The day where Ammar started on formula...

Our youngest lil Ammar now turns 16 months old. Still a baby to the family, as what his brothers always refers him. The most dramatic and manja kid of ours, he can be so sweet at one point and later pulls tantrum in a blink. Silap gaya this budak can go guling2 on the floor, anyway that’s what apparently differentiates him from the elder brothers!

Of all the kids (cewah bunyi cam ramai benar anak :p), he is the one that attach most to me. Probably because I manage to bf him this far.

Well, this supposed to be a sad entry actually. Today marks the very first day I need to supplement ammar with formula. My frozen EBM has started to be depleting since the last Ramadhan, and yesterday the stock turns zero. Yes from beribu2 lemon, it finally reaches the zero level yesterday! Sedih toksah cakap, I may be happy and looks cool on the outside but the inner me was actually feeling the opposite. Well I know it is not the end of the world, nor did the end of my motherhood journey. I also knew that I still have loads of things to offer, and embrace through, in raising up the kids. Failure to exclusively breastfeed your baby up to 2 years doesn’t mean you are no good in this area. And despite all this, I am still continuing the pumping routine as usual, twice a day in the office. So from today onwards Ammar will be taking 3 bottles of fresh EBM plus 1-2 bottles of formula to supplement his daily needs.

So it seems I fail to meet my 2-year target of exclusive breastfeeding, now let’s revise the statement and turn it into 2-year direct breastfeeding :) The journey is still on bebeh...caiyo caiyo!!!

Faber deep freezer yg hanya tinggal kenangan...

once upon a time..masa stock tgh meriah dolu-dolu :p

sampaikan nak letak ice packs pun struggle hihi

Ammar 1 yr old during last Eid..still exclusive bf that time

si manja mama yg sgt dramatic isk isk

tapi bila senyum..cair dan luluh hati mama!

@ Disneyland HK last October 2011

see the cheeky face? that means he's up to something mischievous so jgn tertipu dgn senyuman dia!

Oh he now can speaks "ma-ma....aaa-bah"
Sweet bunyi dia!!!!

(7) Choc bottom banana square brownies

A friend of mine who's currently pursuing her PHD in NZ is having a mission of completing ALL the recipes in the Hummingbird Cookbook, before she leaves the land of NZ and back to Malaysia for good.

To her, baking is a therapy, a way for her to escape from the terrific and chaotic life as a PHD student.

I kind of like the idea. Simply bec I also go into baking as one of the therapies after having to go thru the hectic days i.e juggling with kids, works and house chores.Only diff is that i am not doing a PHD haha!

Take this as one of my 2012 resolution, I am planning to keeping track how many cakes I’ve baked throughout the year. It kind of exciting when you know you have something to achieve by the year end, and when the moment of truth comes, you’ll be like “wowwww tak sangka I’ve baked sooooo many cakes!!!”. Haha too exaggerate ker? Tak kisah lah janji ai happy, hb happy, my kids happy…paling penting, perut and my mind are happy as well :p

So this is chocolate bottom banana square brownies, made for a neighbour next door for her office potluck. I’ve posted the recipe in my earlier entry…so can check it out ya. Have a nice Hari Wilayah holiday tomorrow peeps!! Lucky me, the kids will be schooling as usual as theirs fall under Selangor, so am gonna have a chance to go for ‘dating-dating’ with hb :p

my 7th cake of the year
I am determine to see what's the number will be like by the time i reach the year end.....:p

Bukit Merah Laketown Resort - Day 1

Overall, i rated 6/10 for our recent CNY trip to Bukit Merah Laketown Resort. So here goes some the stories which i tried my level best to keep it as detail as possible, given the time constraint ...here in the office :)

Day 1

We started our journey heading towards North using PLUS highway around 6.30am, right after solat Subuh. Earlier mama was extra ‘rajin’ enough to wake up sharp at 5am to prepare nasi goreng and had all those packed properly for brekkie inside the car. We knew and had already expected the R&R to be jam-packed with people during the festive season. And we were just right! The traffic was extremely bad I’d say. It took us nearly 4 hours just to reach Tanjung Malim! Only after we passed Tg Malim traffic was slowly cleared and smooth. Finally after the long and dreaded 7-hour journey we reached Bukit Merah Laketown Resort, around 1.30pm. We were lucky enough to be able to check-in early, thanks to their staff for the kind consideration given! Anyway, we booked the Suria Service Apartment thru cuti.com.my, paid RM150 for 1-night accommodation. Overall, we were satisfied with the room's condition, worth the price paid.

I specifically requested for a twin room (2 single beds), senang nak combine katil :)

There is a day bed next to the tv, where my hb slept during that night :)

After performing solat jamak Zohor & Asar and had the kids freshen up, we went to the resort by car. Our initial intention was to go to EcoPark and Org Utan Island and only tomorrow we will go to its Waterpark and spend the whole day there.

the entrance

Activities available for visitors

Visitors will have to pass thru all the stalls selling souvenirs and whatnots before reaching the Waterpark entrance...so be prepared to answer and justify to yours kids if u dont wanna spend your $$ to those stalls :p In our case, hb bought for them pistol air, considered a necessity for any trips to waterpark with the kids betul tak? hehe kira oklah seketul RM4, buy 3 for RM10 only!! ewahh cam promote pulak ai :)

Another shot of the stalls along the sideways

This is the main jetty to go to Orang Utan Island. Since it was raining that time, we scrapped off the idea of going there and just go to the Ecopark instead.

another shot of the jetty to Orang Utan Island...

Ignoring the rain, we walked passing thru the lake and Kampung Air Chalet to reach the Ecopark...

Opss sori gambar dah tersalah susunan. This is taken around the waterpark....

and we actually had a light lunch prior going to the Ecopark...kes stranded dek hujan, so duduk makan jela jawabnye :p Kuew tiow goreng rege RM2.50/plate. Taste wise so-so. The payment system is quite 'leceh' in the sense that visitors need to ask for the food price, then go to its one-stop counter to pay and get a coupon, and later claim your food at respective stalls.

that is keropok lekor + goreng pisang - all going for RM2.

jalan dlm hujan on the way to Ecopark...tapi tetap kontrol macho ehem ehemmm :p

This is a chairlift. Ticket price RM7/person. If i were not mistaken child below 3 is not permitted for this ride.

OK peeps, this is the Ecopark entrance. Ticket price RM14 for adult, RM11 for child. Child above 90cm is chargeable, but we managed to kidnap Firas in without paying :p

The moment we entered the Ecopark, we saw 2 semi-huge bear cats black in color on top of the tree. Idlan almost shocked to ‘death’ that he screamed and took few steps backwards towards the entrance door. Omg those bear cats had really manage to scare my eldest that he kept on telling us “idlan nak balik idlan nak balik!!”. Ok so this is really what people called ‘an Ecopark’, where you get the chance to come near and stay up-close to the animals, and get bitten if you choose to haha! We need to walk passing thru the bear cats that are freely moving here n there, not tied up, no fence or confined area that separated us hehe. After few rounds of coaxing and pujuk rayu, we finally managed to pull idlan thru, passing the bear cats, the eagle, otter and many other animals. Tapi tangan dia punyerla kuat pegang mama or abah!! Firas was quite ok compared to his brother, while Ammar was all excited looking at the animals…yela selama ni tgk dlm tv jer now dpt tgk live! We were quite fortunate for putting ammar inside the pram, if not we might having problem chasing after him. Tak ke haru kalau dia terjatuh dlm sangkar binatang sumer tuh?? Hish nauzubillah!

the bear cats yg berjaya menakutkan idlan. After the tour is over he said "idlan menyesal masuk ecopark nih!!"

an eagle, very close to us isnt it?? hish kalo dia tetiba mengamuk then serang kita haru jugak kan!

ular sawa yg sgt gemuk!! It was placed in a 4-wall confined glass area but hb gave hint for us to just take a glance shot and lari!! manalah tahu kot ular tu mengamuk and terlepas...isk isk cannot imagine maaaa :p

guinea pig yg cumelsss?? Ammar paling suke tgk benda nih hehe

ok, this is the most exciting part throughout our tour (given exception to idlan hihi), it was deer feeding time! Earlier before entry to the park hb bought 5 packets of animals food that cost him RM5. We fed them with carrot and kacang panjang...kenyang depa :)

Firas in action. Berani jugak mamat nih :)

now it's my turn! Rusa-rusa semua tu cam kebulur giler, semua pakat keluarkan muka kat pagar besi tuh suakan mulut nak ngap makanan.

Kampung Air chalet

nside our room. Kids being kids..mana duk diam kan :p

Posing kiut dr Ammar :)

That night after having dinner inside our room, we went down to the lobby to check out what’s there to offer.

Basically they have indoor theatre (they were playing ‘Ombak Rindu’ that night with entrance fee of RM5 for adult), table-tennis, games arcade, snooker, and few others. We let the kids to play few rounds of games before leaving off back to the Laketown resort by car.

Night view at the resort entrance.

Again here they have several games arcade (the kids had a blast time playing bumper car) and few other activities for visitors to spend their time for the rest of the night (eg: massage, fish spa, etc). We decided to just walk by the lakeside, enjoying the breeze air …so calming and relaxing. We stopped by at a crystal shop, looking at various ‘growing’ crystals displayed on the shelves and listening to the staff explanation on the natural growth process of crystals. Thought of buying a piece for collection (but actually our real intention is to watch n see betul ke Kristal tu boleh membesar just by watering them once in a day) but after looking at the price tag, ahhh terus cancel dan lupakan niat haha!

So that's the end of Day 1.

nanti kite sambung lagi ok ...it took me several huff n puffs just to complete this long entry hoho kalah cuti-cuti pegi oversea gitu :p