‘Arfaan dah mula ke skool minggu lepas. Alhamdulillah so far so good. Hantar pagi2 tak nangis tapi bila ambil petang2 dia cerita dia ada nangis sikit2 kadang2 sbb nak ummi kdg2 sbb kwn terbuat dia kadang2 dia xpandai nak buat sumthing. But ticer kata dia ok je. Normal la ek budak2 baru nak adapt…
ada satu pagi tu siapkan bekal french toast and bihun goreng utk ‘arfaan
“ummi, bihun grg tu apa in english. roti telur tu apa?”
“oh fried noodle & french toast”
balik petang tu..
“ummi tadi ‘arfaan lupa nama roti tu ‘arfaan ckp kt kwn nama dia bread egg” 🤣
“ummi, ‘dalam’ in english apa”
“deep atau in. kenapa?”
“oh sebab tadi kat skool ‘arfaan tercakap melayu ‘dalam air’ semuorg tak fhm” hahaha
“Ooo so ‘arfaan kena cakap ‘in the water’ la”
Banyak lagi la momen yg lawak bila dia bercerita pasal kejadian kat skool. I think kids are just amazing. Tho theyre still small they just learn to adapt and go with the flow. Even we as adult wud have cold feet imagine going to a strange place where nobody understand your language and you still have to communicate to survive the day. Survive not being hungry. Survive the daily tasks. Survive making friend. Survive going to the toilet. Have the courage to tell teacher i want this and that.
in his PE uniform
Thank you ‘Arfaan for being amazing and brave that you are.
Alhamdulillah today ‘Arfaan achieved another milestone. He just completed his Iqra’ and now can move to Muqaddam/Juz ‘Amma.
Just in time before he starts school. For keepsake, we started the journey casually when I was still on my maternity leave back in Nov. So basically if you spend 15mins average daily for 10months, youre able to complete all 1-6 iqra’ inshaAllah biiznillah
one of his early sessions – 17 Nov 2020last page today *abaikan pakaian tak patuh syariah 🤣*
Few tips (this might not work for other kids though but hopefully its helpful);
If the child loves to watch TV or play gadgets or anything they cant do without, use that as a reward
The first 5-10mins are precious. Get their attention
Limit to one page a day (iqra 1-2) & halfpage/day (3-6)
There is 30page/iqra hence total of 180pages. Thats 36wks if you do one page daily, minus weekends
Encourage other siblings to read Quran/Iqra at the same time – healthy competition, yes? 😜
Keep the momentum ie never miss a day especially during the first 2 iqra’ – intro to huruf hijaiyyah
Give reward for each book completed
Iqra yg byk berjasa
Alhamdulillah moga ‘Arfaan terus istiqamah dgn Quran dan hiasi peribadi dgn akhlaq alQuran amiiin.
My handsome and clever yet clingy lil boy will be going to school soon. I mean this Sunday, my oh my. Gonna miss his presence at home. So its been almost 6months since his last ‘schooling’ experience i hope he will do just fine adapting.
Always keep on reminding him that nobody will understand you if you converse in malay haha so we occasionally will practice simple conversations in english. So far so good.
Mula2 dia mcm reluctant sikit bila bagitau dia akan gi skool. Maybe coz he’s so used to staying at home no need to wake up early for school etc. But after some time he likes the idea and really put an effort to the vid that we need to submit to the school as part of admission requirements.
behind the scene
We need to submit few videos ie writing letters, recognising shapes, counting 1-20, reading story book & organise a simple jigsaw puzzle. It was such a breeze shooting the videos alhamdulillah. Funny thing was we only noticed that he can actually read his fav Famous Five series on his own – although not 100% correct in pronunciation. He also amazed that he can read lol. All the while we only use Ladybird KeyWord cards for english. So i guess it eventually helped him in reading, alhamdulillah haza min fadhli rabbi
this cheeky boy ughh
Last week we did some ‘back to school’ shopping. Getting him his school uniforms, new shoes, backpack, tumbler and bekas for bekal later on. He’s so excited about going back to school and hopefully this momentum will be up high throughout the year amiiin!!! He will be in Reception class for Yr21/22 btw. Thats a the year before entering Year 1.
May Allah keep you safe. May Allah protect you from bad people or bad influences. May Allah surround you with only good friends and teachers. Hope you are happy meeting new friends learning new things. Which your walid and I didnt get the chance when we were kids he he
Harini our baby gurl ‘Atiyyah genap sebelas bulan. MasyaAllah pantas betul masa berlalu. Lagi sebulan dah umo setahun!
I must say that she is relatively different from her abangs. Well of course la sebab girl kan. Lepas tu rezeki dia ummi dpt hands on jaga dia day and night. Alhamdulillah atas aturanNya 🙂
Lets sum up her milestones. Gigi dah ada 4btg, 2 atas 2 bawah. Atas ada gigi baru nak tumbuh tapi belum full lagi. Hehe. Semalam timbang berat ‘Atiyyah dah 8.2kg. Well a lil bit underweight (I think) walaupun pakai baby girl chart. She is not that chubby baby compares to her brothers when theyre at her age but its okay. As long as she is active, sleeps well, bfeed well and milestones on track nothing else matters. You can be chubbier later when youre bigger kayh.
‘Atiyyah boleh wave goodbye. Clap her hands when shes happy. Kalau baca doa adia akan buat gaya ‘amiiin’ sapu muka hehe. Kalau kita sebut ‘habis’ dia akan buat gaya tangan (both hands) habissss. If we say ‘hello’ she will put her hand on her ear. Awwwh
She can say few words eg Dah, Nak. Can understand ‘nak susu?’ Or ‘jom’
occasionally she will do this 🤣
Her fav food are puree. Sweet potatoes, carrot, pumpkin, spinach, chicken. (So far) not a big fan of Broccoli, meat, salmon. Still no chunky porridge huhu as she will choke hmmmm. Her tummy will reject rice, or anything with wheat flour (we think) as she will vomit after 2-3hrs consuming those. We will try again in few months timw. Maybe shes just not ready yet.
ummi loves u
Recently she loves to climb the sofa and her ‘cage’. She now begins to crawl more than just belly crawl. Alhamdulillah. Perhaps will be on foot earlier than her brothers? Hehe. Coz shes a bit hardcore and adventurous compared to the brothers. ‘Arfaan dulu seingat ummi sgtlah graceful and slowmo and sopan. ‘Atiyyah suka redah dan lagi org halang lagi dia buat. Haha. Baby 2020 niiii
Counting days to your first birthday babygorlll ❤️
Since 2017 I got hooked with Starbucks coz thats the only coffee shop that I can easily grab my breakfast before going up to my office (when I was stationed at one of engineering consultant office in KL) if I didnt manage to stop by any kuih or nasi lemak stall nak cepat punya pasal.
Since then I need to have their drink at leastttt once a week. Boo. Plus they have this prepaid and rewards system so its getting worse. Mind you im not a coffee drinker. Hence I would go for their frappucino, iced macchiato or any choc drinks. Dont usually buy the normal coffee (without sugar) lol.
This venti (large) Iced Choc is EGP50 ie RM13
Bila sampai sini, sis tak sangka kat Egypt ni ada Starbucks (baca : banyak) dan harga relatively cheaper from the one back home. Contohnya kalau harga grande size Signature Iced Choc RM16 (ye?) kat 🇲🇾, kat sini baru RM11 lepas convert. So bahaya jugak sebenarnya sbb in the end cumulatively spend a lot on their drinks 😅
Also you can find lots of hipster cafes and coffee shops here in New Cairo (not sure at other districts though) so for those coffee drinkers who love cafe hopping, this might be your ‘heaven’ on earth! 🤩
For me I would just stick to Starbucks though – not that adventurous in that ‘coffee department’ hehheheh
After we came back from Marsa Alam, ‘Atiyyah’s dry patch near her lips became reddish and flares up. Here I show you pic before Marsa Alam and few days after we came back.
otw to Marsa Alam – dry patch on right cheekpatch getting larger and itchier by days
Hence we didnt know what triggered the redness. If its the weather/humidity, its been hot since June. And the weather is dry since forever in Egypt 🥲
Since its getting worse, we applies earth mama to restore moisture however it didnt help the flares at bay. We opt for Ceradan but still na ah. No improvement. In fact yesterday there were additional red bumps. Not sure whether it infected other areas or just bug bites huhu. Alhamdulillah only on her cheek and not on other part of her body, syukur.
Meds we use so far. Got Tarolimus from the pharmacy here which is equiv to Protopic 1% back home 🇲🇾
Felt so helpless especially at night as she will scratch her face til bleed sobs.
Today’s photo. Criess
Will keep update on her progress here inshaallah for future reference. Or for those who are battling eczema or the likes. May Allah grant her shifa’…
My doa is for Allah to ease her pain, to give us guidance to find the cure. Ujian dari Allah setelah berjuta nikmat Dia beri, kami redha 😌🤲🏼
Sejak barang shipping sampai (baca: stok kicap dah banyak), dah 2x masak menu ni. Kalau tidak asik catu je kicap ahhaha. So sementelah baru masak tadi dan menjadi rasa almost macam mak punya, maka marilah kita lock resipi kat sini moga menjadi asbab rujukan di masa hadapan kalau2 terlupa 🥲
Jap tepek gambar hasil hehe. Presentinggggg….
makan ni tak sah kalau tak tambah 3x
So here goes,
1kg daging lembu (rebus hingga empuk)
5bj bawang merah
3bj bawang putih
2inch halia
1tbsp halba
2tbsp cili kering blend
1tbsp kerisik
1 senduk cuka buatan
3 senduk kicap manis
Garam secukup rasa
Cara nak masak senang sangat. Tumis je bwg2 dan halia bersama halba. Bila dah layu sikit, masukkan cili blend. Masak sampai pecah minyak. Kemudian masukkan daging empuk bersama air rebusan. Haaa air rebusan ni takat tinggi daging tu je jangan byk sangat air sampai daging berenang. Nnt kuah jadi cair. Lepastu masukkan semua bahan2 lain incl garam. Kicap dan cuka tu pastikan pakai senduk yg sama, ratio 3:1. Macam tadi saya pakai senduk 20ml cmtu. So masak sampai mesra dlm 15-20min renihkan.
Tips : lauk ni sedap pekat2. dulu pernah ekjas cuka n kicap sampai ceroi n daging berenang tak ummph sangat. So ratio cili, air rebusan, kicap n cuka tu mmg kena ngam gtu. Lagi satu, lauk ni lagi lama simpan lagi sedap. Kalau nak makan esok, masak hari ni. Macam asam pedas or laksa. Tapi tu la emmm selalu masak hari tu jgk dah habis sebab fav suami anak2. Next time kita buat 2kg daging ek. Ala2 rendang gtu hehe
Hope geng waghih den dpt cuba lah resepi ni kut jadi ke tak macam yg arwah uwan Zainon selalu masak masa kita kecik2 dulu hehe
Notakaki : balik cuti mesia nnt kena stock up byk2 kerisik sebab fav sis sekarang masak (n makan) menu ni atau rendang haha
Sejak awal bulan lepas dapat satu rutin baru setiap pagi Sabtu. Dengan geng mommies CFC hehe ie Min & Faz. Brisk walking at 5am. Boleh la kira ni 5am club eh lol
Usually we will end at 7am at Starbucks. Get some drinks. Self reward kununnya
Unfortunately I left my Iwatch at Malaysia (boo) so have to stick to Strava apps in my phone fer now. Tq husband for assisting and the support especially for taking care of the kids while im busy walking 😅
our usual route.this was today
Of late its getting hotter so we decided to start at 4.30am. Memang by 6 tu dah panas terik huhu
Normally memang takde orang and kereta pun sampai la kul 7 baru start ramai sikit manusia.
so nice eh the clouds
Tips for beginners like me ;
Wear comfortable attire
Know your limits. If you cant run just walk for few sessions first
Find walk/run buddy
Install strava or any apps of the likes for you to keep up w momentum
Get yourself a fitbit/any health tracking smartwatch (if got budget la but i think now got many cheap options that can do the job)
Bring water bottle so that you wont get easily dehydrated
Harapnya istiqamah la ye. Bukan untuk kurus atau apa. Tapi utk my fitness journey as a whole. Lagipun takde target apa pun. Start small ie walking je. Also sanity sebab me time jugak utk mak2. Hehe
We had a great time at Marsa Alam last weekend! Twas a 4d3n summer beach vacation. In fact that was our first summer beach experience. Sebelum ni tak pernah (rasanya) melancong ke obesi pada musim panas. Ye lah Malaysia pun dah panas sepanjang tahun kan. So bila merasa actual summer lepastu pergi beach some more memang feeling dia wahhh camni ke haha
The plan was quite last minute. We were contemplating between few tourist spots namely Alexendaria, Fayoum, Luxor, Sharm el Sheikh…. Finally we decided to go for beach vacation as our kids (and us adults) didnt get enough snorkeling back in Hurghada haha. So Marsa Alam it is! Why not Sharm? Coz we dont have proper vehicle so think next time lah if ada rezeki.
Initially we planned for 2nights but last timw at Hurghada twas too short so this time around we add another night. Luckily it was Eid Adha and office close for whole week, yay!
We found a hotel where we can snorkel right from the beach and the coral reef are reachable from sea shore! Alhamdulillah. So no need for boat ride which will burn the the whole day of back and forth to reach the coral reef area (burn pocket too haha). However lesson learned from last trip, we need to bring our own snorkeling gears ie from the right shoes/fins up until life jackets! Tips : you can find almost everything at Decathlon. Seriously. Burn our pockets but inshaallah will minimise the risk of covid (or hygiene) via rental. Well the price was not that bad though, approx EGP2k/pax for full gears – thats RM500/pax. Life jacket, snorkeling gears & proper shoes/fins.
penuh satu troli hikhik
7hrs journey from Cairo to Marsa Alam. Plus minus rnr bagai jadilah 9jam lebih. Kami bertolak lepas late breakfast, right after husband’s 2nd Sinovac dose. 11am departed and arrived hotel at about 7.30pm with 2 stops for solat and makan. We potluck some pasta and i mad rendang w nasi impit hehe fefeeling raya. Oh btw we arrived back in Cairo malam raya ie the whole day of Arafah Day was Marsa Alam – Cairo.
Rendang daging nogoghi w nasi impit yThats the route
Our hotel named Albatros. The room was nice. Got one king bed and 2 single bed. There was 12 of us and we took 4 rooms. We were upgraded to suite btw. Thats the perk of booking in group i think. We got room next to each other. On average, price per pax is RM500, all inclusive ie with bfast, lunch & dinner! Okla kan utk 4 hari. Plus its 5stars hotel (katanyalah). Mmg kat Malaysia susah nak dpt deal mcm ni. Huhu
Albatros ni ada banyak gila pool. Dari secetek2 sampai la ke 1.5m dalam. Macam2 jenis. Ada yg besar, ada yg betul2 dpn bilkk kami, ada yg berslide, ada yang bergazebo. Best gila ok. Cuma yg lemah nya tmpt makan jauh sikit dari bilik nak kena menapak dan time summer bawak baby lagi la terasa. Sebab tu dok berzikir nak repeat once autumn nanti hehe. Moga ada rezeki amiiin
bawak jua feeding set ‘atiyyah.malangnya pumpkin tu lembik rosak bila sampai huhuadd babycot for free mmg terbaekpantai cantik gila very instaworthy lol
Covidwise the hotel didnt jaga SOP. Mask pun staff tak pakai. Apatah lagi tourists. Most of the customers are non Egyptians smua mat saleh dari german russia (we think). Masa kitorg baru sampai bermask bagai semua org pandangggg je macam kitorg ni bwk penyakit huhu sabar je la. No mask, no social distancing so pakat jaga diri sendiri je la. Whole time i recited doa wabak moga Allah lindungi kami semua…
‘Aaqil spend his everyday there in the sun. He literally lives in his swimsuit except at night hahaha
Kids had fun in the sun. ‘Aaqil practice with his snorkeling gear even in the pool. He loves snorkeling tak sangka. Good thing that he became brave-er in the water than before. Mana tak nya sepanjang hari dlm air. Ada hari tu dari 8am turun pool. Pastu kuar kejap je lunch tepi pool. Sambung snorkel. Kul 6pm baru masuk bilik. Rentung. Haha.
Yours truly had fun too ❤️
Me and husband took turn snorkeling as we have babies to take care of. Alhamdulillah right before my turn tu husband found a shop which sells the phone holder utk bwk masuk air tu. So I brought along during snorkeling. Perfect. Cumaaaaa we forgot to bring roti along so ikan2 semua lalu lalang je tak berkumpul pon haha. Tapi seronok je. Sejak time Hurghada tu sis kempunan nak snorkel akhirnya impian tercapai. Tq suami kerana memahamj. Happy wife happy life eh ❤️
ni masa air surut, tiap pagi kami pi tgk sunrise hehe
Me and kak Ammal tried out their hammam. First time sis try hammam. Paling best jakuzi la. Massage by the arabs. Siap tanya you want soft medium or hard. I chose medium. I dont fancy massage but the areb did great. Tak sakit pon.
Ok think thats all. Nah minilove for you Marsa Alam. Thank you for the memories. Will definitely come again (once I got my 2 doses of vaccines, amiin)… ❤️
Khamis lepas 24 Jun adalah hari terakhir ‘Aaqil di Year 4, alhamdulillah. Start sekolah 1 Jun hari tu tapi asik tangguh nak blog about it hehe. Sampai habis term dah pun.
Kisah nak register sekolah ni panjang. Encik suami yang buat dari register online sampai lah ke beli uniform etc. Alhamdulillah dipermudahkan. Untuk kemasukan ke sekolah NCBIS ni, salah satu requirement adalah cikgu sekolah lama kena fill up an evaluation form in order to proceed wit application. And mind you this is between schools and we were not in the loop so that the previous school will give unbiased assessment.
Settle application, bayar utk assessment then – ‘Aaqil has to make an essay without any guidance and help. Few days later, online assessment soalan berbentuk IQ, english, maths. Hah masa ni kena on video sekali sebab nak make sure takde bantuan dari luar hehe. So kitorg tinggalkan ‘Aaqil sorang2 dalam bilik sampailah settle.
Alhamdulillah in less than a week rasanya dpt offer. Phew. Pastu tak habis lagi. Kena buat registration payment dulu barulah boleh dpt date admission. 1 June lah tarikh hari pertama ‘Aaqil bersekolah di New Cairo British International School, NCBIS. Jarak dalam 15min dari rumah kami.
Posing hari pertama
Alhamdulillah ‘Aaqil sangat mudah sesuaikan diri. Berkat banyak kali pindah sekolah dan bertukar tempat agaknya. Kat Al Amin dulu pun tukar kelas tiap tahun. Siapa sangka kan pengalaman lepas utk bg dia bersedia utk kat Cairo ni.
Kalau nak diikutkan serba serbi lain kat sekolah baru ni. Dari cikgu, subjek, silibus, sistem, kawan2, cuaca, bahasa….sebab tu rasa kagum ‘Aaqil takde masalah malah sangat positif. Mungkin sebab dah lama sangat tak dapat attend sekolah fizikal.
Paling ketara silibus Maths yang sangat advance. In Year 4 they already learned about angles, surface area, symmetry etc. English pulak ada pecah kpd guided reading, spelling & writing. Ada jugak kelas Music, Drama, PE, Science. Utk 3rd language ‘Aaqil ambil Arabic sebab sebelum ni kat Msia pun dah belajar Arab.
Parents waiting area
Lainnya sekolah ni tak pakai buku teks. So tiap hari tanya ‘Aaqil hari ni belajar apa lol. Bagitau dia kalau tak faham apape tanya teacher. Kalau segan, tulis pastu bwk balik tanya kat kami. Tapi so far semuanya ok. Cikgu pun kata dia ok.
Hari terakhir ambil ‘Aaqil kat sekolah sempat jumpa his class lead, Mr Trevor. Kira guru kelas la. He gave positive feedbacks on ‘Aaqil and told me not to worry about Year 5 as ‘Aaqil is on the right track. Coz i did asked him for syllabus summary of Year 4 since ‘Aaqil already missed 2 terms huhu. We also received a 2 page summary on ‘Aaqil’s performance for each subjects. Overall he did great and no issue on any subjects alhamdulillah.
Dear ‘Aaqil, if youre reading this do know that we are proud of you and no matter how big and amazing youll become, we will always have your back. Thank you for being the amazing person that you are ❤️♥️
