with the passing of two men in the paternal family and the eldest matriarch away from SG to be with her children in KL for the very first time in all our raya history, we decided to make mum’s house the meeting point this year, seeing that she’s technically the next ‘eldest’ in status. so it was a small gathering, a new tradition, with two widows’ potluck of rendang, sambal goreng, ayam masak merah, lodeh, ketupat, lontong – the works.

i must say, i’m really not into the whole family politicking that’s been silently happening and am subtly ignoring on the paternal side, but am more than happy to have ‘fewer’ houses to go to in any case. not that i don’t appreciate the whole “visiting the elders as a form of respect” thing, of course, but well, respect is a slippery slope in some cases, and well, we all know where our loyalties stand. plus, with small kids in tow, their convenience and comfort take precedence, so… yeah.

little A was not in her best of moods due to a temperature that’s been playing peek-a-boo with her over the past two days. and the older A, well, he goes slightly berserk when in the company of his many uncles and small cousins. so the only sunshine we had was the one in the sky and making us swelter in our kebayas. smiles were ill-gotten with this one… LOL!

not so happy – “what’s there to smile about, grumble grumble…”

even more unhappy – “WHY YOU MAKIN’ ME WEAR THESE SHOEEES, WHYYYY?!?!”

slightly happy – “oouh, lollipop. heh heh.”

not happy again – “GREAT, I’M STANDING NEXT TO A WALKING CURTAIN.”

purple is in or whaaaat. heh.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST!

ok, so admittedly little A was tricked into a grimace that passed off as a smile so yeay, the izadnhana family portrait 2009: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

selamat hari raya aidilfitri, maaf zahir dan batin to one and all.

Like

Unlike

know why i’m miffed at my nose-picking brother?

while i get to wear wimpy tees with girly things like cupcakes…

he gets to wear COOL stuff with things like spiders. i love spiders! i mean, i pretend i’m scared of it by patting my chest when mummy sings that ‘little miss muffet’ song or the ‘itsy bitsy spider’. i’m not really scared, of course. just that she gets a kick out of seeing me do things like that, so i do it for her sake. i’ve never even seen a real spider. bet i could crush it like a cockroach. which i’ve never really seen either, actuallly… but that’s besides the point.

the point is, *i* should be the one wearing a spiderman-inspired outfit. coz if anything, climbing is like my FAVOURITE thing, like EVUH. can’t you tell? i could climb everything and anything! if only those pesky adults won’t stop me all the time. party-poopers.

disclaimer: *no children were harmed nor any children’s heads stuck between bed railings.
pajamas from: Cotton On Kids

Like

Unlike

so many things i wish i could capture here about her.

the precious wet kisses she plants on our lips. her sweet-sourish scent, a mix of sweat and saliva. the blinding glow that emanates from her and bounces off you with every grin she flashes.

but words will never fully capture her true essence.

***

it’s a rare thing when mummy gets to leave both children behind with their daddy for a night out. (sad and unbelievable, but strangely true.) so when i do, it better be for something good.

like good food, good laughs, good company. that kinda stuff.

yeah, mummy’s deprived like that.

but no complaints, huns. you lil ones are good company too – just a lot messier. and i have yours every night.

Like

Unlike

P1040597, originally uploaded by izadd.

“Tsk, kids these days…”

Like

Unlike

so you may have known that i was convicted of a crime recently and sent to a correctional institution. yes, i did time again at east shore state penitentiary, my friends.

i was deep in slumberland one night when big momma came into my room to give me some milk. (with no cookies, so why bother, i ask you?) she told big daddy that i was, as paris hilton would say, ‘hot’, and they brought me to see The Doc (code word for Drug Dealer) in the morning.

it was there where i was busted! framed! incriminated! kena pluck!

they said i had been harbouring a dangerous fugitive called UTI. i wonder if it was previously hiding at Yew Tee MRT, along with mas se/lam/at.

behind bars, i was only given some hardtack for sustenance, barely enough to keep me alert for the long hours i needed to study the blueprints of the floorplan i smuggled for my prison break.

to pass the time, i chilled with my cell mate (see calloused, un-pedicured foot in picture) and hung around, rattling the cages and jeering at the prison wardens.

which was a bad idea, because they then performed daily acts of persecution upon me that made me howl a hundred howls, involving an excruciatingly large needle poked into my thigh.

one of the prison wardens there was a crooked old fella who cruelly and inhumanely tortured me with a cavity search for contraband (he found some all right – in my butt crack, hah!), and if that wasn’t enough, a complete strip search. oh, the indignity!

i was bailed out eventually, after two hard nights in cold confinement, and appeared in court the next day to hear the verdict.

the judge ruled: i was out of danger.

====

ok, that was auni’s version, of course.

to summarise, i went into her room at 1am to feed her, something i don’t normally do after she’s gone to sleep, and found her body warm, although she just slept through with nary a whimper. brought her to the paedi the next morning when it didn’t subside, and discovered she had high fever of 38.5. since there were no other symptoms and the fever came unexplained, a urine test was done, by attaching a sterile plastic bag thingy to her girly-bits, and we had breakfast while waiting for her to fill it up. a urine dip test was done, and a purple stain showed traces of possible urinary tract infection. and off we were, warded once more, like the time she had jaundice.

and so it was deja vu, rushing home to pack our things for the 3-day-stay, which was necessary as we had to collect another urine sample, which then had to go for a culture, which took 48-72 hours, and her fever had to be monitored, and antibiotics to be administered by injection.

i was kinda bummed at having to stay at the hospital again, this time with an active baby who’s awake most of the day, with little space to play and explore (what to do? what to do??), but looking back, it was nice, a little bonding time, just chilling on the cot bed, going on short strolls around the (boring) hospital premises, finding out things about her i didn’t know she could do.

the third day, we asked to be discharged since she wasn’t having anymore fever, and after the urine culture result came back, the doc told us that it was an external infection, ie. just the skin. it could’ve been worse, like in her kidneys or bladder. that would’ve caused permanent scarring and lead to long-term medication. so, syukur alhamdulillah, we hope there won’t be a recurrence.

so what actually caused UTI in babies? who knows. possible factors are hygiene, dehydration, or genetic, i guess. it’s different with adult UTI, which i hear is painful. i asked the nurse and she said it’s not so with babies. from the way the little one looked, it sure didn’t look like she was in a lot of pain. either that or she’s got that pain threshold i was talking about.

it’s more common in girls, so be careful, mommies out there with baby girls. i can’t say that we practice bad hygiene at home, because we all, including her daytime caregivers, do wash her girly-bits with water and baby soap whenever we change her diaper. maybe we should change it more often. maybe we should offer her more water to drink. maybe maybe maybe… but as some tell me, well, these things *just happen*. :S

Like

Unlike

my parents, they aren’t exactly, ahem, the wild party animals that you think they are. (hurhur.) what more with abang aniq and me in the picture, they will take whatever morsels of ‘excitement’ that come their way, even if it’s a small party at a friend’s house, with greasy home-delivered fast food and a cringe-worthy countdown show on tv.

coz taking care of us at home alone is hard work, you know. so whenever an opportunity for a celebration presents itself, they’ll jump at it.

we babies work very hard too… bottoms up!

i was snoozing when 2009 arrived, but i believe abang aniq and all disturbed my slumber with loud poopers poppers and blowers and silly string.

then they played some games called ‘charades’ and ‘truth or dare’, and thank gawd i can’t talk yet, coz they’d have to pay me to keep my mouth shut for the things they said and did! ;p

abang aniq and i may have been kept out till late more than once because of my parents, ahem, ‘irresponsible’ behaviour, but one day – maybe not in 2009, seeing that i’ll probably be busy with other more important things – one day, i’ll try to remember to thank them for showing us that it’s okay to have fun, despite having little children to run and clean up after.

that it’s possible to still be themselves, despite being old farts.

that it’s important to surround themselves with what makes them happy, not just family, but invaluable friends who open up their homes, arms and hearts to you.

i’m too young to have a new year’s resolution (unless you can count growing more hair as a resolution?), but i’d say – here’s to another year of great celebrations, mum & dad and all my lovely aunties and uncles!

cheers,
auni h.

Like

Unlike

what? everyone else has already uploaded their “ayee aiyer” (as my abang aniq says it) pictures??

ok, step on it, mum!

Like

Unlike

ola!

just wanted to drop by again to give you a visual as to how strong i’ve become at four-months-three-weeks old, which i don’t think was conveyed enough in my last entry.

this is me carrying my rocker-chair-thingy.

kidding!

actually, this is how mummy and daddy usually find me after leaving me in that silly rocker-chair-thingy for barely five minutes. see, they were lulled into thinking that i’m this docile little doll who would fall asleep instantly upon being placed in that contraption. they were so cocky about my docility that they never bothered to strap me in it. well of course, i wasn’t having any of that! that whole docile scene is going to be a thing of the past, i tell you! and if there’s anything i learnt from watching tv, is that if michael scofield (who sports the same hairstyle as mine, by the way) can keep escaping from a state penitentiary, well, this rocker-chair-thingy is, literally, child’s play.

so there. one of my many great daily adventures indoors. and all that while doing a major poo-poo in my diapee (a whole adventure by itself, or rather for the victim who falls prey to the diaper-changing task, heh heh).

now, to figure out an effective mode of traction to get myself from this point to that playgym-mat-thingy on the other end of the room…

i ain’t no snail!

Like

Unlike

it ain’t no dior or, err, jimmy choos…

i’m glad i have my abang aniq (who, by the way, always has a funky smell about him, for some reason) because he keeps me entertained a lot. all he has to do is do a little jig, or kick around a ball, or make a shrill shriek, or laugh like a crazed toddler hyena, and that’d get me all excited like a kitten with a ball of yarn.

i’m also glad to have my abang aniq, coz he helps to convey to mummy that i want her. (you’d think me screaming my head off would communicate that to her well enough, but noooo.)

it’s nice to have a big smelly brother because he doesn’t let mummy scold me, and he makes it his business to be the one requiring most of the scolding. that takes a lot of attention off me, you see, so i get away with my own naughtiness. like, sliding myself out of the rocking chair when no one’s looking (maybe i have a wriggly-worm DNA in me), or insisting on being picked up when everyone is busy (i simply cannot fathom what could possibly be more urgent than picking me up), or wrestling with anyone who tries to put clothes on me after a bath (if only we babies can live in a nudist colony, *grumble*).

anyway, i realise that i haven’t had much limelight here since i’ve arrived, have i? i suppose that’s quite normal, what with being the second child (*roll eyes*) and all. furthermore, abang aniq and i have been keeping mummy quite busy all day, EVERY day, with our constant rigorous demands, so she hardly has time or energy to turn on the computer (“or daddy”, she says, whatever that means), to blog about EVERY single thing i do, like she did when abang aniq was a baby.

so, here’s a brief update of my four-months-three-weeks-but-who’s-counting dossier.

name: auni haniz

dob: 23 apr 08

weight: between 6.4kg – 10kg, who knows for sure at this point (though mum shoves me at dad every possible chance she gets, citing her poor aching arms – i reckon i’m heavy-boned).

likes: drooling, baths, people with high-pitched voices, going for walks (see interesting fact below), newspapers (they make me go craaayyzeee, i tell ya!), balls (i get a great view of this sport in mummy’s arms whenever she and abang aniq kick a ball around the house – related to the above re: aching arms), mummy’s boobies, peekaboos, watching big kids run around, growling, laughing without sound (now, this one kills mum – she wishes my laughs were as loud as my wailings, ho ho).

hates: flipping onto tummy, putting on clothes, being left alone for more than five minutes when awake. oh, and the computer room (it’s soooo boring, i’m surprised i’m in here long enough to blog).

not too crazy about but can tolerate just barely: bottles, baldness, are-you-boy-or-girl questions (wait, these are mum’s pet peeves, actually…)

interesting fact: bears a mole on second toe of left foot. elders suspect this to mean that i will enjoy travelling. well, doncha know it! though mum would very much have preferred it on my upper lip. a mole, that is, not a toe.

skills/abilities: flipping onto tummy, straightening legs to standing position when arms are pulled, tearing shredding newspapers to bits with bare hands AND legs, getting wisps of hair on back of head to tangle into tiny little knots after waking up every morning, pummelling and kicking older brother AND not get pummelled and kicked back by him (hah! sucker).

and as my young attention span dictates, that’s all i can handle for now. gonna let out my super-annoying whine now – i *am* in this awful computer room, after all.

TTFN, xoxo!

Like

Unlike

peace! *drool*

(i’m only three months old so please forgive my limited vocabulary. and hair.)

Like

Unlike