Take a break. LET'S HAVE SOME TEA

It's called baby mugging.

I came across one cute baby mugging photo on the net and suddenly found myself driving home during lunch hour to baby mug my baby. I will ask my photographer husband to set up proper set for more baby mugging photos.

Health Day

Health Day in my office. Everybody has access to free full medical check up that day.

Full of activities. There were medical check up, organ donation campaign, health talk, organic food stall, reflexology massage by Malaysian Association for the Blind, mammogram screening programme, clinical breast examination, detox corner, cancer awareness campaign, bekam and lots more.

Registration - urine & blood samples - reflexology massage.

Then, to the clinical examination in MAKNA's mobile unit.

After that, pap smear test in LPPKN's mobile unit.

Lastly, to the BMI and blood pressure counter before I proceed to the ECG room.

...everybody is traveling everywhere...

Thank you Nora for the photo. Nora is the one in Geneva right now.

Gifts for teachers

the introduction [here].

Finally, I managed to bake chocolate chip cookies for 30 teachers.

Nabil : World Map

Nabil shows his interest in world map. He first discovered the map in my organiser. I explained to him on what is a country, different continents, various seas/oceans and the world climate. I told him stories on some countries - in which he could relate - so it is easier for him to remember about that particular country and its location. I showed him Australia and told him I bought his stuffed wombat over there. I showed him Sweden and said his uncle (my brother) will go there to work (he went back already). I showed him UAE and said Atok and Nenny went there to perform Hajj.

Everytime time we watched news on the television about particular country, I will test him, "What continent is Mali in?", "Where is Bolivia?", etc. Most of the time, he answered it correctly. Kids have excellent memory.

These are some test we did over the weekend. I asked him to list down some countries according to the continent. 

Click to view cute spelling errors.

Busted.

I received a comment highlighted about an FB art competition with the theme "A Trip to the Zoo". 

I was so surprised because SOMEONE entered the competition using my artwork taken from this blog. THIS ENTRY.

It doesnt stop there. 
Somebody else uses my sister's artwork.

And another one entered the competition using my brother's.

I found it amusing. These drawings must be very good that people are using them for competition. Please learn to draw, people.

It is a low-key competition, anyway. I dont mind. I've told the Admin that they should be disqualified. I am sure images from this blog are being widely used out there for whatever reason. When it is available online, it will, of course, be accessible to everyone. 

I will only put watermark on selected images. 

Vote for Namibia

I am currently waiting for an assignment.
And I wish I get Namibia.

Hello Pole!!!

Yup, I was there accompanying Tok Pa.
No blue square this time because I got help from a pole.
This was last year's. I will attend Metaltech 2013 tomorrow. Or the day after. I - MUST - GO. I am working my charm now to get the VIP pass for the exhibition.

My friend asked me WHY I refused to accompany her to the International Shoe Festival somewhere around March in PWTC but I really excited to attend the exhibition on heavy machinery,  equipment and tools, at the same venue? 

My answer would be we should stop to overgeneralised women with shoes and men with tools. Some women loves tools, you know. (No Hanim, the truth is, I was still in confinement in March ;p)

Have you tried THE BEST COOKIES EVER?

Coming soon in garlicandbutter.
Give me two weeks.

Farewell lunch with DS CCH

Just now, I had lunch with Dato' Seri Chor Chee Heung, the then-Minister of Housing and Local Government Malaysia, in Putrajaya.

Hopefully this is not the last time meeting him. 
Thank you Esther for the photo (no, she didnt put the blue square. I did. It is irritating, right? I know).

Teacher's day preparation

First prep for Teacher's Day 2013.

This year I didnt buy presents for my sons' teachers as what I did last year. This year, I made them cookies.

Tonight I started to mix the ingredient at 12.20am. After a couple of feeding breaks, I manage to complete baking at 3am. It is enough for 10 teachers.

I need to prepare present for 30 teachers (primary school, sekolah agama, preschool, kindergarten and reading classes). Well, maybe 10 person get cookies, another 10 get muffins and the rest will receive fruits... I dont know. We'll see. 

Happy Friday.

Dont forget to recite Al-Kahf, people!
And tomorrow is 1st Rejab. Let's fast.

Thank you, ZURA!

I always appreciate anything art-sy. I love handwritings!
Just got this from Zura. I LIKE IT VERY MUCH!

It has been a privilege working with you

Dato' Seri CCH, x-MP of Alor Setar. 
Can you guess which one is me? This time no blue square on the face.

His last message to everybody in MHLG (I served MHLG before).

Typical view in the house

Levitating kid.

Exclusive.

Almost 20 people (including you, you and YOU ;p) asked me, "Ni dah start kerja ni, mesti dah campur, kan?" this week. For moms out there, you know what they're talking about.

This is my answer : Exclusive breastfeeding. 

Trying my best to complete EBF until Nazmi reaches 2 years old (or whenever he decided to wean off).  iA. Same goes to my other sons. I EBF anywhere (while walking at the mall, while eating at the restaurant, at wedding reception, etc) and I express the milk whenever I have time. I am using manual and battery-operated pumps so it is not that complicated. I keep it handy in my handbag and it can be assembled in 10 seconds. 

EBF is the best. But I know some people might have constraints in EBF-ing their babies. So for those BF fanatic out there, dont look down on them. 

(EDITED)
After publishing this post, one reader emailed me asking about how many oz I manage to express at the office. Here :

I BF Nazmi before I went to the office. Pumped around 4oz (sometimes I skipped this).
Lunch hour - 6oz
After office hour - 6oz
Before going to bed - Another 6oz

All together maximum of 22oz per day. Around 650ml.
But bare in mind that it will be different next month. And the month after that. And the month after because the supply will increase as the baby grows. This is the amount for the 3rd month.  Thank you.

(Almost) All bloggers will blog about this today.

I've done my part for PRU13.

Nazreen too.

Organise 101 : Dealing with toys

If you have children, you will definitely have toys in the house. Toys are cute. They are colourful and they produce cute sounds too. But they MIGRATE. They move from the kid's room to our bedroom, to the living room, then to the kitchen, outside - basically anywhere your children go.

O R G A N I S E  1 0 1   |  t o y s

by garlicandbutter

As far as I can remember, I rarely buy any toys for my children (once or twice). There are already a lot of hand-me-downs from my nephew and my cousin, free toys from the Golden Arch and birthday presents. And they ended up in FOUR HUGE containers in our house. Not one, not two, but four. That was when I decided to do a major toy clean out.

Ask these questions before you embark in the MAJOR TOY CLEAN OUT DAY. Taken from Absolute Organized by Debbie Lillard.

Where are you going to keep the toys?

Kids bedroom? Playroom? Family hall? In the closet? Half here-half there?

Me : Hobby area

What are you going to use to keep them organised?

Toy box? Clear container with wheel? Toy shelves? Basket? Soft toys hammock? Boxes with lid? Plastic bag?

Me : Clear container with lid and wheel

This is the first step to get the toys back to the right place after their migration.

Then comes the major toy clean out day. Go through the toys with your children so they know what toys are still in their possession and which will not. 

This is our exciting day cleaning out the toys.

I have prepared two laundry baskets for toys that they want to keep (NAK) and another one is to be donated to our less fortunate neighbour (DERMA). I also prepare two boxes for the broken ones (BUANG).

Nabil was the only one who helped me sorting out the toys....

...because his brothers suddenly decided to play. A good thing about toy clean out is they found toys that they forgot they had and it is as good as getting new toys.

After a while, Nabil decided to play together with his brothers. Kids... I asked them whenever I want to put something in DERMA pile or toss something into BUANG box. 

Along the process, I found my old toys. I keep these since I was 7 or 8 years old (And this year Nabil will turns 8 - how time flies).

At the end of the day, we have a good condition toys in one pile.

Ruined and broken toys with sharp edges to be thrown away.

I washed each pieces with soapy water, rinse and wipe it dry.

I threw these into the washing machine and they came out clean and happy. The blue elephant is mine.

Later that afternoon, I put everything into a huge transparent container and surprisingly, from four containers of toys, we ended up with ONE. It has wheels - easy for the kids to move it around.

After the clean out, I remind the kids to put the toys into the container after they done playing. I will pick up any toys lying on the floor and throw it away (actually I hide it in my room). Just to teach them a lesson. So far it worked.

Organise 101 - A debut

I was determine to write about the art of organising looooong time ago (ok, 3 months back) but I was too busy with the newborn and sitting in front of the computer is the last thing I want to do during confinement period. But, after having lunch today with my colleague, Ms Zarina, and talked about organised life, I am more determine to publish at least ONE ENTRY today on organising. A debut, perhaps. The rest of draft entries on organising will follow (waiting for the photos).

O R G A N I S E  1 0 1

by garlicandbutter

I have a couple of books on organising which all moms should read. I am focusing on moms here because they need to work, keep the house tidy, cook, take care of their husband and kids and pets (but others are also welcome to read). Some moms I knew need help in organising department not because they are lazy. It is because they are busy. Some others are very hard on themselves.

Quoting Ms Lillard, a professional organiser, "There is no right or wrong way to organize. There is only what works and what doesnt work". 

I will share some pointers on how to deal with paper pile, toys, clothes, meal, never enough closets/storage and the rest of the odds and ends, through my own experience / books I've read. Then you will decide what work and what doesnt work with you. With Organise 101, I hope you will be able to find a place for everything. 

Baby in black

Not a fan of the club. Just a fan of the colour.

Name on the bottle

Whenever we bought a bottled (drinking/mineral) water for the kids, I will make sure I stick their names on each bottle so I will know who let the bottle lying around the house, who didnt emptied their bottle or who didnt put it in the recycle bin. 

We usually give the recyclables to the scavenger once a month. My mom did that since I was a kid and now I feel obligated to do the same. She taught me well in preserving the environment through recycling.

Colours for my MIL

My MIL's birthday was on 1 May. 

I gave her colourful kitchenware. I hope she likes it. As far as I can remember, I gave her three (or was it four?) frying pans of various sizes before. She already have two. I JUST CANT SAY NO to these colourful frying pans this time. I hope I will not come across any cute pans in the future or else my MIL's house will turn into frying pan museum.

Seriously, who need more than one frying pan of the same size in the kitchen?

ME.

OUR Birthday celebration

My birthday was on 30 April. My cousins' were on 25 and 29 April. The celebration was held on 1 May. As usual, there were a lot of food and laughter, and the kids were having fun with the balloons.

The food.

I bake a marshmallow brownies and I made honey mustard dipping sauce for french fries.

The best part - as usual - would be the birthday presents :)

haha. macam budak-budak.

Early in the morning, my dad woke me up and said he bought me a deep freezer (he didnt said it is FOR MY BIRTHDAY. He usually bought stuff for my house, for my kids (TV, refrigerator, etc), but since he bought it a day after my birthday, so I just ASSUME it is my birthday present) Surprising, indeed. Me and my husband stared at the huge box on the lorry for a couple of minutes. Really? A deep freezer? wow. 

I am so thankful because there's no space left in our existing freezer to store Nazmi's milk supply. The timing is right. 

My brother gave me this set. From THE shop. Love it very much. 

My sister gave me a WHITE coffee mug. Love it! I even gave her a name. I called her Puteh. I brought Puteh to the office today. I made hot chocolate in the morning. Right now, I filled it with hot water and pretending like I am sipping hot coffee - it gave me a psychological edge to stay awake until 5.30 pm (oi, mengantuk sangat). I dont drink coffee during exclusive breastfeeding. 

My cousins gave me an umbrella - because I told them I want an umbrella for my birthday. A cool transparent umbrella with WHITE handle. 

My mom gave me LOVE.

THANK YOU ALL.

BACK TO WORK

I am back to work today after 3 months maternity leave. Last night, I gather stuff to be brought to the office. Believe me, I bring a huge bag to the office today and another bag for my packed breakfast, lunch and water bottle.

I sleep at 2.00 am and woke up at 5.30 am. Extremely excited to go to work.

I manage to make scramble egg for my family for breakfast. I also made beef fried rice with BBQ chicken for my packed lunch (they ate it during breakfast too). I have to bring lunch everyday since I need to pump during lunch hour.