Sport Days @ Ana Montesorri

The sport's day was organized on 31st October, which was a few weeks ago. We were quite excited as it was Eya's first sport's day.

The event started around 8.30 a.m. at the Sports Complex in Section 15. We registered her and got 2 goodies bag, containing sandwich and several snacks. Me and hubby also signed our name for the tarik tali event.

The 3 and 4 years old were combined into 1 group. She was in the same group as her best friend, Aqilah so she was quite comfortable being in the group. The games she joined that day were:

Eya waiting for the event to start

The children queuing up...

Eya with her group

Eya running during the bean basket

Aqilah, Eya and Aril...

Me and Eya before the passing baton event

She participated in 4 events, and almost all the games involve running. She being the biggest in her group, looked so cute when ran. She was lucky to have Aril in the group as he was quite an athlete. She lost in the tug-a-war event as the other group parents' helped their kids. It seemed unfair as the games was meant for the kids but for us, we were happy Eya enjoyed all the games.

The event finished around noon and all the kids got several present.

The moment will arrive...

After waiting for 2 years, micasa is almost ready to be lived in, not without any issues.

We have to pay the late payment charges before collecting the keys. After a few push from  the residents, the developer, Esatek Sdn Bhd willing to give 2 waiver, which resulted in us only  paying RM300. Plus with the water and electricity deposit, we ended up paying almost RM1400. Luckily, that amount was deducted from the late delivery charges. So, one problem solved as we no need to fork out any money when collecting the keys.

That was not happening to some of the other buyers. Some of them have to pay up till RM10K before collecting the keys. Most of these cases were buyers who took government loan. They are still fighting the cases.

For us, we decided just to pay the extra RM300. The hassle of going to developer, PKNS and lawyers are not worth it. And the best thing was all of our lawyers, just disappeared mysteriously. Our lawyer moved to Shah Alam from Wisma Central without informing us. Maybe just to escape the buyers' wrath.

There are a lot of cost in moving to new home. They includes:

• grilles
• kitchen cabinet
• curtains for the whole house
• furniture 
• fans, lamps, etc. plus installation charges 

Luckily, I'm a simple person. So, everything is simple for me, no expensive item or any lavish spending. As long, I have the basic items needed for a house, it is enough for me.

So, our planning is to move in somewhere during the hari raya haji holiday. Hopefully, everything goes smoothly for us.

4 is just a number....

Eya celebrated her 4th birthday last Friday, 24th September in 2 occasions, the first was at her school's Jamuan Hari Raya and the other one was celebrated at her tok ayah's house later in the night.

As last year, I had to pack 50 goodies bag to be given to her friends at the nursery. For this year, her acu did the tag for the goodies bag. The tags were very nice, and we got the tags printed and cut out at a printing shop. She was quite mama's little helper that night as she helped me to pack all the goodies bag.

Her 4th y/old goodies bag

For the cake, we booked a simple chocolate buttercream cake. So, on the morning of her birthday, I sent all the goodies bag and cake to her school. Ticer Farah told me that she will celebrate her birthday during the jamuan.

Once we arrived at her school that afternoon, she was eating with all her friends and asking when she will blow the candles. The teacher prepared all the cakes and gathered all of her friends. This year, she was good as she didn't cry when people sang her the birthday song. Being 4 this year, she can blew all the candles on her own.

As for the celebration at her tok ayah's house, her cik yong bought her a delicious Dora's cake. She was ecstatic when she saw the cake.

For this year, opah gave her a nice pink bicycle for her 4th birthday and Zidane got a green tractor.

Eya with Aqilah, one of her good friend

Eya surrounded by her friends

Eya cutting her birthday cake

Happy 4th Birthday, EYA.... 

Harness for kids...

I spent my Saturday afternoon playing 'Little Big Planet' on PS3 while hubby web surfing beside me.

During the surfing, he read an article from Kosmo, about usage of harness in young children. In the article, most experts asked rejects the use of harness in children as they damper their growth.

I started using harness on Eya since she started walking, which is almost 3 years ago. I knew about harness while I was staying in the UK. Most parents there will strap their young children with harness when they go out in public. At first, it was quite a shock to me but I thought the idea was great as you can easily know your children whereabouts compared to releasing them, and when they are not in your sight, you call out for them. 

So, when Eya started walking, I searched high and low for the harness. It was not available in any children store, so I had to search for it quite some time before I managed to find it. It was from Taiwan and it cost around RM30-40, I really forgot the price of it.

As Eya was quite young at that time, it was not that hard to strap her with the harness. I still remember using it on her during our trip to Ipoh Parade. Almost everyone keep saying bad words to us, and looked to us like we are harming our little girl. Even a young kid (I still remember until today what she said) said to me, 'Macam bawak anjing' (like taking a dog). Not just her, a few aunts and people around my age stop and giving rude comments to us. For me, I didn't give a damn on what people think as long as I know my baby was safe with me.

Just imagine if I let her loose, without any strap. She will wander aimlessly on her own and if I couldn't keep up with her, she will be lost, just like that kid that got lost in Sogo. With that strap on her, I had a feeling of relief that she is with me all the time. Eya loves to hide behind clothes rack and wander into shops, so sometimes its hard for us to find her. So, using the harness, we knew she is just beside us.

Using the harness, you could not simply pull her anyway that you like. She may fall down, so the harness is just a tool that keep your child with you.

When she almost 3 years old, I bought another type of harness, more suitable for her age, which was a wrist harness. Instead of strapping the harness at her back, the wrist harness, was strapped at her wrist. It still has the same concept, but it was less restraining to her.

Until now, I don't think people still accept the usage of harness as they equate it to restraining an animal. As for me and hubby, we like to know that our daughter is with us safely, so we don't really care what the public thinks when we put the harness on her.

Now, just a few days before Eya turns 4, we had stop using the harness. Now, for every visit to the mall, we will put her in shopping trolley (if available) and sometimes, hold her hand. But without the harness, we still worry about losing her in the crowd of people.

Updating my micasa status

My new house is supposed to be ready in these few next months. In the signed S&P, it should be ready by end of this month. My house is already ready, just waiting for the completion of 2 other models.

As for now, hubby has taken measurement for all the windows and doors for the quotation for grill and curtains.We had done some window shopping for the furnitures. In fact, we had done a little bit of shopping at Ikea during the sale. Mostly for Eya's room. All the lights also had been bought, along with the curtain railing.

Not that many things to buy, just:

• Bed for Eya's room
• Our wardrobe
• Sofa and dining table

So, here are some pictures of our new home:

View from the front

Kitchen area

Dining and living area

 

 

View from Master bedroom

Balcony area

Still in progress

As for now, the road has been done, together with the landscaping. We estimate that the house will be ready by November or December. Really couldn't wait.....

Making my first-ever kuih

I never spend much at pasar ramadhan. I will only buy 1 or 2 type of kuihs for my 'break-fast'.

My favourite kuih will only be the kuih displayed below:

                                            Karipap                                          Kuih lapis

                                       Buah melaka                              Cara manis

This year pasar ramadhan was very costly. 3 buah melaka will cost you RM 1, compared to last year of  7 pieces. But, I have no options of not buying it, so I close my eyes every time I paid for the buah melaka.

Then, one day, Lida's FB status read as 'Buat onde-onde for berbuka'. Not her exact status, but something like that. So, I commented on her status that next time, if she is doing buah melaka, she should save some for me.

Ended up, she leave a message in my FB inbox with details on her recipe. It seem easy to make it but I'm not interested in making my own kuih.

So, I asked mom on the level of easiness in making the kuih. Mom said it is an easy kuih to do.

We went to Tesco to buy the tepung pulut and gula melaka to do it. For the green factor, I used pandan leaves for it. The total cost of the shopping is only around RM5.

First thing that I did was to blend the pandan leaves with water. The, sieve it to get only the green liquid. Pour it into the 'tepung pulut'. Then, using your hand, blend the pandan water and tepung until you get the right consistency.

After, some times, make the mixture into balls, place gula melaka in it. Unlike the pasar ramadan sellers, I put big chunk of gula melaka in it.

Then, hubby being helpful, helped me in boiling the balls and kaklong helped me to mix it with grated coconut.

Walla! this is the result of my first experience making 'buah melaka'. The green color is not that nice as I didn't use any artificial color. The reason why the kuih looks so tempting in param, green artificial color.

  My creation of buah melaka

With cost of doing it for only RM5, I can get only 15. I'm doing it myself, I got almost 100 of buah melaka.

Aleya's third admission...

Last month, Eya was admitted to hospital due to rotavirus. Just 2 weeks ago, she was admitted again due to high fever.

On that particular Thursday, she told me she had a fever. I thought she was lying and just making excuses not to go to school. So, I asked hubby to check her temp using the digital thermometer and it turned out that she was not lying. Her temperature was 39.5.

I asked hubby to take care of her while I went to work. Exactly at 5.15 p.m., I clocked out and rushed home. She was asleep at that time, so I packed all her belongings and mine.Hubby told me that her temperature was still high, although she ate the medicine form a clinic that morning. We were worried if Eya's fever reach 38 or more as it may cause fit or a very high fever. So,  thats why we resort in going to Assunta.

We rushed to Assunta, taking all the shortcuts. The doctor took nasal swab, to check for H1N1 and also a blood test.

As her temperature was very high, 40, I agreed when the doctor suggested she should be admitted. This time,  the admission process went smoothly.

So, after 2 blood test and 2 urine test, she was diagnosed of having UTI (Urinary Tract Infection). I wondered how a small kid could get UTI, so I googled it. I found out kids that like to hold their pee, is likely to get UTI.

She was released after 3 days in the hospital but for a few days, she was very restless. I left her with my mom but I didn't know why, she refused to stay with her opah. She refused to eat and only drank water and milk for the 2 days she was with my mom. Me and hubby decided to take her back and hubby need to leave her with mom for the 2 days while we are at work.

So, the followup after she was discharged was done yesterday. She need to take an ultrasound test to check her kidney and another urine test. As for the kidney, everything looks normal but her urine was still dirty.

 Eya waiting for the radiologist to start the ultrasound test.

Dr Mary decided to do a culture test for the urine to check for any growth. She supposed to call me today but until now, still no call. I assumed everything is fine then.

Research Assistant opportunity

I am looking for a full-time research assistant. The project title is "Campus IT Governance: A Good Practice Framework to Govern IT Processes and Resources in a University Campus Setting". The duration of the project is for 12 months and the RA will pursue their Master degree while doing the project.

No one is going to pretend that RA pay is lucrative but I promise that the successful applicant will be “paid with opportunity.” If you fit the bill or know someone who might, please send this along to them. For more information, just leave a comment with your email.

Lappie was sick, but now it 's back...

I was not being able to update my blog as usual before this due to my sick lappie.

It could not start properly and the screen was fuzzy, with a vertical black line in the middle. When I tried to google it, most of the surfers said it maybe due to faulty screen.

So, I asked Hamdi to repair it, and he sent it to his friend in lowyat. The friend tried to replace the screen with all screen that he got, which was almost 10 types of screen and none successful. He tested it for a few weeks.

That didn't work, so the last resort was to call Dell. I didn't call Dell initially as my lappie warranty had finished and I read on the net that their parts is very expensive.

So, hubby called Dell and explained the problem. Remember that before calling Dell, you need to be prepared with your Service Tag and Express Service Code, and also to try troubleshoot your lappie online.

Luckily, we called Dell as it turned out that lappie has a year extended warranty for its motherboard.

2 days after the call, Dell rep came to my office and changed the faulty motherboard. The guy told me that if the motherboard is damaged, its better to buy a new lappie. BTW, the guy is new to the job and took almost 2 hours to open lappie.

I was so relieved and happy that lappie is healthy again and hope that it can serve us for a couple more years.

Getaway for the 3 of us...

These last few weeks had been quite hectic for me. I decided to have a weekend getaway for us.

Me and hubby searched for the best place for a getaway. Among our ideas were:

• Genting - cheap but can be quite boring if you don't want to play at theme park, plus we cannot take our car
• Boulevard - which is our fave hotel but hubby said it was boring, as we don't want to do any shopping
• Bukit Bintang - too hectic
• somewhere near river - no river provide any proper accommodation

So, at the end, we decided to go to Port Dickson. I wanted a modern hotel but not that expensive. At first, I wanted to try Avillion or Legend Water Chalet but the attraction is just the chalet on water, nothing else plus it will be quite dangerous for Eya. So, after a few surfing session, I chose Avillion Admiral Cove.

My first impression was the hotel has good location. The hotel environment was nice and the room is great. We booked the deluxe room for it king-size bed, while the pangkin daybed is actually a single bed. So, the room can fit 3 person nicely.The only downside was the room was not carpeted and we have to walk quite a distance, took the stairs if we want to go to restaurant or the swimming pool.

Talking about the swimming pool, me and hubby discovered something new of Eya. A hotel patron lent Eya his baby's life jacket. We noticed that Eya was very confident in  the water using the jacket.

She could walk on her own in the pool, dive into the water and float on her own using the jacket. It was something that she could not do before.She showed hubby some beginner techniques in swimming. We were quite puzzled as she didn't start her swimming class yet due to her hospital episode this month.

We asked her if she did learn it from school and she said yes. So, we thought that maybe she followed her friends to the swimming class but just practiced it on land. We were happy and surprised that our baby now is confident in the water.

We could not wait for her to start her swimming lessons next week.

As for hubby, he tried the Segway, which is a cool ride. We got it free as it came with the hotel package. THe ride cost RM35 for 10 minutes. The Segway costs about RM32K, which was made available in Malaysia by some Datuk. It can only be found in Avillion and Langkawi.

 Both hubby and the trainer name are Rizal, and both from Taiping

As for the short vacation, overall everything was great. Looking forward for another one soon.

Attack of Rotavirus

During a few weekends ago, Eya was having diarrhea, together with vomiting and mild fever. We brought her to clinic to get some medicines. Having taken the meds and still not getting better, we were really worried. She could not eat at all as she would vomit right back. Although she was really hungry, she was scared to eat as she knew she will throw up anyway.

So, on Monday, we decided that hubby would take care of her while I went to my class that morning. I told hubby that if she was still not feeling well, we would take her to Assunta. The only thing we were afraid was she will be dehydrated and starving because she didn't eat at all.

So, we went to the Emergency ward and the doctor told us that she need to be admitted. Actually, we were hoping that she would be admitted as we thought she need to get drips.

We went to the Admission counter and waited for almost an hour to get the GL. The officer was new as she told me that I need to pay some deposit before Eya could be admitted. She didn't even know that UNITEN is under TNB, just because the PMCare logo did not have a TNB logo. What a crap!!

I told her that she had been admitted before and no deposit was needed. She still insist on the deposit, so to move faster, I decided just to pay.

I opted for a single bed but the children ward is quite limited and small, so the only thing available was 2-bedded. I got the same room that Eya was admitted 2 years ago.

Eya's nightmare began when the doctor wanted to put her on drip. She screamed like hell and kept pulling the drip tube. She told me that it hurts so much. Hubby told me that the doctor only managed to put the drip after the 3rd attempt. No wonder she cried so much. Later, I asked the nurse to checked on it and her hand was swollen.

The guy doctor was better on putting the drip as it took only 1 attempt. Not every doctor or nurse has the skill to give a proper injection. As for me, I prefer the veteran as they have more experience and it does not hurt that much.

The doctor needed a stool sample and it cannot be mixed with her urine. I failed to do this and asked hubby to do it for me. He managed to do it on the first attempt.

After they tested the stool, it was confirmed that Eya got Rotavirus. I didn't gave her the vaccinations when she was a baby. Luckily, we brought her early to hospital as the nurses said that some parents only brought their children when they are really weak, and it takes a long time to get well.

Dr Mary told us that Eya was quite a strong girl. She no longer vomit but she refused to drink. So, she had to be on drip for a long time.

Zidane was Eya roomate a day after Eya was admitted as the disease was contagious. So, by that time, Eya had Zidane and me had kaklong for a roomate.

The cause of Eya's rotavirus was unknown as it can easily spread, through contact, surface, anything at all.

So, Eya was in the hospital for 4 days and 3 nights. The longest period of me staying in a hospital. I was getting crankier on the second day as Eya would not drink at all and need to stay for another day. I was mad at her for not drinking as her lips was so dried and bleeding. Due to this, Dr Mary needed her to stay for 1 more night.

Eya was advised not to go to public area for at least 10 days as the virus can spread easily to other kids. So, mom stay with Eya during the week to take care of her as we could not send her to nursery. Poor her as she also could not start her swimming class as she need to avoid going to public area.

Maid from Hell....and you can go to hell,Ana...

People may asked why I have maid to take care of my only daughter. Actually, I never really need a maid to take care of Eya but last year, when I found out I was pregnant with my 2nd child, I need to hire a maid as my mom would not be able to take care of me and her 2 grandchildren during my confinement period.

So, hubby asked yong to find a maid for us from Medan. We had to pay RM4000 to get the maid. We thought this maid will be okay since she was referred by yong's maid which is so good. She has been working with yong for 5-6 years.

So, we settled everything on our own including the immigration process and FOMEMA. She is a widow with 1 daughter and live in rural area of Medan. She started working with us since May 2009. Before she came to my house, I left her with mom almost 2 weeks as I wanted her to be trained by mom.

She don't have a lot of tasks to be done as I live in an apartment. Her main tasks is to cook dinner, clean the house, take care of laundry and babysit Eya if she is at home. Eya sometimes goes to her nursery, and only stay home 1 or 2 days in a week. So, I think that's not too much compared to other maid.

She was quite okay until she made friend with another maid near my mom's house. She started to talk for a long time on the phone at night, after she finished with her tasks. As I didn't want to invade her privacy, I don't really mind as long she doing her tasks.

Then, one day, exactly last 2 weeks, mom called to inform me that she was running away. She was only waiting for her salary to be sent back to Medan, then only she will run. I was terrified that I asked adik to fetch Eya from home.

Later, all of us confronted her to ask about her intention. She kept quiet but looked so surprised that her friend betrayed her by informing us. So, we decided to sent her back without her knowledge. Later, we thought that if we did sent her back, her daughter will have no money to study so we decided to give her another chance.

So, after we advised her, we went for a late dinner with mom who just arrived from Kepong. When Eya checked on her, Eya told us that her kakak was missing. We realised that she had run.

Luckily, she did not take anything valuable. We made a report in Kajang and went to immigration to cancel her passport and permit.

Maybe its true that we are not supposed to be nice to them. If I going to have another maid, I will treat the maid like a semi-slave. No point in doing good to others especially to maid if they don't know how to appreciate it. 

LL Family Trip to Penang + Adib + Broc

Me and Kaklong had planned for this road trip a few months ago. The exact plan was to visit relative in Mata Ayer,Perlis. The plan was made as we did not attend a cousin's funeral last December. This cousin was one of our favorite cousin who had worked and lived in Langkawi. Every time one of us visit Langkawi, he will be our tour guide and treat  us to a lavish dinner at the hotel he worked. So, to make up for that, we decided to visit his parent.

 Our trip began on Wednesday night, and arrived in Mata Ayer around 6 a.m. After we had lunch at their house, we traveled down to Penang. We stopped at Pekan Rabu, Kedah as we never been there. we bought kerepek, asam jawa, all the normal stuff people buy there.

We managed to get to Penang around 6 p.m. and checked in into one of the apartment in Batu Ferringhi. As the Indians were celebrating Thaipusam, almost all hotel were fully-packed. After we freshen up, we went to our ultimate goal in this trip, to eat nasi kandar line clear.

It was 2nd time for my along + kaklong and first time for adib and broc. At first, adib told us that the nasi kandar was ordinary and nothing special but after a few hours, the taste kick in and he admitted that line clear was the best nasi kandar he ever had.

 So, in total we ate at line clear for 3 times before we went back to KL. We also tried nasi kandar beratur which was so famous for its long queue. The only difference with line clear is their rice is fluffy and delicious, but line clear still won my heart for its curry and fried chicken. So, nothing can beat my love for line clear.

And if for those who are new to nasi kandar line clear, make sure your rice is being served by an old guy wearing sarung as he is the best.

 As along is regular HRC visitor, he managed to get us in for free to see the live band. Only wearing slippers and did not have to pay cover charge, it was a great way to watch live band performs.

My family also went to try kuetieaw goreng doli in Taiping, hubby's hometown as we stopped by at MIL's house. The place was so packed that we have to wait a while before we got the table.

Overall, it was  a good trip but for me any trip with LL clan is the best for me.

What do I expect in 2010?

Its the 4th day of 2010. I think everybody has posted their resolutions or announce it to the world about theirs. As for me, I try not to make any not-achievable new year resolution as I know that I will be frustrated if I cannot accomplish it. This will be just my checklist to be done for the whole year of 2010.

So, what I expect to do or have for this year will be something common.

• My home will be ready by May. So eager to get the key. Now, need to save more money to pay for the grille, cabinet, lighting, new furniture, etc.
• A brother/sister for Eya. Really hoping this will come true.
• To settle all my credit card debts. Will cut one of the card by next month. Try to use cash as much as possible. (Yeah, right! I still like to pay for petrol using CC)
• Hubby business booming and more prosperous, which result in more shopping for me.
• Looking forward for all of our birthdays and anniversaries.

This year we may have less vacation as we will start paying for the house. So, all vacation for this year will only happen in Bangi.

Puzzle n more of it....

Our neighbor gave Eya a small puzzle, a 9-pieces for her to play with. It turned out that she really loves doing it.

She is very good with it. It only takes her a few hours to learn the puzzle and later she will know how to place all the pieces at the right place. Maybe she memorize the piece placement or she remember the whole puzzle. It still puzzled us on how quick she learn to do a new puzzle.

Everytime she finishes doing one and bored with it, we need to buy her a new one. We only buy her the cheap one, which is around RM 4-7. She only plays puzzle with the cardboard at the back of it.

Her strategy is she will turn the puzzle down. Then, she will put the puzzle piece one by one. With this way, she can remember the placement. Once the puzzle is finish, she will try it the second time by doing the side pieces first. Thats why she need the cardboard puzzle as it has the side to guide her. The third time, she already know all the pieces by heart.

Sometimes when we stuck doing her puzzle, she will say, "Mama, that puzzle is here". She know the exact placement.

So, up until today she has about 7 puzzles. Oops, no! We just buy her a new one at IOI Mall today, so the official count will be 9 puzzles.