-then-get-pregnant part, the ring can come earlier I don’t mind.
What is your superpower?
All About Zara and Zaria 
