Backyard Fruits

Just want to show off the cherries that we picked from the tree in our backyard. The tree is nothing to look at but the cherries are a different story altogether!

We normally don't get to eat any of the cherries because the birds would always get to them first even before they are ripe. But somehow this year, there were only two birds who stubbornly kept an eye on the tree and came over for breakfast - as opposed to about 5-6 of those black feathered fiends with bright yellow beaks who would have their breakfast, lunch and dinner in our backyard.

So here they are!

They are absolutely yummilicious and the flesh is thick and sweet - much, much better than the ones Mr S bought for me from the supermarket, I tell you!

The landlord was the one who planted the tree. He did ask whether we enjoyed the fruits a few summers back to which we answered in surprise, no..not at all..there were none left for us!

Banyak pahala landlord dapat tahun ni ...:)

The Proof Is In The Graze...

Remember when I used to be so worried about Big H because he didn't know how to play with his friends during their break time?

He used to walk around by himself, not feeling sorry for himself or anything like that - according to his teachers, his friends would always call to him to play with them but he always refused. It was either he didn't know how to join in or he simply preferred to play on his own. His Year 1 /Year 2 teacher was a little concerned as well because she said that playing with friends is part of learning and growing for children and he was missing out on that...

I remember I used to drive over to his school and sit in the car to spy on him during his playtime - but I always ended up feeling sad and sorry for my little boy - up to the point that I felt that there was no one I could turn to for help but for the Almighty! And so that's what I did! Doa, doa and doa that he'll be better at making friends and playing with them! I know the issue may sound a little petty or trivial to many but it breaks my heart to see him playing by himself when his friends are laughing and playing together. I really wanted him to improve his socializing skills...

But guess what? Big H has slowly, since the middle of last year started playing with his friends! He even has a 'best-friend' now! Admittedly, for a while it was only this friend *R* who considered Big H to be his best friend when Big H didn't want to have anything to do with him at all. In fact, Big H had complained to me in his very innocent way, " I don't know why *R* likes to follow me around!" To which I had answered, "Maybe it's because he likes you and wants to be your friend?" But I didn't need to persuade him too much because they soon became good friends and frankly, I was very, very relieved!

Now, Big H has other friends too - they all play together during play-time. At first it was simply some "made-up" games which when I was a kid was the best kind of games I ever played. But then slowly, Big H and *R* was called by other friends to play football.

In the beginning Big H told me that *R* didn't like to play football (when Big H did) and *R* had walked away when Big H wanted to join the others in the game. But slowly, slowly, *R* also started playing football during playtime and even slide-tackled Big H one day and made him fall and graze his face! Oh dear!

I was a little bit concerned because Big H hardly comes home with any sort of playtime injuries - obviously for the reason that he has not been playing a lot, but to be honest, they really made me very happy!

It was because the injuries were proof to me that he has been playing with friends at school and he was finally able to assimilate himself with the other children! *Phew!*

Oh Big H, I'm so sorry about the scars that you have on your face now but I am also happy and glad that you have now finally 'grown' a bit and able to play with the other children and make friends....Mama is so proud of you!

A Yellow Belt for Little H

It's now the second week of the Easter Holidays for the kids, hence the reason why I've been a little too busy to dive into the blogosphere.

But right now, the boys are at the madrasah, and Mr S had helped to cook dinner last night (cum the boys' lunch while we were both at work), so I think I'll make a quick entry about Little H's karate grading last few weekends specially for the family and grandparents back in Malaysia!

After about a year wearing his white belt, Little H's sensei finally gave him the green light to take the grading to yellow belt. And boy, was Little H delighted!

Big H, Mr S and I helped him to practice at home for the grading - pointing out what he was doing 'wrong' or 'funny' and he took all our pointers in and alhamdulillah, did very well during the grading. (Big H didn't do his grading this time around because he just went up to his green a few months back.)

There was 1 part during the sparing though, when Little H's partner had to do a face punch and Little H had to do his upper block when the Head Instructor had asked him to repeat his move - but in our opinion that was just because Little H's sparing partner was well, to put it frankly, rubbish. I know, that's harsh, but it's true!

Pity that little boy. It's really appalling to see some overly ambitious parents (particularly the parent of that little boy) insist that their child is ready for the grading when they have only attended the classes 5-6 times! I pity too the instructor who had to deal with the parents - we saw 2 separate cases when parents went to the sensei to insist that their child was ready to take the grading even when the sensei expressed to the contrary! How kiasu of these parents! Kesian the kids!

Anyway, here are some pix of Little H's karate grading. He had checked my blog a few weeks back and had asked why mama hasn't put up his karate grading pics in Mama's blog! Sorry darling, I've been busy ye...hopefully, I'm not too late...here they are;

Little H ready to perform his kata.

Yay! Little H presented with his license book by one of the senseis

which states that he had passed his test!

Little H proudly holding a certificate (actually that was Big H's - Little H's one wasn't ready yet!) for the photo op with all the other participants.

Little H proudly holding his yellow belt.

Mr S bought Little H his yellow belt straight after the grading!

Big H with his Green Belt Certificate.

Little H still full of adrenaline at home - showing off in front of the camera!

I'm Not Your Friend!

"Why is Mama's body changing?" asked Little H to a bemused Mr S.

"What do you mean?"

"Well...her breasts used to be down here.." he said, using both hands to indicate somewhere between his chest and tummy(!!!), "but now, it's up here!"- his hands now pointing some where between his collarbone and chest!

Obviously Mr S was laughing by this time. But Little H wasn't finished yet.."And her tummy is fat!"

Oh joy.

Ok, people. Time to come clean.

I haven't gotten a boob job like some of you may think. And neither have I been pigging out that I have grown a spare tyre around my middle. The fact is, I am actually, right now, as of today, thirteen weeks and 5 days pregnant!

Alhamdulillah.

So you can understand why Little H has been harassing me with his moods of late. He cries at the slightest provocation from his brother and threatens us all with the all too frequently used; "I'm not your friend!" every little chance he gets - so frequently that Mr S, the teaser, has even made up a little 'melody' for it. Teruk Mr S! And of course, it annoys Little H even more when everyone especially Big H roars with laughter at Mr S's teasing.

Cian dia.

But that's really being unfair - Little H has been adorable too. He leaves his games and Legos from time to time to check on me in my room whenever I'm feeling a little bit down during my 1st trimester. He cheers me up with his cheeky smile and little stories which always start with, "Mama, shall I tell you something..??"

And....he gives helpful comments when I try out clothes at the shop! Little H likes to follow me into the changing room to look at me trying on clothes that I want to buy. I remember when I was trying on some maternity jeans at a NEXT store, Little H comments were like these; "That looks fabulous on you Mama!" and "No, that looks funny." And in a shop when I was trying on a rain coat because spring is upon us now and I need a nice water resistant and hooded piece, Little H decided to announce loudly, "Mama, when you wear this coat you don't look fat anymore!"

Well, that was it then! Of course I had to buy that coat. It's just wrong not to when my loudest critic has given his blessing!

Oh well, I guess we all know where Little H's mood swings are coming from. Soon inshaAllah, he won't be the baby in the family anymore and he knows it. Mr S says he's using up all his 'baby credits' quickly now because really, he has always been the more 'matured' and 'sensible' one between my two boys...

So takpelah...

At the Tracks

The boys had a wonderful weekend last week.

Earlier in the week, we received an invite to a birthday party of a friend's son to be held on Saturday. But that wasn't what that had excited the boys - parties are pretty commonplace these days and in my opinion, birthday gatherings here are more fun for the parents really who get a chance to catch up with friends and eat some nice Malaysian food while the kids play together or do activities with the entertainers.

What was different and exciting for the boys this time though was the treat that my friend, the father of the birthday boy, had generously organised for about 10 kids between the ages 6-8 before the party. They were to get a chance to do some indoor go-karting! So boys being boys of course they were over the moon about the whole thing!

Due to unexpected heavy traffic that morning, we arrived quite late to the venue but not to worry, all the children were divided into two groups to take turns on the track anyway, so Big H and Little H were put into the second group and were not disappointed!

Big H looked nervous while waiting for his turn to have a go.

A short briefing on how to drive the kart - all the other kids had their briefing in a special room but because we were late, the boys had to have a quick lesson just beside the track! The red pedal is for stopping, the green is for moving. No problem!

Getting helmets that best fit them.

Of course, Big H had to get a slightly bigger-sized one!

Looking pretty cool and all ready to rev up the engines!

Our turn next. Tak sabar...

Finally! It's the boys' turn!

Big H.

He was fast but careful - took over other drivers

whenever he could but was careful around the corners.

Little H however didn't know the meanings of 'break' or 'corner'!

He just flew around the bends and quite a few times rammed

himself into those red and white tyres!!

After 1 hour of fun, 15 + 15 mins for each group, everyone received 'certificates' and the birthday boy got a medal. And we had a photo op at the podium - of course, nearly everyone wanted to stand at the centre of it!

After that at our friend's place for the actual party, after the food

it was back to the 'usual' activity.

The boys even had a round of Guitar Hero with some other children at the party, playing to Deep Purple's Smoke On the Water and Joan Jett's I Love Rock & Roll!

Overall, Big H and Little H really had a good time. They had so much fun actually that they were talking about their go kart experience even the next day, laughing loudly at their own driving and 'accidents' while watching the videos Mr S took of them going around the track.

A bundle of thanks to Uncle Shamsul for all the fun. If the track is somewhere nearer to us I really don't mind bringing them to it often for something to do during the weekends but unfortunately it's quite far away. Oh well, it was good experience for the kids anyway and who knows, they might be able to persuade Mr S to drive them all the way there for a few more rounds during the school holidays.

Back to Business As Usual?

Salam everyone!

Am so sorry that I have not been updating - am feeling a little bit regretful about it actually.

*Sigh*

Even when I was busy or unwell, I really should have updated my blog...because now, during all that time that I have been silent - a lot of what had happened will be 'forgotten' especially, especially about the kids. And they grow up really fast, that I tend to forget that every day with them is really, really precious - and that I should really write everything down so that I will always remember and I can cherish every moment! (Wish I was in a reality show like those Kardashians where a cameraman would follow us around and record every minute of our lives - and edit out the bad parts too! LOL!)

But I hope from now on, I would be more persevering in updating this blog. It has been tiring these last few months and to be honest - I really couldn't spare the time to even visit this blog and any one of my friends' but I will, try my best to keep this blog active from now on.

God willing.

**Pic is of the boys hogging the pc - as usual! One of my excuses for not updating this blog!**

Inadequate

"You need to be super quick," Mr S said.

It was because we were due to meet up with the group for a tour around the important mosques and sites of Madinah. I had nodded - I had about 1 hour before the time we were supposed to meet up with our guide at the lobby of the hotel - I was confident I could make it.

And so I walked with Mr S and the boys - they were going to send me halfway and just wait for me outside the mosque, in front of the men's entrance, as I wont be long. I waved to them once and walked briskly towards the women's entrance of the Masjid Nabawi, towards the back of the mosque.

I was nervous.

I was within the vicinity of Rasulullah SAW and I felt small and unworthy. I am not qualified to kiss the soles of His feet and I felt inadequate - even to ziarah his Tomb.

But I have to ziarah no matter what my feelings were because it would be rude and inappropriate not to if you are in Madinah.

There were no rows and rows of people seated or standing in prayer lines in the mosque as was the norm during solat times. There were some women praying but I could probably count them with my hands - mostly there were small groups of women walking about, all either going towards the Maqam area or coming from it. And there were the Indonesian cleaners too, busy mopping, vacuuming, wiping, cleaning - I can imagine what a huge task they have to do daily or even hourly as the mosque is never empty.

Once I entered the mosque, I had to walk from the women's entrance at the rear end of the mosque back towards the front of the mosque where the Maqam is situated. Of course, this time I get to do it without squinting at the brilliance of the sun and instead, my eyes had to adjust in the cool and dim areas of the fully air conditioned interior of the mosque.

I walked fast - the clock was ticking - I was wearing my stockings and really, I was sliding on the cool marble floors where the carpets were rolled up for the morning mopping. And then, suddenly, I was stopped by a dark skinned female guard in burqa.

"Indonesia?" she asked me.

"Malaysia." I answered.

"Sana ibu.." she said, pointing towards a group of South East Asian women, all sitting down together, some praying, some reading the Quran. I walked towards the women and sat down beside a young woman. I was a little confused. The last time (about 16-17 years ago) I visited the Maqam of the Prophet (pbuh) during the women's visiting hours, when the door opened, it was open season and the women simply, well, charged. There was no segregation of countries, no organisation whatsoever.

I looked around and saw that there were several other female guards holding placards with the names of countries; India/ Pakistan, Iran, Malaysia/ Indonesia and some of the guards were even giving talks in various languages to the groups of women, all seated according to their country of origin. I didn't need to be a genius to figure out the system - we were only allowed to enter in groups according to country and each group will have to wait for their turn to get in.

Bother!

I glanced at my clock - 40 minutes before our rendezvous with the guide.

30 minutes.

20 minutes and I was still waiting.

At that time, looking at the peaceful looking women who were patiently waiting, praying and reading the Quran around me - I thought I would gladly take the pushing and shoving to get in the Raudah any day - especially today when I don't have the time to be patiently waiting. I calculated; it took about 5 minutes to reach the entrance from where Mr S and the boys were waiting. Another 5 minutes to walk across to the front of the mosque to the Maqam. And it will take 5 minutes to walk back to the hotel. So I needed about 20 minutes in all as I had to go up to our room once we reach the hotel to get my bag.

Sigh.

I said my salam anyway to the Prophet from afar, got up and walked carefully over and around the women in the group, careful not to step on anyone and quickly made my way out. As I slid across the cool floor once again towards the back of the mosque, I thought, maybe Allah has decided that I was inadequate to visit His Prophet after all....

But I did not give up and tried again the next day...


To Be Continued.