Introducing .... Baby No 4

My fourth bundle of joy arrived on May 10 2010 at 7.51pm. Her name is Khadijah and she weighed 3.47kg. Alhamdulillah it was an easy birth although the induction process caused some pretty strong (and painful) contractions.

The whole first week of May I was experiencing light contractions or some doctors call it Braxton Hicks so I waited patiently for the labour process to begin but it never did. Najihah was the only baby where I experienced a natural labour process and so I thot' it could be the same for this baby. But after a week it still did not take place and I knew at my next check the doctor would ask me to take the baby out.

Therefore might as well choose a date and we chose May 10, a day after Mother's Day and a nice number too. 10/5/10. Besides, I was ready than ever to have her born.

Introducing ..... Khadijah:

She is today 4 days old and what is she like so far? She has quite a temper, rather impatient little baby. I have not seen her smile only cry. And when she cries she does not start slow like babies usually do but hits the max level immediately.

She finally fell asleep here after a fitful of crying for milk. She is hungry most of the time for milk. How are the kids taking her? They love her, even Ali, who starts well with kissing and stroking her head lovingly befor he goes for the prodding and pressing. NOTE: DO NOT LEAVE ALI ALONE WITH KHADIJAH.

I have not taken many pictures of Khadijah yet. We are still setlling in and getting used to a rather topsy turvy sleep pattern. As my friends say, sleepless in Ara has begun.

My friends dropped by the hospital and this is Zaidah who last held her own baby 7 years ago. In this picture Khadijah looks so much like Ali. She looks different everyday and guess we have to wait and see who she looks after but she has a bit of each of her siblings in her.

These are all her godmothers! Zaidah, Hazleen, Shikin, Sherie and Jami. I think there are more godmothers.

Please stay tuned for more pictures.

AUTOGRAPH --- You Got???

Look what I got!!! My friend Anis was at the recent F1 race early this month and she met him. Yes the great King himself, SHAH RUKH KHAN!!!

She got a picture of him and a signed autograph for herself. And one for me as well!!!!

It is not very big here lah but I have it. Well too bad I didn't get to physically see him in the flesh but oh well, a signed autograph is more than I could hope for. Thank you so much Anis!

I am sure a day will come when I get to see him in the flesh .....

My Aishah

This is a story about my younger sister Aishah. She is 10 years younger than me, yes a very wide age gap indeed but she is my best friend and very, very dear to me. We don't live in the same house anymore since I got married but we are still as close as ever.

She is a sound engineer with Hot FM and works very hard I must say. I don't get to see her everyday like when she was studying but knowing that she is just a phone call or an SMS away is always a comfort.

Aishah is a very independent person and very strong headed too. After she returned from her studies in Melbourne she got an idea in her head that wants to live there. With this idea she saved money (she is quite good at that I must add), and has been working towards that goal.

About a month ago, she got news that she finally got her PR which she applied for some few years back. She did not get it for Melbourne but for Adelaide which suits her just fine.

Of course I am happy for her as this is what she wants for herself and what she has been working for since she started work. But honestly, I hate to see her go. I feel like I will lose a very very big part of me. I know, it is not like I will never see her again or we can't go visit or she won't come back for a holiday. I also know there is such sophisticated technology these days -- the internet, Skype, YM and what not.

But it is not the same. It is knowing that she is far away and it is not as easy as saying Please come over and she will be at my doorstep. Sigh! I wonder how my mother feels. Sad too I guess. Of course we will worry, that is what people who love each other do right? Worry ....

These photos were from my recent Baby Shower. Aishah brought me to the secret location and as you can see I was overwhelmed with feelings. She has been here with me through many moments in my life, and I know she will be here for many more to come. But when you are far away how much can you actually physically share. I am sorry if I am being too emotional here (my friends say it's the hormones) but this is my little sister we are talking about. My shoulder to cry on and my shoulder for laughter too. Not only that, she is my little miss fix it round the house too (hehehehe).

I wish you well Aishah, in all your future undertakings. And you know that I will be here for you no matter what. I will miss you terribly and only you know how I feel without having you near me. You are my friend, my confidante, my all and of course my little sister...

My Baby Shower

I am now well into my 35th week. Of course am anxiously counting the days and weeks for when the baby wants to come out. Only because am getting rather heavy. I guess being at this stage of pregnancy is the best time for a baby shower.

I have never experienced a baby shower before. Have only read about it in books and magazines, as well as seen it on Hollywood movies. My friends and I had organised one for the first time last year for our good friend Elona who lives in Jakarta.

This time it was my turn for a baby shower and what a wonderful surprise it was indeed. First of all, you can probably guess the sex of the baby from all the pictures so there is no hiding that anymore! I was only told to keep the day free and roughly the time I was required to be available.

Shake, the mastermind, had planned all the details with her committee (whoever you are, good job!!) and with Aishah as she was designated driver for me. Aishah said before going to Hazleen's house (I was informed the event would be held there) she had to go see her agent in KL first.

The best part is when we got there to the Hotel, I told Aishah I would wait in the car. She insisted I come down and we went up to the poolside. Just as I was about to ask her what is your agent doing at the pool side, I was greeted by SURPRISE from my friends!!! As I hugged and kised my friends, of course lah tears popped from my eyes. Such an emo I am!


They dressed me up in a banner that said "Mom To Be" and pinned a corsage on me made up of a cute baby shoe and pacifier. Really Shake .... the details you go into. I officically appoint you EVENT MANAGER for all occasions!

Everyone was just as excited as me I think! We had a good laugh at how surprised I was and quickly got into the groove of things.

Beautiful pink and purple cupcakes. It looked so pretty nobody really wanted to touch them but when we finally did, it was delicious.

This is me with all my hostess'. Apparently not all invited could come. Sorry I missed all my other good friends including my two BFF's who could not make it. It was a really memorable occasion and I want to take this opportunity to say thank you from the very bottom of my heart. I really appreciate it.

This is the main table. Love the details taken. Even the pink and white fork and spooons did not go unnoticed. Like a little girl's dream come true.

The theme was pink and white so everyone was dressed to it too. This is Sherie and Elo ...

Jami and Hazleen ....

Sophie and Suzana ...

Zaidah and Rafiza ....

Oh ya! We had champagne too .... it was HALAL ok! And tasted fuzzy. A cross between apple and grape juice.

We had games. This was fun. They were blindfolded and had to guess where my tummy was.

There were more games it seems but we got tired faster than expected so we cut out the last 2 games.

This is them guessing where my tummy was. Some even pointed at my face and shoulders. What a laugh!

The main table ... pretty isn't it!

The winners of the first game.

Another one for the album! Love the theme colour. Guess it is also no secret my favourite colour is pink.

They showered me and the baby with presents. Thank you for all the lovely gifts!

This is a nice shot. The poolside is an open area and when we took this shot the sun decided to come out. The ceiling had bamboo sticks lined up thus the reflection.

They made me give a speech which I did not want to cause I knew I would end up in tears. I managed to say thank you, wipe my eyes and try bestest to go on. I don't know what I said now, can't remember. But I hope you all know how much I appreciate the surprise and efforts you all took. It will be an occasion I will remember fondly always.

Can you imagine, there were even doorgifts! It was coin banks with pacifiers stuck to it!

And we went home with a photo frame on a giraffe stuff toy!

Pretty in Pink!

All in all, I had a great and wonderful time. Thank you to everyone of you for such a memorable occasion. I hope to one day do something as nice, if not nicer, for anyone of you in future. Love you all ...

My name is Khan

I watched the movie and enjoyed it. It was a much awaited movie for me as it has been a whole year since the King came out with a new movie and it was good. A very different kind of Hindi movie and didn't have the usual love sequels. It was also nice to see him acting along side Kajol. Always thought they worked well together.

A movie that takes viewers on a journey of love: Rizwan Khan's journey.Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) suufers from a kind of Autism, which makes him very different from other people. While some find him endearing, others think he is rude. He meets a single mom, Mandira (Kajol) and ...

Sounds like the usual plot but now. It was like a cross between Forrest Gump and Rain Man. It did have the expected elements of rain but no tree dancing and no train also. So that does not make it a regular Hindi movie rite!

And of course SRK is as good looking as ever, even in his 40s. Oh yes! Aishah was in New Delhi recently and she bought me the coffee table book ... SRK pages after pages of him. Ahhhhhh ......

Kok Lanta During Dusk

We found this really nice restaurant at the tip of Kok Lanta. It was ideally called Beautiful Restaurant and the sign claimed you will enjoy the most scenic view ever. True enough it was beautiful and the breeze was excellent.

Some of the dining tables had their own little secluded spots, good for private dining! I avoided those spaces though cause they were too near the sea and knowing little Ali, he would be climbing over to see what's on the other side.

Thie walkway from the entrance to the back where the dining area was is littered with trees and paper lanterns. Quite a distance but gives you a sense of anticipation of what is ahead.

The trees dotting the walkway is so typical of Thailand where no tree is chopped down. Why can't Malaysians cherish trees this way? There was an architecture and landscape course in Krabi which my friend attended and he said they taught them how to replant a tree. No tools or machines required. If Thai's can do that, why can't we?!?!?

This is the entrance to the restaurant ... looked really quaint from the outside. Most interesting was the drive to this part of Kok Lanta actually. It was a little fishing village with wooden street lights. Instead of normal street lights as we know it, these street lights had little lanterns.

Reminds me a lot of China town but from what we saw it seemed to have a good mix of Muslims and Chinese in the area. There were a few tourists mingling about at the fishing village and we learnt later they were staying there under a homestay holiday. Even in this remote part of Kok Lanta, the locals know and understand fully the benefits and concepts of a homestay programme.

The more I see of Thailand the more I like it. And this is only some parts of it. Even our drive to Chieng Mai in 2008did not take me to all parts of Thailand. There is still so much of it I haven't seen. Can't wait!

Kok Lanta in March

We just returned from a week in Thailand. It was hot and humid but the kids had a ball of a time going in and out of the pool and running on the beach. In addition to nights spent in Aonang, Krabi, we stayed a night in Kok Lanta.

Kok Lanta is about an hours drive from Krabi and an hour from the Krabi airport. There are three parts to Kok Lanta: the mainland, Kok Lanta Noi and Kok Lanta Yai (hope I got that right). To get to the other two parts you have to take a short ferry ride which the kids enjoyed tremendously. Tried to upload some of the pixs here but it seems to be failing all the time and I am tired of trying.

We stayed at Twin Bay Resort, there are many resorts, small hotels and huge 7 or 8 star resorts to choose from but we didn't want to waste time looking so we chose the most decent looking and priced one we could find straight away.

The kids of course were pretty much the judges of where we should stay and they said yes to the first pool they saw. The beach was pretty awesome too, clean, pristine and pretty much untouched. Actually pretty much of Kok Lanta is untouched but before long it will be as busy as Aonang. Just a matter of time. As it is, the place was simply crawling with tourists it being trge high season and all. During the high season, rates of places to stay are pretty steep too.

This is a picture of sandy white beaches and clear crystal waters of a beach stretch in Kok Lanta. Pretty much all of the beaches look this serene. Such a pretty picture isn't it.

In the evening we took a drive to the very end of Kok Lanta and this was what we found, a fishing village that was as remote and untouched as possible. Looking at the villagers and the simple life they lead simply melts your own problems away. Being there made your problems look so minute! Literally at the edge of the world ...

We found a Beautiful Restaurant which served fresh seafood (but of course). The ambience was pretty cool too with paper lanterns and the sea breeze lulling you to sleep. We ordered black pepper and garlice squid (delicious!) and sea salt prawns. I forgot to take pictures of the dishes, was to busy eating and when I remembered plates were cleared.

Satiated stomachs here and too bad we had a rather long drive back to the hotel cause the sea breeze of Andaman was making it difficult for us to open our eyes!

This is the beach front from the place we stayed. The sky was clear that night and you could see almost every star in the sky. At night, the restaurant lets you dine on the beach, very romantic!

The chalets .....

There are more pictures of course and will get to them soon....