THE 5TH BIRTHDAY

She's been asking and asking about it impatiently for months and when the day finally arrived, she was in a state of disbelief. Kinda blase or uninterested even, if I might say.

Yes, it was the day of her 5th birthday. The day that I promised her a great big party day and she could have all her friends over. We'd have a huge heckuva cake, a pinata, music, games and silly hats and masks.

A week before the day, I told myself it's not happening. We'll just have a quiet affair since the girl herself has stopped talking about it. But four days later, change of plans. It's happening.

Daddy's in charge of the bihun singapore & cucuq udang. Mommy's in charge of everything else. Again, I went and shoot myself on the foot.

On Saturday, on the birthday itself, we went to the movies to catch Rapunzel. Awesome movie. We (minus Daddy, coz Daddy only layan war movies, pfftt...) enjoyed ourselves so much. Then, a Happy Meal treat.

Funday was on Sunday. There was no pinata, no party hats and the party favours were just packed in clear plastic bags (jenis yang bungkus lauk tu), tied with pink strings and decorated with heart shaped stickers. I made spaghetti and chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter filling and another with strawberry jam filling. No pictures :(

And oh, I made a rainbow cake. How many colours are there in a rainbow, you say? Well, this rainbow cake only had 5 colours. All with different flavours. Can you see that the cake was hastily and clumsily decorated? Yup, while the guests were busy stuffing themselves in the dining hall, I was busy rolling out the fondant and finishing the deco in the kitchen! With spectators summore. Damn kancheong, I tell ya! My little cousins trying to give a hand were really distracting.  The mermaid was a toy from the Happy Meal we got the day before, haha.

Well, at least the cake wasn't as disasterous as the cake 3 years ago! In terms of planning, her 2nd birthday party was executed much better, except for the case of the melting cake of course.

No matter how unprepared and wrecked our party was, we always felt blessed with the presence of guests in our humble home, most of them family. Put together close family members on both of our sides, and we easily filled up the house beyond our expectations. Cukup havoc. And we could always count on them to help out and and relief our duties in the kitchen so that we can play hosts.

So that sums our ad hoc party report. Thank you so much to all who came and made the day so special to us. The guests were happily fed with the delicious bihun and cucuoq that were given thumbs up by all the accomplished cooks in our family, hehe. The kids had fun playing in Nunu's room, especially the birthday girl had the time of her life.

And to Nunu, Happy Birthday, my little rainbow.

THREE

Wow. Three years. The baby-turned-toddler who never sleeps turns three today.

But shhhh... she's sleeping right now, which is such a rarity, coz usually I would fall asleep before she does, and I have no idea when she finally drifts off. Let's just say she puts me to sleep first, even patting and shushing me at one time.

Having the chance to hold her while she's sleeping is also rare. Making all my sleepless nights before this and this post nothing short of a trivial matter now.

Indeed, after the 3rd year, I still do think the best thing in life is holding a sleeping baby in my arms.

I'll write a better birthday entry when I'm not feeling so sleepy myself. But for now, Happy Birthday kiddo.

HAPPY BEE-LATED...

... BIRTHDAY, MR. DERANGED!



Have some real cakes, will ya?

GREAT EXPECTATIONS : TEARS, LAUGHTER, FUN, DISASTER (hey, that rhymes!)

Alright, where do I start? Should I stick to the fun part or spill out every single nightmarish detail about Sunday’s party? I risk sounding like a bumbling nincompoop and a complete whiny ninny, and that’s how I honestly feel anyway, for even daring having these visions of grandeur, imagining that I am this mrs incredible who has unlimited super powers to execute these party plans all by myself, all knowing too well that it’s a pretty impossible feat when I have this supertot as my sidekick (and in my hair 24/7) and her supernanny wasn’t around to babysit.

But how hard is it to come up with a simple party, with simple dishes, simple cakes and simple party decorations? Well, I surely thought everything was simple before until I finally had time to spare on Friday evening to go shopping for art supplies and snacks for the party favours. I had no choice and stuck to my guns because time is tight but I have an even tighter budget, so I went ahead with the original idea to make my own packs although I have no friggin idea how to fold the art paper into a bag, blow my own balloons although it’s impossible to get a pack of balloons with ONLY the colours of the chosen theme, and prepare the birthday banner according to plan although every single store that I went to did not sell any strings or yarn.

These babies are gonna be up there until the papers rot to pieces and fall off and the balloons shrivel up like apricots

Later that night, after Nunu sleeps at last, I didn’t see the need to hit the panic button just yet, as I sat down in front of the tv and started cutting and pasting away (being a wrapping paper hoarder FINALLY paid off, hah mom?) That somehow was a therapeutic process and I calmly laid down my strategy for the next day.

In supermommy mode, I envisioned: I would finish these party packs in the morning, go to Rena’s baby’s aqiqah do at noon with Nunu (arggghh I forgot to charge my batteries, so no cute baby pictures!), race to the office to settle some office work an pick up the jellies my assistant had volunteered to make for the party, and pick up some baking supplies on our way home. And later that night, when the girl goes to bed, I can bake those cupcakes and birthday cake in two hours, tops. On Sunday morning, I’d wake up really early to get some fresh chicken, eggs, potatoes and bread to make some chicken and potato salad, boiled egg sandwiches and pasta bake. . I'm pretty sure I can pull this all off before Nunu wakes up around her usual time, which is 10-ish. Sounds like a wonderful plan, right?

The next day, I finished the party packs and all I had to do was stuff them with tidbits and tie them all up, so I thought roping in my assistant’s help at the office would be less of a headache. When I was having lunch at baby Nadine’s aqiqah, the assistant texted me that she had to be home by 1pm because she’s expecting the plumber. I thought, okay, no problem, how hard can it be to stuff things inside a paper bag anyway?

Well, pretty hard if you have a tot who wouldn’t take a nap terrorizing the office and couldn’t make up her mind which youtube videos she wanted to watch. To make matters worse, my technician took home the laptop that I planned to let Nunu use to watch the videos so that my PC would be free and I could actually do some work. So there was a whole lot of running around in the office that Saturday evening but I worked it out and managed to finish off the party packs (and yeah, Hana, that was the reason why I didn’t get the chance to give a bday shoutout to you on that day)

Close to 6, I bundled everything inside the car, the party packs, Nunu’s stuff and stroller, the jellies that my assistant promised, AND the cranky tot herself. We swung by the baking supplies shop and she terrorized that place too. She conked out as soon as she was in the car seat, poor girl, so I took a longer route home and took my own sweet time because I wanted her to be well rested, and hopefully she'd be in deep enough slumber, she won't even wake up when we reach home. Good motherly intention, right? Crappy decision, I say! We arrived close to nine, and she woke up well rested indeed and terrorized the house summore! This time, it's "Mama, kung! Takut nuu... (whining and pointing at imaginary monsters on TV)... Mama, kunggggg!!!" Like Sasha likes to say, 'belakang all senget'...

I was so pooped but the supertot wasn't and it was well beyond midnight when we finally turn in. There goes my late night baking plans.

You may guess that I have a recipe for disaster all laid out for me, because when I woke up the next day, and in a cupcake baking frenzy, the little terror decided to wake up earlier than expected, at 7.30 am! Dear lord, on a normal Sunday, she won't even open her eyes till 11 if I don't go up and wake her! Don't even ask where Martian was, because it's just the same - dia ada ke, dia takdak ke, I'm always the one responsible to babysit the girl (unless I'm in the shower or praying)

So, I didn't get to go out to do the marketing, and to my horror, I found out I was out of sugar, cocoa powder and cooking chocolate! Silly me, I've forgotten that I've used some of those to make chocolate syrup for pancakes the week before. So there goes my plan to bake a chocolate birthday cake that morning. Anxiety finally gripping my stomach, I bathed and fed Nunu, did a quick cleaning up, and planned to go out to the shop coz I still needed some yarn or strings and crepe paper for the decorations.

When Martian woke up, he said he needed to go to the shop too to get some paper cups and err.. other stuff he was responsible for (he's in charge of the main course, his famous keow tiau goreng!) When I showed him my shopping list, he made a big deal out of it and questioned my ability to 'perform' all these miracles. Well, IMHO if we worked fast, of course I can! So fine, nak mintak tolong beli ayam pun susah, I ditched the chicken and potato salad idea. I have time to prepare the pasta bake while Nunu's occupied with Astro Ceria reruns and before Martian got back from the grocery shop and took over the kitchen to prepare his keow tiau.

So I got the pasta bake sauce ready and all I had to do later was to boil the macaroni and layer it up and top the casserole with cheese and I'm done. The next thing I did was raid the stationery shop where I finally found some orange and pink crepe papers and a ball of pink yarn. There was even a small baking supply shop near my kampung which I didn't know of, so I got my chocolates there. I was tempted to buy a ready made or a cake mix to make my life simpler, god knows why I was so stubborn/gundu. Then, Nunu saw the same mr Doraemon whom she hasn't seen for ages, so I don't know how much time we spent over there.

We came back just in time for lunch, and I got started with the party decorations right away, in between feeding the psyched up tot some yoghurt and blowing balloons till my cheeks were numb. Martian was still not done in the kitchen and I had trouble putting Nunu for her nap because of the darn exciting balloons.

this is the best I can come up with

Before I knew it, it was already 3pm, and the guests were expected at 4! I had no cake, no pasta bake, a cranky tot and a cranky husband. I should have gone bloomin' bonkers by then!

I managed to park Nunu in front of the tv to watch this new show that she likes so much, and as much as I know it is impossible to bake a cake in less than an hour's time, I did it anyway. When I put the cake in the oven, Nunu too had some cakes in her diaper. So I had her scrubbed and cleaned up, and that was when the first batch of guests came! Luckily, they were just my in laws, so they all helped me finish up for the preparation.

no time to make fancy patterns, but mil said these are nice enuff, so on sajalah!

Before I knew it, other guests came pouring in, and they brought in lotsa food too! Suddenly, the dining table looked like a decent banquet (haha and all I made was 'em lousy cuppies!) So yeah, I was relieved I didn't finish making the pasta bake, or else they'd be too much leftovers and I hate to see things go to waste.

I admit I was a little sheepish when they asked about the cake. Actually, SIL bongsu volunteered to buy a cake earlier that week, but I didn't want to trouble anyone with cake, because hey, it's not often that I have a valid reason to bake a cake, so when the occasion calls for one, it's only logical that I should come up with the cake, right?

But I gave up on the cake already when I lost my focus and couldn't be bothered to see how it was in the oven. Dah tawar hati. I took it out to prevent it from burning and just left it to cool, while trying to pacify the now extra cranky Nunu, entertaining guests, and seeing things in the kitchen.

SIL came in the kitchen and asked where the nice smell came from. I showed her the sinking cake, and told her there was no way I was gonna serve that hideous thing. She took a pinch to taste the cake and said, "Tapi sedap!"

A few more people came in to help and encouraged me to 'pimp the cake' up. Haha, Mak Baik and Mak Yuh said, "Alang-alang ada cake, belasah ajer lah!" so we all had such a laugh and the kitchen was wild with commotion when there were too many hands involved in the decoration.

Mak Yuh: Nana letak butterfly kat tepi ajer tau, bukan kat tengah.

Mak Baik: Flower letak sini, flower letak sini.

Nana: Nana nak letak! Kak Anne, Nana letak sini k?

Mak Baik: No no no, tak simetri! Sini sini sini!

Me: Uik, Mak Baik, I don't know you're THAT anal.

Mak Baik: I can't help it, I'm an accountant! *buahahahahahhaha*

Nana: *proceeded to put a BLUE candy on top of the cake*

Mak Baik & Mak Yuh: NANA!!!! YOU'RE FIRED!!!

Hihihi, poor Nana, she was just trying to be helpful! So, this was the cake.


pinky, isn't this the most gempak cake you've ever seen?


well at least Nunu had a birthday cake, so there was a reason for us to sing the birthday song after all


this is how it looked like when the still-warm cake sank completely and melted off the frosting

As for the birthday girl, I had to apologize to everybody for her crankiness that day. She was practically an extra limb on me and wouldn't let anyone carry her. My arms are still sore to this day, and I swear there is an obvious bulge on my left biceps that wasn't there before. When everybody gathered to have a short du'a recitation for her, she freaked out to see so many people and demanded to stay in her room, I had no choice but to pacify her in the room.

Tok Ma and Tok Bah


Uncle Boy and Aunty Nor

As soon as the doa was over and the guests started eating, all the kids went into her play room and literally trashed that place! But thankfully, Nunu lightened up a bit and had fun 'entertaining' her guests. Unfortunately, while having too much fun, she didn't look where she was going and bonked her head on the door frame, resulting to a nasty vertical bump.

the kids - akif and yana came by later and I forgot to snap their pics

Alhamdulillah, although there was a lot of tears involved, I wouldn't trade this day for anything else in the world. Things were difficult at first, but as things revealed to me later, a lot of people who care made it much easier for me and got me thinking to not sweat over the small stuff too much.

thank you, everyone!!!

You can hardly call this a 'loot', but what's more important is the du'a that comes from the people who are close to us. And of course, Nunu won't be able to remember what happened that day, but as long as I'm still around, I sure am gonna let her know how it went.

At least, I'll make it memorable here in this blog :)

And let's see if I learn my lesson when it's time for her third birthday party :) :) :)

NUNU AT TWO

scrappie courtesy of chubby's mommy

Happy birthday, sweet Nunu
I can't believe you have turned two!
Momma's not sure if you have noticed
I woke you this morning with a 100 more kisses



A birthday note to the special girl
Who breaks my back and rocks my world
Upside down and inside out
Drives me nuts and makes me proud

I still remember the day you came
Everybody loved the sound of your name
"You'll have a daughter with a determined character"
Foretold the doctor slash fortuneteller



And for a new mom who worried to no end
Looking at your face, the crazy world made sense
2 years of motherhood, who would have known?
The journey's been bumpy, but look how we've grown



To the Mighty Lord I devote in prayer
For now, for tomorrow, and for the hereafter
May this child's soul be blessed and protected
Find love and happiness, be well-respected



I thank you lord for the gift of this child
That made my existence in this place worthwhile
With thy grace, I hope she achieves
All she desires, waste not what she receives




And to you my precious, I hope you know
How many adore and love you so
So spread your sunshine, my angel baby
Let's triple the fun when you are three!

MARTIAN'S BIRTHDAY

It's Martian's birthday today, but we're not in the mood of celebrating (not today, at least). I'm nursing (ha, it's not a 'milkmaid' entry but I *still* want to selit at least a pun, ya) a bad cold and Martian is coming home late tonight after another round of bowling match. OK, definitely no pomp and pageantry happening for the birthday of this 'cucu gabenor' *

I suck at giving birthday wishes, cards, dedication, presents, the works. Does anyone remember the laughable bathrobe entry I wrote exactly one year ago? Great deal of amusement and entertainment it was for a one Doc Mynn and wifey from Coventry. Anyway, I didn't get him the robe last year, and gave him some briefs instead (don't give me that look, ah. you think only men can give women lon-jer-ray issit, women cannot give men underpants?)

So I was thinking of getting him the robe this time around, finally saw that the new Parkson are selling them the other day. And I'm not getting him shoes/ belts/ wallets/ perfume/ gadget/ specs /bowling stuffs because he was on a spending spree earlier this month and got himself all those things he coveted. So, it's final - I'm getting him the bathrobe - he doesn't have that yet, hope he's more motivated to get in the shower now.

But one thing led to another, and I still haven't got his present ready. Sigh... maybe it's a sign that I should look for something nicer during my trip to KL this weekend.

Even thinking of a nice dedication for him seems a little taxing on my already hazy, snot-congested brain, so I thought, let's just put a nice picture of him on the blog & tell him I love him forever and ever and move on already. So I browsed around, and discovered that I hardly have a good shot of my own husband. I mean, I can understand why there isn't a decent picture of MOI, but Martian's? Either his pics show him with food in his mouth, or with a conversation with somebody, or in a towel- face unwashed & teeth unbrushed.

Luckily, I found this picture, taken by a cousin almost 1 1/2 years ago, when we were visiting Kelantan with 2 months old Nunu. Thanks, Eru!


The one and only family picture we have!

I'm not the type who would profess my love openly, so sayang, here's your dedication. Happy 39th Birthday, semoga panjang umur & murah rezeki (so corny!) and may Allah bless our family for eternity. Amin.

Oh wait, what about cake? Do we need a cake? You're diabetic, you can't eat cake. And even if I buy you cake, who's gonna eat it? Abah is diabetic, Mak is on a strict diet (and she doesn't eat cake, anyway), Mom is diabetic too, and my Abah is taking good care if his heart now. So, last-last, Nunu & I jugak kena makan. Naik lagi 5 kilo. So, final - no cake!

Next year, 40th birthday, kita kenduri ok ;)

*Note: just a private joke among family & friends that when Martian flouts the law, i.e traffic & parking, he's confident he'll get away with it because he *thinks* he's the governor's grandson :)

TO BUDAK KETAM

My little brother turned 23 last 12th June and I promised him a birthday dedication.

I was wracking my brain what to write, because honestly, ideas and words aren't as free-flowing as it usually does when you have to think of ways to get those darn debtors to pay up. Anyway, I digress. It goes to show how bad I am at giving schmaltzy dedications to my own family. Sheesh.

I guess luck was on my side when an old college mate of Mom added me on his MSN contact a couple of days ago, and I thought whadeheck, ask Uncle Halim to send me some pics of my dear baby brother that he took when we were on Redang holiday way back in 1986. I'm pretty sure the really tech-savvy doctor-cum-season photographer keeps all his photos digitalized.

I remember that we do have these pictures in our album, *somewhere*.

But, it was awfully nice of him to flip his own old albums & scan me the pics. And here there are. Sephia, unretouched, un-picasa-ed ;p

Note: I really have no intention to embarrass you by exposing your baby pictures for the world to see, Bangsar yuppie, but hey, what can I say, I'm your evil big sister and I have the inborn exclusive right to bully you however I please *evil sister laugh*

Admit it, you're pretty cute at two, aren't you? And I'd like to remember you that way always; adorable, fun-loving, frolicking under the sun & rolling on the white sand like a white baby whale (family joke). Not 6-foot-tall, snarky, spiky haired & picking fights with me all the time :D

Happy belated birthday, bro.


Crab Boy was spotted, ahem2 strategically & artfully concealed


Crab Boy gave a menacing stare


Crab Boy got crabby


Crab Boy ran & complained to Abah

Oh yeah, I'm reluctant to say this, but I gotta say it once a while lah.

I WOVE YOU BABY BROTHER!

p/s: Poor thing, did u really have a tummy flu on your birthday, or did you fake it so that you can skip work that day? Kiddinggggg!!

ADDENDUM: 29th June 2007, 2.33 pm

Received this in my e-mail this morning.


Veeeery funny, you lil twerp :D

HALF & A FIVE CENTURY OLD

Happy 55th Birthday to Mom.

When I was about to enter primary school, I had a bad case of eczema on my hands. So to protect my sensitive and itchy hands, my mom made me a pair of white gloves. I remember taunts and other children calling me 'Michael Jackson', but at the time I didn't care, as I was thinking that I have the cleverest, most wonderful mom in the world, who would make me those precious gloves.

And I still have a picture somewhere, of me standing in front of the house, with my new school bag, new uniforms and Bata shoes, holding a teeny-weeny lunch bag with cross-stitched designs (which mom made herself, and I was proud of that possession too at school!) with those gloved hands.

Thanks mom, for reminding me what it is like to be an independent mother, that it's not cheap to raise a daughter (I must have cost a bomb), and whatever I am going through now, I'm gonna make it through unscathed.

For a shield from the storm,
For a friend, for a loveto keep me safe and warm
I turn to you.
For the strength to be strong,
For the will to carry on
For everything you do,
for everything that's true
I turn to you.

07022007

A special dedication to my father, with whom I share a birthday. Happy 55th Birthday, dear Abah.



I wish to inherit your business mind, work ethics and your sense of direction.

Thank you to the woman who birthed me into this world (whose cleverly devised plan to make sure I share a birthday with her was thwarted when I decided to pop out a few weeks earlier!)



I wish to inherit your brilliance, youthful vigour (figure??) and resourcefulness.

To the woman who tirelessly cared for me while my folks were busy earning a living (and who never fails to remind me of that broken tea pot story!)



I wish to inherit your wisdom and boundless capacity for love.

To the ladies whom I look up to, who had been my involuntary playmates and sketch artistes to all my requests for drawings of 'pin-cesses'.



I wish to inherit your spunk spunkiness, strength and assertiveness.

I may be 28 today, but I'll always be your hairless little girl.

MY MARTIAN WANTS A BOWLING GLOVE

So I asked him this morning, what he'd like for his birthday (which is tomorrow! Yikes!). I know it's inappropriate to ask the birthday-person (I don't think the term birthday boy is quite apt) what he wants as a gift, but being married to that person, you tend to somewhat lose some aspects of good manners.

Expectably, everything in his wishlist is bowling related. For those who didn't know, my husband is on a crazy roll for bowling. Crazy, because he spends almost every night at the bowling alley, either 'practising' (he doesn't use the word playing) or coaching the under-15 team (he's just been appointed coach under Penang's National Sports Council). Crazy, because he spends an awful lot of money and time on this hobby, and crazy, because it's about time he wins a major tournament by now!

It's also madness because as a NSC coach, he has just received two brand new balls plus accessories and a trolley bag too (so he doesn't hafta lug the heavy bag around anymore, and I don't hafta massage his shoulders that often). What, in heaven's name, does he need another glove for?

So I pressed him, "Don't you think you'd rather like a, say, Snails shirt, maybe? It's pretty functional." And cheap. I know, I went to Parkson yesterday and it's on sale, below RM50. But I know he doesn't want another shirt. He has a 2 closetfuls of them. He doesn't need another bottle of fragrance (he's a walking perfume counter, y'know) and he's not a gadget freak too. So anything that involves techie stuff and tiny buttons are out of the question.

He didn't say anything. So I dropped the whole issue and went about getting ready for work. He should get the idea that he's not getting anything expensive from me. He already knows I need to buy Nunu a cot and perhaps a high-chair.

But the birthday person still deserves a gift, and in a sudden brilliant moment I think of a bathrobe. Perhaps a personalized one, like this. If I can find a nice one at Parkson today for under RM50 maybe I can throw in some slippers too.



Someone please tell me I'm not making a huge mistake here?

JUNE BABES

Welcome to the world, darlings!

Sarah Nor Aqilah - born 17 June, a whoopping 3.97kg girl.
















Sorry Aunty misheard & misspelt your name as "Farah"!

And this little superboy here...

Ahmad Adam - premie 2.2 kg, couldn't wait to see the world on 27 June.



Doesn't look like a premie, right? And those eyes are wide open on the 1st day!

To new mommies Yani & Lynn, congratulations!

BIRTHDAY SHOUTOUT

Happy 1st Birthday to Mak Tok's Cucu No.8


Batrisya. We call her Betty or Trisha for fun sometimes.