I took Teehah and Farah swimming tonite. Farah, as usual, was overly excited and couldn't wait to swim. This was Teehah's first try. At first, she was scared and clung to me for dear life. Gradually, she began to loosen her grip and instinctively began flipping her tiny little feet. She was kicking about as if she knew what to do. Some friends called it survival instinct. Whatever it was, she seemed to be enjoying herself, but she looked and felt cold. She was trembling and her pretty pink lips were turning blue. I became anxious. I asked the lifeguard whether the water temperature could be raised because I felt it was quite chilly. She couldn't do anything about the temperature. It was beyond her control. With that, I took teehah out of the pool and we changed into dry clothes. I wrapped her warm and gave her a long cuddle. Then, we waited for Farah on the bench.
Farah was splashing happily in the pool. Occasionally she approached me and confidently showed off her swimming skills or rather her thrashing ability. "Ummi look! look! I can swim!" she was beaming! Good girl..She was thoroughly having a lovely time.
Ailong called and we had to leave. This was the last session before Ramadhan.
Iman and Ihsan had to stay home because the swimming session on every Thursday night is exclusively for Muslim ladies. So, every Thursday, without fail Ihsan would whine, complain and sulk because he could not join me and Farah. Farah added salt to the wound when she deliberately and annoyingly sang "I am going swimming! I am going swimming!" to Ihsan's face. Kids!
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Keukenhof Gardens in the Netherlands
These are some of the old pictures kept in the laptop. It's about time that they are shared with families and friends.
Ralat
1. Farah made two Ramadhan cards, one for ailong and another for me. But she drew another card last night just for her ummi.
2. The 'air hitam' comment was intentionally done. Saja jer nak test kak amy hehee. Thanks for cendol and the dessert. Yummy!
3. Kamera masih lagi okay and the camping snapshots were brilliant. So, no hope of getting a new state of the art camera...alahai!
2. The 'air hitam' comment was intentionally done. Saja jer nak test kak amy hehee. Thanks for cendol and the dessert. Yummy!
3. Kamera masih lagi okay and the camping snapshots were brilliant. So, no hope of getting a new state of the art camera...alahai!
Sunday, 24 August 2008
Forum perdana
Last saturday, we attended a forum perdana on israk mikraj at keenan house. To me, the speakers were eloquent and their elucidation on the matter discussed were clear, concise and thought provoking. The talk reminded me of the things that I am already aware of and also the things that I do not know. It was good.
The food was excellent as well. Varieties of dishes were prepared and they were simply delicious.
There was also less interference from the children during the talk as they were well entertained by Ustazah Hamidah and her advocates. Though the children were assigned into groups, each child was asked to design a greeting card, as an act of welcoming the holy and blessed month of Ramadhan. Guess how many cards I received? Mind you, the cards (iman's, ihsan's and farah's) were all for me, none was for ailong...kesian! Farah made three, Ihsan created two and Iman's designed one big black card. Ahlan ya Ramadhan!
p.s. My buddy, Nadia and the rest of the clan came to visit. It was good to see them again.
The food was excellent as well. Varieties of dishes were prepared and they were simply delicious.
There was also less interference from the children during the talk as they were well entertained by Ustazah Hamidah and her advocates. Though the children were assigned into groups, each child was asked to design a greeting card, as an act of welcoming the holy and blessed month of Ramadhan. Guess how many cards I received? Mind you, the cards (iman's, ihsan's and farah's) were all for me, none was for ailong...kesian! Farah made three, Ihsan created two and Iman's designed one big black card. Ahlan ya Ramadhan!
p.s. My buddy, Nadia and the rest of the clan came to visit. It was good to see them again.
Friday, 22 August 2008
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Camping
The much awaited camping trip had finally arrived. The kids were over the moon about it. They had been talking, visualizing, arguing and even dreaming about it. They were so thrilled that they were bugging me with endless and temper provoking questions the minute they woke up on that day. It did not really help improve my patience as I had to pack, clean, cook and made sure that they were all set when ailong arrived from work (he took a half-day off). So, you ladies out there, especially those who experienced a similar predicament, I am sure that you would understand how I felt when you were trying to manage everything and at the same time, being bugged with annoyingly innocent questions...e.g. how are we going to 'mandi' there? Is there a swimming pool there? Is there a toilet? etc..I realized that these were all legitimate questions, but when I needed to accomplish so many things in such a short time, my temper flared easily. It did not help help that three days before the trip I was down with a fever that left me bed confined.
The original plan of going to Lake District was thrown into the drain because of severe weather forecast and strong gales. I was a bit disappointed, but as for the children...nothing could dampen their spirit! Instead of the breathtakingly beautiful Lake District, we had to contend ourselves with Hartlepool. But it was not that bad. In fact, I dare say it wasn't bad at all.
I could tell that the kids enjoyed themselves. Iman made some new friends and so did Ihsan. Farah tended to click with those younger than her (aged around 4 -5)and of course, she became the ring leader. She was their queen bee!
The first day was okay. We were busy (the men actually) setting up the tents while the spouses (kita orang lah tuh) were chatting away with each other. The kids were running about in the field.
I considered the second day relaxing. Why? Because the kids were no where to be seen. I had the whole day to myself and teehah. Ailong, too, was occupied with his mates. The children left the tent and went about their own merry business with their new friends and only during lunch time did I see them, all hungry, tired and dusty. Boy, they were having the time of their life. After lunch, things were still quiet with the children wondering about in the camp area. In the evening, I joined in the orienteering activity, it was fun...except for the part that we lost! Later, that evening we had a BBQ competition. As anticipated, we did not bag any price...no surprise there huh! Nonetheless, we enjoyed eating either the burnt or half-cooked chicken, burger and the slightly odd looking sausages.
The last night was miserable. The strong wind made matter worst. I was worried sick that our tent might be blown away, but alhamdulillah we persevered. Then it began to pour. It rained and rained and rained right through the night and the following day. It was wet, wet and wet. The children were covered in mud, even Teehah. Imagine all the cleaning and scrubbing that I have to do sob... sob... sob...
Buat masa nih gambar-gambar camping tak dapat dimuatturunkan (betulke perkataan nih)sebab kamera masuk air. So, tak sure lagi gambar gambar tuh boleh tengok ke tidak. Tapi, insyaAllah akan diusahakan jugak. I promise! Maybe ada rezeki boleh beli kamera baru...ahaks!
The original plan of going to Lake District was thrown into the drain because of severe weather forecast and strong gales. I was a bit disappointed, but as for the children...nothing could dampen their spirit! Instead of the breathtakingly beautiful Lake District, we had to contend ourselves with Hartlepool. But it was not that bad. In fact, I dare say it wasn't bad at all.
I could tell that the kids enjoyed themselves. Iman made some new friends and so did Ihsan. Farah tended to click with those younger than her (aged around 4 -5)and of course, she became the ring leader. She was their queen bee!
The first day was okay. We were busy (the men actually) setting up the tents while the spouses (kita orang lah tuh) were chatting away with each other. The kids were running about in the field.
I considered the second day relaxing. Why? Because the kids were no where to be seen. I had the whole day to myself and teehah. Ailong, too, was occupied with his mates. The children left the tent and went about their own merry business with their new friends and only during lunch time did I see them, all hungry, tired and dusty. Boy, they were having the time of their life. After lunch, things were still quiet with the children wondering about in the camp area. In the evening, I joined in the orienteering activity, it was fun...except for the part that we lost! Later, that evening we had a BBQ competition. As anticipated, we did not bag any price...no surprise there huh! Nonetheless, we enjoyed eating either the burnt or half-cooked chicken, burger and the slightly odd looking sausages.
The last night was miserable. The strong wind made matter worst. I was worried sick that our tent might be blown away, but alhamdulillah we persevered. Then it began to pour. It rained and rained and rained right through the night and the following day. It was wet, wet and wet. The children were covered in mud, even Teehah. Imagine all the cleaning and scrubbing that I have to do sob... sob... sob...
Buat masa nih gambar-gambar camping tak dapat dimuatturunkan (betulke perkataan nih)sebab kamera masuk air. So, tak sure lagi gambar gambar tuh boleh tengok ke tidak. Tapi, insyaAllah akan diusahakan jugak. I promise! Maybe ada rezeki boleh beli kamera baru...ahaks!
Saturday, 9 August 2008
How time flies
When we first arrived here, Farah was only 14 months old. Iman was five and ihsan was three. Farah could barely walk without clinging to chairs, tables or shelves in our run-down rented house in Leicester. Last 17 July, she celebrated her 6th birthday. This year Iman is ten while Ihsan is eight. How time flies! They grow up so quickly. It's like one minute they are infants, the next they are already that difficult teenagers. And before you know it, they are off to a college or university. Fateehah is now 14 months old. Last year during this time, she was only a tiny baby. Now, she is walking about in the house while trying to communicate with her siblings using her baby language. Googogagaa...well she can say "ummi, abah, tatak (kakak referring to Farah) anah (angah- ihsan) and awong (along -iman), hello, tejuk (sejuk) and dirty".
Thursday, 7 August 2008
Sabar je lah
The kids are fighting again. As usual, they bicker over small things e.g. whose turn was it to play on the computer. Iman always dominates the computer while Ihsan usually lets him does so (unwillingly of course!). But once in a while Ihsan whines to use it, but his requests always fall on deaf ears. The disappointment and dissatisfaction of not being able to use the computer always lead to a fight between the boys. Normally, Ihsan will end up crying while Iman put on his tough look and sit quietly somewhere, mostly at his favourite corner, a small space between the tv rack and the sofa. This special place has also become the bone of contention between them because whoever gets to sit there, has a full view of the tv. Farah tends to stay away from the boys and chooses to watch girly cartoons instead (e.g. bratz or barbie etc). But when the boys are bored with the computer, or told to switch it off they grab the tv remote and change the channel. Farah will immediatley start wailing! Now, everybody is angry at everybody.
They keep their distance, Ihsan will tend to his borrowed hamster and Iman will sit at the corner. Farah will continue whining until she gets hold of the remote again. Nobody is talking to anybody except for Farah who is still crying.They are driving me mad! But sure enough, after five minutes of dead silence, iman and ihsan are best pals again. Fateehah cool ajer. Her siblings constant bickering does not seem to have affected her at all. The world is her playground...
They keep their distance, Ihsan will tend to his borrowed hamster and Iman will sit at the corner. Farah will continue whining until she gets hold of the remote again. Nobody is talking to anybody except for Farah who is still crying.They are driving me mad! But sure enough, after five minutes of dead silence, iman and ihsan are best pals again. Fateehah cool ajer. Her siblings constant bickering does not seem to have affected her at all. The world is her playground...
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Nessie hunting
Last year we went nessie hunting. Armed with a digital camera and picnic-packed lunch, we headed towards Inverness looking for the Loch Ness monster. The view along the way was magnificent, but the road was too windy and narrow for my liking considering the state I was in, I was heavily pregnant with Fateehah (32 weeks to be precise).
Anyway these are some of the pictures of the hunters while taking a break from the hunt.
This is the head hunter!
Anyway these are some of the pictures of the hunters while taking a break from the hunt.
This is the head hunter!
Mai and Tok
It has been quite some time since the kids talked to mai and tok. Ailong has been pestering me to call them. I know I should have called them more often. It is just that I get tongue-tied when I talk to my mum-law. But I am aware that I need to make the effort. As they say, what goes around come around... I do not wish my children to bear a similar attitude towards me in future. Mental note: must call mum tomorrow.
The children love their mai and tok very much. It is no surprise because they tend to spoil them rotten and the kids could even get away with murder. Though I sometime disagree with their actions, I am happy that they love the kids. I can see that the kids too, enjoy the attention and care from their mai and tok to bits. And most of the time, they tend to take their grandparents for granted. Well, I guess that is what grandparents are for!
The children love their mai and tok very much. It is no surprise because they tend to spoil them rotten and the kids could even get away with murder. Though I sometime disagree with their actions, I am happy that they love the kids. I can see that the kids too, enjoy the attention and care from their mai and tok to bits. And most of the time, they tend to take their grandparents for granted. Well, I guess that is what grandparents are for!
Take a lesson
The kids are bored beyond help. With one car broken down, Ailong has to use the other to get to wok. So, the children are confined at home. After almost three weeks of summer holiday, PS2 and the computer games do not appeal to them (especially iman and ihsan) anymore. Instead, they channel all their energy to themselves and start bickering and fighting with each other. One minute they are best buddies, the next they are mortal enemies. However, when they get into a fight,they can simply patch things up and be friends again.
Somehow, their 'lets be friends again' attitude amazes me. There is a lesson to be learned here. Children can be friends and foes within minutes. What about us? Adults? Can we act the same? Can we simply forgive and forget?
Somehow, their 'lets be friends again' attitude amazes me. There is a lesson to be learned here. Children can be friends and foes within minutes. What about us? Adults? Can we act the same? Can we simply forgive and forget?
Sunday, 3 August 2008
Summer
Summer updates:
The kids are enjoying their summer break. We enjoyed the must have summer BBQ at Hamsterly Forest. It was a great success. The kids enjoyed themselves and so did we. Ailong was busy showing off (hehehe) roasting and barbecuing those scrumptious feast. Ihsan busied himself playing in the shallow cold stream while iman occasionally was missing in action when he went down stream to catch fish with some buddies of his. Farah was also whining to jump into the creek but she was scared of falling onto the sharp edged rocks. Ihsan had some nasty bruises when he fell on some. Fatihah, too was enjoying the summer sun. She giddily walked everywhere and sat herself among the overgrown grass and bushes nearby the creek. She was lost in her own little world. I could tell she was happy.
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