WW :: Projek Suka-Suka

We caught the fever. Did some Merdeka and Gaza bands. Friends liked it, and started ordering. Haha. 

Orders available at RM8 each. 

WW :: Birthday

Presents from the girls

PTC II for 2014

All As?! For the both of them?! Subhanallah.. Alhamdulillah.. No words can describe my happiness. 

Although, it turned out when we checked the papers J had a C that was wrongly transcribed as an A by her subject teacher. But still. I am elated. Beyond happy. Amazeballs I tell ya. 

No suprise here for Kakak's average. But to maintain the 95-96 percent from Std 1 till now, I am impressed. 

[by the way; row 1 is first term, row 2 is mid term, row 3 is class average]

But look at this. Jannah's result. 

Look at her jump from the 1st term to mid term results. And to surpass her class average. Awesomeness!

(You can tell I am ecstatic about their results kan?)

But yeah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. 

Super duper awesome job guys.. Keep it up!

Now back to work! Finals are coming up soon! (Hahaha.. Kiasu much Mommy?)

J turns 7!

My little princess is all grown up!!

*sigh*

She is both a joy and a trial this one. 

Her openness, her affection, her ability to crack jokes, always happy to help vs her daily moody crankyness. 

Talking to her is always enlightening as her point of view is seldom normal. Definitely special this one. Although we have not gone to check it out, I suspect she does have dyslexia. Hence, her being her. 

I love her determination. 

I love her creative eye. (and hand)

I love her sass. 

I love her affection. 

I love her empathy towards others (be it human or animals or even plants)

Dear Jannah, Mommy loves you lots. Always. Forever. I will always support you in whatever it is you choose to do and will always pray for you to become a better Muslimah. 

Of Tahfiz and Hafazan

* I know I've been quiet a while, and there is so much to tell but this post is solely for Aliah *

A few days after puasa started, Aliah came home and told us she was selected to represent her school in a Hafazan competition. Saying I was proud and happy for her would be an understatement.

It was a last minute thing. And I was more nervous than she was. Hahaha..

Needless to say, she did extremely well. None of the shyness and unsure-ness I normally see in her. It was oh so good for her self esteem. I had goosebumps listening to her recitation. 

And she won 2nd place! Subhanallah. 

A week later, she was in another competition. This time it was play&pray event which she herself wanted to enter. 

It was a tougher group what with famous sheikhs' children also taking part. She didn't win partly because they based it on who has hafaz the most surah and I entered her up till At-Tariq only even though she has completed An-Naba'.

The whole experience was good for her. Getting her up on stage in itself is a big win. Hafaz the whole juz 30 is also a big win. 

But the biggest win of all, when her Papa said, "I cried." 

Exams! Again!

I hate this week. Because I'm the one with butterflies in my tummy. The one that's feeling nauseous about the prospect of 14 papers in a week. Hahaha. 

Ah. So it seems I have yet to curb my kiasuism. Oh well..

Anyhow, they have been studying. Reading. Understanding the whys and hows (specially them JAIS subjects). And I know I will be at peace with the good outcome, no matter. (And still this suppressed kiasuism is trying to set itself free) 

So, you see. The Papa has been away. And with 2 little boys demanding attention most of the time, I haven't had the time (or energy) to sit with the girls to revise. And I was panicking because the first day was the toughest of them lot. BM (which is fine) and Sirah n Aqidah (which is not! - have you seen how much info they have to remember?). And I was feeling bad. Like I have not done enough. 

Jannah came back and well what do you know.. Excitedly telling about KKM visit and her jab and saying she didn't have time to do Sirah n Aqidah. Wait. What? Apparently, those 2 papers were postponed. 

Allahuakbar. God is indeed Great. 

WW :: Reminiscing the 80s

Only an 80s kid would understand the importance of this. Back then, we didn't have the means to get a whole box of stickers to complete the book. It was a long and normally heart-wrenching effort to get those last few remaining stickers. *sigh*

I'd say the girls are pretty lucky in that sense. We (as in Hubs n I) bought a whole box. So yeah, hopefully we'll complete it. Although it -will- still be a long process for them as we'll be opening a max of 5 packs a day. :)

Smart Alec

We were doing the Panini Sticker book last night. (The girls have gotten the bug and are so enthusiastic about it btw)

J seems to have all the luck in getting the special stickers etc. So much so I called her Magic Fingers.

.

.

.

.

"I don't have Magic Fingers Mommy, I only have magic eyes. I can see inside the pack"

Smart alec much J? :P

Belated Post :: GD 2013

Their GD was an emotional day for me. Especially Jannah's GD. She was extremely excited about it, as not only were she performing with her class, she also had a solo show and tell session. So excited I was that I took the front seat at the concert. Kiasu much Mommy?! I was so proud of her. This from the girl who at one point didn't want to go to school. She's just grown so much.

She delivered her performance well. Didn't falter. Didn't get nervous. And to think that she is just 6! *sigh* I know I didn't have that kind of confidence at that age.

[pictures were copied back from ig as the phone died on me before I could backup on the PC. hence, no pictures of her performance. learnt my lesson, now everything goes to dropbox :) ]

If you've been following the blog, you know that I don't put much emphasize on her academically. I know her capabilities. Imagine my surprise when they announced her as the Best Improved Student. It was such a big moment for her. And I was so overwhelmed. I cried. Like really really cried. Haha.

That was a major turning point for her. She actually started to believe in herself more. To emphasize, I don't have to tell her to study. Or read a book. At all. She would on her own, get a book to read or pick out any one of her workbooks to revise. SubhanAllah.. 

See how proud she is with her trophy. :)

Kakak's GD was done well this year. The hall was big enough to accommodate all parents. And most importantly, ada aircond! Haha. 

Look! Aliah actually took part! A major milestone for her too. She's turning out to be a pro at this kompang business. :)

But yeah, she's more comfortable in her part at the sidelines. You'd never get her to go up on stage to perform. Hehehe.. 

After all her hard work through out the year, it came as no suprise when she was nominated one of the three Most Outstanding Student of her Year. It is good to know that she received the acknowledgement that is due to her, after what happened last year. It's only fair they recognise the hard work these kids put in, regardless whether the top 3 came from the same class or not. 

Even though it was expected of her, I have to say I was still very emotional. Nangis bagai jugak. Haha. Ah well, I could always blame it on my pregnancy hormones kan. :)

Dear Aliah and Jannah, 

If Mommy does not tell you this often enough, do know that I am always so proud of the little ladies the both of you have become. I can only hope and pray that you will both continue to be successful in whatever you set out to do in your life. May you both grow up to be good caliphs and continue to make the family proud.

Mother's Day

  Last night, I fell asleep while trying to get the 2 boys to sleep. When Kakak n J checked on me and found me asleep; they turned off the lights, turned on the night lights, kept all the toys etc and went to bed by themselves. That by far is the best gift they could have given me for mother's day.

On a side note, I got RM1 from them with the card. Aliah said, "Umar helped too by keeping you busy. And Amir helped too by not disturbing us while we finished this"  Love you kiddos to the moon and back -- reposting from my ig

My doa is so that all of you will always be wonderful, brilliant, thoughtful Muslims.

WW :: Ice Pops

One word :: Yums!!

3 months!!

[updated 21/5/2014]

Current Stats-
Weight : 6.5kg
Height : 64cm

Homai. Time flies. 

Someone mentioned to me the other day, we feel it as such because unlike the first born whom we were always anticipating the next milestone and keep on going "bila ni .. bila ni.. " when it comes to no 3, 4 etc we don't have enough time to constantly anticipate. Hence, the feeling that "eh cepatnya baby dah blabla.. "

Umar is such a talkative baby. Friendly too. Sekejap je dah warm up to strangers. And he'll chat away with you sampai tak terlayan! 

I am thankful that his sleep has normalized. 12 hours at night, with the first leg a full stretch of 6 hours! Alhamdulillah. And because he sleeps enough at night, he seldom nap for long during the day. But that's fine by me. I'd rather he sleep well at night. :)

His plastibell ring finally came off yesterday. One full week after the procedure. Orang kata, anticipate a growth spurt after this. We'll see how he fares. 

His milestones (taken from babycenter.com) includes :

• Laughs
• Holds head steady
• Recognises your face and scent

• Squeals, gurgles, coos
• Recognises your voice
• Does mini-pushups

• Turns towards loud sounds
• Bats at toys (still getting a feel of this)

Rites of Passage

Hamboi title.

Hahaha. 

1 week shy of 3 months old, and after numerous postponement we finally brought Umar to the surgeon for his bersunat. 

I had to admit I was very nervous and apprehensive. Blades and blood are not my kinda thing you know. Plus prior knowledge of what we went through with Amir sort of planted a preconceived idea of what was to be expected. 

And let me say that I am so glad I do not have to go through that ever again. Umar was a wreck! For him being such a happy baby to cry and scream inconsolably was a torment to watch. Even after all was done and we were on the way home he was still crying. And he even gave his Papa this look that had this "why did you let the doctor do that to me"

The whole day he was in a bad mood. Wants Mommy and cuddles all the time. To the point that first night he slept with Mommy. Kena peluk. Letak je nangis. Fuh. Kebas tangan. 

But Alhamdulillah he woke up the next day a happy baby again. And is currently on the road to recovery. :)

Typical Day

We have more or less settled into a new routine with Umar around.

A typical school day starts with Hubs waking up first to prep for the girls' lunch. I normally cannot function yet at this point coz I have been up every 2 half - 3 hours to feed Umar. 

The girls wake up, and get ready for school. J still has a few days here and there which she refuses to wake up. Or she wakes up cranky. 

By now, Umar is up again for another feeding. And right after that Abamir wakes up and wants his nen too. Thankfully, both boys are chirpy little people in the morning. If I have to deal with another J at that hour I'd go crazy for sure. 

After the girls and Hubs leave for school and work, its time for Umar to have his bath. Amir usually has his first movie at this point. (Currently it is Frozen season)

By 930, both boys are clean and nice smelling. Haha. And Umar will fall asleep; by himself in his cot after tiring himself out kicking and boxing.

I still do not dare to go up and down too much, hence planning is key. When I am downstairs I get whatever needs to be done at one go (laundry, cooking etc) before going back upstairs.

Since currently Umar sleeps most of the time, Amir gets some one-to-one with Mommy during the day for reading, playing etc.

But the 1 half - 2 hour feeding interval still stands.

Petang is usually a mad rush of cook / prep dinner, picking the girls up, having dinner, mandi time for all 4 kids and then settling Umar for sleep. By this time dah Maghrib. 

Usually will try to squeeze about an hour with the girls on homework, reading, general catching up before its time for all of them to sleep. And then the night routine with Umar begins.

I am hoping Umar settles into deep sleep quickly so that I don't have to wake up too often at night. As it is, there are good days when he sleeps for a 6 hour stretch. But those are usually followed by one where he wakes up every hour!

And then cycle repeats itself for the next day and day after etc.

PTC - Round 1

Right. 

So not freaking out.

Because; (1) exam was unexpected (2) both of them did well under the circumstances (3) Mommy is -slowly- learning to curb her kiasuness

Both received good reviews from their teachers. Alhamdulillah. They are obedient kids. No acting out. Being good caliphs. Listen to instructions. 

J needs to work on her writing. Not that her writing is unreadable, infact her penmanship is pretty good! She's still doing a lot of mirror writing; i.e. some of her letters and numbers are written mirrored-ly. Sometimes even a whole word can be mirrored even though she is copying the word from an example. In fact, a couple of her answers had to be marked wrong because of this. She could have gotten 100% for Maths if not for this issue!

I am impressed with the rate she is adapting and absorbing her new lessons.  8As and 5Bs is not a bad start. Her Bs are all for her PSRA subjects which was expected. But she keeps on suprising me with her ability to garner knowledge. Alhamdulillah. I believe she has what it takes to excel. She needs to be pushed in the right direction and her confidence needs boosting for her to believe that she can do it too. 

Kakak continues to excel. Alhamdulillah. 14 straight As from her. Although some subjects did drop from her usual average. But since it still is the beginning of the year I am going to cut her some slack. :)

Added responsibility for her this year is being the Asst Class Monitor. This is good. I want her to be more confident of herself. To speak out more. To learn this necessary skill of interaction with peers and elders. 

You know that I know that I don't have to worry about her academically. But I worry about her sense of being responsible. Of making judgement calls using her common sense and without prompting from adults. She worries me sometimes with wanting assurance before doing anything. So yeah, this ACM thing is good for her. 

Mommy has a lot of work cut out for her after this. Siap la korang! :)

Umar is 2 months!

Weight : 5.8kg

Height : 62cm

Head circ : 39cm

All in all, definitely big baby. And Alhamdulillah a really good one too! 

Let's check the 2 month milestones..

Vocalises sounds - gurgling and cooing - checked!

Follows objects - checked!

Holds head up for short periods - checked!

Smiles responsively, laughs - checked!

Movements become smoother - checked!

Holds head steady - checked!

Bears weight on legs - checked!

May lift head and shoulder (mini-push up) - checked!

Still fully breastfed, Alhamdulillah. Abamir gets the extra nourishment too! ;)

Sleep pattern is coming to light now, still need some tweaking (i.e; sleep through the night - dream on Mommy!) but generally sleeps more at night now so it's good. I count my lucky stars if I can get a 4 hour sleep stretch. :)

Recognises the people at home and will track the movements if you are in his vicinity. 

He's done a couple of 360 degree in his cot, just to show us he can. Haha. I have a feeling this one is going to turn, crawl etc fast.

I still can't believe he is 2 months already! Time really does fly nowadays doesn't it?

WW :: Lego Craze

Ultimate Know It Alls

This are the list of people who are the ultimate know it all according to Jannah;

1. Teacher / Ustaz / Ustazah

2. Friends / Cousins

3. TokMi / TokWan

Mommy barely makes it into that list; and will still lose out to nos 1-3 during a confrontation, eh discussion :P

Exams!

So their first term exams began yesterday. And as usual, this kiasu mommy was freaking out. Mainly because we just found out there was to be an exam 2 weeks ago.

You see, under the PBS this first term exam was nullified since teachers would be busy with evidence and bands what not. But when the directive came that PBS was to stop while they studied it, the school had to scramble to assess the kids somehow. Hence, first term exam. 

I am pro PBS by the way, as I understand and like the idea and plan of ridding our kids from this exam based assessment. Do these people who are so keen to mansuhkan really understand the idea of PBS? Yes, some implementation ironing out needs to be done. Yes, the online keying system sucks. Yes, the student : teacher ratio needs to be reviewed and reduced.You only here from the teachers complaining all the way about how their workload increased etc, but does it mean the PBS idea is bad? Do the parents really understand the concept? What is there not to like about a system that lets your child learn / develop at their own pace?

OK, ranting about that was not the purpose of this posting.

Getting back to the exams.

"What?! You have exams?" *hyperventilate*

Studying has been lax since beginning of the year. Work books have yet to be taken out since bought 2 months ago. And I haven't even started coaching J with her Jawi! How is she going to even read the question to her PSRA papers, let alone answer them??

Udahnya, Mommy kena re-calibrate expectations.

Hopefully whatever they learn in school is more than enough to carry them through.

J came back full of confidence. Alhamdulillah. Because she is the one I worry most when it comes to accepting failure / setbacks. And the teachers help read their PSRA questions to the whole class. *phew*

As you can see I don't seem to worry about Aliah. I do. It's just I know her capabilities and I know she can succeed. Biiznillah.

Let's pray I will be OK no matter how their results are. Because we keep telling them it is the effort that matters most. And since I know they did try their very best. I should be OK kan?

1 month Umar!

Weight : 4.6 kgs

Length : 56cm

Head circ : 38 cm

Time flies so quickly kan? 

To date he has recognise the voices of the important people in his life - Mommy, Papa, his siblings, Atok, TokWan and TokMi. 

He can mimic your expressions especially if it is a frown and one eyebrow arch. 

He has started cooing and smiling. 

He has flipped himself repeatedly while doing tummy time. 

He drinks exactly like his brother. Takde sabar. :P

And he especially loves his bath time. 

Can't wait for his next milestones ..