Entering Week 2 of weaning off..

I failed! Terribly! Hahaha

After that first few nights of crying herself to sleep, I read that to start weaning off, you have to do it gradually. Like skipping nursing time during the day, wear normal bra instead of nursing (so babies find it hard to nurse) etc. etc.. Plus, my breast hurt so much from the milk not being drained that I finally offered her the love of her life (or what she claims as "shushu shedap").

And Maya has now learned to say "please, Mama." when she asked for shushu with the most helpless (and adorable) expression that I can't say no! Even Najmi begged me to give her what she wants upon hearing that "please, Mama." Sheesh. So much for willpower.

I guessed when the right time comes, Maya will wean off on her own. And I hope that would be soon. Haih.

Weaning Off

I have been dreading to completely wean Maya off.. Breastfeeding no longer excites me now that she is bigger and more active. It becomes more of a chore to me. Plus Maya has becoming more and more clingy to me and refusing other people, cries unnecessarily and excessively so I thought it's better now than never. TIME TO CUT OFF THE BIG MAMA. I waited until after Hari Raya ends and also after she developed a bit of a fever for 4-5 nights straight. It's also after I fully recovered from my dengue fever. I kept telling Najmi that I need to get it done no matter what. The rest of the day I keep telling her that it's gonna be her last to nurse.

DAY 1, 27 July 2015
I put some vinegar on my nip by the time she asked for her shushu when she got home. I offered her my breast but told her that my breast is sick. She took a sip, then started to suckle, then stopped and looked at me. I said, shushu rosak dah, tak sedap. Shushu sakit. She asked for the other and reacted the same way.

For the rest of the day she kept asking but stopped short whenever she saw my nipple. She smelled at it, lingered at it, but seemed to hold back. Last night before she sleeps she cried and ended up sleeping on Najmi's shoulder. At 4 in the morning, she woked me up and asked for my shushu, but only to kiss it and hold it and cried.

I am crushed.

DAY 2.

Playtime: Mixing flour and colors

This is a great activity for sensory play and for your kids to explore how things turn out and learn about colors and mixes. Remember, it's going to be really messy. But you and your child are going to have so much fun!

I listed out some of the important necessities for this activity;

1) Old T-shirt that you don't mind having stains on
2) Flour, about 1 cup and no more
3) Some water
4) Food coloring
5) Spoons and spatulas
6) Lots of containers in different sizes

You can put a mat beforehand for easy clean up, but I personally prefer just to wipe or mop the floor.

First you can put the flour in the bigger container and let your child spoon them out into other container. Start mixing the food coloring with water in separate containers and ask them to mix it with flour. Let them explore with different mixes. Don't forget to say out loud the color they are mixing at the moment. You will realize how focus they are while doing it; well, they are absorbing everything, which is certainly fun to watch ;)

Maya played for about half an hour and when she started dripping the mixture on her legs, I stopped her and said it's time for clean up. Sure, you can let them go on and have more fun exploring, but I would like to stress on setting limits to your child. They need to learn what can and what cannot be done at this stage. Naturally, she agreed and said "Nak ashuh tangan."

Some of the pictures that I manage to take;

Hello hello hello

It's been such a long time since I posted out anything. Phew! Busy life, busy life..

A lot of things happened in the past, well, 9 months? And I hope I get the time to write it all out. Wish me luck.. Basically here's what happened so far;

1) Maya's Aqiqah
2) We moved to a new house!
3) Maya went to the nursery
4) Our lives with a super active toddler

And also, some of the trips we made so far;

1) Umrah to Makkah and Madinah
2) Penang
3) Langkawi

Would loooove to share this with my readers as well :)

So first off, let's see.. which one to start out first? Oh yeah.. we moved to a new apartment! Officially a Bangi people, now, people. We loved it here; not too dandy, not too shabby, a super nice place for our first home together. I have been looking for a place to ourselves for a long time, and Alhamdulillah Allah made it really easy for us. Just within a month after I contacted the agent, the apartment was ready for us to move in. The owner is a middle age Malay Officer graduated from Ohio, well.. in the 80s? Isn't that a nice coincidence? The apartment is a new lot in Seksyen 5 Bandar Baru Bangi, so it really feels like a first home, not like the used, rented one. We had to drill a lot to put up shelves and water heater, etc. Plus washing the floor, wipe the dust and paint the room.. The most fun part is of course, decorating! Will share with you our little space once we are done (We are still not done! Home deco is a lifetime process, okay). We officially moved in at the end of October 2014, which was also the day Maal Hijrah was.

Well the first few weeks Maya did not take it really well the fact we have moved.. She cried and tried to run back out whenever we arrived home. Now.. she loves it. I think she loves the house even more than us, haha. It's great because we can do a lot of messy activities together without having to think of annoying other people! And boy messy is just an understatement.

The map was from the NY subway map. And that bare wall needs a little more character.

I actually microblog on Instagram a lot. But I decided to make my Instagram a bit more private (since I posted regularly), and blogging allows me more info to type out so please bear with me and stay tune with updates! :)

Your baby can read

Like every mommies out there, I wanted to teach Maya reading as early as I can. I started with phonics when she was 6 months old, and she loved to listen to the alphabet songs. Gradually, I picked up some alphabets flash cards and tried to teach her using the cards, while saying the alphabet out loud to her during nappy change. However, Maya has a very short attention span. She will pay attention to those cards for 10 seconds before she decided it was a boring session. Sigh.

Maya at 6 months old.

Her favorite learning videos are those from Super Simple songs. I love them! But I wanted something a little more educational, a little more towards her learning the alphabets. But it was hard to get her to sit down to my lessons (yeah yeah who am I kidding? Me? Giving lessons?) Anyway I had the chance to visit Kak Siti's newly appointed place for early education learners, called Thinker Space (will blog about this amazing place), and asked for her opinions. She told me to try Your Baby Can Read to Maya. And since Maya is the kind who wouldn't focus on one thing for too long, she suggested to play the video while she is about to sleep. Try to say the words out loud and follow the act as well. I have been playing the video at night to her for the past 3 days and she seems to enjoy it before she dozed off. First time I was actually surprised when the word tongue came up and the baby in the video shows her tongue, Maya actually followed it by sticking out her own tongue! 

If you have a baby with short attention span like Maya, maybe you can try out this method.

Year 1.

Maya turned 1 a few days ago. How time flies. Holding her tiny body the first time seems like forever ago. I still can't believe I am a mother. Part of me feels like the experience's a stranger; I can't look at myself and associate the face with a mother chasing her toddler. The other part on the other hand; the part I found so easily happened at night after a rough day; her sleeping in my arms and me stroking her hair softly; and I pray for nothing but she's loving me above anyone else, and me her.

Tuhan, please don't take away this feeling from me ever. Maya, if you ever read this, know that you are loved, so much that it hurts Mama's heart. May you become a Solehah girl, a lady of Taqwa, and love Mama and Papa everyday without fail, even after we are gone.

this blog is dedicated to

being mothers.

I hope it is not too late to start documenting my daughter's life and my journey through motherhood while juggling a family, a PhD, and a small business. Being a mother is not a decision I made overnight, but rather a mission I would like to plan precisely one by one, minute by minute. So when she arrives one fine morning, I thought I was ready. Boy, was I wrong. She was a bucket full of brimming surprises. And she still is.

I hope one day I can look back and smile through all the ups and downs of raising my daughter. I really don't want to miss a single thing.

To Maya, my dearest.