Aidan’s Aqiqah

Phew, it’s been quite a week.

My jetlag was terrible this time round – waking up at 3am and in bed by 6pm. It took me a couple of days just to get over it. It didn’t help that Aidan was down with a terrible bout of flu ( his first! ) that I had to give him a dose of antibiotics. It did the job though and he’s now back to his chirpy self.

He was in this state for the first 2 days we arrived back in Dublin

All the smiling on the plane took a toll on his health

My laundry and cooking is also now back on track.  5 loads of laundry and imagine all the drying, folding and ironing that came with it too. The kitchen is also up and running, I couldn’t take another day of takeaway!

Anyway, I had meant to put up photos of our trip but never came round to doing so as things have been a little chaotic around the house.

In brief, the trip home was short, memorable and very meaningful as it was our first time living in our new home. It was also our first raya as a family plus I have not been back for Eid since 1999.

Mom was generous enough to give us her old furniture so we felt comfortable living in the new house. We had 5 days to make the house look more decent for Aidan’s aqiqah so you can imagine the mad rush to buy lights and fans.

Amidst all that fiasco, mom and I were on another mission to buy gifts for the Marhaban ladies and guests.

We were expecting a group of 15 ladies but suddenly at the very last minute they confirmed a bus load of 35 will be attending the do. So there was another panic of  ‘What should we get for them?’. Mom finally decided to buy them kain so we bought 35 x 4 meters worth of kain baju kurung!

At the same time, I was organizing little gifts for guests which included chocolates and cookies. Smallhouse Cookies and Coochicoo did a brilliant job on the orders that I would gladly take them again for another occasion, they were efficient thankfully. And it also turned out that the lady who runs Smallhouse Cookies was a friend of my SIL, the name Enolil was too familiar to her What a small world!

3 days before the aqiqah we went to back to Tapah to pay a visit to Nenek’s kebun. Hubby, all dressed in army gear went in search for batang pisang ( to place the bunga telur ) as shown in the photo below.

Hard at work- ada macam macho sikit

A day before the big day, we were busy moving furniture around, arranging and rearranging carpets every single corner of the house.

We had less than 12 hours – tired and drained but the show must go on.

Putting-up fairy lights

One knackered Usu, 2 nephews, 1 Hitler

The big day came and Aidan was all dressed in princely garb. Unfortunately the baju melayu that mom bought for Aidan was a little too big so out came the emergency romper and satin shoes that I had bought for him from Ireland.

My biggest regret was not taking a photo of him individually, infact to be honest we had taken very LITTLE photos being the host.

I know my uncle took some great shots – there was one photo of the 3 of us that I must, must get hold of.

An hour into the ceremony, he demanded to be carried.

Aidan being Aidan, he decided to show his true self an hour into the ceremony by wailing his heart out.

So daddy came to the rescue and carried him around. It was already well  into his nap time so I don’t blame the boy for being cranky.

He managed to stay quiet in Daddy's lap

Whilst all this was happening, Aidan’s cousins were happily playing badminton behind our house.

This was obviously more exciting for them! Mana laa datang raket ni ? Sorang tu siap lengkap berbaju melayu!

Despite little hiccups here and there, overall we were happy with the ceremony. Eventhough we had taken very little photos, the happy memories will stay with us forever. Thanks to everyone who gave us a helping hand especially to Big Bro and SIL who went on a special quest to look for paperbags that fitted our taste and budget, it was very much appreciated!

And finally a photo of one of the gifts for the guests – I will try and take a photo of the rest when I get the chance.

The personalized chocolate

The last minute paperbag

And by the way, the show didn’t end there, we had an open house that very afternoon. I hope to put up the photos in my next entry!

A Day Out at The Docklands

We were at the Maritime Festival held at the Dublin Docklands over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Replica of the Jeanie Johnston. The original ship was used to carry fleeing Irish immigrants to America in the era of the Great Famine.

Not always you would see majestic tall ships lined up along the River Liffey so we knew we had to come here to see what it was all about. Interestingly,you could also do a little tour of the various ships by paying a really small fee.

River Liffey

Infact I have always wanted to come here to capture a photo of the River Liffey and the pedestrian walkway was ideal as it offered a scenic view of the river.

I have to say, they have done a really great job doing up this place. Back in 1997, you would think twice coming here even though it was just a 10 minute walk from the city center.

Checking out the summer market

I didn’t find anything interesting at the summer market. I was hoping to get something crafty for Aidan but to no avail. Ah well, maybe some other time I’ll be lucky.

Irish grandpa

There are a few nice eateries around the place including a Malaysian Restaurant which had Selamat Datang at it’s entrance.

Malaysian Restaurant

And a funfair too, which I used to love back in my student days.

Funfair

The heat was too much for me that I took shelter in one of the malls. All in all, it was a great day out with the family and parents-in-law. Hopefully there will be more exciting things to do this summer.

Not quite my pre-pregnancy body, another 5 kg to burn

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Weddings Galore

Though hubby was very much jet-lagged after arriving from Ireland that morning, he managed to survive the 3 hour ceremony later that night.

It was a beautiful wedding for an equally beautiful couple, and the ‘pelamin’ was elegantly decorated to the theme of turquoise and white.

The food was excellent and the night ended with a touching speech by the bride’s father.

And now, we are looking forward to the groom’s side this Saturday night which will be of a lavender theme.

So, in the spirit of the the theme, we have both bought ourselves matching lavender outfits.

Will keep you updated! Stay tuned!

Home Sweet Home

Ahhh….sun, sea and blue skies!!! Malaysia, truly asia. Heheh

It’s been a week since I arrived in Malaysia and it feels great to be reunited with the family after so many months.

I meant to update earlier but we have been extremely busy with family reunions, weddings, birthdays etc.

My grandmother is staying at mom’s place so that saves us a trip to Northern Perak. So far, out of the 5 must-dos, we have achieved 4. And now, with roughly 2 weeks to go, I think we will able to do more than expected.

I will update more when I have the time. As for now, I am trying to make the best of this very short trip and savour every precious moment with loved ones.

It feels really good to be back home once again and this is what I call Home Sweet Home .

Lucky kiddies!

We are heading here later to get last minute gifts for the family.

And the weather looks very bright outside too.

Did I tell you the last time I was here Pink had a big sale and I got shirts for 20 euros each.

And I heard they costs nearly RM1k back home for a shirt, ridiculous!

Anyway, I couldn’t help but laugh when reading all the messages from home.

At least, now we know what to get for our nephews and nieces.

Fariz : Songs for Ipod ( Easy, we have tons of songs for you to choose from )

Elle : Quality Street chocolates ( Is this all Elle? )

Alea and Azarul : Ireland Bookmark or Keychain ( Nice ! )

Farouq : Sony PSP games ( Oh, we have a few of our own to give ! )

Fariq and Farhad : ‘Are you sure you don’t want anything ?’

Tsara : A Barbie/Ballerina nightie ( Shouldn’t be a problem )

Mikhail : Map of Ireland ( Huh? Cute though! )

Arisya : Stickers ( Shouldn’t be a problem too! )

Nufhail : ‘Cars’ School Bag ( Will checkout the toystore )

Arsyad : Ironman ( It’s everywhere, thank god )

We decided for the 2 young ones :

Amber : Barbie !

Maira : A pretty top !

Phuh, them being specific with the requests make our lives so much easier.

Opps, really have to go now. He was oncall last night and coming home really soon, yikes.

Bring Out The Child In You

I am mad about Cabbage Patch Kids. Period.

Mom bought me my first CPK when I was 5 and she queued 3 hours in the cold to get me one.

It didn’t come cheap too at 50 dollars a doll and nearly a week’s worth of her babysitting money.

I was rather proud of it though and brought it for ‘Show And Tell’,

only to find out that every other girl in class brought a CPK too!

I still treasure it till today and I can’t believe it’s already 20++ years old.

Oh, and I bought another one a couple of years ago.

Mom was surprised to find one in my wardrobe during her last stay.

She doesn’t know this but it reminds me so much of her,

and the little sacrifices she made to make sure I only get the best.