Things placed in unlikely places

Living with small kids, I always find things placed in very unlikely places.

1. A can of ghee in the washing machine drum. This is the very first time Bea1 showed her own preference.

2. Colour pencils in the washing machine

3. Astro remote control in waste basket

4. Books in the fridge

5. Balloons and handpump (for balloon twisting) in the fridge



They had a great time with papa the night before, and made laugh out loud the next morning when I found the balloons there:).

6. Astro remote control (again) in a sock. We survived without it for 2 weeks, searched for it high and low. The sock was lying under the sofa. I was protesting against collecting hubby's socks and decided to leave it there until he picked it himself. It took him two weeks, and two weeks without the remote...argh! Anyway, I found it amusing after that!

7. Plates in the waste basket.

8. Pacifier (we used it for awhile for Bea2 when I drive alone with the girls) in hubby's pocket. He worked all day with a pacifier in his pocket;)

And a lot others that I can't remember at the moment.

A "syok sendiri" post from a geologist

Don't say I didn't warn you...this is a "syok sendiri" post;).

One of the reasons why I love my job, I learn something new everyday, a lot of times when I least expect it.

Today, I thought I wanted to take a day off. Bea3 had an overdue immunisation jab, had to fetch bro-in-law to and from hospital. In-laws will be coming to stay for a few days on Saturday and since the new place is nearer to the hospital, we may stay there despite we got no kitchen (and a lot of other things) yet.

But at least, I must get the curtain fixed in the other bedroom. I could also finalise my kitchen design at the Ikea and ask for the quotaion. So, my plan was after I'm done with Bea3 and bro-in-law, and sending some emails in the office, a quick blog about the grille, I would be out to my favourite place, Ikea.

But, I saw a notice on my table about a talk on tsunami. Tried not to get tempted. Saw the emails, found another notice, again pretended not interested.

Went to the office to check mails, again reminded about the talk as the staffs had prepared the long table for tea, before the talk.

Then people came to me one after another, with little tasks to do here and there. By the time I was ready to go, it was time for the talk. Ok lah, I thought I stayed for 15 minutes.

I actually stayed for 1 1/2 hour.

It was a talk about 2004 tsunami by a japanese scientist. He studied on why receding waves hit the east (Banda Acheh, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia), and high waves to the west. He showed more proofs that Peninsular Malaysia moved a few centimeters to the west after the quake.

And how another Japanese presented a paper just two weeks before the tsunami and from studies on microatolls around the Andaman Sea, predicted that the occurence of major quakes happen in 230 years interval. He concluded the subsequant one would be in less than a few decades. He was right, a bit wrong on the decades, it was actually weeks;).

I will do what I normally do, I'd share it with hubby.

There goes another plan to take time off...well, I will try again tomorrow;).

Sorry if this geological stuffs bore you, my wonderful readers...I'm out of here!

From an apartment into a home (part 4)

It costs you a lot of money

"sikalang besi manyak mahal wooo..."

It makes your nice windows look ugly

"what to do...the design must be approved by the management"

But you certainly can't do without it, especially when you have kids that think they are smaller version of the batman!

You know what I'm talking about, the grille that is.

Ninuk asked me:

"are you thinking of putting grill or not ? in yr case tak payah kut. yr kids do behave . "

Behave? As soon as they found out that by climbing a bit unto something, a box for example would make them a bit higher, I knew I got to be really careful.
They figured it out that, by placing the chair on the table, they could go high up to the shelves that they had not reached before.

So definitely, in this new apartment too, we will be 'caged';).

Lil wrote about the danger of children living in the high rise here.

They gave us a scare one night when both of them climbed a bit on this ledge. Luckily for us we got the grille done yesterday, faster than we expected.



Though we always keep the door to this room locked, I would never be satisfied till we got the grille fixed.

So, this is before photo


And after...


Hate the design, but have to follow the rules.

No compromise, we fixed them at every single window.

It would not be that expensive, but it is due to the design. I'd never seen any like this before.


Making the hole is the hard job, according to them. They said it has more safety feature as people can't just simply kick and break it. Well to avoid people getting in the house, think we need that but for avoiding people getting out of the house, then the normal one should be ok. Well, we have to follow the rule.

Besides having the access card, proximity card, a cctv at the reception that can 'broadcast' the faces of our guests to our TV before we can let them in, another cctv at the front door, another latch at the door...we just added the grille!

Finally, a little peace of mind;)

She's waking me up!

Friday evening, and we were done with the Da Vinci Code (love the movie but the book is better!), and i was just too overwhelmed about the next day fieltrip. We went to Lenggong and for the first time, with 3 kids under 5 years old in tow.

All I wanted was a good night sleep.

But Bea3 had another plan. She refused to let go nen-nen till 1.30 am. I was a bit irritated, went to the bathroom to splash some water to the face. A bit refreshed, and I was ready to face her little antics.

At 2.00 am, she was lying on her tummy, on my tummy and from her face, I knew she was pooing. It was a huge poo, after cleaning her up, I was not in a mood to fight a wiggling baby to put on the diaper. I just let her move around on her own.



"Hey, you know it is 3.05 in the morning"



"I know, you are interested on the camera"



"Come and catch me!"



"Give up? Hehe...and now where's your towel"



"Over here, not the front door!...ok, that's it...back to the bedroom!"

Seriously despite the little worries that I had about the fieldtrip (with my little rscals), what happened in the wee hours was kind of refreshing.

Ok lah, since everyone is talking about it....

The da Vinci code, I mean.

I never thought I would go to this extend to please my husband. Ok here's the story.

He announced yesterday that he is taking leave tomorrow and asked me to book tickets for the movie.

I never knew that he is that eager, as I can wait till next week, at least till we are done with a geological fieldtrip that we are going to make this weekend.

He knows I'm busy with work, and on top of everything else tomorrow, the preschool will do Mother's day celebration and I put my name down and I'm bringing fruits for the pot luck, but he also knows I can take time off.

To save time I thought I could just do it on phone. I was glued to it, with two hands on the keyboard doing some works, calling GSC and TGV and booked for MidValley, 1U, Berjaya Times Square, Cheras Leisure...anywhere that can be reached within 1 hour from our place. But nothing worked. He tried too, also to no avail.

Called him, and he said I can try Seremban if the tickets are not available in Klang Valley.

I was about to give up but...well, I know he is going to be dissapointed.

After dropping off the girls at the babysitter's and done with expressing breastmilk, I found myself driving to MidValley. It is Thursday, the crowd won't be that bad. How wrong, I was.

I was in the queu for 1/2 hour, starving and could not take my eyes off the McDonalds.
Finally got the tickets, and after making sure a few times that it was Da Vinci Code and not Mat Laksa, or Senario Pedang Yamashita (or something like that), I made my way to the McDonalds.

While munching BigMac (after working in McD in SS2 and Bristol for quite some time, think the taste of the box with a little ketchup is better), I drove to the office and was 1/2 hour late for a meeting.

The book is the only exciting non-geological stuff I've read after so long. I would not get influenced until he brought it home, and it was during the maternity leave. We found that we were racing with each other who would finish first, and I really like it when he talked about it, and how he did more readings on certain elements mentioned in that book.

Seriously, I should not be watching a movie in my situation now, but I certainly need a break. The last movie we watched is the Star Wars, many months before that is the Troy.

Guess I've been 'manja'ing my man too much. Anyway, think I deserve a big reward from hubby for the tickets;).

How I spend my lunchtime

A little tired of pics of the apartment, will blog about how I spend my lunchtime.

A few minutes drive to the preschool, and I meet Bea1. I had volunteered to pick a colleague's daughter who goes to the same babysitter.



It takes a few more minutes waiting for her to finish putting on shoes, while listening to her "what-I-do-in-school-today" stories.



And why can't they just climb the stairs like adults do.



Then, I have to yell "No running, the playground won't go anywhere!"



Kids having a good time, mama has to wait. Time to talk to other parents, and maids too.



Bea1 insisted to take a pic, not bad, right?

Finally we make a move. About 10 minutes later, we are at the babysitter.
I used to have lunch with Bea1 outside but since the other girl is smart and choose to have ibu's (babysitter) cooking, they have lunch there.
While they are eating, I nurse and pump breastmilk for Bea3.



Followed by a lot of hugs, smooches, hugs again, smooches again for my baby.


More often than not, Bea2 is napping at this time, but she "tidur mati" and I can bury my nose into her cheeks, smell her and a lot of smooches again without waking her up.

Say bye to everyone and off to the office.

But wait a sec...how about my lunch? I normally eat alone in front of pc while working or doing blogs;).

Better get out of here, it's lunchtime!

From an apartment into a home (part 3)

With a kitchen cabinet design still need to be changed over and over again, and lots of things to do, think I need a breather...I need to blog;).

One of the reason why Ikea is so popular is because there are lot of hopeless homemaker like me.

A fast way to make a curtain is not by sewing but by just ironing some plastic strands(?) under a fold, just see this pic.



Clip the end to some rings, and voila we got our first curtain...but it is a bit too long *sigh*...see I told you, I'm hopeless. But my excuse is I work with 3 kids under 5 years old.



Luckily, the curtain in the kids' room is readymade.


We don't have a place to hang the clock.

With 3 single foldable thin mattress, some pillows and clothes, we spent our first night there.

What I really love about our new place is, we receive a lot of morning sunshine.

Master bedroom, at 8.30 am.


With a retractable clothlines, I can hang clothes here...but I'm going to get the dryer anyway.

From an apartment into a home (part 2)

We finally have the CF, a temporary one. Had a little hooha with the developer but I'm not going to blog it.

So, we can finally move in. In May, when I have students exam papers to mark, endless admin. work and right on time when the applications for research grants under RMK9 is open....arghhhh!

Anyway, we finally have some lights and fans. But the light in the living, instead of 4 bulbs, it got 3 as hubby could not find another one. Told him, I just could not follow him to do the works there that day.



Bea'3 third time there....checking out the new place.


While papa and mama are doing the DIY, Bea2 is just happy playing...


Bea1 and Bea2 are checking out the new view from home and the neighbours...


More pics coming up...;)

Intimate meme for woman only

Lil tagged me on this meme about the contends of handbag.

Well, guess I can do this very fast.
Just upgraded from a clutch to a bigger handbag, so that I don't have to always carry another bag for the kids for short outings.




I think I'm pathetic that I use black to match with everything, and to compensate that a little, I do have a pink wallet. Fat wallet not of cash but recepts of credit card transactions, from banks etc that I have not disposed.

I always bring something to read in case I got stucked somewhere. And on the journal printout, I have one lipstic ONLY, two lip gloss, evian atomiser, very cheap face powder, passport (sometimes hubby's too), the blue booklet for visits to clinics, handphone, thumbdrive, car key, office keys, that two little plastic flowers that I keep and will try to get them glued back on Bea2's shoes, but I just could not find the time!. Colour pens to occupy the kids if we stuck somewhere.

Thermometer to take the girls' temperature the moment I see the indications that they are sick.

The 3 pairs of socks are always in just in case they get cold.

When we go out, I add 2 diapers, one cloth diaper, 1 hanky, 2 sets of change of clothes for the two younger girls, and a water bottle.

And the white spots that you see on the handbag are Bea3's puke;).

Now you know more about me...I guess you can see I'm a paranoid mom;).

Now I really love to dig into somebody else's bags, and the tag goes to gartblue, and ninuk.

A letter to Bea1

Trisya darling,

I remember something happened one evening, and I'd keep on telling you the same story over and over.

You were so excited that for the first time you manage to print out on your own some Barney colouring sheets from the computer at papa's office. Papa helped to clip them together and you brought them home.

I knew you just could not wait to start colouring. We were done with dinner and you looked for your colour pencils. You have many but only one was sharp enough to use. And Beasyara and you got into a fight for it.

I was busy in the kitchen, and papa was also busy....watching the TV.

You tried to get the attention of one of us but I just had to finish what I was doing.

You gave in but you sulked. I could tell from your face, from the way you put both arms across you chest.

But it was a bit late, and I told you that I was frying some keropok ikan and anchovies for Alang. I felt bad as I told him that I'd brought the food that day but I just could not make it. I prepared a lot to last for a few days. I had to get everything ready before going to bed so that we didn't have to rush the next morning.

And you had known that Alang is sick. Not just because he vomitted (like what you saw me did after baby Beanisha came out in the hospital), it is a lot more than that. I tried to explain and I always said that I'd explain more when you are bigger.

The medicine that the doctors gave Alang makes him uncomfortable and he can't take a lot of things, but luckily he is ok with keropok and anchovies.

Remember suddenly we have lots of mangoes in the fridge, that's because it is the only fruit Alang can take.

Remember sometimes I told Ibu that I'd be a little late as I went to see Alang. After awhile I stop telling as Ibu knows that I'd be late for a lot more days as Alang just has to stay there for a long time.

Remember during days when papa and mama don't go to work and we go out. We have to wait in the car at the hospital and papa leaves us for awhile to see Alang. I know you and Beasyara always insist to 'ikut' but papa said no, as kids are not allowed. Tell you what, one of these days, I'd sneak you in. I'm sure you'll be a good girl and Alang will be happy to see you.

And remember everytime we drive infront of the hospital to your school, I'd mentioned that Alang is in the hospital. You'd ask "Alang sakit ke?", and yes Trisya Alang is sick but we are all praying for him....everybody is praying for him.

You know, when Alang slipped into a coma for the first time, you were just a little baby. In the bright morning sunshine, you gave me a grin. And there it was, your first tooth sprouting from the gum. I called papa to let him know. Amidst the tears, worry, sadness, anxiety, you gave us a reason to have smiles on our faces.

And once in a while, we have Alang staying with us. You made me laugh when you showed me your first drawing of all of us in the family. Beanisha was not around yet but there were 5 in the drawing. I asked who the 5th one was. It was Alang.

And after I was done with packing the keropok, I tried to look for other sharp pencils. We used to have a sharpener but we have lost it. I will get another one soon.

I pulled your little chair and table, and let you colour. Beasyara would not bother you as she was almost asleep with papa. I let you colour while I finished a few other chores, it didn't matter if you were late to school the next day.

I'm still sorry that you sulked so much that night, but mama just got things to be done for Alang. We will talk about this over and over as you grow up and me grow old;).

I love you.

love and smooches
mama

footnote
Alang is the girls' uncle, and he is battling the big C. Ibu is their babysitter.

mama22beas in her world!

What a surprise!
chrissy mentioned about it in the MMB forum and I was out to get myself a copy.



Mine was put together with other wonderful blogging mums, it is just that I wish I have more time to make it nicer. Hopefully, Beanisha's pic at the bottom makes it up;).

And see what the author wrote:


A bit 'malu'-fied to be called a supermum.

To the author, I thank you!

By the way, the other blogs mentioned are ashley, babysmooches and zara.

I was actually a lot calmer when writing this. Almost "pengsan" when told by chrissy. Anyway, now it sort of gives me some momentum to learn more on how to update, add more features etc.