Monthly Archives: April 2014

B’s School Trip

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Tomorrow Bella has a school trip!!

Her day out without mommy.. Gosh!!

B and her classmate will be going to a fire station!! Hehe..

I think that’s cute!

When I told her babatok, of course, knowing her babatok, he will come out with ideas on how to make things / trip / toys more educational for the kids! My father is very good at that. When I was still schooling, he made me and my siblings write essays everytime we went for a school trip / vacation or anything. Come to think about it, it does help us with memorising, language and writing skills. Those were the days.. This time, for Bella, he suggested us to pre-educate her before her trip. He suggested us to buy some toys or books that is related to the trip (in this case, a fire truck sounds good!)

We rushed to the toy shop and got this for B..

A toy fire truck and a little storybook of fireman (in a shape of fire truck!!)

Hahahaha… Mommy yang over reading this book over and over again to her.. and B was like.. “Mommy, I’m watching Nemo, can we read this later?”

What??? *kiasu mommy mode on*

XO

Umrah Part 2

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I believe many of you read the Part 1 of my umrah story.. Here comes part 2 ;)

But I’m not done yet with my camel story!! Haha.. Here’s a short video showing the camel farm that we went to.

You can see a Badwi guy walking in this video and their house in the white tent. If you notice, there was a bed, right in the middle of the desert! That’s a serious sunbathing going on there…

Regarding food for my girls, it’s quite easy to feed them there because my girls loves nasi mandy ( that is something like our nasi biryani) And when they are in the mood for breads, trust Arabs to serve 10 types of bread every meal and they eats lots of yogurt. Problem solved!!
Remember the part about Malaysian food in Makkah in my previous entry? Anyway, there’s only two Malaysian restaurants there. One is D’Saji, the Felda restaurant in Al-Safwah mall. I believe many of you who have been to Makkah may have find your way to this D’Saji restaurant. But do you know there’s another restaurant there inside the Al-Saraya Hotel!! I bet you didn’t know this!! This hotel is situated next to the La Meridien hotel. It’s only a walking distance from Masjid Al-Haram, about 300 meters I would say. You can actually see La Meridien from the Masijidl Haram main entrance.
The guy in white jubah on the most right in the picture is the owner of this restaurant.
They serve good Malaysian food, ulam-ulam and sambal belacan there!!
Haaaa.. I even took the picture of the sambal. After a few days, I was already tired of Arab food. This is just what I need ;) Feels like home!! Apparently the owner of this restaurant also owns an Arab food restaurant here in Malaysia.
Any of you have tried Al-Edrus restaurant in Bukit Rahman Putera in Sg Buloh? I have actually went to this restaurant previously and they serve good nasi mandy.. Cooked underground!!
I gained 1kg eating all this food in 5 days! Haha.. OK, enough food story..

If you had the chance to stay at the hotels around Masjidil Haram, please do so. All the hotels are connected to the Holy Mosque. You can hear the azan and what the imam is reciting during solat from the speaker in each of the bedroom. You’ll definitely wake up during first azan about one hour before Subuh. You can get up for your tahajjud or get ready to go to the mosque for Subuh. InsyaAllah you will get to solat jemaah on time, everytime..! According to the Saudi’s fatwa, you can follow the imam in Masjidil Haram for solat jemaah from the hotel’s mosque, but not in your room. It’s really helpful if you have small kids because the space is smaller, the crowd is smaller and less likely your child will disappear!! It’s also really good for the elderly, they don’t have to walk so much and safer for them.
That’s us hanging out the the top of Marwah after we finished with our saie :)
Some mommies asked me what medications I brought for my girls. Well, I didn’t actually brought the whole pharmacy with me. I believe God will help us getting through this. I make sure the girls drink a lot of zam zam water, doa for them, make sure they take their meals regularly and getting enough sleep. I didn’t bring them out during afternoon time because the temperature was up to 39 degree Celcius. If we, the adults can get headache with that kind of temperature, I can’t imagine what will it do to my little girls..
How we survived long journey with the girls?
Thank you Steve Jobs!!
The iPad really saves our life. Haha..
Yes, this mom (me!) does cheat sometimes ;)
So, I guess, that is my umrah story and tips. From how we tawaf, saie and solat with the girls to activities we did with them and the food story. Thats all we did over there anyway.. Hope that helps.
Tiring? Yes..
Regret? No..
Experience? Priceless!
XO

Umrah Part 1

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Alhamdullillah.. We are back from our umrah trip.

It was a short one but I believe a visit to the Holy Kaabah will always be memorable for me. We brought Bella and Tasha along with us. I have to admit, they can be quite handful sometimes but the thought of leaving them behind is… unthinkable! Haha..

We flew to Jeddah via Dubai. I was sooo thankful because Frozen was shown on the in-flight tv. That one will keep B quiet during the flight, and I only left with Tasha to deal with. Haha..

I get a lot of questions from mothers out there on how to manage toddlers while in Tanah Haram. I’m not an expert, I’m just a struggling mommy like most of you.. *cheers* and of course with the help from my dear hubby and God’s willing, alhamdullilah..
B is already at the age where she can understand what what we are trying to tell her. So it’s quite easy to bring her around for solat at Masjid Al-Haram.. We can tell her not to run around, where we gonna pray so she know where to find us, or the easiest way to make her sit down and quite… the ipad!!! Hahah.. I know I know you’re giving me that you-give-your-child-ipad look ;) I rather let her play with ipad next to me than losing her.. So pls, if you wanna judge me, go ahead as long as my kid is safe!!
But on the other hand, T is still young. She only 15 months old, really active and her hobby is running around and climbing whatever she can climb and not to mention picking up anything that looks edible on the floor and shove it into her mouth…! That is the challenge!! Hahah.. I got T a harness where I can strap her to myself. She can still run around but only as far as 1 meter away from me. So, during solat, it’s either she’s attached to me or my husband will hold her during solat (and put her down during rukuk and sujud). That’s the only way to survive. Haha..
We decided not to bring stroller for this trip since we are not going around so much and I tend to forget about the stroller easily.. (Almost lost a stroller during our trip to Jordan/BaitulMaqdis before!!) And my girls prefer to run around rather than sitting in the stroller. When they are tired, we just carry them ourselves. No baby carrier ok!! B is about 14kg and T is about 8kg. That will definitely tone up our arms!! Haha.. Many parents put their child on the wheelchair available in Masjidil Haram. I didn’t see many stroller there. I don’t know whether it is allowed to bring it inside or not..
We did our tawaf and saie after subuh when the weather is not so hot and the crowd is not too big. During tawaf, B loves to sit on her daddy’s shoulder and I will carry T. When I came across a crowded area especially in front of Hajar Aswad, I tried to carry T a little bit higher to make sure it’s easy for her to breath, or else she will cry..
Saie is quite fun for B because she can walk on her own (without people pushing her) and stop to drink zam zam water and walk again.. B loves to just hold the tail of her daddy’s ihram, and Tasha will be carried. B can walk for about 3 trips to-and-fro between Safa and Marwah before she demanded us to carry her.
B and T taking a break drinking zam sam water during Saie..
By the end of the tawaf and saie, my legs were already shaking. It’s like going to the gym!!
In front of Masjidil Haram, there’s a huge road/empty parking space (facing the Royal Palace) where pigeons always come to eat, bird food were provided for them by the general workers. We brought our girls there in the evening just for them to do kids stuff (and that is running around!) So, in between asar and maghrib, they will be chasing the pigeons.. and feeling tired after that!! Speaking about smart parenting ;) Haha..
My husband has a Malaysian friend there who owns a Malay food restaurant. (We will get back to this restaurant story later..) One morning, he brought us to the camel farm (Hurmmmm.. Is it called farm? I’m not sure..) Anyway, he brought us to see this big fat camels who are taken care by the Badwis. Seriously.. These peoples are Badwi!!! They live under the tent in the desert, like Rasulullah SAW time but I saw one of them holding a mobile phone!! Haha.. Not bad for people who actually lives on a desert!!
Having fun with camel, I was just actually playing brave in front of Tasha!! Haha.. Mommy must show good example, right?? ;)
Diancam camel.. hahahah…
I seriously think Tasha is much more brave than me!! Hehe..
Fresh from the camel!!
For the first time, I drank camel’s milk!! Surprisingly, it doesn’t have any funny smell and it taste quite good. One funny-but-real fact about camel’s milk.. You can’t get any milk from the mommy camel until the kid camel drank from the mother first!! Isn’t God great?? MasyaAllah..

Part two coming soon, insyaAllah.. till then..

XO

Leaving On a Jet Plane

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Insyaallah, we will be leaving for Umrah this coming Thursday..

We = Bella + Tasha + daddy + mommy

This is my first time bringing these two girls there. Last time we were there, B was about Tasha’s age and Tasha was about 6 month in my womb. So, my first time handling two toddlers in Tanah Haram. I know it’s not gonna be easy since both of them are very active and I need to keep both of them in my sight all the time. I pray to God to ease things for both me and my husband taking care of our children especially when we are there so we can focus on our ibadah and being parents at the same time.

I’m quite nervous actually..

May Allah ease..

Amin…!

XO

Is It Time?

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OK mommies..
Let’s just straight to the point..
How soon do you wait for no 3?
I’m just curious. I wanted to have as many children as I can.. InsyaAllah but I think Bella and Tasha still needs attention in term of educating and managing them..
Tasha is 15 months now and B is turning 3 years old in 3 months time.
At home, my husband and I managed the girls ourselves even we have a kakak staying with us to help. And these two toddlers are quiet a handful. Bathing, feeding and play time really taking a lot of time. Night time is spent playing with them.. building blocks, pretend cooking, flash cards, play doctor and watching Doc McStuffin (hahah.. must teach them early!!) I haven’t watch Glee for soooo long! Hahaha.. American Idol? Forget it.. too much commitment!!
Imagine when I’m away and my husband doing this on his own..
(God, I’m so thankful for him!!)1-photo 1
This is what happened when I leave them with daddy..
All sorts of adventures.. Hahaha..
And now Tasha is at the stage where she wants to feed herself. The mess after meal is like..
*I have no word for it!*
and I keep telling myself “she’s learning.. let her learn..” over and over again.. Haha..
And if we leave them alone, they will definitely look for us.. There’s no where to hide at home. It’s like they have GPS tracking to look for us!! Trust them to stuff their face behind the glass door until we come and get them..
So, how long do you wait?
What’s your experience with having 3 children (and two hands to hold all three!) Haha..
XO