The lil’ dude and his family…

1. Having to clock 100 km a day.

2. Waking up at 4 a.m. for sahur.

3. Keeping up with a very active toddler.

4. Having to clean the house since there’s no maid.

So yeah, I’ve been feeling tired and lethargic and whatever else there is. Irfan’s just getting too naughty these days. Sometimes, the naughtiness can be tolerated, but most times, I just feel like pulling my hair and give up! He doesn’t listen to Irwan (he manipulates the Papa like anything!) and hardly listens to me too.

Two days back, while feeding him his dinner, he thought that by spitting out his food all over the floor, it would earn him 10 brownie points! Yeah, it did! In his highchair - away from me! The traffic was crazy that day. Irwan had a meeting, hence I had to buka puasa alone (which isn’t very nice as I hate eating alone!). Irfan was running all over the house and demanded my attention, so I could barely eat properly. After that, he spat his porridge out, so I lost my cool and placed him in his highchair in the living area (which isn’t that far since our house isn’t that biglah..) and finished my food and washed the plates and sorted out his stuff.

He was crying non-stop. I was membebel-ing at him and at one point, it looked as if he understood. Sheaaaahhh right! So after dumping the laundries into the basket, I took him out of his highchair and told him to follow me upstairs. He cried because he didn’t want to climb up the stairs himself. I told him that I’m carrying the basket, so he has to go up himself. He wailed and wailed ’til the cows came home, but he obligingly climbed himself. I gave him a big hug at the top of the stairs and he hugged me real tight, as though feeling remorseful like that. Kena tipu daaaaa! 2 minutes later, he was up with his antics again! *slaps forehead*

Then yesterday, while we were at Al*manda and Irwan carried him on his shoulders, he decided to scratch Irwan’s eyes and that made the contact lense lari from its position. Irwan was blinking with pain and hit the lil’ one’s hands. But of course, no effectlah. *shakes head*

Once we got home, I had to finish up some chores, so I told Irwan to change Irfan’s pampers and give him his milk. As a punishment for scratching his Papa’s eyeballs, Irfan was placed in his cot and left alone in his room (he hates that BIG time!). When Irwan went to get him, he stopped crying. Then, he did the unthinkable. He shoved the powder container and everything splattered all over the parquet. Irwan left him high and dry on his changing table and switched off ‘em lights. When I heard the loud cry, it sounded like as though he was in so much pain. But I didn’t want to interfere. The lil’ boy needs to be disciplined. So I didn’t go upstairs to his rescue. After a few minutes, he stopped crying and I went upstairs to check on both boys. I started membebel-ing again and Irfan gave me the cheekiest smile ever. Sigh. How to stay angry?

My question is: how do you guys discipline your kid(s)? I’m going mental!!!!

Funny pose.

Tickle session!

New habit.

She has written about the lil’ girl yesterday. So did she and he and numerous others. And this afternoon, she told me that according to Berita Terkini, the DNA of this girl and of Nurin’s is a match. I mean, what givesssss??????? I’m so disheartened. So shocked. So afraid. Really. This is just too repulsive! What’s happening to our society now?

The Star has updated the news here.

I don’t know what to say. I’m speechless. And I fear for the lives of our children, boy or girl. Big or small. It doesn’t matter anymore these days. Those blardy sickos are just way too sick to use their brains.

And the parents. Why? Why? Why did they let her go to the pasar malam all by herself? She was only 8 years old. Don’t they read the papers? Haven’t they watched the news? Don’t they know how many sick f*cked up people are out there? And I guess now, because ridden by guilt, her father is refusing to acknowledge that the girl found in the bag is his daughter. DNA proofs can never go wrong.

I feel so sorry for the parents. I wouldn’t want to imagine being in their shoes.

To the sick bastard: I hope you rot in hell! And when the authorities do find you, I hope they shove those cucumber and eggplant up your a*se and I hope they sula (English: impale) you to death! Dammit!

Nurin, semoga Allah mencucuri rahmat ke atas mu. Amin.

I got my layout published in the September edition of the Digital Artist Magazine!!! Woo-hoo! Unfortunately, I can’t give you the link to the whole .pdf file as it’s sold at $6 per magazine, so I can only show you my page lah. The price is a bit steep, but if you’re earning USD, I guess it’s pretty reasonable? :) I got it for free because my layout was published. Hehe.

I did this LO many moons ago and when Audrey Neal requested a size 12×12, 300dpi for the LO, for it to be published for her article, I realized that I did not have it saved at that size (yes, which I should do with all my LOs! :P) and so, I had to create it again using another kit because the original kit was missing. LOL. The original LO can be seen here.

I’m currently soooo busy at work, so I have not had time to update this blog (and lack of ideas too!), so I shall leave you guys with a picture of Irfan wearing his headphone thingie. Cheers! ;)

Siao ah! Traffic was just ridiculously crazy yesterday! It took me 45 minutes to get out of Bangsar alone. Normally, 45 minutes is the usual time spent to get home from Bangsar, but yesterday, I really don’t know why, but NPE, Kerichi Link, Federal Highway and lots more were just crazily jammed up!

See, my usual route is this, Bangsar-NPE-Seremban highway-Putrajaya. So, yesterday, like any other day, I followed the Bukit Pantai route to get onto NPE and the blardy jam started waaaaayyyy before Pantai Hospital. I thought, oklah, maybe Jalan Bangsar is jammed up. Waited and waited, it moved only about 2 inches in 2 minutes. Tak boleh jadi ni, looked at the time, it was already 5.40 p.m. I made a u-ey and thought that I’d take the Midvalley route instead. Wrong move! The traffic light at the Bangsar Mosque was ridiculously insane! I forgot for a moment that the Ramadhan Bazaar was there. Dumbass! So turned into Jalan Ara and took Jalan Maarof to get to Midvalley lah. Everything was okay. And from the flyover, I could see that Jalan Bangsar was clear. So apahal jam on Bukit Pantai?

Was Midvalley a good move? Nope! The whole place was chaotic, so I had to turn back into Bangsar, used the inside road and thought of going back into NPE from there lah. Mana tau, NPE wasn’t moving and I gave up, so I just took Federal Highway (which was jammed, but moving) and took the exit to Seremban highway and didn’t understand what ALL the jam was about because as soon as you exit from Federal highway, the coast was clear.

I got home at 6.45 p.m. Thank god my mom gave us some lauk for berbuka puasa and Irwan managed to go to Precinct 2’s Ramadhan Bazaar to get us some kuih. Today, we’re going to KLCC for buka puasa. *silently praying to God for smooth traffic*

Have a good weekend, people! :)

Addendum: These pictures were taken by Aaron. He takes awesome shots! :) And you can view more of them here.

My pride and joy.

Mandi time!

Having his biscuits.

As a Ferrari fan, I have one thing to say to McLaren: serve you guys right! Okay, Jazzmint, you needn’t flame me now.. haha!

Anyway, for those of you who don’t know, this is actually what happenedlah: It all started in July when 780-page technical dossier on Ferrari cars were found at the home of McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan, who has since been suspended. And who supplied the documents you may ask? Don’t know why he did it, but Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stephney is guilty for doing so and has been fired.

Initially, the World Motorsport Council ruled in July that McLaren did possess secret Ferrari documents, but did not punish the team because there was insufficient evidence that the material was misused. I mean, c’mon!! It’s like saying I hacked into someone’s system, and got to know of the details, but the law cannot punish me because I didn’t do anything about it. Apa ni?

So anyway, yesterday’s verdict was that McLaren have been excluded from the 2007 constructors’ championship (they were leading with 166 points, ahead of Ferrari’s 143 points), meaning, they’ll get nada points, but their drivers will retain whatever points they’ve accummulated (aparaaaaa!) and fined USD 100 million (which isn’t that much for the team lah).

McLaren are also required to submit the detailed plans of their 2008 car to the FIA, who warned that it could apply further sanctions relating to next season if any irregularities be found in the car’s design.

Apparently, two-time defending world champion Fernando Alonso has submitted evidence relating to the Ferrari spy scandal to Formula One’s governing body, following its request that McLaren’s drivers cooperate in the inquiry.

You can read about it more here, here, here and here.

Oh well, I’ve stopped following ‘em races after Schumacher retired and initially I thought that Alonso might become the next Schumacher, but with the recent spat with Lewis Hamilton and him not being consistent, I highly doubt it lah.

Tomorrow, Muslims will start observing the fasting month, hence, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone Selamat Berpuasa! :) Can’t wait to taste some of the good food at certain pasar Ramadhan, but I dread waking up at the wee hours of the morning for sahur. Heh. I’m so liat like that… :P

Anyway, this came from my husband, and it’s so wonderfully written that I feel the need to post it here: “May we fulfill our duty of fasting during Ramadhan with humility, faith and conviction with the blessings and mercy of Allah S.W.T, insya’Allah.”

To the non-Muslims, I know you guys can’t wait to attack ‘em pasar Ramadhans too, ey? ;) Have fun, and let me know what’s good where!

We brought Irfan to one of the parks around Putrajaya last Saturday after having the longest lunch ever at BK with the Khongfamily. Initially, I wanted to bring him to the one at Precinct 2 (where they held the floria thingie), but we couldn’t find the placelah. Haha. Yeah, nama je duduk kat Putrajaya, but we hardly ever venture around the place. Pffffttt!

Anyhow, we found this cool park nearby PICC @ Precinct 4 which overlooks the dam and somewhere nearby, they have this really awesome waterpark concept place. It’s got a big ass pool, and I also think that one would be able to jet-ski and surf or what-have-yous over there. It’s not opened yet, but I hope they’d open it soon and maintain it nicely. At least, no needlah to travel so far to have a good time by the sea. Hehe.

Irfan had a great time there. He was running up and down, enjoyed the slides, the see-saw and the swing too. The weather was permissible as it wasn’t too hot and looked a bit cloudy and as we left the place, it started to drizzle. I just wish that we could bring him out to these places more often, rather than to the malls where there are just waaaayyy too many people and then, end up being broker than before we arrived. :P

Running around excitedly.

Wheeeeeeee….!!

Look people, no hands! :P

I have not updated his milestones upon reaching 17 months the other day. So, here they are:

Weight: 11.5 kg.

Height: About 79 cm or so.

Milk intake: 8 oz. each feed, 4 feeds a day.

Favourite food: His Leibniz butter biscuits. It comes in the shapes of the zoo animals, so we sort of teach him the name of the animals before he takes his bites! And mind you, he has to hold two biscuits at a time, one on his right hand, and the other on his left. Pfffffttt… tamak haloba! :P

Words that he can say (but refuse to say often!): Mama, Papa, thee-thak, chak and key (this he just learnt a few days back).

Things that he recognizes and will point when prompted: Fan (his favourite since birth), lights, BMW logo, cars, planes, giraffe, lizards (doh!), milk and quite a few more I can’t recall for now.

Things that he will do for me: Fetch his pampers, throw his pampers in the bin, pick up his toys and keep them in where they’re supposed to be, takes his own shoes to wear (or sometimes his Papa’s shoes.. lol!) and helps me take the laundry detergent and softener (without being asked to) whenever he sees me putting clothes into the washing machine. That seems to be his favourite for now. Hehe. And yes, he’ll even put the detergent and softener back at their respective place. :)

Favourite show: None thus far. :( We’re thinking of getting him the Sesame Street VCD/DVD since Naomi watches that and she learns sooooo many things from the show. I loathe the purple dinosaur, so I won’t be getting him shows on the extinct animal. Hehe.

Things he can do on his own: Feed himself, climb up and down the stairs, wear his sandals (sometimes wrong side), hold his milk bottle (finally!!!) and pee in the potty. But we haven’t really started him on using his potty yet, so maybe soon lah. Hehe. And oh, while we were in Bangkok, Aaron and Emily got us pull-up pants for Irfan and I feel that it’s easier and faster to use them rather than the diapers. Haven’t checked the price for pull-up pants here, and if they’re almost the same price, I think I’d start using the pants on him instead.

My two favourite people.

Manja boy.

Irfan and Naomi.

Irfan turns 17 months today and like every other month before this, I only have one thing to say: time friggin’ flies! Hehe.

We arrived from Bangkok yesterday morning. Flight was okay, but the dodo pilot missed the plane’s “parking” spot, thus having to do a u-ey. Other than that, LCCT sucks! I don’t know why Tony Fernandez actually agreed on moving to LCCT because the place was just swarmed with flies and next to KLIA, it was nothing! Zilch! Nada! For those tourists who have never stepped foot in KLIA, they’d probably think that our airport is just so sad. I don’t blame them, because honestly, I’d think the same too. And now, they want to build another airport for AA? Why didn’t those monkeys think of this before? Doinkz!

Okay, I digress.

Anyway, we’d like to thank Aaron and family for providing us their home and we’re terribly sorry that our son has caused a lot of grief to their daughter. Sorry for all the scratches and red marks and screams and anguish. Sigh. Gotta discipline him further before we visit you guys again in Bangkok, yeah? Pssttt, hopefully the next time around, Emily would be posted to Budapest and then we can travel Europe together! Hahaha!

We all had lots of fun and we enjoyed the good food immensely! I’m literally broke from all the shoppings, so I guess I won’t be buying anything for Raya. Sheaaaahhh right! :P We shopped at Central World (which happens to be the biggest mall in Bangkok - damn HUGE!) and I just went crazy looking at the stuff in Muji. It’s a Japanese brand, and the stuff are really cool and awesome, but some of them are just ridiculously priced! So, ferget it! Next, I went to Platinum Mall (oh yeah, on the first day, I went shopping alone because I thought it’s better for Irwan and Irfan to stay home and not kacau me shopping. LOL!) but I just couldn’t tahan in there. There were waaaayyy tooooo many small-small shops and it just made me go nuts! So, I went back to Central World and finished some of my shopping there.

In the evening, as it was the eve of Merdeka, all of us went to the Malaysian Embassy to celebrate Merdeka with the other Malaysians there. Man, it was really boring listening to the dude yapping, but Naomi, Irfan and the rest of the kids there received presents from Mattel. And the nasi lemak was just awesome! Oh yeah, we only managed to eat around 10+ p.m. because we had to listen to speeches and wait for the prize giving ceremony to end. After that, we terus cabut because it got more and more boring. Bleh! And not to mention that the kids (and parents) were sleepy. Haha!

On Friday, after having lunch at The Emporium and Irwan surprised us all by getting 8 ties for himself, we headed for Hua Hin and stayed here. The kids had fun at the pool, and although the beach was really inviting, but because we woke up late, the sun was scorching hot and we just decided to laze around by the pool. Irfan poo-ed in his trunks, but thank god we were already out of the pool by then! I wouldn’t want to imagine what would be seen floating had he not gotten out of the pool yet!

On our way home, we stopped by the Factory Outlet and I spent another bomb and a half getting stuff from Naf Naf, Esprit, Guess Kids, etc etc. Since Irwan had bought 4 pairs of ties the day before, he decided to get a whole load of shirts since they were really really cheap. And yes, we managed to claim for VAT too. Phew!

Since the traffic was quite bad, we arrived at Bangkok around 8+ p.m. and after giving Irfan his shower, we headed out for dinner. After dinner, the boys went home and us girls (Emily and I) went to Suan Lum. Again, I spent an arm and a leg there and if I hadn’t controlled myself and the fact that our suitcases were brimming with stuff, I might have dented my wallet even more. Nyeh. Oh well, another trip then. :P

I managed to only sleep for about 2 hours since we had to be at the airport by 5.30 a.m. and the doink cab driver tried to cheat us, but he failed miserably and gave us the long face when he had to hand back our correct change. Pffffttttt!

Oh yeah, Aaron snapped a lot of photos for us and they can be viewed here. There are 143 photos there and when you guys are free, do check them out. I’ll be getting him to print lots of photos for me because I intend to get some brag books done. He’s an excellent photographer and I would recommend his service if any of you are interested. :)

I think I shall be sleeping early tonight. Am soooo tired. But I managed to get 3 loads of laundries done yesterday.. so yippeeeee!!!!! ;) And have finished unpacking too since all Irfan did yesterday was sleeeeeeppp… Poor boy, must’ve been really really tired.

Receiving a gift from the ambassador’s wife.

The beautiful Naomi. :)

Our room at Chom View.

Irfan wearing Naomi’s headgear.

The view from the poolside.

Irfan in the pool.

Check out his tummy!

C’mon Mama, let’s go already!! The plane’s here!

On our way home from LCCT.