Last weekend was eventful for me tho we (read:Myra and yours truly) were home alone - as the other half was away for a company retreat(somewhere in the middle of nowhere) and MIL was back in Malacca.

It's not the 1st time for me to be home alone with the little one, we've been left alone for a couple of times before, but this time, I managed to take the little one out for a wee bit of shopping spree - which was a first. Yey us!

So yea, I waited for a good long 18 months to build up the guts for our mummy-daughter day out - as I couldn't imagine myself facing the hassles of driving whilst trying to soothe a wailing baby (who probably might refuses to be strapped in her car-seat) . C*** even reminded me to be very very careful when I told him about my plan. Like yea, I could be such a makcik-who-panic-like-a-headless-chicken sometimes that it probably made my plan sounded like a bad idea to him. :P (C'mon hon, gimme a break.)

Anyway, come Saturday, I'm very determined to make it happen, like now or never lah kan? The little one is a toddler now, she takes a good heed of instructions (most of the time, unless she doesn't feel like it), C*** already helped to strap the car seat in my car the night before, so how hard could it be? I just need to get her out of the house, strap her in, drive the car (the drives to the targeted locations are pretty quick, both are within 10KM radius from my place, dekat sangat), get out of the car and enjoy our shopping spree. So yea, my theory was pretty easy. he he.

By 10 am, I've already bathed and fed the little one with breakfast - I even took along some baby snack (cereal & raisins), a bottle of plain water and a bottle of warm milk for good measure. At 10.30 am, equipped with the baby bag, a Boba and a large wristlet( to stuff my stuff in), I was good to go.

Where I was heading? Tiny Tapir warehouse sale yo! :P

Yea, what a cheapskate to do, I love warehouse sales. he he.

Moving on, we got there (should I mention safely?) 10 minutes before 11am and was lucky to find a nearby parking space and I buckled on my SSC and put the baby in which was a breeze.

The warehouse sale was partly crowded when I got there. Being the one with no particular thing on my to-buy list - except for a Zoobie - I wandered around, went through few boxes full of Zoobies (whilst a bunch of ladies nearby were hauling em in bulks into their IKEA bags) and got myself  Myra, an adorable wolf pet blanket (I always love to have a pet wolf, macam la boleh). I also bagged a cute pink string bag and Ah Goo Baby plush pad - which is a changing pad that comes in cute prints and could be rolled for compact storage during travel.

Yea, got my hands on those three items ONLY (which is somewhat magical as I managed to stop at 3) and they cost me less than RM100. The normal price for a medium-size Zoobie is already more than a hundred (got mine for less than fifty), the same goes to the changing pad, so my purchase is a steal - tho the wolf needed a wee bit of stitching on the zipper area to fix the loose threads which I managed to do (easily) in less than 5 minutes.

Wolf wolf!

Like who cares if it's a defected item? It's cheap and it gives me a good justification on why do I need to buy a pet blanket for the little one (if C*** ever ask,which rarely). After all, it gonna be useful during out future trips and it bounds to be defected in the hands of a 18 month old - as she could be quite a little monster sometimes. Rosak pon takde la mak dia menangis sebab ter-membazir. :P

Moving on, we were out of the sale by 12PM and I drove us straight to our 2nd destination, Jusco AU2 for some groceries. Yeah groceries, do I need to elaborate? :P

Long story short, we were back home safely by 1PM.( Thanks for being such a sweetheart baby girl, next time mummy wouldn't think twice of having another day out with you.) Fed the little one pasta for lunch and she dozed off after a bottle of warm milk for good two hours whilst I went on to work on the house chores - the washing, folding, ironing. Ya get the drift.

Sometime around 5PM, dear cousin text to ask me out for dinner which was great as it has been ageeeesss(I just can't emphasize this enough) since we last met - tho we're practically living in the same building. Haih. T_T

Right after maghrib, we went to pick up another little cousin in UIA and had our dinner somewhere they fondly called Kubur. :P

We got home before 10PM and I quickly put the little one to sleep after changing her into a fresh diaper and sleepwear and I spent the night watching some odd shows on TV whilst trying to finish up the 2nd last novel - from heaps that I bought last year.

Yea, am trying to finish em all before my upcoming trip to the BBW book sale next month. I'm going to stock on tonnes of baby books, random novels and maybe a cook book or two (yea, cook book, don't laugh). Just can't wait to get my hands on em, probably gonna take a day off so that I'll have the entire day to book-shop.

Well, the Sunday? I spent the entire day at home being the domestic goddess that I am. :P

Made some beef mushroom noodles for C***'s dinner and a plateful of grilled lamb goodness with mint sauce on the side.

So that about it, my weekends for weeks to come are pretty well packed - weddings (of colleagues & C***'s buddy), engagements ( of cousin & my very own little brother), the playschool open day, the pre-booked lunch date, trip back to Kedah and whatevernots. 

Have a good week.

Last week is probably my favourite week of the year. Sehari keja, sehari cuti, sehari keja, sehari cuti. We should have more of this - especially when I'm about to explode from too much coding and data mapping.

C***'s away again for work (again). I is bored. It's weird not to have him around to ramble with. Sob.

We've got our tickets for both of our January and March getaways - there goes some of our hard earned moolah, or should I say C***'s? Tho I promised that I'll chip in later. he he. So yea, now we hafta work on the passport for the baby and me by December for the January getaway and visas for the 3 of us by February, in time for March trip. I can't wait.

I need to start hunting for a suitable playschool for the little one, as we're planning to send her to one by the end of the year. We're forever in debt to MIL for her willingness to stay with us and care for Myra since she was 3 month old, it's probably the right time to start living and sorting things out on our own. I just hope that the little one gonna be able to adapt later, ya know, after all the lavishness of staying at home and getting whatever she wants.

I was invited to my ex-housemate's wedding on last Friday. Too bad that I have nobody to go with as others don't live in the same area as I do so we can't car pool and I can't possibly drive myself there alone, with a baby, at night - as I'm as good as being stressed out (due to the screaming baby) and sesat(regardless the gps-ready ride). Haih, just when I thought that I could meet up with others - as it has been ages since the last time. Owh well?

Went out with MIL for another round of groceries shopping on Saturday. Just noticed that we ran out of the normal rice, so we had to settle with the calrose rice that we bought for sushi-making for  quite sometime. Bak kata MIL "Beras jepun beli seguni, tapi buat sushi sekali je", he he. Owh well, we are ambitious just like that. Weekend ni lah buat another batch of sushi for myself - since I don't have C*** to make em for me.

I was craving for lamb chop and sometime last week BIL came over with a pack of marinated lamb shoulder, ready to be cooked to perfection. *lompat bintang* Now I just need some mint sauce to go with it. Nyam.

I've sold off my BabyBjorn, hope the new owner gonna love it as much as I used to. Now I'm truly loving my Boba 3G. Why didn't I pay much attention to SSC before? Switching from the crotch-carrier to SSC really makes a different. Babywearing never been so easy on my bad back and the little one seems to love it too. Okay, I'm starting to sound like some sort of advertisement, but trust me, SSC adelah awesome.

It breaks my heart to see the photos of casualties in Gaza - especially the children (the tears come easy for a mom, tengok gambaq budak kecik terkebil-kebil pon nak nangis). I won't preach, but do donate some of your hard-earned moolah to help them with the basic necessities. It's the least we can do. (Don't tell me you don't know where to donate. Google it.)

I have nothing against people who loves to give ethical/religious comments, tapi do watch your limit. Days back, a friend posted a status of his joy of owning something new and the next thing ya know, somebody dropped the "kalau kau guna duit tu untuk derma untuk anak yatim/ gaza bla bla lagi afdal, berkat yada yada". I do appreciate the gestures, saling ingat mengingati sesama manusia, tapi please don't ruin it for others. Like, apa laaa masalah kau?

If someone were to donate for a good cause, perlu ke nak post em on FB saying "I just got myself a new car that I don't even need, but fret not people saya tak lupa kepada the unfortunates, saya dah menderma RM10 juta untuk anak yatim." at the 1st place? So that they won't  be attacked and  reminded by the kind people of the more afdal way to spend their money? Haih.

Yea, that's about it. Good week people.

Our little one turned 18 month old a week ago, like yea, time flies faster than ever. I wish I could spend more time at home watching her growing up - as lately, there have been too much of " eh? When did she learn to do that?" moments for me. Not good.

So yea, let's have a recap on her 17 & 18 month milestones.

After months of  waiting, akhirnya, 4 new gigi peeked out. She now has both of her upper and lower first molar. So 10 little gigi to-date. :P

She's now an expert when it comes to the tablet. Previously she could just select the video to be played. These days, she could browse through the screens, select whatever application her heart desires, play em if she likes it, or close when she doesn't - except for those applications with complicated child-lock lah, tu jangan kata budak, mak budak pon confuse camne nak unlock it at 1st, as if it's some sort of puzzle on its own. Like " tap every corner of the screen clock-wise before pressing the Home key", that sorta thing. T_T

It's sad to admit that she's now totally weaned off from bf , but it has been a long wonderful journey and I'm glad that I've made it this far. So yea, I'll thrive for a better record next time ( upright freezer plis!). The little one is currently doing fine with fresh milk and FM.

At this age, she's not much of a real talker yet (should I be worried? I hope not) - unless her endless blabbering counts as talking, but she already mastered the basic words, ya know

mummy - maaa, mami, miii and sometimes amma! T_T
daddy - dedi
fish - ishh (with silent f)
this - ni
cat - tet/maw
hello = hewwo
bye bye = bai / ta ta
water = terr

Ya get the drift. If you play her a song, particularly something that she loves, she'll 'sing' along to them, walaupon sebenarnye sambung nyanyi word hujung hujung je. Head, shoulders, knees and TOOOESSSS :P

She has no problem with solving her stacking and shapes puzzles - but she probably think that scattering em all over the house adelah lebih fun tho sometimes in one of her rarest house-keeping moods, she'll pick up on the alphabet blocks and put em back into its storage.

She loves books so mummy need to stock up on em during the next BBW book sale in December! Yey! :D

She runs like nobody business, in fact she prefer to run compared to walking. She also loves to walk backward nowadays which is pretty funny is ya ask me. (I'm a mum, I'm bias like that).

She absolutely knows how to get what she wants these days, she'll point and drag you to grab whatever she wishes for, kalau tak dapat, ribut petir! She even loves to fake a cry, menangis sambil pejam mata so that you won't notice her dry eyes. Drama punya budak. :P

She's my little copycat. Saw mummy pakai tudung, she'll run to fetch another shawl for herself. Saw mummy put on the moisturizer, shows her open palm to mummy so that I could dot a wee bit of  lotion onto her hand - thank God for Sebamed baby's face cream, I won't be caught guilty of using anti-aging creme  on a 18mth old (yes, anti-aging creme, I'm getting old) - then she'll use her index finger to dot the lotion onto her face, just like mummy did. T_T

Sometime last week, when we were sending C*** off to work in the morning. He kissed the little one good bye then kissed me and to our amusement, the little one made the chup chup sound (the kissing sound ya know) whilst C*** was giving me a kiss. ha ha. Kissing each other goodbye pon dah ada background sound effect sekarang. :P

She loves her pasta and fruits tho she still takes the occasional rice meal. I'm still watching her salt and sugar intake. So yea, nothing too sweet and salty for her. Fast food is a no-no - hotdogs, burgers, nugget adelah pangkah. So I made her my very own version of chicken nugget and fries. She's not really the fussy type so whenever she sees me munching on something, adelah lorat nak rasa jugak. Sometimes I relent, sometimes I don't - depending on what I'm eating.

The other day, I caught her trying to stuff her Abby Cadabby's mouth with her pacifier(which works more like a teether/toy rather than a pacifier coz she can't never be pacified with a pacifier). She pressed on the doll's tummy so that the doll gonna go "Hi, I'm Abby Caddaby!" and  terus dia sumbat pacifier into the doll's mouth - as if to pacify the doll from 'crying' . Dah pandai pretend play sorang-sorang - don't get me started on her trying to feed her squeaky toys.  T_T.

She's a drama queen. The other day I caught her trying to lift up a hug-full(such word?) of her pillows whilst pretending that they are as heavy as bricks - muka berkerut and groaning included. 

She sleeps around 9-10pm and wakes up around 7-8am sometimes earlier. So it goes without saying that I'd never get to sleep in even during the weekend. Yea, the sacrifice of a mother (sebab daddy boleh sambung tidoq). I'm not (really) complaining, I take it as a blessing of being a mother, like ya know being a parent is hard work and all, but ya never know how it feels until you're one, the hardship and (mostly) the joy.

After all, I'm thankful to be given the chance to be a mother when others are struggling to be one. Just because it comes easy for us, doesn't make it less meaningful pon kan? So sila lah bersyukur.

Ya Allah, thank you for our precious little one.