Summer in Sydney: Air Asia

I know I have not posted detailed account of our long, wet, summer in Ireland yet, oopsie-a-daisy.

We left for Sydney, Australia as soon as school holidays started. It was our first Air Asia flight as a family so you can imagine my nervousness coupled with streaks of anticipation. We were blessed with an awesome GrabCar driver with Nissan people mover. She provides wifi, water, snacks and and YouTube onboard from home to KLIA2.

As soon as we were dropped off at KLIA2 Departure Hall, we ate our dinner at the first cafe we stumbled upon, Secret Recipe. It was nothing special but kids were thrilled with the cold chocolate treat after dinner. We had to sugar them up to last until check-in and boarding time at 11.30 pm which is way past their bedtime.

As we had lots of time to kill before checking-in (we were first timers at KLIA2 and had no idea how to plan out timing), kids explored the few shops and Malaysian aviation milestone board. I hope they remember something about aviation history in this country, but I doubt it. I bet they only recall the mock palm trees and large screen LCDs.

When our check-in counter finally opened at 8.30 pm, we were nearly the first ones to check-in. We packed really light (thanks to reliable washer and dryer at Meriton Pitt St) and since Bean had just been potty trained, we had even more space in the luggage sans MamyPoko Pull-Up Pants.

Immigration clearance was uneventful, luckily. We then finished up all our water in our bottle just in time for toilet time before boarding. Theboredom stemming from long waiting time nearly killed us so fortunately the shopkeepers were not too fussed about having 2 noisy and active children jump into their rides, touch their early Christmas display and laugh the place down. Cold chocolate drink after dinner, remember?

The boredom of waiting without lounge and creative ways of inventing new games are all eye-opener for us 4. The 2 noisy and crazy travellers were a bit sleepy by 11 pm and started misbehaving from sugar crash. Instead of curling up to sleep, they noisily climbed on every seat at the waiting area. I think I have never glared and hissed that much before my entire life.

By the time we boarded, got our seat belts buckled and settled in, Girl mumbled that she wanted a flatbed (we got hot seats, not knowing earlier that we should have bought flat beds). Point to note if we ever travel with Air Asia again (mentally guesstimating the cost to be equivalent to MAS tickets).

Bean basically suckled to sleep. One other traveller was curious of his age and why he has not been weaned to a bottle of formula yet. Me, being the thick skinned nurse in public mum with lack of sleep just politely replied that I was tired and dozed off.

The sound of creaking trolley woke me up. We refused our pre-booked meals as we were sleeping. Luckily, we have packed travel blankets for the 2 of them but the upright seats with limited recline were not the best beds. Too tired to care, everyone slept and stirred.

In the end, the flight comfort (or rather lack of comfort) had not matter that much because we woke up to glorious Sydney! We were thankful the kids travelled well without incidents. We were just so thankful Bean has been officially potty trained and kept dry without accidents. He wore his Mothercare trainer pants just to be safe throughout the holiday, but his potty training had been relatively easy because he told us when he was ready. I learnt an important lesson from Bean: Often times, it is OK to be led by child.

The Sydney air did us 4 a whole lot of good. It was the change of scenery and circumstances we have been waiting for, for an entire year. Syukur alhamdulillah!

Work From Home: Support Network

Salam, my lovelies.

Seven years ago, I made the decision to quit the rat race to raise a young family. It is the craziest/bravest/stupidest decision I have ever made in my life (I must confess it is actually the best and appropriate decision given my circumstances).

We have no live-in helper. No driver.

When I was pregnant with Bean, I had Kak Saras come over on weekends to help clean The Flat. She did that for a few months until after my confinement. She used to help me out when Girl was first born too. Alas, she is too old to take on cleaning jobs now, and we have yet to find someone as trustworthy and detailed as she is. If you know of a live-out cleaning lady/housekeeper, please drop me a message. Thank you.

Recently, we also contacted a live-out helper to come in for a few hours twice weekly to help with ironing. She is a real blessing and I kick myself for not engaging her sooner! Together, she and I, we fight LaundryMonster. So far so good, Alhamdulillah.

Finally, we have a professional babysitter to watch Bean for a couple of hours when I take Girl out to her piano lessons. Ms R is someone we are familiar with as she was a former teacher at The Playschool. Bean adores her, to my huge relief! They read, watch Disney DVDs, share snacks and play when I am away.

Whilst we can and want to do everything ourselves, sometimes, we just need an extra pair of hands. With a spouse recovering from surgery, and my having 3 work-from-home jobs (other than being a full-time mum and wife), I feel this is a wise move and better employment of time/skills/energy.

If you have more coping tips, please do share!

Lego Table

If you are a fan of IKEA Hackers, you would have seen a few Lego Table hacks by now. 

This is ours. A simple Lack, 2 Bygel rails and some colourful Bygel buckets. We had the Grundtal stainless steel containers and cutlery stands at first but they felt heavy (and noisy when Lego pieces were being thrown back inside). 

Before:

After:

This hack has given Bean unlimited new play angles, and he explored new possibilities like never before. The Little Girl loves how accessible the "special pieces" are in plastic buckets without having to rummage through our Samla big box of bricks. Special pieces in her definition means non-brick pieces. 

The Samla transparent box tucks neatly under the Lack table when not in play, which is just awesome! Being transparent, Bean can also easily spot the Lego pieces he wants and aims for them.

We have not screwed down the Bygel rails as The Other Half is worried about damaging the fragile Lack table. He used 3M double-sided tapes instead and those strong tapes have held the weight so far. There are various weight hold grades, be sure to select 3 kg and above. 

We did not choose the Grundtal rails due to the sharper corners, preferring the smoother and rounded finish of the Bygel rails. Babyproofing!

We have not taped down the Lego green play base because we wanted some flexibility and not restrict ourselves to just Lego. After the kids have gone to school, we parents may just want a coffee table to serve the purpose it was designed for - have a hot cup of java on it!

Happy hacking and playing, my lovelies!

The 20 Seconds Hug

Do you have a go-to love-affirming strategy at home?

I learnt this love-affirming strategy known as the 20 Seconds Hug from Dr. Andrea Mayrhofer in a Positive Parenting Workshop in 2013.

It does take much out of me when I need a strong love-ammo to deal with sibling rivalry, amongst others. Over time, I come to appreciate that this simple method works for my stressed out spouse too.

Hug tightly. Count silently from 1-20 or say "I love you very much, baby *insert name here*."

The Little Girl was going through a rough patch emotionally after she had realised that Bean is here to stay and that she could not just return him to the hospital or stuff him back into my belly. After many doses of The 20 Seconds Hug peppered with back rubs and kisses on her cheeks, she throws hardly any tantrums now compared to before.

Bean gets his fair share of 20 seconds hugs too because he sometimes goes through separation anxiety when he is being dropped off at The Playschool, or sees me leaving home for The Big School with his elder sister.

Works 80% of the time, and is good enough for me.

My liberal dose of 20 seconds hugs at other times of the day:

- before I hit the shower/use the bathroom

- before I start any chore at the kitchen or laundry area

- before tucking The Little Girl in for the night

When I am very lucky, they give me the 20 seconds hug! You'd be surprised how long 20 seconds feels like just being present in that moment. 

The Little Red Cube at Puteri Harbour

1. Hello Kitty Town

2. The Little Big Club hosted the following:

PinguBob The Builder

Angelina Ballerina

Thomas The Train

Barney And Friends

We purchased the Two Clubs Entry tickets. The Little Girl and I had both watched enough episodes (between 2010 and 2013) of those characters above to appreciate what Little Big Club has to offer. 

The Other Half and Bean were less excited, and I do not blame them. I was a big fan of Hello Kitty during my primary school days and it was exclusive back then because I could only purchase them from Melbourne and everything was "Made in Japan". 

Surprisingly, my excitement level during this visit was zero. I wonder what had gotten into me? Overdose of Hello Kitty from Akemi and Isetan KLCC? The Little Girl enjoyed the spinning tea cups ride though, while I got dizzy from all that loud music and spinning. Let's admit it: I am aging!

The Little Big Club felt like a fun-fair/indoor playground within an office block, in my humble opinion. We were offered a 10% discount for the entrance fees by showing our Legoland tickets from the previous day. Luckily for us, I only had to give the Legoland reference numbers as per email as I had not brought along the used and discarded printed tickets. 

I found the Hello Kitty Town displays a little too crowded, as Hello Kitty fans were quite kiasu that day. Some of the adults were oblivious to younger persons around and in the queue, so quite a few handbags and elbows were accidentally shoved into The Little Girl's face. Luckily there was no injuries (otherwise enraged mum would have made it to headlines albeit not for good reason!).

However, The Little Girl, being 4 going on 5, loved the rides on the top floor where Thomas and Friends are featured to bits! Bean is too young to play in most areas and spent majority of his time squirming to be set free or waving at The Other Half who had taken The Little Girl on one of the rides.

The Barney and Friends musical made The Little Girl's day. We ended the visit with lunch at Trader's Hotel. The walk along the promenade outdoors felt a little like walking along Publika on a weekend. 

We did not redeem our free drink offer from Lat's Place as The Other Half was not keen on spending another minute there (he was bored silly and super exhausted from having to wrestle Bean, who prefers to toddle and turns 360 degrees to be let loose). 

Our Garmin charted only the pre-construction routes so we had a minor detour when arriving and departing. Other than that, the Doubletree JB-The Puteri Harbour-Johor Premium Outlet-Doubletree JB drives were smooth, syukur alhamdulillah!

4 1/2 years old

The Little Girl is now 4 1/2 years old.

The famous cliché is true - how fast time flies! This morning, her home room teacher was just updating me of her progress and how they will prepare her for grammar and sentence construction in the English language so as to prepare her for transition into The Big School.

It occurred to me that she was only 23 months old when she started Playschool and she is now serving her final term here? That was one highly compressed video of our lives!

From the time she was born till now, I have not really done any milestone post for her and I haven't been diligent in keeping one for Bean either. I can only remember those special moments as I look through their photo albums online and thought maybe I should get my act together. 

I guess I have found my next series of blog post theme then, and will I be busy or will I be busy then!

Oh, may Allah swt Protect my two kids from harm in every form and manner. Their love is so pure, their smiles are so genuine and their dreams are so big. Amin!

HFMD

Bean caught the much-dreaded Hand Foot Mouth Disease. 

It started with a few reddish spots on his face which quickly spread to his scalp, over his entire body with limbs not spared. Now at day 3, he certainly looks like a spotty pink leopard. Cute, but...slightly miserable?

Poor baby. 

His appetite is about 70% of his usual, but thankfully his cheerfulness has not compromised. 

Syukur alhamdulillah he has no fever and the medical officer at PCMC had prescribed him some gingival oral spray; and calamine cream for easy application in the event Bean starts scratching at his spots.

The only "dirty" place he had been to in the last one week was his playgroup meet at Gymboree Bangsar Village. It is hard to pinpoint a single place with 100% certainty, as most parents would probably know by now (as much as we can possibly wash and sanitise everyone's hands!).

Speedy recovery to Bean, Amin!

Malaysia Day

Tiring Tuesday indeed. 

Alhamdulillah for the 10 am piano lesson, 11 am lunch date and 3 pm swimming lesson today for The Little Girl.

Bean had a slightly different day with Gymboree Play Class with his peers, followed by a lunch date with The Other Half and ends sweetly with a recuperative afternoon nap. 

Adorably, his peers consist of a younger brother of The Little Girl's swim mate, and a younger sister of The Little Girl's Playschool mate. It is endearing how the set of firstborn and another set of second born have parallel lives! It is like these 6 children see each other on an almost daily basis, sharing different activities in the same city area. Inevitably, the parents become natural acquaintances, if not fast friends.

Well, by evening, we dined out as a family of four while the car was being washed and vacuumed; and came home by 8 pm for an early night in. 

All that in peace and harmony, double alhamdulillah!

Happy birthday, Malaysia!

P/S: the Hokkaido Milk cake my friend had brought over has my name on it, toodles!

11 teeth

Bean sprouted a couple of canines and a lower left pramolar over Shawal. We have been expecting the canines but the pramolar took me by surprise.

He had some extra dribbles, and slept mostly in my arms. No fever, syukur alhamdulillah, as we were away in York when it happened.

Fiddlesticks, fruit bars, biscotti bars and stone fruits cut into little sticks/bars are his favourite snacks at the moment. 

Self-feeds blueberries, broccoli, carrot sticks and little cubes of cooked chicken. We love how he likes exploring with taste and textures at the dinner table. Arugula, lettuce, corals, kale and countless other vegetables have passed his experiment. He loves some of those, and would ask for more. Those he dislikes, get thrown down onto the floor from his Stokke.

Today, he fell in love with taste and texture of an orange, after a few failed attempts earlier. I strongly believe in letting his try a new type of fruit and food generally, presented differently for at least a dozen times before quitting. 

What an interesting milestone for Bean! Well, at least I think so, for obvious reasons.

Bye Bye Babyhood

Bean is officially a toddler by age and by skill now.

The changing table, baby cot, extra stroller, baby carrier all seem so outgrown and outdated. 

Time to bundle them up and pass those preloved items on to my girlfriends who are expecting their respective nos. 2 and 3. 

Time flies, I am feeling all nostalgic (PMS, much?).

Goodnight, peeps.

Bank Negara Malaysia Museum

Newly printed RM250 by The Little Girl. 

We tried getting into the carpark yesterday (Sunday) but failed as it was blocked with orange cones.

Today, we trailed another car to a guard post and asked for directions. A Polis Bantuan officer was on duty, and politely directed us to LG5 visitors' car park.

Free entrance, baby change room, clean toilets, decent café, children play area, and 3 levels of museum worthy material including numismatic, Islamic finance, economy, fine arts, currency timeline etc = worth a visit or two!

TMI for my little ones but they had fun overall. 

Thumbs up, Bank Negara Malaysia! We sure hope the museum will be better maintained for years to come, in sha Allah.

Morning Routine

What is your morning routine like?

Here is a snapshot of mine:

7.30 am : wake The Little Girl up for Playschool on weekdays. Amazingly, she wakes up early on weekends when we can actually sleep in. Bummer for me, of course.

7.45 am : the second alarm to really get The Little Girl going if she isn't already.

8 am : breakfast. Despite the rotating menu, she nearly always just drinks goats milk and refuses to eat.

8.30 am : get her changed into her outfit and pack her water bottle into her backpack. She usually picks a toy/book of the day to accompany her. 99% of the time she wears NOT her uniform. 

8.45 am : out the door, into the lift, get her belted into the booster and start the short drive to Playschool. We usually exchange plans for the day.

9 am : drop her off at The Playschool gate, a quick hug and kiss.

9.15 am : grocery shopping and driving home to sort out lunch, laundry, cleaning up, errands, play time/feed Bean and let me just confess that this feels like the shortest morning hours ever! 

The Other Half watches Bean when I am out for the school run. On days when he has appointments, we exchange our duties so that he can out the door and not miss the appointment. Luckily for us, he can arrange the appointment time to suit our family routine so as to prevent chaos/being late.

Bean goes to Gymboree on some mornings so he too, has to be included in the morning school run. He is mostly a contented and happy toddler but you can tell he is starting to be frustrated at being strapped down safely in his car seat. So far, nursery rhymes and a small toy can still keep him entertained from KLCC to Bangsar.

In order to cope, we have a weekly meal planner, weekday discount summary at our local grocer's typed out in my mobile Notes, weekly chores planner and quite often still NOT have the time to do it all.

My biggest downfall? Facebook. 

It is sucking too much of my time and I had to leave some groups recently I order to regain some precious minutes back into my short mornings (and rest of the day, obviously).

My other downfall? Whatsapp.

Far too many messages on non-urgent matters. In fact, my phone memory got bogged down and the app just won't upload anymore. Blessing in disguise as I now regain extra minutes to relief my pressure cooker harried lifestyle.

Lunch is often simple and Bean is babyledweaning style eater who helps himself quite independently (small mess, bearable!). We then resume whatever we were doing to prepare for the afternoon. 

1.30 pm : leave home/ appointment place for Playschool to fetch The Little Girl home. If we are lucky and no one is having tantrums, solat Zuhur once we get home at about 2.15 pm.

On Fridays, we leave earlier for Playschool as I have to do a solo drive with Bean to fetch The Little Girl at 1 pm while The Other Half is at solat jumaah. Bean prefers to explore the waiting area at the Playschool and not be rushed back into his car seat too soon. Often times, it is much easier to just pick The Little Girl up straight from the gate at dismissal time and not have to leave the car at all. Rarely does Bean nap through the Friday pick up...and I have grown to somewhat expect the worst. 

Do all parents rush this way too? Does it feel stressful sometimes?

Please share your time management tips to simplify my mornings. Thank you!

Night Terrors

My 4.5 year old daughter still suffers from night terrors and they tend to strike at 2am. These episodes have resulted in us being somewhat irritable as her sharp and loud cries would often escalate into waking an entire household up.

Added to the recent jetlag recovery (took us longer due to her night terrors), we resorted to seeking divine intervention at Darussyifa Bangi. I will blog about the treatment once I can, in sha Allah!

Ustaz Abd Rashid did advise us not to stay out later than Maghrib, to give the kids their evening baths by 6.30 pm and basically say a complete goodnight supplication for them at every bed time. We also shared our bidara-infused drinking and bath water with them for 3 days.

Syukur alhamdulillah everyone is on the road to recovery.

(Digression: My greatest challenge is solat, and to overcome this I really need to commit the entire solat to memory instead of relying on The Other Half as imam. Wish me luck, or rather, keep me in your supplication for ease to come my way. I strongly believe everything will fall in place once I am an independent Muslimah.)

Fortunately, such night terrors have subsided from a full blown 2am repertoire to a whiny few minutes of irritating noise that may be calmed with some supplications and sometimes a cuddle or two. Lying down beside her and patting her back to sleep has a 50% chance of success, and that is like saying try for whatever works. As long as Bean remains unperturbed and sleeping, all is good. However, my rage flies when The Little Girl wakes Bean up, as it can be quite a circus trying to put two kids back to sleep before subuh! 

Tiring nights, panda eyes for The Other Half and I as we juggle working from home and raising two kids without any external help. Can you tell we are struggling as hard as other parents with two children under 5 years old?

How do you handle such night terrors? Please do share!

More Happy News

We have decided Bean will be joining other toddlers at age 23 months at The Playschool The Little Girl has been going to since she was 23 months. 

We know The Playschool is a great place to be at that age. 

We know the caregivers, teaching assistants and home room teachers are loving and trustworthy. 

We know the programme and themes are engaging and interesting. 

We know the daily timeline is conducive for having fun and learning without forcing. 

We know the fees are reasonable although it is on the high side by comparison. Retention of good teachers and administration staff, good maintenance of the infrastructure all come with reasonable price tag. At least, what we pay for is what we get and not being shortchanged. 

We know the commute and emergency response time will be within our coping range.

In hindsight, we made the right decision to start The Little Girl off at that age because she is now sociable, adapts well and is full of life, sans the first few weeks of separation anxiety!

We know this will provide a good peer play environment for Bean, socialise with his peer and basically learn while having tonnes of fun. 

The few hours when Bean is away, will be filled with working (The Other Half) and household matters (myself). Knowing us, it will be high speed productive hours before school run(s) rule the day.

So, here is more prayers that Bean will love what we have planned for him, Allah swt ultimately Decides. Amin!

The Crawling Baby

Bean is crawling everywhere at home now. Such a cute sight! I really cherish this milestone and try to remember these wonderful moments forever (resulting in not taking much photos, sadly).

 

How do I even begin to baby-proof the playroom full of toys suitable for above 3 years old for a 8 month old?

 

When The Little Girl is away at Playschool, it is just Bean and we can scan the room, put away small/sharp toys and organise the play somewhat. However, when The Little Girl is home and is playing, it is havoc! The playroom sometimes look like a storm just passed. With everything strewn all over in an evidently happy mess, it may be a hazard to the little crawler who also likes to explore texture and taste by putting the toys into his mouth.

 

Oh, the supplication of this mother just went a tad longer for Allah s.w.t. to keep the two little ones safe from harm, safe from each other. Amin!

Gratitude: Holidays

Today I am thankful that we have upcoming holidays! 

Two local ones this April and one to a far away place in August. Sure there will be lots of packing and dirty laundry at the end of it all but, oh, the memories that we will create as a young family!

Alhamdulillah. Allah s.w.t. is so generous with His blessings.

May the weather improve with return of blue skies, wind that brings rain clouds and all of Allah's glorious creations!

Gratitude: Day Trip

Today I am thankful for an enjoyable day trip.

The Other Half and I brought the kids to Colmar Tropicale at Bukit Tinggi, Pahang today.

 

The weather was just right. Bright, 26C, not as humid as downtown. We were able to wind the car windows down slightly for The Little Girl to "touch the sky and feel the breeze". Alhamdulillah.

 

The deer, guinea pig and rabbits at the Animal Park were gentle. One rabbit tried tasting a purple skirt The Little Girl was wearing but not untoward incidents happened. Alhamdulillah.

 

The food choice was limited but The Little Girl, well-known to be a finicky eater, enjoyed her soto ayam from L'Orient. Alhamdulillah.

 

Bean slept so well in his Ergo Organic Baby Carrier during our afternoon walk at the Botanical Garden. Alhamdulillah.

 

It was a day of manageable moderate drama and beneficial detours. Alhamdulillah.

Don't you just love days like this?

P/S: Shortly after posting this, The Little Girl threw up her very first McDonald's French fries and Milo snack consumed at Genting Sempah R&R. Luckily, everyone was in high spirits and laundering soiled sheets did not seem overly laborious.

The Bag Lady

Who does the packing of luggage when the family goes for vacation in your household?

I always do.

I start with the itinerary, so that I can zero in on the packing list for each member of the family. The big luggage that we use is then divided into imaginary quadrants for space budgeting.

Once everything is packed into its respective boxes/ziplock/towel wrap/nappy lined rolls/long rectangle Tupperware/LockLock (for keeping the awning of my slip on headscarf/tudung express in shape), I would line the entire luggage with unsewn kain sarung before bundling everything in. That is to keep the luggage lining clean. Anal, but preserves the cleanliness!

If any items were outstanding, a post-it note is placed on top so that I can easily place said missing item in once ready. When the packing is completed, and after zipping up, I always lock the luggage with a sigh of relief with a silent prayer of the luggage not going missing in transit.

Once we arrive, I always unpack and put away the luggage until the time comes for packing up to go home.

If travelling overseas, I split everything down the middle to be filled into two luggages. In the unfortunate event that one of the luggage goes  missing, we can survive for at least a day or two until the missing luggage is located/rerouted to us/have sufficient time to shop for new clothes after claiming insurance.

Please, please, please share with me your packing tips. Mine is tedious, I know. Bows head in shame.

Another Staycation

We are desperate parents looking for an easy way out, what can we say?

Hopefully this one will work out too!

The Gardens Residences

The Other Half and I swiftly decided on this year end 4D3N treat as we have "first world problem" of not being able to shop properly at The Gardens and Mid Valley Megamall with 2 kids under 5 in tow.

We went, we shopped and we like it!

Even Bean approves of the 2 bedroom serviced apartment! We did lug along the Philips Avent 2-in-1 Steamer/Blender to purée some of his meals.

Favourable reviews to be updated...got lots to unpack now!