Financial Audit

Since the start of this month, Shah and I have been tracking all expenditures made. Each ringgit that goes out of our pocket or charged to the credit card was recorded. Today will be the last day and Shah is excited to start analysing our monthly expenses. We are thankful to Allah that we have been blessed with sufficient income to sustain our slightly lavish lifestyle. However, we are interested to see what do we spend on most and would like to reduce any unnecessary expenditure. So we'll just have to wait for Shah's analysis. Knowing him, I'm sure the analysis will be thorough with lots of graphs and charts.

Got Boobies? : Get Them Checked

Did you know that October is the month of breast cancer awareness? Well, I knew there was one month dedicated to this but I didn't know it was October. I always wanted to get myself one of those Pink Ribbon buttons sold in the UK but I never did. Anyway, breast cancer to me is something I must be cautious about but never have I done a proper breast self-examination (BSE). I mean we wouldn't want to lose a breast or even worse lose our life just because we didn't spend less then half an hour to check our B's regularly.

The BSE should be done once a month and for those of us who are still menstruating, the BSE should be done a few days after your period ends (by then the B's are less likely to be swollen and tender). The following are steps to perform a proper BSE, which were taken from here.

Now that we know how to do it, please please please remind ourselves to do the BSE every month. Put a post-it note in your diary or on your mirror, set an alarm on your handphones or PDA. It's better to be safe than sorry. In any case that you (God forbid) do find a lump, go see a doctor but do not panic. According to this:

Most women have some lumps or lumpy areas in their breasts all the time. In the United States, only 20% of women who have a suspicious lump biopsied turn out to have breast cancer.

I found this website to be very useful for more explanations and pictures on performing the BSE, what to look out for and how to feel the breast during the BSE. Do check it out ok?

The reason I'm writing this post is to remind myself on how to do the BSE and also to spread the word on breast cancer awareness. The added bonus is that AliceWonders.com is conducting a "Got Boobies" campaign. Aside from increasing Breast Cancer awareness they are giving out prizes to any random blog spotted with their Pink Ribbon & a "GOT BOOBIES" post every week from 24 October to 28 November. More info on the contest are available here.

Who wouldn't want to get a prize ey? I certainly would.

Forgetful Lady

We were in the car near Tes*co Pu*chong when I truned to look at the backseat of the car and realized that I forgot to bring my pump-bag. (I know Maisarah is not drinking EBM but I still pump during the day. Just being precautious incase she miracally wants EBM again.)

Anyway, we're supposed to be on leave today but yesterday we decided to cancel the leave. Now that I have forgotten my pump, we're back to the original plan. So this morning we'll leave the office cause Shah want's to get his car tyres balanced and algined. While he does that I will be in A*riani to get some tudung. Then we're not sure where we'll head but we'll go home after lunch to play with Maisarah. She will be surprised to see us back home early.

Tired but Fun

I'm tired but don't want to sleep yet. Today Shah and I went out together without Maisarah. As usual, to make sure Maisarah doesn't cry, we left at 7 am. This was what we did:

7 am - tried new route to Uniten via Sunway-Bandar Kinrara-Technology Park Malaysia-Seri Kembangan-Serdang. This route is shorter, less toll by 30 sen but the road is not as wide and bumpy compared to LDP. So we'll just stick with LDP.

7.30 am - breakfast at LaRizz. As usual had the rice porridge.

8.15 am - visited my in-laws at Shah's brother's place. Also we drove by the area of our new house. House is 100% ready. Roads completed with names. So not long now!

9 am - went to Bangi again to fix the punctured tyre of my car. Then drove around Bangi Section 9 looking at the shops available. Wanted to drop into Ariani but it only opens at 10.

9.45 am - arrived at Alamanda. Surveyed appliances for new home. Bought Shah a new Shaeffer pen set. Shah bought me 2 shirts. Walked around.

12 pm - had a heavy lunch at Sushi King - 8 plates of sushi, tenpura udon, saba udon, more tenpura and green tea.

1 pm - solat at uniten.

2.15 pm - arrived at Uni. Of Nottingham Semenyih for alumni meet. Didn't expect to meet a few old friends and also made new ones. Was a bit nostalgic when the VC from Notts, UK showed pictures of the UK campus. Wish we could go back there!

5 pm - arrived back home to see little Maisarah happy with her new slide set present from her granddad.

So that's why I'm tired.

Maisarah: "No Bottle for Me!"

Remember my previous post. Well, we gave Maisarah UHT milk in her usual bottle on Thursday last week but she didn't like it. So the next day, Kakak gave her my EBM (expressed breastmilk) in the bottle. Lo and behold, she refused to drink the EBM! If we gave her UHT milk she would refuse even more. Ever since last Friday she won't drink my EBM. Based on Ira's suggestion, we bought chocolate flavored UHT milk last weekend. She seemed to like it but wont drink more than a small box a day. So that means her milk intake during the day time is around 3 - 4 ounces only. None of it is breastmilk. She will only get her fix of breastmilk when I am at home. Today I asked Kakak to to add some Milo powder to my EBM but Maisarah wont have any of it.

The only thing I haven't tried is soy milk. So this afternoon I might just stop by the shops to get some. I am a bit worried about her calcium intake. But at least she still drinks a lot when I am with her. I think her need for breastmilk is not quite satisfied at night because lately she has been asking me for milk in the morning when I am about to leave for the office. I want to give her more but I can't because I'll be late for work. I hope she will start drinking milk during the day. Please pray that she does.

Milk from A Box

Yesterday, 15 October 2009, exactly one month and four days before Maisarah turns two, I supplemented her breastmilk with UHT milk. I was fully prepared for this. I knew that eventually my milk would not be enough to sustain her needs so we had bought a box of Du*tch Lady UHT milk last weekend. Yesterday morning, I had finished up all my frozen milk stock and in the fridge there was about 11 oz of breastmilk left. Lately Maisarah drinks 9 oz of milk a day and I am only able to express 5-6 oz at the office. Since I have not much stock left in the fridge I mentioned to my mom's helper (whom I call 'Kakak') to give breastmilk in the morning and evening and give 3 oz of UHT milk after lunch. In this way I am hoping I can still continue to breastfeed her until she turns two.

According to the Kakak, at first Maisarah drank the UHT milk but after 1 oz she stopped and said 'Tak sedap'. But Kakak continued to give her the milk and she drank close to another 1 oz before she stopped and refused to drink any more. I am not deterred to give her the milk so we're going to try again today. I'm hoping after a few more tries she will acquire the taste of milk from a box and will start to like it. If not, I will have to try other brands of milk. But I'm pretty fixed on giving UHT milk and not formula for her milk supplements. But just for my future reference, what type of milk are you giving your child? Please also share with me your tips on giving formula/other types of milk to previously breastfed babies. Maybe I can try them out on Maisarah.

Please Don't Be So Rude

Ok, a quick post. Early this week (Monday and Tuesday to be exact) I attended a course in KL. Since the course was held at a hotel near Bukit Bintang, I took the LRT and Monorail on both days. While traveling on the Monorail the first day towards Bukit Bintang, I was the first few who got on the Monorail and got myself a seat. Just when the doors were closing a pregnant lady walked in. She stood in front of me as there were no seats left. So, I decided to be civil and stood up to offer her my seat. I politely said 'Nak duduk ke?'. I was thinking this lady would be pleased to sit down and rest her feet and thank me in return. But instead all I got was a stare and not even a 'No, thank you' or even a shake of the head to signal 'No'. She just didn't even budge. So I said, 'Tak nak?' and continued sit down.

I felt pretty cheesed off and a bit shameful. I don't know why I was ashamed. Maybe because I felt so happy to offer my seat to some one whom I thought wanted it, whom I was taught by my parents to give my seat too but then was turned down in such a horrificly rude manner that dashed my happy feelings. That certainly made me not want to offer my seat to any one else again.

In any case if some one were to offer you a seat and you don't want it, please kindly smile and say 'no, thank you'. Don't not just stare and ignore the kind soul even if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed that morning or have a million problems in your head.

New Calendar

Ever since I started this blog, I've always wanted to have a Calendar which shows dates on which I have made entries onto this blog. This morning I was visiting my usual blogs and at Nannoor's newly merged blog I saw that she had a Calendar on her sidebar with archives of previous posts. So I started googling and found the codes here. It was easy to implement. So now, I have a calendar instead of the normal archive provided by blogger. I think it looks nice. All thanks to Nannoor for introducing it to me.

Maisarah in Baju Kurung Raya

I have with me one Eid family photo when I was about 2 or 3 years old and in it I was wearing a baju kurung. My parents had made or bought me a pair of baju kurung just for Eid even before I could remember. Once I was bigger, Eid was the best time as it was the only time of the year when we would get a new pair of baju kurung.

Hence, it is not a wonder that now when I have my own daughter I would want to have her wear a baju kurung during Eid even if she is too small to remember the occasion. Last year, we managed to find one just a few days before Eid. This year, as I mentioned before, we bought the baju kurung a week into Ramadhan. I just could wait to put this baju kurung on her on the first day of Eid. I like the picture below of her in the baju kurung Raya. I took this photo in the morning when others were at the mosque attending Eid prayers. You can see Maisarah flashing her beautiful smile and she was really happy to be wearing this baju kurung.

Puteri Maisarah, 1 year 10 months.

The purpose of this entry is for this competition (which I found out when I was reading this blog). I hope I have a chance at winning one of the prizes which are sponsored by Gin & Jacqie, eoe Online, leanalittleshop, Sherry, TH, Mia dan Niko. Please pick me ok, BabyIbu? Thank you!

Maisarah's Latest Antics

It's been awhile since I blogged about out little Princess. Below are some latest things that she can do.

1. She can say the names of the cars based on their logos. This is thanks to her Abah and Habib (my dad). Both men are car enthusiasts and since her grandfather likes expensive cars, Maisarah must also know them all.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   *logo pictures all courtesy of Google.
   


2. She also knows our handphone types, i.e. Mommy has a Sony Ericsson, Abah has a Nokia, her Baba (my mom) has a Samsung and her Habib used to have a Motorola.


3. Shah just bought her a sticker book and she can identify which sticker is to be placed in a slot if we help her by hinting on the striking features of the item. For example, she needs to find a sticker of a 'strawberry' so we tell her to find the 'strawberry' and show her where to put it and she wil paste it neatly. If it is not placed nicely she will take it off and try to paste again. I guess her hand-eye coordination is quite well developed.


4. She can sing the A-B-C song from start to finish albeit with some missing letters (especially near the fast part of 'L-M-N-O-P'). But she is impatient and sings too fast that sometimes we can't make out some of the letters. Before you know it she is already singging 'Now I know my A-B-C, next time won't you sing with me'.


5. She also likes to talk very fast. I guess her mind works at a faster pace than her mouth so she only starts a sentance and then quickly says the last few words. For example, once she wanted to say 'Kak Som tukar pampers and baju' but instead she said 'Kak Som tukar pam-ju' where 'pampers and baju' had been shortened. Usually, we understand what she is saying but at times we don't. Once, Maisarah spoke too fast and Shah asked her to repeat the sentence several times. She got fed up and finally said 'Abah tak faham!'.


6. Maisarah has a cute dance which involves her swaying her butt. She calls it 'golek bontot'. So whenever we want her to do so we will say 'Maisarah golek bontot sikit'.

Well, I guess that's all the I can recall. Maisarah is growing up really fast and we can't keep up. She always amazes us with her antics.

Tai Chi

Some staff in the College have set up a weekly Tai Chi session since a week before Ramadhan started. I have enrolled for it and have paid the monthly fees. There has already been four session before the Eid break and I have only attended one. I couldn't go the the earlier three session due to tests and our trip back ome to Perlis before during Ramadhan. But from that one session I attended before Eid, I really think Tai Chi is not bad. At least I get some form of exercise every week which makes me sweat. It is also low impact and relaxing. But Tai Chi is not all that easy. There are lots of steps to memorise nd sometimes we have to hold certain positions for more than three minutes.

The sessions are held every Friday from 4.30 pm to 6 pm. Unfortunately, this week I won't be able to go to attend as I will have to ivigilate a test. I was actually looking forward to go. I think I have managed to pick up the steps learnt from the three previous sessions which I didn't attend and I think I still can even remember some of the steps even after the long Eid break. However, I guess I will be left behind again when I rejoin the classes next week.