Family holiday..

I am trying to plan a family get-together for a very long time, tapi sangat la susahnya. What with 7 siblings and weird working hours and commitments, it is next to impossible just to get us all together, even during Raya!


These are my obstacles:


1) Dad is aging and visually impaired due to retinitis pigmentosa so I have to find a proper place that is OKU friendly. He wanted to join us in Kuantan hari tu but Mommy pujuk tak payah ikut. I doubt that he would enjoy water park kan! I felt bad that he couldn't come along..


2) Abe Muttaqi, my ever so matured nephew is studying at a boarding school in Kota Bharu. He is attending a chinese school with weird holidays yang tak serentak dengan other mainstream schools. So susah sangat la kan. Plus, he is sitting for PMR so I must plan a holiday during the first quarter of the year 


3) Kak Ninie, my sister has 3 kids, Umar, entering Form 1, Sarah, going to Standard 6 and Uzair, Standard 4. Obviously kids these days are fully occupied. Their weekends are filled with tuition, Cambridge English class and kelas mengaji Quran. Furthermore, Sarah also has UPSR exam by the end of the year. So kena plan baik2 punya.


5) Abe, my elder brother is a pilot with hectic working schedule including weekends. He sometimes misses family dinners and events sebab yang paling kukuh ialah.. "sorry aarr.. saya kena fly.." okay, fine.


6) Having 3 doctors in the family also doesn't help with this planning at all. What makes it worse is one of us is a houseman in Temerloh doing shift work while the other is a Masters student in HUKM. Nak apply cuti amatlah susah sekali!


So silalah imagine kepayahan saya nak plan time and venue for our family holiday.. Haiihh... Someone should pay me to do this mind boggling work of figuring out the perfect place and time for this much awaits holiday!

Hectic!

What a packed weekend it was. As usual, I was oncall on both long holidays, the Sultan's birthday and Christmas. So I decided to take this time off and spend the entire long weekend wisely.


I don't know why but my daughter and her Papa share this odd tendency of falling sick during holidays. Both of them were unwell on 2 of 3 planned weekend getaways. Seriously, it is really beyond my comprehension. Membazir je spend beratus2 ringgit as at the end of the day, we just stayed in the hotel room and do nothing except watching TV and melayan anak yang fretful or the father yang letih, sakit badan or demam. Luckily, we haven't gotten as far as out of Malaysia coz I cant imagine having to waste thousands of ringgit on a spoiled vacation!


Anyways, we owe Hana a true time in the sun coz she was really in ill health the last time that we went to Kuantan. On top of that, the weather was definitely not on our side as it was raining cats and dogs throughout the day. So bye-bye to the beach and the pool.


Jadi, weekend kali ini haruslah digunakan sebaik2nya untuk bercuti sakan. Well, I might exaggerate a bit as we only stayed in PD for a night. It was almost fully booked the time that I called for reservation 2 weeks before due to long weekend.. Pfffts. Why PD...again? I guess the distance is a major factor here. In an hour we already reached the destination tak payah nak pit stop bagai. Senang and cepat kan!


We chose Grand Lexis previously known as Legend International Water Homes.. ehem, coz me and hubby kononnye baru dapat bonus. If not, do not expect us to go to 5 star resort ya!  I booked a deluxe room for the price of RM522 (govt rate super peak season), supposedly equipped with a king bed and a pool. Keeping in mind that we might have to stay indoor since we are still not fully out of monsoon season. 


Well, to my delight, the new deluxe room garden view has 2 king beds instead with a more modern design which I love so much! The last time I came with my friends, this place was still under construction. The room amenities were commendable, with its own pantry, complete with microwave and plates, a separate washroom with a walk in wardrobe (very important) so you can wreck and shamble this area with your clothes without compromising the cleanliness of the bedroom. 

The room

 Hana was super excited! She jumped and ran here and there, asking apetuh apetuh repeated when she sees weird stuffs like the pelampung or the bedside lamp. 

Budak girang
(p/s 1st time using this Malay word!)

Next is the MANDI time, yehhooo. Surely, Papa yang terlebih excited than his anak! 'Swimming' sampai tak ingat dunia using his new powered goggle that I bought for his birthday. The water was freezing cold that after half an hour, Hana was biting and shivering. I quickly put her under the hot shower which she seemed to enjoy the hot drizzle more than the pool -____- Cheh!

Ribena kids!
Note to self: must get Hana a goggle as she insisted on wearing
ours pastu marah bila super sized goggle tak stay kat batang hidung kecik dia -___-

Later that evening, we went to the playground and allowed Hana to let loose for a while before off for makan2 at a near by seafood restaurant. 

Sorry, I really couldn't remember the name of the place but it was pricey and not tasty at all. The prawn rasa hanyir and luckily we did not order lobster! Initially, we wanted to go to Teluk Kemang, about 20km away for a taste of real seafood as recommended by Pak Guard Lexis but Hana was too sleepy whereas hubby was not feeling well (see, I think hubby is allergic to vacation!). 


By 9.30pm, we headed back to the hotel, initially planned to take another round of skindipping in the pool but way too tired to do so. End of day 1 and we finally hit the sack by 11pm.


P/s Hana always have night terror if she is overtired. That night she woke up twice screaming and crying for no reason. Alhamdulillah, I recite ayat kursi and 3 Qul, hugged her and she slept soundly after that..

Little rugrat

Assalamualaikum everyone.. 

This blog was not updated for so long *clear dust from my keyborard*.. As usual, I was busy doing other things like studying and doing locum untuk kumpul duit :p Anyways, a simple update suffice to state that this blog masih berempunya kan..haha.. 

Hana Khadeeja is reaching 16 months soon. You remember her right? My one and only little girl. She's smart and sassy with increasing vocabulary under her belt. Words that she says so far.. Papa, Mama, Bibik, Kakak, Nak, Dah and Apetuh. Hopefully it will keep on adding soon..

I would say Hana is daddy's girl. She's close to me but definitely more attached to her Papa. Hana just can't let Papa out of her sight or else she starts crying and screaming. But I guess all girls are like that, they are more attracted to opposite sex. Lagi satu, one of her favourite persons also includes her bibik. Sikit2 panggil bibik that I felt a tinge of envy! But who else to blame since more than 50% of the time were spent with her Bibik. Sigh..

Our baby, ikut muka papa or muka mama?
Please vote :p

BTW, she is sick at the moment, contacted the illness from my maid. It is so unusual to see her so lethargic and moody, fretful at night due to her stuffy nose and bouts of cough. She had upper respiratory infection before but it was never this severe. Her fever also seemed unsettling, reaching 39 degrees even at day 5 of illness. Geared with suppository PCM 4 times a day and voren 3 times a day has temporarily reduced the body temperature to 37.5 degrees. 


I still think that it is a viral illness though (examination is still normal thus far) and hesitant to start her on antibiotic as Hana will sure vomit lepas makan ubat. But this time around the bug is more virulent and I have a feeling that the culprit is adenovirus. I'm sooo tempted to do respiratory virus screen but it would be a waste of rakyat's money. 


So today, I decided to be the bad person, pricked my own child and sent blood investigation just to rule out dengue. I'm really hoping that she recovers soon as I miss my cheerful and happy little girl..

At her uncle's recent graduation day, affectionately known as Ayah Su to us..
3rd doctor in the family

I need to focus.. seriously!

Assalamualaikum everyone.. 

Sorry for not updating this blog for a very long time. I've been wanting to write something for ages but instead, I felt guilty. 

I've passed my exam recently, MRCPCH Part 2A , and for that, syukur Alhamdulillah yang tak terhingga. The first feeling that I had after discovering the result was totally opposite of euphoria. I was anxious and scared instead for what awaits me next, the clinical exam which will be much3 tougher mentally, physically and knowledge wise. I can't afford to waste any more time in front of the telly or PC as I should be spending my time studying for my exam. 

My UIA senior, a young enthusiastic pediatrician told me that I need to spend at least 1 year ahead to prepare as MRCPCH 2B is a totally different game. It is definitely not easy and there is no such thing as luck. No more relaxing weekends, no more sleep during postcall hours, no more lepaking as I will only have one precious opportunity to pass. Mind you,  I have to spend RM15k for the exam which will take place in UK and I can't afford to waste more money should I fail.

At the same, I'm thinking of an addition to our family. My adorable little girl Hana is reaching 15 months and I think it's about time that she share her toys and books with her sibling (plus I am not getting any younger!). Family planning has to wait until after I pass my exam coz I really cannot take any further distraction. I feel bad enough for not spending enough quality time with my girl and her papa dan I tak sanggup nak rasa serba salah to another human being should I bear another child at this moment in time. Babies will require a lot of attention, what with breast feeding, not enough sleep etc...

So my friend, I'll be closing down this blog temporarily for all the above reasons. I'll try to update once in a while if I have the time. Till then, please2 pray for my success of becoming a pediatrician. See ya and may Allah bless you..

Love,

Maryam

Shopping spree..

Don't you just love to read? I always love reading since I was a little girl. Thanks to my father who has instilled the passion to read since I was small. My father was the sole breadwinner in the family with 7 kids to support, we were all brought up with just enough food to eat, with a modest house to live in Taman Kajang Jaya and practically no toys to play. Papa was very2 particular when in comes to toys as money was an object. He never bought us one. Never!


But I still remember that he encouraged us to read and despite not enough money, he still brought us to the book store (MPH if I remembered correctly) and told us that we can buy any books that we want and he'll pay for them. TV was only available until 1985 with only 3 channels and limited programmes for kids and most of the time Papa yang conquer layan berita. So our free time were spent with readings books, main masak2 or more adventurous stuffs like panjat bukit or cycling with my brothers.


Nowadays, kids spent their time watching Disney Channel, playing computer games or barbie doll complete with Ken and the playhouse. I am truly amazed if I see youngsters read books in the time of leisure and I wonder how did their parents raise them amidst Facebook, Astro and playstation??


I want my little girl to enjoy reading. I introduced her to picture books since she was 4 months old. At 13months, she'll carry her animal book to me and asked me to flip the pages while making silly animal sounds. That really entertained her! 

Anyways, I went to Big Bad Wolf sale yesterday at MAEPS Serdang. I took leave for the sake of going to this much awaited warehouse sale just to avoid big crowds over the weekends. Along with my partner in crime, me and my sister went on Friday around 11am and when we reached the hall, we were surprised by a long queue outside with some people even brought their luggage along. Genius! Why didn't I think of that! As I entered the hall, everyone went berserk! I got myself a box to put in the heavy books. Everything was freaking cheap at 95% off. Paperbacks and hardcovers were sold at RM3 - RM 25 each! Finally, after 3 hours, I settled down with 6 cook books including Jamie Oliver Kitchen, 8 children books, 7 bestseller novels and 1 giant Disney jigsaw puzzle. Everything only cost me RM209! This sale will be on for the next 7 days. Go, if you want cheap quality books!

Lovely voice.. lovely song..

What's my favorite tune these days? ADELE!! 

I just truly deeply love her songs, melancholic and real. She is such a talented young singer songwriter (only 21 years old) with an AMAZING voice and an incredible talent. I realize that after watching tonnes of her videos of her performances, she actually sounded better live than studio recordings!


Listening to her kind of music, I thought that she is a serious kinda gal but I stumbled upon this funny video.

I just cant stop smiling watching this! Adele, a Brit who apparently is a cheeky and hilarious in person, has a big infectious laugh and loves cracking jokes. She's the kinda gal who will be you BFF and will just brightened up you day. I dunno why but she just reminds me of Bridget of Bridget Jones Diary.


Adele, when are you coming to Malaysia???

Growing up..

Thanks Mama abe for this picture..