No maid no gaining weight

I finally got a chance to weigh myself in the clinic today when I took my son to see a Pediatrician. I can't believe my eyes. I have lost 6kg in 2 months! I can feel that I am slimming down so much. I feel lighter and much more confidence in wearing my sexy cloths... :)

Thanks to the absence of a maid in my house. I am forced to do the housework and take care my children all by myself. I have learned to multitask, manage my time, and to work fast. I also have learned to skip my napping time and reduce my sleeping time at night. The stress of moving house and adapting to the new life in the new place also took part in reducing my weight.

Although I always cook good and nutritious food for the family, I don't have a lot of time to enjoy the food I cook because after cooking, I have to worry about feeding my children, preparing for my husband, then cleaning up the mess afterward. So, usually, I will have my meal together with the children while feeding them. So, whatever food they eat, I will eat a little bit part of it.
Though I only eat a little bit, I don't feel hungry because I don't have time to feel hungry... :)
This also contributes to my weight lost.

Another thing that contributes to my weight lost is the fact that now I live in a double storey house (for the past 10 years, I lived in a small apartment)... :)
Everyday, I have to go up and down the staircase while carrying my daughter who weighs 8.5kg for many times a day.
I just can't leave her alone upstairs or downstairs because she can climb up the staircase already. But she still doesn't know how to climb down. So, I have to constantly monitor her especially when I need to go up and down the staircase because if she sees or hears me going up to the second floor, she will quickly crawl up.
I first found out about this when I was upstairs with my son to get a book very quickly. I thought leaving her downstairs in a room would be safer because I would only be gone for less than a minute. But then, I was very shock, my heart nearly stopped pumping, to see her climbing up the staircase already half way up. I didn't know that she could open the door as well. Apparently the door wasn't closed properly.

Since I'm the only person that has to run around the house the whole day, I have lost my time to relax and munch as well...;) So, even though my husband bought me a 2kg chocolate ice cream and a long bar of chocolate in the fridge, I don't have time to even touch them! Many times I wish I could just do the swish and flick of my wand then the housework is completed... :)

No maid, really no gaining weight for me or I should say, no maid, no time to gain weight for me... :D

But...
The bad news (for my weight lost program) is...
A new maid is coming to my house tomorrow!!
Here we go again... my battle of loosing weight! I hope I won't gain another 6kg in a month... :D

About life in here and in Malaysia

It's nearly 11pm in my place. The internet has just been installed and I can go online now whenever I have time.

Usually at this hour when there was no internet yet, I would just fold the clean cloths and iron some until around midnight before I ended my very long day. Since I moved in to the new place, I have become an early bird. I wake up every morning at 5.30am. I was never an early bird before but in here, I have no choice because at 5.30am, the sun shines so brightly already since it rises at 5am. My bedroom has no thick curtain yet. So, my daughter will wake me up with her big smile exactly at 5.30am every morning.

Oh I miss waking up late. In Ipoh, at 7am it's still very dark. That is just one of many things I miss about my life in Ipoh, Malaysia.

I miss having a plate of char kuey tiao or a bowl of seafood noodle soup as my breakfast at the Greentown corner. It's cheap but very tasty and spicy. It would only cost me 4.5Ringgit per plate.
Here in my new place, I have to eat breakfast at home. To eat out, it will cost me at least 8ringgit per plate.

I also miss eating my duck egg crabs at Unique Seafood in Tambun.
Here in my new place, I haven't tried to eat seafood yet because I'm a bit scared of the total price I have to pay after enjoying my seafood.

Food is not the only thing more expensive here in my new place. Every thing else is also very expensive such as cost of making a phone call, especially to Indonesia. To call to Indonesia from Philippines using a PLDT phone card, it costs me 8ringgit for 5 minutes talk time while in Malaysia, I can use iTalk phone card which will cost me 30ringgit for 1.5 hour talk time!

My husband is fretting a lot about the price of gasoline because in Malaysia, the price of gasoline is a lot cheaper than in here.

Before I moved here, my husband has informed me that the living cost in The Philippines is a lot more expensive than in Malaysia. In addition, there is VAT of 12% to be paid for anything I purchase. So, now, we really have to tone down our lifestyle drastically.

But of course there are things in here that are cheaper than in Malaysia, such as fresh fruits. I'm just very happy that now I can eat grapes as much as my stomach can take because Crimson seedless grapes are very cheap. My children love the grapes too.

The cost of getting a maid is also a lot lower than in Malaysia. The price of cars is also lower than in Malaysia because there is no Proton and Perodua in here. The toll fee is also cheaper but the road is not as smooth as in Malaysia highways.

The most important thing is that we have to be able to adjust our spending habit and our lifestyle according to the place we live. There is no perfect place on Earth if you are not welcome to the changes and differences. We have to embrace the new life here and try our best to adapt with the situation as soon as possible. With God's help, every thing is possible.

Time for me to go to bed. I only have 5 hours to sleep. Tomorrow is Philippines Independence day so it's a 3 day weekend for my husband. For me, it's always the same day every day... :)

Story from the new place

Finally we are here in the new place after 1 week delay and many hiccups before we left Ipoh. It's coming to my 3rd week staying in my new place. My children and I are adjusting very well with the surrounding. Thanks to our 1st trip last January to this place. You can read the story here. The only thing hard to adjust is the fact that the sun rises at 5am here and there is no time difference with Ipoh, Malaysia. We get used to waking up late because in Ipoh, 7am is still very dark.

About the house: We rent a double storey house with a garden. Everyday, I have to go up & down many times while carrying my 9 months old daughter. It's really hard work to make sure that the children do not fall down the staircase. For my son, he has fun going up and down and run around the garden. This is the 1st time for my children to touch the ground and have interaction with many creepy crawlies that occupy our garden. As for me, the garden is the worst thing about the new place because I hate those living things in the garden, especially the creepy crawlies. Up to now, I haven't touched the garden yet. When we arrived 3 weeks ago, the grass is so tall. Luckily, I have a temporary driver who is willing to clean up the garden for me.

In the new place, we still do not have phone, internet connection & television. So the only way to entertain the children is to take them to the playground nearby or to internet cafe. Oh, I still do not have a maid yet... :) It's a blessing in disguise though because I am loosing my weight faster than going to the gym! My hubby has promised to get me a maid. It's quite cheap compared to in Malaysia. I can get 2 maids here with the same salary for 1 maid in Malaysia but I just want 1 maid mainly to help me to take care of the garden. More maids, more headache...:)

About the food: I have to cook everyday especially for my daughter. She doesn't eat instant food. My son loves the local food. Last time, it was always a constant battle to make him eat, but this time, I just take him to Razon's and he will sure eat the food there. By the way, Razon's sells good and cheap local food such as beef tapa (it's called tapsilog there), grilled fish (it's called bangus meal on the menu), and their specialty: halo halo dessert.
I eat out quite often too because our house is near food junction in which has so many good & famous restaurants.

So far my review about local food: best beef tapa @Razon. Best Bulalo soup @Leslie. Best grilled bangus @Razon. Best halo halo ice dessert @Max. Best green mango shake @Leslie. Best place to get fresh & cheap tropical fruits is along the road to Tagaytay. Come to Philippines & visit me!I'll take u to those best places to eat best local food!!

About the weather: When we arrived, for the 1st week, it was very hot and humid. We can't switch off the air cond and were forced to buy an air cooler.
Since last Monday, it has been raining and very windy. In fact, we experienced a typhoon 2 days ago. My driver is my news informer and weatherman... :)

I will need to have a driver until I am familiar with the roads and the left side driving. I drove on the left side before so I hope I can adjust quickly this time. We all need to learn the Tagalog as well so we can speak like the locals.

I end this post here before my daughter wakes up. Besides, I need to go to the CR (comfort room - this is how people here call toilet/restroom)...;) Hopefully I will be able to post more story when I have the maid and internet connection.

The perfect storm

How's everyone doing? We are still in Ipoh, by the way. We should have departed last Friday. I'm doing great after last week I was at the lowest period of my life. I have been trying my best to cope with the pressure of relocating overseas with the whole family.

But last week, I could not take the pressure anymore. It was the worst mother's day for me. I was down with a very bad bad sore throat and my body temperature was nearly 40⁰C. I have not been having a good rest since my husband informed me that we had to ship the stuffs by Monday. I stayed awake as long as I could to do the packing and sorting all things we planned to ship. A mother can't be sick because when she's sick, everything at home will freeze. So, I was already very weak and was under medication but I fought the sleepiness so that I could finish the job on time. I was like a zombie. No one helped me. My husband was very busy with his work and was busy running errands too. Every time he came home at night only to do his own things. I tried my best to stay calm but unfortunately, my body & mind really could not take it. I was exhausted. So, last weekend, I begged my husband to help me to suck the air out of the vacuum bag to keep the big blankets & bedsheets flat. I think it was quite a simple thing to do but before my husband did it, he asked me 1001 silly & unimportant questions hoping I would change my mind of asking him to do the job. I blew up. I was like a volcano ready to erupt anytime and my husband was very pissed off with me for blowing up just because he asked questions. Oh man! If only he was a little bit sensitive to my feeling, he would have been able to feel how I was already depressed with the situation. Everything was just too much for me to handle alone. I needed his help at home just once and with his own way, he was successful to annoy me. I quickly pulled my self together because I would waste time getting angry and nothing would be accomplished.

At that night, I was about to end my day when suddenly I felt my baby's body temperature was very hot. I threw away the thermometer once I saw the number has passed 39.6⁰C and it was still increasing. Panic, I grabbed my baby and my car key and drove her to the hospital. She was admitted right away and stayed in the hospital for 3 days. I was still very sick and obviously my baby got the virus from me. I had to stay with her in the hospital all the time. I haven't finished packing, the house was in a complete mess when I left, and the shipping company would come to collect our shipment in 10 hours. So, it was like a perfect storm. All I could do just pray and left everything to God to do the magic for me.

When the shipping company came, my husband had no choice. He had to stay in the hospital while I worked together with the shipping company to complete everything that day. My husband also called part time maid to help me to clean up the house. I finished whatever I had to do that day and quickly returned to the hospital to accompany my baby. We had no choice. We had to delay our departure. We certainly do not want to be quarantined when we land.

And today, my baby and I are recovering well. We still have many days to spend here in Ipoh and I do not have to pack anymore. At the moment, I'm just going to spend my time with the children as much as I can. I may have neglected them quite a bit when I was very busy doing the packing. I use this moment to take a rest as well. My work will continue in the new place; unpacking and unloading the stuffs. I believe God will do the magic (again) for me.

I like it NOT moving moving...

Tomorrow will be the last working day for my maid who has been working with me for 3 years. She told me she'll miss Ipoh. Oh well, I believe she's not alone. I will miss Ipoh very much too. My maid will be sent home because I'm taking the whole family to move overseas and we can't take her along. The economic crisis has left us with no other options than to go to where we can find better opportunity to survive. This sudden news of relocation is the reason why I have not found some time to post stories in my blog. I knew it was coming but I was not expecting it to come so soon. I thought I would have to move by end of this year. So, since my return from Chinese New year vacation, I have been trying my best to get as much as information about the new place, to pack little by little and to prepare for our transition as smooth as possible especially with the children.

To tell you the truth, I'm very sick and tired of moving house because this time it will be my 6th time in 10 years. In all 6, not only do I have to move house to another country but I also have to move house across the ocean. Every time I was about to feel home and comfortable to the new surrounding, I'm plugged out of my comfort zone and moved somewhere else and become a stranger and have to start everything from zero again. I feel really tired. I want to settle down somewhere I feel most comfortable in but I guess now it isn't the right time yet.

As I have told you before, no one is immune to this economic downturn. Everyone will be affected one way or another and I can't afford to allow it to affect me and my family too much. I have to help my other half to fight this crisis so that our family can survive and our children get a chance to live a comfortable life. If I want to be selfish, I can just decide to stay back in Ipoh with the children but then I will deprive the children from their time to spend with their father. Besides, I don't really trust men... ;)

So, I have to keep my self calm and stay cool to face the complexity and complication of relocating the house with 2 young children. I take it one day at a time. I plan and schedule my days. I even have to send my 4-year old son to a day care so that I have time to do things at home while taking care of my 8-month old baby who has started to crawl and is learning to stand and walk.

With my maid's departure the day after tomorrow, I will have to do things around the house all by myself. The hardest thing is to pack with my baby crawling around. Many times I have to extract her from under the table or chairs. I also still have to breastfeed her as she is allergic to cow's milk and she can only eat food that I cook because I have to make sure that it doesn't contain cow's milk. Another thing I have to deal with my maid's departure is my son. My maid has helped me to take care of my son since he was 1-year old. Now, he will have no choice than to do things by himself as much as he can. I've been training him but since he knew that my maid is there to help him, he refuses to try. So, I think this is a blessing in disguise for me so that from now on, only my voice can be heard and only mommy is in charge... :D If you've read my previous post about my maid, you would know that I do have problem with the maid around. She does help me with the housework, but she has forgotten who should be in charge of the house.

Please wish me luck in the new place and I hope to post more stories as often as possible. If I could be granted a wish, I really wish NOT moving...moving... :)

Earth Hour

I will vote The Earth. So, tomorrow at 8.30 - 9.30pm my local time, I'll switch off the electricity.

I hope I'll have my other half support because I think we can use this time 'to get to know' each other well with no computer and television on. I plan to spend this hour to do some family game like snake and ladder which my son loves the most. I'm sure he'll be happy when mommy and daddy sit down together with him trying to win the game.

Just to share again with you what I've done so far to help preserving our beloved planet, please read my post here.

Vote Earth with me! For more information regarding Earth Hour, please visit http://www.earthhour.org

International Women's day 2009

Today is my day and before it ends, I would like to finish 1 post to talk about it.

I consider myself a very lucky woman because I get to experience many good things in life as woman. Things that many women are fighting to have. Sometimes the good things do come easy for me but many times I also have to fight for it.

I am grateful that I have my freedom to become what I want to be and what I want to do. I am grateful that my right as a woman is respected and I have my dignity as a woman. I am grateful that I was once a beauty queen, a model, a secretary, a flight attendant, a shopaholic, and even a waitress. I am grateful that now I am a wife and a proud mother of two beautiful children. Each title has allowed me to meet different kind of people from different part of the world. This experience has taught me to become who I am and what I am at the moment.

I praise the Lord that I live in a digital world where things are done in a touch of a button and where information is just a Google away. I praise the Lord that I have a chance to keep up with what's going on in the world yet still maintaining my role as a full time stay-at-home mom (who breastfeed) and a housewife. I praise the Lord that my life is never a lonely day for I can always keep in touch with my friends from all over the world.
I praise the Lord for giving me such wonderful people in my life who understands me as a woman (except the one whose rib I was once created from). I praise the Lord for I am quite a healthy woman (though a little bit overweight... :D).
And I praise the Lord that I can voice out my mind through my blog and there are people who care enough to read what I've written.

Yeap, I am proud to be a woman. I am happy to be me.

To all women in the world: Happy Women's day! This is your day!

One day at a time

There is a thin line between life and death, happiness and sadness. One day you are so much alive and extremely happy, the next day you could be terribly sad and dying. As an ordinary human beings, we would never know what will happen in our life because life is full of surprises. Knowing this will teach us to stay 'alert' and always be prepared with what may come next.

My brother and his family are trying to cope with life surprises one day at a time. Just barely 2 months ago, my brother was extremely happy for his beloved wife has finally found a job she had dreamed for so long. This was a very good surprise as many people were losing their jobs in this economic downturn. And then, another great news came along when they found out that she was 10 weeks pregnant with their 3rd child. Everything was fine. They rejoiced God's gracious gifts for them everyday.

But then, just less than a week ago, their happy moment was cut short. My sis-in-law was admitted to the emergency room in Panti Rapih hospital for a very high fever. They suspected dengue caused the high fever because my sis-in-law developed rashes on her body. The blood test came out to confirm their suspicion. For 4 nights my sis-in-law had a high fever of 40⁰C.
Her ob/gyn was very concerned about the development of the fetus inside her womb. The scan result showed that the fetus' growth was disturbed by this virus. The fetus didn't grow properly. The mother was trying her best to cope with all symptoms of dengue fever.

On the 5th day, her body temperature was normal. Her blood pressure was also normal. But then, she started to bleed everywhere because her thrombocyte count was very low. When the ob/gyn did the scan to see the fetus, they found out that the fetus has disappeared.
Up to present, she's still under observation in the hospital. I've been asking my brother to provide her with guava juice and guava leaves juice to help increasing her thrombocyte count.

I'm so far away from her and all I can do is praying and I would be grateful if you could pray with me for my sis-in-law's recovery.
Please do take good care of yourself and your family and keep your environment free from mosquitoes breeding ground everyday. This is one way of 'staying alert' and 'being prepared' for any life surprises one day at a time.

The Giant Maze - my life philosophy

Playing games is still one of my favorite activities to keep me occupied since I was small. I used to play games in the computer but since I have a handphone, I love to play games in my handphone because I can just use 1 hand even 1 finger to play the game so I have my other hand free to do other stuff and it is very handy. But in this post, I'm not going to talk about the games on my handphone or my favorite computer games. I'm going to discuss about how I view my life as a game player.

I always picture my life like a giant cruel maze game with me as the game player. Not only the maze has so many branches that I can choose, it also has many surprising challenges along the way that I have to face on my mission to find my way out. I'll get points whenever I win the battles but the points are only given if I do good things, fight the battles according to the rules and don't cheat. I also have to beat my opponents to be able to get out alive with respect and dignity though I'll be bruised and full of scratches everywhere. At the end of the maze my points will be calculated and there'll be an award for me, it's called Heaven. There is no limited number of trials when I fail to fight the challenges or when I hit a dead end. The only one that can be my guidance is God the almighty who has created everything and the only way to ask for guidance is by praying.

Every time I reach an important milestone in my life, I have to find my way out of a new level of maze. This new level of maze will be more complicated, has more difficult challenges and there are more opponents along the way. But in this new level of maze, I may get a partner to help me fight my way out and may get gifts when I manage to fight certain challenges. When I am lucky, I can get a partner that can work together with me in everything. We complete each other and can't be separated. If I'm lucky, I can get a partner that will support me and boost my moral spirit when I'm down or when I feel like giving up. But then my partner may not have the same fighting spirit as me and can't work with me. My partner may be a quitter or a loser. My partner may be someone that likes to cheat or break the rules. All these will pose a different level of challenges in already complicated maze I am in.

As a person, I am not a quitter. I don't like to cheat. I don't give up so easily and I'm very competitive. But I also have my weaknesses. Along the way in the maze, I have break downs and confusions. I get tired and worn out. I fall down and I am disappointed. The worst of all, my partner think that the maze I am in is too complicated. He is thinking of quitting his partnership with me so that he can work his way out alone.

But then, because I always pray for His guidance, He gives me help and pull me up again. Just like playing the games in my handphone/my computer, I always want to win and get into the next level though I know things will be more complex and more difficult. But the reward I'm going to get when I finally find my way out boost my fighting spirit higher and higher. I determine to get it.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Good morning, everyone! Selamat Pagi!

I'm back in Ipoh now from my 2-week vacation in The Philippines. But not too long, because tomorrow, I'll be heading north to Penang to celebrate Chinese New Year with my hubby's family.
It's time to pack again... :)

I really hope that Ipoh's weather will be clear today so that my cloths can dry on time. Otherwise I won't have enough cloths to bring to Penang. I brought so many dirty cloths from my 2-week vacation.

All in all, my trip to The Philippines would have been great if not because of 4-hour flight delay that I experienced on the way back to Ipoh. The worst thing, the passengers were not even informed in advance. So, my children and I had to wait for 3 hours before we found out that the flight departure time had been changed to 4 hours later.
Thank God we were travelling in business class so we had the invitation to the executive lounge. Thank God my children were behaving well while waiting for boarding.
After we landed in KLIA, we still had to continue our journey by land for another 3-hour drive to Ipoh. By the time we entered our house, it was 3.30am already. We were exhausted. My son had to skip school because he just could not wake up and he told me that his body ached.

We had 1 day to rest before we start our journey to Penang to join the exodus of Chinese New Year balik kampung. We will have to leave early from Ipoh because the traffic was already very bad on Friday.

I hope to be able to post more stories and photos for you when I return to Ipoh.

In the mean time, I would like to wish you Happy Chinese New Year. Gong Xi Fa Cai! May the year of Ox will be a great year for you all.

Trip to Manila

Since the day I landed at Ninoy Aquino Airport, Manila, The Philippines, people always speak to me in Tagalog. They thought I am Filipino. I have expected this because I do look like the Filipinos... :) especially when I introduce my self with my full name. When I'm out of my country, Indonesia, people always think I come from The Philippines. I'm fine with that. I just have to inform my nationality to people when they start to speak in Tagalog to me. They will give me a big warm smile because they also understand that the Indonesians and the Filipinos look alike. :)

I thank God for giving me the opportunity to visit Manila. I think I'm just lucky to be able to spend a 2 week-vacation here with my 2 children. It's like hitting a jackpot especially during this economic downturn.

I was very surprise to find out that Manila looks exactly the same as Jakarta, Indonesia, in almost everything, such as: the traffic jam, the people, the way of life, the transportation (they have jeepney, we have microlet. They have motorbike trishaws, we have becak (trishaw)/ojek(motorbike taxi)). It's like going back home to me. The main difference is just the language we speak. But some of the people I know in Manila know how to speak bahasa Indonesia as well. So, when they speak bahasa Indonesia to me, honestly, I completely forget that I am in The Philippines.

On this trip I don't stay in the heart of the city but in the area called Alabang. Alabang is in the south of Manila. It's about 1 hour drive from Manila with traffic jam or about 30 minutes without the jam. I'm not accustomed anymore to the hectic situation in big city like Manila. I prefer to stay out side the city where things are more in order and cleaner.

So far I have visited Manila, Santa Rosa, and Tagaytay. I can only visit Manila on the weekend since there is less traffic on the weekend. I don't like to get trapped in the long traffic jam. It's a waste of time. I personally don't really fancy visiting Manila. I went there just to visit Manila Cathedral and St. Agustine Church in Intramuros. Going to Manila to me is like going back to Jakarta. Even when I go back to Jakarta, I seldom go out of the house because of the traffic jam everywhere.

I prefer Santa Rosa and Tagaytay. Santa Rosa is on the same direction as Tagaytay. The trip to Tagaytay reminds me of my trip to Puncak (near Jakarta). Along the way to Tagaytay, I saw many people selling tropical fruits such as pineapples, bananas, manggosteens, pandan coconut, jackfruits, etc. The fruits are fantastic! I love the pineapples and the pandan coconut very much. They sell the pineapples 100 Pesos (approximately 8 Ringgit Malaysia) for 6 pineapples and 10 Pesos for 1 coconut. I also saw people selling steamed corn on the roadside.

It's very cold at Tagaytay because it is higher up the mountain (volcano actually). The soil is also very fertile. I can see the pineapples, corn, and coconut plantations along the way. The view was fantastic. I could see a small volcano inside a volcano (Taal Volcano). Too bad I did not have a chance to visit People's Park at Tagaytay.

So far things have been great. The people I met are very helpful, polite and friendly. I hope to enjoy this trip as much as I can. If I have a chance, I'll post more story for you. In the meantime, you can view the slideshow of some photos I took here in The Phillipines.

ManilaFamilyTrip

Mabuhay! Welcome!

Happy New Year everyone! How are you? How's your new year party?

It's my 1st post for the new year and it's already the 9th day. How time flies!

Since my last post, I found it extremely hard to sit down and write a blog because I've been traveling so much with my 2 children on tow. In fact, at the moment, I'm writing this blog from my room of a beautiful hotel in Manila, The Philippines.
Magandang umaga (good morning - tagalog) to you all!

The year 2008 has been great for me. I had a new addition to my family. The 1st half of the year was about preparing for the coming of this new addition and the other half of the year was about taking good care of this beautiful addition to my family to make sure she would always be healthy and happy. The 2008 was also a year for me to adapt to my new title as a mother of two children. The year has gone by so fast because I was always busy and for the first time since I moved to Malaysia 4 years ago, I had friends to hang out with. So, in 2008, I didn't spend a lot of time sitting in front of my computer all the time and looks like in 2009 I will not have much time either as 2 children will need my attention more.

2 months after I gave birth in 2008, I already went back to my traveling habit... :)
I took my 2 children going back and forth to have vacation in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. We even celebrated New Year in Kuala Lumpur watching the mirror reflection of great fireworks display from Petronas Twin Tower in our hotel room. My children are too small to join the crowd.

For my 2 month old baby, her 1st vacation was in Penang. We stayed in Park Royal hotel. It was a wonderful trip because I had a chance to relax and to swim while my husband helped me to take care the children in the children playroom. We loved to stay in this hotel. The hotel has direct access to the famous and beautiful Ferringgi beach. It serves great buffet breakfast for the guests. No wonder this hotel enjoys a high occupancy rate during the holiday seasons.

Now, at 4 months old, my baby has had her 1st flight to Manila. She was very excited. It was a new experience to her. She didn't sleep a lot during the flight. She was busy cooing and screaming. I felt sorry for other passengers who seated near us. Fortunately, the flight was not too full so most empty seats were around our seats... :)

I would love to be able to post a story from Manila but unfortunately I have to get ready to have breakfast downstair before it finishes. So, hopefully I will be able to find sometime to sit down again and write you the story.

Though I have a brand new beautiful laptop now, it doesn't guarantee me of being able to use it. I love my new laptop by the way. It's Lenovo 3000 G230. My son uses my laptop more than I do. At 4 years old, he is very skillful in using a computer. He even knows how to go to youtube! He loves to watch fireworks shows and his favorite children shows in youtube. I always have to monitor him when he's in front of the computer.

I pray so that every one will have a great year this year. It will be a year full of hardwork and determination to survive this economic downturn. No one is immune to it.

Season's Greeting

It's been and it will be a very busy and hectic weeks to end this year. So, while I have a chance to visit the www, I would like to wish you all "Merry Christmas 2008" and "Happy New Year 2009".
Thank you very much for your support and for visiting my blog. I wish you all the best things in the coming year.

I try my best to update my blog as often as I can. So, keep visiting this blog.

Important parenting rule

Before I start to write anything about the above, I would like to apologize for 'eloping' quite sometime... :) I rarely get a chance to use the computer now that my little boy knows how to go to his favorite websites and I don't have a lot of time to sit in front of the computer alone to do my work. So now that my babies are asleep, I want to use this time to write at least 1 post.

For the past 2 weeks, I have been in a mission of trying my best to become a good person. I am also trying my best to be patient and to control my emotion well. All these because I was very concerned about my sweet little boy who would change to be a little monster just to get my attention. He would scream so loud until he lost his voice when ever he did not get what he wanted or when ever he felt guilty.
I know that I only have myself to blame for what he became... :( I have forgotten the most important parenting rule that CHILDREN LEARN BY EXAMPLE.
I have forgotten that children are just like sponges who absorb everything they hear and see.
So, when I see my son screaming very loudly to get my attention, I actually see myself in doing that. I did raise my voice and scream at him to get him to listen to me when ever he really got into my nerve. Other family members followed what I did when they wanted him to listen to them. So, he got people yelling at him all the time.

I did know that I should not do that because he would do exactly like that to me or to any one. But then it is easier to say than to do. I still did that until one day, at a mall, he screamed at the top of his lung from one end to another because he was feeling guilty and also because he was afraid that his father would scream at him. So, he screamed first until he really lost his voice for a week.
The sound of his screaming pierced my ears and my heart. It 'knocked' my head so hard that I promised myself to STOP screaming and yelling at him immediately. I have to change my attitude if I want my son to change his. It has to start from me and it should start immediately before it is too late.

So, since that day on, I have been trying my best to give good example for my son to learn without any force. He would be able to see that mommy is able to control her emotion, her tone, and her voice because I realize that I could not ask him to control his anger when at the same time I was shouting angrily at him.
I also ask the help from my family members to stop shouting at him and to change their attitude first before they expect him to do the same.

Whenever he starts to raise his voice, I will tell him softly that it is not necessary to raise voice because when he speaks softly, mommy will be able to understand what he says clearly. This does work perfectly. So far things are getting better. My son is my sweet little boy again. I have great time with him.

It is very very important indeed to remember all the time the most important parenting rule: children learn by example.
Every thing starts from me. If I do not want my son to be a monster, then I should not be a monster either.
Thank you God for reminding me before it is too late.

New experience at Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur

Di tahun-tahun yang lalu, setiap kali saya harus berurusan dengan KBRI di Kuala Lumpur adalah mimpi buruk bagi saya. Saya merasa sangat malas dan takut untuk datang kesana karena keadaan di kedubes yang super semrawut, kotor, bau, penuh asap rokok, dan selalu penuh sesak. Terutama setiap kali saya harus menghantar pembantu saya untuk segala urusan dengan KBRI, saya tidak punya pilihan dan harus membawa anak saya ikut serta.

Dari Ipoh, kami harus datang pagi-pagi sekali untuk mengantri. Biasanya kami tiba di muka pintu KBRI sekitar pukul 7.30 pagi dan mengantri berdesak-desakan menunggu pintu kedubes dibuka pada pukul 9 pagi. Orang banyak sudah antri lebih pagi dari saya. Ada yang datang pukul 4 pagi agar dapat tempat antri paling depan. Mana bisa saya datang pukul 4 pagi karena saya harus naik kereta api dari Ipoh pukul 2 pagi dan baru tiba di stasiun sentral Kuala Lumpur pukul 7 pagi. Tidak tega hati saya melihat keadaan anak saya yang terpaksa ikut mengantri. Dia kecapekan, kepanasan dan merasa sangat bosan. Tapi apa boleh buat. Pembantu saya tidak bisa mengerjakan semuanya sendiri karena dia tidak pandai berbahasa Indonesia (pembantu saya orang Kalimantan yang tidak pernah berbahasa Indonesia di kampungnya) dan sering kali urusan malah tambah panjang dan runyam.

Kebanyakan orang Indonesia yang datang ke KBRI di KL adalah untuk memperpanjang paspor. Antrian untuk hal ini sangat panjang dan membutuhkan waktu yang sangat lama untuk mendapatkan paspornya. Jadi mereka harus datang lagi dan mengantri lagi, menunggu nama mereka dipanggil. Saat itu saya dan pembantu saya belum perlu membuat paspor baru. Tetapi tetap saja kami harus mengantri diantrian yang sama dan menunggu nama dipanggil di loket yang sama dengan pembuatan paspor baru. Saya tidak berani memikirkan bagaimana kalau saya/pembantu saya harus membuat paspor baru.

Tapi saya tidak punya pilihan ketika saya benar-benar harus membuat paspor baru karena paspor saya sudah mendekati habis masa berlakunya. Saya pusing tujuh keliling dan tidak bisa tidur memikirkan hal ini apalagi anak saya 2 yang harus saya bawa dan yang satunya masih bayi 2.5 bulan. Saya ribut terus dengan suami yang meskipun bukan orang Indonesia dia juga tahu keadaan yang tidak menyenangkan itu. Dia malas menemani saya ke KBRI. Saya benar-benar hampir putus asa dan memilih untuk pulang ke Indonesia saja untuk memperbarui paspor. Tetapi masalahnya, bayi saya tidak bisa ditinggal karena dia minum ASI dan tak ada orang lain lagi yang bisa mengurusnya selain saya. Lagipula, dia belum dibuatkan paspor Malaysia.

Dengan segala harapan agar bisa mendapatkan informasi yang bisa membuat saya tenang, saya kunjungi website KBRI di KL (http://www.kbrikl.org.my). Meski sebelumnya saya sudah mendapatkan informasi melalui telepon, tetap saja saya tidak terlalu percaya bahwa pembuatan paspor hanya butuh waktu 1 hari. Masalahnya, yang datang ke KBRI setiap harinya bisa ribuan orang. Saya begitu gembira ketika saya membaca informasi di website KBRI. Semenjak KBRI dipimpin oleh duta besar yang baru, semua sistem diperbarui dan diperbaiki. Sekarang semua urusan memiliki tahap-tahap yang jelas. Proses pengurusan pun sangat cepat dan transparan. Yang sangat membuat saya gembira adalah informasi bahwa pembuatan paspor hanya membutuhkan waktu 3 jam! 3 jam! Wow!

Website KBRI pun berubah total. Saya bisa mendapatkan informasi, men-download dan mengeprint sendiri formulir-formulir yang saya butuhkan. Bahkan diinformasikan di website bahwa sekarang keadaan di KBRI di KL tidak semrawut lagi karena sudah memakai sistem nomor dan tidak perlu mengantri berjam-jam lagi.
Saat itu juga, saya beritakan hal ini kepada suami saya. Dia masih tidak percaya. Tetapi dia bersedia mengantar saya. Dia ingin agar kami berangkat hari itu juga selekasnya agar segala urusan selesai lebih awal. Jadilah Selasa yang lalu saya sekeluarga menginap di Kuala Lumpur selama 2 malam. Perjalanan dari Ipoh ke Kuala Lumpur memakan waktu sekitar 2.5 jam lewat Lebuh Raya Utara-Selatan. Tetapi berhubung saya membawa bayi saya yang berusia 2.5 bulan, kami harus berhenti sekejap untuk memberi ASI dan untuk buang air kecil di area peristirahatan Tapah.

Keesokan harinya saya tiba di KBRI pukul 10 pagi. Saya sudah membawa dokumen lengkap dan fomulir yang sudah saya isi dari rumah. Saya tidak melihat antrian panjang lagi. Saya langsung masuk melalui pintu 1 (dulu melalui pintu 2) untuk ambil nomor. Begitu mendapat nomor, mata saya terbelalak. Saya dapat nomor 3001 untuk kategori pembuatan paspor baru 48 halaman dan ketika saya masuk ruangan, saya lebih terbelalak lagi karena nomor tertinggi yang sedang dilayani adalah nomor 2201. Jadi ada 800 orang di depan saya! Alamak! Jam berapa saya akan selesai? Tetapi KBRIKL yang sekarang benar-benar telah berubah. Ada banyak sekali loket kaca transparan yang melayani kami dan setiap orang dilayani dengan profesional, ramah dan cepat. Yang menunggu duduk di kursi tidak boleh merokok karena ruangan berAC. Ruangan tunggu pun teratur dan bersih.

Setelah menunggu sekitar 1 jam, akhirnya nomor saya pun dipanggil. Saat saya sedang dilayani, seorang pejabat tinggi KBRI sedang memonitor situasi dan berhenti di loket saya untuk meminta pendapat saya mengenai sistem pelayanan KBRI yang sudah diperbaiki. Saya katakan bahwa saya sangat senang dengan perubahan totalnya. Beliau mengatakan bahwa sistem pelayanan masih tetap harus diperbaiki agar lebih sempurna lagi dalam melayani rakyat Indonesia di Malaysia. Wow! Saya bangga sekali mendengar hal tersebut. Saya salut dengan semangat baru KBRI KL. Setelah membayar 88 Ringgit, saya menunggu untuk dipanggil lagi. Sekitar 1 jam berikutnya, saya sudah mendapatkan paspor baru. Jadi total waktu pemrosesan adalah 2 jam pada hari yang sama! Wow! Ini benar-benar rekor terbaik dan tercepat yang pernah saya alami untuk perbarui paspor RI. Saya sudah 3 kali memperbarui paspor dan semuanya saya lakukan di KBRI dan KBRI KL lah yang tercepat. Syabas!Selamat atas perombakan drastis yang dilakukan di KBRI KL!

Sekarang berurusan dengan KBRI KL bukan mimpi buruk lagi buat saya.Tetapi lebih baik lagi kalau saya yang tinggal di Ipoh ini boleh memilih di mana saya ingin membuat paspor baru karena saat ini saya hanya boleh membuat paspor baru di KBRI KL, padahal dari tempat saya tinggal lebih dekat ke Konjen RI di Penang. Konjen RI di Penang tidak mau melayani karena Ipoh ada dibawah naungan KBRI KL. Kalau database dibuat link ke semua Konjen di Malaysia, rakyat Indonesia di Malaysia bisa memilih datang ke KBRI KL atau ke Konjen terdekat untuk menyelesaikan urusan mereka. Load di KBRI KL pun bisa dibagi ke Konjen jadi KBRI bisa lebih mudah memonitor dan membantu orang Indonesia di Malaysia. Begitu saja saran dari saya... :)

What a wonderful day

Another Halloween has just passed and still there was no children knocking on my door for a trick or treat because in Malaysia, Halloween is not a big thing. It is not easy to find some Halloween party supplies and props.

It didn't really matter to me because on Halloween day, I have something more important to celebrate; my journey to motherhood.

This year, I reached 4 years of motherhood. It's nothing, I know. I still have to learn a lot more especially now that there has been a new addition to the family since 2 months ago. I'm learning to manage my time properly and to multitask effectively so that I can be a more efficient mother. My children do not have to worry about my love for them. It's multiplied instead of divided. So, each child gets even more love.

It's proven to be not easy to be an efficient mother when things are really unpredictable with children. It took me a full week of multitasking to prepare the best party to celebrate my son's birthday and to celebrate my 4th year of motherhood. This was for the 1st time we invited our family and friends to join the celebration since we moved in to Peninsular Malaysia. I had to work with 1 hand because my other hand would carry my baby and breastfeed at the same time; shopping, preparing the goody bags for children, baking the birthday cake, decorating the house, cooking 2 dishes, preparing the video, and of course taking care my husband and children.
I also had to do some time management for my maid so that she could work efficiently to help me to prepare the party with cleaning up the house and cooking the other 2 dishes.
Since our apartment is tiny, we could invite 4 families only.
I was extremely busy until the last minute before our guests arrived. My maid couldn't bother to help me because she had to make sure the food was ready in time. My husband was still in the office having a very important meeting. So, yeah...when the guests came, I was still running around the house chasing my son with my baby screaming loudly asking for some milk. I really had no time to even catch my breath.

Thank God all my hard work was finally paid off. The guests were happy with our food and my son and I had a blast. My son was the happiest boy in the world that night for he got so many birthday presents. It was such a wonderful day for everyone.

Time flies. 4 years have passed and my son is going to grow bigger and bigger everyday. I still remember clearly the day when I heard him crying for the first time just out of my womb. It's still fresh in my memory how I struggled to be a 1st time mother all alone far away from my family. I still can recall easily how my friends became my immediate family since the day I found out I was pregnant. It's been 4 years and things have become better and better everyday. I never regret to be a mother. It is the most wonderful title a person could ever have. I love my children very much.
The love makes things possible and it works like caffeine for me when my spirit is down. It keeps me going when the goings get tougher.

For my beloved son: Happy 4th birthday!
For my self: Welcome to the more complicated world of motherhood!
Bring it on!! :D

Can I breastfeed?

My 4 years old son loves his little sister very much. He will be very proud every time mommy asks his help to change his baby sister's dirty nappy or get her pillow and bolsters. He even reminds me from time to time if I have changed baby's nappy or not. He'll ask if I have taken baby for a bath. Whenever his baby sister cries, he'll run and try his best to talk to her and comfort her by gently pat her hand and caressing her hair while saying, "Don't cry, baby! It's ok. Mommy will come soon. Don't worry!"

He also never fails to notice that every time his baby sister cries, mommy will pick her up and breastfeed her. As he is one curious boy, he always comes up to me and throws me with so many questions about why baby drinks milk from mommy's breasts.

One day, he saw his grandfather carrying his baby sister and the baby was crying. He asked his grandfather to breastfeed baby quickly. I told him that grandpa can't breastfeed baby and he asked me why because he saw that grandpa has big breasts just like mommy's... :D I had to explain to him why grandpa can't breastfeed the baby but apparently, my explanation was not enough because on a different day, I saw him running and quickly opening up his t-shirt and wanted to breastfeed his baby sister when he heard his sister cried. I couldn't help laughing and I quickly tried my best to explain to him that he wouldn't be able to breastfeed the baby because he is a boy just like his grandpa. I told him that only mommy can breastfeed the baby. He argued that he also has breasts same like mommy. I told him that his breasts can't produce milk like mommy's breasts. Then he asked me to quickly fill the milk to his breasts so that his breasts can have milk to give to baby. Wha..ha..ha... :D

He was so determined to breastfeed his baby sister. He thinks every one can breastfeed the baby including him. I asked him why he wanted to breastfeed. He told me that he loves his baby sister and wanted her to stop crying. He also wanted to see his baby sister to grow bigger just like him because mommy also gave breast milk to him last time when he was small (I successfully breastfed my son for 15 months). He remembered what I told him... :)

Even my son knows that breast milk is the best for his baby sister. If he can, he would love to give his baby sister the best food/drink in the world. I hope you do know it too. Give the best for your baby! Breast milk it is. It's free. It's convenient and very portable. It's readily available anytime with the right temperature, and no chemical added. So, you don't have to worry about contamination or tainted milk.

I've been breastfeeding my 2nd baby for nearly 2 months now and I hope to continue as long as she wants. The result so far is this:









Note: I'm very happy to know that many of the people I know have chosen to breastfeed their babies. So far my campaign of breastfeeding is showing positive effects.

Got the blues?

Yes, I did get the baby blues 4 years ago after I gave birth to my 1st child. I got it from the 2nd day after my son was born up to a week afterward. I got so frustrated, irritated, exhausted, and felt sad most of the time. I even cried every night for a week. Thank God I had such wonderful midwife and friends who were willing to go extra miles to save me from going into deep depression, and of course, the Plunket nurses were always available to pick up my midnight calls and talked to me about anything just to make me feel better.

Oh well, who wouldn't get baby blues if you were in my situation at that time. I was in my final year facing my last final examination when I had to give birth just a day before my final exam. I was a first time mother, knew nothing about motherhood and breastfeeding, all alone in a foreign land thousand miles away from my husband and family, haven't had a good night sleep for weeks because I studied hard to prepare for my final exam and never expected that the baby would come 2 weeks earlier. On top of that, I had to pack and to prepare all by myself to go back to Malaysia for good. I really had no time to rest physically and mentally. I never knew that having a baby was such a stressful experience not only because I had no experience at all, but also because of the hormonal upheaval that occurred in my body.

The blues hit me so hard it made me cried every night and felt so helpless and lonely. I felt sad all the time I found myself begging my newborn to give me a chance to rest and to sleep. I needed someone to talk to but not easy to find someone available and who was willing to listen to my woes. Even the people very close to me just couldn't understand why I cried all the time when I should be happy with the presence of my baby. Not everyone can understand about the baby blues especially if you never give birth before. They may think that it is just an excuse for first time mother especially, to cover up her inability to take care her newborn. So, instead of getting support that she needs it the most, she gets more difficult challenges to deal with these people who don't understand what she is going through. She'll feel even down and she can go into deep depression.

I read an article about baby blues written by DR Nor Ashikin Mokhtar in the Star newspaper. You can read the full article here: http://thestar.com.my/health/story.asp?file=/2008/9/21/health/2043971&sec=health
Do read the full article, especially for those who never give birth because it contains very good information on emotional reactions after giving birth.

According to the article, there are 3 types of emotional reactions to childbirth:

1. Postpartum Blues or Baby blues
2. Postnatal Depression
3. Puerperal Psychosis (the most serious postpartum emotional condition)
   

It is very important for mother who suffers from any of these emotional reactions to get full support emotionally and physically from her support persons, her family, and her friends.

Since I have experienced baby blues before, during my 2nd pregnancy my ob/gyn and his staff had to monitor my mental state throughout the pregnancy until after I gave birth to my 2nd child. They had to make sure that I had enough rest and they also informed my support person (my husband in this case) about the blues and asked him to give his full support so that I wouldn't get postnatal depression or even worst the puerperal psychosis.

So, my husband did anything he could to support me until I gave a green light for him to leave me when his duty called. I felt so much better on my 2nd childbirth because I already know what to do and what to expect when my baby is born. I've learned many tricks to handle my newborn as well. I don't think I experience baby blues this time but unfortunately, there is another type of blues I experience though; it's the maid blues, which is caused by...you know who...Gosh!! She's been nothing but trouble to me... : (

After the birth

I have about 30 minutes to update my blog before my little girl starts to scream for some breast milk. So I'm going to type very fast and hopefully I won't make too many grammatical errors.

It's been nearly a month since I gave birth to my 2nd child. So far I have been trying my best to observe the confinement period which I find it really hard to follow because this is my 1st time observing the confinement period. When I had my 1st baby, I didn't even know that there is a confinement period after giving birth. So, I decided to follow the rules of confinement period this time so that I can feel a little bit better. During the confinement period, I have to eat food that is cooked with generous amount of old ginger and sesame oil to expel the wind from my body. I am new to this confinement period so I don't really follow exactly what I have to do or what I'm not allowed to do such as not bathing and washing hair for a month. I definitely can't do this. I find it very unhygienic and I feel sorry for my newborn if I smell stink because she has to drink milk from my breasts. I cannot stay at home all the time either because I have to drive my son to school, run errands, and do groceries shopping with my newborn on tow everywhere I go since my hubby has gone to accept his overseas assignment as soon as I 'look' and 'sound' fine. She even had to follow me to fix my car flat tire.

I found an article about confinement period that is written by my favorite writer, Lydia Teh here: http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/3321/win14c.htm
and more tips about confinement period here: http://jamumassage.com/motherhood-blog/tips-new-moms-during-confinement-period

Time is very precious to me now that I have to take care 2 children simultaneously. If I am lucky, I will have 30 minutes to an hour of free time and I have to decide what to do to make the best of that free time. I have to choose whether I should catch up with my sleep, or take shower, or eat, or browse the internet. My baby doesn't like me to carry her in 1 arm while I type using the other hand. My boy will scream so loud also if I use the computer more than an hour because he wants to play games in Playhouse Disney website.

I'm still learning to be a mother of 2 children. My son is also still trying to accept the fact that now mommy has to run for the baby first whenever baby screams for breast milk. Not an easy thing to accept for sure. He has been showing tantrums and bad mood whenever mommy attends to his baby sister. If my husband is around, things will be easier for my son and me because then daddy can spend time with him while mommy takes care of baby sister.

Anyway, time is up for me. I have to post this quickly before my son presses any button on the keyboard because he has been waiting to use this computer. I hope I'll be able to steal more time to post more stories on my blog.

My bundles of joy

Finally, the wait is over.

The latest addition to our family was born last week at 7.45pm after 8 hours of labor at exactly 39 weeks. Our beautiful baby girl was 3.72kg and 53 cm when she was born.
There were 7 other babies who were born on the same day and she was the biggest one.

Nothing couldn't be more perfect that day to bring her out to this world. God had the best plan ever for me to deliver the baby; the father was there filming the birth process, the ob/gyn was there handling everything very professionally and my request for epidural was right on time too. Other than the unbearable tremendous pain that I had to go through after being induced, everything else was such a wonderful experience for me and for my husband.

The only person that was not able to share this happy moment that day was my 1st child. He had to stay at home the whole day and didn't have a chance to see mommy since morning. He cried so much on the phone wanting to see me when I was in the middle of labor. The last time he saw mommy was in the morning when mommy sent him to school. He missed his mommy and didn't understand why mommy had to stay long in the hospital. Only the next afternoon he was able to visit mommy and saw his baby sister for the first time. He grinned from left to right and hugged mommy so tightly while declaring, "I love my baby sister!"