Dua

Orang baru dalam keluarga ini nampaknya serasi dengan angka 2.

Dilahirkan tepat jam 2.22 petang

Anak ke 2 dalam keluarga

Cucu ke 2 dalam keluarga Ibu

Cucu ke 22 dalam keluarga Ayah

Pesan Ibu – jangan nanti dah besar, kahwin 2 pula…

Mak and Huzaifah

Mak has been here for a month. If not for her, I would be in real trouble. Having two babies quadruple the tasks of having just one. So, I feel blessed having Mak to do the cooking, the dishes, the laundry and to take turn looking after Huzaifah and Humaidi.

Mak being here for a month means we get to do a lot of catching up. I’ve learned some stuff I never knew before. Likewise, Mak too just learned of a few things herself. But all is good – after all, certain things are meant to be learned by our dear and loved ones not immediately, but over certain period of time…

Mak being here too means I get to hear a lot of advice – whether sought for or otherwise. But I tend to agree with whoever that said that we tend to listen more to our mothers as we grow older. Not that I agree with all that she has to say – but I pay more attention now than I did, say ten years ago. And definitely thankful that I still have a mother to turn to for advice.

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Prior to experiencing it herself, Mak had no idea how active Huzaifah actually is – running here and there, climbing here and there, moving stuff here and there, never still for a moment except when he is sleeping. Alhamdulillah Huzaifah does not show any signs of jealousy towards his new adik – in fact, adik gets to be kissed all the time where else he would just shake his head vigorously upon any plea for a kiss from Ayah, Ibu or Embah. On the other hand, we have to monitor his movement more carefully since he might unintentionally hurt adik.

But Mak would never forget how disorientated Huzaifah was the morning hubby and I were away at the hospital. He woke up and ran to look for me in the kitchen. When he did not find me there, he returned to the bedroom, and looked for his Ayah. When he realized that he could not find any of us, he started crying while tossing the futon, perhaps thinking we were hiding from him. He ran to and fro the kitchen and the bedroom, he even knocked on the toilet’s room, all the while never stopping crying. His Embah tried to console him, and when that did not work, distracted his attention by persuading him to watch the television. He cried himself to sleep as he kicked the futon in frustration. He was not his normal active self the whole day until his Ayah returned late that evening.

Mak is worried that Huzaifah is a little bit too small for his age. At 19 months, he only weighed 10.8 kg and 79cm tall. Mak complained that we do not feed him enough and she’s especially worried that Huzaifah has not start talking properly, still babbling in his own 'bahasa mongol yang telah pupus'. The thing is, he has always been a bit advanced physically; at 18-months he could do what is expected from a 24-months old - he can walk up stairs, walk down stairs, kick ball forward, take off his own clothes, open door – and if he could talk properly, he could probably start potty training already since he takes off his diaper and pants whenever he feels uneasy.

Mentally, he is doing fine too, since it is obvious that his mind keeps working as he keeps exploring stuff. He understands and responds to requests and questions with signals, exhibits temper and frustration, laughs at funny things and loves when we babble back to him. But his progress is slow when it comes to language skills. While most toddlers his age are able to say about 20 words and make 2/3-word sentence, the only word that he uses frequently that we could comprehend is ta-ta (as in bye-bye). The doctor I consulted for his 18 months check-up advised me to spend more time teaching him new words and practice using them so that at least he could make 2-word sentence by the time he reaches 24 months.

Still, with Huzaifah being so difficult to stand still even for a minute, I wonder how on earth am I going to pull that off…

6ix weird things about me

Was tagged by Kak Pia some time last month – sorry ye Kak Pia for my late response… This is not an easy tag for me because I have been called weird by different people for different reasons at different times in my life – so I am not exactly sure whether or not what I am going to list down could be considered weird – but here goes nothing anyway…

1. Before I had my crowning done in 1999, I usually appeared unsmiling in photos although I smiled a lot in real life. I had a lot of a’la Marlboro Man ad (not-looking-at-the-camera-directly) photos though.

2. I could be oh-so-serious one minute and buat lawak bangang the next.

3. I could remain friends with my ex, which baffled many people. Once we had a huge row, and I actually tried stopping all communications with him – but he threw my words back at me “you said that we are friends and friendship never ends, right?” That, plus the fact that most mutual friends had no idea about our fight back then, glued us to remain friends after all these times…

4. I would burp when I massage another person - it is as if the person’s trapped air would travel through my touch and exit through my mouth.

5. I don’t do any taste check while cooking – which is no problem if I’m cooking in a small quantity since my estimate amount of salt/sugar is usually sufficient. If I’m cooking for a big group though, someone else has to taste it.

6. As a child, although I don’t remember having any imaginary friend, I used to act out different scenes by different characters using different voices on my own. Yes, I had a very vivid imagination – and the big buaian in front of my Tok’s house was the main stage for most of my self-directed-and-self-acted drama.

Orang Baru...

Thank you for all the doa and warm wishes.

Am sharing some pics of my new baby, Muhammad Akif Humaidi. Born in San Iku Kai Hospital, Tokyo at 2.22 p.m. on 5th April 2007 (17 Rabiul Awal 1428H) through normal delivery, alhamdulillah.

Akif - "orang yang beriktikaf" - was chosen by me although his father and grandparents preferred Aqil (wise person), since I would like to commemorate the fact that we live in a mosque when he was born. Humaidi - "kepujianku" - was chosen by his dad, which I had no trouble agreeing to since it's quite different from the normally used Hamdi or Hamidi.

By the way, I could now refute the normally-heard-claim of the first baby being the most difficult birthing experience - I went through about 20 hours of labor pain this time around, waiting for my water bag to burst on its own (with Huzaifah, I was in labor for only about 5-6 hours and the doctor helped to break the water bag). However, after that, Humaidi almost slipped out on his own because I spent only 7 minutes pushing.

Similarities between the first and second birthing experiences:

- Could not stomach anything the morning I gave birth to Huzaifah, and could not stomach anything this time around too. Vomited right after early breakfast at home, vomited again after breakfast in the hospital.

- Managed to fulfill one last craving for ice cream the night before giving birth.

- Both babies are born on midday, Thursday.

- Both babies are born earlier than predicted. Huzaifah came a week earlier than the estimated due date, and Humaidi two weeks earlier.

- Both birthdays are quite easy to remember – 8/9 and 5/4…

Differences:

- Hubby was with me this time around. Helped me walking around the ward while waiting for my water bag to burst, helped feeding me a small container of yoghurt for lunch, helped giving me some back massage, and held my hand as I was in the last stage of labor.

- The doctor who assisted this birth is the same doctor I consulted during my check-up. Felt really relieved to see Kimura sensei’s face as she entered the waiting room to check on me just before my water bag burst and I was quickly transferred to the labor room.

- No painful after-birth hematoma experience.

- No surprise on the baby’s gender because Kimura sensei had pointed out to me baby’s scrotum during one of the ultra-sound scans earlier.

- Received really great after-birth care for five days at the hospital. (It’s customary for mommies to stay in the hospital for five days after a normal delivery, longer if by c-sect)

He had his tahnik when he was a week old, and we had a small kenduri on last Sunday for his cukur jambul as well as to celebrate Maulidur Rasul. (Hanis, I tried calling you numerous times to invite you and other friends but somehow I never got through… gomen ne).

Anyway, here's a note of thanks to:

- Mak, for everything from calming Huzaifah down the morning he could not find Ayah and Ibu around, to taking care of us all while we are adapting to having an additional member in the family;

- Zafran, Joe and Ani, Ella and others who shared information on childbirth related processes and procedures;

- Mizan, who helped us getting a taxi at 5.00 a.m. that memorable morning and agreed to be the "next of kin" when the hospital asked us to name someone who could speak Nihongo fluently;

- Harun-san who helped hubby settling some stuff in the hospital;

- Rabia-san who drove me to Ueno and assisted me in settling baby's ward office related matters - childbirth registration, getting alien card, registering for national health insurance, registering for child welfare and getting the "congratulations money";

- Apid, Basharan, Anuar, Mus'ab and Ibrahim who helped Mak and hubby preparing for the kenduri. Faizly might have joined us if he had been around but he was on his way back from Malaysia when we had the kenduri;

- Pokcik, for taking excellent photos and Kak Mai for lending me the tungku;

- Everybody who called, e-mailed, left a message via YM/Skype, visited us in the hospital/at home, and/or attended the kenduri...

Tolong doakan ye...

Am in pain right now.
The staining and contractions had started around midnight.
Will be leaving for the hospital shortly (yes, it's 4.20 a.m.)
Tolong doakan ye