Perempuan by Ustazah Halimah al Aydrus

I've listen to this poem for a few times on IKIMfm and it always get my full attention, to listen words by words. I'm not a fan of poetry, but I just love this one.

Maybe simply because I am a Perempuan.

Dedicating this to all the ladies out there.

(Gambar sekadar hiasan. Hehe)

********************

Perempuan

Duhai..

Siapakah kau ini.. ?

Jika jadi anak, ia adalah bidadari kecil ayah bunda

Permata yang siang malam dijaga keduanya

Jika jadi pasangan, ia adalah kesenangan terindah

Surga untuk pasangannya di dunia.

Jika jadi orang tua, waaaaah..

Surga itu telah berpindah di telapak kakinya

Ia bawa kemana-mana.

Nabi pun membilangnya sebagai tiang

Tatkala kehidupan adalah bangunan.

المراة عماد البلاد اذا صلحت صلحت البلاد واذا فسدت فسدت البلاد

Ya, engkaulah tiang itu.

Engkaulah perempuan.

"Perempuan adalah tiang negara. 

Jika perempuan baik, baiklah negaranya. 

Jika perempuan rusak, hancurlah negaranya"

Engkaulah tiang dalam bangunan rumah tanggamu

Engkau sandaran bagi dinding, pintu, atap dan jendela

Nabi selalu benar memilih istilah kata

Karena di rumahmu semua urusan kepadamu bertumpu.

Maka, sebagai tiang kau harus kuat tak tergoyahkan

Sebagai sandaran kokohmu adalah karang di lautan

Tidak rentan diterjang angin dan badai

"tapi aku tak sekuat itu...", katamu..

"aku tak berdaya menghadapi kebrutalan dunia ini"

"zaman semakin menggerusku, bebannya melumatku hingga luluh"

"aku begitu lemah, aku tertindas, aku teraniaya..", katamu pula

Tunggu, wahai perempuan..

Kau lupa..

Ada ALLAH dalam hidupmu

Yang siap Menanggung segala keluh

Ada ALLAH dalam harimu, 

Sumber kekuatan yang penuh 

Ada ALLAH dalam hatimu,

Jika kau serahkan padaNYA segala sesuatu

Ia akan Menjaganya hingga utuh..

Maka..

Dalam tiap gerimis kesedihan

Hanyutkan dirimu dalam dzikir panjang malammu

Dalam tiap kerikil tajam di jalanan

Benamkan wajahmu dalam sujud kepasrahan

Dalam tiap duka yang menyapa

Hanyutkan air matamu dalam sungai KasihNYA

Dalam tiap nestapa

Larutkan pahit air matamu dalam manis CintaNYA

Dan dalam tiap kelabu langitmu..

Panggillah NamaNYA.. 

ALLAH.. ALLAH..

Dan tunggulah..

Hingga Ia Merubah mendungmu menjadi pelangi warna-warni..

- Ustazah Halimah al-`Aydrus

Review Daiesu Sakura Autumn Wrap Conversion Mei Tai

Daiesu Sakura Autumn Baby Size Wrap Conversion Mei Tai

Wearee : 1 year old, 75.5 cm, 8kg

Duration of wearing : about 1.5 to 2 hours

First impression of mei tai : Lovely color irl! <3 <3

First impression when wearing : Baby looks happy in it. No pain on shoulder after few hours of carrying my baby.This is the second mei tai i've tried and first time trying Daiesu's WCMT - definitely more comfortable compare to the other MT. Super love it!

Babywearing journey

I got to know about safe babywearing when I was pregnant with my little Balqis. Before that, I thought narrow-based carrier was okay. I started to read on the information regarding safe babywearing with interest. After Balqis was born, I started to join babywearing groups in Facebook such as Malaysian Babywearers, Babywearers' Haven and Malaysian Babywearing FSOT. I was being a silent reader for quite some time - just read and read to know more about safe babywearing.

I was still looking for options and still considering on which gear would I like, which I should buy - wrap, ringsling, ssc, mei tai? And for that, I opted to try using the kain batik lepas I got from my mum - which she got from my grandmother. That was for me, the cheapest safe babywearing option I had, as long as we wear them right, before making decision on which gear I would like to have.

First try. Balqis at 3 months old.

Kindly ignore the sloppy tie job. 

Jalan Jalan Langkawi Part III

( Prev Post Jalan-jalan Langkawi Part I and Part II)

We had a quite early flight back to Penang on the third day. Flight was at noon hence there wasn't much time to go for more jalan-jalan.

Early morning after breakfast we went out to Kuah town for last minute shopping. Then we headed to the must-take-photo place in Langkawi - the Dataran Lang (The Eagle Square).

Jalan Jalan Langkawi Part II

(Prev post - Jalan-jalan Langkawi Part I)

We woke up early on the second day as we knew we'd take time to get Balqis ready and to prepare for her thing milk food. We tried our best to give her home-prepared food for as long as we could. Hence we brought frozen food from home and thank to the invention of ice pack, the food stayed frozen until we reached Langkawi.

We got out of the hotel for breakfast at the nearby food stall. It was drizzling so we decided to go for indoor places/activity first and went straight to the Underwater World, Langkawi. This was my third, (or fourth time?) time going to the Underwater World but somehow it still amazes me. I wish I could be a mermaid and live underwater. Or at least I know how to dive. But trust me I don't even know how to swim! -___-"

Babywearing dad is seexxyyy :p

Jalan jalan Langkawi Part I

I won't count Melaka as our first family trip because Balqis slept most of the time when we jalan-jalan there and Cameron Highland was just a stopped-by.  So Langkawi will be the official first jalan-jalan for Balqis. Hehe. 

We booked the flight and hotel at the very last minutes, just about a week before we went there. We planned to go to Langkawi for quite some times but there were always other important things that we need to attend first. We actually had few places to choose i.e Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Terengganu - but there are no direct flights from Penang, hence we opted for Langkawi. Besides PEN to LGK is just a 30 minutes flight - just enough for us to see if we are able to handle Balqis on flight. And if not, well, it would be just 30 minutes huhu. Honestly I did a lot of reading on tips of how to handle infant onboard lol.

The backpacking family (kononnya). Hehe.

Jom #TajaMereka berbuka!

Ramadhan is coming again!

And as previous years, the Kindness Malaysia team has started planning for Taja Mereka, which is a buka puasa activity with orphanages, the poors, as well as homeless around Malaysia. Taja Mereka concept of buka puasa donation and activity is you - individual or company - donate in form of sponsoring the recipients, and you are also welcome to join the buka puasa.

Last year was the first time that husband and I joined Taja Mereka where we buka puasa with the Rohingya children at Rohingya Education Centre, Seberang Perai, Penang.

Balqis first solid food

I've think I've become one of them. I think my new blog posts topics will be mainly about baby and parenthood. Just like how my Instagram is now full with my daughter's photos. Isk.

But if that what keeps me blogging, let it be. Haha.

Balqis turned 6 months old last Tuesday. For new mummies, baby turning 6 months-old marks a very important date as it is the new rule of present time parenting to introduce solid food to baby's diet. And so am I. I was very excited that I even prepare a schedule for Balqis' solid food rotation etc. ppfftt like I'm gonna refer to it anyway. 

Macam takde paper nak kena tulis kan, byk lak masa buat ni kan...

Semangat je lebih tapi nanti bukan ikut pun -___-"

A weekend getaway

Last two weeks, we went to Melaka for husband's friend's wedding. It was unofficially Balqis' first makan angin with us as well. We started the road trip at around 5.30 o'clock in the morning. Yeahhh we woke up verrryyy early *yawn*. Balqis was being extra good, woke at 4am as well, and as if she knew she was going out that early, did not fall asleep back as always (her official wake up time is 7.30 am every day). We made a few stops and gather with other friends on our way to Melaka. We arrived in Melaka just about noon and went straight away to the wedding reception hall. Spent some quite a lot of time there (felt like attending a reunion instead) before we leave for Klebang Coconut Shake for a post-reunion hang out.

Congratulations Haidi & Suhana 

And what are you looking at Balqis? 

-___-

Another princess in the family

Atuk's grandchildren are mostly girl. Only two of the fifteen cousins are boy. But when it comes to Atuk's greatgrandkids before Balqis was born, there is only Nurin and the other are six boys. So everyone was eager to know if we were having a girl so that Nurin would have a new friend and there'll be a girl in the house. And so when Balqis was born, Nurin was one of the happiest - she now has a girl friend among the second-cousins. 

During the mid of my pregnancy, my cousin Angah found out she was pregnant too. She really wanted a baby girl, and was told that she was carrying a baby girl during ultrasound check ups. Although she had already choose a name (unofficially) for the baby girl, she did not put her hopes too high.

Angah's first son Syawal named the baby in mama's stomach Sofea. As in Princess Sofea. Sofea the First. LOL. He would get mad if we call the baby Pia. He would firmly say the baby name is Sofea, not Pia. 

So anyhow, Angah had succesfully gave birth to a new princess of the family on 6 April 2015, Alhamdulillah, and had officially name her baby girl Anna Sofea. I had always be one of the earliest to visit my cousins after giving birth cos I could not wait to see their babies, but this time around, I was not in KL anymore.. I was so jealous that everyone keep on posting pictures of them with baby Sofea on Whatsapp group. I only see the baby on the 7th day when we went back home last weekend sobss.


Welcome to the world, Anna Sofea

Projek PadaMu Ku Bersujud - Kolej Vokasional Balik Pulau

After a few months we took a break from joining Kindness.my Penang Chapter (Team Syuhada) activities due to confinement and taking care of our little Balqis, we decided to join the latest activity organized last Saturday. We brought Balqis together as we thought it is never too early to get her involve with volunteering activities - even though she practically did nothing. :p Bringing her together also is the first step for us to know if we are able to handle her in situations where it involve many people around, and as preparation to bring her to surau or masjid in the future. Alhamdulillah, she was at her best behaviour, sooo good girl this mummy & daddy's girl. No regret bringing her at all! :D

Traditionally babywearing!

Muka budak baru bangun tidur tu hihi.

Pregnancy throwback

When we first knew that we were going to be parents, the only first three persons we told was our parents. But we even asked my parents-in-law to keep it from the husband's siblings first. That was right after I went to confirm my pregnancy with the doctor and was told I was 5 weeks pregnant. We announced that we were expecting to the siblings few weeks later and then my other closest family and friends. We had our own reasons why we prefer to keep it secret. Well my campus mates knew it later anyway. You just can't hide the big belly for too long, can you? 

So because of the secrecy, I did not post any pregnancy-related photos on social media. Not even my own full photo with obvious baby bump. Hence for the anniversary of us knowing about the pregnancy, I'm gonna do a massive throwback! And just because I did not update this blog for too long I have too many things to share :p 

And no, I'm not going to post the photo of the pee stick.

First glimpse of little Balqis at 8 weeks.

Honestly I could not see which was she, just trust the doctor with the mark there.

Sunnah on the seventh day of a newborn

Samurah narrated that Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) said, “The boy is mortgaged by his Aqiqa; slaughtering should be done for him on the seventh day, he should be given a name and his head should be shaved.” 

(Hadith No. 1522, Chapters on Sacrifice, Jami’ At-Tirmidhi, Vol. 3) 

When Balqis was still in my tummy, after the 7th month or so, husband and I had some discussions on what to name him/her (we didn't know if she was a boy or a girl yet), when should we have her aqiqah - on the seventh day or wait longer so we could have a proper majlis, and so on and so forth. But every discussions ended up with no conclusion.

Due to not wanting to know if I was carrying a girl or a boy, we had to at least list down few boy and few girl names. And man that was not easy. We've been checking good names for babies from books to websites to phone apps (yes, there are many!). And even though I had this (I think) motherly instinct that I was having a baby girl inside, my list of name are full with only boy names. Husband was not much a help as he also did not have any preference on naming our kids. But both of us agree on one thing - we want single name only.

So every other day it was like, "So apa nama anak kita?" then we both laughed. And no further discussion pfftt.

7 days old no-name baby girl

Hippopo Baby Spa & Wellness, Queensbay Mall, Penang

Since I found out I was pregnant, I've always wanted to bring our future kid to the Hippopo Baby Spa and Wellness. All the photos and videos of the babies swimming happily are so cute! I was so happy to know that they were opening a branch in Penang.

So, last month we finally took Balqis for her first swim and massage session at the Hippopo Baby Spa, Queensbay Mall, Penang. Mummy got so overly excited! Yela... zaman mummy dulu mana ada benda macam ni kan... :p The visit was unplanned actually. We were on our way to Penang Island for just a weekend ronda-ronda when I suddenly remembered about the baby spa.  Asked husband if we should go, he said yes why not and quickly Google the spa phone number. Luckily there was still a free slot for my baby B for that day.

Hippopo Baby Spa Queensbay Mall branch is located on the first floor. Not sure which wing - can't remember - but it's near the Maybank area. We were welcomed with happy and friendly faces when we arrived. They introduced and explained their services and all. We then registered for a single spa session for Balqis. They were giving away gifts as a celebration of CNY and look what Balqis got..!

Yeayy lucky baby B! To be used for next visit!

The session started with a light warm up to get the baby started. 

The incredible journey

I had safely deliver a baby girl last November, Alhamdulillah.

My pregnancy went smoothly - no major allergy or critical morning sickness at the early stage - just need to take proper food and supplement for low hemoglobin level. But almost at the end of the pregnancy, I started to had high blood pressure. I was warned the dangerous of having high blood pressure during pregnancy and was told that I MIGHT be forced to deliver if my blood pressure increased up to dangerous level. Not something that would help me calm and decrease my blood pressure, right? -__-

My last pregnancy photo was during husband's convocation.

6 November 2014.

Hello, blog

I think I've forgotten how to update the blog.

It's been almost a year! Why did I even bother renewing the domain last year if I were to neglect this blog kan. Pppfft.