Yang best di 2014

Yang pasti 2014 has passed, too many sad news for Malaysia
as for me, i tried to cherished every bit of it. Some of my personal achievements 

• best thing ever, i  conceived Sofia on Nov 2013 and birthed her on 18th July 2014 despite the ups and downs on emotional before that

• Travelling- we managed to Kundasang and KK, Sabah. Genting Highlands, Thistle PD. We don't travel much coz we are waiting for Sofia to arrive.

• HM graduated his JK class and now entering to K1 (5yo), still at Krista Tmn Nirwana

• career wise, i have left MAH & MAHTEC  and now being the Executive Assistant, to the President/Board. Still in hospitality industry. Syukur gaji pun naik, rezeki baby baru

• Berjaya going through one phase where i felt i was been left out. Alhamdulillah Allah bagi kekuatan

• Celebrated Mak's birthday at the Corus Hotel with siblings

• Tho i'm mixing formula milk and my  breast milk for Sofia, but its 70% more on my breast milk. This time i have more knowledge in hand and i tried to bf Sofia as long and as much as i could. This also meant that i bought my first medela swing and the sterile set. I hope i can bf her up to 1 year (at least) and more to come later

• I tried to have a gentle birth while delivering Sofia but i can't, instead went for C-sect with Dr. Roslan. Definitely natural and normal birth is way better. Pray that i can VBAC for my third (will there be? insyaAllah)

• bought the most expensive handbag for myself (reward la for diri sendiri) and its my first Prada

• went through some uneasy things in life related to friends and families, yang pasti every thing happened for a reason. I am being more careful and choosy with my words and with whom should i connected with. It left a small wound in me and i choose to be distanced with them. past is past la

• 2014, again saya tak dapat beraya. In fact, i beraya di hospital Selayang with Sofia admitted due to jaundice. And i berpantang sendiri, quite a challenged tho but with the help of husband especially and mak (came to visit on the weekends), friends we went through it

• bought my own fridge after the old one went KO few weeks before raya came (phiew)

2015, please give me more positive vibes and dipermudahkan segala urusan!!

The breastfeeding journey

Alhamdulillah this time with Sofia i was given a chance to breastfeed (BF) her again
and syukur too this time i have gained quite more knowledge on BF

and so i took some supplements to boost my milk
ekceli, it depends pada individual jugak, some will have more and some will not
rezeki masing2 Allah bagi. Overall, do not judge moms yang have less EBM (express breast milk) supply. NEVER JUDGE!

consist fenugreek from Fabulous mom

Fenugreek above is one of the supplement i took. Bought at Fabulous Mom UKelang and taste good.
Beside that, i boil dried longan +red dates too and drink it, hot or cold
It didn't give my EBM till mencurah2 oversupply but it helps to boost la
others are like : durian, milo, ovaltine, chocolate, nasi, overnite oats etc
if you google pun there's a lot of supplements, be it in natural ways (food/drink) or in tablets

As long as we have the effort rather than just give up without trying, that's a BIG L!

To complete this journey, i bought Medela swing at Fabulosmom too
SO lucky there were having sale 50% for almost 2months
The package was quite a good steal for me
RM699 - medela swing set with so many free gifts : 3 ice packs that last for 8hrs, 6 storage bottles for EBM and the cooler bag

Lets pray and doa that Allah grants me more milk supply so i can achieve my target of 6mo bf Sofia and once achieved, eventually the durations continues as long as they're supply

the baby feed guide

AMIN!

2nd Pregnancy Journey

It's almost a month now ever since i gave birthed to Sofia
so let me just update the overall story and will share the story of delivery on separate one

i have been studied and learn more on  my 2nd pregnancy
lagi best if cakap i have kept my self informed this time
i am more to gentle birth and have joined the Gentle Birth Group in FB too
i aimed to have a gentle birth this time. At least not to have epidural, no epi etc (will share my birth plan here)
Honestly, i was depend on my gynae to do the best for me and HM 4 yrs ago. It was my first child anyway, so many new things i have to adapt and learn that time. Tho HM was admitted to NICU and recovered, i am hoping my 2nd birth won't be the same. I am a bit trauma.

With my 2nd pregnancy, i am a bit relaxed and pretty excited. tak tau kenapa but this time i was prepared
towards the 38wks onwards, i started to feel nervous.

During my first trimester, i dont have much nausea unlike before, but just a mild one
no empty stomach otherwise i would have gastric.
entering 2nd trimester, i was a bit relaxed and enjoying every meals. i have this sudden cravings for watermelon. i would eat it almost everyday, as a must fruit for me to have till my end pregnancy
Beside that, i drank coconut quite frequent, maybe due to the hot weather, i kinda need a relief for my throat
Plus, i have this sweet tooth cravings too. Thank god that i dont have diabetic, high BP etc. Consider myself as a low risk mother

This time i decided to take early maternity leave. Due to dah tak laratla. Kalini entering 7mo je i dah start mencungap and penat sgt. I felt heavier than bawak HM dulu. Tak tau kenapa. Plus i'm not gaining much, 8kg in overall..padehal sofia lahir at 3.2kg
Plus, my office takde lift so dah malas nak climbed to 4th floor everyday (plus dah takde mood nak kejelah) so i decided cuti awal..in total i cuti for 3months

It was a good one. no stress about work etc..dok umah relax do housework (mild) and layan baby inside. Pressure at down there mmg dah heavy, barely sleep on sides so on back je. Baby movement pun makin terasa as i have kulit yang nipis kata doctor. So tahan and layan je la.

Nak tau cerita pasal beranak, ok next post......................................>

Useful FB support page for mommies

i would like to share some of the useful links/Fb page/groups that you can find and join related to pregnancy/parenting/breastfeeding/caesarean groups etc

You see, when you become a first time mommy, you wanna find more info on pregnancy. The do's and don't etc
Then you tend to find info on delivery. On what are the risk of overdue? What is the natural inducer? A good way/why it's good to have a natural birth etc
Next, when you have delivered your baby, you have a question of breastfeeding/parenting/baby sleeping pattern etc

And so the questions and curiosity continues
It's good to learn and as we are practising/becoming a good mother/parents, we must learn

So do i. While i'm still learning to feed myself with so much new info and understands jargon related to all above, i am glad that i have friends who are willing to share with me
And so, below is the groups that i have joined, which i think could benefits some of you


Secret Club for Mommies -  click here SCFM 
You can ask basically about anything, as specified in the groups pinned post. Mostly related to parenting etc

The Breastfeeding Advocates Network - click here TBAN
mostly related to breastfeeding - on what good supplements etc

The Gentle Birth Group - click here GBG
If you're planning to learn and have a gentle birth delivery and learn so many new things on delivery, they have a good group support. There are also doctors in this group

ICAN Malaysia/VBAC support - click here
Eversince my 2nd pregnancy i had a c-sect, i started to joined this group with regards VBAC (vagina birth after caesarean). Learn more about c-sect here. There's also doctors in here

Solid/Semisolid Food for your baby - click here
Starting to feed food to your child? to get more recipes? here here


The above were to name a few. They even have few groups for each. You can try search and look for it at the FB. I can say that they are actually quite a good support groups that help mommies out there.
You'll be surprisingly amazed on how advance and good those mommies in each group.
They are well informed and have such a high spirits and energy!

Get yourself well informed too!

Anticipated me & Macau #1

Now, let's start this

This is the anticipated business trip for the year 2013, because

• my first year to macau
• my first year handling this event and i gotta chance to be part of this delegation that has at least 20 GM's/Directors from Hotels all over Msia that joined
• i gotta visit HK again for the 3rd time *wink*
• i will be jakun abit by flying A380 fir the first time 

so the day came, flights was early at 950am and que was long by knowing school hols started too

window seat, pillow, in flight entertainment, upper deck class, blanket - checked

meal - nasi lemak with Magnum ice cream as dessert of the day

in flight entertainment - the COnjuring (halfway as i fell asleep after that, kenyang) 

Reached HK airport was 12pm+ . (Yes, we flew to HK instead of direct to Macau with AA since we want to use MAS. MAS don't have flight to Macau)

So we are taking a speed boat/ferry from the airport HK to Macau. DO NOT go for HK immigration coz once you're out you can't go in back. So you have to go to Wan Chai (at town) to take the boat rides from there which gonna take longer hours 

Tips : There'll be a signage at the airport if you wanna take the boat to Macau. Just follow that and they'll have schedule too. Its about less than HKD200 (lupa sudah, pic should be in my camera)

Boat rides took about 45mins. 

#2 tips : its better to bring along your bag rather than check-in into the ferry/boat coz they don't have a proper luggage system at Macau. They just dump all your bags at one pick up point then you have to wait for your luggages to arrives (if you're lucky enough within the 1st trip your bag is there- so unsystematic) 

Outside the terminal, there'll be plenty of taxis waiting for you, just tell them your destination and go

#3 tips : HKD can be used at Macau, but they'll give you change in MOP. but MOP Cannot be used at HK. so spend wisely the MOP while at Macau :)

Arrived at my hotel name Landmark Hotel, organised by the organiser. Classy and huge room for just my self. and lucky enough to get free wifi (others don't have wifi and must go to the business centre room that operated only office hours, such inconvenience)

#3 city tour and the shopping part & say Good bye Hanoi

hahahahahahahhhhhhhhh
lama giler nak amik masa to update about Hanoi trip. sorryla bila mood kelaut, takde ape yang nak di update dalam ni
so mood menulis dah datang mari kita habiskan

so day 3, we went for city tour.
actually everyone was looking forward for the shopping part rather than this boring city tour, but we have to at least show to the Directors that we are going to learn some historical story about Hanoi. so drama la sket

but once finished visited the biggest lake in the city and the nearby temple, acara shopping sudah bermula. we separated by few groups then, ikut nafsu shopping masing2
there's a lot of choices of souvenirs you can get here. a 100% pashmina can get for VD1000 only. bags, shirts, shawls, tudungs are all around. just use your bargaining skills

As usual, i MUST buy something for HM. I declined to buy her more toys, so i decided bajula paling sesuai and found this one shop that sell all of baby/toddler's items, in pure cotton. I gone mad and managed grab 2 sets of baju for HM. Which that shopping moment lasted till night for our last kopek, esok sudah balik

balik hotel, rested, dinner, and pack for tomorrow


Day 4
no rush today so breakfast and all supposed to be at the lobby by at least 1030am
our flight was about 2pm+ and i flew with MAS (some others with Vietnam Airlines)
all jump into one van and journey to airport took at least 30mins

checked-in and board directly, still have time about an hour plus while waiting for plane, so i sempat habiskan my dong duit by going for a 30mins foot spa
bliss, lega, best. ngam2 habis when they're started calling passenger for boarding

in flight - meal, entertainment was ok and reached home about almost 7 after all the ding dongs at the airport and transport

Exploring Hanoi

Alhamdulillah, dapat rezeki to went hanoi on company trip this time

the hotel we stayed had halal food. Its Cosiana Hotel & Spa. Reviews from Trip advisor was so promising and yes it is.
location wise are good and quite distance (45mins drive from airport)
just got to know that Hanoi are also having 4 season weather but obviously no snow la but the temp can go down as low as 10c and sometimes below 10c

We took a package with the hotel consists of room + bbf, trip to halong bay, transport, city tour, meals (lunch & dinner) for 4d3n including of transport to and fro airport for almost 20paxs and per pax cost us USD217/person and twin sharing basis USD262/person

1st day
reached hotel about 230pm and later we are to have our brainstorm & budget presentation 2014. Dragged till 8pm and later had a hearty dinner and tido. weather been raining cats and dogs and so i decided to just get a rest and prepare for the long day esok

from far i thot its a wig shop but then they sold helmets. lol

Farm in the City

Farm in the city, sri kembangan
sangat in the city. coz it's surrounded by highway and kinda new town at Equine area which is yet to be developed

I bought the deals at Groupon. Instead of RM33/adult, we get RM10 off. Plus kids below 3yo is free, so i bought two tickets
Just LIke their page in the FB, and you're entitle to get vitagen for each ticket

So before the dateline on 12May, we went last saturday the 11th may  (suka last minit sgt)
reached there almost 3pm and thank god for less crowded.
have seen one of my friend went before, mmg weather sangat panas, so we prepare with
light clothes. and decided to be all Green, in support with visiting the nature (ahaks)

The place is not that huge, almost 40mins dah boleh cover (depends on your time too)
And so we starts with visiting the 30yo and 38yo tortoise. These are definitely huge and have hard shells (just look at their age) and it was imported from South Africa
The attractions were feeding them with kangkung.
Look at the epic expression by HM here hahahah

Later, we proceed to see phyton, white crow and bunch of friendly birds
HM has no problem bonding with them. I had the opportunity to feed those tiny birds and it's enjoying (tho i was skeptical beginning, but the ticklish feeling mmg ada)

penjaga burung :p

FYI, they have a canteen for you to get some refreshment. So no worries, but the items could be limitedla

And so we proceed to the next animals which includes : giant rabbits, goose, burung kakaktua, meerkat, porcupine, horses, pelicans, butterflies etc

Towards the end, we reward our self with ice-cream as the weather is hot
It's a good strategy of marketing by introducing your new outlet which is a bit secluded by joining Groupon and so does other deals. It creates the awareness
I know that it's quite famous to all the kindergardens and taska coz they do field trip for those kids. Well at least its something new beside than the National zoo (5mins from our house teehee)

it closed on every Tuesday
Open from 9-6pm on weekends
Check out their FB : Type Farm in the city

Tmn Negara #3

day 2- sesi malam

after dinner we went for night walk. start about 830pm so harapan habisla awal coz diorang nak tengok bola mlm tu. Man U tah lawan ape. Ku tak join, ada agenda lain muahah

yang guide kitorg is just one of the staff from their recreation dept
beside the walkway smua dah berpapan, so takdela hassle ada pacat ke hapa kat tanah merah tu

Berbekal kan torch light yang cinonet , we went to Tahan Hide, tempat nak tengok animals at night. Unfortunately we only saw one deer. After waited like 20mins and dah start nak boring, cabutla.
Then start jalan lagi, bumped into few groups with tour guide memasing. Basically a bit boring gak if jalan takde org nak explain ke hapa, sama mcm jalan biasa masuk hutan kot
Then while walking adelah jumpe one tiny baby snake, from python's family.
Tried cari tempat scorpions hiding but takde pung. Plus my boss sibuk duk laju je jalan, becoz he was scared. Since he org paling last kat belakang and he's afraid of dark so pepaham jelah. hahaaaaaaaaaaa (gelakkan boss)
But our tour guide did tell one story where there's a case satu minah mat saleh trapped in the jungle for 11days. It's very dark and silent. and she only have her supplement to survived and she did. After orang merata carik pun tak jumpe gak. pelik

But being a clever girl, she just waited at tepi sungai. And tah cemana ada sorang orang asli ni terpikir nak carik dia ikut jalan sungai so they found her. Thank god kan

Then i suggested a stupid idea that why not we off kan torch light and get the feeling of duk dalam hutan, gelap, silent. Actually malam tu ada moon, so it shines. And malam tu bykla pulak cengkerik and all sorts of animals sound, so takdelah senyap sgt hahahah. Takpela nak amik feeling kan. But in real, in deep jungle. It'll be totally silent and freaking dark.

After sejam keluarla kami dgn selamatnya. hahahah bolehla sejam je. Merasala night walk
Then acara seterusnya disambung dgn diorg tgk bola. And me do some hunting and chasing

I just saw huge female tapir lying down in front of one of the chalet. Suka hati dia je.
Then ada wild boars looking for foods. Then ada lagi satu male tapir joined. But he was more running away and few of the tourist were chasing after him. And there's a tame kijang pun that night.

kijang jinak

the tapir and me. LOL

wild boars hunting for food

Day 3
after sudah bangun lambat and breakfast, back to KL
but before balik, Mr Clifford (the GM) bekalkan kami with Ikan patin masak tempoyak. Pahang's signature dishes.

Mr Clifford (GM), me and me boss

I hope i can be back, bringing my family along

Thanks for the hospitality Mr Clifford. A very good exposure and experience!

Tmn Negara #2

Day 2
Breakfast pastu pegi canopy walk
Two opts : jungle trekking from resort which took 30mins to the Canopy walk stop OR
ambik boat je pegi sana, 5mins.
Guess which method i took?

Ye, saya naik boat (sgt tak mencabarla) pegi dgn bos kan nak short cut je, bosan

hike up to the canopy walk stop then the challenge began
time ni only half je bukak coz lagi half close for maintenance. It's the longest canopy walk in the eldest forest on earth (eldest than the Amazon)
time ni jugak tak ramai sgtla coz it's on weekdays kan but during cuti raya haji haritu about 200+ tourists visited. Imagine the long que

satu tips when buat canopy walk is don't look down. coz when we did, rasa macam nak gayat or takut will tetiba arised. But human biaselah, lagi kata DONT lagi dibuatnya.
as for me, i looked down coz nak tau how the heights is.
The canopy walk very straight forward, takla rasa susah sgt pun. Just when there's time of it's swinging, that time yang sgt mencabar. Imagine you're walking and reached the middle part, tetibe that canopy swinging left to right? hahhahahahah yes that feeling!

look down hehe

It took me about 45mins and walking down about 10mins. So okla 1hour
depends on how you take it

yeay, it's end

walkway to go down

Then back to resort for lunch.

Meal time memang tak skip langsung, makan je. Free kan. so layankan aje

Finish that, the GM took us for resort tour. They are doing phase by phase some refurbishment to the resort. They'll come out with new concept of bathroom but the room concept remain as it's a jungle resort

FYI, Mutiara Taman Negara has 3 types of room, dorm room/hostel, chalet and bungalow

dorm/hostel style. starts from RM50/pax with bfast

bunk beds

toilets di luar

chalet type

new bathroom design

and shower

front view of the chalet

Surroundings & facilities at Mutiara Tmn Negara

Complete with restaurant, mini market, Klinik kesihatan (over the river)
If nak take activities, can engage their in house or with outsiders (outside the resort, with local orang kampung) but it has to be at special walkway/area for guest.
The forest and canopy handle by jabatan perhilitan. So admission fee for the pass to jungle trekking is RM5/pax. Ticket can be bought at the resort (ada counter jab. perhilitan)

signage

mini market

next we went to Lata Berkoh, tempat utk melihat ikan kelah yang bersepah and to experienced ride on a boat while exploring the river. It's also heading to Gunung Tahan
The river has different color of water, bit darker as in deep dark green (mcm ada lumut) but it's rich with iodin which can heal your wounds (as per the GM) and the water is freaking cold and fresh. Yelah air sungai kan. But there's a lot of rocks and pebbles around.
Memerlukan boatmen yg expertise on handling the selok belok. Where to go redah the river and where to elakkan the batu batu.

Journey took almost 30-40mins but it was so peaceful. It's like i'm going into a real thick jungle. It's just so calm and refreshing
Then sampai satu pitstop where there's full of ikan kelah. Lubuk ikan kelah. Tapi cannot fishing ye

10mins walk to here, boleh picnic pun

lubuk ikan kelah

bagi makan 

did u spot the fishes?