~ Dedicated To A Special Person a.k.a Friend ~

As mentioned before in previous entry, I am experiencing the phase of low milk supply. I tried giving Ammar formula milk so many times but he refused and rather wait for me to come back from work. I struggled with frequent pumping sessions and used up all my frozen EBMs and this was the last packet I had at the last month of July..

The one and only..

I was really panic but pray to Allah that Ammar will soon accept formula milk. During the critical phase, I managed to provide up to 2.5 - 3 bottles x 4 oz (fresh + frozen milk) daily but with only 1 frozen EBM left, I would only able to provide 1 1/2 - 2 bottles and I assumed Ammar will start to give in and accept formula milk. That was the plan until something good came up.

I have a friend Sarah who was in pantang last August, she lives in KL but had her pantang at her kampung in Pokok Sena. As a friend I always share breastfeeding info and experiences with her since she also breastfeeds her 2 children. One day I received an sms saying that she wanted to give Ammar her excess frozen EBMs (a new mom is easily engorged) and her husband already gives permission. Never in my life that I thought this good offer would come but after discussion with hubby, we agreed. So there goes how it all started.

I went to Sarah's a day before Ramadhan and took 5 packets to try with Ammar and lucky enough he drank it like there was no difference (bijak betul ammar ni, susu lembu dia tak mau tapi susu orang lain mau pulak!). So we went there to pick up another 2 batches from Sarah. Lucky that Ammar now has ibu susuan plus 2 siblings in tow! Thanks Acik Ah or probably Mak Ah for her kind heart!

On 7th Syawal, we went to Pokok Sena again to beraya and pick up the last batch of the stock since Sarah is already completed her pantang and going back to KL. I guess with the stock of my EBMs (not so much) plus with Sarah's which totaled up to 150 oz are going to last for a month! Ammar is 21 months and insyaAllah he has enough milk until he turns 22 months old.

Sarah's frozen EBM

Sarah's too!

Mine..

Having enough stock doesn't mean I need to stop pumping, the journey will not end soon at least for another 3 months until Ammar turns 2. For the time being, I am going to maintain my pumping sessions 2-3 times at work and once at home (midnight) even though I don't get much, 2-3 oz per session is better than nothing right? If those frozen EBMs would be all used up later, I will start to introduce him formula milk again and I hope he accept it slowly..

By the way, Sarah smsed and said she left another 50 oz for Ammar at kampung because she couldn't transfer too many frozen EBMs in her coleman ice box plus it is a long journey back to KL. I'm going to pick up that batch this weekend, may Allah bless her and her family.

To Sarah: We may not know each other for long but I pray that this friendship last forever! Zul, Ammar and I are very grateful to you and family. I don't know how should I repay everything that you have done to Ammar, may Allah makes your breastfeeding journey for Adam goes smoothly.. Amin..

3 siblings - on 7th Syawal

Sarah and I

Ammar with his mak susunya :)

Cute!

Family with big heart - this one taken from Sarah's FB

How I met Sarah?! Here is some brief info in an entry at Sarah's blog!

~ Wordless Wednesday ~

~ Sabun Hebat ~

I don't know whether this is funny or considered unlucky but please read to the last sentence and decide. 

I consider myself living like a nomad because my weekends will always be at inlaws in Alor Star while weekdays is at my parents in Sungai Petani. It is a give and take decision between hubby and I since we are living with my parents in SP, we would spend our free time in Alor Star as much as we can. Due to this circumstances I have 2 sets of everything, toothbrush, facial cleanser, hair care etc. One day about 2 months ago my facial cleanser was running low so I decided to use whatever available in the bathroom in AS. I tried this one small green soap and became fond of it. To cut it short, I ended up using it whenever I was in AS for at least once a day during weekend. Though, I have never once asked the people in the house regarding detail of the said soap..

Until recently the soap is not there anymore so I used mine again. Last sunday I noticed a familiar soap still wrapped in packaging on the cabinet and guess what I found..

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Read the description..

Okeh, maksudnya selama ni aku cuci muka guna benda alah ni?

Uwaaa rasa sangat teraniaya, malas la nak tanya sapa yang pakai kan, kira salah sendiri la pakai harta orang tak tanya pulak tuh! No wonder my face is getting chubbier by the day, sangat berkesan sabun nih HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Penuh bulat muka I, you!

~ Aidil Fitri 2011 ~

This is going to be a short entry, I'm quite busy at the moment.. My hari raya was so-so because I didn't entitled for any cuti raya, in total I had already took 7 days off in August just for Ammar. That was my 1st experience working on raya eve and it sucked a big time! I also went to work on 4th day of raya (Friday) and because of that our raya visiting schedule was so packed and tired ;(

4 days before raya - siblings having fun!

Giliran 2011 - a night before and raya morning in Aloq Staq

Ammar dah dapat duit raya dari tok wan chien!

Inlaws, nak ke baling - fahmi dah jadik Dr Rozmey kot!

Annual family portrait..

Cantik? Penat I belajaq from youtube vids / bloggers okeh!

The crazy parents

Petang raya dah di SP continue visiting my family and relatives

2nd Day - with my family

Hyper!

2nd day - merdeka raya by anak merdeka

Ammar with mama and umi su in Balik Pulau

Kempiskan perut!

Love is great!

Beraya di QB

Sorry, can't resist to spend my duit raya :)

3rd day - ikut hubby pi kenduri kawan.. I hate this inner & shawl, didn't have much time to change into something nicer since we were too late..

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri

Maaf Zahir Batin

From Zul, Eclass & Ammar

P/s: more pictures are on my facebook album

~ Raya Shopping ~

Due to my family health issues during Ramadhan I was not really into raya preparation. It was until the last week that made me realize I need to do something about it before it was too late. I checked into Ammar's closet to get a clear picture what he needed for raya and I found this.....

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I know I keep buying him new clothes and keep it for future use but I never realized they were too many for him at the moment. I just stashed everything into the drawer and now I know they are also some shirts & Ts that he even wear once, I guess I don't need to buy anything for him. NOT!

I forced Ammar to try every piece of the cloth in the picture and unfortunately some of them are in size 18-24mos @ 18 mos and still look big on him. I was hoping the Ralph Lauren polo would fit him nicely since it's the most expensive one and suitable for raya la, but I guess I need to wait another 1/2 year.. Mind you Ammar is still wearing size 12-18mos @ 12mos even though his age is already 21 months, imagine how petite he is! For the shoes only Timberland boot fits him, neither sneaker nor sandal can be used for the moment at least until next year. 

As for me, no new casual attires needed because I got some new ones bought during my blouse hunting for dinner last July. So for our raya shopping in Queensbay I only bought myself 2 pairs of Vincci sandal, a Nose flat and a Nose tote bag while hubby got 4 pairs of Padini Ts. Everything was at 50% - 70% discounted price buat apa membazir kan! Ammar got 2 pairs of Miki Ts, hmmm.. no comment..

I also bought something for my parents, parents in law and my sister in law sebab dapat bonus kan.. I should be fair and square.. That was my raya shopping! NOT!

On the next several days I went to Jusco during lunch time to buy something for saudara susuan Ammar, Adib and Adam. Since they are saudara susuan, why not buy something identical? So Ammar got another 2 new Ts, and another pair of baju melayu <-- a good bargain, it's RM22.50 after 50% discount, gila kan! Okay, this is really final, that was my raya shopping!

Entry for raya coming soon!

~ A Big Hole In Our Pockets ~

Zul and I have 2 external HD, one was the old one and another is quite new. The old one, Seagate 160GB was kaput it has no light blinking and no sound at all.. I was so disappointed because Ammar's picture collections since the day he was born were saved on that disk and we didn't have any backup, our PC had also been reformatted due to virus attack <-- blamed it on hubby since he is the one who using it daily. 

We sent the external HD to 2 computer shops, both tried using new cable and they said nothing can be done and  no data can be recovered. Refused to loose the precious data, I googled everything on the net about data recovery and and found several company who offered the service. I chose the most reliable one based on customer testimonials, company profile, news update and blog and also their profile and sent an online quotation by giving details of my HD problem. The service was good, I received a call on the next morning giving me some explanation and they quoted me at RM750 !! Yes, that expensive! Believe me reformatting HD or repairing computer's hardware is a far cry from what a data recovery means.

After several days of discussion with hubby we decided to courier our external HD to the company which in KL for preliminary inspection. I didn't have much time to send quotation to several other company to compare prices since Ammar was admitted to hospital. In our mind, we really wanted the data to be recovered regardless how much we need to pay (still.. RM750 is a big amount of money). Several days later we got good news, the data can be 95% recovered so we gave them permission to proceed and made payment. We got the recovered data couriered in a brand new external HD.

I did some google a week later and found some data recovery companies in Penang which quite reliable and the prices start as low at RM500, don't know in my case should it be less than RM750 or not but I have no regret. The important part is I already have everything back including Ammar 1st picture. I'm gonna need some time to go through all folders to choose which one to be printed as precaution that the same thing will happen in future. Lesson learned! Rasa macam CSI pulak using this data recovery company services.

Huhu.. I still can't believe we both paid for this! I could buy another Coach handbag with this amount of money :(

Why data recovery is so expensive? Here are some info that I got while I did some research..

ADRC - No, I didn't send mine here, just surfing for info

Data Doctors - Not this one too..

~ Ramadhan in hospital ~

Ammar admitted to Metro again, last year was in Syawal but this time around in Ramadhan. Hubby admitted in the afternoon of 8th August followed by Ammar at midnight due to high fever. It was really tough for me to take care both of them, lucky enough the nurses managed to transfer Ammar into the same 2-beds room with his babah. Hubby was discharged after 2 nights but Ammar had to wait another 5 nights. Since that was the 2nd time experience, we didn't panic plus the room was quite comfortable! 

Sahur was bad, everything turned to be cold as ice because hubby bought the food at midnight and we couldn't reheat. Berbuka was so-so for the fact I couldn't feast my eyes at Bazaar everyday. First and foremost, I thank Allah for giving me strength and exception not to fall really ill in order to take care of everyone. I thank him too that everyone is recovering well including my parents & in-laws whom also got infected by the virus right after visiting the patients. Alhamdulillah..

The patients

Family affair in ward..

Kesian..

Mama pun tak puasa sebab nak makan ubat elak sakit melarat..

Tak cukup sebelah, tukar pulak tangan lain sebab swollen

Finally discharged but still staying in hospital

After work

Last day, Alhamdulillah..