Working Mom Dilemma #2

Working days after having a long break; be it a long weekend, vacation or school holidays are the most crucial time to face. Hehe. The first morning to resume the usual normal routines is the hardest as you need to handle your grumpiness AND your kids’ as well. Bahahaha!

We didn’t go anywhere during this long weekend (Maulud Nabi, Christmas public holidays and weekend) as I need time to sort out the girls’ school preparation, re-arranged their wardrobe and did some house chores. We stayed up late to watch movies and spent time with our parents.

This morning, the girls woke up as usual and everything was done by 7.40am. I planned to go out at 8am as the girls and I wanted to go for breakfast together and I need to go to Honda service center afterwards to fetch hubs as he sent my MIL’s car for service. Everything went out smoothly up until Hafiya wanted to poop and I haven’t performed my Solat Dhuha yet. As a result, we were late and only went out at 8.15am. I was supposed to fetch hubs at 8.45am and we haven’t got our breakfast yet. So I had to change plan and sent Hafiya direct to her daycare and then Khayra and I went for breakfast. At the warung, the nasi lemak didn’t turn out as good as usual and it was raining heavily until we had to wait a few minutes to get to the car. When we walked to the car, Khayra accidentally stepped on a water puddle and caused her pants slightly wet. I had to send her direct to her daycare as I wanted to fetch hubs next.

Everything went so wrong after the girls were getting ready with no hiccups this morning (yeay?) T______T

I got this mixed emotions when I arrived at the office:

# I was more than happy as the girls were in their good mood even though after a long weekend, I thought they could handle their Mr. Gopal syndrome very well nowadays;

# I was feeling guilty as I didn’t manage to bring Hafiya as well for breakfast this morning. But on the other hand, I was feeling that I’ve made the right choice for sending her first because it was raining heavily during our breakfast (I promised to myself to make it up to Hafiya after this – hubs was suggesting to bring them to have keropok lekor Losong for tea time);

# I was feeling bad as I didn’t had the chance to attend to Khayra’s wet pants because of the water puddle;

# I was feeling guilty for not being able to spend good and quality times with them during the weekend as I was quite busy with the house chores (but we did some activities and painting together AND I still think that weren’t enough, blurgh - I blame on my OCD-ness on this where I was feeling 'unsettled' if I did not arrange their wardrobe nicely, did not sweep the floor and did not mop the entire house).

After what happened this morning, I agreed with Vivy upon reading on her post regarding on a working mom dilemma and time to juggle between work and family.

It is tough to balance both perfectly but we will somehow have to accept the fact that we are all human being, and to feel down or feel unsatisfied for the thing we have tried our best is normal; be it either you are a full time working mom or a stay at home mom. After all our goal is the same; to provide the best for our children and family, insyaAllah.

Counting the minutes to go back to my lil darlings. Tick tock tick tock.

KH School Holidays Activity

At the end of the school week last November, we were quite nervous on what should the kids do during the entire 6 weeks of school break. Could not imagine on how my morning routine look alike in the next few days when the school will resume again – that is to say; I need to prepare both girls for their respective school as early as 6am (to wake them up and get ready for school) with their bekal ready. Fuh, I’d better be ready by now now now *mentally prepared*

So during this entire school break, we managed to get the girls to join several activities and holiday camps and thank God, they were very happy and enjoyed themselves.

First week (22nd – 26th November)

Enrolled Khayra (6y4m) for 5 days camp from 9am – 5pm at AIM Excellent (Arab / English / Maths). In this camp they focused more on musical theatre in English, subjects in Arabic and Maths, storytelling, one session on Junior Master Chef and motivation. They performed Solat Dhuha, Solat Zuhur and Solat Asar together every day.

Fees: RM100 including breakfast, lunch and tea break, stationery, gifts.

This is Khayra with her certificate and her group won 1st place for the theater at AIM Excellent.

Second week (29th November – 3rd December)

Cousins bonding week when their cousins from JB came back and stayed for a few days without their parents. Their first time away from parents and I had the chance to take care of F-O-U-R children at one time. Phewww. Haha.

Weekend of Second week (4th December – 5th December)

Was forced by my mom to join her grandfather’s family reunion. Nevertheless we had so much fun during the family day and brought back a few gifts. Celebrating their Wan’s (my MIL) birthday – breakfast at Hotel Seri Malaysia KT and having dinner at Duyong Marina & Resort (formerly known as Ri-yaz Heritage Marina Resort & Spa).

Third week (6th December – 9th December)

Enrolled Khayra for 4 days holiday camp at Mary Land with the theme: “Pets”

Activities:

ü  Introduction on types of animals

ü  Story telling on their handmade project (Paper Plate Photo Frame)

ü  Games, singing and dancing about pets song

ü  Project: Squishy Pillow (Khayra chose to made Bunny Squishy Pillow)

ü  Baking pet shape cookies

ü  Educational visit to MBK Pet Shop (field trip)

Fees: RM180 including meal break and materials (from 8.30am – 12.30noon)

Educational visit to MBK Pet Shop and they brought back 3 Gapi fishes, mini aquarium and fish food. They also had the chance to touch yellow snake, sugar glider, rabbits etc. So fun! 

Khayra always looking forward to join any holiday camp under Mary Land and had participated in several camps before since she was 4yo+.

Fourth week (13th December – 16th December)

Enrolled both Khayra and Hafiya for 4 days holiday camp at Mary Land with the theme: “Friends Forever”.

Actually the camp was for children 4yo and above but I personally requested to enroll Hafiya (3y2m) to join as well, as she begged us to join the camp. Hafiya heard so much fun stories from her sister, and every morning before sending out Khayra to Mary Land, she keep asking me whether she could join Khayra as well. Since that week camp was not being fully booked (up to 25 kids only per session), Hafiya was accepted to join Khayra, and we were so so so happy for her!

Activities:

ü Introduction on who friends are, where can make friends and why we have friends

ü Story telling on their handmade project (Brown Paper Bag Photo Album)

ü Games, singing and dancing “Hop Pop Stop”

ü Project: Handmade soap (Both Khayra and Hafiya chose to make Hello Kitty soap)

ü Baking: Buns, 3D Topping Cupcakes and sponge cake with fruits toppings

ü Field trip to post office to send out their handmade postcards to their best friends

(Note: They wrote Rania and Sophia names on the postcards and both received the postcards a day after by surprise! Rania and Sophia’s mum Whatsapp me of their surprised reaction when they received the postcards from Mr. Postman. So fun! On a different note: Parents of the campers need to provide the actual address of their friends to the teacher)

Fees: RM180 including meal break and materials (from 8.30am – 12.30noon)

Didn’t realize that Hafiya could concentrate very well in a baking class – her favourite! Glad that she enjoyed the camp as well. My baby is growing up fast. Tsk.

My Little Bakers

Day 1: Baking buns

Day 2: Baking 3D toppings cupcakes

Day 3: Baking Sponge Cake with Fruits toppings and a field trip to the post office to send out their handmade postcards and brought back a bunch of stamps :D

Sponge Cake with Fruits toppings - made by my little chefs

With all the dedicated teachers and some of the fellow campers :D 

(Teacher Mary, Teacher Jasmine, Teacher Sermaine and Uncle Beh)

Day 4: Handmade Hello Kitty Soap and they brought back recipes from their baking classes

Weekend of Fourth week (16th December – 20th December)

We went to KL by flight and spent a few days there with their cousins and grandparents.

Activities:

ü  Star Wars The Force Awakens movie day out

ü  Jump Street

ü  Visited Asmah and Shukri’s newborn baby boy

ü  KL Bird Park (RM27 Adult with Mykad and RM13 Child with Mykid 3yo and above)

ü  The Good Dinosaur movie day out

ü  Year End Sale (Yummiest! LOL!) – although it was meant shopping for the kids.

Fifth week (21st December – 25th December)

Khayra’s Fardhu Ain class farewell party and concert. Last class for her music lesson for this year. Last class for Fardhu Ain for 2015.

Looking back, it was not that long break actually. Almost six weeks had passed. Phewww.

Welcoming 2016 with a prayer that Allah will ease everything for us. For all of us. Amin.

Note: Credit (some of the) pictures of the camp from Mary Land FB :D Thank you!

Hafiya Reads: Warna

Videos were taken a few days before Hafiya turned 3 years old. I was using the small cute erasers that also be used for her fine motor skills. Still pelat here and there but don't you think she's cute? Hehe :P

Part 1 (Blue, Pink, Green)

Part 2 (Purple, Blue)

Part 3 (Red, Orange, Yellow)

Hafiya also knows Black, White, Brown (not in the video). Currently she can recite Al-Fatihah, An-Naas, Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq and doa makan serta terjemahannya. Yeah, still with her pelat languages! Hehe. Nevertheless, Alhamdulillah. Moga Allah terus bukakan pintu hati anak-anak kita menerima ilmu Allah. Amin.

K's Qualifying Exam

“A mother thinks about her children day and night even if they are not with her and will love them in a way they will never understand” – Anonymous

My firstborn will enter a primary school in about less than a month time. Can’t you believe that?! I keep telling myself where did the time go when we have so much fun together? Too fast that I even couldn’t believe it myself. Tsk.

So we went to register secure a place for our firstborn in March, 2013 (a requirement to register for a primary school during 5yo). Upon we receipt the small piece of paper that confirming our interest to place our daughter in the said school, we just ignored it ….

Up until we received a call from the school saying that our daughter had to sit for a qualifying exam in August, 2015. At that point of time, my friends and I texting and calling each other and we tried to search high and low on the example of the test for 6-year-old kids look alike. *panic moms mode activated* Some of us just relied on what they had studied in their kindy (of course there will not be on any extraordinary questions on politics, currency or recent economic issues yada yada yada).

My firstborn during the registration day for the exam.

The test was held on 08.08.2015 (Saturday), 9.00am at the school’s hall after 5 days we were being informed by the school.

We had to bring the kid’s Mykid and went for registration and a set of test paper (they compiled as a book) will be handed over and from there, the kids will be transported to the hall straightaway to answer the question all by themselves. While waiting for the test, we waited for Khayra at the school canteen together with other parents. Then I received a call from my friend, Elli – informing that we can watch the kids answering the question from afar at their respective classes as there was no electricity in the hall that day and they had to move the kids to the classrooms to sit for the test. 

As eager as I was, I went to search for my firstborn and there she was – at the front row of the class. It caught my attention when I saw a few other kids were crying inside the class – maybe panic or they didn’t know how to answer the test. So sad that I feel like going there and help them. I keep praying for my first born, hoping that she will not be affected by the loud and panic reactions of the crying kids. After a few minutes, I can see that my firstborn raised up her hand when I taught she will be asking question regarding the test (they were allowed to do that), but to my surprised, she was submitting her test paper! I prayed that she will not missed anything blank in there. Hehe. When she saw me outside, she just smiled and called me, “Ibu!” We went straight to the canteen to meet her abah and when I asked her about the exam, she just said that she answered all questions and had double checked on her answers. 

At the canteen, I heard that there was an essay question and I freaked out whether a 6-year-old kid can write a simple essay or simple sentence by himself / herself without any teacher’s assistance? I taught it was too much for a 6-year-old kid (there was none during my time, so it was hard to accept this fact, hehe). But I heard in JB the exam also covered subjects in Jawi as well as Science, but in KT they only covered BM, BI and Maths. *wipe sweat at forehead*

We went for breakfast later and our firstborn said she just wrote a simple line for the essay. *phewww* We taught it was good enough compared to left it blank. Haha.

So the result was out 2 weeks after and Alhamdulillah, our firstborn secured a place in that school.

In just a few days left, she will be all grown up and facing a new environment in primary school and it hits me that this is just too fast. Too fast. Sigh.

Day 10: Auckland - Malaysia

DAY 10: 23.09.2015 (Auckland – Malaysia)

“Travel makes one modest, you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world” – Gustave Flaubert

Our MAS flight at 12.15am from Auckland to Malaysia was not delayed and upon boarding, the kids tengok movie sekejap before tertidur. Masa meal time pun Hafiya tak bangun, tapi kami kejutkan Khayra untuk makan. They were given activity books and colour pencils as freebies. On the way to Auckland haritu, diorang dapat game cards. They woke up about 2 hours sebelum mendarat and Hafiya cari doll dia when we realized kemungkinan besar doll Hafiya tertinggal dalam shuttle bus to the airport malam tadi T_____T

Kami berharap juga ada dalam bag lain but last time that husband checked, he was the one yang letakkan doll tu dalam bag pack Hafiya masa kat Ibis Budget Auckland Airport Hotel. We didn’t realize whether Hafiya keluarkan dalam shuttle bus but she did play with her bag pack inside the shuttle. *Sigh* Memang sah tertinggal doll tu kat Auckland bila sampai KLIA (we safely landed at KLIA at 7.40am) bila kami cari tapi tak jumpa dalam beg-beg lain. Tsk. Doll tu macam best buddy dia dah, akan dibawa ke mana sahaja so it was hard to tell her the truth. Jauh kot, dik. Dah jadi warganegara NZ pulak doll tu. Hihi.

So after sampai KLIA, kami ke toilet, qada solat Subuh semula (sebab dalam flight just buat solat menghormati waktu) and then pergi makan.

We took the ERL transit to KLIA2 untuk ke Toys R Us untuk beli doll baru Hafiya. Haha. See her precious expression when she saw her “doll” (the same doll yang tertinggal di Auckland at the right side). Nevertheless, Hafiya tahu that was a new doll and told us yang doll lama dia had germs and that was the reason why we need to buy a new doll for her. Haha!

We went back to KLIA again sebab flight MAS to KT was scheduled at 2.40pm.

Maka tamatlah kembara musafir kami ke New Zealand yang sungguh awesome with all kind of feelings (sedih, kecewa, happy, kagum etc) yang kami rasa ketika di sana. FYI hampir sepanjang jalan kami tak henti berzikir bila melihat sendiri keindahan alam ciptaan Allah di bumi New Zealand. Maybe I will make an entry on Motorhome itself lepas ni.

Sampai sekarang pun jadi kenangan manis kami so far sebab NZ adalah sungguh cantik and we are still couldn't get over it! Syukur Alhamdulillah, syukur kepada Allah untuk peluang dan rezeki kami menjejakkan kaki di NZ. Terima kasih to my dearest husband for making this happened dan belanja kami! :P Thank you to my daughters yang boleh seiring dan sejalan dengan plan kami. Semoga Encik Hazri Bin Haris yang kami sayangi akan sentiasa dilimpahkan rezeki dari Allah. Amin! :D

All in all, I believe bila kita berniat untuk bermusafir di negara orang atau tempat luar dari tempat kita bermastatutin, kita akan terasa semakin dekat dengan pencipta alam, iaitu bila kita berpeluang melihat bumi Allah yang sungguh indah dengan lebih dekat lagi. And you will somehow feel so humble and be reminded of how small you are actually. Allahuakbar. Subhanallah.

Day 9: Timaru - Christchurch - Auckland

DAY 9: 22.09.2015 (Timaru – Christchurch - Auckland)

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow” – Anonymous

It was our last holiday park in South NZ. Dah rasa sedih since semalam actually. Tsk. We had nasi goreng ikan bilis this morning for breakfast and ronda-ronda sekejap area holiday park. Kami guna family shower provided at Holiday Park instead guna shower dalam Motorhome. Hehe. Lagi selesa sebenarnya tapi dalam Motorhome senang sebab tak perlu nak menggigil cuaca sejuk kat luar. Kami clear semua stok makanan sebab kat sini pun ada fridge and rack for “Free Food”. Kat sini juga hubby buat last dumping both grey and black water (their policy before returning Motorhome). 

Process dumping black water (i.e. bahan atau sisa kumbuhan. In our case, kami tak menjalankan urusan buang air besar inside our Motorhome during the rental period sebab guna toilet kat holiday park, so taklah geli sangat bila nak buat dumping kan? Hehe).

Our last (preparing and having) breakfast inside our Motorhome.

Both Khayra and Hafiya on our bed – tempat kami beradu malam-malam hari dalam Motorhome. Juga boleh digunakan untuk menonton TV / DVD.

Last stop at Holiday Park in South Island, NZ.

Our Volkswagen Motorhome – Britz Explorer Auto 4 Berth Campervan.

Kami bergerak at about 10.30am from Timaru Top 10 Holiday Park to Westfield Riccarton, Christchurch. The journey took about 1 hour 57 minutes (158km). Kami purposely nak pergi Westfield Riccarton sebab ada halal food (“Kebab Land”) kat situ since kami tak sempat dah nak masak sebab dah nak drop off Motorhome kat depot. We reached Westfield Riccarton at 1.15pm and started cari parking tapi crowded juga area parking depan Westfield. We decided to go up further and Alhamdulillah jumpa parking belakang Westfield. Kami terus ke Kebab Land, situated at Food Court Westfield for lunch. Dah habis makan, Hafiya pulak poo-poo so we decided untuk bersihkan kat situ juga instead of buat nappy change dalam Motorhome.

So tibalah masa nak ke depot Motorhome untuk pulangkan Motorhome kami yang banyak berjasa sepanjang kami travel di South Island. On the way to depot at Harewood Road, kami kena isi Diesel full tank (also their policy before returning Motorhome, kalau tak akan kena bayar jumlah minyak full tank plus kos pergi isi minyak) so kami try cari petrol station terdekat. Kebetulan pula, GPS kami was unable to locate the exact place of the depot sebab confusing road sikit untuk ke Harewood Road. So we had to call the depot and they guided us to Harewood Road. Then kami terjumpa Petrol station and decided to stop by eventhough it stated “Only Card Petrol Station”, means it was self service and only cards were accepted. We tried to use several cards tapi it was rejected and we came to know that only registered cards with pin numbers were accepted. This has been informed by one of the user there and after dia dah siap isi, he came to us to check on us. Sangat baik. As our cards had not registered with the required pin numbers, he suggested us to go to another petrol station located 5km away.

We had no choice, so terpaksa pusing semula untuk cari another petrol station. Masa tu dah cuak sikit sebab dah pukul 3 lebih (we supposed to drop off the Motorhome at 3.30pm). Kami siap guna waze juga untuk locate the nearest petrol station dan Alhamdulillah jumpa Caltex dalam 5km away from the first petrol station. Last diesel kami isi cost us NZD31.50. Next kami terus guna Waze ke Motorhome depot and memang agak confusing tataulah kenapa and we were still unable to locate the exact location of the depot. Cuak dan peluh dingin dah rasa. Hahahaha. After a few rounds of the familiar roads, akhirnya kami jumpa depot (actually aku ternampak belah kanan by accident sebab Waze and GPS tunjuk arah ke kiri, sabar jelah!). We rushed masuk ke depot and parked at the provided area for returning Motorhome dan terus masuk ke dalam untuk proses check out.

Total distance travelled: 1,741.80km. Hubby sempat record sebelum drop off our Motorhome.

As we were in the process of checked out, kami tanya pasal shuttle ke airport sebab flight kami at 5.05pm ke Auckland, so that lady macam worried kami tak sempat sebab shuttle baru je bergerak and would come back in 15 minutes. So she suggested to call a taxi and we agreed. Tiba-tiba pula Hafiya poo-poo and I rushed to the toilet sebab taxi akan sampai in any nearest time. Fuhhh, berpeluh changed Hafiya sebab it was so messy, mengejar masa, berdebar dan she pooped sangat banyak. Ish. Hahahahahah. Tengah changed, husband called tapi I didn’t manage to answer sebab banyak kerja nak bersihkan Hafiya and after it was all done, I rushed to the outside of the depot sebab hubby dah tunggu dalam taxi! Phewww *lap peluh*

The taxi driver pun cuak takut kami tak sempat nak check in flight and promised to drop us at the nearest entrance to check in counters. Masa tu dah pukul 4pm. Cuak cuak cuak.

Taxi ride ambil masa less than 15 minutes and cost us NZD20. Masa sampai je, kami terus unloading luggage dari taxi and husband pergi dapatkan trolley while paying the taxi driver. The kids and I on the other hand, pergi berlari marathon masuk terminal building menuju ke check in counters. Hahahahaha. Mesti orang hairan tengok kami tiga beranak duk berlari-lari dalam airport! LOL.

Christchurch, South NZ Airport terminal. Selesai panik dan cuak situations.

Alhamdulillah we managed to check in before the counter closed (closed at 4.35pm). So sementara tunggu boarding, kami kena naik tingkat atas untuk ke boarding hall. Sambil-sambil tu sempat lagi beli souvenirs and fridge magnets dalam kedai-kedai yang ada sebelum departure hall.

Flight to Auckland at 5.05pm and we arrived in Auckland at 6.25pm. The kids tak tidur langsung dalam flight.

Kami plan nak terus check in luggage sebab our flight to Malaysia was scheduled at 12.15am but unfortunately we were informed that the counter only open 3 hours before the departure time. So hubby decided to leave the luggage at Bag Drop Counter and cost us NZD35.

We just walked to Ibis Budget Auckland Airport Hotel for check in. Memang ambil juga one night extra kat Ibis untuk mandi dan rehat sekejap sementara tunggu flight malam. Actually tersalah booking sebab ingat balik on 23^rd, tapi ada hikmah jugalah sebab boleh rest dan tukar baju semua. Kami booking direct with the hotel and cost us RM175.00 for one night. Bilik besar pulak tu. Kids pun happy boleh main-main dulu sementara nak duduk 11 jam dalam flight nanti.

Lepas dah checked in Ibis, husband terus beli ticket Yellow Bus (shuttle to airport) – NZD5 per adult and kena guna coins kalau nak beli sebab ada machine disediakan sebelah Reception counter dalam Ibis Hotel.

Both kids inside Yellow Shuttle Bus from Ibis Budget Auckland Airport Hotel to Auckland Airport International Departure terminal building.

We went down at 9pm and terus tunggu shuttle depan hotel. Hubby sempat masukkan doll Hafiya dalam bag pack dia supaya tak tercicir nanti. The shuttle arrived 5 minutes later and kami dibawa ke 3 hotel lain untuk pick up another passengers sebab kami akan ke International Departure terus. The bus driver was from France and was very talkative. Apparently there were only 4 of us inside the shuttle that night, maybe tak ramai ambil hotel before flight at 12.15am. Maybe they just lepak kat airport kot.

We reached at the International Departure building terminal at 9.30pm and terus ke kaunter MAS for check in.Eeverything went well, Alhamdulillah.

Sementara tunggu flight, we had a quick meal (sebab dah makan roti kat hotel) and berjalan-jalan sekejap dalam kedai-kedai area departure building. Sempatlah jugak beli souvenirs dan fridge magnets lagi. Haha.