perfect weekends!

I had a forthnight meeting with my supervisor on Friday afternoon, and these words pop out from his mouth "siti, u have to take care of yourself!"

I know! must be my swollen and barely openned eyes. I hardly sleep at night these days. Aliya has started to sleep longer at night so I thought it is a perfect time for me to study. It is. But unfortunately with little sleep everyday my mind couldn't function well towards the end of the week that I even forgot to bring Aliya's book during visit to a clinic for her 3 months vaccination. I am thankful to my husband who has helped a lot. and I am thankful to my Aliya too..for making me happy despite the tiring day and pressure from study. It came to my mind that Allah gave me Aliya not to make it more difficult to study due to all the responsibilities that come along, but to make it easier by being happier! Thank you Allah.

~ Our happy little family ~


and the weekends came. PERFECT!!

I had a long good sleep! On Sunday morning after subuh prayer, my hubby asked "nak ikut tak gi tangkap ikan?".."Yeah, lets watch the sunrise"..I said. So off we went to the place, called kaiapoi. It was cold, but I managed to get few shots :D






Oh, anyway, On Thursday Aliya went to Plunket, a provider of child care in NZ. Aliya now weighs 6 kgs at 61 cm tall. We were treated well by the lady. At mid 40s, she is doing well with her job. I observe same thing whenever I go in this country - no matter what they work as, these people do great job. They are proud with their job. Be it a cleaner. Because a clean office provides good working environment for other people. This must be the reason.

Wouldn't it be great if we can be like em too!

I am a worker too. I teach. So I must teach well. Only then my students can do great job. See, great job makes another great job! (haha, I like that phrase!).

and here's Plunket's cutest baby of the day:

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Dear nenet...

Dear nenet,

Hi nenet. How are you nenet? How about atot? mak lam? mak long? pak long? kembang? (abes semua nak sebut)

Yaya is fine here. Yaya likes it here. Yaya sleeps well at nite. Everyday babah brings yaya out. Sometimes we go buy chicken. sometimes fruits. Mama goes to school but she comes back when yaya is thirsty. After school mama brings yaya out. We watch people play freebie.

But yaya misses nenet..and atot too..and mak lam too..everyone..oh Kembang too. Yaya loves sleeping with nenet. Yaya sorry nenet that sometimes yaya woke nenet up at night when yaya couldn't sleep. perot masok angin. hihi

nenet..happy birthday to you~~~~ Yaya prays to Allah may nenet always be in good health, always happy, always be my nenet. Thank you for taking care of yaya when yaya was in Maleisia (salah eja keke). Nenet don't worry..Yaya will be back. because yaya wants to eat nenek's chicken porridge! hihi.

See you again nenet. Till then, nenet and atot take care ok. Tata.

Sincerely yours,
yaya atau apo?

picture: me and my nenet :D

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A few little things that means BIG!

I didn't make any resolution on new year's eve this year. No particular reason.

Yesterday I read a book by Mohammad Fauzil Adhim, one of Indonesian best authors (esp in parenting). I am not a bookworm. I am very picky. But this book really really did attract me the first time I saw it. I skimmed through and read first few pages at the bookstore. He wrote it nicely at first glance...and the content seems perfect. It says "Saat berharga Untuk Anak kita" on the cover.



Indeed it is a perfect book. Just imagine, I was reading only the first few pages yesterday when I got so enlightened to become a great mother. So I grabbed a paper and colorful pens and wrote this:



My resolutions for this year! Belated.

I remember about 10 years ago I wrote on my wall at school, something like: "must get 9A1 in SPM insyaAllah" (back then the max subjects taken was 10 and I took only 9. I was gonna take an extra subject but I was demotivated by a 'friend' who said that it would be hard for me, and I mistakenly listened to her. I was surprised when my classmate could easily get an A1 for that extra subject I should have taken. Since then I never listen to those negators!). Know what happen the first time I sticked it on my wall? I was laughed at. She said she wouldn't write that, because the shame of not being able to accomplish that is unbearable. True. But, what happen at the end? I got 9A1 and she didn't. Conclusion: believe in yourself!

Well I know for many people those little things mean little. But considering my current condition as a student, a wife, and a mother of 2 months old baby who is fully dependent on her parents...those little things mean really BIG. In fact I have many many other things I want to do everyday. I want to be a writer. I consider it as my 2nd job in future. I don't want to be typical lecturer, doing and contributing nothing outside the academic world.

But there is only 24 hours in a day. Breastfeeding alone takes about 30 mins each time, and she is hungry every 2 hours on average,..how many hours do I have left for all other stuff minus breastfeeding? Do the math! AND there is also certain limit to the amount of energy we have. So I am going to be realistic, hence the short list.

Yes, it is indeed a good book. It tells me that no matter how busy, how tired I am, I must make time for my yaya (aside from changing nappies, bath, breastfeeding etc). I would come home early to first feed her, then take her for an evening walk. Seeing her big eyes looking at the flowers, all my headache from school goes away.

Because she would be a baby only once in her life!

As time goes by, she'll grow and become more and more independent that one day she'll do everything on her own. And when that time comes, what can I do for her? I'll be almost unneeded. Sad but true!

I AM busy with my study stuff, yet I don't want to regret it later that I didn't spend time for her. Some people think that we can start doing that later (say when the child is 4 years old) but hello, remember the word 'bonding'? It has to start since the time the baby arrives in this world!

It is really a good book. Go get one!

Anyways, today is our 2nd anniversary :D :D Yes, it is a perfect time for making a resolution hehe.

Dear my beloved hubby, happy 2nd anniversary. May God bless our family with happiness in good times and hard times...and all time. Amin. I love you. I love our family. you + me + yaya + more to come hehe!



Oh, look at her chearful smile :D

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wanted: part time superheroin

We are finally back in Christchurch, NZ. Not 2, but 3 of us..hehe. We are glad that Aliya seems to like her new place. Knowing my manja daughter who usually likes to be hold, I am so relieved that she got no problem seating on her own in her car seat. Good girl! (I guess I haven't known her enough)...It was funny when we first put her in the car seat...she didn't dare to move her hands an inch! Oh, I really really like the expression on her face when she and her babah sent me to school on Friday. Seating calmly in her car seat, with her 'all grown up' attitude...the look was like saying "OK mama, time to study..blajar rajin2" haha! Oh I really really love it!

It took us few days to settle down. We arrived in Christchurch on Monday but we were still busy cleaning up the house on Thursday. Well, the house wasn't that messy..but I guess the time has finally come to reveal the real me --> I am a part time superheroin! haha! I was gonna have a meeting with my supervisor on Friday morning, but until about 2 am I haven't had the chance to do some preparation I had in mind. I got so tired that I couldn't do any work related to my study, yet I couldn't sleep worrying and thinking too much about the meeting. Double losses for me!

"Mengaku kelemahan diri tapi jangan mengaku kalah pada kelemahan itu"...my husband told me, trying to make me felt better.

I really like that sentence (hence the entry) and he was right. 'Mengaku kelemahan diri' is acknowledging our limitation. I am not a superwoman. I can't work continuously for the whole day. Getting tired after such physical work is logical. By doing this ('mengaku kelemahan diri'), we could release the pressure of trying to do beyond our limitation. In my case, initially I was planning to get this 'she's doing a great job' look on my supervisor's face. I impatiently wanted him to know the research idea I have in mind. I was gonna have it written out nicely. But it stressed me out. Because I didn't have any energy left. But hubby said that I could just explain to him the idea and then say "I am sorry, actually I wanted to document this well but I didn't have the time yet since I just got back and was so busy cleaing up my house". Would he be mad? No. Was I still be able to impress him? Yes. See..by 'mengaku kelemahan diri'..I was still able to get his good impression on me despite not having to do the writing I initially planned. And I wasn't stressed out anymore after hubby taught me this. Double victories for me! hooreyy ~ tq abam

BUT

Beware of the misconception on this...hence the latter 'tapi jangan mengaku kalah pada kelemahan itu'. Some people use the limitation as an excuse, but in a wrong way, where it leads to not doing the best they could otherwise be doing. Saying like "apa nak buat, ni je yang boleh.." with that loser look...urgh! people do have limitation...but the question remains "have they done enough given their limitation and circumstances?" We must know our limitation, yet we should try our best with what we've got:

"Mengaku kelemahan diri tapi jangan mengaku kalah pada kelemahan itu".

lesson learnt.

Oh anyway yesterday we went to a lovely place called Mona Vale to get few shots of our lovely Yaya. Here's some pics:

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