Alhamdulillah another gold for ITEX :)

It has been super hectic for me these past few weeks. Hubs and friends have been pushing me to slow down.

I'm trying.

I know I need to try harder.

Am working on that too.

Anyways, involved in some conferences on April. Then, Unirex; an exhibition organized by my university where I sent 4 entries this year.

Then, to ITEX 2014. The 4th ITEX I participated, the third time I presented. With all 3 golds Alhamdulillah. Last year I was in Goldcoast and we won silver.

I must have been blessed.

If you wanna do something that would take up your time, might as well you make sure you'd get the benefit out of it.

Now I'm going back and forth to National Instruments (NI) for a new project. Gonna be busy for another 3 months; meaning the whole third trimester as the project is due on August.

I need to slow down.

I know.

I need to try harder.

I know.

Sigh.

KL Bird Park

Our Uncle from Korea came to visit us since last weekend. We were planning to bring him to KL Bird Park, unfortunately he already had plan that Sunday.

Khaira was supposed to call him Wey (mother's side) Samchun (Uncle) Harebeji (Grandfather),  panjang sangat.. so she just called Harebeji Korea.

But since we promised Khaira that we're gonna bring her to Bird Park anyway, we proceed just the three of us.

The entry fee for the Bird Park was quite pricey; RM 25 per adult. But I must say the park is well maintained and the birds are in healthy conditions. Plus the experience of walking with the birds was worth it.

It opens at 9am. We arrived around 9.30am because we were scared it was gonna get all hot and sweaty in the afternoon. But I guess it's better to come later because the show starts at 1230noon and it was not that hot after all, walking under the trees and net.

I'm gonna leave you with the pics.

If you plan to go there,  beware of the mosquitoes.  Have fun!

Our KK trip!

We booked our flight ticket to KK about a year ago during zero fare Air Asia. It wasn't because the deal was super crazy, but to find a time everyone was around nowadays was not as easy as it used to. I let them commit.

So on Friday morning, my whole family and I parked our car at Putrajaya erl and left to lcct via the ever convenient bus and train. I believe it's a much cheaper options than limo. Limo, return would cost us RM 300. Train + bus + parking fees at erl for two cars; 7 of us including 1 child cost only RM94. Plus, it is the only time Khaira gets the feel of travelling via public transport.

The flight was around 2.5 hours and we reached KK around 12 noon. Upon arrival, I booked an Alza for RM180 per day at the airport. And we headed to Kundasang straight away which took us another 2.5 hours driving with super beautiful view.

Day 1

We arrived at Kundasang at 4pm, right after ribut. We headed straight to Kinabalu National Park, which costs RM3 per adult with MyKad. But nothing much to see there. The view after raining is like in this picture..

Because of the tiring journey and the weather, we decided to just rest in our 2 floor chalet, Strawberry Garden Hotel at Kundasang that I booked throuh Agoda. It costs us RM350 per night and it is so worth it. I rate this 4.5 over 5.

At night, we had dinner at Nabalau cafe. Food in Kundasang is very pricey and the taste is so-so. Then, we slept as early as 9pm, which looks already like midnight in KL.

No nightlife whatsoever, but the sky was clear that night. I witnessed hundreds of stars above me. Just breath taking. And that evening, we watched the biggest rainbow in our life. Both I did not manage to capture using my camera. Sangaatttt cantik, subhanallah.

Day 2

We started the day super early. 5am already so bright in Kundasang. So we made a move at 6.30 am, and found ourselves the best spot to watch the Kinabalu mountain which was hiding the whole evening yesterday among the clouds. We were very lucky because at 8am, it hid again until evening.

After taking lots and lots of pics in several spots, we drove further up to Ranau, around 30 mins slow drive. We dropped by to this place called Kampung Luanti. Per adult costs you RM 5. It opens at 830 am.

Look at all the Kelah and catfish! They are very friendly, you can feed them, massage your feet and even hold them in your hand.

Then, Khaira had her first mandi sungai experience.  Imagine swimming with lots of fish around you. Seronok!

Then, otw back to hotel, we came across a signboard on Rafflesia. When I just arrived in Kundasang, I read a pamphlet saying that Rafflesia blooms every 15 months and that it blooms only for 7 days. Worth mentioning, last year it didn't bloom at all. Making it 30 months to bloom and it blooms right during our trip.

I've always wanted to watch Rafflesia since I was little. So I insisted Love to drive all the way there, 500 m of very challenging road, a car in front of us made a turn back. Then we paid RM 10 per adult. The tour guide made us hiked a very steep cliff. Imagine a 5 months pregnant lady hiking with a slipper. It was so worth it.

Without a doubt, my best selfie ever.

Then, we headed back to our chalet. Half an hour to pack and so we went to Desa Cattle where it feels like New Zealand here. Very breath taking view. You can feed and milk the cows and goats here. Entry is RM 4.

Then, another 2.5 hours drive to KK. And we checked in at KK Marina's court which again, I booked through Agoda. Cost us RM 320 per night for a 3 bedroom apartment. I rate this 5 over 5.

We settled down for a couple of hours. Then, we had our dinner at Philippines market which was 10 mins walk from our apartment. Had ourselves a lobster, crab, squids, butter prawns, jenahak, pari, chicken wings, air kelapa, all for RM 300. No pics in my camera. Crazy hungry at that time!

Did a little souvenir shopping and went back to rest. Such a lonnggggg day.

Day 3

Woke up early for a little swimming because the apartment has an irresistible swimming pool!

Then, we headed to Philippines market one more time. In the morning, there are more souvenirs. So we shopped a little bit. Too hot ok KK, I miss Kundasang already.

They sell pearls, brooch, kain batik, ikan masin, some Sabahan kuihs. I really couldn't enlighten you much, I'm not into shopping when travelling.

Before we knew it, we had to check out, had our lunch and waited for our flight home.

It felt sad to leave. Kundasang has been one of the best vacation I've been to. It'll be 11 months until my next vacation because I can no longer fly in a couple more weeks, then I'm gonna give birth, then confinement, then I have to wait until the baby is at least 6 months.

Sigh.. I already miss Kundasang.

Wishlist and nazar

Alhamdulillah.. as of today, I've done all my nazar for PhD.

I nazar for 3 things:
1. To belanja my department
2. To fast for three days; and the hardest was..
3. To qatam Al quran.

I was hoping and praying to get the last one done before I give birth.

With morning sickness and all, I managed to get it done finally.

Happy sangattttt!!

I must say this is one of the super helpful app..

Help me kill my time during traffic and while I was bored.

2 down for the year, 6 more to go.. in shaa Allah, ameen. I have faith :)

Now nazar for the gentle birth I'm about to have..

How I met your mother and what it taught me.

After 9 years, without any episodes I've missed.. it comes to an end, this one.

Sad? No.. not really, the ending is not as dramatic as Friends. So I'm okay with it. Plus there is still The Big Bang Theory, Bazinga!

And I'm okay with the ending as well. *Spoiler alert* For me, it's the ONLY logical explanation why there is so little story about the mother and sooooo much about Aunt Robin along the way. It only makes sense and the stories tally along the way, so I'm okay with it.

But don't get me wrong. I said the ending makes sense. It doesn't mean I like the way it ends. I mean, Robin is one complicated woman. If someone as complex as Barney couldn't hold on to her, what makes you think Ted can? Robin and Barney just have that chemistry. Sorry, Ted!

Anyhow, I've learned a lot from the ending of HIMYM. Among them are that (1)  if it is meant to be, it is meant to be. And (2) for love to happen, it needs to also come at the right time.

Recently, I attended the engagement of two of my close friends.

Ok, Khaira.. comellah tu spoilkan picture cam tu!!

One of them is engaged to somebody she just knew, in a very ironic way. She reminded me that, (1) if it is meant to be, it is meant to be. It doesn't take a light year for you to really know that someone to get married. Sometimes you have been together for years, but if it's not meant to be, it doesn't matter how inside out you know that somebody. In the end, it is how much both of you are willing to mold yourself to meet each other half way.

The other ended up with her long term boyfriend, and boy was I super excited that they finally ended up together!! :) So, number (2) applies, no matter how long you have been together, it happens only at the right time. Allah SWT has planned it all for us. Just have faith.

Of death and loved ones

In less than a year, I've lost five relatives back to back.

Both of my grandmothers, two uncles and an aunt.

There are a lot of things both Love and I learned from these losses, one of them is to make sure all the things we work hard for (in another words, our savings) are well utilized by our loved ones.

So, we took a leave last Friday.

First stop is to Tabung Haji. To put a 'Penama' for Tabung Haji is very straight forward. Just get a form, you can fill up to two Penamas. If anything happens to you, the savings will go to the first Penama. He/She will be the one to distribute all the money. If anything happens to both the first Penama and you, the money will go to the second Penama. Then, they need your fingerprint and just submit the form to the counter. In less than a minute, the process is complete.

The second stop is to ASNB. Here is where complications began.

See, I have two accounts with ASNB: ASB and ASW. Love has three: ASB, ASW and ASM.

Both of us have ASB loans; in which will end in 2030.

The Hibah Amanah program (the program they named for you to put the Penama for your savings) works in a way that:

1. You cannot have any loan (which is so leceh because our major portion of money is in ASB and we have loans there)
2. It comes with a charge of RM180 a lifetime, and RM10 every year
3. You can have up to 10 Penamas and you can put the percentage for each Penama (each Penama needs a siganture, a copy of IC and for all Penama needs one witness)
4. If anything happen to any of the Penama, that portion of money that should go to that Penama will go to Amanah Raya.

As if it is not troublesome enough for me, I have now difficulty in withdrawing my money because I was born with a rare case of eczema that changes my fingerprints every now and then. In another words, my IC and fingerprints do not match with each other.

The agents (CIMB, post office) said I need to withdraw them only at ASNB. But ASNB said, I need to get a letter from JPN. Which is sooo troublesome.

Now, I'm thinking of closing my ASW account and withdraw most of my money from ASB to put it in my Tabung Haji. Sorry lah ASNB, not only troubling me with the syariah compliance issue and the fact that Tabung Haji's dividend is better nowadays, you just have to make life a lotttt harder with all these.

So, what's left now is EPF. The problem is, it needs a witness whom is non other than your Penama. I hope to get it done in near time.

If you're wondering what happens to all your savings once you're not around, it'll go to Amanah Raya and the process takes ages. Hence, the post.

Bismillah..

The prophetic child disciplining talk - A review

I was a little emotionally disturbed early last week. Little Girl was at a phase where she found it cool to actually hit people. Although she never hit me, Love was her favourite victim,  followed by my two brothers.

The phase started a few weeks ago. I tried giving her "time out". Nope. Not working for my baby. She became more rebellious.

Love tried to scare her by placing her near our neighbour's dog. She rebelled.

Tried to slow talk to her every night. Works for a while. And then the phase began again.

The cause of her doing that was simple for me; she only hit those who spent less time with her. So the reason is simple: SHE WANTED ATTENTION.

My theory was proven since lately Love started to come home on time and she stopped hitting him altogether.

Still, I need to discipline her. I couldn't tell my brother to spend more time with her because they're still single and they have their own life. As for Khaira, this has to stop.

Boy, was I glad when I stumbled upon this poster..

Love was very supportive, so to cut the story short, around 8am on Saturday, we're already in Masjid Putra amazed with the beauty of the interior design of the mosque. Khaira was still in deep sleep, so I spent some quality time with BFF Sumayyah and his little hero.

The talk by Syeikh Tariq began with the basic parenting, so I would just focus my sharing today with the disciplining part.

How do we discipline?

1. Lead by example: Simple as this, action is louder than words. You can't be saying, "I can do this because I'm your mom. But you cannot do this!" This will create confusion for them.
2. Always be positive: We already know by now to say positive things to them rather than negative. Like, "Khaira please walk" rather than "Khaira don't run". But also Syeikh Tariq stressed on the importance of encouraging rather than instructing. For example, rather than saying "Musa, go read your book". It is better for us to say, "Musa, isn't it time for you to read your book?"
3. Discipline is meant to teach and nurture: Set this in mind so you can control your emotion towards your children
4. Gentle
5. Consistent: Be consistent, everytime they do something that needs disciplining, discipline them. No exception.
6. Removing temptations: If you know that your child doesn't want to perform solat because they love watching cartoon during that hour, make sure you switched off the TV at that hour first before asking them to perform solat.
7. Reasonable: Be reasonable. If their mistakes are still syariah compliance, don't punish them that badly.
8. Don't leave physical or mental marks: Even if they are at the age where it is allowed for you to hit them, don't leave any scars. And watch your words, make sure it won't leave mental marks for them.

10 things to avoid during disciplining

1. Cursing
2. Compare: Especially among siblings. Don't ever say to them that their sibling is better than them because of bla.. bla.. bla.. That will not only create jealousy among them, but also unhealthy competition between the siblings
3. Conditional love: "I'll love you if you get good grades" Then they will think if they don't excel, you don't love them.
4. Incorrect info: "Why are you crying? Men don't cry" Then, they will think they are not normal because they are a boy and they cry.
5. Humiliate them
6. Mocking
7. Threatening: "If you keep on running around, I won't give you any lollipop" Sounds familiar?
8. Saying no and not explaining why
9. Making doa against them
10. Exposing their faults and secrets: They need to be assured that they can rely on you.

How do we deal with ourselves?

Most of the time, the children are just being children. They run around, shout, hop, climb and if your child is like mine, she started to do all this at 10 at night when you're already tired and ready to bed. We call this her "hyper time".

So how to deal with yourselves. The tiredness might just make you do unnecessary things you might regret the next day. For me, I am happy I can deal with myself better as she gets older.

1. Turn to Allah: Doa helps me a lot to deal with Lil K and it rises my patience to another level.
2. Educate ourselves: Hence, the talk I attended.
3. Reduce the stress and tension in our lives: If works are stressful enough, I usually just go on the phone with my friends on the way back and talk about a totally unrelated stuff. And if I am still not okay, I would go to my room first once I arrived home and do my relaxation technique whatever I learned from my hypnotizing or better still.. I recite some Quran before I go downstairs to play with her.
4. Adopt a healthy lifestyle: Exercise!! It makes me happy afterwards.