ipoh mali.

Hello darlings !
Just wanted to share with all of you photos from the best friend and the brother's wedding plus our recent short trip to Ipoh. :)
Some snapshots from Akhir & Arin's solemnization, reception and 'bertandang' ceremonies. :)

The bride, my beautiful best friend of 14 years. :)

Khayla being entertained by Akhir's niece, Batrisya. :)

I love you bestie !

Alhamdulillah. :)

Husband & wife, finally ! :))

Their beautiful dais. :)

The family with the newlyweds.

Pulut kuning cutting ceremony.

Aunty Akey and (a very surprised-looking) Khayla.

Us, and (again, a very surprised-looking) Khayla.

Congratulations dearest ! :))

And now some pictures from Marc & Linn's reception at Galeri Shah Alam.

The bride getting ready.

The guest book table. Cute kan ?

Their gorgeous dais. :)

Pretty, right ?

Doorgifts. They gave out Gardenia muffins & Twiggies ! ;D

Their table centerpiece. They actually planted the wheatgrass themselves. So rajin.

Daddy & Mr. Sunshine grabbing a bite before the guests arrive.

Mr. Sunshine, (a pouty) Khayla and I. Love !

The bride and groom have arrived !

Smilllleeeee ! :D

'One happy family at home'. Hehe. I had to lift up my kain a bit because it kept getting wet due to the drizzle !

Mr. Sunshine brought Khayla and I to Ipoh two weeks ago to attend his ex schoolmate's wedding.

On our way to Ipoh. :)

We decided to spend a night in Ipoh because the wedding was on Sunday. It totally slipped our minds that it was the start of the school holidays, so almost all the hotels were fully booked. Mr. Sunshine managed to get a booking at Ecotel Hotel, a budget hotel. It was not bad for a budget hotel, comfy king-sized bed, flat screen telly, water heater and coffee making facilities. It was clean, probably because it was still new; 3 months old.:)

For those who don't already know, my family and I stayed in Ipoh almost two years. I spent two of my primary school years there, and Mr. Sunshine went to Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman (STAR) from Form 1 to Form 5. So being back in Ipoh brought back so many fond memories !

Jalan Rajaratnam, in Canning Garden. The road where we used to live on. I was almost in tears, drama much ?

Mr. Sunshine in front of his alma mater. :)

My primary school !

Mr. Sunshine with his ex schoolmates. Khayla was freaking out from all the attention she was getting. Hehe.

Khayla was so well behaved throughout the whole trip, Alhamdulillah.
That's about it for now, bye !

xoxo

choppers !

Last Wednesday, the babysitter's daughter sent me a text message asking me whether I knew that Khayla had teeth already ! She told me that Khayla's bottom two middle teeth were emerging.

My baby is teething already !

I suspected as much because Khayla has been having restless sleep for the past couple of weeks. She would wake up, cry a bit, roll over and struggle to open her eyes because she's still so sleepy. This would happen a few times throughout the night. I would have to pat her back to sleep every time. She has been drooling excessively too ! She wouldn't miss a chance to gnaw on anything and everything.
Whenever I tried to check her gums, she would stick out her tongue and lick my fingers. I couldn't see anything. A few days ago, she actually chewed on my finger and I felt something sharp, but she still wouldn't let me check her gums. On Tuesday night, Linn claimed she saw something white on Khayla's bottom gum but Khayla (as usual) stuck her tongue out when she tried to see what it was.

When I got back that Wednesday, I finally managed to get her to smile without her tongue sticking out and there they were, a small portion of a pair of teeth poking through her gums ! I was soooo excited (and emotional !).

Alhamdulillah.

Looks like I've gotta go get my baby a toothbrush. :')

xoxo

the lengths we(i) would go to make our(my) baby laugh

Yes, that's my awful voice in the background. :D

xoxo

stranger anxiety

Khayla is going through a bad case of separation/stranger anxiety. She gets really uncomfortable around strangers (anyone apart from me, Mr. Sunshine, my family and the babysitter). She cries, fuss and screams(!).
We were back in Batu Pahat last weekend and we attended a kenduri on Saturday. She bawled her eyes out non-stop whenever Mr. Sunshine's relatives held her ! We had another kenduri to attend that night and the same thing happened. She even resisted being held by Mr. Sunshine's mum, dad and sister. She would only calm down whenever I or Mr. Sunshine held her. It was so bad that at the end of the day her eyes were swollen from all the crying and she had trouble falling asleep because she was so exhausted (or traumatized ?). :(

I felt so bad for Khayla's grandparents (my mum & dad in-law) as they can't hold their only granddaughter for one minute without her screaming her lungs out.

I did a bit of reading on stranger anxiety and this is what I gathered:

Your baby is going through one of her first emotional milestones — stranger anxiety. Children this age become very clingy and anxious around new and even familiar people and may cry if suddenly approached by a stranger. Your child may also be more anxious around new people when she's tired, hungry, or sick. Keep this in mind when you're around people she doesn't know, and try not to be upset or embarrassed when she cries in someone else's arms. - I definitely get upset because I don't like to see my baby cry, but I'm not embarrassed lah.

To calm her down, take her back and hold her yourself. - Check !

When strangers try to approach the baby, tell them to make slow gentle movements which will produce less anxiety than sudden ones.

If your child refuses to be held by a friend or relative, try a slow desensitization process:
1. Work on having her be comfortable in your arms while the other person is around. - Rather than have the stranger immediately hold her, which what normally happens !
2. Then, have the person talk and play with your child while you hold her. 
3. Then, hand him over to the other person for a short time and stay close. 
4. Finally, try to leave the room for a few minutes, and see how it goes. 
If your child bawls, try again. Go in and out of the room and eventually, your child will be secure in the knowledge that even though you're not around at the moment, you'll always return shortly.


You don't have to avoid being around strangers or introducing your child to new faces. She'll benefit from getting used to being around people other than her parents. She needs your patience and understanding to get through this very important stage of development.

Source.

I'm gonna try the desensitization process the next time we go back to Batu Pahat. I also think that we need to spend more days in Batu Pahat for Khayla to get used to her grandparents, aunties and uncles. :)
InshaAllah.

xoxo

dian khayla - 6 months progress report

Khayla can now sit without support, she can move from a sitting position to being on all fours and can pull herself up to a standing position from a sitting position ! MashaAllah, my baby is growing up so fast.

She can grab and put her pacifier into her mouth, although sometimes she needs to try a couple of times.

She is such an active baby ! She wouldn't sit still for a second, instead she wants to slither on her stomach all over the house.
She can get up on hands and knees (on all fours), and lunge forward. She hasn't quite figured out how to crawl forward, hehe. She wants to hold and taste EVERYTHING from wires to plastic bags.

Occasionally, she can also stand while holding on to me/anyone with one arm as if she's trying to show off her acrobatic skills. Hehe.

I have started giving Khayla solids since she was 5 months old. She's still not much of an eater yet, but it's so fun experimenting !

She enjoys watching YouTube videos of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Wheels on the Bus and BINGO. I'll just put those videos on when I need her to stay quiet for awhile. :))

That's my beautiful Dian Khayla at 6 months for you. :)

xoxo

i feel like a failure.

Not a day goes by without me feeling terrible TERRIBLE about not being able to fully breastfeed Khayla until at least 6 months. My milk supply has decreased tremendously(!) after I was down with fever and food poisoning a couple of weeks ago. These days, the amount I can express in a day is less than the amount I could express per session before ! The exhaustion from traveling back and forth from Gombak to Shah Alam everyday is also taking a toll on my milk supply. Khayla gets upset whenever she breastfeeds, because there's just so little milk. To make matters worse, all the milk I have been collecting have gone down the drain because my freezer door wasn't shut tightly a few days ago. :'(

Khayla is mostly on formula now.

It's always heartbreaking to read harsh comments about mothers who don't breastfeed their babies. Some people can be really mean, or perhaps I'm just being over-sensitive. I have nothing against mothers who feed their baby with formula milk, I'm just extremely disappointed with myself. I guess I had my hopes up too high.

I feel so inadequate.

I need to constantly remind myself that it's ok to formula feed my baby. All my siblings and I were formula fed babies (after confinement).
I need to be grateful that I was able to fully breastfeed my baby for 4 months. Alhamdulillah.
I need to be thankful that Khayla is growing up healthily, tolerating milk and solids well.Alhamdulillah.

Dearest Dian Khayla, Mummy is terribly sorry for not being able to provide you with the best milk. I love you and I promise to provide you with the best of everything else. InshaAllah.

“Slowly, over time, I began to understand that my breastmilk was only one portion of Henry’s needs” (A Cup of Comfort for New Mothers: Stories that celebrate the miracle of life, 2009)

xoxo