CKD's Little Rosebud Village

My little CKD has a massive imagination. A few months ago I noticed her playing with my collection of Starbucks Bearista Bear magnets that I collected way back when I was still working in Starbucks. Have no idea what stories she was making up because she was telling it in her own language which sounds mostly gibberish to me. Now she doesn't speak gibberish anymore but sound totally like a big small boss.. -

"Okay mama, enough. No more"she says when I'm having some of her juice.
"I taknak! (I don't want!)" when we tell her to go have a bath
"Pigi mandi! (Go shower!)" her way of telling us to go away..don't ask!:P
"MY teacher say put in my bag" to tell me that she brought back a book from school and its in her bag..
"Naiya kacau Keisha!" fibs she tells when she wants her baby sister to leave her alone. Yes, she calls her baby sister Rania - Naiya

Her vocab has improved a lot. And also has some mandarin and spanish thrown into her vocab thanks to Dora the Explorer and Ni Hao Kai Lan.

So anyway, over the weekend, we went to Mothercare in Subang Parade just to window shop at the Christmas Sale that was going on. And little miss CKD discovered the Rosebud Village set. After some negotiations with the little boss, I finally submitted to getting her the Family Doll set comprises of a mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, big sister and a baby.

Rosebud Village Family Dolls

 She instantly associated the doll family to our family with the grandparents being my mom and my FIL (need to get another grandma to include her mak tok!)

Since it was on sale, I managed to get the dolls at RM40 instead of the normal RM60. And as I was paying for the dolls, the salesgirl asked if we already had the dollhouse and she said that it was going at a really cheap price of RM300 (cheap kee????!!!) I politely said no and declined. But she passed me the sale brochure which included all the other sales items anyway.

Rosebud Village Dollhouse

Suami got a hold of the brochure and immediately snapped photos of the dollhouse and sent it to his mother. So I asked him why is he sending the photos to MIL. He explained that she has been wanting to get CKD a toy kitchenette that costs about that price range but he declined because CKD was prone to destroying it. This based on experience when a cousin of his gave us her daughter's kitchenette set and yes..CKD ended up tearing it apart.

But this dollhouse we knew was going to be different. And so MIL replied saying its a go to get CKD the dollhouse and she'll reimburse us for it.

When suami told me so, I got even more excited than CKD! LOL! Because the dollhouse is originally RM699 and was only going for RM300 and it was beautiful! I immediately called the Mothercare outlet in BSC and booked a set because the one and only set in Subang Parade was already booked. They said I could come and pick it up Sunday morning because I had class til late on Saturday.

However, my class somehow ended early that night and when suami picked me up from class together with the girls, I said why don't we just go and pick up CKD's dollhouse straightaway. I could sense suami was just as excited coz he was so eager to get home and assemble it and didn't even allow me to help!

With the parents excited, you can just imagine how excited CKD was seeing her father putting the dollhouse together!

With all seriousness!

We also managed to grab a dining set that was going for RM60 (from RM105) when we paid for the dollhouse so CKD was ecstatic getting her dolls to sit down and eat.. kept on calling us "Mama! Sit down eat!"

Dining Set

That night, she slept with her dolls. It was the only way we managed to get her to go to bed.

Making sure the dolls are sleeping next to her

So from now onwards, I'll be collecting these Rosebud Village items to complete the house furniture and maybe when there's a sale at mothercare, maybe we'll proceed to other Rosebud Village items like the farms and hospital and school *faints!*

I have started a VERY expensive hobby and toyset for my CKD but seeing how she appreciate it (she's still not bored of the dollhouse even after playing with it day and night for the past few days! The longest so far! She'd normally start to terrorize her toys after a few hours of playing with it!) makes it all worth it. And honestly, I'm even more excited to get them for her because they are so cute and well made! Would've gotten them for myself but that would have been useless wouldn't it? ;)

So the rest of the Rosebud Village Dollhouse furniture that will be on the list are

Top from left: TV room set, Bathroom set, Kitchen set
Bottom from left: Figurine set, Kids Bedroom set, Main Bedroom set (got it!)

Can I make a wish list for her birthday next year?*hint hint*

Baby's a Big Girl :'(

I know it has been almost 7 months since I've last blogged (I know this because CRM is almost 7 MONTHS OLD!) But things has been pretty havoc around here lately up til this week..sort off.

CKD has started playschool...

Must be wondering why she started playschool almost at the end of the year, but we've decided to send little CKD to Kinderland because I will be back in the rat race of the corporate world soon. And with two babies, my dear mother will not be able to handle both girls alone. So off to school and daycare for CKD while little CRM gets to spend some time with her grandma at home.

labeling daycare essentials

On the first day of school, was pretty hard to get her to wake up so I had to bribe her with a tube of chocolate Smarties and almost instantly, she was up and chirpy! *facepalm* Suami took leave for the day since it was such a big milestone for us, so we both could send her (secretly, he was more anxious about sending CKD to school than I was! He was up since 5am thinking about it! LOL!). CKD was so excited that both of us were up so early and wanted to take her out...not knowing what was in store for her.

smiling in her uniform

in my kinderland uniform

When we got to the school, the other kids was playing outside before the classes started. She spotted her big cousin, my nephew, who goes there too and immediately joined the other kids play. We stayed for a while to pay her fees and talk to the teacher for a bit, and then we slowly sneaked out, hoping CKD won't spot us. Later that afternoon, my nephew reported that CKD cried (heartbreakssss) wanting me and her grandma.

When we picked her up that evening, she was sooo happy to see us but I could hear that she still had little sobs in her voice from all the crying :'(

We took her to the mall in front of our place for ice cream and then went home. That night, she went to bed at 9pm..VOLUNTARILY! She was also very cooperative and ate her dinner without putting up a fight!

Day 2, since she went to bed early the night before and slept through the night, she was up quite early and I had to bribe her with gummy vitamin C to get her ready. Not much protest and my mom decided to tag along sending her to school.

Again CKD was excited to go out so early in the day, not knowing she was going to school again. So when we arrived at school, we were a little late and I had to ring the bell to get the school teacher to come and get her. She was alright up til the teacher closed the school gate and realized I wasn't going to stay with her.

I quickly rushed off but my eyes were looking at her and of course, heart was breaking seeing my baby girl cry for me..:'( But that evening when I went to pick her up, she was happy to see me as usual, and there was no more sobs in her voice. The teacher told me that she was still crying, but not too bad.

Day 3, CKD still hasn't quite compute that she was going to school again and didn't protest putting on her uniform. I sent her on my own and again, she was happy to be out with me early in the morning. But the moment we arrived in front of the school, she saw the teachers and started crying. I carried CKD out from the car and passed her to the teachers. And although she was crying, she didn't entirely protest being passed to her teacher. So I took it as a sign that school is not so bad, but she just wants me to be around too.

Day 4, she refused her uniform. So off to school she went not wearing her uniform. And all through the ride to school, she was begging me for everything and everyone (in her limited vocab of course) hoping I won't send her. Only god knows (and other mommies who has experience of sending their babies to daycare, I'm sure) how I felt that moment. My mom was already losing the battle..she kept on telling me to just send CKD for playschool and not daycare coz she couldn't take seeing CKD begging us like that. But I had to put my feet down. That evening when I picked her up, she was a lot more happier. Even the teacher told me that she has made some improvements. Less crying..and I was relieved.

Today is Day 5 and again she refused her uniform. She didn't even want to get dressed even though she was up since 7.30am. But she eventually saw her overalls and decided she wanted to wear it just like Max (one of her favorite show on Nick Jr - Max & Ruby). And since everybody was up, my mom decided to tag along sending her to school. She put up a bit more protest today. Not even wanting to get into the car and again, the begging all through the ride to school. Upon arriving to the school, her begging got more intense but not much crying. So when we arrived at the school, I carried her out of the car and passed her to her teacher. She was still begging and crying a little when the teacher took her away from me, but she didn't struggle. And as we drove away, we saw that she was walking indoors to the school on her own and not crying or throwing a fit.

Mach and Ruby as CKD pronounces it

My mom felt better seeing that she wasn't really struggling to go to school and submit to our plans of sending CKD there. Yesterday evening when I took CKD down to the playground, we met up with a few kids who goes to the same school as her. When they saw her they immediately called out her name and she was so excited to see them too. A reaction different from before, because although she has seen them before this, the kids are no longer faces in the crowd for her but some kids that she can actually relate to. One of the boys who was in the same class as my nephew was telling me that CKD likes to play in their class because her big cousin was there. The way he described it sounded like she was having quite a lot of fun.

The teacher did brief me that during her first week, they will not enforce anything on CKD but rather let her explore and get used to the place. Hence her crashing her big cousin's classroom!

Sigh..this little heart of mine feels so overwhelmed..My little baby girl is not so little anymore and is learning her first few lessons of what the real world is like. This whole week's experience has made me realized that we have been a tad bit too overprotective of CKD. Looking back, CKD has never been anywhere without me or my mom around for a long period of time (meaning more than a couple of hours) and I guess that is actually CKD's biggest issue with her school. Otherwise, I think she's enjoying the people and activities that they have there..

Well, hope she continues to enjoy school and maybe soon, no more protest but rather pestering us to send her. I'm sure this is good for her...:(

Please don't grow up too fast baby girl...

CKD at 1 day old - felt like it was only yesterday :'(

Korean Girl?

A couple of weeks ago I went to town to get some fabric for our raya outfits. Kangar has limited choice, but I love the quaint old shops that they have here.

It was quite a long walk from the parking lot to the shop that we were heading for so I made CKD wear a hat to protect her from the really hot mid-morning sun.

You see, we're used to having strangers coming up to CKD and complimenting on how fair and cute she is (and it makes me uncomfortable when people do that, especially when they try to pick her up too). Most of the time, the little girl would give her fake smiles. But sometimes (to my horror!) she would let them pick her up. Sigh..little kids are so oblivious of any dangers..

But this time, with the hat, people kept on saying and asking "Eee..comelnya. Macam anak korea. Bapak dia orang Korea ke?" ("Eee..so cute. Like a korean girl. Is her father korean?")

I'm like..HELLO! her sepet eyes are from ME! Fine, her fair skin may be because of her father, but she looks really asian because of ME! hmph! hahahahahah!

Oh well..her ayah is more than happy to know people thought he was korean. But I think this is probably because of my obsession towards Rain when I was pregnant with Keisha..hehe!

My mom's malay and people say my dad's korean. NOT!

ok..ok..I am VERY thankful that my babygirl is cute. But I really hope she won't warm up to strangers too much. Please don't give mama any heart attacks babygirl!

Now I suddenly miss her a lot. Been 4 nights since she hasn't slept with me because I'm still recovering from my flu. And I haven't much energy to play with her when I get back from work everyday. Tonight mama will gomol you til you cry!ngehehehe!

The Little Blankie Thief

I have a safety blanket..well at least I used to.

Haha..laugh at me if you like but I don't carry my blankie around like Linus from the Peanuts comics.

Linus - Source

But I've had a blankie since I was in boarding school. It was like a security for me when I sleep at night. It was this old flannel baby blanket that belonged to an older cousin of mine. Yes, the original blankie was older than me. And when I went to Uni, it was almost falling to bits. I remember one of my not-so-favorite roomie made a statement about blankie "Oh! Ingatkan kain buruk!". 

So when I graduated, I found another blankie to replace my original one. Original blankie just couldn't be saved anymore. It was this old Ikea single duvet cover with white and yellow stripes. It had the same feel like my old flannel blankie so I was okay with the replacement.

I sleep with the blankie coz I just love the feel of the soft fabric on my face as I doze off to dreamland. It's always there on my bed.

You see, my little baby girl would usually toss and turn all over the bed before she goes of to sleep, whether for a nap or the usual bedtime. One day, my mom decided to give my blankie to CKD just for the fun of it..and you guessed it...

She's the little thief!

The little thief and her loot!

My mom said, with her eyes closed, she pulled the blankie, gave it a little pat and hugged it to sleep! Just like that..no tossing..no turning!

Sigh...now I'm stuck with one of my normal flannel blankets to use. It's no blankie but I guess I'll just have to if it means my daughter will sleep better. Oh the sacrifices we make as parents!

She sleeps with the blankie all the time now. It seems to comfort her, just how it used to comfort me..It's fun to see how she develops her personality as she grows up and to see as much of me and suami's personality in it too. 

Snazzy little fashionista in the making?

Oh well Keisha Damia...whatever makes you happy.

Weekend Lunch with Friends

Was in KL earlier this month for a family dinner (will spill on this later), and surprise! surprise! I finally had the time and energy to actually go out and hang with some friends! Well, actually I was supposed to meet Sophie to pick up a technical manual I've asked her to help purchase from SIRIM and we decided to make it into a gathering and invited Azie and family to join us too.

So we decided to meet at our go to place, The Empire @ Subang. I invited buih too but since he's sucha young stud *sarcasm*, he wasn't up yet when I texted and called him and only later replied that young studs don't wake up early on Sundays..pbbhhhtttt!!!

And just our luck, friends of suami, Ezran and Nadia, was at Empire too when we were on our way there. I haven't seen them in ages and heard that they we're finally expecting a bub in August so we sort of forced them to wait til we got there so I could see Nadia's lovely little baby bump!

Sophie and Azie was running late and suami was sooo hungry, so we had lunch at Madam Kwan's with Ezran and Nadia first. Nadia was sooooooo cute waddling with her 7month belly around and said she had even started waddling during her first trimester coz she felt it was more comfortable!haha! How cute is that?!? Hope that everything will go smoothly for you babes!!! We were later joined by Syed Umar who just returned from a surfing trip in Bali. haha..seems like our impromptu lunch turned into quite a gathering!

Managed to squeeze in some gossip about our obgyn (Nadia goes to the same obgyn as I did when I was expecting CKD) and share some preggers & baby stories while the boys did their thing. And all through, my little baby girl was doing real good eating her pasta. Finally got her to eat some solid food. She's been soo fussy with her food lately and resorted to her eating bananas and papayas only.

Sophie and hubs finally joined us when we were just finishing our lunch and said Azie was running late waiting for baby Mya to wake up from her nap. After we were done with our lunch only did Azie and family made it to Empire so we decided to move to a different venue. By then, Ezran and Nadia had to go as they had a wedding to attend and Umar had some stuffs to do.

Sapet (Azie's hubs) decided to go to Pasta Zanmai and finally the little ladies got to meet.

Meet & greet session between CKD and MM

Both are a week apart when they were born (Mya being the older one) and they were soooooo cute. We had so much fun seeing how they both reacted towards each other.

Lunch time..trying to keep the little ladies occupied while we gossiped and chatted

CKD was a little blur coz she's not really used to being around other people. But Mya was being sucha social butterfly and led the way for CKD! LOL! By the way Azie, if you're reading this, Keisha has picked up Mya's "skill"!hahahaha!

After lunch and much gossiping, we had to leave because I needed to pick up some stuffs from our old condo for work. It was soo much fun to meet up with our friends and was really great to be able to see the little ladies growing up. I'll post up the video of the girls later (and please excuse the conversations the adults were having *unless i can somehow post the video muted..hmm*)

Resharing pictures of CKD and MM from previous functions. How they have grown!

MM & CKD at buih's birthday last November. Babies were about 7months

First time baby MM and CKD met during CKD's aqiqah hence the bald head for CKD. They were almost 2 months I think.

Hope they'll grow up being good friends with each other and become gossip buddies like their mommies and fave aunt!!haahah!

Pey, you missed a cute session with your two girls dude! Next time wake up la..:P

A Rockin' Good Time!

Happy Mother's Day

It was mother's day yesterday and Keisha decided to give me a very special gift..

She walked on her own for the very first time!

I couldn't ask for a more special gift than that..*fuzzy feeling* CKD has been pestering us to hold her hands as she tries to walk these past few weeks. And at the same time, I have always tried to encourage her to walk unsupported. But she always only gives me a huge cheeky grin and deliberately fall on me.

But yesterday, I tried to get her to walk on her own and SHE DID!! She followed me all over the living room laughing and grinning..walking by herself! I was ecstatic! Happy to see it with my own eyes her first steps...

She's so big now..trying to remember how tiny she used to be...sigh..

I love you Keisha! and thank you for coming into my life..thank you for all the happiness you've given me..

Silly moment with mama!

Smile baby!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies and mommies-to-be out there! Your child is the best gift you could ever have as a mother!

My Baby is ONE!

 future pianist?

My baby turned one yesterday. How time has flown and how she has grown. From a meek little girl who does nothing but sleep throughout most of the day, she won't stay put anymore, not even for a bit. Even throws tantrum when it's nap time coz she still hasn't had enough of playtime. 

naaaww..i just love to play!

Getting clever everyday with new tricks and antics.

yoga anyone?

But she is the perfect little charmer..capturing people's heart with that cheeky smile of hers.

first trip (second actually, this was taken during the flight back home) on an aeroplane

felt like you were just born yesterday (keisha @ 1day old)

Happy birthday dear little Keisha..Soon you will no longer be little but in my heart, you will always be my little girl, my love and my life..

in front of her birthday cake - rainbow+smarties cake made with love by her Aunty Julie (who claims that Keisha is her baby sometimes..hehe!)

Pictures were taken when we were back in KL for a week last week (except for the one when she was a day old of course). She had so much fun playing with the cuzzies (and I guess the cuzzies had equally as much fun - and possibly her mak tok and wan too..hik!) I loved being back in KL, which meant I had suami around. A week flew by in a blink of an eye.

Back in Perlis now and back to the nice laid-back life, but can get lonely without suami around :( Well, at least I have the cheeky little girl with me. She hasn't started walking yet, but forcing everyone to hold her as she tries to walk as if she's an expert. Sigh..but cheeky, clever little girl...you can never get enough of CKD...

My Baby has the flu! :(

You are still a baby, and already I mourn the day you grow too big to cuddle on my lap as your tiny hands relax, your eyes droop and you drift into safe, contented slumber while I sigh at you, delirious with love.

- Jaime Morrison Curtis

Advice #186 - Prudent Advice for My Baby Daughter

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device via Vodafone-Celcom Mobile.

CKD and music

This morning I made a discovery with little CKD..she loves music! (maybe all babies does..but I dunno..:P)

She woke up earlier than usual today because her ayah called her up when she was drowsily trying to get back to sleep..Once that sepet eyes of hers are opened..they stay opened!!

Our morning routine would normally start at 4:30am when she wakes up for her feed. Then she stays 'latched' on to me until about 6am (kadang2 sampai masuk mimpi perasaan dia suckling tau!!) By that time, I would put her back into her cot and have a few short minutes before suami wakes up to go to work. Then I would golek-golek while she sleeps before I start getting ready for work at 7:45am..

But I didn't get to golek-golek this morning because she didn't go back to sleep. So I just put her next to me on the bed while I try to get some shut eye (waking up at 4am every morning since she was born..don't judge me if I'm lazy in the morning ok!) But CKD wouldn't sleep..or keep quiet..."Emmphh..emmph..hek..hek.." while kicking and punching..sigh..

So I took my phone and played my playlist..and what do you know!! She kept quiet and still!! She still wouldn't go back to sleep..so my mom came into my room at about 7.30am so I could get ready for work and mom turned on the Opus channel on Astro...and yes..it had the same effect on CKD! Good girl!!!

I remember reading about it..never tried it..but now it's tried and tested with wonderful results! (dunno about her development..but to be able to keep her occupied is wonderful results for me!)

Now I'm sleepy..but at least I learnt a new trick! *grin*

Uh-Oh..my current fav song..I dunno why but this song makes me feel soo sayu and in love..boleh tak??haha! But it's a beautiful song and as I've mentioned..the tesla coils scene was my fave..enjoy!

My little girl..the sleepy diva

Sleeping in a stranger's arm during Mya's aqiqah..Bak kata aunty Sophie.."Primadonna"

Pics courtesy of Aunty Sophie yang nak bagi Keisha hanger!hahah!

Majlis Aqiqah and Cukur Jambul

So as promised...

We had Keisha's Majlis Aqiqah and Cukur Jambul on the 6th June 2010. It was a big affair..we had A LOT of guests if counting the grandparents' guests and also ours. Thank you to those who made it (although I think it was more of them thanking us for the food!hahah!) but thank you nonetheless for making the occasion a great one (and for giving me the chance to talk to other ppl other than the ones I'm living with!)

Our family.

Keisha pre-shaved head

I think we had over 200people that came. We started at 11am where the ahli-ahli masjid came and began the Marhaban. We were only expecting 12 people to do the marhaban..but the living room held more than that. Apparently all of my FIL's friends from the mosque and the neighbourhood wanted to join in the occasion. So alhamdulillah..the more the merrier right? Besides, it was an occasion to praise the prophet and to wish for good things for the celebrated child..It was indeed a merry occasion..

We had friends, family, neighbours who all came and wished our daughter well as they were cutting strands of Keisha's hair (cukur jambul). Suami and I decided to shave off all of Keisha's hair that day as as believed in Islam, it is best to shave it all off because it is hair that grew during the gestation period and considered dirty. So shave it all off so that new and clean hair can grow.

Plus it is also a good practice to weight the shaved hair and donate to the poor the value of gold with the same weight of the shaved hair. Meaning, say the hair weighs about 100g and it costs about RM100 for a 100g of gold..so we donate RM100 to the poor. But there is also another practice that the father buys the same weight of gold and gift it to the mother as a gesture of thanks for giving birth to the child. Whichever you choose to practice, it doesn't really matter as this is not a must, merely sunat or an optional practice. Which one did we choose??hehehehe..what do you think?? We didn't really weigh Keisha's hair because as we were shaving it, it went all over the house...so suami is just going to estimate the weigh..doubt it even weighs 100g..:P

Another thing that we did for this majlis was slaughtered a goat as an offering to others. It is a practice of the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W as if to give thanks to Allah and to ask for good wishes for the child. Also to announce to everyone the arrival of the new member of our family. This is what is meant by Aqiqah. If you have a baby girl, slaughter ONE goat but if it's a boy, slaughter TWO goats. It is best if the goat is slaughtered by the father so suami actually slaughtered the goat himself. He said as he was slaughtering the goat, he recited a little doa for our daughter wishing that she will grow up to be anak yang solehah. It was done the day before the majlis and suami said the knife used to slaughter the goat was so sharp, he felt as if he was cutting through air when he was slaughtering it. Only downside of aqiqah is that, the meat of the slaughtered animal can only be eaten or donated to muslims. Non-muslim are not allowed to eat them..why you may ask? I shall have to refer to someone more knowledgeable to explain.

So we had one slaughtered goat to feast and sedekah to our saudara islam. But since my FIL invited so many people, he also bought another goat for the caterer to serve our guests that day...

 Keisha post-shaved head with future gossip buddy Baby Mya and mama's gossip buddy Mummy Nariko of I Dreamt of a White Wedding ! Baby Mya is one week older than Keisha but will only be having her Aqiqah and cukur jambul on the 3rd of July. Mummy Nariko will have far better tips for organizing Majlis Aqiqah than I do..:P

Sorry if my post is a bit mundane and not very informative.. I am on MC today after one day back to work (I started my first day of work yesterday). Something bit my hand and caused an allergic reaction til both the palm of my hands are swollen. A trip to the doctors and an injection to the backside, I am feeling a bit better. But am also down with a swollen tonsil..I think it's the weather. Everyone seems to be falling sick lately. Thank god Keisha is well and happy...even with a shaved head!!:D

*wink*