Happy Birthday Mak

A mother is someone who 

Makes you smile when tears are streaming down your face

Just by telling you things will be okay

Stays up all night and waits until you fall asleep

Just to chase your nightmares away

Holds your hand and stays by your side

Knows exactly when you need her to stay

When everything around you is crumbling

She always knows exactly what to say

No matter what happens in your life or hers

Will be there for you come what may

There are days that things happen, when my kids have a fever or are throwing tantrums, when I realise "Oh, so this is what my mother had to endure, bringing me up." It's true that they say, you never fully understand what your mother does until you have children of your own. Truly, my mother has done so much. Not only when I was growing up, for surely, I am only the person I am today, because of her but even now. I may not have turned out the way she planned, or imagined but I hope, that in some ways, I managed to be someone worthy of all her sacrifices and hard work. Hopefully, I can be as good a mother to my kids some day. May Allah bless her always and make me a better daughter to her Insya Allah.

Happy Birthday Hamzah- 4 years old today

Hamzah...
is affectionate
He loves to hug me
Whenever he does something 'wrong' he would run up to me and throw his arms around me first so I wouldn't get mad,
But most of the time he hugs me just because he loves me,
I love these random acts of affection

Hamzah ..
is funny
He says the most hilarious things
He always makes me smile ..
I love his sense of humour

Hamzah...
is observant
He will notice that you re-arranged furniture or bought new shoes
He comments on small fleeting things as we drive around in the car that everyone else missed
I love his inquisitive mind

Hamzah...
is considerate
He remembers others when pouring that last drop of juice
He always smiles and compliments me on my cooking even if it's the simplest dish
He rushes to help out even before I finish asking
I love his kind heart

Hamzah...
is always cheerful
He laughs and finds joy in things that are not even that funny
He makes friends easily and is loved by all his teachers
His stories help me see the wonder of this world from his eyes
I love his good-natured personality

He is my baby. He always will be, regardless. For these reasons and many more, I love him.

Happy Birthday Hamzah

Space... the final frontier || Star Trek (The Exhibition) at Pusat Sains Negara

A last minute trip to KL became the catalyst for an impromptu excursion to Pusat Sains Negara. The radio had been heralding the great Star Trek Exhibition for weeks now, and I was sure that the kids would enjoy it especially given their fascination with anything space related. Of course, they had no idea what Star Trek was, I gave them the basic summary in the car on the way over. People. Spaceship. Lost. Cannot get home. Aliens. The End. 

Dinner conversation

My parents were also excited about the trip. Although, I would not classify them as Trekkies, suffice to say, they knew of the show. In fact, initially my dad passed on the trip because he had a mountain of student papers to mark but upon hearing that the exhibition was about Star Trek, he promptly decided to tag along.

We were quite relieved to see that there were not many people around, quite a different scene from the last time we were there for Dinosaurs Alive! and after catching the short but interesting Science Demonstration we finally managed to shepherd the kids up to the exhibition gallery (no easy task, given that PSN has so many interesting exhibits and games everywhere). I was prepared to journey where no man had gone before as continuously promised by Captain Kirk.

Cool morphing picture of us in the transporter "Beam us up Scotty"

Souvenir photos

The exhibit itself in a nutshell, was a bit of an anti climax. There were 3 stations where we could take souvenir photos (Captain Kirk's chair, the bridge and the transporter) but personal (read: iPhone) photos were strictly of limits. This is standard procedure, I guess, and necessary to generate the lucrative mementos photo market but it was a shame as it would have been nice to take pictures of some of the displays especially the big replica of the Starship Enterprise. Secondly, most of the exhibits were strictly  only for viewing, there was minimal interactive elements. Most were just replicas of costumes, movie posters, and a timeline of the entire Star Trek franchisee, including the not so famous reboots. There was far too much reading of fine print involved, not that much fun for young kids. Although, I have to say, the kids still enjoyed looking at all the strange props. The adults, however, were underwhelmed. 

I guess I expected stars, galaxies, planets, spaceships, aliens, anything that could make the experience feel like we were in deep space. I wanted to be blown away with spectacular visually stimulating displays of outer space in all its majesty. Of course, I should have remembered that the Exhibition was about Star Trek and not about the cosmos but in my head I had assumed that they were one and the same. There should have been giant screens playing the memorable scenes in a loop (instead of a just a 24 inch one), the control panel on the captain's bridge should have flickered or twinkled or done something, anything when we touched them, there should have been guides dressed as Trekkies taking us through the history of Star Trek instead of just a timeline poster, aliens, cyborgs and robots should have been life sized and moving about instead of merely plastic heads behind thick sheets of glass. Suffice to say my head was spinning with countless ideas on how they could have made the Exhibition a thousand times better, but at the same time I would have to concede that it was quite a decent one.

Cool science show

Flight exhibit

Although the kids had quite an enjoyable time browsing through an exhibition of a tv show they had never seen, the real fun did not start until we started exploring the rest of PSN. They loved the interactive exhibits and we managed to enjoy the Flight, Music and My Body exhibits as well as play in the huge ball cage and rocket playground. Thankfully, there was a surau there because the kids really did not want to leave. Tired and hungry but still eager to check out the rest of the exhibits, we finally decided to call it a day at 4 pm. Hopefully, we'll be able to come back next time and have more educational fun. All together now... I LOVE SCIENCE.

Awesome rocket playground

My Body exhibit

Big Piano (Like Tom Hanks)- Music exhibit

Crane- Yousof figured it out!

Balloons!

Lessons from my father

As I sit and think and try to write down the many lessons he has taught me over the years, I find myself ill equipped to do so. The list is far too long and any jottings that I may eventually produce would surely not do him justice. My father is a remarkable man. I may be biased in saying this, but I believe it to be true. 

He started from the most humble of beginnings, as a poor boy in a remote village in Sarawak, but ended up a Professor Emeritus in his chosen field, still as humble as he was when he started. So perhaps, one of the biggest lessons he has taught me is never to give up, despite the odds. 

He treats everyone with the same respect regardless of their station in life. He is as comfortable among his peers as he is with his supporting staff and random people off the street. So perhaps, one of the biggest lessons he has taught me is to look beyond a person's title or exterior and recognize the value each person adds to my life.

He has never been one to make grand gestures of affection, instead often doing just little things to show he cares. Be it a gift from a foreign land or a bunch of fresh flowers from the local wet market. No matter where he is, he keeps his family with him. So perhaps, one of the biggest lessons he has taught me is to value my family, for they are my greatest treasures.

In truth, I have perhaps disappointed him in more ways than I care to mention. Surely, he wished a different life for his only daughter than the one I am living now. At this time when he deserves to sit back and do nothing, I have caused him worry and uncertainty. Even through this he has been my rock, unwavering in his trust that everything happens for a reason. As he held my hand when I first learned to walk, he must do so now, as I learn to walk again. So perhaps, one of the biggest lessons he has taught me is loyalty. That those who truly love us will never leave us.

Happy Birthday Abah

UKM 40th Convocation Ceremony || My Masters degree (finally)

Alhamdulillah, yesterday was the 40th Convocation Ceremony in UKM. I was there to receive my Masters degree in pharmacology. It was a very memorable day.

Thank you to my parents and brother for supporting me and my beautiful kids for being my inspiration. Also all my friends and extended family who made sure that the journey, though tough at times, was never lonely. It was not about the piece of paper, in the end it's about those who help you believe that anything is possible.

With Ezura and Dahlia, thank you for keeping me company (congrats to Asrul for his Clinical Masters)

With my roomie Mali, so glad that we got to convo together

Yousof, Aishah & Hamzah with so many gifts

With Mali & Nizar #teampharmaco (congrats Nizar for his PhD)

UKM Wondergirls #teampharmaco with Mali & Shar (thank you Shar for the teddy bear bouquet & for making all those years at UKM memorable)

Congrats DB :) Sorry we didn't get to take a pic together

To my fellow trainees at IIUM, thank you guys too, am so lucky to have such wonderful colleagues and friends.
PS: Photo shoot tomorrow ;)

This is Yousof and I love him for it - Happy Birthday

He wakes up every day at 6 am, brushes his teeth and makes wudhu'
He prays Subuh with me every morning
He takes a shower and puts on his uniform by himself
He takes a bowl, a spoon, a carton of milk and eats his morning cereal or oatmeal as I tend to his siblings,
He puts on his kopiah, glasses, socks and shoes and watches out for the school bus,
He salams my hand and I kiss him on the forehead and send him to the bus,
He comes home from school and immediately showers, packs a little snack for himself as we head back to my office in the afternoon,
He is tired from a long day at school so he falls asleep on the 10 minute trip to my office,
He quietly plays on the computer as I finish up my work and we go to pick up his siblings at Educare,
He reminds everybody to pray jama'ah and recite the Quran,
He helps me set the table for dinner,
He compliments my cooking regardless of whatever simple dish he is served and thanks me for making it,
He does his homework even though his younger siblings are running around and having fun,
He understands why I don't let them watch tv on a school night,
He helps me pack his books for school,
He brushes his teeth and gets ready for bed while I try to wrangle the other 2 to do the same,
He is so sleepy each night but he waits for me to salam and kiss him goodnight

He took sahur during Ramadhan with me and had iftar with me so that I was not alone,
He notices when I am tired or when I have not yet eaten,
He holds my hand when we walk together
He loves me unconditionally

For all these reasons and many more .. I love him

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOUSOF AMEEN 

May Allah reward you for being such a good boy and may you grow up to be the best that you can be 

Hutan Lipur Gunung Ledang- A gem in jeopardy

How did you spend your Malaysia Day weekend? We went on a semi-impromptu trip to Johor for one of Abah's ex-student's wedding. Since the wedding was on Monday, we went a day early just to relax. 

After safely reaching Segamat, trying to find a hotel that had a pool proved to be impossible. Why the pool? Well, when it comes to hotels, my kids don't care about the size of the room, the variety of the breakfast buffet or whether or not there is free wi-fi, all they look forward to is to splash around in a pool. So we headed off to Gunung Ledang Resort which was just 45 minutes away from Segamat.

We reached there around 4pm and there were so many people trudging up from the visitors car park up to the hiking and waterfall area. Entry was pretty cheap, just RM 2 per car, RM 1 per adult and RM 0.50 per child. No wonder people were flocking in. 

We managed to secure 2 standard chalets despite making no reservations on a long public holiday weekend, Alhamdulillah. By the time we had rested and settled in it was almost 5.30 pm so we decided to just let the kids enjoy the pool and visit the natural sights the next morning. The kids of course enjoyed themselves immensely.

The accommodations were decent, food was pretty good and basically it was a pleasant place to stay the night (around 3 start quality). 

The next morning after breakfast, we made our way up the trail to the waterfall. We didn't hike far because of the kids but just looked out for a spot that would be suitable to have a little fun in the water. The kids had a lot of fun wading in the cool, beautiful, pristine water. They loved the natural pool and the little fish swimming with them. They even pretended that all the small rapids were leaks and tried to plug them, not very successfully of course. It was truly a wonderful morning spent relaxing and enjoying nature.

I would love to say that the place was beautiful because it truly was but the biggest drawback was still the human factor. More precisely, littering. I shuddered to see how inconsiderate and irresponsible people can be. Mostly, they just left all their rubbish here and there despite the ample number of rubbish bins provided. I do not know how people can leave everything from polystyrene bowls, food wrappers, plastic bags to used diapers just lying around and some even make their way into the stream. Come on! With the heavy traffic of people visiting the place (there must have been thousands over the few hours we were there), imagine what will happen if everyone does this. I would not want any foreign tourist to visit because honestly, it was an embarrassment. 

I seriously think that people who litter there should be fined heavily. When are we going to learn to stop littering? Just because they paid a paltry entrance fee, they automatically think that it gives them the right to make a huge mess? 

I did not take any pictures of the heaps of rubbish because that is not how I want to remember our visit there but I sincerely hope that some action can be taken soon. If not, the beautiful waterfall, stream, and trails will just be another rubbish dump. It would be a real shame, because we really had a great time there except for those eyesores.

Our little Iftar

Yesterday was the first time for this Ramadhan that we had people over to the house for Iftar. For understandable reasons, I can't invite people more often (read: overwhelmed). So I was very happy to have my close friends Huda and DB (and their kids) over because as working mothers themselves, I knew they would understand and not expect too much. Since all of our kids would be there, we decided the theme for food would be "what our kids would eat" (note: there was even a loaf of bread and a jar of Nutella on standby). To make things easier we did a pot luck, so all I had to prepare was some spaghetti. 

However, as always, Murphy's law also came to dine. While I was frantically cooking the sauces, there was a little pfft.. and my gas stove went out. Thankfully, I had the Petronas number on hand to call. My guests did arrive before the delivery guy though but since we still had plenty of time, things worked out well in the end.

Jejaka Melayu terakhir- Huzaifah

As we waited for Maghrib, the kids had a great time playing with each other, since most of them are "classmates". There was of course Yousof, Aishah and Hamzah (mine), Huzaifah and Habib (Huda's) and Farhana and Shahmi (DB's), also recently dubbed as The Tarawikh Gang. Huzaifah was quickly the centre of attention as both the girls were intent on getting his attention haha.

Imagine my house after 7 kids- thanks for cleaning up kids!

Abang Yousof- the only kid waiting for Maghrib

Our Iftar fare was very simple: spaghetti, nasi goreng, nugget, bubur cha char, doughnuts. I didn't take any pics of the food, mostly because I decided to implement a personal "no food pics during Ramadhan" rule. I'm not against other people doing it but sometimes, it does cross my mind that some people may not have the opportunity to eat at fancy restaurants or have splendid home-cooked meals or like me, will probably eat our normal daily food for the whole of Ramadhan, and looking at the flood of gorgeous mouth-watering food pics flooding FB and IG might make people uneasy. But hey, that's just me.

The only exception I will make to this rule is to say that the only non-simple item on our menu last night were nested pavlovas baked by Huda. They were delicious and light and just delightful. So if you guys are in Kuantan and are craving for a pavlova fix, she's definitely your gal. Me? I saved a piece in my fridge and can't wait to eat it today hehe.

Amazing Amazing Amazing - I can still taste it! (credit to Huda for the pic)

PS: Let's do this again!

Hamzah and his bag from Tok Wan (credit to Huda for the pic)

Ramadhan Kareem!

Three days into this blessed month and all is well Alhamdulillah. My parents spent the first two days of Ramadhan with us. Yousof has been stellar and managed to fast both days despite temptations from his younger siblings. 

We are looking forward to a wonderful, peaceful and enriching month. May we emerge as better people insyaAllah.

Getting ready for tarawih

From Turkey with love. Thank you Tok Wan & Tok Ki

A very important issue. YouTube it NOW.

Well done!

IIUM Educare Sports (hot) day: Tears, Sweat & Wardrobe Malfunctions

After days of hearing how fast everyone can run, pick up balls and basically smoke the competition, Sports Day finally arrived. This year, instead of being held in the Indoor Sports Complex, the venue was the under the scorching sun at the Stadium.

Hamzah and Aishah were excited and rushed immediately to their respective teachers to wait under the shade of the big tent. Yousof and I sat on the seats and waited for the events to start. Of course, some of the little kids (2 year olds and 3 year olds) were bawling their eyes out. It is amazing how any child will  almost immediately start crying when separated within visual distance from their parents. They are usually nonchalant when left at Educare each morning but when told to sit less than 100m away, immediate abandonment issues. I am so thankful that my kids never have this prob....wait, is that Hamzah crying? Yes, it was. And he did not stop crying or being clingy even up until we were on the race-track. When the whistle blew, we were the parent-sobbing child couple left at the starting line that I had always felt sorry for previously. 

I have no idea what happened, whether it was the heat, or the crowd or just some imaginary switch that was inexplicably flipped that turned my usually upbeat and independent toddler into a small ball of tears superglued to my side. To add insult to injury, the sole of Hamzah's favorite sports shoes decided that this was the perfect time to suddenly rip apart from its body. With no contingency plan (Yousof's shoes were too big for him), he had to be persuaded to borrow Aishah's distinctively girly red/pink shoes for the race. Come to think of it, no wonder he did not want to run. Just goes to show, we can never take anything for granted. Kids will always be kids. Unpredictable. Sometimes when they haven't talked about anything else the whole week except for running in a race, when the time comes, nothing can make them move even a single step. Smile, laugh it off and just hug it out.

Aishah had a great day though. She won her egg sorting race and managed to bag a gold trophy. Hamzah came away with a consolation trophy ("everyone is a winner") and we survived the day. Thanks to Faizah for helping out and Za (a.k.a Mok Nik) for showing up to cheer the kids. Congrats to Habib and Huzaifah, Shahmi and Maryam for winning their races in style (good job to Huda and Solah, DB and Kak Sidah). 

We'll do better next year Hamzah... next year...InsyaAllah. 

Exams and results

It really is different to be on the other side. Yesterday was the first time I had to invigilate an exam. I must admit, it seemed very surreal to watch all the students filing into the exam hall, nervous and anxious as I once was. 

I looked through the questions. They were eerily similar to my end of block exams when I was their age. Though a few things are different (like the wire baskets hanging at the side of each desk and under it), everything was pretty much as I remembered it. 

Snacks for the invigilators (note the kiddy drinks!)

I also got to see some students scrambling to write the answers even after "Stop writing", something I have also done a few times hehe.

Speaking of exams, today I went to Irsyad for their Report Card Day. Alhamdulillah for his first semester exams, Yousof finished 4th out of 32 pupils and obtained 11As and 3Bs (A > 85%). I am very proud of him and very relieved. Although I had viewed his results online, I wasn't sure how he ranked compared to his classmates (especially now when everybody's kid seems so smart). 

I think, I am not as stressed about him doing well as some other parents might be, but I do want him to do his best and achieve his full potential. I'm not quite sure how my parents made me enjoy school work but it truly is a challenge to keep a 6 year old focused on anything for more than four minutes, especially when his younger siblings are running around the house.  So I just do the best I can to make sure that I am there to supervise his homework, keep his lessons interesting and reward him for his efforts. Hopefully, he will continue to do well and succeed. Ameen.