Spending Quality Time

The 2-week school holiday’s finally over. The first week was spent in the hospital and at home since my Haifa and my Hanis were still under quarantine. We had visitors - my parents, my sister and BIL who came to send my nephew off to UIA. The second week was indeed quality time spent with the children and Dear Hubby. We had a great and relaxing 3D2N at Palace of the Golden Horses Hotel. They were in the swimming pool until they changed colors!

Me? I didn’t set even one toe into the pool! And I didn’t even read a single line from the books I brought with me. I’d usually read at least one book every time we stayed at the hotel. But this time, I was just being plain lazy. I took hundreds of photos of my children in the pool and around the hotel when we had our evening walks. Most of the time I stayed on the balconies of our four units, facing the pool and watched my loved ones creating havoc with their antics :)

The kids in the pool with the maids
Watching them enjoying themselves made my heart went soft. And my whole being was blanketed with unagitated state and calmness that was very hard to explain. The breeze that played over my face carried the sound of their contagious laughters, and I sat there feeling such joy from all of that. That was a reflection of a contented life. Alhamdulillah.


My Haifa and my Hasya feeding the fish

The spots on Hasya, Haifa and Hanis’s hands, feet and mouths from Coxsackie were all gone. We brought the girls to see Night at the Museum 2 and Zac Efron’s 17 Again. Watching 17 Again really made me feel so old, and I thought – would I go back to 1983 - when I was 17 - if I were given the chance to do that? Would I make any changes in the past?

Maybe I’d appreciate my family, friends and teachers more, strategize any paths to be taken, look positively at all angles in life and... be more open by letting go of any bottled-up feelings that I had with certain people I knew then. And of course I'd study HARDER! Who knows I’d be multi-millionaire ka....hahaha!


My Hasya and my Hanis


Anyway, later in the week, we did some gardening together. Dear Hubby and I went to Sungai Buloh to get some new plants. Penuhla jugak satu kereta.

The girls helped, of course, especially my Haifa who planted weeds (read: not marijuana!), instead of getting rid of them, LOL!

School Holidays with.... Coxsackie

(Updated : pictures of spots on hands and feet as I've been asked to show how HFM disease looks like...)

Last week on Monday, my Hasya came to me and showed a blister on her tongue.
“Sakitlah Ibu”, she complained.

“Maybe Hasya tergigit kot. It’s ok, it will go away in 2-3 days”, I said. So Oral Aid came to the rescue that night.

Then my Haifa showed me some red dots on the soles of her feet.
“Ibu, sakit sangatlah. Haifa tak boleh pijak. Haifa rasa Haifa pijak batu masa swimming semalam. Boleh tak Haifa pakai sandal pergi sekolah esok?”

“You might as well wear your Nike, it will hurt less I think”, that was my reply. And I put some ointment on her feet before she went to sleep that night.

When I came home the next day, Haifa showed me the palms of her hands. There were around ten red dots on her palms. Right there and then I knew that this was something serious.

Dear Hubby brought them to their pediatrician and after paying RM250, it was confirmed that they were infected with a mild Coxsackie disease. And they were to be house-quarantined until the rashes disappear.

I wasn’t completely satisfied with that, so I called Sime Darby Medical Center (f.k.a SJMC) and told the doctor of my worries. She confirmed with the first pediatrician’s advice. “Only come to the ER if they didn’t eat or drink, since it will be soreness in the throat or mouth.”

Thursday came, and my Hanis got it too. Her rashes were more - on her hands, legs and in the mouth. Went to the pediatrician again. And Hanis was to be house-quarantined like her two sisters.

So there goes our plan of watching Night at the Museum 2. (Lucky I’d watched Angels and Demons on the weekend when it was first shown).

I tried to find the source of the disease, like who and where actually it all started. Later I found out that :
1) Hasya’s tuition-mate just came back from 2-week absence due to Coxsackie
2) Haifa’s Sekolah Agama classmate had it last two weeks
3) Hanis’s kindy has reported a few cases prior to this
So, it’s actually everywhere. It’s easily spread especially to children below ten. The younger the child is, the worse it will become.

We brought Hanis and Haifa to the ER when they started having high fever and Hanis refusing to drink. And they were admitted to the wards.

So here I am, typing away in a double-bedded room in SDMC where my two girls are sleeping soundly at the moment. The girls are getting better, Alhamdulillah. The fever’s gone, and Hanis’s beginning to eat and drink. She lost a few pounds, I can see by the look of it. And my Haifa? She doesn’t look like she’s ill. Hah, that chubby girl, all excited with the hospital gadgets!

Pity them, school holidays and they gotta spend it in a hospital!

... and now Back to Work

The one-week school break’s over. I was out of the office for nine days and I’d say that those nine days were quality time spent with Dear Hubby, my kids and my parents who came all the way from Alor Setar.

We went to A Famosa Resort, Melaka. Checked in on Monday and out on Thursday.

Monday night was Cowboy Town night. It was pretty much the same when we were here a few years ago. Was it worth the money spent on the tickets? Frankly I think it was way overpriced. But the children loved the parade show, and that was all that matters.


A Malaysian 'Cowboy' with an Albino snake?







Can't avoid having goosebumps looking at this pic - a Malaysian 'Red Indian' playing with fire. Hasya was the one who pointed this out to me. Click on the pic and look at the 'smoke' behind the man. Spooooky!

We played Tourists on Tuesday. Walked around Melaka town, in and out of the museums, tried the trishaws, and finished it off with a great meal - assam pedas with fried crabs. Yummy!





St Paul's Church












The A Famosa








Wednesday was Water Play day. At first I was a bit disappointed with the Water Park since there were only a few spots for the kids to play, but then Dear Hubby layan them for seven hours with repeated rides and water playing. Seven hours, and they continued playing for two more hours in the pool when we got back to the villa! Kids!

Their Ibu? Sunburned. A terrible one this time. Should’ve known better. Should’ve squeezed more sunblock from the tube. So now I’m suffering - this itchiness on the face.... urrgghhh!! But it’s oklah, I actually had a great time. Loved every minute of it. The kids also enjoyed their break. Also took them to watch Race to Witch Mountain. Great movie for the kids to watch.

I guess now I'll have to deal with my sunburned skin - it will take around two to three weeks for these spots to disappear. Hopefully.

And this morning I woke up with mixed feelings. Going to work today will be such a hard thing to do. Hanis has been clinging to me since last night and an hour ago she held both my hands – Jangan bangun Ibu, sleep dengan Hanis please.

Alahaaii... this is normal whenever I took a long leave. I know she'll cry again when I send her to her kindy afterwards.

Sigh.

Unwinding in PD

We had a good 4D/3N time in PD. Although it was raining here in the Klang Valley, the weather in PD was great. Clear blue sky all the way except on Friday morning when it rained about 3 hours. It was such a relief that the kids, their cousin Hani and their Tok Mi and Tok Wan could enjoy the beach and the pool.

**1st pic: Hanis - the sand castle enthusiast!

It’s a good break for both Ayah and I actually. After what happened in my office the week before (I’ll write about this in my other posting), the sea breeze really put the sadness into coma. We got the time to unwind, loosen-up and relax.

Alhamdulillah.

**2nd pic: Hasya, Hanna, Haifa and their cousin Hani building the sand castles....

The only drawback was the 'not-so-clean' beaches along the Teluk Kemang area.

I wished they were cleaner... like Penang and Langkawi beaches....
or California.... (dream on!)

**3rd pic: Here's Haifa 'surfing'..hehehe...














**4th pic: Hanna, Hasya, cousin Hani, Haifa, Haziq, Husna and the maids in the pool




Luckily, the pool was okay.







**5th pic: Mak (Tok Mi) watching over her grandchildren...

Now we're back home. Mak, AYAH and Hani already went home yesterday.

Today was spent at the Sekolah Kebangsaan, Sekolah Agama, the Uniform shop, the Bookshop etc etc... and now everything has been bought and ready for the kids.

We made a stop at the Cineleisure and watched Cicakman2. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed...

Whatever it is, I'm all charged up and ready for work tomorrow.... One more thing though- to complete it up,... I think I'll go get myself a Chinese massage :)

Cupcake 101

The girls have been pestering me to bake some cupcakes for them. I’ve baked them a few times before, from scratch. Somehow, I never get to master the skill. I think, if I were to enroll in a cupcake-baking class for one whole semester, I’d still fail to make them right. I'm pretty certain of that :(

The cupcakes would always turn ugly on me. No matter how much I spoon the batter into the paper lining, the end result would still be hideous... Sometimes they’d tilt to one side, other times the batter would flow down to the baking holes in the tray and made a mess of everything... urrggghhh!

So this time, I just bought the ready-made cupcake-mix. And hired 4 girls to do the decorating part. The cupcake came out horrible as usual.... *sigh*.... but the girls managed to make them look much much nicer with the decorations.

Here are the 3, 6, 9 and 11 year old girls’ handiworks:


They had so much fun with the piping, choosing the tips, preparing the colors and planning the design. I just let them go wild with their imaginations.

There was only one drawback though - a messy kitchen afterwards! But it was sure worth it, since the most important thing has been accomplished - the happy girls enjoyed themselves, and I'm very sure that they loved every minute of it!

And ooh... they also get to pass my Cupcake 101 class with flying colors... :)

School's Over - Party time!

I hope this time this entry can be posted. It’s been five loooong days of ‘fighting’ with Blogger. There was nothing wrong with my Streamyx but I just couldn’t post a new entry in my blog. It really was a pain in the... ehhhmm... neck.

Well, finally school’s over. The kids are all at home. You could hear their laughings and screamings from the NeverNeverland. I was tempted to put up a sign at the main gate that reads “Come join our party! It’s open 18-hour a day!” :P

School holidays to the girls when their parents are working would mean – art&craft sessions, food, TVs, DVDs, food, CDs, magazines, food, fightings, singings, food, games.... And that wasn’t typo when I mentioned ‘food’ several times - I guess somebody will crack the scale by the end of December..hehehe...

There were three events to go to last Saturday. One was the Sekolah Agama Penyampaian Hadiah for the top 3 students for each class. My Hasya was one of them but she wasn’t able to be there on that day. Her piano recital was also scheduled the same morning, and the taekwondo test in the afternoon. That was the 2nd time she didn’t get to go up the stage to receive her prize. The first time was her Ibu’s mistake – they reached the school 2 hours late!

The concert/piano recital went well. Hanna, Hasya and Haifa did pretty good. The taekwondo test went well too. Now that everything’s over, except for their squash classes, the girls are enjoying themselves like there was no tomorrow. I think if I were to stay home with them, I’d have to adjust my patience-o-meter to the maximum possible.

I could hear them laughing silly over SpongeBob on TV now. And it’s already 12:05 am! Bad mother! I guess I better go now and persuade them to sleep lah.

Or maybe I should stay up with them and watch the moody Squidward bullying Patrick?

Cuti-Cuti Malaysia

Last minute inquiries on PD hotels gave us ‘Sorry... we’re fully booked’ answers. So early this week, off to our favorite local hotel.. Palace of the Golden Horses. Luckily, we managed to get the four rooms either with connecting rooms or a few doors away from each other.

Once stepped into his room, Ayah made Superman’s quick change into his swimming shorts. The children were also ecstatic and followed suit.


Here they are in the swimming pool

Che Det wuz 'ere :)