My Songs

Our Family Adventure

Wow! From last Saturday till today Monday, me, Shadiq and Herman have been on a long 3-day family adventure.
Here is the family itinery:

Saturday 1st December 2007:
8am Wake up, bathe and breakfast.
9am Go to doctor for Shadiq cough and phlegm medicine.
11am Go to Leisure Park Kallang. Nothing much to see as it is only 40% ready.
1130am Go to Changi Airport Terminal 3. Paid $3 per person for a guided tour.
Got to see their new shopping centres, viewing area, sculptured walls,
butterfly park, cinema, hotel, shower room & spa, departure hall, arrival
hall,new sky train and the list goes on....now I know where all our tax money
go to.
3pm Take the sky train to Terminal 2 Viewing Area.
(in malay its called Dewan Lambaian - sound so sad)
430om Take the train to Bedok (Shadiq make 'kueh' in the train)
530pm Have our supper at Bedok's Banquet. Walk around for a while.
645pm Reach home, bathe and relax.
740pm Karaoke, oke, ke.....
930pm Lights out.

Sunday (2nd December 2007):
8am Wake up, bathe and breakfast.
930am Iron the clothes, prepare Shadiq's dapur, make-up (Herman's sedara wedding)
1045am Went out and wait for a cab. (oh, oh...road closure because of marathon)
Walk out to Kallang Airport.
1130am Got a cab to Jurong (Toh Guan Road).
1215pm Reach the wedding place. Husin Saaban is the deejay, wow!
Chit-chat, get-together, talk, blah, blah, blah, eat, eat, drink, drink, etc.
415pm Leave the place and take a cab to Orchard Rd.
Walk around to see the buskers performing, the Christmas lights,
eat ice-cream, Old Chang Kee snacks, etc.
715pm Reach home, have our dinner, bathe and rest.
8pm Karaoke again, la-la-la-laaaa....
945pm Lights out.

Monday (3rd December 2007):
930am Wake up, bathe and breakfast
1045am Check my e-mail, watch some tv. Herman got bored and said, "Get ready."
1230pm Pack Shadiq's dapur again, bought a bottle of water and biscuits.
Take bus 30 to VivoCity.
145pm Bought a train ticket to Sentosa. ($3 per person) Shadiq sleeping.
200pm Reach Sentosa, took a bus to Underwater World. Shadiq wake up.
215pm Walk around underwater world. I feed the stingray and fishes with Shadiq.
Herman did not want to get wet. Brought the handicam but forgot to charge it.
Wanted to buy a disposable cam but decided against it. Walk around the place
and saw big, small fishes. Shadiq got scared of the big Japanese crabs.
Shadiq also get scared of a fish who stared at him with one big eye.
320pm Went out and went to Dolphin Lagoon.
335pm Reach Dolphin Lagoon and saw the pink dolphins performing. It is so
entertaining and fun.
445pm Take a bus to the Merlion.
500pm Paid $8 per person for the Merlion. Watch the show, got a fan(mystery gift)
and saw a view of Sentosa by going to the top.
530pm Took the train back to Vivocity. Eat at vivo's banquet.
Shadiq finished a plate of chicken rice and some fishballs and crabmeat.
630pm Went to Giant for a while. Bought a DVD cartoon for Shadiq. Shadiq drink milk.
715pm Reach home, Shadiq sleeping while in the cab. Herman relaxing, Raudah typing.
930pm Lights out!

Our three days family adventure have left us tired and lazy. I got to clean the house tomorrow and Herman got to work tomorrow. My two-weeks holiday just started so I am gonna make the most of it...Maybe I should start by making a shopping list...pay day is in 2 weeks time (bonus, increment, mmmmmmm.......)

Shadiq, Ayah n Ibu, Holiday Blues

Our computer had been in ICU for the past 2 months and was warded for a few days. Yesterday it was discharged and have fully recovered....so now is the time that I get to update our blog.

Shadiq turned 2 last November and have lost a lot of weight. He has bad cough and flu so in a way it made him lost his appetite. Now he is more into cornflakes, bread, rice and soup, fish and milk. He is also under toilet training. He is able to go to the toilet on his own or tells us if he wants to pee but still poops everywhere. He only tells us when he finish pooping. Funny thing is he will only go to the toilet if I am around. If not he did it everywhere. He doesn't wear pampers in the day only at night or when he sleeps. I made him go to the toilet before and after he sleeps.



He is also learning to swim. He swims in the normal pool (with buoy) and the deep pool (without buoy). He will dog-paddle around the pool and mimic swimming actions. He is going to pre-nursery next year May (they only accept when 30mths)but I brought him to my centre a few times when my mum was sick. My colleagues took turns taking care of him in their classroom. Apparently they and the children liked him. They said that he was well-behaved and did not make any fuss when he was in their classroom (surprisingly)....it seems that me and Herman's disciplining with him work out well (I hope!). Even though he is the only child right now, we did not want to spoil him and turn him into a selfish or spoilt brat. I have seen alot of brats in the centre and I dont want him to turn out into one. THe only thing that we want to teach him now is not to play rough. Herman teach him silat and play fighting with him so he tends to be quite rough with others (even with me)...He can also be very obstinate and stubborn if he doesnt get things done his way....We punished him by making him sit at a corner (the naughty corner) or not letting him play. The worst punishment that he will get is a caning from Herman (only reserved for bad or naughty things) or a pinch/smack from me. If he saw Herman with the cane, he will immediately run into a corner and said "Ampun, ampun" then crying pitifully.

I got some good books from my centre. We are shifting centres so we get to go through tons of worksheets, activity books, textbooks, storybooks, cds, etc. We were told that we can take the books if we want to as there are so many sets of them. I brought home lots of books for Yani, Elya, Ilham, Irfan and even Shadiq. xc I made him do writing and colouring too. I teach him the alphabets, numbers and shapes. Yesterday I and Shadiq went through the alphabet book together. He got along quite fine until we reached W. I pointed to W for Woodpecker and he said "No! Bird!" I pointed to the letter W and told him W is for Woodpecker but he insisted that it is a bird! Said "No!Bird!Bird!" Oh well...who is to argue with a 2 year-old.

I really do enjoy the holidays coz that is the time I really get to do a lot of things with Shadiq. Its like I have a mini-classroom in the house. We will do painting, playing with dough, writing numbers, alphabets or drawing pictures. I do alot of art and craft activities with him. Its fun and educational as well. Sure helps being a preschool teacher. I got lots of resources and fun stuffs hidden away so Shadiq sure is lucky. But I havent had enough holiday this year. Because of the shifting of new centre so our holidays are less and I have only two weeks leave. Not really enough for me to plan my activities with him but I think its better than having nothing at all.

Herman started working at SMRT for nearly 2 months now. It is better than working at Suntec in terms of having better future prospects and it is much more stable considering it is a government job. He is much happier now where he is and I told him no more job hopping from now on. Now he is into thinking of buying a condo and a car. I told him that he work for SMRT not own it to be thinking about all that. I dont mind getting a car but not the condo. It is not worth the money.
Me? Well, I am basically going to spend my entire life at this PCF centre. Besides I am going for my Speech and Drama course under Lorna Whiston Centre next year for six months. It is an established training centre and after I got the cert I can teach Speech and Drama at any place. It will be fun and quite entertaining in a way. No news about my bonus yet. Everyone have already been appraised about their performance except me. My principal told me that I dont need to be appraised and that they are happy with my performance. Dont know how true is that but I do hope that I got a good increment for my pay. Still low though.....'sigh'...we do more work but got less for it.
Holidays? Still havent decide yet where to go. We thought about staying for 2 nights at Shangri-La Hotel at Sentosa or Downtown East Pasir Ris Chalet. Reason is because of the short holiday that I have, our bonus and Herman doesnt have enough leave to go on a long holiday. So we plan for a short holiday in Singapore during the weekends or public holidays. We do it to coincide with our bonus (at least we have money to spare!).

Kuih, kueh.........

Start buat kuih yesterday and today....M&M cookies, honey cornflakes, bantal peluk saloma...tomorrow we will be doing the chocolate chip cookies.....next week will be kuih makmur and kuih tart.
I have always loved making kuih. It is always more satisfying (cheaper too!) to make your own kuih than buying. You know what makes the kuih all seem so nice when you make it your own? The fact that it is your own sweat in making it. Too bad I got sick (flu) and couldn't really do much. Herman and the other kids at home helped my mum who is the supervisor to adun and Faiz is in-charge of the baking. I am part helper and nanny. I had to look after Shadiq and also Emma. Kind of funny though, there are times that Emma was on my lap (sleeping) and my hands were doing all the kneading....Shadiq however is occupied with playing soccer at the corridor area with the kids.

Now, I am in the midst of imagining on how to start cleaning the house. Dusting, sweeping, moping, washing and whatevers. Just thinking about it give me a headache. Herman will surely be busy cooking the rendangs, ayam gorengs. Yes, my husband Herman is the one who help his mum to cook for Hari Raya. So for those of you who will come to my house to visit, don't be surprised if you saw him cooking. We have already assign ourselves on what to do on the eve of Hari Raya. I am in-charge of the cleaning-deco section, Herman is in-charge of the cooking-kitchen section and the kids in the house will be in-charge of the childcare and play section.

Poor Shadiq. Yesterday, both of us were so busy with preparing the kuihs and buying the ingredients that we totally forgot to feed him. Kesian kena puasa satu hari tak makan nasi. Just gave him milk....at night, he got such a bad stomache. Felt quite bad about it. So today I made sure that he ate despite all the hustle and bustle in the house.
And another thing about him is that he has literally exhausted and worn out our P-Ramlee vcds. We watched the movies every night without fail before he sleeeps (requested with persistant cries) and it got to the point that he can memorise the songs and the lyrics of the story even dance steps. From Bujang Lapok (Seniman and Pendekar), Nujum Pak Belalang, Labu Labi (part 1 and 2), Lela Manja, and the list goes on... Don't know what it is about the movies that clicks with him. We, ourselves, got bored of it all and when we changed to cartoons or animated movies, he isn't that all interested. Just like this morning..from 530am to nearly 8am, it was just classics and nothing but classics on the tv. We slept through it all and he was the one who changed the cds and play the cds. Yes, he know which cd to choose and how to run the vcd player as well as the tv. Its just easier and less painful for us...

And last but not least to everyone out there :
SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI !!!!!

BRYAN ADAMS !!!!

I was browsing around the internet when I came across this music video... to all Bryan Adams fan (like me!) this is for you.....

p>Bryan Adams- Everything I Do

[via FoxyTunes / Bryan Adams]

Pick your Pics!

1) Here are some pictures of Nur Sarah Emma (around 1mth-2mth old) :

2) Here are some pictures of Shadiq posing :

Yani's Birthday

Just to inform everyone that Yani's birthday is coming up and Munira decided to have a birthday party at East Coast. It will be held this Saturday 28th July 2007.

For everyone who wishes to attend the birthday party please feel free to contact my father (Pak Atid) 94826202 or Fais 81567588.

I am not sure about the details of the party. All I know is that the place at Fort Road, the carpark near the toilet. Where is that I got no idea. That is what my dad told me anyway. Please call my dad for a better and clearer picture of where the place is. And in case if it rain on that day, please contact the above as well. Most likely the party will be held at Blk 7 Jalan Batu #07-107 if it rains. The party is from 4pm to 6pm.

BabySitter For Free!!

Everyone knew that Herman is very impatient about getting a another baby so I decided then to post out this blog :
For anyone who wanted to spend a day alone with your lovely spouse but have nobody to look after your children, you can apply here. But you must have these few criterias before calling in.

Our babysitter, Herman, is fully qualified, having looked after his nieces and nephews for the past ten years, and being a father of a two year old himself. You need not worry about security or safety problems as he is fully qualified in that too, being a security officer himself. Our house is fully equipped with toys and clothes but you need to provide your own milk and pampers as Shadiq wears XL pampers. There will be no charge for looking after your baby and it doesnt matter the sex of the baby.

The criterias are as above :
1) the baby is under the age of one.
2) provide own milk and pampers
3) only provide one to two full day care.
4) only during Herman off-days (which can be either weekdays or weekends depending on his shift)

P.S. I am not available as I have to take care of Shadiq during my off-days.
So if you are interested, please feel free to drop a note to Herman...he is in desperate need just to hold a baby.

Redang Video & Other News

I tried uploading the video but something happens. My computer is on strike. Anyway most of you had probably watched the other Redang videos so its practically nearly the same...By the way, another story that is not in the video. While we were waiting for the others at the bus interchange at Kuala Trengganu Terminal, we saw quite a few weird characters. There was this guy dressed up like Hang Jebat, complete with keris (made of newspaper), kain pelekat(dari mana nya tong sampah dia angkut pun tak tau lah), tanjak (also made of newspaper) and baju melayu. He walked around the terminal looking important and fierce. But he never did disturb anybody. Then there was another man who wore a long dress, smiling at people and singing songs. Another woman was also dressed for ancient times, with flowers (probably picked from the road side) on her long hair, baju kurung and carrying a basket full of things (we dont even want to know what it contains). She too walked around the terminal aimlessly. Its quite weird to see all these people around but well...

By the way something to add after this video, Shadiq is into Spiderman ever since the new Spiderman movie came out. If anyone heard him say "memen", we all know that it means Spiderman and he wants to either play with his Spiderman toys or be one. Thats why all the stunts....... Bought him a spiderman suit recently that includes a cape. He wore the suit but did not want to wear the cape. Someday I am gonna make him wear the suit and cape, and take a pic. And he is also into old movies. Like P.Ramlee black and white movies. Especially Nujum Pak Belalang. He eats while watching that and sleeps while watching that as well. Me and Herman are extremely tired watching the same movie over and over again. Something about black and white movies really excites him. He can sing, dance along to the tunes and watch intently throughout the entire film. Other children watches cartoons or HI-5 and mine watch Lela Manja, Hang Tuah or Nujum Pak Belalang. A child who is into classics and Spidey.

Right now, Herman is getting impatient...Impatient of having another baby again.... told him that it will take at least three months for the effects to wear off.... When we were playing with Emma however, Shadiq was quite angry and jealous at first. He was crying, trying to get our attention. He even wanted to kick and hit the baby. It made me think of whether it will be the right time to have another one.... But when I saw him playing alone and behaving like a spoilt brat sometimes, thats when I wish I do have a second one then. At least, another baby around will teach him to share his toys and behave better, being that he is the eldest and the older brother to the baby. But as I said, it will probably takes another three months at least before we can have the second one.

Looks like my year-end holidays are all burnt.... We are already told beforehand by our admin that the december holidays are for shifting and preparing things for the new centre. We can probably have our holidays during the first two weeks of the holidays which is around November..... 'sigh' .....that's why I prepared my things and materials earlier so as to avoid getting rushed. Besides, we got to save the money for the second baby and Shadiq probably going to school next year, pre-nursery. Herman doesn't want to send him but I think it will be a good opportunity for him to get new friends and learn to socialize as well as getting used to a school environment. It will be a good start for him. I could get staff discount if we send him at our centre.....we see how it goes next year.

Latest News (May-June)

It has been a veeerrryyy long time since I blog. Takde time and dah start malas. I tell herman to do it but he said since I start the blog, I should continue on doing it.....

Latest news is that Shadiq had a very bad fall. Had scratches and a bump on the left side of his face, made the left side of his face quite swollen for a few days. No child abuse from our side. Just one of his stunts in which he ran very fast and then jumped, stumbled and then slide face-down on the granite floor. Tu pun tak serik-serik. After crying for a few minutes, he climbed the bed and then jumped down. Caught him on time. If not, he would have falled on the fan.
'sigh'....... the stunts that he made sometimes gave me a heart-attack.

Had a pic of Nur Sarah Emma but havent had time to download yet. Actually I have already done the video of the time that we went for Redang but havent actually got the time to sit down and really do the editing. So its a bit plain. Sorry if its a bit boring.


Herman failed his theory this first time round and have not went for the second theory test yet. My in-laws are probably getting the car by end of this year. It will be really easier if we have a transport of our own. Getting around will be faster and even going on holidays or outings.....no more buses. I dont really need a transport to go to work. Its just a 10 minutes walk to the kindergarten. Herman though takes the bus to work so he probably needs the car at times. He hates taking the bus at times especially during peak hours. The bus will be either late or too early that he misses the bus.

New Addition to Pak Atid's Family

As you all know, Munira just gave birth to a baby girl Nur Sarah Emma. Both mother and baby are doing fine right now. In total, my father have 2 grandsons and 3 granddaughters. For those who dont know who they are or what their name is here goes:
1) Nur Erni Rindiyannie (Munira & Ibrahim)
2) Nur Elya Selphia
3) Nur Sara Emma
4) Mohd Ilham
5) Abduhu Shadiq Hibatullah (Raudah & Herman)
6) ????????
For those who are guessing who number 6 belongs to, I leave it to everyone guess. The more the merrier right......
Anyone wanna make a guess?

Btw Herman is planning to take his coaching course soon. Soccer of course. But that is another matter. Now he's stressed about his basic theory test. Its this coming Friday... Hope we get a car soon if our finances permitted. It is so tiring to move around in public transport especially with Shadiq who is so used to taking taxis. We take the bus and mrt nowadays. He still not used to it.
And me...my centre just raise my pay. So thoughts of getting another job has to be postponed for a while...Besides though the pay sucks, the school holiday break is something to look forward to. I love this job coz of the kids and the holidays but the management sucks. Well.....no job's perfect anyway. Sometimes the pay is good but the place sucks. And like mine the place and people that I work with are good but the pay sucks.

Anyway Shadiq just recover. He had fever and running nose plus vomitting. Apparently it was because he was teething. Now he just had a haircut and so did Herman. My dad, Pak Atid wanted to have a haircut too. But how to tell the barber to give him an Armani cut? We suggested shaving all his hair off but he told us that he wanted to keep his hair as a trademark. Maybe, Om, you should consider that...keep the hair trademark alive in the Haji Salleh family. It would not be complete without you. For those who did, salute to you.

Now awaiting until the day we go Redang then maybe we have some holiday stories to tell.

For those who didnt know, today is Mother's Day and some of you are probably out celebrating. For me, we celebrate Mother's Day with a very late dinner. Herman finished work around 8pm and he is the one who bought the cake so by the time he arrived home, it was around 9pm. Then we ordered pizza which only arrived nearly around 10pm.

Btw, for those who are wondering who are the others in the picture: they are my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law and her five children. We celebrate Mother's Day together. Kind of fun but Shadiq got kind of cranky coz it was his sleeping time. He ate a bit of cake and pizza and then off to bed he go.

Happy Mothers Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY !!!!!

For all the mothers, mother-in-laws, future mother-to-be.....wish you all have a great day......

Chinese New Year & Shadiq

These are photos taken during our Chinese New Year visit this year to our chinese grandmother house. My chinese grandfather passed away a long time ago.

In a way, I collect red packets during chinese new year and green packets for Hari Raya except for Deepavali!
We brought oranges and gifts for her. She always have sweets, crackers and fruits for us to bring home.

I find it very touching that even though my mum was adopted by a Muslim family since young but still her real parents are willing to accept her as she is. Even my mum real chinese siblings does not mind the fact that she is a Muslim. Sometimes when they do invite us for their family functions, they take note to order halal food especially for us. Even our Chinese cousins are friendly to us.
I really do appreciate whatever they have done for us and these kind of relationships can never be found anywhere.

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Name : Abduhu Shadiq Hibatullah

Date of birth : 7th November 2005

Current Age : 18 months

Hobbies : Sweeping, Climbing, Crying, Eating, Wrestling, Running, Playing with Water

He has always been our first and only child. A scorpio just like me, his mum. I wish I can have a second one but....finances are quite tight now so it has to be put on hold for a very long time..... His favourite pastime is sweeping the house.

Seriously, he will take the broom from the kitchen and then proceed to sweep the entire house. Even sweeps the corridor. He can be so occupied sweeping that we can do our own work without any disturbance. Anybody wants to hire him?

We thought about having a second one but as said, put on hold. For how long? Hmmm.......Well at least we still have Shadiq....He is our one and only but he can be such a spoil brat. Thats why we did not pamper him, we still discipline him when he is naughty. Working in a kindergarten makes you see just how spoilt a child can be so I dont want him to be those kind of children.

Right now, dia sedap tidur air-con. I will just on the fan but he will automatically on the aircon before he sleeps. We are considering to do away with the aircon but he gets heat rash every time he sweats so its on hold for the time being. Doctor cant do anything with the rashes. Can only give us lotions and creams. The only thing we can do is make sure he doesnt sweat too much. Isnt easy when you have an 18 month old child who likes to run and climb all over the place. The stunts he do can scare you sometimes. There was one time he took the plastic chair and puts it on another chair. Then he climbs. After he sat on the plastic chair, he jumps out. You should hear how I scream! Maybe should put him on a career to be a stuntman.

Thought about upgrading myself like doing my degree in early childhood education but it will be a 3 year programme and I dont want to spend most of the time studying or doing my assignments...I wont have time for Shadiq at all. Herman can look after himself and jangan harap he look after Shadiq. I give him 48 hours and then he give up.

I have to finish my bond at this PCF kindergarten first. It ends next year July then I consider to go into another centre. Probably into NTUC childcare coz they pay for the degree course but I have to be bonded 5 years with them. I hate the bonding thing but unless someone gonna sponsor me for it then I got no choice. Currently I go into all sorts of courses and workshops that my company sends me for. Better get the experience and certs first before I leave.

Langkawi Pics

It 's been a fun and exciting holiday that we had at Langkawi. It was a memorable holiday and we have lots of photos to show! Especially with Shadiq, our one and only! We are going to Genting this June (kalau jadi...) No December holidays ...Odah got to work through the holidays as she have to clean and shift things over to the new kindergarten.