The Kasut with Lampu

The little girl Firah just bought a pair of shoes that has got colorful lights, and she wouldn't stop stomping around so that the lights wouldn't go off. Then mama said she should stop doing so or else the lights would die completely. Sekali she said buleh charging kali ah pakai mum punya charger. LOL! Kids and their innocent minds.





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Knackered!

The most. Berabis. Ngalih. Hampar. I'm trying to fight against the ngalihness and malasness hence this post. I. Must. Write.

It's our first day (and first time since we had Haikal) sleeping over at DH's kampung. I've been secretly hoping that we don't have to do it again since it's a looooooong drive to my workplace, but Nana is not going to be here anytime soon :( She's done with the medical check-up and went to the Embassy to get her visa, only to be told that they required her medical certificate to be faxed by the clinic itself. So we might have to sleepover lagi for few nights next week. I can't thank my MIL and SIL enough for their help. They had no problems in looking after him, alhamdulillah. Afterall, everything had been prepared in terms of his feeding stuff and milk as well as for bathing and cleaning. The only thing was that he kept on waking up every now and then and demanded them to play with him, so it was a little bit difficult for them to get other things done. But of course they didn't mind :) God bless!

It was a little bit of a concern since I had to bring some frozen EBM to kampung last night, and the thing was we had to stop for a family dinner at Jerudong. I packed around 9 packs of EBM (3-4oz each) in a cooler box and covered them with ice cubes and folded newspapers. I hadn't got any techni ice anyway. And thank god when we reached my inlaw's place, which was 4 hours after, the EBM were still completely frozen. I then transferred 5 to the fridge and put the extras in the freezer.

And this morning was the earliest I ever woke up. I couldn't sleep well anyway. Perhaps I was worrying too much about the long journey. We left kampung around 5.45am and reached Tutong around 6.20. Luckily my bosses had been informed about my situation and I was given some kelonggaran to come a little bit late and leave a little bit early. Anyway, I reached school just in time for my first lesson today, but had to stay back for a departmental meeting and a health talk. I didn't stay for long though. Just long enough to be seen by the bosses :D

And after 12 hours of not seeing my baby, I managed to stock up 11oz whereas Haikal has taken around 15oz. Alhamdulillah eventhough there is a loss of 4oz. Altogether I think I still have around 30 bags of EBM (3-4oz each) and around 15 bags of 7oz EBM. I'm a bit worried since I will be staying back for most of the afternoons next week, and I can only afford to pump once a day. I might not be able to bring home enough milk to cover what Haikal consumes :( but we shall just wait & see. Bismillahi Tawakkaltu 'Alallah.



He was awake when we left him this morning. Still sleepy but refused to go back to bed, insisted that his nenek play with him :D And one good thing is Haikal is not really choosy (maybe because he hasn't really recognised faces yet) so as long as there is someone to play with, he is more than contented.

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A Woman's Worth

And we don't really have to fight for our right, if everyone understands what Islam is all about. Do what we are obliged to do by Allah and let Allah handle the rest.

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My 4 Month Old Hero

All praises due to Allah the Almighty for the healthy cheeky chubby boy! So Haikal turned 4 months old yesterday and I shall confess that I'm loving motherhood more than ever!

Haikal's getting more playful nowadays, and louder too, practising his vocal the whole time. Though noisy his adorable coos are music to my ears. And he also seems to be fascinated by his own voice. Oh and not forgetting the attention-grabbing noise that I SWEAR sounds like 'ummi'!! The fact that he has started to recognise faces and prefers me over anyone else gives me this undescribable proud and joyous feeling inside.

He has also been trying to turn and lie on his tummy, and has succeeded for a number of times, while most of the times he got his arms stuck underneath the body LOL.








Today marks my 3rd week back at work and alhamdulillah, things are not as bad as I thought they would be. Haikal has been under the care of my mum for the past 2 weeks and things have been pretty easy. Now we are still maidless but I'm sure we'll get through this. Next week is going to be a bit tough though. Nana is not going to be here yet and my mum's gone back to work starting yesterday. DH cannot get any leave because the renal patients will start their treatment at the new centre in Tutong next week. The only choice we have is to leave Haikal with my in-laws. And that means I have to drive for 1.5 hours to reach my workplace :s Anyway, we are still trying to think of other better solutions, and let's hope that there is one before this long weekend ends.

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One of The Best Things in Life

Not really, but for now, it really IS one of the best things in life. Especially in the life of a breastfeeding working Umm, whose EBM stock is not well-established yet.


But that means I have around 4 bags of completely thawed EBM (around 24oz) in the fridge that will go wasted. And adding salt to the wound is the fact that I only managed to get 5oz at work and around 4 oz once I got home. Apa-apa pun, semua nikmat wajib disyukuri. Alhamdulillah :D

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It will be my first time staying back at work tomorrow for a meeting. I'm leaving 6 packs of frozen EBM containing 3-4oz and hopefully they will be enough. I've told mama which freezer bag to get the EBM from in case she needs some extras.


Staying back also means I have to express for more than once. I normally do it around 10 in the morning so the second one might be at around 1pm. And hopefully I will remember to pack extra cups to keep the EBM.

Gosh it is only going to be for one afternoon and I'm already panicking! I can't imagine how it's like for some breastfeeding mummy-friends who have to be away from their babies for days or weeks! Anyway, they went through several immigration checkpoints and airport gates, and survived, coming back home with lots & lots of milk. So I think I should do just fine. Ameen!

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Haikal Meets The Girlfriends

It was a merry afternoon! I brought Haikal to visit the Kaisas and some of my cousins were there too. And as usual, we took some photos of CCHL 2011 edition.





Alhamdulillah, semoga ikatan kekeluargaan ani akan sentiasa diberkati dan terpelihara, ameen. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Why Freestyle?

I remember reading several posts by some breastfeeding mothers on BBM group a few days ago regarding the choice of pumps. Honestly I get sick of the question because the same topic has been raised over and over again. These people should really try using the search bar or go to the breastfeeding forum.

Anyway, if they were to ask me, and if I was to respond to their posts (which I no longer do since I got tired of explaining), obviously I would pick the Medela Freestyle over the others. And it's for obvious reasons.

#1 It's a double pump. Meaning: We can express our milk out of both breasts at one time.
#2 It's mobile. It uses a rechargable battery. A full battery can last for around 10 30-minute pumping sessions before it runs out flat. And we can pump on the go.
#3 It's an electric pump. Using manual ones can be tiring, which might lead to stress, and might ultimately gives low yield.
#4 It can be used handsfree! Not that I have tried, but I know some mommies who are so good at it they even express while on the wheel!

Now, as much as I love Freestyle for the reasons stated above, I personally think that the choice of breastpump is entirely the mother's (duh, obviously kan) for whatever their reasons are. Hence, I was a little bit surprised (and offended too) when I saw some posting things like this, "inda jua payah-payah membali yang mahal medela FS lah". This was a response to a post about a mother who managed to get more using Avent Manual. Now. I myself didn't get FS expecting I would get more. I bought it for the reasons mentioned above. As a teacher the only free time for me to express is at 10am. And it's an ideal time too since it's 4 hours after I last direct feed Haikal, giving my Bs enough time to be refilled. But recess is only 30 minutes. Preparing and cleaning take up 5 minutes and pumping itself 10-15 minutes (some mommies have to spend longer to empty the entire Bs). By using FS, I'm actually saving half of my time pumping. And so far, I manage to express within the time and be ready for my lessons on time. How I wish I was good at using the handsfree kit so I could do my marking while expressing, save more time LOL

Anyway, what I'm trying to say here is that different people have different circumstances. You might have all the time at work to pump and don't mind getting a manual pump. Some people just don't have that much of time, and that's why they get double-electric pump. In the end, it's a personal choice, and I don't think it's wise to say "inda jua payah-payah membali yang mahal Medela FS lah". Be nice okay :)

On a happier note, I managed to get 10oz today!

::Today's produce::

Yeay!! Alhamdulillah. But Haikal took 11 oz this morning :s so upon knowing this I expressed some more at home and got 2.5 oz. I just need to either breakeven or get a little bit more, or else the stock will deplete without me realising.

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Pumping At Work

Alhamdulillah, it's the 3rd day of work and I so far have managed to take a little time out of my hectic schedule to do some expressing.

I decided to do my pumping during recess which starts at 10. I guess our pantry is now my makeshift pumping spot, and thankfully the rest of our staffroom members understand and don't really mind :) So far I have only taken around 10-15 minutes for each session, and get around 7-8oz. I keep on calling home to take note of Haikal's consumption, and so far he takes around the same amount as I pump. I just need to break even, but I also feel the need to at least put some aside for my frozen stock. For that I have to pump one side while direct-feeding Haikal on the other side once I reach home.

Let's just hope I can keep up with Haikal's daily intake of EBM. It's still the early days of school year where we don't really have meetings to attend to during recess. I'm sure things will get pretty tight once we get to March, which might affect my pumping schedule.

And I'm glad I have got Zahraa' with me in this. She saves me a lot of time, really. Give me 15 minutes and I'd be all done :)

::My Milking Machine::

::Today's Collection::

I Survived!!

And so did my sisters who were babysitting Haikal on my first day back to work. I was so anxious that I kept on waking up every 15 minutes since 4am this morning.

I'm very sure I'm one of the few mothers who are not really worried about leaving their new babies for the first time after their ML ends. However that doesn't mean we love our baby less (I cried several times this morning especially while I was driving). It's just that over the past few months I have learnt to put my trust in my dearest sisters and family members to take a very good care of him. I also don't mind sending him to the daycare if I have to, knowing that it has a very good reputation as well as some raving reviews. But let's hope we don't need to do that.

Nana is leaving her hometown for Manila tomorrow, and I'm praying hard that there won't be any problems there. She needs to get her employment visa at the Embassy in Manila as well as a medical check, which might take around 2 weeks to get done. Starting this year, The Brunei Immigration Department has issued a new regulation in employing foreign domestic helpers, in which all the procedures need to be managed by registered agents in Brunei only. And in our case, everything was done by my dad himself last year (end of Dec 2011). Some problems might arise, but let's hope there won't be any!

On another note, Haikal has consumed a total of 8oz after the last direct feeding at 6am. So that's 8oz within around 8 hours, and now he is still asleep. I managed to express around 11oz so I've made some extras, alhamdulillah! Pumping at work wasn't really bad at all, though we haven't got a designated room to do our pumping business. I did mine this morning in a colleague's room which was not really used and I only spent 10 minutes.

::And I reached home greeted by this cute face! Terbang semua lelah::

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Haikal's Aqiqah

Alhamdulillah, Haikal's aqiqah selamat disempurnakan this morning at Mulaut Abattoirs. We requested for the ritual to be witnessed by us, and we brought Haikal too! He was asleep all the way and woke up right when they did the slaughtering.

::The Slaughtering::

 "Bersama bayi yang lahir itu aqiqah, maka kerna itu mengalirkanlah darah (sembelihan) untuknya, dan jauhkan baginya segala kesakitan (godaan syaitan)." ( Riwayat Al-Bukhari)

InsyaAllah, for that, a small thanksgiving ceremony will be held tomorrow. It is actually my dearest sister's engagement ceremony, and we just tumpang baca du'a saja.

On another note, it was Haikal's 3rd appointment at the clinic, and alhamdulillah both the midwife and I were quite happy with his development. He has gained more than a kilogram, 5.670 now! He was supposed to get his 2nd dosage of Tetra shot but we were told to come again next week for that. Anyway, I'm a happy umm! Haikal has been progressing very well. We left him for almost two hours tonight for a 'quick' shopping and he was fast asleep when we reached home, and has't consumed any EBM yet. Hairan at first no 911 call from his babysitter, rupanya he has been behaving very well.

::Ready to Go::

He was wearing the baju his babu Didie bought. We also went to pick up this ELC Cosy Seat I bought online for him. Put him several times on it and I can tell that he won't be using it for a long time. And I don't really like it. Doesn't look safe to me. He seems okay and comfortable sitting in it, macam a nest, but I just don't like the fact that the pad was not giving him enough support underneath.

::Trying out his cosy seat while watching TV with Kaka Sara & Kaka Alya::

And a great news to share!! We now have two little sweethearts joining the CCHL Clan! My dearest cousin gave birth to her twins last Thursday, and they are named Kaisa' Nur Aqilah & Kaisa' Nur Atiqah (beautiful names!!). May both grow healthily and beautifully, and be super muslimahs, Ameen.

::Kaisa' Nur Aqilah & Kaisa' Nur Atiqah::

Babies and their mama are home now, enjoying precious moments together :D

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