My motherhood celebration

Happy halloween people!

I personally do not celebrate halloween because in the city I live, halloween is not celebrated and no one makes it a big deal. I do not expect any children knocking on my door for a trick or treat and I do not decorate my house with the scary pumpkin either.

But then it doesn't mean that this day is an ordinary day for me. It is not. In fact, it is a very special day for me because today, I am celebrating 2 years of my motherhood/parenthood experience. I have decorated the house not with scary pumpkin but with many colorful ballons, animals and cartoon characters, and colorful writing on the wall to celebrate my son's 2nd birthday.

At first I wanted to make the Barney birthday cake by myself, but then I was very busy preparing other stuffs and it was too late when I went back home yesterday. So, I just bought a black forest birthday cake for my son.

When he woke up this morning, he was very happy to see the decoration I made on the wall. Since he loves Barney so much, I picked the Barney theme for him. And he was very happy to wear the Barney hat and blowing the Barney whistle after he blew the birthday candle.

I can't believe he is 2 years old already. I have been his mother for 2 years. I can still remember vividly the delivery process, the pain, the tiredness, the frustration I experienced 2 years ago.

Now though he still makes me frustrated but I can enjoy that frustration because he has become my best friend. He likes to run around, climb up the chairs and tables, tease me, tell me a story or just mumble some words he still doesn't know how to say. He can even instruct people to do things and I actually have a funny experience with this one.

When we went to visit my parents, we took my son and his cousin (my bro's 2nd son) to Carrefour and we rented 2 trolleys with car for kids attached to the trolleys. Then after finished shopping, my son went out of his car and walked to his cousin's car. He opened his cousin's car door and instructed him to get out of his car because he wanted to ride that car. My son did that with his body language and a very serious expression. There were no words came out from his mouth. He pointed his finger to the floor instructing his cousin to go down from the car. At first his cousin didn't get it and just sit quitely in his car and my son felt frustrated and he just shook his head while kept his eyes on his cousin. Then he repeated his body language and finally his cousin understood and went out of the car and let my son in.

Every one who saw this incident laughed so much because of my son cute body language. He didn't want to say a word because he understood that when he talked he would use the word "down" and he was afraid his cousin didn't understand him because his cousin speaks in different language. So, body language would work best. Wha..ha..ha..my mother couldn't stop laughing everytime she remembers that incident.

My son is always God's best gift and God's best magic for me. I really feel great to be his mother.

Today, exactly 2 years I have become a mother and I am very proud of that title. I know 2 years of motherhood is still nothing and I still need to learn more to be a good mother for my beloved son. Happy birthday, my son! God be with you always.

Back from balik kampung

I'm back to my ordinary boring days after spending a week of balik kampung with
my family. It was a great break for me and for the whole family since we could
enjoy 4 days of the big cities 'quiteness' with no traffic jam on the
roads.

Unlike most people who live and work in the big city but grew up
in the kampung, I grew up in a big city but now living in a small city. So, my
balik kampung is actually balik kota (city). This is good because I can avoid
the long traffic jam on the roads everytime I go back to my big city and I can
enjoy the 'quiteness' of the city.

I had a great time spending time with
my small family, my parents, my brother and his family, my cousins, and my
neighbors. Those who celebrated hari raya visited our house to greet each other.
I could see that my parents were very happy and this really made me feel happy
too. Too bad everytime we visit them, it is always a very short visit (less than
a week). I miss them still.

Mohon maaf lahir dan batin

Teruntuk semua yang merayakan hari raya aidil fitri, saya mengucapkan selamat hari raya aidil fitri, mohon maaf lahir dan batin.

I'm off to join the exodus of balik kampung and will be back soon.
If you drive, drive safely and remember your loved ones waiting at home.
If you fly, don't carry anything dangerous for you and for the whole passengers.
If you take train/bus, watch out for your belonging and your kids.

Happy holiday, people!!

Let the rain wash away the haze

It rains! It rains so heavily in the place I live! I guess I am not the only one who feels so greateful for this heavy rain. For the past 1 month, the rain was not to heavy and it was triggered by a cloud seeding to clear the haze, courtesy the Indonesians, that covers many parts of the country I live.

It rains! It rains so heavily 'till I can't even see the buildings next to building I live.
I can see and hear the lightening thunder thundering outside my window.

Oh thanks God! It rains! It rains so heavily I hope this rain will clear up the sky and bring back the beautiful view of the city I live in.

It rains! It rains so heavily and I think I'd better post this story quickly before the thunder strikes my computer and me... ;)

Being an octopus

I have been very busy lately taking care of my son, house, and husband all by myself because I had sent my maid back to her agent for a recourse before she gets her new work permit. It is not a requirement by government but I just feel that it is necessary for her to touch up on her working skill and her attitude. After working for 1 year at my house, she started to downgrade her work standard and her attitude.

When she just came to work at my place a year ago, she was very polite, shy, and quite. She woke up very early and by 6am she would have taken shower and started her daily chores, but then after 6 months, she started to get up at 7am (my husband normally gets up around 6am). At first, we just left her alone and gave her a chance perhaps she couldn't sleep well and needed a longer sleep.

But then everyday, she got up later and later and I had to be one who knocked her door to wake her up and she went to bed sometimes as early as 9pm. I asked her why she got up so late and she told me her alarm clock didn't work. So, I fixed the alarm clock and it worked fine and still she got up after 7am. Sometimes she got up so late that we all had to stay in the bed because she still had to mop the floor and everything was delayed. Oh by the way, she is quite fierce. She can just yell at us (her employers) and instruct us what to do. I am tired of telling her anything because she would just defend her self and blame me instead for not following her rules. Oh gosh, who is the boss here??

You see why I need to send her for a recourse? Even the nurses at a hospital near our house know how fierce my maid is because when my son was hospitalized there, my maid actually yelled at one of the nurses because the nurse took a long time to fix my son's drip and the nurse got angry and she challenged my maid. Now, everytime I go to that hospital, the nurses will ask me if my maid follows me or not. I think they just want to take precaution. :)

Anyway, it's been 3 weeks since I sent my maid back to her agent. I did everything by myself. I feel like an octopus with all my body parts work at the same time.

I have to cook, clean up, wash dishes, cloths, etc. with my right hand while my left hand carrying/holding my son because he has become my tail. He follows me everywhere I go even going to toilet for whatever reason. I understand he feels lonely because mommy is very busy. I try to spend my time playing with him but when the time comes to breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I will be busy like hell and my son will become fussier.

Luckily the place I live is not too big so it is not difficult to clean and it doesn't take long time to sweep and mop the floor. My son always wants to help when I clean up the house. He happily drags the mop and starts to mop the floor when I am in the middle of sweeping the floor. So, the floor will be wet and I can't sweep anymore. Or he will just happily sit on all the dirt I collect at the corner of the house when I sweep the floor and he will play with the dirt. And anytime he feels dirty, he will run to the shower and take off his cloths and diaper and ready to be showered. In a day, he will ask for shower about 4-5 times a day. If I don't shower him, he will show temper and hide himself inside a different toilet and play with the water inside the toilet bowl. I really have to keep my eyes on him while taking care of the rest of the things at home.

I can manage without a maid, but I really loose all my freedom and all my time for myself. I can't sit infront of computer too long anymore. My ebay store is neglected, my blog is neglected, I do not have time to check my emails and I can't even concentrate writing my software that I hope I can make money from. All my time is only for my son, my husband, and my house (and I am a clean freak. So, it is very difficult to ignore things unorganized and dirty).

I am exhausted. I miss the time when I can sit down and watch my favorite TV shows while munching on some peanuts and drink a cup of tea.

I wanted to feel sorry for myself, but then I remember that I am not alone at all. And I am not even the first to do all these by myself. In fact, I should not feel sorry because as a modern mum, I have all the facilities at home that can help me to speed up my work such as my microwave, my washing machine (I don't have dryer though..he..he..), my water boiler, my new broom and mop that I don't have to give all my power to squeez it. I can choose to switch on my aircon all day to feel comfortable while working.

And when my husband is around, he will help me to shower my son and to spend time playing with him so that I can at least check my emails and writing this blog.

I can't imagine if I had to do all these during the old days when everything had to be done by hand. My mum told me she had to pump the water by hand while watching me and carrying my brother at the same time and at that time, the electricity was not even installed at our house. And my mum survived. My condition now is nothing compared to her. So, I should keep my head up, enjoy being the octopus, and feel grateful for I am a modern mum living in high-tech era.

Do you breastfeed your baby?