Umrah Trip (Part 1)

I'm going to divide the Umrah Trip into 2-3 posts. There are 100++ pics from 2 cameras so you can imagine my laziness to edit + upload :p More pictures are on FB so check it out... The photos in this entry are the ones taken in Madinah where we stayed for 3 days (19 March 2011 to 21 March 2011) So enjoy the pictures/history/comments/captions etc...

19-20 March 2011

In front of our hotel in Madinah- It is called Hassan Palace and is about 10-15 minutes walk away from Masjid Nabawi

He insisted on walking everywhere on his own nowadays :p

With my in laws minus Lan

Ryan and his aunts View of Masjid Nabawi at night. Gorgeous right :) One of the many mosque entrances

Huge umbrella's to shield people from the sun...

View of Masjid Nabawi in the day. There are about 100 small stalls and shops at a nearby arcade selling jubah, shoes, ornaments etc. Plenty of variety and cheap. If you're not intent on prayers memang will lose your head over shopping.

Surprisingly I only bought one jubah for moi and mostly stuff for people. I bet Lan was proud (surprised?) over my self restrained :p my sis + bro in law serious beli bagful of pretty things

Lan and his siblings minus Ashraff- Yes there are EIGHT of them :p

My son is so photogenic UNLIKE the father (please refer to my wedding album for verification) hahaha

21 March 2011

Masjid Kubah- This is the first mosque build by Rasulullah SAW in Madinah. You're encouraged to perform your solat sunat 2 rakaat at this mosque as to follow Sunnah Nabi

"Whoever makes ablutions at home and then goes and prays in the Mosque of Quba, he will have a reward like that of an 'Umrah." This hadith is reported by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Al-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah and Hakim al-Nishaburi (Source from Wiki)

There are stalls selling shawls and little trinkets all over Madinah/Mecca. Most of the stuff is under 10Riyal (about RM9 ish) great from souvenirs

@ Ladang Tamar/ Tamar Farm.

The tamar/kurma here is expensive so people don't usually buy them but you can see the Tamar tree/seed up close. Anyway there's A LOT of tourist on that particular day so I didn't even bother going in the shops and stayed outside to camwhore instead.

I think those are the Kurma seedlings.

Ryan started having fever on our last day in Madinah. Weather was crazy hot in the day and cold at night but like the little trooper that he is, he followed us around with little fuss.

Bukit Uhud. This is where Uhud Battle happens. The Muslim soldiers lost that day as the defied Rasulullah order to stay in place after the battle. Morale of the story? Always listen to your leaders and don't defy commands *hmmm*

In front of the grave site of Saidina Hamzah (Nabi Muhammad's Uncle) and other syahid Muslim warriors

This my dear is the "Magnetic Hills of Madinah aka Valley of Jinns" . The magnate pulls can power the bus to move without starting the engine. Kinda cool but scary at the same time :p

Eating the creamiest vanilla ice cream EVER. They probably use camel's milk for the ice cream :p

@ Masjid Qiblatain

This is the mosque with two qiblats. At one time the Muslims perform their prayers facing Jurusalem but one day during prayers the prophet received a relevation from Allah to face Kaabah as a qiblat instead, so he turn during prayers.

The first 2 rakaat was perform facing Jurusalem and the final two was facing Kaabah hence the name Qiblatain

Pasar Kurma- Kurma , nuts and candies heaven :)

That's all for our Madinah Trip, Mecca journey coming soon.....

To be continued....

I'm Back....

Alhamdullilah we have safely arrived home last Wednesday evening (30 March 2011). The trip was a lovely one. I will update in sections once I find the time to edit the pictures accordingly. Currently, there are too many pictures to put in FB and Blog.

Anyway a little update on Ryan (since that is mostly what people been asking anyway) He celebrated his 15 weeks birthday in Madinah. He’s actively walking and “talking” as of late and I have to say he seem to be more keen on making friends, especially with boys around his age or older. I can see that he’s more independent and love doing his “own stuff” at home.

Despite the skepticism from several quarters on my decision for bringing Ryan along for our Umrah Trip, I have to say I think I did the right thing because:-

1. Lan and I get to spend time with our precious baby boy.

2. Muslims believe that Mecca/Madinah to be the holiest place on earth. I believe that bringing Ryan to the city would insyallah affect him in a good way somehow. The results may not be immediate but I have faith that it will make a difference.

3. We’re able to expose Ryan to other cultures, food, people etc. Some say he may be too young to understand. I say never underestimate a child no matter how oblivious he seems to his surrounding :p

I was a bit peeved on a comment made by a total stranger on how bringing a toddler for umrah is a “torture”. In her words “seksa”, well I guess when your intention (niat) is well, Allah will help us, I have to say that Ryan behaved himself (as any 1 year old would) during the trip. First of all we had no problem in flight (and NO I didn’t drug him in any way haha) Ryan played and slept most of the time.

We even brought him for umrah (in which he managed to follow a few times) and prayers. He was able to follow us through several “tawaf” and “saie” rounds and alhamdullilah without a show of tantrums or crying. Of course it wasn’t easy and I salute Lan for carrying him around 90% of the time during umrah but like I always say when there’s a will, there’s a way :)

I think Ryan enjoyed his time in Mecca/Madinah. The Arabs really like little kids. He can’t go anywhere without at least getting one “cheek pinch”. He received free cookies, chocolates, sweets, money and a small baby ring from strangers.

The money part is a bit funny, Ryan was sitting in his stroller with his Uncle Yusry, when he decided to “perform” Yusry told me he was waving/clapping hands at stranger and the next thing we know there was dollar bills on his stroller(haha). Another time while Ryan was walking between Safa and Marwah, a Turkey woman came and swoop him from behind and gave Ryan a big hug. Lan and I was shocked. Thank god I didn’t start screaming and beating the old lady with my water bottle :p

The only problem I’m currently facing is that Ryan’s sleep/plays schedule is currently messed up due to the 5 hours time difference. He’ll randomly wake up around 12am-2 pm and will start calling us to play with him or he will bang his cot asking for attention. It will probably take some time to reestablish his sleep schedule so Lan and I will need to persevere at the moment. Serious datang kerja mata gam :p

Ryan found his milk formula container and silently ate his milk powder in corner. It was too late when I cought him *sigh*

Ryan and Friends...

A Very Special Trip :)

Lan, Ryan and myself would be leaving for Madinah and later Mecca to perform our Umrah this Friday (18 March 2011) *insyallah* till the end of the month. Lan's parents and his siblings will be accompanying us on this trip.

I've been wishing to perform my Umrah since forever especially after I got married.I actually made plans to go for our umrah in 2009 but too bad we didn't have enough annual leave left to go. I guess Allah has better plan for us, true enough going this year means going with Ryan which made this trip so much more special :)

I'm so thankful that Allah have been listening to my prayers. Anyway we'll be gone till the end of March 2011. Please pray for our safe return and for a smooth journey to perform our "ibadah" in Mecca and Madinah. My main concern is of course Ryan, but *insyallah* I'm sure my baby is going to behave himself :) You're so lucky sayang, you're only one and is already able to visit the Kaabah. *alhamdullilah* rezeki Ryan sangat murah.

Ya allah, I'm so excited beyond words, trust me as I'm typing this, my mind is already so far away :p (I even put on a daisy.path tracker to count the days ;p) So that's all for this week, just informing in case you're wondering why I'm suddenly missing on FB/Blog or Twitter :p Stay safe everyone, take care and I will miss you guys branches (or at least SOME of you haha)

The one on Buble'...

Last Sunday (130311) I went to the most awesome concert EVER!! Micheal Buble's concert in Stadium Malawati, Shah Alam to be precise. Our seats were right in the middle, and quite far back from the main stage but I had so much fun, it doesn't seem to matter.

Buble' is an awesome performer. His voice is as sexy and beautiful as you hear on the radio, it may surprise you to know that he is actually a pretty good dancer and the man in HILARIOUS.

His introduction of his band member got the fans rolling on our backs laughing. Can't believe that he actually duped us into believing that one of his band members are from Malaysian and got everyone applauding secara "over". Hahaha His Glee, Aladin ( I can't believe he actually sang "a whole new world") and his Micheal Jackson impersonation is so spot on :p )

All in all I had an awesome night, and I have to say that the concert was worth every penny :) Please come back next year, I would so buy the RM1k tickets (like real) :p

Marry me you awesome, awesome man :p hahaha

Partner of Crime...

Things that matter....

Nowadays news on natural disasters is pretty much an everyday occurrence. You'll hear about floods, earthquake, storms etc so often that the impact is not so profound. Of course you'll feel sorry for the life/things that people lost, you may even feel sad and scared but at the end of the day you'll just move on with your everyday life.

The news on the massive earthquake in North Japan had a different impact on me. When I found out on yahoo about the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and following tsunami my heart literally stopped. My first thought automatically when to Cath, so I send an email checking if she's alright.

Reports after reports came, one worst after the other but still no response from Cath. Naturally, I was worried. SMS Jessie and Lan immediately and immediately tried other points of communication i.e. sms/office phones and IM. Semua takde reply. At that point I admit Jessie and I was feeling a bit panicky but of course we told each other to think positive. Later made contact with Sarah promising to update each other for news. Finally at 11.30pm finally got the news from Sarah who managed to get hold of Cath on the phone. At that time I felt like a huge burden was carried off my shoulders, only then did all of us managed to relax and go to sleep.

It's crazy I guess, at times like that my overactive imagination played all sorts of crazy scenario. At one point I told myself I should just stop because I was just driving myself nuts. Even everyone at home was worried. My sis was helping me find Cath's home number and my mum and dad was asking every few hours if I've heard any new news from Japan.

Trust me the reaction that we had was not melodramatic in any sense. Just imagining the possibility of losing one of my best friend really scare the shit out of me. This is not any ordinary person on the street, this is the person who've I've shared 15 years worth of memories (good and bad). Hey, this is my maid of honour ok!! She drives me nuts sometimes but I can't imagine a world without her around.

I feel sad that my friend had to endure the 20km- 7 hours walk home alone from her workplace to her home, can't imagine how terrified she would be at the time. Anyway I'm so glad that Cath, Matt, Aunt Jen and Uncle Toshi are safe and that their house escaped any major damage. There's still some after aftershocks going on, so let's continue to pray that everyone will stay safe *insyallah*

In the mean time, I seriously thank Allah for protecting Cath and her family from harm *alhamdullilah* So people appreciate the things you have in your life because it can be taken away at any time. For those who've been complaining about trivial stuff, you should be ashamed of yourself. Till then, stay positive and have a great week ahead everyone :)

Ryan's Milestones (Part 2)

I feel like as if I haven’t been blogging about Ryan’s development for some time. I guess it is hard to cluster the “achievements” (for lack of better word) as there is something new every day.

Ryan is up but not exactly running :p He’s able to walk (or I prefer the word toddle around) which he’ll do mostly at school but not much at home as he prefers other method of movement i.e. walking on his knees (I seriously don’t know where he learned this from), crawl or make someone carry him around.

I’m not worried though, he can run around when he feels like it and his pediatrician confirm that he’s thriving as he should at 14 months :p when that day comes I shall start locking every door and pack away all my beautiful artsy decoration. Not that I can relax on the supervision, as it is Ryan is a very active climber and he can’t seem to find a drawer that he won’t open. My curious tom have suffered from minor falls and bangs along the way, but boys would be boys and we encourage his curiosity/ sense adventure but within safe confinements.

Other than being on the move all the time, my little boy is a bit of a chatterbox, very much like his mummy. He’s able to say:-
Mama/Miee – Mummy
Diddy – Daddy
Nennek- Nenek
Ayyahh- He calls my dad ayah, after listening to my siblings call my dad as such, and he refused to use the term atuk *geram* haha
Nak- I want
NaNak- Don’t want
Nekkk- Milk
Nak Nek- Want milk :p
Bak- gimme
Bukak/ kak- open
Dah- Sudah/ enough
Innish- Finish
Pish- Fish
Catzzzz- cat
Ooff- dog
Dukk-duck
Mo/ Dadada – Elmo (what else?)
Sta sta sta- singing twinkle-twinkle (along with the finger star movement)
Ba ta ta – singing his favorite alif ba ta iqra’ song

He’s also able to follow simple instruction like Stop (works so much better than NO!), No (I would mostly be ignored along with a cheeky naughty smile), come here please, let’s go, school time (which he will sometime answer with a Nanak and furious head shake), do you want to eat?, kiss me, high five, shake hand (in which he will salam and cium tangan), baca doa before eating (complete with the amin at the end), Kiss (flying kiss +muacks) etc etc

Last week while Ryan was playing in the hall of my parent’s house, I just said Allahuakhbar, thinking that he would mimic takbir (i.e. putting his hands to his ears during prayers). He didn’t but instead headed into my parents room. My dad and I followed him out of curiosity and do you know what he did? He actually went on this rattan prayer mat that my dad had laid down and actually did the sujud (an action from the prayers), put his hand up for doa, said amin smiled and said “dah!” . He actually “prayed” albeit for one rakaat :p

Ya Allah, what can I say? Ryan has really been paying attention. The fact that he’s able to copy movement from our prayers is one thing but being able to connect “prayers- room- prayer mat and kiblat” makes me swell with pride, my 14 months connected tots *huge grin*

Ryan did something really sweet two days ago, I was putting on my makeup while he was playing on the rug next to me, I felt a tug and I saw him standing next to me babbling “Mie mie”. I looked down and asked him what he wanted. He pointed for me to come closer and when I came down to his eye level, he gave me this seriously yucky slurpy kiss completed with the “muack muacks” Hahaha he actually wanted to kiss me, my sweet darling baby and he’s all mine mine mine :)

Ryan in his new Bumblebee courtesy of Atuk. I came back home and I saw him playing in the car. Lan and I was speechless (jealous aku) I'm so asking for an Ipad for my birthday.

I got the dirtiest stare from this makcik in BV after Ryan's Gymboree last week. I think she thought I actually gave my baby hot coffee for real. Hello!! it's an empty cup and I don't even drink coffee

Pointing happily at daddy :p

Ryan took this photo. He knows which button to press and now every time he sees my BB he insisted on taking a photo (habis battery aku :p)

I love buying him toys/books that is slightly above his age. Trying to get him interested in colouring. Check out his doodle :p

Impressed? Don't be

This work of art is courtesy of my sister and I :p

Experiment Completed...

Out of curiosity I challenged myself to blog everyday – 5 days straight for this whole week.

I have to say it is not an easy task. Finding for things to blog about, so as not to appear too “merapu” is quite difficult. Time factor is another deterrence factor. But when I put my mind to it, anything is possible right? Though, I have a newfound respect for avid bloggers who blogs every day.

I have to say that I choose a quite eventful week to proceed with my “challenge”. From anniversary to birthdays and thank god for “Wordless Wednesday” entries. I was all drained out of ideas by yesterday hence the bordering nonsensical entry.

Anywayzzz…

Weekend is fast approaching. Ryan is going to have his first “music class” in Gymboree. I don’t think there’s any instrument playing involved (unless you count tambourine or maracas as “real” instrument) but it will be a good exposure “creatively”. My only problem with it is that classes start at 9 a.m. I’m not too crazy over having to wake up so early on a weekend but anything for Ryan right?

So I’ve completed my self-imposed challenged so I’ll be back to my 1 or 2 blog entry per week hehehe

Have a good weekend everyone!!!

Marchesa Fabulous

I'm seeing a lot of Marc.hesa gowns on the red carpet lately and you know what? I want one. The dresses are gorgeous and the intricate detailing is just to die for.

Disregard the fact that I can't afford one or the fact that even if for some reason I strike it rich, I have no place to wear it to. Well, I just want one of these gorgeous babies hanging in my closet. Maybe with a matching Jimmy Choo :p

I don't ask for much, do I? Please *cherries on top*

Wordless Wednesday #5

Happy Birthday to the best mummy/grandma in the whole wide world..

If I can be half the mum that you're I'll be awesome :)

We LOVE you branches...

(I note my not so wordless "Wordless Wednesday" entry)

Crazy Weekend Pic-Cha Galore!!

The past weekend was a bit crazy but super fun :) With preparations for upcoming trip *supergrin*, gymboree, anniversary dinner, wedding, visiting family, shopping expedition (like real) in Alamanda AND Sunway in a day, I barely had the time to relax despite it being the weekend.

Since becoming a mother camwhoring activities is pretty limited for obvious reasons but I managed to snap some pics. I'm going to cheat and post pictures instead of doing a proper blog entry :p

Tony Roma's. Love the steak and ribs combo.

P/S: Check out the new blog layout. In a mood of a "less pink" design.

My new Adidas Samantharina flats and pinky water bottle courtesy of hubby. OMG the shoe is superduper comfortable, just the thing I need for our trip :) Loving the fact that it is practical but also uber cute.
:p Ryan's colouring :pRyan is a true "foodie" he loves food, it is such a joy watching him eat :)