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Malaysian in Swedish court

The malaysian children whose parents are being tried in swedish court reminds me of why i am now a sahm. When their story first got out, i was mad wt swedish judiciary for not allowing even a small reprimand on kids. I believe at times they need to be caned at a certain extent as a sign of severity of such misdemeanour.

However as the trial took place, it seems that the kids know what the consequences are of their telling the counsellor. The fact that the eldest boy went to the school counsellor was a sure sign that he had enough from the parents. Gosh.. What terrible things hve they been put through?
Kids, as i understand them from my own experience, give hundreds of chances to their parents. That is why many, despite tough parents they have, still love their parents. Many ppl do not understand these kids' torment. They are not spoilt kids at all. I truly pity them. The fact that they told similar stories cant mean they lied and the way they feel was similar too. Their detachment from the parents remind me of my own detachment from my mom and my mom from me. My mom is not a monster though. She has her way of not attaching herself to anyone. I dont like it nonetheless. The detachment that the kids were telling rang a few bells. I get you kids. Poor you. But it made me realize there are worse moms out there than mine. I love my mom nonetheless. I just need to make sure i dont do it to my own kids.

6 months in a nutshell

From email:

First time blogging since amna arrived. Yes, we named her amna. Yes, she's a girl. I insisted on finding a name in the Quran, so that was the name that really was like "that's it! that's the name" when i saw it while reading the Quran. And i put a star next to it. One day, when she's bigger  i'd show her. Insyaa Allah.

Today she is 6 months old exactly. Happy 6 months amna! I need to cut short so i could finish this before she wakes up. 

1. When she was born, she had a watery right eye that we found out from her paeds was due to unopened tear duct. Massaging as advised worked in the end, it opened up i think before she turned 1 month. cant remember.

2. Amna's a big girl of 3.47kg at birth. She is 7.4kg today.

3. Her middle name is Fariha meaning happiness. She is a happy child. Smiling all the time when she's not tired. Easy to get her to laugh, make her fly like a superman, just laugh at her and she starts laughing with you, say 'op', imitate her hand movement when she's excited (she knocks her waist with both hands one after another and kicks her legs).

4. It was difficult to get her to sleep at first, but later on we got to know that she needs to be wrapped tightly with a swaddle to sleep. So she is being swaddled up even these days (at 6mo) at times. At 2months plus, it was getting so easy to get her to sleep that i just pat her bum or shake her a little and she would be fast asleep. But not these days, she wants to latch all the time now. Hubby gets her to sleep when i have classes at night and he's been marvelous, being able to get her to sleep still now, without swaddle at times.

5. Amna gets atopic dermatitis on her cheeks. she needs cream and moisturisers all the time. Her skin is sensitive. WHen it is hot, she develops red spots. Mosquito bites end up as big patches of redness that turn brown later and stay for ages. i have to watch her cheeks, the back of her earlobes and her inner elbows.

6. Since 5 1/2 mo, she started pushing herself up with her hands and legs. Now she does a push up position where she is on her palms and her toes only. She's so busy exercising these days. She tries to grab things in front of her but end up getting further away as she was always on reverse.

7. Today she managed to get herself to sit on her bum.

8. She gurgles a lot as she tries to communicate. She has a deep voice as well, so she is pretty loud although not high pitch ( a lot more bearable).

That's all i can think of right now.. This blog is the only place i can keep all these safely before i start making a baby book. I guess my next entry is in 6 months time??

Baby Arrival Checklist

Checklist for Baby's Arrival:

• Baby's Car seat: The old one is too uncomfortable already.
• Recipes for confinement mothers and a cook
• Find a masseuse for confinement
• Prepare hospital bag: Diaper, baby clothes, toothbrush & paste, mommy clothes, flannel blanket, socks
• Stock up on easy-meals: cereals and milk, granola, cookies (for kids)
• Plan for babysitter for Dan and Zahira
• Figure out checking in procedure at the hospital 

Recipes for confinement mothers

Vince's ginger chicken:

GINGER CHICKEN - One serving

Ingredients -

1. Quarter Chicken - cut into pieces
2. Muk Yee (Jelly Fungus) - cut into smaller pieces
3. Ginger - sliced into strips
4. Cooking oil, corn preferred - (no peanut oil!)
5. Sesame oil (optional) for taste

Methods -

1. Heat up frying pot with medium fire with one table spoon of corn oil.
2. When hot, place in sliced ginger into the pan and stir
3. When ginger emits fragrant, put in pieces of chicken and stir until partially cooked.
4. Put in the Muk Yee and stir fry , still in medium fire.
5. To ensure that no flavour is lost, reduce to slow fire and pour in half a cup of water to complete the stew mix
6. Cover the pot and leave it boil in slow fire for about 45 mins to an hour
7. Before serving add a few dash of sesame oil for flavouring (optional)

Ikan Percik (Baked Fish)

What you need:

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup tamarind, soaked in water drained, and pitted (could also use tamarind concentrate)

3 lbs. fish fillet

3/4 cup minced onions

1 large clove garlic, minced

2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root

salt to taste

1 teaspoon dried hot chilli peppers

What you do:

1. Combine the onions, garlic, and fresh ginger.

2. Rub the fillets with salt and half of the onion-garlic-ginger mixture.

3. Place the fish in an oiled baking pan.

4. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.

5. Combine the rest of the onion-garlic-ginger mixture with the chili peppers, coconut milk and tamarind.

6. Spread this sauce over the chilled fish and bake uncovered at 400 F for 20 minutes.

Ayam Percik (Spicy Barbequed Chicken)

1. 4 pieces chicken whole legs

2. 1 pieces ginger (pounded)

3. 15g turmeric powder

4. 1 tbsp coriander powder

5. 2 tbsp tamarind paste (mix with water to make juice)

6. 1 tbsp salt

7. 20 pieces dried chilies (pound)

8. 8 gloves garlic (pound)

9. 10 pieces shallots (pound)

10. 30g ginger (pound)

11. 5 pieces buah keras (pound)

12. 1 tbsp belacan (pound)

13. 3 stalks serai (pound)

Seasoning:

1. 700 ml coconut milk

2. 2 tbsp sugar

3. Salt to taste

What you do:

1. Marinate chicken with ginger, turmeric powder, coriander powder, tamarind paste and salt for 3 hours.

2. Heat 4 tbsp oil in wok and saute dried chillies, garlic, shallots, ginger, buah keras, belacan and serai until fragrant, then add in seasoning and bring to boil.

3. Add in chicken and simmer in low heat until soften.

4. Dish out chicken and keep the gravy.

5. Place in aluminium foil, bake in oven at 220 celcius until golden brown.

6. Chop chicken whole legs into pieces and serve with gravy.

Kids Updates

7 weeks are almost over.. Hubby is coming home soon. Can't wait. Kids are having school break and i've just realized how talkative my son is. He gives a running commentary while playing his games
. He was doing it while i was teaching last night, sitting next to me, disregarding the presence of my student there. I guess he is used to ppl over at our house. Maybe he can be Hasbullah Awang one day.. huhu.. The same boy is very reserved as well, how ironic.

Zahira's handwriting has improved so much, better than her bro's. Very steady. I read my entry on her 2 months into her school days, and i was so worried about her writing back then. She had no confidence whatsoever at the time. 5 months on, things had turned out differently, Alhamdulillah. Last April, a friend of her poked her eye with a pencil. I was furious, and worried. Told her teachers about it, and they were really concerned. Of course they asked the said girl whether it was true, but the girl didn't admit. However, other friends confirmed the incidence, as she tried to poke others too at the time. The girl cried, making Zahira felt sorry for her i guess. When she got back, she told me it was not the girl's fault, it's just that the pencil was sharp. I knew then that the girl must have cried when cornered. How sweet my little princess for defending her friend like that.

On the very same day the girl was confronted by teachers, Zahira wanted to invite a few friends over for a play date, including this girl, but i had to refuse. "Mama not ready to accept her in as a guest at our house yet i'm afraid Zahira." I only managed to get one girl (Sarah Najwa) as her play date, the rest either couldn't make it or their parents are not around to fetch them. She loved it. I hope we can have her over again soon.

Zahira and Sarah Najwa

Time to sit back..

Apart from one or two, i think people (ie left wingers) have moved on, or refrained from posting on social media. Hence i can rest back and relax. I don't really like posting politically inclined statuses, but the heat was on. I don't know. Somehow i was afraid that many people would buy the oppositions dumb stories and whatnot, which a lot of people actually did, hence the argument on popular votes. Luckily, there are still enough people with more sensible thinking. Phew!

If somehow, a reader of this doesn't agree with me, i don't want to care anymore. You might want to read this: http://syedsoutsidethebox.blogspot.com/2013/05/answering-ch-hwes-what-chinese-people.html        And you might just want to sit back, open your eyes and mind since election is already history for now. These days, mainstream media are very much into letting the opposition to have media time on tv, and i see a few ustazs who were temporarily banned due to their political stand back on tv. So, you can start to watch tv again as your leaders might pop up.

I thought most of the people on the PM's cabinet were cleverly chosen. I hope they would be able to prove to us that they have good intentions in bringing us forward. But, the most important is the PM. He has to work harder than before. His work was highly regarded and recognized before, he would have to be extra clever this time around to tackle the other problems esp unity, as well as to keep the economy up for another 5 years.

Sigh..

Aiih anakku... U two can fight as if you are going to kill each other, and minutes later play like nothing happened. That's good.. just that you get me boiling inside, screaming normally, scared that one of you might get hurt in the process, for nothing really. I resolve to just watch the two of you blankly from now on, whenever this happens. The rest i leave to my dear Creator.

Life update

Tup..tup.. dah 1 and 1/2 months we are left behind by hubby/papa. It seems easier this time around, kids are pretty busy with school and studies (kafa and whatnot) in the morning. I have Al-Quran classes almost every afternoon. Besides, we threw the idea of counting down as it makes us feel longer. We are supposed to start counting down today, but then, maybe not. Skype and fb messaging has made things easier, Alhamdulillah.. Still, we miss papa.

Kids are good with Anita these days, she is my sister's baby, 7 months old. She and her babysitter come and stay with us on weekdays while my sister works in Putrajaya. She is some sort of training course for my kids,  in view of the coming of my third baby in June.

As far as pregnancy is concerned, i feel heavy, sleepy and tired. Swollen feet, loose hips and hard to breathe are things i have to endure now. Discomfort is common eh, nothing out of ordinary.. oh, except for the braxton hicks. I dont think it should be too frequent but they are. I just hope baby stays long enough inside. As far as preparation goes, nothing much. I will bother a bit more when hubby gets back.

Zahira says the darndest thing..

Zahira seems good at memorizing scripts.. She can repeat many sayings by Merida of Brave.

She used to say "I want my freedom!" ala Merida when i was busy giving her a shower. Ask again when you  at least can shower and wash yourself after calls of nature okay darl!

Recently, while waiting for me to come and wash her after her no.1,  she said "Cepat laa Mama, before I die.."

I find it funny now, but may not be in the future.. But i might as well just enjoy it for now.

Yesterday was Mother's day, but i found myself appreciating the presence of my two kids more than i feel i should be appreciated. At least that is true until about late afternoon. hmm.. the ups and downs..