Heeeeeyyyyyyyyyy~~~~

Heheh.. heh..hehh.....

I knew eventually this blog will be collecting dust. Sokkay. It's not like this is a life commitment die die must do wan. Anways, to start kicking back off again with this "family-life-kids" blog, I have decided to revamp (more like install from dowloaded free template) the looks of this blog. Last time it was autumn themed and I have no idea why the background image went missing all of a sudden. If it wasn't for that, I think I don't even have the urge to install a new theme.

Okay!
Quick recap of the year.

• Shareese just had his little didi circumcised on Monday. He's recovering now. So manja!
• Ariessa just learned to walk at 1 year 4 months old. Pretty late if you ask me.
• She still doesn't really talk properly yet. I think she's mastering the art of caveman communication because all she does is point and grunt. 
• Shareese has just finished his first year of kindergarten at age 4. He knows how to write some numbers and letters. His number 2 and Z is almost the same and sometimes it's flipped. I hope it's not dyslexia. Maybe it's just a phase. *meh* I love how he writes the number 3 though. So cute like the M from McDonald's. But sideways. *w*
• Shareese didn't manage to attend his kindy's concert/graduation day this year due to...circumcission thingy. The timing is soooooooo unfortunate! What kind of school does school performance day ON A DAMN WEEKDAY??? merghh.....!!
• Shariessa (yes, I have brangelinafied my kid's name) are like cats and dogs. Urhm.. or like Tom and Jerry. They can't stand being near each other (they fight!) but when they are apart, they feel incomplete and wants to find each other. Tsundere much? =3=
• We had a nice family trip in Penang last month. First time going out as a small family. We usually just tag along with either our parents. Saving gile on food and accomodation. So, achievement unlocked! Family trip!
• Lately, I am highly addicted to a new hobby of postcard writing and pen-palling. I just want someone to talk to with not much long term commitment. and I love the feeling of receiving letters and packages from overseas in my mailbox instead of just bills and junk mail. ^^
• I started reading A Song of Ice and Fire. Nice~
• . - .   I don't know when but I am starting to get addicted to coffee and tea. Bittersweet mocha is AWESOME!! So far the best mocha I had is at Butter + Beans. Nyam!!
• Crepe cakes are delish!!
• Here's a drawing of Shariessa.

That's all folks. Have a nice day!

High Fever and Measles

So last Sunday we brought Shareese to watch the Despicable Me 2 movie at MBO Space U8. Turns out we managed to get a little "souvenir" from the outing. *sigh* Apparently during the movie, I noticed one mother brought along a sick child with her. Her son was in the stroller and on his skin was some light colored spots. I was not sure what those spots are but it looks like chicken pox. Only that those are spots that are recovering. Not the bulging, filled with liquid spots. I was worried but brushed off the feeling because I thought no mother in their right mind would bring out a child with contagious disease outside. I never have been soooooooooo wrong!!!

The day after his birthday, he was down with high fever for 3 days. After that, POP comes the small rashes. Apparently the malays calls it demam campak keladi? Measles? Not sure.. but it's red and it's making my baby uncomfortable.

Red spots on Shareese

The day the red spots popped up on Shareese's body, is also the day my sweet little 4 month old daughter was down with high fever. Poor baby!!! ; - ;   ...and yeah, a few days after that, she's also down with the measles. T_T  It's really tiring taking care of two sick babies for two weeks straight. My husband was down with the fever too around that time and myself almost got caught with the fever too. Luckily mine wasn't as bad as my babies or kids. Wuu.. such suffocating week. ; - ;

Even with fever, she can still smile :)

We brought them both to see the paed and she confirmed with us that these two has measles. Well actually I am not really sure if it's measles, she mentioned "campak" though. Measles is what ar? hahaha! On the bright side, Doc said that both my babies will develop lifetime immunity from the viral disease. Good thing they got it when they're small coz if they got it when they're in their adulthood, it'll take more time to recover and there'll be a lot more pain and uncomfortableness.

Doc just gave calamine lotion to help ease the itch and also ibuprofen for Shareese, and paracetamol for baby Rissa to help suppress the fever a bit. We also fed both Shareese and Ariessa with coconut drink. It helps to make the spots come out faster and reduce their temperature a bit. We also bathed them in this herbal water (masukkan daun semambu dalam air suam), and it also helps the spots to come out faster.

Right now, both of them have recovered from the fever and the spots on their body is slowly diminishing. Alhamdulillah. ^^
YAY BOLEH KELUAR JALAN-JALAN~~~~ 2 minggu dok rumah je jaga anak. bosan. *__*

Happy 4 month old little Rissa

Today marks Ariessa's 4 month old urhm..monthliversary? pbffttt apekah. How time really flies. Her cheeks are getting more and more fluffier these days. Alhamdulillah semakin membesar anak mama ni. YIIIII!!!! GERAMMMMM!!! I know it's not really a good thing to comapre your kids but I can't help but notice that Ariessa's social skills seem to develop much earlier than Shareese.  She can already smile at 2 weeks old, at 2 months old she can already have "conversations" with people and calling them with random AhAHH sounds. At 2.5 months I could hear her first laughter after we tickle her. Shareese started smiling after my confinement period ended and he hardly respond to our tickling and talking. He's quite fast at developing physical features though. Can already sit without support at 2 months. Ariessa seems a bit flimsy. Oh well, girls are more delicate (and talkative) by nature I assume. =)

Shareese is slowly learning to accept that he has a little sister. When Ariessa was first born, he mati-mati don't want to look at her. It feels like if he looks at her, he is acknowledging her existance hahaha. Funny little guy. And he calls her Arasso instead of Ariessa. =_= Smarty pants... Too much of Korean drama infused to him thanx to my mom. Now everytime I see him touching his little sister's head, patting her and kissing her, it melts my heart! Aww... And I really love how he calls his sister now. Isha! Isha punya! Sayang Isha!! Eh~ Mana Isha!! WHEEE COMELLL GILAAA OK!!!!! (lantak la, anak aku. semua pun comel!!)

Dear baby Rissa and abang Shareese, mama hopes both of you will grow up to be a gentle and kind hearted children, and most importantly jadi anak yang soleh dan solehah ye cayang uchuk achyammm~ 

Ariessa at 1 month till 4 months. Cheeks getting slightly thicker. XD

The Fasting Month is coming

My blog is collecting dust again, as usual. Well, it's not like there's physically any dust here and it's not like there's anyone who would look forward to read my ramblings anyway, right?
Hahahha emo pulak kau Che Ton.

The Holy Fasting Month of Ramadhan is coming, erm..tomorrow.. and Ariessa would turn 4 months the day after. Walawehhh how time flies! I am so grateful that I could still manage to fully breastfeed my little Ariessa, regardless of my failure attempts to do so for my eldest son, Shareese the cheeky little boy. I have to say, it's really not easy to continue breastfeeding and being a working mom at the same time. Kudos to all the working mothers who managed to do so for more than 6 months, even up to 2 years of age. How did you guys find the determination and patience to do so, I wonder...

I have been told that during the fasting month, your milk supply would tend to decrease a little bit due to dehydration, I assume. I was being extra paranoid that I wouldn't be able to provide enough supply for Ariessa during that time and I got panicked and find ways to stock up my milk supply so that when the time comes, my breastmilk would still be enough for her and that I wouldnt have to supplement. Alhamdulillah, with frequent pumping for a few days and consuming vitamins and galactagogues (I took alfalfa pills while occasionally taking fennel and fenugreek), I manage to boost up my milk supply. I usually could pump 4oz to 6oz per session, with total amount of 16oz to 20oz a day. Now, the most I could pump at one time is 10oz, and most of the time it would not be less than 5oz. (Unless I forgot to drink enough water) Total amount of milk I could pump in a day increased to 27oz ~ 29oz. Alhamdulillah, rezeki Ariessa.

I really hope I wouldn't have much problem to breastfeed her during the fasting month, insyaaAllah. It feels so good to see her growing big and know that her growth comes from your very own milk. :)

EBM stock as of 9th July 2013. !5 more 5oz bottles at mom's house
and around 8 more at office's freezer. Tumpang peti sejuk orang lain, because i can. :p