Hello London! - The Arrival

*Lengthy entry*

After another 7 hours flight from Dubai, we finally reached London Gatwick Airport! It was so surreal, that I kept pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. :P

Even from inside the airport, we could feel the coldness of the weather outside, no kidding! And as soon as we stepped our feet outside the hall and spoke to each other, there was vapor coming out from our mouth! Baru lah betol London wehhhhhh. Hahaha. *batak mode totally turned on* :P

After doing some registration, we headed to our life savior for the rest of the trip -- our car! (Or, should I say, our mini van :P)

Yeap, it's not hard to miss our car with it screaming "Hey! Hey! I'm the one in bright blue over here, come get me!" Hehe. Sorry, can't find decent car that could fit in 2 families! Even my SIL's family that came with us had to take another car!

It was freezing cold, even in the car. So instead of turning on the "aircond", we turned on the "heater" to keep ourselves warm. Yeap, cars over there have both aircond and heater! :D

The journey to our house was beautiful. I saw cottage houses, very green grass and even sheeps beside the highway! :D

Tip : You need to have a carseat in the car if you're travelling with a baby in the UK; without it you can be fined. You can choose to either bring yours from Malaysia, or rent one there (charged £15.00/day). That's like RM82/day and we were going to be there for 10 days, so we brought ours from Malaysia, for the obvious reason! :P

As expected, the first day we were in London, we spent the day just resting in our house. (too bad I forgot to take a picture of the house!) The next day, we got up early in the morning to start our adventure in the city.

But first, let me take a selfie breastfeed the baby.

That's Haney, my youngest SIL. Her baby is just 7 days older than Adeena. The best thing is her baby Wildan is also a fully breastfed baby, so it was fun to have someone that shares the same misery, I mean, experience that I had there! Bahahaha.

The 2nd day we were in the UK, we decided to just visit the city of London itself. The first shop that I went as soon as we reached the Oxford Street, was Mothercare! Cute baby shoessss. Cute baby shoes everywhereeeeee!

Sorry, I know I looked like an Eskimo in here, but it was just because it was too windy and coldddd outside, and my Melayu skin hasn't gotten adjusted to it yet! :P 

After that, we spent the whole day just taking pictures and exploring London!

See I wasn't kidding about London being very windy! It was raining most of the time when we were there too, so that kinda suck as it was affecting our programs!

After a lot of walking, our tummies started to grumble. Surprisingly, it was not hard to find Halal restaurants in London! Look at our happy faces when we spotted the first one! :D Di yakin HALAL ok. :D

Then, the day continued with more sightseeing in central London! In the pic below, you will see that I took picture with bicycles available for rental there! Gila ah. Kalau buat macam ni dekat Malaysia, confirm orang buat jadik harta masing2 je :P

We also managed to find a musolla nearby to perform our solah. It's called Mayfair Islamic Centre, located near Hyde Park , next to the Hilton Hotel. Wherever you are, whatever you do, remember to put your head on the ground.

That's my MIL in their kind of "telekung" (praying attire). Over there, they do not have the kind of telekung that we have here in Malaysia. Theirs are fancier, and mostly found sewn like an oversized jubah, with a hood, just like that.

And that's Adeena making friends with the local there :D

After we were done with our solah, we went on and explored the busy street of the Oxford Street again. I looked around and saw people zooming in and out this store, most of them had at least 2 bags in hand. Curious, I went in this store...

And I understood what the fuss all about.. It's basically like Giant/Tesco here in Malaysia, minus the wet market. You can find everythingggg and borong everythingggg here without burning a hole in your pocket! Women's wear, men's wear, kids wear, underwear, shoes, cosmetics, accessories, bags.. the list goes on and on and onnnn!

(The last 2 pics Googled to show how the store actually looked like without an ocean of people crowding it!) And the hanger.. how cute are they! :D

After all the excitement, we finally called it a day.. Well, for us adults that is. The kids were still jet-lagged, they actually got up at 3am in the morning and refused to go back to sleep!  ><

But even that didn't stop me from enjoying the huge Westfield Mall the next morning.. (To be continued)

Hello Dubai!

We boarded the morning flight the next day. I was very nervous for this trip for many things. Well, the many things revolved around one thing : Adeena.

Besides being a fully breastfed baby, she was also going through that bad stranger-anxiety stage where no one could come close except for me, my hubby or my helper.

So, I thought, what if Adeena got restless and cranky in the 14-hours flight? What if I get sick and wouldn't be able to care for Adeena? She won't want anyone else but me! What if my milk supply dropped, how would I feed her with no EBM as backup? What if we all get too tired after travelling and needed rest, but the kids won't sleep? So many what-ifs!

In the end, I decided to go with the flow and surprisingly, Adeena behaved quite well in the plane! In fact, she slept most of the time.

Tip #1: Dress your baby with loose and comfortable attire during the flight to avoid crankiness; sleepwear is best. If you can, breastfeed her during take-off and landing to help with the pressure in her ears.

Tip #2: If you're travelling with a baby, try to get the "hot seat" and request for the baby cot!

There were a few times when she got restless too, and during this time, I did the one thing that I knew best -- breastfed her. Works like a charm everytime! ;)

So for those of you who are wondering my secret weapon to travel with a baby during this trip, I got one word for ya - breastfeed! Basically, 60% of my time in the flight is spent breastfeeding Adeena, no kidding! :P Aydein was so much easier to manage, thanks to the in-flight games & his own gadget to the rescue!

When it was time for meal, the rest of us and Aydein would have the meal in the plane. As for Adeena, I used this to feed her on the go.

Besides being organic, the thing I like about Baby Natura is that it comes in packets, in the form of powder. So it doesn't get messy. All I need is to pour some powder in a bowl, add a bit of water, done! I can even bring some packets in my handbag anywhere and everywhere, in case Adeena gets hungry! 

After 7 hours of flying, we stopped by in Dubai for transit. Behold Dubai, the rich land with unlimited Maclaren strollers for rental (within the airport only)! :P

Lucky for us (me, especially!), my SIL had a friend who's working in Dubai. So they brought us around Dubai and tried some of the good food in Dubai. :)

Yeah, you can see how tired we were on our faces! So good to be able to be off the plane! After the meal, the good host brought us back to their house for us to freshen up, pray or just chill to relax. God bless them for that! There was nothing more that I needed other than a good bed to lay down and rest!

That night, the good host offered to take us out for sight seeing in Dubai, but I was too tired to go! Adeena was also getting cranky, so I decided to skip it and stayed back with my MIL at home, while the rest (my husband and Aydein included!) went to see the Burj and other famous places in Dubai. (Mental note: Must go visit Dubai again one day!)

Adeena, my MIL and I had a good rest that night. For that, I will eternally be grateful to our host for their awesome hospitality, and most importantly, for lending us their bed! :P

When the rest of them came back, I asked them about their trip and unexcited, they said....., most of the time they were sleeping in the car and missed all the good things in Dubai too! Hahahahaha baik takyahhhh. :P

After that, it was time for us to get on our 7-hour flight yet again, to London this time! (To be continued)

Let's Go To Europe!

It has always been my dream to step foot in Europe. But knowing how much it will cost just to get there, I'd normally brush the thoughts away, everytime. So when my husband asked me where I would like to go for that year end holiday, I chose a cheaper destination instead - Australia. But suddenly he asked,

"You've been going on about UK. Taknak pegi sana?" I told him to stop joking around, and that he would just get my hopes up by doing that. But his face remained serious, and said "Taknak sudah"

:O

Hahaha. I would be crazy to push my luck, so I coolly said, "Okay sure if you say so," while trying so hard to hold myself back from doing a jiggly dance :P

I quickly googled "London weather" and it said, "3 °C"! So obviously there is one important need for this -- winter clothes shoppingggg! :D :D :D That weekend, I went almost crazy trying to decide on the best winter wear I should get for the trip! I mean, look at some of these stylish winter wear for both adults and kids!

We got some of our winter wear from Uniqlo, H&M and Terranova. From our scouting, we found that Uniqlo has some of most affordable & decent looking winter wear. They also have this heat-tech inner wear that you wear underneath your clothes (something like long johns) to retain the heat of your body in so many candy colors! I almost grabbed 5 of them, but husband told me to be rationale "bawak mengucap yang, it's heat wear ok, lepas balik Malaysia nak buat apa?" were his words, so I came to my senses and just grabbed 2 instead. :P

Oh and H&M has the cutest kids winter wear ever! So so so exciting!

I also wasted no chance to get myself new pair of knee-high boots! FINALLY I have a reason to buy and wear them stylish boots! :D :D 

But that's not the best part. The best part about our trip is that, we were not going on our own! Our in laws heard about our trip and decided to come along with us as well! Man. 3 families on a roadtrip, how fun is that! :D

And since it was our first time travelling with kids, I made sure we brought together essential stuffs like - organic baby food, toys, iPad, moisturizer, lip balm, medicines and thermometer.

Tip : Use vacuum bag to keep your winter wear. You can easily bring 5 (or more!) down coats and save so much space!
The rest of the family also spent the whole day packing and making sure we brought everything we need while we were there. Okay, maybe a little too much of everything...

Seriously though! Segala mak-nenek were in there, from 10kg beras, bihun, sambal kacang, nasi impit, maggie, serunding, gula, garam, ikan bilis, kicap - basically we needed one special luggage just for food alone! Chronic tak chronic. My mother in law even brought her small rice cooker and blender with her! No kidding! Nasib la kawin dengan family Jawa kan. Haha :P

And then, it was time.. (to be continued)

Breastfeeding Guru

When it comes to breastfeeding, I'm sure we all have our own "guru" that motivates us to go that extra mile to complete our breastfeeding mission. It could be our mom, sister or even a friend. For me, it's Irin Putri, the very TV3 host who also happens to be my friend.

I must say, her breastfeeding journey stories that she shared on her blog does play a big role in my own journey of breastfeeding. Everyone can achieve the 2-year breastfeeding mission if you work the 8-5 job. But it's different with Irin, and this made me admire her even more. 

In case you didn't know, Irin is a TV host come producer whose nature of job requires her to leave her son for outstation assignments every now and then. Despite having hectic schedule to juggle with, she still managed to find time to pump wherever she goes, thus completing her mission to fully breastfeed her son, Raees for a little more than 2 years!

Her determination inspired me (and I'm sure a lot of her other readers!) and I thought to myself, if she, who had to travel overseas on assignments every now and then, could do it, why can't I? Again, it all comes back to determination. :)

Be inspired. Read on Irin's breastfeeding journey here (remember to click on Older Posts and dig up her olddd achives! :P)

So, who's you're breastfeeding guru? :D Happy breastfeeding, mommies! :)

Ps: Irin is now expecting her second one anytime soon! And looks like her breastfeeding mission is starting all over again for her eh! Hehe. But first, let's pray for her smooth delivery! <3 <3

2nd Child Syndrome

They say first-time parents get overly-excited about everything. You want to record every little thing about your baby - first smile, first word, first fart. And that's exactly what I did for Aydein every month without miss, here. In fact, I managed to get his milestones recorded for good 16 months!

But now, with Adeena.. I tend to skip that whole thing.. a lot! And I blame Instagram for that! C'mon it's not an excuse, and I promise I'm not slacking. It's just.. so much easier to do it on Instagram -- capture the moment and upload it with a few sentences, done! Would have done the same if we had Instagram back then!

But somehow it's not the same. It doesn't give you the same feel like blogging does if ya know what I mean. And I realized that the last milestone I updated for Adeena was when she was 6 months! I didn't even update her first birthday celebration here like I did for her brother! (Really, it's the Instagram!) So in this entry, I will try to recall the important milestones for Adeena up till 16 months for memory sake. *Inhales*

Adeena darling,

At 8 months

You started crawling. Before you were able to crawl, you would creep and spread your arms like a bird! I miss that about you. You also have the habit to mess about my bag and closet!

At 10 months

You were already able to drink from the straw, as opposed to your brother who only mastered this skill at 13 months.

You developed bad case of stranger anxiety. No one could come close, except your Mama, Papa, Abang or Bibik. At times, Tok Ayah & Opah.

It was also your first oversea trip to Europe! Such lucky girl, you.

At 12 months

You celebrated your very first tutu birthday, with your friends. You couldn't walk just yet, but I could tell you were enjoying yourself nonetheless with the unlimited chocs, cakes & candies around you specially on that very day. I'll elaborate more on your big day in a different entry. (Hopefully!)

About the same time after your birthday, you fell sick for the first time, where you were down with fever. :(

At 12 months 10 days, you were able to stand a few seconds on your own before toppling down.

You have a total of 8 teeth then.

During this time, you showed deep interest in everything feminine & girly -- like mama's lipstick and handbag!

Still, you hated having anything on your head, like the headband.

At 13 months

You began walking, 2 months earlier than your brother. 

At 14 months

You begin to add more words into your vocab, but not as much as your brother did last time. At this time, you only managed to say "Mama", "Papa", "Aba" (Abang) and "Nak" I tried to make you say "cat" so many times, but you refused and made lion roar instead. Yes, not even a Meow. 

At 15 months

You were capable of expressing your emotions well, what you like and what you didn't like, clearly. One time, you were angry at me for making your brother cried, that you also cried while thumping your legs!

You can also already salam when prompted. 

At 16 months

You will only turn 16 months in a week's time, but already, you are now able to add a few more vocabs to your dictionary, but still not as much. Now, you can say "Aa-ba" (Allahuakbar) and "Titit" (Mama's Milk) :P

You can wave and blow flying kiss when we say "Bye Deena!" or "Flying kiss?"

You understand simple instructions like, "Come here" "Where are your shoes?" "Take your shoes" "Give to Papa" "Go there" "Where's Abang?" and "No"

You're becoming a fussy eater too. You can make faces, like your "angry face" when being prompt.


When Mama and Papa dress up, you know it means going out. You will automatically take your shoes, thinking we will bring you along. When we don't, you will cry your heart out :(

You know the phone goes to the ear, but you can't say "Hello" just yet.

You know the comb goes to the head/hair.
You can eat/drink milk by yourself, but prefers to be fed. (Manja ni!)

And.. well, that's all that I can recall for now! I'm sure there are so many other things that I've left out which I will update when I remember!

Until then, let's see if this blog will get updated again anytime soon! :P