What did I tell you yesterday =_=

Both in a day +_+

TransAsia Airways plane crashes in typhoon-hit Taiwan, 47 dead

TAIPEI: A domestic TransAsia Airways plane crashed on landing on an island off the west coast of typhoon-hit Taiwan on Wednesday, killing 47 people, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said.

Contact lost with Air Algerie plane carrying 116 people from Burkina Faso
ALGIERS (Reuters) - Authorities have lost contact with an Air Algerie flight en route from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso to Algiers with 110 passengers on board, Algeria's APS state news agency and a Spanish airline company said on Thursday.

Make that 3

US teenager who was circling globe in plane dies in crash

PETALING JAYA: American teenager Haris Suleman (pic), who attempted to circle the globe in a single-engine aircraft in 30 days and made a pit stop in Malaysia, has died in a crash.

Fox News reported that the plane flown by the 17-year-old crashed into the Pacific Ocean shortly after taking off from Pago Pago in American Samoa on Wednesday.

Sad year indeed

I feel like death is staring us at our faces. Less than 5 months since the disappearance of MH 370, which until today we still have no clue what happened to it, we were shocked by another devastating news: MH 17 was shot down. It was believed that it was shot down by pro-Russia separatist rebels near the Ukraine-Russia border. Images of victims bodies filled the social media. It is indeed a sad year for Malaysia.

At the same time, during this holy month of Ramadhan, we were bombarded by pictures and news of the war that is currently going on in Gaza between Hamas and the Israelis. The number of death toll of the Palestinians, which were mainly civilians and children, was just UNACCEPTABLE. Currently more than 500 and counting. I have never felt so "close" to a war zone before, as I am today, thanks to the technology of, again, the social media. Can't anyone do something to help? Can't anyone intervene for the better? Read this morning that US army is preparing to send troops into Gaza. Oh my... that is only going to make it worse. Not better. What is happening to the world? Where is the humanity?

Last weekend, after so so long, hubby and I managed to find a time to watch a movie together and since hubby watched most movies shown in the cinemas already, we chose a movie he hadn't watched, recommended by some of my friends, titled The Fault in Our Stars. The movie was supposed to be comedy/romantic/drama but it was actually about living, suffering and death. It was alright, except it made me cry so much, especially now that it hit so close to home. 

I feel helpless... Nothing much I can do to change the world. But I hope the small contributions I make here and there do make beneficial changes to the people around me. Let's spread some love, people. Love.

Haziqa 4 months. Tricia 2y 8m

How time flies. I didn't realised Tricia is 2y 8m already.

Haziqa at 3m3w: Tokma was complaining that she had not started turning. Tokma said Tricia turned before I went back to work. Honestly, hubby and I both couldn't remember that detail but I'm not worried at all. But Haziqa apparently understood Tokma's concern because as soon as she put her down, Haziqa straight away turned! Wow. Last night, at 4m 2d, I put her on the floor while she was strengthening her muscle holding her head up while lying down on her front, I was playing my phone beside her. Before I noticed it, she was not at her previous spot, which means she turned twice i.e. managed to roll herself to a new spot already. Proud of you, sayang.

Tricia: I'm sorry I couldn't find more time to document your progress at this stage, honey. And I am also sorry I couldn't find more time to teach you new skills, which I am quite worried about currently. While I haven't toilet trained her and she hasn't learn her ABCs and colours and speaking English, she is currently developing her conversational skills.

1) Mama ina testing her whether she can take Haziqa home with her

Mama ina: Tica, mama nak bawak balik adik, boleh?

Tica: Boleh.

(Papa asked mama ina to ask Tricia if mama ina could bring back her papa too.)

Mama ina: Mama nak bawak papa balik boleh?

Tica: Hmm... *pause* boleh TAPIIIIIIIII jaga elok2 tau. =_=

2) Couldn't find her milk bottle

Papa: Tica, mane botol susu?

Tica: Takde.

Papa: Mane tica letak? Cari laa betul2.

Tica: Tak tau. Takde.

Papa: Kakak letak mane?

Tica: Ade dalam kerete papa kot. 

(It wasn't in her father's car but now she knows it is a possibility.)

3) Went to 7Eleven with papa and bought bread and biscuits

Papa: Tica, papa nak roti.

Tica: Nanti tunggu sampai rumah eh papa.

Papa: Papa nak biskut.

Tica: Nanti tunggu sampai rumah eh papa.

4) While out in the car and she wanted milk.
Tica: Mummy, nak issue (susu/milk)
Me: Susu takde.
Tica: Buat lah.
Amboih. Demanding. She expects I always bring her milk powder with me anywhere we go.

Breastfeeding while working and Ramadhan

I started introducing formula milk to Haziqa a week to 3 months old. Reason being, I didn't make enough stock during my maternity leave. What little stock I kept frozen during my leave, I didn't dare give it to my baby. To me it smelled bad... like rotten fish. I threw most of them away. When I told my colleagues about it during pumping session at work, they scolded me because apparently, the milk was supposed to smell like that. Eww, how would I know. And no one in the family had frozen milk that long before so I didn't have any reference at home. I had been bugging my bff Haslin and SIL Abby a lot on the tiniest issues on breast-feeding and I didn't want to disturb them any further so I just couldn't be bothered to stress myself out about it anymore. 

Don't get me wrong. I am super thankful for the fully breast-feeding journey for nearly 3 months... It was all I wanted since I couldn't do the same for Tricia. But I was ready to introduce formula to Haziqa. Initially I felt a tiny bit of guilt but then I looked at Tricia and a bigger guilt surfaced so I said to myself, formula milk is not that bad. Yes, mother's milk is the best but Tricia grew up with formula milk and grew up fine. Heck, I was fed formula milk and I grew up fine. Was only worried Haziqa wouldn't want my milk after she started tasting formula milk though but Alhamdulillah, she didn't have a problem with us switching between the two. 

At work, each floor is provided with a nursery room for nursing mothers to pump. How convenient! I love my company for providing this facility for us. I tried to pump as frequent as I could. 3 - 4 times a day without fail. 9am-12pm-3pm-6pm. However, pumping doesn't produce as much milk as I hoped. Whatever I brought back was not enough to feed Haziqa for the next day so the maid usually had to top up one or two times formula milk a day.

Worried my milk would become less and eventually stopped too soon, I took a supplement I found online. It's some kind of capsuled oil contained what was supposed to be HabbatusSauda. Quite scared to take it as it has no certification from Malaysia's government. It is an Indonesian product but it says 100% natural. Had to just rely on that fact for assurance. I actually tried it a week before I started working and surprise surprise, it actually work. Not to my benefit that time though. I didn't pump in the wee hours of the morning as I was too lazy, as usual, and my left breast started to get engorged. I even had fever with it i.e. mastitis. Pumping and feeding was painful and my mom feared that there would be infection asked me to stop breastfeeding, fearing it would affect my baby. I then asked around and the advises I received were complete opposite. They say I need to continue breastfeeding to drain the supposedly blocked milk duct. Confused, I went online and read on babycentre that I should not stop breastfeeding and I happily obliged. =D

Stopped talking the pill until a week after I started working when Ramadhan started. Nursing mothers are allowed to not fast if they fear it would affect their milk supply. I initially thought it won't be applicable to me anymore since I introduced formula milk already... it was not like I was fully breastfeeding. My baby won't go hungry just because I didn't produce enough milk. I had no reason to not fast, or so I thought. Just 4 days into Ramadhan, I didn't wake up for sahur. My supply during fasting was already lesser than normal days if I didn't take the supplement and not eating sahur would make it worse, right? So I freaked out and not fast that day. Missed another day a few days after. What I was scared of was not just the stock for the next day but in the longer run... I am worried that my milk would dry up too soon, before I am ready to wean off completely. So there goes my 2 days of Ramadhan fasting. I felt like an immature kid making that decision but I cherish bf-ing so much that I would not want to risk it. As the month progresses, I am better at it now. Managed to fast a day without waking up for Sahur and for the rest of the days, I have been waking up for sahur with the help of Abby and my hubby of course.

Currently, my production is about 1oz every hour and I hope to bring back AT LEAST 12oz home everyday. It is not enough but that is the best so far. Hope my supply will increase a little after fasting month, with the help of the supplement, insyaAllah. I still try to pump as frequent as possible at work as I am still hoping Haziqa would only need minimal formula milk, if at all. 

Tricia as a big sister

Hello Hello. Abandoned the blog for a wee bit too long. Now that I have started working, and it is Ramadhan and I have moved back to Nilai with the in-laws, I just find myself always tired. With the travelling back-and-fourth and my working hours, I have very little time to spend with my beloved husband and babies. Gotta cherish what is left of my day.

Realised I didn't record Haziqa weight since birth coz unfortunately, we don't have the same record book for her like Tricia because we went to a different Paed for her jabs. 

Birth weight: 3.19kg

1 month: 3.77kg 

2 months: 4.7kg

3 months: 5.6kg
4 months: 6.2kg

I actually intended to record Tricia's journey as a big sister but I just didn't have the time to update it here. I kept "writing" the stories in my head but never got to type them down. Forgot most of them already so must quickly type down whatever stories I still remember.

On Haziqa's second day, Tricia came over and slept with us in the hospital. One time, I went to the toilet and left a hungry Haziqa crying with her father. Tricia panicked as to why her little baby sister was crying. When her papa told her that her adik was hungry, she ran all over the room looking for milk bottle and gave it to her papa. She said she couldn't find adik's bottle so she gave hers. It was so touching seeing a 2-year-old cares so much for another human being.

As time goes by, she observed that adik is breastfed. She saw how I put on the nipple shield to feed her adik and sometimes watched me pumped my milk into the bottles. She would quietly steal my nipple shield when I was not looking (because I would go berserk if I caught her did it) and put it on her own body. She was not too sure where exactly that thing goes so she simply stick it all over her body... even on her belly button. LOL.

There was so many heart-warming stories between Tricia and Haziqa. Although she acted out (in order to fight back our attention on her and I fought with her a lot because of that), she loves her sister dearly and never had bad intention towards her little sister. Some are undoubtedly dangerous moves but I believed it was done out of love.

One time, we went out for dinner with the big family. While serving us, I noticed the waitress was looking intently at Haziqa. I wondered why was she looking at my baby like she never saw a baby before... only to found out she was looking at Tricia's hand feeding Haziqa peanuts! So slick that elder sister... She was facing the table, not looking at Haziqa but her hands was pushing the peanuts into Haziqa's mouth. I think she didn't want her adik to be left out because everyone else was eating it and no one was feeding her little sister. 

During confinement, she stayed in Nilai during the day and when she came back at night, the first thing she would do was look for her adik and went to kiss her. Not me... Adik first. She would sometimes pick up adik's mosquito net and tried to hit adik with it. Not to hurt her... but to play with her. Was quite scary that time as you had to always watch her. But now, I don't see that behaviour anymore. She started playing differently as adik could respond to her already. So she would show adik upin ipin played on our phones or simply just talk to adik and adik would "talk" back and smile at her big sister.

In the morning, when I left Haziqa's side to shower or eat my Sahur, I would sometimes find  Tricia hugging Haziqa and even made Haziqa her pillow and sleep on her tummy. Haha. Tokma said "adik memang best buat bantal sebab die debuk debuk". And amazingly, most of the time, Haziqa was not bothered by it. Can't wait for Haziqa to grow up and be Tricia's playmate.