It Has Arrived!

Before I was pregnant, I always imagined that I would create a scrapbook or records on my baby's first year. When I was pregnant, I asked my sister to get me one of those scrapbook/baby's first year book. Unfortunately, once Maisarah arrived, the book was never filled. It still lies on my bookshelf at home. Later on, my mom kept commenting about us never having a proper album for all of the photos we took since Maisarah was one day old. So I was pressured to create and album of Maisarah's first year.

Some time ago, while bloghopping, I found a website which enables us to create a photobook. All you need to do was download the software, import your pictures in the software, arrange them into the pages of the photobook and then upload the file onto the company's server. Just four simple steps to having your own photobook thanks to Pix*art.

I knew immediately that I wanted to create a photobook of Maisarah's first year. So, about a month ago, I finally had the time to download the software and I started playing around with it. Once I was familiar with the software, what I needed to do next was sift through all the folders of photos to find the nicest pictures of Maisarah. It took me a whole weekend to finally compile the pictures. Once that was done, I needed to edit the photos so that they would come out nice. Luckily for me, Pi*casa made me do it all in a jiffy. In order to include more photos in the 24-page (front and back) photobook, I knew I had to create collages which was done easily in Pi*casa. And Pi*casa enabled me to export the collages into high resolution pictures, so all those low resolution photos we captured of Maisarah turned out looking nice. Even those pictures which had low light exposure was able to be corrected using Pi*casa.

Anyway, last Friday I uploaded the compiled photobook to Pix*art's server and made the payments via credit card (they also except payment via may*bank2u and cimb*clicks). Yesterday, Maisarah's photobook arrived! Just under a week after uploading it. The photobook turned out nice as shown in the pictures below. The book is about 7 inch by 5 inch in size (almost the size of a 4R picture) and has 12 pages printed back and front. The cover unfortunately only comes in white for the pocket-sized photobook. Pix*art also offers coffee-table-sized photobooks.

The cover page.

On first three pages I placed 12 close-up pictures of Maisarah starting from her first month to one year old.

This is how it looks like inside. You can add captions for each page.

The pictures come out nice and with minimal pixelation (at least from my untrained eyes) as I was able to create high resolution pictures from lower ones thanks to Pi*casa.

I'm totally in love with it and I can't put it down. I made an extra copy for my mom so that she can show it off to her friends and stop bugging me to create and album of her granddaughter. I hope Maisarah will treasure it in the future.

Away on a Two-week Course

Since Monday this week Shah and I have been attending a course on Nu*clear Engineering. It's actually called a Summer School because it lasts for two weeks. Luckily it's held in U*K*M so we dont have to be away from the Baby Bee. And lucky to the management agreed to send us both to the course so we can go there together and not have to take separate ways in the morning. The course tarts at 9 am so before that we have time to drop by the office and hence, I;m using this time to write an entry today.

So far, the past two days have been interesting but tiring. I have learnt lots of new things but it's like going back to University all over again. Lot's of notes to take down and knowledge to absorb. But it's more tiring since it starts at 9:00 am and ends at 5:30 pm. We do get the occasional 10-15 minutes break after one or two hours of lectures and the one and half hour lunch break so that is good enough for us to refresh and regain our energy.

OK, I've got to stop now. See ya!

Another 6 months to go!

Alhamdulillah, we've reached the 18 months milestone. There are some hiccups happening this past month. I'm not producing as much milk as Maisarah is taking while I'm at work. Syukur alhamdulillah that I've got plenty of frozen stock but I'm hoping I can stop eating too much into the stock pile. So I've got to keep thinking positive and continue my journey. Ya Allah, please bless my quest to breastfeed Maisarah until she is 2. Amin.

My first letter to Maisarah: Your 18 Months Old!

Dear Maisarah,

Happy 18 Month Birthday! I can't believe that in 6 more months you'll turn two. My how time flies when your having fun. It seemed like yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital. You were weighing only 3 kgs compared to the 10 kgs you are now. The night we brought you home, you cried for almost 4 hours non-stop. You should have seen how crazy that made me and your Abah. We were pulling our hair trying to figure out how to sooth you. And during that night, it dawned on me how difficult it would be to raise a child. I wasn't sure if I could carry the huge task Allah had entrusted into our hands. Could we actually raising a child to be a caring, loving, thoughtful human being and devout Muslim? Well, that is too far to see but insyaAllah we hope to be able to do so. But at that point in time, I was thinking, could we survive the first month? or the first year?

Well, survive we did. After that first night, taking care of you was a breeze. You were not overly cranky and slept through most of the night during the first two months. You seldom cried for no apparent reason other that for food or sleep. Unfortunately, time passed by too quickly those two months. Before I knew it, I had to return to work. After that, spending time with you was limited to the few of hours in the early morning (you woke up as early as your abah and I did which is 5.30 am) and few more at night. But we made sure we spent as much time with you as possible on weekends. I made sure to minimise time away from you during weekends as I wanted to continue breastfeeding you for as long as I could. So wherever I went, you came along too!

Even though we were away from you during the day, we still managed to witness all the important developments in your life. We saw you roll and creep during your first six months. I also made sure I gave you your first spoon of solid food. Before that first spoon of rice puree you grew up healthily fed by my own breastmilk. I was so proud of you and of myself too! Then when you were seven months you started crawling and we just could not keep up! Your first tooth also made it's appearance around that time. Since then your tastebuds have experienced all kinds of fruits and vegetables. You were such a healthy little baby enjoying all the food. Even so, you breastmilk intake didn't reduce and Alhamdulillah I managed to supply enough milk for you.

When you turned eight months, you fell sick for the first time. Poor baby! You looked so tired and was slightly cranky. Your abah and I were so worried. We kept on checking your temperature and giving you sponge baths to lessen the fever. And luckily the fever subsided in a few days. As old folks say, 'demam tu mungkin sebab nak pandai buat benda baru' (the fever is a sign of you going to acquire a new skill), much to our suprise you started talking a few days later. Since then your vocabulary has grown and it may have doubled, tripled or even more now that you've turned 18 months. You are now constantly talking and we can strike conversations with you. THis has certainly amazed all family members and friends who've come to visit. You now like to tease Mommy. Whenever I ask you questions like 'What is your name?' or 'What diod you do today?', you reply by saying 'Tak nak cakap' (I don't want to say) and then giving me that cheeky smile of yours followed by the pharse 'Saje je' (I'm teasing you) indicating that you know the answer but you don't want to tell it to me. You are certanilybecoming bigger and brighter by the day and I pray to Allah the He will guide both me and your Abah in raising you and nurturing you to become a caring, loving, thoughtful human being and devout Muslim.

Alhamdulillah, we have come this far and may Allah bless our little family with health, long life and happiness for as long as possible. Also, praise to Allah that you are still fully drinking Mommy's milk and may this journey of ours continue for another six more months.

Love always,
Your Mommy

P.S: These are the important dates of your development throughout the first 18 months of your life...

Turn - 9 March '08
1st solid food - 20 May '08
Creep - 28 May '08
Crawl - 12 June '08
First tooth - June '08
Sit - 19 June '08
Sunat - 5 July '08
Fell Sick for 1st time (fever, cough) - 13 July '08
Fell off the bed for 1st time - 2 August '08
Took her first unaided
steps (5 to be exact) - 19 October '08
First family holiday (Langkawi) - 19 April '09
First time at the beach and in the swimming pool - April '09

She's Now 18 Months!

New Notepad for Me

I've decided to change my blog template. Shah mentioned that my previous template was too red and I was also getting bored with it. So last weekend I browsed through a few websites for a suitable template. I've always wanted a blog that looked like a notebook so when I saw this particular one, I fell in love. I like the flower header and the post-it on the notebook sealed the deal. Have I ever mentioned that I am a sucker for post-its, especially those colourful ones? I used to collect lots of different post-its but I've stopped buying new ones years ago. Anyway, I knew I had to get this template and now I do!

Another thing which I like about this template is the 'Search' box and the three post-it tabs below it. (See, I'm really addicted to post-its!) I've created an 'About' post specifically for the 'About' page. However, I'm still in the process of creating the 'Archives' page. This template was originally made for Word*press and one kind soul has managed to export the whole page for Blogger. But Blogger doesn't have a dedicated 'Archives' page so I've got to do it manually. And according to my googling, the easiest way was to manually insert all the monthly archives links into the 'Archives' page. Since I've been blogging from 2004 (gosh! it's been ages), this would take me a while. So I hope the current 'Archives' page is sufficient plus I've got the 'archives' widget placed on the sidebar anyway.

So, this will be my new blog template and I think it would remain this way for quite some time.

Lazing Around

We have nothing panned for today so we're just lazing around the house. Maisarah and I spent the morning watching Brother Bear and Finding Nemo while Shah went out to do some work. He came back around lunch time and we had a simple lunch. Now, Maisarah is asleep, Shah is playing Pro Evo Soccer on PS2 and I am surfing the net.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. The second one for me. We bought present for my mom and mom-in-law. Just simple toilettries set which we know they will use. Last week I taught Maisarah to say "Mother's Day" and amazingly this morning while we were lazing around tgether she said "Mother's Day" to me. I guess she was just recalling what I taught her but without her knowing she sort of wished me "Happy Mother's Day". It's so sweet to hear it from her!

Well, I don't know what else to write about so I'll just stop.

Repeat Entry By Mistake - We Miss You!

Edited on Saturday 9th May:

Shah was fiddling with my handphone last Thursday. He was trying to enable me to download my office emails onto the phone. While downloading the emails, the phone automatically sents out all the messages in my outbox and the following post was in it.

Maisarah and Mommy missess you Abah. We can't wait to see you on Monday. Just three more days to go. We pray that you will have a safe journey to Bahrain and back home to us.

Langkawi Was Great - Part III

This will be the last post on Langkawi. Sorry for the late entry. After I got back from holiday I was swamped with a Seminar we were hosting last week and my sister got engaged during the weekend. To add to that, Maisarah had a high fever yesterday and I took leave today to tend to her. Anyway, her fever has subsided after the doctor gave her the fever medicine through her behind and she is asleep now. So let's continue with the recount of our last two days in Langkawi.


Day 3: Tuesday 21 April
We started the morning by heading to the Lookout Point which overlooks the Langkawi airport runway. According to Shah's dad, this is where most people head for to watch the airplanes take off and land during the LIMA show which happens biannually in Langkawi. We can actually have a clear view of the runway if the shrubs were cleared off. Maybe the Langkawi municipality would have the shrubs cleared during the LIMA season but not when we were there. After that, we drove alongside the airport runway and headed to Pantai Cenang towards Awa*na Por*to Ma*lai. We saw lots of tourist busses and vans lined alongside the road to leading to Awa*na. We were curious at first but when we saw a huge cruiseship docking we knew that these busses and vans were waiting to bring the tourists from the cruiseship inland. It must be real nice to spend time cruising around the world. After we saw the cruiseship, Shah and I have started talking about saving up so that one day we could cruise around the world.


Anyway, back to our story. After takign some pictures at Awa*na, we headed back towards Kuah town. A few minutes after leaving Awa*na, it rained heavily! Luckily we had already got on the Cable Car the day before so there was not much left to do in Langkawi other than shop which we could do even if it rained. So off we went to Ida*man Suri. If Shah and I had our own place, we would have spent a bomb here. The tableware and cookware here are very cheap compared to the usual price back in KL. I would have loved to get hold of the Corning*ware and Vi*sion cookware set but I knew it would be a nightmare to bring them home via airplane. So Shah promised me that once we have moved in to our own home, we would drive to Kangar and go over to Langkawi to shop. So my first trip to Ida*man Suri ended with me just buying some chocolates and a bag with a teddy-bear for Maisarah. We then headed to Hj. Is*mail Group. Another store selling cookware and tableware in Kuah town. There I bought a Thermos lunchbox set at almost half the price of the same item if bought in KL. This would be handy once Maisarah goes to nursery. Again, if there were no transportation issues, I would have bought more than that.


The afternoon part of the day was spent at the Pantai Cenang beach. We headed there at around 4 pm after we had a good nap at the apartment. Maisarah had the most fun playing with the water at the beach. We saw a dead fish and a few dead squid lying on the beach and we showed them to Maisarah. She was amazed looking at them. After playing at the beach for almost an hour, we headed back to Kuah. On the way back, we took the route next to the airport runway and that was when we saw a food stall by the beach with lots of patrons. The sign on the stall and it read "Laksa Power". This was the stall recommended by Shah's brother which he said served great tasting laksa and cendol pulut. So we decided to stop and try it out. We ordered 1 bowl of laksa for me, 1 rojak buah to be shared and cendol pulut for everyone. Shah's brother was right. The laksa was yummy and the cendol pulut was delicious. The next time we're in Langkawi, we
ll definite;ly eat there again. We ended the day by packing some fried rice from Wan Thai and eating them at the apartment. After dinner, we started packing as the next day would be or last day in Langkawi.


Day 4: Wednesday 22 April
In the morning, we headed to Lang Square or Dataran Lang on which rests the famous eagle statue and a popular tourist spot in Langkawi. Howevevr there is not much to do here other than take photos with the huge eagle statue so we took some pictures and then left. We were headed to the Oriental Village as I wanted to have a closer look at the shops there since I didn't get to do that the other time we were there. On the way there, we stopped at the Black Sand Beach. It is named so because the sand on the beach is dark in colour, almost black, hence the name. This is due to the erosion of the earth at the beach which has granite content that gives the black colour to the sand.

After shopping at the Oriental Village, we had lunch at Jom Ikan Bakar near the airport. This was another recommendation by Shah's brother. The food was quite good with lots of ikan bakar on offer and kampung dishes. However, it is self-service and the place was packed with people so we had to wait for the food to be replenished. So if you want to eat there, avoid the peak times. One our stomach were filled, we headed back to the apartment as we wanted to let Maisarah play in the swimming pool. However, Maisarah had a dip in the pool with her Abah for just a short while. She didn't enjoy it because some water got into her throat and she coughed. So we'll try again next time. After the short dip in the pool, we went back up to the apartment to rest and finish packing. We headed for the airport at 7 pm as our flight was scheduled for 9:30 pm. After checking in, we made our prayers and had a light dinner. Shah's parents left at 8:30 pm and we went into the boarding hall. However, to our dismay, the flight was delayed and we finally were able to board the plane at 10 pm.

All in all, we had an enjoyable time at Langkawi. We'll surely go there again soon and have more time to play on the beach and stuff ourselves with the deliciously sinful food.

P/S: We have another trip planned in June to Singapore but with the Influenze A a.k.a Swine Flu threat we might have to cancel it.

P/P/S: I am typing this entry in the dark with the help off a small light on my new work laptop (courtesy of the company) which shines on my keyboard. Before Shah went to sleep he was making faces in the dark with the hopes of scaring me.