The story of Norma, Talib & Rafiq

I came across this blog last night and cried! It's a lady's account of her sister-in-law's battle with cancer. From what i gather, Norma had headaches when she was 7 months pregnant, after she had the baby (close to her 1st wedding anniversary), tests were done which indicated that she had a tumour in her head/brain. She's in stage 4 of her cancer and has undergone numerous operations.

It saddens me that Norma's battling for her life while her baby's just starting his. There's so much both of them are missing out on each other. I pray to God that Norma will come out of this to see her baby grow up, and I pray that Talib stays strong throughout this ordeal. The pictures in the blog speak volumes....sniff.

To those that want to help, donations can be made to Norma's sister-in-law's bank account:

cimb


01070068677528


Noormawati Mohd Rasif

http://miera301.blogspot.com/2011/07/update-norma.html

The photos are courtesy of Moon and her blog as above.

Time off with the kiddies

This week, i had to take 2 days off cos my parents went outstation. I also came down with a cold, so added an extra day to the time off. The 3 days i had with my kids were absolutely precious. Instead of doing my usual thing where i'd dash off to run errands or window shop with the cikster, i was at home the whole day and i got to know Noah better.

Noah's 9 1/2 months old now. His milestones:

• Sit unaided.
• Crawl (though i still keep an eye on him cos he isnt too smooth at it)
• Sit up from a crawling position.
• Pull himself up in cot.
• Glide.
• Say 'mama' or 'mam mama'.

He's also shown signs of knowing how to get off high places. He turns his butt so that his legs go down first (all this done with my lightly holding him). He's also going through a phase where he wants his mummy over anyone else and im loving it!!! There's nothing like knowing that eventhough bibik takes care of him during the day, that he knows that his heart should be with his mummy. When i do grab him off bibik, he'll lean on me and pat my arm! What's there not to love about this boy? He's also little mister adventure and knocked his head like 3 times in one day. The worst one being under my care and he swung his head into a wall cos he lost his grip on the grill :( The whack sound was terrible and his cry was heart breaking. Luckily he seemed fine...there was no bruising or swelling. Alhamdulillah.

As for my dear bff ciku, we had lunch together at an organic restaurant. I love going out with her cos she's always so well behaved. She dressed prettily that day, even wore a handbag in which she put her little strawberry shortcake. At the restaurant we bumped into uncle pat, aunty jude, aunty angie and their mother.

Inspite of Ciku being my bestie, she tends to feel insecure about her brother. Sometimes she regresses and puts things in her mouth, or runs to me and says, "mummy, i love you very mutts!" I wish there was some way that i could reassure her that i love her to bits, and she's my first born. I hope her insecurities will subside some. I do, however, remember what life was like for me, being the ugly sister to a very cute and handsome brother. Everyone loved him and ignored me. I had issues with that for sure, but overcame them over time.

Ciku turned 3!

My little princess turned 3 recently and boy, was she showered with some amazing gifts! Mummy was as excited as she was to see all the fantastic girly stuff! We had a really simple do for her cos that's all mummy could manage. I wanted to be able to sit down and enjoy in the fun, so i hope the simplicity of the event was ok by everyone.

She also celebrated her birthday at playgroup. It was the first birthday for her amongst her peers, and she was so excited to share her cake with everyone. It was absolutely precious to have been present. I didnt want to get a fancy cake cos i didnt want it melting whilst waiting for break time, so got her a basic banana cake and my favourite apple and raisin. It turns out that little kids dont care what kinda cake they're getting, they get excited by anything that has a candle stuck into it!!!

Since Ciku turned 3 it's as if the big girl button got turned on. Suddenly she has complicated thoughts which she articulates, like since when was she bothered by leg hair???

The little guy's 26wk update

The little man's just 6 1/2 months old but in his short lifetime, he's been fallen sick soooo many times, im starting to lose track of everything that he's had! Shortly after the last entry, he had rozeola, then most recently, and scariest of all, he had bouts of vomitting which cause him to lose 200g in weight in just 3 1/2 hours!!

He had another spell of vomiting on Sunday and i suspect that his rice meal was contaminated. He's going to get 7 days rest from food and will only be on breast milk for now. It's not a good time to be dependent on my girls...im stressing out from a host of things to do for work and the ladies arent cooperating very well.

Other than that, my kids are my life. I love them to bits!! I hope that i'll raise them well enough to appreciate their mummy and all the sacrifices that she made for their well being. I sorta doubt it's going to happen though, cos i still take it for granted that MY mummy's going to do everything for me. Ergh. Im just glad that God knows the value of mothers...at least someone does, kan?

Ciku's growing up so fast...i just hate missing out on all the things she says and does. I talk to her like she's a little person and thats cool cos it's like having a little friend. A little friend who loves the Betty Boo shoes i got for her recently :) I cant wait for Noah to get big enough to sit up and run around, but as Opa says, dont wish for it too much cos he's going to run around and we'll be running around after him!

Im truly blessed to have my little family. I wish daddy was around more, but im counting all my blessings.

Peanut - 16 weeks old

Gosh, i cant believe Peanut's only 16 weeks old!! He was weighed today and comes in at 6.6kg. His milestones:

• Can turn on his side


• Laughs when being tickled or people make funny sounds and faces


• Tries to hold feeding bottle


• Notices his feet and hands


• Recognizes loved ones, including his sister (oh, he stops crying when he hears his sister babbling).

Life at home is still chaotic. Big sis is still having issues with sharing her toys with brother, and is prone to whining and crying to get attention. Right now both the kids have a cough and a running nose thanks to ciku. I decided to take the baby to the clinic today and told ciku about it. The idea was to drop ciku off at Oma & Opa's and then to take Oma with me to clinic. I forgot to tell ciku the plan, so when we drive into O & O's neighbourhood, she asks:

ciku: Where are we going, mummy?

me: Oma and Opa's house.

ciku: i thought we are going to see Dr Lam at clinic?

me: stunned.

Like, since when can she say stuff like, "I thought"????

I have a lovely tooth ache. I hope my maid hasnt cursed me since i confiscated her supposed meds for tooth ache (found it hidden in her undies). Well, she doesnt know i took it...sigh!

Peanut - 12wks

Little Peanut hasnt quite mastered a laugh, bt it's really cute to see him laugh when he doesnt even know what he's doing. He's starting to hold his head up better too. He's a charmer though, he smiles at anyone who talks to him! By the end of the week we'll find out how much he weighs. I cant wait!

Ciku's progress? She can amuse herself by playing on her own. Her favourite line to her toys: "what your name?"

Updates on Peanut & Ciku

Lack of sleep, caring for a baby and toddler and unreliable broadband connection makes it really hard for me to update my blog. Most times im so tired that i cant even string a sentence together much to the annoyance of my husband.

Anyhow, i dont want my children's milestones to slip by without me jotting them down, so here they go:

Ciku and potty training has been going very very well. She goes without a diaper during the day, alerts us whenever she needs to go to the loo. There have been accidents, bt very minor ones. Im glad that we werent in a rush to start it, cos it makes such a difference to train a toddler when they're ready.

Peanut's been driving me less crazy, bt he can still go hours without sleeping during the day. The wonderful thing is that he loves to chat, smile and coo. Sometimes he'd be mid-way in a feed and he'll look at me and he'll catch my eye and start a conversation. His utter adorableness rejuvenates my weary body!

Ciku loves Peanut still, kissing his hand, head, face; giving him a squeeze here and there whenever she feels like it. Besides dropping a figurine on his face many weeks ago, the worst thing that she's done, in my opinion was to use her thumb to press down on his fontanelle (soft spot on skull)!!! I was screaming cos that to me is the scariest place on a baby. You can see it throbbing with each heartbeat and i keep imagining that Indiana Jones movie, Temple of Doom, i think, where he was served up monkey heads (the top portion being cut open and brain exposed). Major yucks!

It's 5pm and i need to squeeze in a nap before peanut gets up from his. Hope to blog again soon!