Balqis' first day of school orientation

Indeed, time do flies so fast.

I still can imagine when I first hold Balqis in my hand four years ago, and now she's going to school already. She's going to a five years-old class in 2019 but school orientation started last Monday, together with school holiday programme for her kindergarten.

We had been telling her that she would be going to school since months ago to get help her subconscious mind being prepared, or at least we hope so.

"Nanti Mummy belikan Balqis books, pencils, bag nak pergi sekolah."

"Kakak tak nak beg. Kakak dah ada beg dah yang Mummy beli tu."

Referring to a RM5 bag I got from Big Bad Wolf book sales. Ain't she just soooo sweet and tak membazir like Mummy? Hahaha!

Honestly, I was worried that she might be crying, or refuse to stay at school. Even though we've been telling her that we would leave her at school and we would be going to work, she kept on saying "Mummy lah jaga kakak kat school nanti."

She has never been without us since she was born. The only person we ever leave her with is her babysitter. She even cry one time when we were out having dinner with the whole family at a restaurant and taking turn to go to surau to perform solat. She was following her grandmother and aunties to the surau and halfway she suddenly realized husband and I weren't going (we waited at the restaurant) and she cried out loud. They had to send her back to us at the restaurant. *facepalm*

So, on Monday morning, we woke her up early and got her ready for school. Had our breakfast together and ready to send her to school. She looked happy and I was less nervous. We had a parent-kid session first in the morning where we make craft and singing together, just to warm things up I guess.

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.

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.