Maisarah's 1st Birthday Bash

Maisarah's first ever birthday party was held on Saturday 22 November at my parents place in PJ. We invited Shah's Mom and Dad, his brother's and sisters, our uncles, aunties, immediate neighbours and some friends. Food was catered and I got the cake from Ba*ker's Cottage. I ordered the cake 1 week inadvance and it was in the shape of a teddy bear. I chose the teddy bear cake as Maisarah is able to recognise bears and loves her teddies more than us. Did I mention that she now does not kiss me or her Abah but will passionately kiss all her teddies?

Anyway, back to the party preparation. My sister and I also prepared party packs for the kids and a small gift for babies (less than 1 yr old). All in all the party was a success and Maisarah had loads of fun. She didn't even sleep throughout the party. Thank you to all our guests for coming to the party and many thanks for the gifts that Maisarah received. We are truely greatful for all of it especially your attendance to the event. Below are the pictures from the party. Enjoy!

A video of Maisarah and me cutting the birthday cake.

First Swing Ride

We took Maisarah to the nearby park for the first time.

Happy 1st Birthday Maisarah!

Maisarah is 1 year-old today! Wow, time has surely passed by quickly. I took leave today to spend time with Maisarah. My mom says that I took leave today to relive the day I gave birth to Maisarah. Well, once she said that I couldn't resist myself from ocasionally recalling what happened a year ago.

Anyway, this morning Shah had to go to work. So my mom, aunty, Maisarah and myself went out to go look for a gold anklet for Maisarah. My aunty wanted to get it as a birthday present for Maisarah. We left home at 11:00 am and got back at 1:00 pm. By that time Shah was already back at home to spend time with Maisarah on her day. We initially planned to go to Sec*ret Recipe and have some cake to celebrate but Maisarah and her Abah were tired. So we just stayed at home and played with Maisarah. I took some pictures of her as memories of her 1st birthday. The one below was taken during her afternoon nap. She was tired after playing around the house. I the picture are her most favourtie soft toys, Ivan (the blue dog) and BabyBear.

Asleep with her favourite soft toys

Well, that's it for today. We'll be celebrating her birthday by having a party on Saturday 22 November. I'll make and entry with pictures of it later.

Just me and my girl

Shah has been away since yesterday to attend a management workshop. So Maisarah and I are left together. My sister sleeps with us while Shah is away so that she can help look after Maisarah when I'm in the bathroom and while I get ready for work. 

I think Maisarah misses her abah because she keeps calling out for him. Her abah misses her too cause I keep getting text messages from Shah asking about his little girl. At the same time Shah also asks how I am.So I think he misses me too.

Whenever he is away he always worries about me. He'll make sure I text him before I leave the house for work and once I reach the office. The same goes during my trip back home after work. It's just his way of showing he cares about me. He has been doing this ever since we were dating. On my numerous trips to Nottingham to visit him, at the end of the trip, he'd make sure I got on the train safely. Then I had to text him once the train arrives at the station and text him again once I reached home.

I am very greatful to have such a loving and caring husband. He still cares about me even after 6 years of marriage and 10 years being a couple.
I guess I'm missing him too.

Happy Girl

Maisarah will be 1 year old in 5 days time.

Two days of tiredness

I have to conduct a two day course on Electric Drives this week. Today was the first day. I gave a lecture and conducted some class activities to about 150 students all by myself from 9 am right up to 4.30 pm. The only break I had was for lunch from 12 to 2 pm. Standing and talking for almost 6 hours has me aching all over and I also have a sore throat. I've got another full day of lectures tomorrow. I wonder how other people do it. I think I'll stop now. My eyes are starting to close. Night night.

What is all this non-sense?

I'm busy grading exam scirpts. I'm hoping to finish 60 scripts today or latest tomorrow morning and then get on with another 20. Hopefully I'll be done by Wednesday. Grading week is not a good time as I have to face lots of non-sense written in the scripts. Although the non-sense comes from few of the students but they tend to get to me. Of all the things I have to to as a lecturer, grading is the most boring task.

Well, break is over. Back to grading.

My little venture into babywearing

Ever since Maisarah was a few months old, I have been eyeing for a ring sling. I just love the designs I saw at TheBabyLoft so I got myself one when Maisarah was about 3 months old. However, at that time Maisarah didn't quite like being in the sling as she felt cramped in the cradle position. At that point in time my darling hubby said that the sling was just a waste of money and that I will never use it. Boy was he wrong and now he has to eat his words because when Maisarah was able to sit at around 5 months, I gave the sling another try when we were out during a shopping trip. This time I put her in the hip-carrying position. She instantly loved it! She was able to look around and she felt secure as she was close to me. One time when we were out, she even fell asleep in the hip-carry position. So since then I have been a fan of babywearing. But at that time I only knew of 2 types of baby carriers, i.e. the ring sling and pouch.

Little did I know that there are actually other types such as the mei-tai and soft-structured carriers. These carriers are double-shoulder carriers unlike the sling and pouch. I have to say that I like the look of the mei-tai and I certainly would like to own one. Another reason why I want a mei-tai is because I have a recurring shoulder ache. But his shoulder-ache only happens on one side each time. Before I was pregnant it used to be on the left side, but ever since I started breastfeeding the ache switches from the left shoulder to the right depending on which side I slept on the night before. Therefore, when I wear Maisarah, using the ring-sling I tend to get tired quickly since it is a single-shoulder carrier. With a mei-tai I'm hoping that I can even the weight of wearing Maisarah on both shoulders, thus not-over burdening my aching shoulder. But knowing hubby, even if he is now a fan of me wearing Maisarah, he would certainly frown on me if I were to get one as they are to expensive.

Therefore, I am so happy to learn that SnuggBaby is offering a Mei-Tai blog giveaway in conjunction with their Mei-Tai launch and the International Babywearing Week (from 12-18 November 2008). This way I stand a chance at winning a mei-tai!

According to the rules of the mei-tai blog giveaway (directly taken from SnuggBaby):

HOW DO I WIN?
Encourage your loyal readers to click on the link to join in the fun, by the end of the International Babywearing Week which is on the midnight of 18th Nov 2008, we will choose and announce 2 winners, One will be chosen based on the amount of traffic the blog has directed to us according to our traffic log and another will be chosen by the relevance and experience of the blogger with babywearing.

So dear readers out there, please hop over to SnuggBaby to help me win the Mei-Tai. If not, I'm hoping I stand a chance in the 2nd category.

Maisarah @ 11 months

The little Princess is almost 1 year old. Time has sure gone by quickly since she was born. I guess it's time for me to post some updates on Miasarah.

1. She talks - Maisarah can say qute a few words now like 'cat', 'nak', 'book', 'bag', 'bib', 'atas' - indicating that she wants to go upstairs, 'bear', 'kaki', 'girl', 'boy', 'habis' and a few more which I can't remember.
2. She's able to recall her family members by name - every day she likes to look at our family portrait and when we point to our pictures she will be able to call out our names, i.e. 'Mummy', 'Abah', 'Mama Ya' (my sister), 'Uncle Dan' (my brother), 'Baba' (my mom), 'Habib' (my dad), 'Wan' (Shah's Dad) and 'Mak Tok' (Shah's Mom).
3. She walks - these past few days she has become more confident to walk. I think by next week she will be walking all over the house.
4. She loves books - ever day she will ask me to read at least one of her books over and over again. Mommy yang penat.
5. She likes to scream for her Abah and Baba.
6. She will wait for us to finish solat so that she can 'Amin' (perform dua') with us.
7. She will 'half-crawl, half-leg paddle' when she wants to move fast from one place to another. It's difficult to imagine but I have a videos of her doing this. Maybe I'll upload it one day.

I guess those are the things that I can remember off-hand. Maisarah has certainly grown up and her motor and cognitive skills are increasing day by day. It is such a wonder to see her grow and I certainly enjoy these past few months with her as she is so playful, talkative and can respond back to us whenever we talk or play with her.

Last week Maisarah came down with quite a high fever. Her temerature was close to 39 degrees Celcius. I had to bring her to the clinic and made sure her head was sponged with a damp cloth. Luckily the fever subsided the following day. But, since Sunday, Maisarah has been having a cold and she has been acting up. She cries whenever she doesn't get what she wants and if we persist to deny her wishes she will start screaming. I hope this is because she is unwell and not because she is becoming a spoilt little girl.

P/S: On the breastfeeding front, Maisarah is still breast fed and I am very thankful to Allah for bestowing me the opportunity to provide Maisarah with her milk for almost 12 months. InsyaAllah, I will continue to breastfeed her until she turns 2 years old or she herself weans, which ever comes first.

Trojans invade

My laptop has been invaded by 2 kinds of Trojans. I have been battling to get rid of them since 9:30 am this morning. You see, my laptop initially was installed with Nor*ton Anti-Virus but the subscription ended few months ago (well actually about 6 months ago) and I have been too busy to install a new software. So today, I finally had the time to install Av*ira Anti-Virus software (the free version). Once it was installed, it immediately bleeped several times informing me about the invading Trojans. I wonder how long they have been lurking on my lappie. I can't seem to get rid of them under normal mode so I have resorted to Safe mode and have been scanning my lappie since 11:30 am. So far, the software has informed me that it has detected 5 files containing the Trojans and they have been quarantined. I need to delete those quarantined files and then I'll revert back to normal mode. Hopefully, it will be clear after that. But from my readings, the Trojans that has invaded my lappie are cunning. One of them resides in the Temp folder and switches to another file after the initial file has been quarantined. Oh God, I hope I can shake them off. If not I will have to get professional help for my lappie.

On another note, I had initially 'deleted' this blog by changing the URL and not allowing any search engines to trace the blog. I did this because I thought I have been betraying the blog by not putting up any posts. Furthermore, I have been having some difficulties keeping up with my duties as a mother, wife, homemaker and careerwoman. So I had to stop for a while and relook at my priorities. I am still working on improving myself and I hope those around me will be patient with me. Please know that I am not perfect, I have lots of flaws and I need to find a way to become a better person soon. I am also in dire need of supplements to give me more energy to get through the day. I am always flat once I reach home and when I put Maisarah to sleep I end up sleeping myself. The thing is I am so bad at keeping to the schedule of eating my daily vitamins. I wonder how other moms keep their energy up. Those out there reading this, care to share?

Ok, I've got to get one with work. Please pray that my lappie is Trojan free.

P/S: I have rebooted my lappie under normal mode and am 40% through scanning the C drive. So far no Trojans detected. Hpe it stays that way. But another big problem has come up. I just found out that I can't access my C drive from My Computer. This is certainly not good news. Hope Abang wont get angry with me!

P/P/S: During the past week I did a marathon session of Gossip Girl season 1 and I am hooked. Is this good or bad?