The lil’ dude and his family…

Going mad indeed! The costs for our new home are escalating like mad!!!! I can’t believe how much we have to spend on certain things. Yes, no doubt that we want good, reliable products, but do they have to cost a bomb??!!! I mean, urrrgggghhhh, sometimes, some things just don’t make sense!I guess it’s like me comparing the price of a Bottega Veneta handbag to a Gucci one. YES, a Gucci handbag costs a bomb, but a Bottega one costs a multitude! I guess, being brought up in an environment where good, reliable things (albeit expensive) are a norm, I can not think of them when I decided to do our new home. But, when reality kicks in, I guess, we just have to take those expectations down a notch, or two, or three? Sigh.

Okay, so anyway, what we can afford is IKEA, and so, IKEA it shall be. It’s not that I have anything against IKEA, but I’ve heard so many bad (and good) stories about their products. But, hey, if someone else’s products can last donkey years, I’m sure ours will too, right? Right? Haha! So long as no efelant decides to sit on my sofa or jump on the bed, I think we’re prêt-ty safe for now. Yes?

And we still have not done the grills (which I detest, but since every house has it, I guess we are forced to succumb into having those too, kalau tak nanti penyangak tu senang-senang can come in lah, kan?) and the curtains and the shower screens and the lighthings and the entah apa-apa lagi lah. Helptccchhh!!!

Malas nak think anymore. Let’s talk about Irfan pulak. So, yes, the lil’ monster (because of the ‘taring’) is getting faster and naughtier these days. I would sometimes find him under the sofa, or stuck celah-celah somewhere while giving his cutest face ever as though trying his best to tell me: “Mama, don’t get angry, ok? I’m giving you my cutest smile. See, see?”. Hehe!

Last night, he crawled towards the wall and tried to pull himself up while holding one corner of the wall, and he managed to pull ¾ of his body up. Another time, it was the chair I was sitting on. I guess he’s practicing on standing up and walk, ey? Oh no!!!!!!! :P Here comes the kejar-kejar part. Hahahahaha!

This Sunday, he’ll be 8 months old. And before you know it, I’ll be busy thinking about his 1st birthday bash! Haha! Of course, before that must pass my 28th birthday lah. Oh no!! 2 more years to the big 3-0! It kinda amazes me how we looked forward to our 20th birthday back then, but once it hits the 30th, we cringe at the thought of our birthdays every year. Funny kan?

Okay, it was a very hectic weekend. We went back to my hometown on Saturday for my aunt’s wedding. It was very hot, but thankfully, it gotten cloudy around 1-ish and stayed that way till about 4. Irfan was a very good sport and was enjoying all the attention he was getting. He even managed to sleep for almost 2 hours after lunch. Of course, I put him directly below the fan lah. Else, he would be sweating like mad!!!

By the time we got home, it was almost 7 p.m and was supposed to meet Amy and Yan at 8 p.m for dinner at King’s Crab. Waaahhh, I was already thinking about the butter crabs and chilli crabs, but Yan called at the last minute and said we’ll be having dinner at La Risata (or something like that) instead. Haiya, potoing betul!!! =P

So, after dinner and feeling all tired, we headed home to rest because the next day (Sunday) will be a verrrryyyy long one.

True enough, our day started at 8+ a.m. After getting ready and had breakfast, we left for IKEA and we reached IKEA at about 10.15 a.m. Bought our sofa, dining table & chairs, wet area cabinet, book shelf, baby’s wardrobe, small small items and a whole load more lah! From the small trolley, to the big one, to 2 big trolleys and lastly 3 big ass trolleys + 2 big trolleys had to be pushed to the cashier just by the two of us. Luckily, an IKEA dude was helpful enough to run around the aisle for us to get all the shelves and wardrobes and what have yous and put them flat on the trolley. Initially, I was carrying Irfan with one hand and tried to hold the trolley still while Irwan took all the heavy stuff from the shelves, but after a few minutes, we just could not handle it. It was just waaayyyy too berat!

Anyway, after the cashier has scanned all the boxes, she managed to get a Bangladeshi dude to help us push the trolleys to the delivery counter pulak. Thank god!! I was quite worried thinking how on earth are we going to push all these trolleys??? 5 trolleys, mind you! Sheeeesssh, world record for us, man! So, by the time we were done and got into the car, it was close to 9 p.m. Yep, you heard me right, 9 p.m!!! That, my dear readers, means that we have been at IKEA for close to 11 hours!!!! Crazieeeeeeee, right? Sigh. And still, we have not gotten all the things we needed. *shakes head in disbelief*

Thankfully Irfan behaved rather well. He slept most of the time, but our backs are still hurting from carrying him in the kangaroo sack. There were times that he wanted to be cranky, because I could see it in his eyes that he was tired, but I guess he understood that he just had to hold it a while longer and let his parents do what they needed to do. Such a sweet boy, kan? But towards the end, when we were paying for the delivery services, he just couldn’t tahan anymore and was screaming and fussing about. I couldn’t blame him for being restless because both of us were feeling tired too. So, tomorrow, I will have to go to Putrajaya and supervise the IKEA people fixing some of the cabinets and wardrobes while hoping that the Indonesian workers who are still rectifying some of the defects at our house won’t take our sofas or cabinets away with them. I guess we just have to cross our fingers and hope for the best, ey? =)

Oh, we bumped into mom2ashley, her hubs and Ashley while we were at IKEA. Ashley is just soooooo adorable! =) Irwan and mom2ashley were colleagues, by the way. So yes, it’s a very very small world! Hehe!

Nolah, no daughter yet.. =P This cute lil’ girl is Rachel. Her mom, Shannon and I are mommy bloggers and we check each other’s sites everyday (at least I do, except on weekends). I was tired of just making layouts for boys (don’t get me wrong, I loooovvvveeee to scrap Irfan, but just needed a breather from blue, green, brown - y’know, them boys’ colours?) So, anyhow, do check out Shannon’s blog if you want to see more of this adorable girl! If things go well, I might decide to scrap for other parents and charge a minimal fee (maybe make a business out of this). Hehe. Hrmmm, we’ll see, we’ll see….

My precioussssssssss (saying it like how Gollum says it.. hehe!). So, last night, we had dinner at Muhibbah TTDI together with some colleagues of Irwan. The food was good (what else is new? too bad they don’t have crabs.. they should!) and Irfan was happily sitting on the highchair and being passed around from one person to the other. =) I ordered the tauhu soup and fed him with some rice. He seemed to enjoy the meal because he finished the whole bowl! After that, jadi ular sawa because so kenyang! Hahaha!

Oh, he was such a flirt and was smiling and looking at Aunty Fiza all the time. Well, he did look at the rest of the men, but he was more interested with Fiza rather than the 3 (excluding Irwan) other men there. Tsk tsk tsk. Notty notty!

Anyway, one blogger mom asked me to check out Gymboree and send Irfan there. They have only one franchise here, which is in Bangsar Village. According to her also, Gymboree is waaaayyy better than Tumbletots because the former is from US and the latter is from UK, and the latter’s equipments are gawdy and the environment’s not as happy-happy and colourful as the former. Hehe. Well, I’ll check it out alright, but I still need the approval from Daddy-O. Haha! Anyone’s got kiddo(s) there?

Giving me a cheeky smile while at Coffee Bean One Utama.

Check out the pose and check out how he managed to take out one leg and put it on the other side.

Being carried by Papa.

Here’s a video of him playing with his changing mat. I guess he’s attraced to the mat because of the colours. =)

It’s getting quite deafening these days, with Irfan screaming every 5 seconds or so. Haha! If he doesn’t scream, he’ll be playing with his saliva and going “pbbbtttthhhh” every other second. If it’s not that, he’ll try crawling under the sofas and what have yous. It can be quite entertaining watching him play by himself, but I have to make sure that there is someone nearby as he might knock his head or head butt the edge of the table or something along that line. For our new home, we might leave the living room open (without TV cabinets, only sofas) so that Irfan can have all the space he needs. =)

He can already sit on his own. He’ll push his body to one side with one hand and balance himself and let go of the hand that the body was resting on. I managed to catch him do that this morning, but unfortunately, the camera was low on battery, so could not record the whole action. Maybe next time, ey?

And oh, he likes to hold onto something that’s about his height so that he can practice standing. Quite wobbly, but he’s getting the hang of it, and getting more stable by the day. Uh oh, I think we’ll have an even bigger problem when he starts walking! Oh no!!! Hehe. But I’ve already bought him a backpack, which has a strap that I can tie onto my hand so that I know even if he’s walking on his own, I would have control of his whereabouts. I shudder reading all those kidnapping stories in the papers. It’s such a dangerous world, no matter how safe we try to make it be. Sigh.

Yes, Irfan is our lil’ monkey because he just cannot sit still for a second! Hehe. It can be quite tiring if you need to hold him for long. Even the simple task of changing diapers now is not so simple anymore. Sigh. He’s fallen off the bed twice, once landing on the butt, and the other time going head first. He has also knocked his head against the floor (with thin carpeting) while crawling numerous times. Head butting is his forte. Somehow, he just likes to head butt (perhaps he wants to be a footballer of some sort later on?) and sometimes, instead of him writhing in pain, it’s me who’s in pain. Daymn! =P

His bedtime is getting later these days because we’ve been running around getting things done for our new home and when we can properly tuck him in, it would be around 9-ish or 10-ish. Poor boy. But, he still gets up once for his midnight/early morning feed, except during last weekend (I think he got up like 3 times), probably because his teeth and gums were discomforting him. Oh, 4 more teeth are visible, by the way.

His favourite vegetables for now are spinach and carrot. I tried giving him broccolli, but he didn’t quite like the porridge. Any other vegetable that I can try to give?

A bit of sidetrack, my good old friend, Amy (who is also Irfan’s godma) is coming back from New Zealand (where she is happily working and living - I still don’t quite find the sheepland fascinating! =P) this weekend. So, I can’t wait for her to meet Irfan for the first time and catch up on things. Yay!!!!

The poor boy seems to be taking less milk during the day. I am not sure what is up with that. BUT, his ‘taring’ is coming out and so are 4 other teeth. Maybe he’s in pain? Maybe his gums are making him go wonky, but he doesn’t cry or whine. He screams (very loudly I must say – whole of Ms. Read’s Delicious was looking at us last night) and then laughs after, as though he has let some steam off by doing so. Haha! Sorry, the camera is still with Canon and is only ready after lunch on Monday, so till then, no pictures. Have a good weekend, everyone!!! =)

note: Irfan slept most of the time yesterday at the office. But come night, he was literally jumping up and down playing with us. And then, mengigau (nightmares). Sigh.

Phew! First of all, I don’t know how all you SAHMs do it. Taking care of a 7 months old hyperactive boy is no joke! Haha! Well, it was nice to spend a bit more time with Irfan, but I was commuting Kelana Jaya - Putrajaya - Damansara Perdana - Cyberjaya almost everyday and it was a wee bit tiring. The longest time we spent on the road was on Monday. We left for Cyberjaya about 9 a.m (to send Irwan to work and I got to use the 3 series.. hehehe!), went to our Putrajaya house after that to measure the windows for the curtains (Irfan was asleep in his car seat, but got up the moment he felt the car was stagnant!) and as it was drizzling, the mozzies were abundance! Sheeeeeesssshhhh…

Anyway, I had to feed him in his stroller while checking out the lighting and fan points and had to hurry upstairs to measure more windows, while at the same time playing peek-a-boo with Irfan from the stairs. Haha!

After that, we went to the TMpoint in Cyberjaya to register for the fixed line and streamyx. The people there were quite helpful, helping me find a seat so that I can fill up the forms and taking a number for me too, since I was carrying Irfan in one hand, and writing with the other.

Lunchtime, we headed to Alamanda to join Irwan and some of his colleagues for lunch. Irfan and I stayed on after our meal because I needed to change his diapers and feed his milk (he didn’t want to drink though). He refused to stay for long in his stroller, but my hands were aching from carrying him before, so I just let him fret in the stroller. Haha!

Next on schedule was to go to IKEA. By the time we got to the Motorola toll, the traffic was just crazy! And Irfan was crying in the car seat at the back! I was going bonkerz, with the crying and the massive jam and it took me almost 20 minutes to get to Irwan’s house, which is in Kelana Jaya, by the way. So, the moment I parked the car, I prepared his milk and fed him while he was in the car seat. Rushed in to replenish his milk and wash his bottles and it started to rain again. Sigh. More bad traffic is to be expected. Nyeh!

Somehow, he just wanted me to carry him all the time, even while in IKEA. I was so tired, and decided to have some tea at the café inside. Got Irfan some banana cake (since he hasn’t pooped for the day) and he finished half of it. By the time we were done, he was stinking, thanks to the banana cake! =P So, went down to the car to get his bag, went to the parents’ room (which is awesome by the way), changed his diaper and next on the list was to go to Harvey Normans to check on the electrical appliances.

He slept on my shoulders while walking, and here I was, handbag on the other shoulder, Irfan’s bag on the right hand and handphone on the right hand too and I was thinking, blardy hell, if some dude comes and snatch my handbag or something, there wouldn’t be much that I could do. Thank god, nothing bad happenedlah. =) Managed to save the prices for those electrical appliances in my handphone and saw that it was time to head back to Cyberjaya. Sigh.

The traffic is always crazy, moreover it was raining, so it was worse! By the time I got to Cyberjaya, we had spent a total of 85 minutes in the car. Thank god it was a BMW! =P

Today, I am back at work. Am staying at my in-laws before moving to our Putrajaya house. So, had to detour to Bangsar to drop Irfan off and head back to Old Klang Road to work. Phew! I am practicing and trying to manage my time so that I won’t be so kelam kabut when we move to Putrajaya later (hopefully if all goes well, by end of the year lah). Now I have to chase the contractors et al, so toodles!

On the way back to Malaysia.

p/s: No new pictures of Irfan as the camera is down. Waiting for Canon to be done with it. Seems to be taking forever! Haiyaaa!

The plan was to leave at 10 a.m so that we would have ample time to shop before heading to a family friend’s place for bbq. So, anyway, we left about 11+ a.m. Sigh. So much for planning. Haha! After dropping the key off, we continued our journey back to Perth. We stopped at Fremantle before heading to Harbour Town for those great bargains!

Our first stop was the Fremantle flea market. There were so many people there, but I did not find anything worth buying because the same stuff they have there are sold at the city at a cheaper price. Since everyone was so hungry, we headed to Hungry Jack’s for lunch. (I still prefer our Burger King. Hehe) We had to miss having lunch at Kaili’s Restaurant (which serve awesome seafood platter – was there with my parents a few years back) because time was not on our side.

The Friday traffic was quite mad, so Irfan was getting restless because he was stuck in the car seat and the car was not moving! After wriggling and screaming (yes, scream!), my father in-law did not have the heart to hear him scream more and took him out of his car seat. I was looking out for cops because I did not feel like getting into trouble with them. And after a while, I took him from my father in-law and held him. Aiyoh, soon after, I noticed a patrol car heading towards us from the opposite direction and immediately lowered Irfan down. He was wriggling and talking and complaining (because his pampers was soiled) and I was praying in my heart that the police would not notice my shaking body. Haha!

The moment we arrived at Harbour Town, Irwan and I looked for the nearest parents’ room because Irfan was way too cranky and wanted to clean him. Unfortunately, they did not have hot water, so I had to wash Irfan with cold water and the poor fella was screaming even louder! Sigh. Irwan hugged and soothed him and we managed to change his pampers and put on a pair of fresh clothes for him. He fell asleep on Irwan’s shoulders almost after immediately and we went around Harbour Town looking for cheap deals.

At the end of the day, Irwan bought a pair of shoes (at 50% discount) and some office shirts and I got myself some office clothes (which were very very cheap, even after converting to RM) and some casual stuff. We then left for the family friend’s place for bbq and it was awesome!

Grandpa and Irfan.