Happy Birthday to Nuaim...

...and to me, too.

Granted, this entry is a day late.

Yesterday I turned 32. I wish I was still 22. Physically I feel like 52, I think like 42, and depending how my day goes I behave anywhere between 12 and 62.

Anyway, as Nuaim rightly pointed out to his Cik Ain, it was His Birthday, not mine. He had been bugging me for toys since Thursday night, but I told him to wait till it was his birthday on Saturday for me to get them.

So the first thing he said to me in the morning was not 'Happy Birthday Ummi, I love you' but, "Pagi ni dah Sabtu, kan? Jom kita pergi beli train! (This morning is Saturday, right? Let's go buy a train!)"

We went to Toys R Us, where there's a large selection of 'Thomas and Friends'. Since Nuaim already has a few Thomases, the plan was to get some 'Friends', but Nuaim preferred some other generic-looking modern trains instead. I decided to buy a Friend (Ben, specifically) for Nu'man so he'd have something to play with, and decided to wrap the toys as presents.

When we got home, Nu'man was asleep. Nuaim proceeded to open his present (which consisted of three trains, a station and a tunnel) and play with them immediately. He seemed quite happy for about an hour, when the novelty wore off and he decided that Nu'man (who was still asleep) should 'share' Ben with him. Besides, the tracks that came with the station and tunnel were not long enough for Nuaim's three-carriage train, and Ben came with four pieces. Fortunately the tracks all fitted together, (coming from the same manufacturer, so from today I'm sticking to the same brand for trains) so when Nu'man finally woke up there was no fighting over the tracks. The only contention was who got to play with Ben.

A Princess and her two Hulubalang's

Still Alive and Kicking

I know, my two-week break turned out into a 3-month absence from Blogland. Kenapa, rindu ke?
The truth is I have been really super-duper busy. Honest. In chronological order, this is what happened after Hari Raya Haji:

Hubby came home for his 18-day RnR, but he extended it with the hope that the Sudanese will just forget about him. After three months, they noticed his absence and called him back.

We finished packing up for the move, and moved the furniture into the new house on the last Saturday of 2007.

Had a do'a selamat and proper moving in the next day, when my maid threw in a clanger - she REFUSED to move in with us (we'd all been staying at my mum's house then). For weeks she'd been asking to go back to her hometown in Sulawesi, saying her kids missed her and her dad was ill. Her two-year contract was supposed to end in April this year, and I was willing to give her a couple of weeks' break to visit them, but she wouldn't give me an answer as to whether she was still willing to come back here. So I terminated her work permit and sent her off for good. In the first week of January.

Nuaim started kindergarten. First day Hubby sent him - he was fine. Second day I took him - he wouldn't let me go. When I finally managed to leave an hour later he was clinging to the front door wailing his lungs out.

I was MAIDLESS for almost a month! Luckily Mak had a friend who could arrange for a new Indonesian maid almost immediately - otherwise I'd probably have to wait for another couple of months before some sense of domestic order arrived. She's quite old school (she's even got a 7-year-old grandchild already) but so far so good. I've had to travel to Kerteh several times with her and Aiesyah in tow (I'm still breastfeeding) and it helps that's she's a lot more talkative than the previous ones I've had.

My boys get along well with her too, but they're still pretty attached and cling to me whenever I'm around, especially when I come home from work. So you see, with Office blocking Blogger.com and hardly any time to myself, please excuse me when the sneak peeks into my totally hip and happening life are unavailable. The only reason I can blog now is that I'm spending the weekends at my mum's (now that Hubby's in Sudan again) so the boys' attentions are diverted elsewhere.

With all the activities and changes going on, it's no wonder that I am physiologically a grandmother!

8 Random Facts

Got tagged by Adita to do a simple meme.

The rules:
- Link to your tagger and post these rules.
- List eight (8) random facts about yourself.
- Tag eight people at the end of this post and list their names.
- Let them know they've been tagged by leaving them a comment on their blogs.

List eight (8) random facts about myself:

1. I’m an engineer. My dad was an engineer, so are my two surviving paternal uncles. My brother was studying engineering but quit halfway to sort his life out. I am married to an engineer. Guess what my children are going to be when they grow up? Definitely NOT engineers (if they have to, it’d better not have anything to do with Instrument, Electrical or Electronics).
   
2. If I hadn’t become an engineer, I would have pursued a degree in History. Or Egyptology. Or Theatre. Or even Fashion Design. Once I considered opening a kindergarten but after three kids I’ve changed my mind.
   
3. Between my sister and I, we have the whole Enid Blyton Rewards series. As a child I thought of turning our family home into a public children’s library but my parents didn’t like the idea.
   
4. I love to collect recipes but the only thing I can confidently cook is Garlic Chicken (from Ken Hom’s Hot Wok). And any pasta dish that involves an Italian called Prego.
   
5. I went to an all-girl’s school, but due to my voice I almost always played male parts in school plays. I finally got to play a female character in my final year because there were no male speaking parts available. But in university I reverted back to type and played Tun Perak.
   
6. I never played competitive sports until I started working, where I somehow got roped in to represent my company during a volleyball tournament. We played against 6 other teams – won 3 and lost 3. Guess which matches I played in.
   
7. I look good in maroon and royal blue. But now I’m into olive green and deep chocolaty brown. So Earth Mother…
   
8. I have found The Bag…
   
   I am tagging these people:
   CikMilah
   Careen
   Ubisetela
   Hubby
   Stingrayz
   Lina
   Ayin
   Lady Verde

Blogger's Block

No, the reason I've been MIA from blogspot for a week is not for lack of anything to write. Somehow, since coming back from maternity leave I can no longer connect to any blogspot or wordpress website using the office network. I think we've been found out, guys. So now how do I fill in my time while appearing engrossed in the latest issue of 'Control' magazine? Maybe I should jump on the Facebook bandwagon, if Top Management hasn't already caught on to this as well.

Anyway, I did draft a few entries elsewhere, but since I now have very little time to blog outside office hours, the drafts have become, well, stale or basi. I suppose I could tell you about my progress with the house, Aiesyah's development or the latest celeb spotting (none, actually - saja je nak buat gempak) but I'm just too tired from a work-related trip back from PD. I should be sleeping by now, recovering my energy to undertake a journey tomorrow by ERL and aeroplane to Alor Star with two energetic boys, a breastfeeding baby and a maid who suffers from travel sickness. Should be fun.

You probably won't hear from me for another week or two, as I'm finishing off my Annual Leave to coincide with two public holidays and a weekend, so my obligatory 'Hari Kebesaran Agama' Well Wishes follow:

To the Muslims - Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha, may Allah Bless us all, accept our deeds and grant us our prayers.

To the Christians - Merry Christmas, hope you get lots of good presents and
enjoy your Christmas Eve dinners.

To everyone else - Enjoy the holidays!

One more day to go

I can't believe I'll be back in the office in less than 48 hours. The remainder of my 60-day maternity leave after the obligatory 40-day confinement certainly went by quickly. And what have I got to show for it?

There was a list of things I wanted and needed to do post-confinement, let's do a quick review shall we?

WISH LIST

1. Have breakfast at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf - something with smoked salmon and eggs. CHECK. The old Coffee Bean at One Utama old wing is closed though. It's been replaced with some Japanese vegetarian joint or something.
2. Have Spaghetti Carbonara for lunch. CHECK twice. Caffe 1920 @ One Utama was good. MPH Book Cafe was not.
3. Have an espresso affogato. Or caramel latte. Or kopi kampung. CHECK CHECK CHECK several times. Never managed to get the affogato. Had latte but without the caramel. Local coffee at several kopitiams and One Utama Jusco Food Court. Agak puas hati jugaklah.
4. Check out the new Gardens at MidValley. NOT CHECKED. Never made it to MidValley, but did go all the way to Suria KLCC as an LRT treat for Nuaim.
5. Check out the new Pavilion at Bukit Bintang. NOT CHECKED. Had planned to go with Mak but I was too busy searching for furniture in IKEA. Should have gone as a Monorail treat for Nuaim.
6. Do all of the above with Hubby. NOT CHECKED. Maybe will do 4 and 5 after the move with Hubby and kids in tow.

TASK LIST:

1. Transfer ownership of the house in TTDI Jaya at MBSA. NOT CHECKED. Not urgent. Can do later.
2. Settle outstanding balance at Home's Harmony and book date to put up curtains in TTDI Jaya house. CHECKED. Roman blinds up, Curtain rods up but curtains need altering due to discrepancy in length.
3. Settle into a regime of expressing breastmilk. CHECK CHECK CHECK more times than I've had coffee. Since Aiesyah sleeps all through the night, I almost always wake up with super-engorged mammaries that I need to express them even if I don't go out.
4. Say Hello to my condominium at Damansara Perdana. Need to declutter prior to move to new house. SMALL CHECK. So much more clutter than I realised. An ongoing exercise interspersed with lots of pauses for air.
5. Buy myself some new nursing undergarments. Wonder if I can find these in KL. CHECK. Not the tank tops though, but well-fitting bras from Triumph. Cheaper and more supportive than the ones at Mothercare.
6. New glasses. CHECK, and sunglasses too. Why do you think my credit card maxxed out before I got to IKEA? Thank God I took up HSBC's offer to renew my card for free.

By the way, I managed to find the children's beds at IKEA - they had them in stock after all.

Things my teachers taught me

Kak Ruby's post here reminded me of several short but inspiring pieces of advice I've received over the years. Strangely enough all of them are from my student days, and all the advice came from teachers. Dah kerja ni keras kepala sikit, tak nak terima nasihat dah - perasan pandai.

"Always do better than your best."

This came from Mrs Ho, former music & maths teacher (what a combination!) at my secondary school. I can't remember when exactly she said this, maybe on her last day at school or at the state level Pesta Muzik competition in 1991. It's my number one motivation mantra.

"As an engineer, you're not expected to remember everything, but you should know where to look for the information."

I heard this from the Dean of Engineering at my university when I attended its Open Day. Let's just say it's the secret of my success at work.

And the last one was an interview tip from Ayah (well, he was a teacher for a very short while), when I was applying for my scholarship. He was relating to me his scholarship interview that finally got him to UK to do his Bachelor's and eventually Master's degree in Electronic Engineering back in the 70's, footsteps I followed 25 years later. Apparently, when the interviewer asked him what he knew about Electronic Engineering, his answer was, "I don't know". The interviewer then said, "If you don't know, then why do you want to take it up?" to which he responded, "It's because I don't know that I want to study the subject."

I thought it was a brilliant answer and wanted to use it for my interview, but his advice was,

"You can't say you don't know. It's not acceptable in this day and age."

Fortunately that question didn't come up during the interview. Although there have been times when it's the only answer I can think of.