Iman & Ranya's Aqiqah Ceremony

Finally, the pictures from Iman and Ranya Aqiqah is up.

Alhamdullilah everything went well during the ceremony.I have my family esp. my parents to thank for that. I had a lot of help from my sister and in laws too. At one point I was tearing my hair because I felt a bit overwhelmed with the preparations. I wanted everything to be perfect and insisted on DIY the decorations + preparing desserts and I wanted to do everything on MY OWN. On top of taking care of the kids, cleaning the house that was left for a month during my confinement, I admitted I went a bit (lots) crazy in the end but I think I did ok with the execution :p even my wrongly made chocolate tarts turned out so good that I received orders haha...

The dessert bar :) 2 tier Tiara cake from Nadibakes (gorgeous flavor : Vanilla blueberry and cookiesNcream, Vanilla cuppies from Lan's Uncle Atan, Chocolate Toffee Tarts, Gula Melaka Longan Jelly and Jelly Sirap by Chef Far ;p mini muffins, and loadsa jajans. Decorations are by ME!!

Food was awesome: We ordered Nasi Briyani and the works from our fave caterer, we had one kambing golek (bakar) and another kambing was made into the most delicious curry (courtesy of my Uncle Din), My mum in law prepared otak2 (freshly grilled by my brother in laws) and rojak buah.

It was a stroke of genius preparing boys/girls favors bags filled with jajan's (sorry mum and dad) and puzzle/sticker book. It kept most of them distracted enough to allow their parents to eat in peace. The adults favor bags are filled with surah yassin, the cutest  new seamaster bottled water, cupcakes and a box of ais jem biscuits (old-skool nie). Thanks to my sis, kak Tirah and Nani for helping me packed :p

Zanji, tahnik and cukur jambul time by ahli Surau Jalan Tepi Sungai. When the girls turn 7 days old we did the whole Baby Naming, Tahnik, cukur rambut in accordance to Sunnah. The only thing we missed was the aqiqah. I didn't want the girls hair to be cut some more but tok imam insisted so potong lah sikit :p Anyway Iman and Ranya acted like the little angels they are. No crying and fussing throughout the whole ceremony. Alhamdullilah.

Our family portrait. As you can see the theme colour is purple since Lan, Ryan and I already have purple outfits. I bought the twins gowns from Truddy and Teddy. Love it for its reasonable price, style and comfort level :)

The decoration on the stairs cost RM5 (pompom balls courtesy of Daiso) and leftover butterflies from my tunang deco (haha simpan tu) No fuss and all DIY. I seriously had so much fun planning the twins aqiqah.

Photos from around the majlis (which mostly consist of my lil hero): (1) mummy and abang (2) our kambing golek (3)makyong and Ryan (4) Ryan and Wan Cik (5) Upin and Ipin (haha) (6) Pak Ngah Reza tengah bakar otak-otak (7) Daddy and his thank you speech (8) Abang with Induk, Wan Sue and Ranya (9) Mak Long, Iman and Abang yg curi-curi makan sweets

Thanks to everyone who came, was so busy that I did not manage to take pics with everyone :( (1) My girls + 1 old man (2) Ida and Irsa who looks adorable in her red dress (3) My hunky cousins :p Hafiz, Aqil and Azfar (4)Lan sisters and Aunt (5) Iena, Ilya and Ranya (6) Baba Sue, Nidal and my cousins (7) Orang kuat at every event my Pak Cik Fauzi, Pak Su, Mak Su and Mak Ngah (8) Uncle Atan,Cik Ita and my MIL with the twins (9) Lan sister Baby and Atirah (10) My nephew Nufail Nidal yg insisted that Mama Su takes his photo (11) Wan Chek with Iman (12) Wan Sue with Ranya

You know what I realised? I have an awesome family :) that and I'm reminded on how I love planning parties. Can't wait to plan for Ryan, Iman and Ranya joined Bday party in December (hahah ignore the over excited mum blogging). Oh well there's always Lan's Bday to plan this April :p

Sugar & spice & all things nice...

Are what little girl are made of.....

Sweet Miss Iman Khadeeja

My lil baby Ranya Fatimah

The perks of having twin girls is the CLOTHES. Whenever I'm in a baby's boutique or online shopping I'll go crazy because I'm just spoilt for choice. Excuse the over reaction because I'm so used to shop for a little boy. Little boys clothes as cute as they may be fails to excite you after a while. It is all shorts, jeans, t-shirt, shirt and more t-shirts oh and the occasional baju melayu. Accessories shopping for Ryan means the necessary socks,shoes and belts :p However, I have to admit boys have better choices in the toys department. Their toys is just wayyyy cooler ( and more expensive :p)

Little girls wardrobe is another story all  together. There's dresses, skirts, blouses, cardigans, jackets, pants etc to mix and match. With each outfit you get to accessorize it with headbands,tights, bracelets, necklaces etc. and do not forget adorable tinny tiny shoes *sigh* It's like having your own Barbie dolls to play dress up with.

Heheh as you can see it is not really helping me with my spending problem :p When you have 3 kids at home all of your extra $$$ will go to them. You just can't help it, you go out to buy a new pairs of shoe for you and get distracted at the shops and end up buying books/toys and clothing for the little one.

Anyway we took Iman and Ranya to their paed Dr Chong for their 3 months immunization. Triple Antigen/ Pnuemococal shots and final dose of Rotavirus vaccine. The cost came up to RM1k. Crazy,huh? But one thing I learned as a parent is you don't skimp on preventions. It is seriously better than cure. They are growing really well. Iman is now 5.4kg and Ranya is 5.1kg. Weirdly enough Ranya is 1cm taller than Iman :p

Iman and Ranya is also able to turn on their sides (mengiring) Ranya has been able to do it since she turn 2 1/2 months being more active. Iman is the chattier one though. She love trying to imitate sounds and trying to copy our mouth movements :p We decided that we're not going to send the twins to playgroup classes yet. We choose to have our own playtime adopting the activities we learned from Ryan's Gym.boree classes and online tips instead. Less hassle during the weekend and more time for Lan and I to do house chores instead of travelling to Bangsar every Saturday morning with 3 kids in tow.   

Hmmm what else? Ryan is so keletah these days. Sometimes you don't even understand what he is saying but he is starting to talking in 2 -3 words sentences. We're re-potty training him so he walks around the house in 2-3 layers of underwear. It is kinda funny because he puts it on himself. Yesterday we wanted to go out and even after putting on his diapers he insisted to put on his undies :p  The sight is so funny but whateverlah kan....

That's pretty much of the kiddies development for the time being. I'm trying to be a bit more rajin in recording their developments like I was with Ryan. Hopefully, I'll succeed :p

R.E.V.A.M.P

As you can see I've made some changes to my blog layout. I'm in the mood for something brighter and girly. Anyway I love the new Blogger "tile" layout option which is very similar to the one in tumbl.r. However, since I love to ramble on this page as opposed to just posting photos I've choosen the more classic settings instead.I've also added "pages" linking to post specifically on Ryan, The Twins, My tumblr page and photos from my holidays page for ease of reference (mine mostly :p)

As I was making changes to the layout I realised there are some new comments on some of my backdated entries that contained questions that I did not reply. I'm so sorry and would like to apologize. You see I do not moderate and check my comments section often so I tend to overlook some of the enquiries. I've made changes to the settings so hopefully it won't happen again.

Oh I'm back at work after 3 months break, I'm neither happy or unhappy, just somewhere in between. The kids are doing great alhamdullilah and I'm looking forward to blog more on Iman and Ranya's Aqiqah & preparations, Ryan's latest antics and life in general :p

Have a good weekend everyone *hugs*

Wordless Wednesday #15

Sneak Preview: Pictures from Iman and Ranya's Aqiqah.

Happy 3rd Anniversary, Baby!

27 February 2012 marks my 3 Years Wedding Anniversary....

Time flies, right? seems like yesterday when we were choosing our wedding ring :) Fast forward 3 years later we have created so much of new happy memories together: Like spending our honeymoon in Bali, giving birth to Ryan, celebrating his first birthday, our Umrah trip :), finding out we're pregnant with twins and meeting Iman and Ranya for the first time. I can't wait to create more memories with you *insyallah*

Along the way we've encountered several obstacles but with your patience + practicality and my "creative" problem solving we seem to be able to work it out TOGETHER. Don't think I could have done it all without you. I thank Allah for pairing us up as husband and wife ;) 3 years and 3 children later, I still love you as I did on the day we got married - maybe so much more. 3 months being at home full time and spending all those time with you makes me realize how it feels to fall in love all over again :) Thanks for everything.

I love you very very much. Don't you dare forget that or take it for granted ;p hehehehe

Breather...

Finally found some time to blog. I've been busy for the past few weeks taking care of my babies, spending quality time with Ryan and Lan and planning Iman and Ranya's Aqiqah that I did not realize my extended maternity leave is coming to an end...

Work is starting next week. Can't say I'm jumping for joy but since there is no alternative options for the time being, I'm gonna TRY to stay positive. 11 more months until my scholarship contract expires and I'll be a free lil birdie to pursue more interesting prospects. All in good time :)

Anyway Iman and Ranya's Aqiqah went well. We received positive feedbacks on the food, deco and desserts :) I'm so happy as I did 80% of the planning and execution on my own. Lan and I was toying with the idea of hiring an event planner at first but after much discussion we decided that lil bossy me shall take charge. Take charge I did and though I was overwhelmed with the planning + taking care of zee household with help from our family everything turned out great in the end though we received close to unexpected 200 guests :D

Hmmm I wanted to post the pictures from the event but I can't seem to find the right USB cable for my DSLR. Maybe I'll do it tonight or tomorrow. Going to enjoy the remaining of my break and not dread Monday.Anyway Ryan is at home so gonna go cuddle up with him in front of the TV.

*sigh* Gonna miss spending time with my lil family so much. No more impromptu afternoon lunches with hubby, breakfast outings with Ryan or spending the whole day with Iman and Ranya singing "wheels on the bus".Oh well QUALITY time is more important kan, we have nights, early mornings and weekends to spend time and make great memories together. I shall NOT be negative and depressing about this.

~LOVE LOVE LOVE ~

A Day Out With My Lil Man

Since my extended maternity leave has been approved, one of my main aim is to spend more alone quality time with this adorable little boy :) So last Tuesday Ryan skipped "skool" so that we can have a Mummy and Abang Funny Funday :)

We started the day with yummy breakfast :)

Had a bit of an exercise and breathe of fresh air at our crib, playing in his playhouse. Later Ryan helped mummy with the housework and we got cleaned up and got ready to go out to Curve for out date :)

I brought him to YuKids Island and we had a fabulous time in the playground. I love the settings, it is a bit different from the normal indoor playground we usually find in the malls. After about 1 1/2 hour later, we had lunch at McDs and went home.

Later we spent the remaining time before picking up adik cuddling in front of the TV :D I don't know about you Ryan, but mummy had so much fun... Love you cheeky cheeks :p

Sama Tak Serupa :)

Everytime someone visits me and the twins, one unavoidable question that they would asked me is "How do you tell them apart?" My answer?? "By the clothes they are wearing" hahaha

Physically for non identical twins Iman and Ranya looks quite similar. In the middle of the night when I'm sleepy and mamai, I can't be ask to tell the difference :p but if you look closely Iman features are slightly rounder. Iman is also slightly bigger though Ranya is catching up real fast. It also helps that Ranya has a strawberry mark on her tummy, so if people gets too confused, we'll just flip open her clothes hahaha

It is quite funny because people at home are always confused over who's who. This is where wearing different coloured clothing comes in handy but a day won't be completed without someone calling Iman - Ranya or vice versa.

It may seem like a trivial thing, but identifying which twin is which is quite important for feeding time (you don't want to be feeding the same twin twice) or at times when we have to administer medicine. So me the "mandur" would need to be on top of things all the time.

To help the carers at the daycare to identify the twins I got Iman and Ranya customise bracelets . It is just a simple string bracelet with beads spelling their name. Cute and comfortable with no allergy triggers. Very important elements while choosing baby accessories.

The twins are also different temperament wise. Iman is more lemah lembut and manja while Ranya is the more active twin. Lan told me once that if he want to differentiate the twin lying side by side he'll just see the hands movement. The girl who's more animated is more likely to be Ranya :)

The process of getting to know the girls better is the same as it is with other babies. The only difference is I have to learned about two babies at once. The main challenge is despite looking similar they are two separate individuals with different preference. I can't wait when the girls are a bit older and are able to choose their own favourite food and clothes. That would be a fun battle to fight :p hehehehe

Next post: Funday with Ryan :p (bilalah nak find the time to blog ni, I'm actually typing this post via BB while brestfeeding Iman at the same time)

Mode: Separation Anxiety

I'm currently home alone.

Today is Iman and Ranya's second day in "skool". After much discussion with Lan, my mum and the twins second main day caretaker which is my dad :p We've decided that the girls would be going to the same daycare as Ryan.

I'm planning on an extended no-pay 30 days maternity leave, which I have no idea whether it has been approve yet ;p if it is indeed approve (pray to Allah that it will) I'm planning to rotate taking care of each child alone with me a week. For example : Monday with Iman, Wednesday with Ranya and Friday with Ryan. So each kid will have quality time with mummy.

Lan and I are slowly getting the groove of being a parent of 3 children. The main challenge is trying to meet the needs of Iman and Ranya while making sure that Ryan does not feel left out. Sometimes I feel really horrible because I know that no matter how Lan and I try to be the best parents to our kids something will still fall short.

The best example I can give you is this, Iman HATES to be bottle fed be it EBM or formula so when I'm with her she will insist on direct feeding, which really sucks for Ranya because she will have less time with me. I'm lucky that my youngest baby is quite understanding as she will drink milk from the bottle with less fuss, however there are times when Ranya needs attention the same time when I'm tending to Iman. The worst part is if they only want comfort from ME despite having 3-5 other adults at home, so one starts crying and the other will start screaming too. When all this is happening, sometimes I admit Ryan will be sidelined since everyone aim is to make sure that the twins will stop crying. so that is when the 3rd tantrum from Ryan will start. So i end making all 3 unhappy, which is kinda depressing if you think about it

I do try not to dwell on things I can't change. My main aim is to give my children the best and going all bipolar about things will not help anyone. Of course there's going to be shortcomings on my part, I expect a lot of things to get harder before things get easier : triple expenses, triple pain and sufferings, triple fever and sleepless nights, triple snot sucking, triple bedtime tantrums etc but at the same time I've been blessed with three gorgeous kids who can made my day with their smiles, incoherent gurgles and the most adorable antics.

When things get really tough and I think I can't go on, I try to remind myself that Allah will not test someone beyond their capabilities and when I was in Mecca I remember ending each prayer for Allah to give me what he thinks is best for me even if that is not what I initially wanted, so if my creator have given me the very best, who am I to question his faith in me. Anyway, nothing that is truly worth it comes easy,right?

Ok since tengah mode jiwang (or more like separation anxiety) I would like to dedicate this para from the song Sedetik Lebih to my 3 munckins. For some reason everytime I listen to the song it totally reminded me of them...

"Di kala penuh ketakutan dengan badai kehidupan
Ku bersyukur adanya kamu
Biarlah kehilangan semua yang dimiliki di dunia
Asal masih adanya kamu


Ternyata ku perlukan cinta dari dirimu sayang
Barulah terasa ku bernyawa
Kasihku ku amat mencintai kamu
Kerana kau beri erti hidup
Ku kan terus mencinta sedetik lebih selepas selamanya"

My Heartbeat :)

My Little Angels :)