Hiccups

Dear Diary,

What do you do when your baby hiccups? Ever since I was a child, I’ve been witnessing this one petua being practiced in my family. The tip is to tear a piece of tissue or paper into a very tiny piece, wet it in water and put it on the baby’s forehead. Poof! The hiccup’s gone.

Model memperagakan kertas tisu yg telah dibasahkan di dahi

I don’t know how it works or what is the connection between wet paper and hiccup or what is the explanation behind it but this little petua works every time. Well, at least for me it magically works for my three children. By the way, my mother in law uses a tiny piece of thread instead but the method is the same and it also helps to stop the hiccup.

Sometimes we just have to rely on pesanan orang tua-tua or petua turun temurun no matter how ridiculous it seems to us because they know better but they just don’t know how to explain it scientifically.

ps: A friend from Japan, Fith, left an answer regarding this petua. Here is her explanation.....

"..mmg ada kajian sains yg dah prove-kan petua ni,ianya berkesan sbb baby akan cuba fokus pada benda yg duk atas dahi dia tu n somehow ia membantu dia bernafas dgn baik dan hiccups tu berhenti.sgt menarik bila org2 tua temui cara ni mendahului teknologi sains.so lps ni klau org ketawa atau pertikaikan tindakan tu,kita dah boleh jwb dgn ilmiah,hehe..."

Siblings Jealousy

Dear Diary,

It tugs at my heart when out of the blue, Zarra asked me, “Mama sayang Zarra tak?” I just answered, “Sayang” without giving it any heed.

But when she kept asking me the same question over and over again with pitiful eyes, I began to realize she actually needs an assurance that she’s really loved. I also noticed her facial expression changed whenever I do things with the baby things that I used to do with her. Even when I said “Sayang Mama” to Irfan, her face would look so sad and she would look at me with a longing look.

So I took my time explaining to her that even though she has a new little baby brother now, I still love her and always will…..forever. It takes quite some time before she’s really convinced.

Mama loves you very much, Zarra….

Whisk Espresso Bar / Bake Shop, Empire Shopping Gallery, Sept 2010

Dear Diary,

Have you heard about red velvet cake? This cake has been the topic of discussion in numerous blogs that I read. Is this cake super duper delicious? Curiosity got the best of me, so off we went to Empire Shopping Gallery one fine weekend (way before I gave birth) to check out Whisk Espresso Bar / Bake Shop. Words have it that this place sells tasty red velvet cake. Besides cakes, the Whisk also offers other dishes. It is just perfect for us spending our teatime there. This little café has a warmth cozy feeling to it. The staffs are friendly and courteous. However, the seats are limited due to it small space. We ordered a few items on the menu.

Macaroons (left) Beef Cottage Pie (right)

Pizza (left) Bagel with Cream Cheese and Red Velvet Cake (right)

After tasting the red velvet cake, I personally find it just so-so. It tastes good but for me not super duper delicious. So, I don’t understand what the fuss over it is all about. Hubby and my two kids like it though. One thing that put me off is the coloring. It is a bit too much as both my kids have red teeth after eating the cake. Maybe I should try this cake at other places first before giving up on it.

On the other hand, I like their bagel and pizza. The bagel reminded me of my university days. My first encounter with bagel was when I was in the US. I tried it, liked it and still do. I like it more with cream cheese and hummus. In the States, there were flavored bagel such as pumpkin, strawberry, nutty and many more. Along the same line, Whisk’s thin-crusted pizza is also appetizing even though it does not come loaded with variety of toppings.

Kenduri Doa Selamat cum Open House

Dear Diary,

A day before I gave birth, my parents in law held a kenduri doa selamat. The kenduri is in conjunction with their pilgrimage to Mekah. Insya Allah on 20th Nov they will depart for Mekah performing the haji.

Our house was buzzing with relatives and activities in preparations for the feast since Friday. We’d be cooking all the dishes ourselves. My parent in law’s besan from Muar was kind enough to share his expertise in making beriani gam which was our main dish. The process to cook nasi beriani gam was very tedious. It took a long time and a lot of ingredients. To accompany the rice, we also served dalca, ayam masak merah and beef curry. There were also mee udang, nasi impit, kuah kacang and air bandung. We catered for kambing panggang and cendol. For desserts, guests could choose from an array of karipap, tepung pelita, khasidah, buah Melaka, bingka, raya cookies, watermelon, oranges and a few other dishes.

The kenduri kicked off with recital of Yasin and doa. Then, acara makan-makan took place from noon till 6pm. Many relatives and friends turned up and made the event a huge success.

New Arrival

Dear Diary,

I’ve been quiet for sometime without any entry. It is not that I am bored with blogging but I’m taking my own sweet time getting to know someone new. A guy….a very special guy. As most of us know, the beginning of a relationship is very special and time consuming; I have to take some time off from blogging.

Before all of you start thinking I’m having an affair, I would like to introduce to everybody MUHAMMAD SYAHIR IRFAN, my new bundle of joy and the latest addition to our family. Alhamdulillah, I’ve safely delivered a healthy baby boy on 4 October 2010 at 4:43pm. He weighs 3.84kg at birth. Huge!!!

Baby Irfan, Can You Hear Me?

Dear Diary,

Just wanna share these pictures of Zarra talking to her little brother….in Mama’s tummy hihihi.

30 Days of Night

Dear Diary,

Does anyone fancy horror or scary movie? It is not my cup of tea since I am easily spooked. I like thriller but not so much if it involves ghost, vampire, or anything yang seangkatan dengannya. I’ll keep on picturing the ghost and I’ll have sleepless night.

Then again, Hubby loves the genre very much. Since give and take is an important ingredient towards happier marriage, I sometimes give in and accompany him to watch these types of films. Recently, I watched 30 Days of Night again (note the word – again) over Cinemax. I’ve watched this movie a few times so the fear is lesser as compared the first time I watched it. 30 Days of Night is directed by David Slade and starred by Josh Hartnett as Eben Oleson (remember his adorable face in Pearl Harbor), Melissa George as Stella Oleson and Danny Huston as Marlow, the vampire chief.

The film revolves around the survival of a group of people in a small town of Barrow in Alaska during winter against a group of vampires. During winter, darkness blankets Barrow because the sun will not be rising for one whole month. As the last ray of sunlight diminishes, terror creeps in. Bizarre incidents start to take place and screams start to be heard everywhere.

The bloodthirsty vampires are very swift, violent and hideous. Oh, they are also clever hence many become their victims. If you can stomach pools of blood and flesh eating blood sucking violent scenes, this movie is definitely for you. There are fighting scenes between human and vampire but human always end on the losing side.

All things considered, 30 Days of Night fits perfectly into its horror/thriller genre. I just don’t like how the movie ends. The ending is kind of sad. For me, after going through heart stopping scenes and enduring disgusting images, I need a solace.

* Pictures taken from Amazon.com