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October 26, 2013

That Time of the Year

So.. Finally got a slot for my re-scheduled technical assessment.

Tuesday 29 October 2013.

Was informed about that last Thursday. Dah la tengah attend a course. Adoi. Terpaksa la study through the weekend. Juggling that and looking after Afif. 

How could i focus when he keeps giving me his melting smiles, demanding me to play? Hehe.



Wish me luck on my assessment. Need to nail it coz i got so much gap to close especially because i didnt go for last year's session. Sebab terberanak awal. Baahaha.





October 21, 2013

Perth Trip: Adina Apartment, Barrack Plaza.

We chose to stay at an apartment for two reasons:

1) there were 3 of us adults. A hotel room would be too small, two hotel rooms would be a waste sebab takkan lah my SIL (which we call kakak tp sebenarnya lagi muda) nak dok dlm bilik sorang.
2) we want to cook for breakfast as breakfast is not provided. Lagipon slalu kan kalo hotel oversea ni diorg bagi breakfast ham, bacon la. Geli plak.

So we settled for one bedroom apartment. We chose Adina Apartment Barrack Plaza because it's in the city. Takyah nak fikir pasal transport plus makan pon dekat. Sayangnya Adina only has one bedroom apartment. They dont have 2 or 3 bedrooms apartment. Nasib baik Kakak tak kisah tido atas sofa.

Even though last minute, i managed to compare the price online with a few agents; Agoda, Expedia and AirAsia Go. Agoda price was RM2500 while AirAsia Go and Expedia offered RM2100 for 3 nights. Of course we settled with AirAsia Go. Booking was easy peasy.

We reached Perth Airport at about 2.30pm. Taxi ride from the airport to the hotel costed us AUD48 (i was looking at the meter the entire time and screaming in my head "Mahalnyaaa.. Baru half an hour ride!" Checked in at Adina at around 3pm. The receptionist is friendly. Her name is Shaya. No charge for third person check in which i was worried about since we booked a room for two.

We were given a room on the second floor. Macam selalu masuk bilik hotel, kami semua jakun lah meng-explore. The room comes with:

-one bathroom with a bath tub
- a kitchen fully equipped with a fridge, hot stove, dishwasher, pots, pans, mugs, glasses, cutleries, plates, an electric kettle, a microwave.. All you need in a basic kitchen. We used Sabun Taharah to samak all the utensils before using them, just in case.
- dining table that sits 4
- a study table
- sofa set
- washing machine and dryer
- iron and ironing board
- flatscreen tvs (one in the living and one in the bedroom)

Bedroom 

Dining and kitchenette 

Kitchenette complete with basic kitchen utensils. 

Living area with Kakak in it. 

The bathroom


We feel like home already. Facilities in the hotel includes a gym and swimming pool. You can request for a parking bay at the hotel's carpark and it costs you AUD25/day. 

What i love most is that Adina is really in the city center. Everywhere you could possibly wanna go by foot are close by. Right in front of the hotel are 2 asian/Korean grocers, a 24/7 convenience store is 2 minutes walk away. On the same block there's a Halal Indonesian restaurant and opposite that, a Kebab restaurant. Hay and Murray Street Mall (which are the highlight of the city) are 5 minutes walk away. Train station is 5 minutes walk away and you can take the bus (free service within the city) in front of the hotel. 

I am so glad we decided to choose this hotel. i'd give it a 4 out of 5 based on my experience.

At the hotel entrance.


October 17, 2013

Perth Trip: AirAsia Premium Flat Bed Review

As i blogged here, my little family plus sister in law went on a short trip to Perth last week. I'm gonna write in separate posts on flight, accommodation and the places we visited. 

I always travel with AirAsia for the obvious reason; cheaper. Now everyone can fly katanya. Lelagi lah Mr  Chenta is now an AirAsia staff, memang travel ngan AirAsia je lah on staff privilages.

Traveling with a baby is a challenge, tak kisah la dengan airline apa pon. Having traveled with Afif before (this post), i knew the 5 hour 40 minutes flight to Perth is gonna be tiring and quite an experience. So i decided to upgrade my seat to Premium Flatbed seat for comfort so that Afif can sleep peacefully and i can breastfeed him lying down. That boy has to bergayut sambil baring kalo nak tido. In my experience, kalo flight penuh memang takde chance la nak breastfeed berbaring. Didn't want to take the chance,so we pay a little to upgrade my seat. Mr. Chenta and SIL dok belakang, seat biasa. Tinggal lah aku sorang manage budak kecik tu haa..

Premium Flatbeds are located at the front of the aircraft. Ada 12 seats per aircraft. The seats are spacious, complete with a fluffy pillow and duvet for comfort.

It is exactly as pictured on this photo.
Photo credit to Google.

My seat number was 1G. To my horror it was on the middle area. Tak dapat tepi tingkap sebab fully booked. Well, i have to deal with the fact that i'm gonna have to breastfeed openly. Nasib baik lah pakai baju easy access sesiap, and ada blanket Afif untuk cover.

The stewardess are all nice and very attentive towards our needs. They provided a bassinet for Afif, and an extra pillow for me. Every now and then they asked if i need anything. The perks of traveling with a baby and i think the premium seaters deserve that special service, considering the price.

The Premium area is dimly lit, i think it's on purpose for guest's comfort. Aircond is cold (unlike in the economy area yang kekadang aircond perlahan) and the area is so quiet. There's a lavatory especially for Premium seat guests. Twenty minutes into our flight, everyone in the Premium area have dozed off, blanket up their neck, some with eye mask. Sedap diorang tido. No wonder they are willing to pay for an upgrade. Memang berbaloi. Me? Well, i'm busy entertaining Afif. 

An hour into the flight, Afif got a little cranky. He pooped. A little constipated sebab tu dia nanges. Nasib baik tak full blast melalak. Kalo tak, haru je sume orang terjaga tido. Changing his diaper was a breeze because there's a baby changing area in the lavatory.

i thank God many times Afif was not cranky for the rest of the flight. Ada lah dia merengek kejap sebab nak tido. i put him down and lay beside him lalu dia menyonyot dan tidur. Siap dapat tidur dua sessions. i gotta admit sempit la jugak baring berdua dengan dia. Tapi selesa la siap aku pon tido skali. When he's asleep, baru la ade chance nak makan but i had to sit on the leg part of the seat because, well, i had no other place to sit at. 


Comfortably asleep while mama sat on the edge.

All in all, i would recommend the Premium Flatbeds, especially for long hours flight like this or if you travel with a baby. You'll surely fly in comfort, tido lena. Tau-tau dah sampai je.

Now, baby, when is our next long-haul flight? i want an upgrade, please!


Afif is One!

Alhamdulillah, all praise to Allah. 

Our little bundle of joy has grown and now a cheeky one-year-old. 

I cant believe how fast time passes us by. 

"Afif, if you're reading this wayyyy in the future, please know that you bring great joy and happiness not only to mama and daddy, but also to your aunties, uncles, Wan, Atok, your three Unyangs, and our family. Sometimes, when i look at you, it feels surreal that i have a son. Daddy and i always watch you while you're busy playing/sleeping and we ask each other "Betol ke kita dah ada anak? Ni anak kita ke?" and grin like lunatics. We are just so grateful. We hope and pray that you will grow up healthily, happily and be a good Muslim, In Shaa Allah"

Development

Been a long time since i last wrote about Afif's development milestone. The last one was when he was 8 months young. 

Afif at 8 month.

Biasa lah, babies grow at different pace. Afif is one of the babies yang orang kata lambat sket. We don't mind that. Enjoying this phase of life when he's just a baby. 

Afif is one of those babies who skip the crawling milestone altogether. Sampai skang dia tak merangkak. Mengengsot pon tak mau sangat. At 10 month, dia suka duduk pastu berpaut kat sofa/katil/pagar/baby cot and try berdiri. Duduk pon kene org dudukkan ye. Bila dah berdiri tu, dia meniti. Sekarang dia suka bertatih and cruising. Takmo dok diam dia, asik ajak orang tatih kan dia. Penat tapi seronok layan. Aku tengah nak paw laki mainan sorong untuk baby yang ride and learn to walk 2 in 1 tu. Hihi.

Unlike other babies yang suka masukkan benda dalam mulut, Afif tak reti betul suap menyuap ni, be it foods or random stuff. Bila niarap/duduk tu dia suka mengutip tak kira lah tisu/habuk/coins/tutup botol/etc. Tapi dibeleknya lama-lama sampai boring pastu dia campak. Kalo aku makan roti/biskot pon kene suap dia. Kalo letak kat tangannya, dibeleknya pastu campak. Idok ler suap sdiri masuk mulut. To me this is both good and bad. Good because the chance of him swallowing random stuff is low. Bad because sampai bila ko takmo makan sendiri hoi?

With Unyang sayang

At 11 month, lepas dia kene Hand, Foot and Mouth disease tu, kuar lah gigi dua batang kat gusi bawah dia. weehehe. Sukaaa bila dia dah ada gigi tapi bila dia bf and datang geram dia, sakit gilaaa okay kene gigit! Sabar je la.

Hobbies

Dia suka main peekaboo, toys especially lorry berjalan and piano ade bunyi lampu-lampu. Buku pon suka tapi feveret dia still Mirror Me. Baahaha.

8 month

Dulu paling suka cter Upin Ipin tapi seminggu dua ni dia lagi suka Barney and Friends. Tak berkelip tengok siap gelak-gelak tepuk-tepuk tangan. Macam paham bebenor.

Pastu sangat geram ngan binatang. Kalo nampak kucing tu, nak get as close as possible and nak picit je miaw tu. Nasib baik la belom reti jalan. Haritu mase kat Perth, bising mulut dia nak pegang kangaroo and birds. 

Dia ni sangat suka air. Time nak mandi melompat riang. Bawak gi swimming pool sebolehnya nak kita lepaskan dia and let him swim freely. Hamboi, konfiden betol awak ye? i'm thinking of enrolling him into a swimming class tapi ntah la bila. Belom survey lagi.

Fun bath time

First time jumpa Ilyas. Bulan puasa time ni.

9 month


Feeding

Afif makan 3 kali sehari. 2 kali kat umah babysitter, sekali malam kat umah. Meals dia still porridge and puree. Aku kene gak bagi puree sebab nak kurangkan constipation dia. Starting at around 10 months aku bagi dia unblended porridge dan dia boleh makan nasik ketul. Tapi kalo porridge tak blend and nasik butir-butir tu lambat btol habis makan. Pastu ada gak episod tercekik-cekik. Bila datang mood malas or nak cepat, aku blend kasar je porridge tu. Baru laju abes. Hehe.

Umur dia masuk 10 bulan aku dah kurangkan sikit strict bagi makan. Aku bagi je dia makan kek, roti, kuah lemak, yogurt, etc. Tak lah bagi as meals, bagi snack kunyah-kunyah gitu. Reason being is i wanna expose him to different tastes and textures and also (gamble) tengok dia ade allergic kat ape-ape tak. So far alhamdulillah dia okay. Makan yogurt sejuk pon tak ler demam or selsema. Favorite food dia so far adalah Calci Yum yogurt and cakes. Sweet tooth sangat.

Tak kisah ape dia makan pon, susu mama dia tetap nombor satu. Nak tido wajib bergayut. Lepas makan wajib bergayut. Malam pon still bangon every 2 hours nak bergayut. Nan hado sleep through the night. Alhamdulillah, Allah still grants me the privilage of breastfeeding Afif. 

Tapi idok ler jugak fully bf. Kadang kalo stok dah tak cukup kat umah babysitter aku suruh je bagi formula. Tapi lama la baru abes. Satu bungkus 450g tu tahan 2 bulan sebab most days memang bekalkan ebm. Dulu pakai Enfalac A+ tapi lelama dia macam tak suka. Baru-baru ni tukar kepada Snow 6-18 month and ok je dia minom.

Misc

Berat dia aku timbang kat umah adalah 7.9kg, height is 70cm. Baju 3-6 months pon still muat tapi memang ketat la. Baju 6-9 months nmpk besar sket dia pakai.

Alhamdulillah. That's Afif at 1 year old.

Demam at 9 month

His first Raya

With Wan and Atok

Makin besar makin tak suka dia dok dalam car seat.

Skang dia eksyen. Nak tatih je takmo dok dalam stroller.

Celebrating first birthday with Aunty Sofea, last week.


However big/old you have grown, you will always be my baby. 
Always.



October 10, 2013

A Post from Perth

Hi!

We are currently in Perth for family vacay. Second day today and so far it's been GREAT! Traveling with a baby is quite an experience. Will blog about it later, in shaa Allah.

Phewww skali sekala jumpa wifi kat sini. Trus gilaaa belek phone. Berbelog pon sempat. Wagaga..

Here's a picture of Perth at sunset, taken from King's Park:



More photos in hub's camera. Hihi. 

P/s: Afif turns one tomorrow hamagadddd!
October 4, 2013

Passport Photo

Yesterday hubby took Afif to the Immigration office to get him a passport.

He then Whatsapp-ed me this photo:




i went like "Awwwww look at those eyes, those deer-caught-in-the-light face, those lips!" and then was "Kenapaaa rambut dia camtu? Itu baju siapa?". Hehe. Adoring and criticising at the same time.

i never said this out loud (except to my husband) but i think my baby is the cutest, most handsome kid ever walked on earth. Baaahaha.. Classic mom sangat, dimana memang dia rasa anak dia lah paling comel atas dunia. Well, siapa lagi nak puji anak kalau bukan diri sendiri kan?

6 hours to go till i can gomol this face again.

p/s: we're planning to go on a vacation next Wednesday tapi flight ticket, hotel, kejadah semua tak book lagi. Baahaha..