i bought this cheap cotton fabric from kamdar wayy back when i was pregnant with you

i wanted to make the dress with a much much prettier patterned cotton, but  too afraid if i waste the expensive fabric so i settled with this.but it turned out i did fine. !:D

i cut the the fabric according to a pattern  i got from a japanese sewing book couple months back with u next to me trying to eat the pieces.  owh btw i hate tracing. it kills me.

just finished the dress tonight, will send the dress to make buttonhol on the backside tomorrow.

ill add some embellishments (applique or embroidery or ur name maybe) when i have  the time.

btw pls ignore the unmatching white thread, i only have one bobbin, n was too lazy to change to red one. (hoho mmg tak leh buat jual ini macam)

hopefully itll look nice on you

Alhamdulillah were back (since Sunday) , safe n sound.

Perth was beautiful but HOT! but since it was all sunny so i thank god for that so we can take beautiful pictures with enuff natural light.hoho

perth day one

we arrived @ 530am,  with 8degree temp outside. LOVE it. kitorang mmg suka sejuk2 nih. haha, ayra slept all the way from airport to hotel. btw we did a last minute decision to not bringing along her stroller but use the ergo instead. there were times i wished we had bring the ppswitch, but most of the time , im glad we didnt. ERGO totally helped us a lot. ni mmg nak promote ergoo nii, if you re having a baby,  n planning to buy thos babybjorn type (front facing carrier, forget about it. buy ergo instead.  its a worthy investment. or any other mei tais/ SSC for that matter.( google yourself. i have perth story to tell here rather than babbling about babywearing gears. HAHA)

took airport shuttle (which cost us AUD50 for two (return) ) .we stayed in lcriterion hotel, an old hotel with reasonable price. the hotel location is very convenient for tourist , near to shopping malls n public transport. the check-in time was from 2pm , so we left our luggage n headed to kings park . perth has this CAT busses (central Area transit) which offer free rides around the city.  soo convenient.

kings park is HUUUGE  we almost lost. i honestly thinks  its 1000 times more beautiful than kenrokuen .ahaha (lupa daratan)

kings parks has a very beautiful scenery for photographs, so we spent the rest of the morning having fun doing photoshoots

looking for halal food was not difficult@ all in perth, there was a malaysian/indonesian Oleh-oleh restaurant next to our hotel! and you can find halal kebab restaurant almost everywhere. its just a matter of $$ of coz.
we then went back to our room , showered n had some nap.

btw one thing i hate about perth was the shops close @ 500~700pm. soo early! when were ready to get out again that evening, the malls, supermakets were all closed, we had to buy some groceries from a convenience store with of course @ higher prices. (ie a tube of colgate cost us nearly 8bucks! WTH? sapa suh lupa bawak- slaps forehead)

Day two

our iterinary in perth was wholely planned by me. ive did a lot of research about places to go in perth , and the public transports too – the transperth website really helped me a lot to plan our trip, just key-in your destination and time, it will tell you which bus or train to take to go there. the system is very useful just like Japan’s .

so on the 2nd day we went to see those betana (typical) australian animals koala , wallabies , kangaroos n whatnot in caversham wildlife park – located inside whiteman park few miles away from perth city. btw the weather was starting to heat up to 25 degrees since that day.  no need for jacket anymore. panass

took a bus from esplanade busport to morley station and another bus to whiteman park. the entrance fee cost about AUS22. the park wasnt that big, but we had fun getting close with kangaroos and koalas and i finally got to know how wombats exactly look like.

(we really thot it was a PIg at a first glance . haha)

they have quite a large number of animals like -kangaroos, wombats, wallabies, koalas, various types of birds, rodents , sheeps, camels, llamas n many more compare to the wildlife park  i went in brisbane years ago.

ayra was abit blur when she saw the kangaroos, but wasnt afraid to touch them at all. we really had fun feeding them too – just like feeding shikas (deer) in Nara. hehe

please please ignore my wrinkled tudung . haha where got iron maa..

the was also a sheep shearing and whip cracking show  in the afternoon, but ayra was more excited to see the crowd of visitors behind my back during the show. haha.

we headed back to morley station soon after, and did some window shopping @ k-mart n target .n papa bought a nice soft cotton hat from target for ayra @ 8bucks! what a deal!

had some yummy nasi kebab for dinner, n slept early that nite.

day three

We took a train from town to warwick station , and ride a bus to Hillarys boat harbour . our destination for that day was AQWA – the aquarium of western australia – Australia’s largest aquarium and underwater tunnel.

aqwa cost us 26.50AUD each. i lovee their hugee underwater tunnel , there were sharks, stingrays turtles n various types of fishes. the stingrays were soo big !-the guide said that was the type of stingray that killed the infamous crocodile hunter, steve irwin.

we had sharky’s fish n chips @ the harbour b4 headed back to our hotel.

in the train from warwick st to perth.

that evening, took a blue CAT to harbour town to shop for some stuff for friends back home.  Harbour town is a brand outlet shopping centre  , a perfect place for shopaholics.haha. bought 2 levis at a bargain price for myself, some clothes from pumpkin patch (rammbanggg mata) and shirt for papa. (tukang beli, bukan tukang bayar LOL.

too bad i didnt take any pic there -too  busy browsing for deals n stuffs .hehe

if ure going to harbour town in perth, i suggest u to go on friday, coz the shops close @ 8pm compare to other day, @ 5pm, kang sempat jamu mata jelaa tak sempat beli.  but unfortunately, the free CAT service ends @ 630pm, so if you want to catch a free ride to the city, come earlier . we ended up walking back to the hotel that nite. that explains my 3kg loss. HAHA

day four

the very last day in perth,  we planned to spend in Fremantle, we took a ferry ride (captain cook cruise) from St Barrack Harbour across the beautiful Swan river. i was hoping for a sight of dolhins along the cruise but none. takde rezeki

Fremantle is very clean and beautiful town, lots of historical building. we spent the day @ Fremantly Market, visit the prison (didnt enter tho, too kechi to pay. haha) and shop some souvenirs @ E-sheds market. i you plan to buy Australian souvenirs, i think the shop inside E-sheds sells the cheapest (cheaper than the city) we bought ours from a shop owned by an indonesian  (iya pakk mau yang mana?? coolness! he gave us a lot of bargain prices.  (sorry , didnt remember the shop name) bought a coin purse at 2bucks plus there n found the very same purse in a shop near the hotel selling @ 7bucks. beza GILA!

our MAIN objective in Fremantle was to have lunch at perth best fishn chips restaurant – cicerellos but since Ayra got very cranky @ that time due to tiredness and hot weather (it was 37degree gila ke hapa??!!) so we decided to go back ASAP. (travelling with n infant is very VERY menguji kesabaran but of coz, Ayra youre much much more important to us than any fishnchips in the world, baby )

we took a train direct to perth, get some rest @ the hotel n went out again to buy some last minute choclate (TWIX actually haha) to bring home only to find out the one n only woolworth (supermarket) was closed @ 630 (usually @ 7pm on weekdays) $#)$()#$()”#()”(#)” tension gila. i want my cadburyssss!! bongok betul tutup kedai awal.  of coz la im not paying double price @ convenient stores.grr i was in my sulking mode all over.

we decided to end our trip taking a ride on the eye of perth (eye of msia pun tak naik laigi LOL) enjoing the view of swan river and perth city @ night.

pheww panjangnye, nak post more pics tapi kang melerett entry ni jadi nye but well thats all about it.

I think this is gonna be among the most memorable trip and vacation weve ever had, and we should thank ayra for that~! hehe

btw u can view MORE of our perth photos in my flickr. enjoy!

tipu lah, mana siap pack lagi. arghhhh hate packing BIG TIME.

yes, were flying off to Perth tonite for our annual vacay. remember there was a post i wrote asking for some suggestion for a family getaway ? sampai ke perth pegi nye.hehe alhamdulillah rezeki ayra.

well be away untill sunday,will be online if wifi available.  ill write detail entry when we get back. pray for our safe journey. see you soonn~!!

oh btw, i made a passport holder to keep all of our passports together, mmg pulun tgh malam jahit. glad it turned out ok. maybe will put up a tutorial for this later. really love the outcome!

.fabs from heidi grace collection – bought from kak lyn!

had and invi from my AAJ jr, a yummy baker n mother zack of littlebowl who came back for raya frm japan for erm a week?

uni10 was organizing  robo*gamez almost for the past whole week until sunday, so hubs was a bit busy that weekend we had to turn down some friends open houses invitation. Since zack didnt mind about us coming to her house at night, apalagi TERJAHHH rumah zack right after maghrib.

had a NOICEe mee bandung muar (made by her mum. sedapla aunty,makan 2 bowls  slurppp kenyangg -there goes my diet) n some yummy cupcakes made by the tawkey herself.

we were among the last guests they had that day, so the rest activity was ‘cam-whoring’ session(lana pinjam sat) of the very much look-n-behaviour-alike babies ayra n harissa. CHOO NITERU lah budak 2 ketul ni. kawaii gila looking at them sitting next to each other, babbling their baby talks. harissa was a bit sleepy n si ayra ni tak habis2 staring at her . the funny thing is both of them love to kerut2 lawak lah.

but tooo bad i didnt bring any camera at that time, we had to minta belas kasihan from  zack to capture the unforgettable moments. will upload here once i get them from zack.

btw this is harissa who is exactly a month older than my baby . heard that she just took her first few bb steps recently. bravo harissaaa !! kandou kandou!

see, ada rupa ayra tak? niteru jyann!

thank you soo much zack for having us (n for the great food ofcoz) last weekend. insyaAllah ada rezeki well see you in Japan pulak yer! mmwahhs to harissa

edited
curik pic from zacks fb

i dont know how to start laa..

senang cita camni, i used to weight 57-58 right im 1.63m tall – (takla kurus pun hehe)b4 i came back to msia, when i got back i was sssooo happy , having hubs around n ate everything i crave when i was i japan. so i gained couple kilos which brought me to 60!

n then i got pregnant with ayra, my last weight b4  i gave birth was 70kg!  when i was in confinement, they only food that my mom allowed me to eat was ikan haruan, rice and sawi. i managed to shed my weigh to back to 59kilos! with the help of bf of course.

i gott soo many comliments when i got back to work , collegues were impressed seing my post-pregnancy figure, some say i looked slimmer than my pre-pregnancy body . wahhh i was on cloud9 at that time.

UUNNNFORTUNATELY, when i was done adjusting myself with the new pump@work environment, i found myself hungry all the time! i eat a lot like nasi always tambah maybe due to bf, i cant stop myself from eating anything sweets, chocolate n all those nonhealthy snacks. i ate more than i should.  t

i was comfortable with my body, until one day my boss says this to my face “yum, kamu nampak tembam lah” 1st time and “yum, badan kamu naik eh” for the 2nd time -kurang hassamm punya my boss , but we still love you anyways hehe kan kaktini?

it hit me like a bomb when i tried to fit into my engagement dress, tak muat kat badan. (tapi muat pulak kat bawah -pelik sket)  i totally need to do something or ill end up expanding like an elephant! he last time i weigh myself, i  already reached 62kilos!.

i did some research on the internet for weeks, then i finally decided to take USANA as meal replacement.

i decided to start my usana after raya, since im breastfeeding  kang buat masa puasa, tak cukup zat pulak anak aku. hahah.

i took nutrimeal, fibergy (for bfast n lunch)and essentials since last friday n dinner as usual (only replaced rice with something else for carb) n boy i can tell my belly is flattening a bit already! im soo impressed.

i still eat extra something like wholemeal bread sanwich for breakfast n some salad tho coz a bf mom still needs to consume at least around 1500 -1800 kcal daily,

eh btw, since i took nutrimeal for bfast – to my surprise , my bm thickens! ( with melilea soy organic  -ada lagi saki baki n dates) serioussss

essentials is in tablets , so thats kinda a downside sbb aku tak suka makan ubat besar2 susah nak telan, but thinking about the all the nutrients packed inside, n for my own health, kugagahi juga. kehkeh

2nd day consuming essentials, my bowel movements improved A LOT.

havent weigh myself yet (dont wanna demotivate myself kot berat tak turun hehe) but hopefully i can shed some kilos by next month!

btw if ure interested to know in details about USANA suppliments, dont hesitate to email me m.huda.ap@gmail.com . dont woryy , just nak tanya2 pun takpee. i tak makan orangggg heheh

my sweet lil pumpkin just turned 8 months couple days ago. wow, time flies really fast.

btw, i dont think im goin to write any post-raya entry, coz our raya iss soo full of DRAMA. hahah. better keep that to myself. all in all we had good food, spent great times meeting old n new families so i think that would be more than enough. btw Ayra got to meet her Ah-cho (moyang? in chinese) for the first time n im glad she did fine, onle cried a bit when being carried  but silenced the soon she received her angpau. HAHAH

wow , Ayra we discover new things about you each week/day its hard to keep track with your milestones lately.

• you can now stand on your own by leaning against anything in front of you, peoples knees, boxes , couch, coffee table , wall even a pile of folded clothes (LOL).  my heart almost dropped the moment i got out from the bathroom finding you standing all by yourself hands n legs shaking holding onto the tv rack. we can no longer leave you unsupervised since then.
• you crawl like a pro, finding somethin or someone you can lean against to stand.hehe
• you cry the moment you wake up without me or papa by yourside.
• you can do sit-crawl-sit-crawl easily nowadays sometimes you fall out of balance coz youre too confident that you can do dynamic pose only by one hand.
• we havent hear you mumble pa or ma or mee yet, just the usual giya or yaaa but dont worry just  take your own sweet time honey .
• one day you were blowing raspberries, the next day you make sounds like u re loosing your breath and the day after you make your mata kerut, hidung kerut mulut muncung face which god knows who or where u picked up from .  you imitate people really well and i pray youll be a fast learner as now  in the future too.
• you enjoys banging things n toys to hear the sound
• you put EVERYTHING in hand inside your tiny weeny mouth, i can no longer leave things lying around the house except your toys
• YOU DANCE TO THE BEAT! you move your booty when paklang taps the table, n shake it faster when when he taps it faster.
• you gets angry when someone u dont favor usik you, blurting sounds like aaaahh!! aihhhhh !!!, macam orang tua LOL!
• you can pass things between both left and right hands. is soo cute seeing you belek2 ur duit raya like ur wondering how much the money  is inside the envelope.



• you loves watching POCOYO and handy MANNY with papa early morning b4 he sends u off to nursery. POCOYO!
• you get bored with your toys easily now, i guess my kitchen tools are far more interesting  at the moment yh darling? hehe
• most people back in kampung call you anak jepun u know?  hehe
• i saw some whitey things in your lower mouth and ure chewing everything with ur gums a lot lately , is that ur teething signs?  pls pls pls dont bite me while nursing once they come out. hehe
• i believe ure weighing more n 9kilos at the moment , coz i can feel my arms hurt when i carried you for quite a time. (btw  my shoulder joint hurt when i tried to pick u up this morning , or am i getting old olredi? hahaha)

Ayra, youre truly a bundle of joy indeed, darling!

im soo thankful  for the fact that no matter how stressful or boring my work gets each day, there is still something i  can look forward to everyday when the clock hits 530. love you BUNCH!

mommy

im moooore than thrilled!!!!!

hmmm *belek-belek gambar (n money)

http://www.mycanvasprints.com.my

had iftar with aaj clan last weekend @soul garden, thanks to organizers tuty n farah n elmi? will upload few peeks from my tiny lumix later later.

ayra was down with high fever the very same weekend, her temperature fluctuates from 37.7 to 40.9(!) to 37 again then 38.9 degree up n down. we went to paed that sunday, doc decided to do the swab test for influenza A considering the symptoms  she had

• fluctuating body temp
• thick mucus inside nose (i didnt even know she had flu! no sneezing no runny nose at all!)

which turned out INFLUENZA A +ve. we were too stunned n shocked , me n hubs just looked at each other BLANK. she was then required to be admitted for close monitoring.
Ayra was miserable n cranky all the way (selama ni demam tak penah macam ni) eventho her temp @ that time wasnt that high at all -37.7
doc prescribed her tamiflu (antiviral for influenza A) and antibiotic (owh i hate this)
we also did h1n1 swab test , but had to wait for few days for the result tho.
we had to make sure Ayra takes her meds without any vomit, coz the tamiflu had this side effect which makes u feel loya , n once its vommitted out, u have to take it all over again. blegh
Alhamdulillah i think the antiviral worked well that her temp completely subsided the next day, we were allowed to be discharged but with intensive quarantine @ home for 3 days . (apparently for influenza A infected babies/children , docs can prescribe MC to the mommies for home quarantine.)
when we came home on monday, i found some red spots on her face looking like rashes, woke up on tuesday with massive rash on her body n face, with the left eye swolen. i totally freaked out. called the hosp to consult with the doc, but unfortunately when she returned my call, i was in the bathroom. talkin bout wronggg timing heh. i finally broke down with the whole ayra got sick situation that afternoon when my boss called asking about her condition. s i cried to Ayra face, letting the worries, stress all out- terkebil2 dia tgk mommy sobbing in front of her hehe
we brought her to the hosp that evening , but to no avail, dah tutup kedai, only MOs are available.

(the day before the rashes got worse. )
went to the hosp again this morning, it turned out that the rashes is just the after effect of her viral fever (nannoor kata kalau abis rashes dia kuar meaning viral dia dah kuar abis camtu eh?) n will clear soon. we also got the H1n1 test result n ALhamdulillah again , its -ve. bole balik raya – doc said. hehe

but all these influenza A experience REALLY taught me one thing, never ever underestimate fever. it can be nothing, but it also can be something serious. macam iklan demam denggi dalam tv tu (saya ingat demam BIASA, tapi..)
go seek doc , jgn lengah2 okay.

…………………

anyways  since rata2 blogger frens are writing about their raya preps,

here are ours

• baju raya Ayra which i sewn tak prewash lagi , tak sembat pun lagi (sleeves  too long – or maybe i can just lipat2? hehe)
• my ready made baju raya (only one) pun not prewashed yet, ada aku bantai redah pakai je raya ni. nasibla)
• papa laagilah, tak sempat pun nak beli baju melayu, poor him, our initial plan was to go shopping last weekend, tapi ayra demam la pulak. i wonder how laa – he said he’ll deal with that later. later when? lagi dua hari ni dek nonn
• kuih raya – bought  – not that much – tat nenas (ol time fave) , marble shortbread, choc crumpy, pnut butter sandwich n some maruku.
• duit raya-tak tukar lansung – it was supposed to be done by me, but i didnt go to work early this week, so there goes my one n only source.)
• semangat nak raya pun almost down the drain sbb ingatkan dah tak boleh balik this year. tapi ku gagahi jua sbb tahun depan tak tentu raya sini or not . ooopss hehe

so, bottom line, this year mmg wasatiaahh le raya for yumyums family.

kami menyusun 30 jari memohon ampun dan maaf jika ada terkasar bahasa, terkata , termakan terminum tergigit sepanjang tahun ini dan tahun2 lepas.

Selamat Hari Raya to all muslim friends from us. drive carefully , eat wisely. heheh SELAMAT BERAYA EVERYONE.

btw , ada lagi couple nights ni nak kejar pahala. selamat beribadah juga~~

mmwahhhhss

kerol, yumyum n Ayra

had a great weekend last sat ,holding a makan2 @ my house with amal, farah n my junior saff company.
i made a chicken briyani, lamb stew, acar carrot n timun berempah, n fried some instant sardine rolls for iftar. h this awesome mango+pinapple punch for drinks. yg ni mmg bes gila- found the recipe from my SILs recipe book, sgt sedap. sesuai for RAYA!

thank you soo much guys for coming, really had a good time. sorry la Ayra tu memanjat ko je farah. i guess she had a thing la with ur baju kurung. ekekeke

looking forward for our photoshoot date @ granny saba n tokwan Dawm’s lovely house pulak! ekeke

sorry no photos of the food tho, too busy stuffing ourselves i forgot i have a camera!ahaha

mango+pinapple punch
1 cup mango juice ( i substitue with 3 tbsp sunquick mango)
1 cup pinapple juice
2 or 3cups ice cream soda
LOTTTTSS of ICE CUBES
some dices pinapple or nata decoco pun noiccee
i think this could serve 4 person (tapi tak cukup punya ! oishiisugiru!)

—————

chicken briyani (my moms recipe)
im very bad @ measurements pandai2 bajet eh
rempah ingredients
A) garlic,onions,some cili kering (not too many) black paper , and fennel (jintan manis), tumeric tumbuk altogether.
other ingredients
yogurt, fresh tomatoes, chicken stock, basmathi rice, air asam jawa
sliced garlic,onions, bunga lawang , cengkih, biji pelaga, n cinamon stick.

how to
tumis sliced garlic n onion , bunga lawang, cengkih, cinnamon stick and biji pelaga , add it (A) tumis lagi, add in chicken, stir fry then add in some air asam ,yogurt and diced tomatoes. stir on low heat until cooked. add in sugar n salt for taste.

finally add in the rice(rinsed) , stir for a while , then transfer into rice cooker, pour in chicken stock.
n cook as usual~

note
i usually cook say 4cups rice = 4 1/2 cups chicken stock. depends la ek. kalau nak lembut sket more stock, kalau nak keras less stock.

selamat mencubaa~~r

wow my baby turned 7months last week. 7 months in a blink of n eye. where has the time gone.

at 7 months this cheeky gal now

• officially CRAWWLINNNNN!!! Alhamdulillah! remember how i was a bit worried of her so malas to lift up her cute butt? few days after she recovered from her high fever, she started to steadily lift her body up to crawlin position , then goyang2 forward backward a lil bit . we umpan her with things she loves like remote controller or my handphone (anything gadgety hehe ) then few days later she started to crawl! aaww my baby is all grown up noww.. kandou kandou .now  that she can move  i can no longer  leave her even  for a minute! one second shes on her abc mat golek2, another second she was olredi halfway crawlin under the  dining table!- hehe ok  i exxagerated the dining table part but WHOAA she was that fast!  abunaii abunai. cannot take our eyes off her anymore for sure!

• doesnt show much interest in eating tho. i wonder why. well she eats when being fed but hardly ask for it. prefers nennen more.  btw she really loves MANGO! (well who doesnt? hehe) tapiiiii i think shes allergic to it. TOO BADD.  she was on mango diet for 2 days when we found her scratching her neck during sleep. merah abis leher, perut . which FREAKED me out of coz, paed said maybe bcoz of something she ate. so no mango anymore until further notice. hehe.  to date, she already had been introduced to banana, apple, carrot, sweet potato( she likes this a lot, but paed adviced for moderate intake takut kuning) broccoli, avocado,mango, and some tiny bits of dates . btw im planning to give her brown rice cereal this weekend.
• loves being sung to. amboihh amboih (this is according to her caregivers) mommy malas nyanyi la. zikir boleh la. kira aci la kan? hehe
• loves it when we kiss her chin. ekekeke soo cute
• now walks in her walker when im in the kitchen.  im still not fond of the idea on putting her in a walker but, dah org bagi, takkan simpan dlm gobok kan? guna jela.
• still likes to stare other people like theyre ALIENS. hahah an observant baby this one.
• loves bath time! she giggles the moment we took off all her clothes.  dah tau dahh hehe
• somehow really attracted to my gear knob and loves to sit in the recaro seat. future fast driver? hahaha
• tends to SCREAMMM high pitch out loud  when bored.  n easily get bored to0. haishh . sgt attention seeker la anak mommy nih. glamer jer @ restaurants. ekeke
• her upper hair are quite thick but back hair macam nak tak nakk je tumbuh.  how aa? makan bantal bak kata org tua tua.
• her fat tissue is still there. monita-chuu desu. really hope it dissappears soon.
• MANY says she looks more like MOMMY now. weehooo hands down lah papa kalah tanpa bertanding.akakakakakaa. big eyes, curly hair, thats my girl! hehe

ayra,
papa n mommy loves you ssooooo much! .
looking forward to celebrate this years raya together with U! Sorry tau baju tak machingg..hehe
mmmmmmmmmwahhhhhhsssss