God Doesn’t Make Mistakes

My manager asked me if I’ve heard of a song written by a father who has a down syndrome daughter. She said it is a beautiful and very touching. I search upon the song on YouTube. Indeed, it touched my heart.

Steve Moser wrote the amazing song about the birth of his daughter, Anna who was born with down syndrome.

Nicknames

Everyone has their own unique nicknames called by family members, friends, clique etc. I, myself have a lots. Different circle of people call me with different nicknames. Even though my full name is already short enough, it appears that a lot of nickname could be created by that.

I remember few years back, in Facebook there was an application where friends can submit the nicknames they call you. I tried looking for it but it isn’t there anymore (or I couldn’t find it). I tried remembering all the nicknames I’ve been called with.

Lets's do this!

Mini family gathering

I don't really blog much. One post per week is more than enough for this blog. But I don't know why I feel like I haven't been blogging for ages. I haven't really spend my time with my laptop much these days. There was a period of 11 days of not switching on my laptop, then on for one night, abandoned again for three nights. I guess I love being at home so much - hanging out, watching TV, chatting with cousins and so on and so forth, that days without laptop seems normal compare to when I was in hostel - boring nights.

Anyway, last few weeks, my maternal family members had a little gathering, thanks to cousin Sis Alice who initiated the idea of the gathering. It had been a while since we had our last gathering like this. And when I say gathering, I mean the 'bakar-bakar' gathering! Yes, 'bakar-bakar' refers to BBQ style gathering. And we went by theme like always. This time it was BLACK! 

Atuk's granddaughters

When life gives me lemons…

…i tried to make lemonade, but it doesn’t taste good.
:(

I am not a person who like to plan ahead of what I’m gonna do and what I wanna achieve in life. The only thing I planned, that I can remember clearly is to get married on the 20th October 2010, which I obviously failed to achieve.

But during my Master degree, I started (try) to plan of what I was gonna do next and how to achieve each of them. I planned on when to start my lab work, when I’ll be able to finish. When to start writing for the thesis and when is the target date to finish it. I planned to graduate by certain time, to start working, so on and so forth. But I guess planning just won’t do for me. I failed to finish writing on the particular period as i planned. I failed to start working as I planned. I’ve failed myself.

The day I spend with my loved ones

I had my day spend today with my loved ones – my mum, niece Nurin and nephew Amir the whole day yesterday. Went to several places as promised to Amir and Nurin. Too bad Hilman didn’t join us.

I picked Amir & Nurin up, together with their grandma (my aunty) in Cheras at noon and headed to our first destination – The National Planetarium. I don’t wish to talk about the place now, but surely will add it up in my Travel Blog later. But there are some of many interesting things I like about the place which I last went during my primary school visit.

Virtual football court

So long my dear Honda C70…

Atuk (my grandfather) owned a Honda C70 (see the past tense),which I loved so much. I grew up with the motorcycle. I have a lot of memories with that old C70.

Atuk sent me to the kindergartens riding that old bike.

Atuk took me on an evening ride around Kampung Pandan with that old bike.

Atuk sent me to primary school at Changkat Thambi Dollah, near the Berjaya Time Square building with that old bike.

Atuk sent me to high school every Wednesday morning (because I refused to take a bus with my KRS uniform on, it would get all crumpled huhu) with that old bike.

I learned to ride a motorcycle with that old bike.

I spent my almost-25 years looking with that old bike.

I loved that old bike.

But...

Hadief Zayed beraya di hospital

Beberapa hari sebelum menjelang Syawal, Hadief mengalami demam panas dan batuk yang agak teruk. Umi Hadief, Along bawa Hadief ke klinik dan doktor mengesyaki Hadief mengalami simptom2 asthma. Batuk hadief berterusan sehingga ke Hari Raya. Pada malam Hari raya pertama, batuk Hadief makin teruk. Umi & Ayah bawak hadief ke Hospital Kuala Lumpur untuk pemeriksaan dan Hadief di tahan di wad. Nafas Hadief berbunyi.

Hadief tak sihat, nangis je masa pagi raya.

Esok tu, raya kedua kami melawat Hadief di hospital. Menurut Along, doktor kata ada kahak berkumpul kat dada/paru2 Hadief. Sebab tu dia x selesa sangat nak benafas. Nampak Hadief susah nak bernafas. Hadief kena bernafas dengan bantuan oksigen dan masuk ubat kat kaki & ikut hidung (pernafasan).

Hadief keletihan menangis sebab sakit

Wad KK1, Institut Pediatrik , HKL

Terlena keletihan

Pegang erat

:’(

Masa kat hospital, mak cerita2 dengan Along. Masa kecik2 dulu, anak tunggal dia ni pun pernah alami benda macam tu. Dulu org pernah demam panas bulan Oktober 1986 sampai kena masuk hospital pada 29 Oktober 1986. Salah satu punca demam panas tu sebab pernafasan terganggu sebab kahak berkumpul dada. Masa tu kena masukkan tiub melalui mulut untuk sedut kahak tu keluar. Ada sekali tu berdarah sikit sbb tiub tu mungkin terkena saluran2 darah. Lepas keluar hospital pada 8 November 1986, seminggu sekali kena pergi hospital untuk sedut lagi sampai dah betul2 ok.

Myself. Lepas keluar hospital.

Alhamdulillah Hadief dah keluar hospital masa raya kelima. Dah boleh senyum2, gelak2 dan lari2 balik. Hadief dah ceria cuma nampak kurus sikit. Semoga Hadief terus sihat hendaknya. :)

Raya ke tujuh @ Sungai Buaya, Selangor.

Welcome to the family, Syawal

Yes he was born in the holy month of Ramadhan. 28 Ramadhan 1431H. But he was named Syawal by his parents.

The doctor estimated that cousin Angah would deliver her baby on 20+ September, so should be in Syawal. So, Angah and her husband, Hakim had planned to name their soon-to-be-born baby Syawal. But with Allah’s will, Angah’s water bag broke earlier than expected and due to circumstances, she had her C-section operation on 7th September at 8.40pm.

Congratulations to cousin Angah and hubby Hakim.

Dear friends, meet baby Muhammad Syawal bin Mohd Hakim. :)

Live blogging

Whenever I’m back at home, I spend less time in front of the home pc or laptop. It has been this way since years ago. I tweet and check my Facebook mostly through my mobile phone. The attempt to blog also will be less whenever I'm back at home.  But I’ve set up a live blog few months back, to blog, live from my mobile phone update on the spot (if the internet line is okay) about whatever happens in my surrounding, my updates etc.

For those who never came across my live blog, well, please do so.

www.live.bubbles182.com

See you there :)

 

Anyway, my cousin Angah had safely given birth to a cute baby boy in HUKM earlier tonight. Congratsssss!

The baby who is yet to be named. :)

Welcome to the family, love.

Upacara Jejak Tanah – Keturunan Rawa

Hari tu, buat pertama kalinya melihat bagaimana upacara jejak tanah bagi bayi mengikut keturunan Rawa iaitu semasa majlis jejak tanah Hadief Zayed. Majlis ni di buat untuk Hadief (dan juga Harris dulu) sebab mengikut keturunan Umi Hadief, my cousin Along.

Mungkin majlis yang dijalankan ini agak simple, tidak se-complete adat yang sebenar seperti zaman dulu-dulu. So sekadar berkongsi dengan mereka-mereka yang juga seperti saya, tak tahu pasal adat ni. Majlis ini dijalankan di rumah nenek saudara Along (Nek Lang) di Kampung Baru.

Bayi keturunan Rawa yang berusia lingkungan 11 – 12 bulan dan sudah pandai berjalan tidak dibenarkan berpijak di atas tanah selagi belum diadakan majlis jejak tanah ni. Dan daripada bacaan, ada juga yang kata bayi2 ni tak boleh memegang bunga, memakai barang kemas dan pelbagai antang-larang lain.

Antara barang2 yang diperlukan untuk majlis jejak tanah ni – bertih, 7 jenis bunga (tak menjalar), daun gelengang, pulut kuning, sepersalinan pakaian kuning utk bayi, ibu kunyit, tepung beras, limau purut, kain kuning, ayam betina yang hidup (untuk bayi lelaki; ayam jantan untuk bayi perempuan), tanah etc.


  

7 jenis bunga berwarna dan daun gelenggang atas hamparan kain kuning

Majlis dimulakan dengan bacaan doa untuk Hadief dari kepala hingga ke kaki. Dah habis tu, Hadief dipimpin dan berjalan diatas kain kuning dgn bunga dan daun tu dan disambut oleh Ayah yang tunggu di hujung lagi satu, dan kemudian berpatah balik dan disambut oleh Umi pula. Bacaan doa diulang lagi dan Hadief dipimpin berjalan sekali lagi, langkah ni dibuat 3 kali semuanya. Dan selepas pusingan ke3, Hadief di pimpin berjalan ulang-alik lagi 4 kali, untuk genapkan 7 kali semuanya.









Selesai 7 kali Hadief jalan ulang alik atas kain kuning tu, Hadief dicalitkan dengan ibu kunyit dan tanah – kat dahi, dada, tangan dan tapak kaki.



Dan akhirnya, kedua-dua belah kaki Hadief di jejakkan di atas tanah.



Upacara terakhir dan kemuncak ialah bayi akan disuakan beberapa benda untuk dipilih, dan mengikut kepercayaan, benda-benda ini mewakili beberapa perkara. Terdapat 4 benda yang diletakkan di atas pinggan untuk dipilih iaitu bertih, pulut kuning, bunga hidup dan cincin emas.

Dikatakan, bertih membawa maksud bayi akan petah berkata-kata, pulut kuning membawa rezeki, manakala bunga dan cincin membawa sakit. So selalunya bayi memang cuba tidak disuakan bunga atau cincin.

Pulut kuning pilihan Hadief

Dah habis upacara, Hadief dimandikan dengan dimandikan dengan air limau dan tepung beras. Kemudian berpantang tidak boleh jejak atau terkena tanah selama 7 hari, lepas tu baru boleh main tanah.
Untuk lebih senang paham, jom tengok video ni pula.

p/s: Kalau ada sesiapa keturunan Rawa yang masih mengamalkan adat ni dan nak berkongsi mana-mana yang tertinggal, sila lah berkongsi ye. Masa majlis tu teruja tengok Hadief dan tak berapa tumpukan perhatian :P

Selamat Hari Lahir, Hadief Zayed.

 

20 Julai 2009 – HUKM, Cheras.

Welcome to the world, sayang.

25 Julai 2009 – Rumah nenek Hadief, Cheras. Family potluck dinner.

Hadief’s first family gathering.

20 September 2009 – Our relative’s house, Keramat.

Hadief’s first Syawal. *ehem* mata bertentang mata. :P

12 December 2009 – Hadief’s Mak Ngah’s wedding.

Hadief kene buli dgn macik2 nya. Hehe.

16 December 2009 – Taman Tasik Perdana. Outing with family.

Tapi Hadief tak pandai lari2, main2 dgn abang Harris & Kak Nurin lagi.

19 February 2010 – at Hadief’s greatgrandpa’s, Kampung Pandan.

Macho tak Hadief buat rambut camni? ;)

 

27 March 2010 – greatgrandpa’s house, Kampung Pandan.

See the lipstick kiss on the cheek? lalala~

Saya memang suke buli dia! :P

Dan saya sangat rindu dia!!

Nnt Kak Nonoi jumpe Hadief hujung bulan ni ye.

 

 

Selamat hari lahir, Hadief Zayed.

Semoga membesar menjadi anak yang soleh, dengar kata Umi & Ayah.

:)

Rebak Island Getaway!!

Thanks to Uncle Zahar & Aunty Rozie, I went to Rebak Island for a short getaway on June 5th-8th with the whole family – Uncle Zahar, Aunty Rozie, cousins Ekha, Kaina, Shana, An, grandma (Mak), brother (Abang Awin) and sis-in-law (Kak Ann).

Rebak Island is an island off Langkawi Island. To get to Rebak, we took the boat from a small jetty, located more or less 5 minutes away from the Langkawi International Airport. The boat ride took us around 15minutes to reach the breathtaking Rebak Island.

The cousins (fr left: Shana, Ekha, Kaina, An) on the boat.

See Shana’s face in above pict – the face of a person who ‘lost’ her BB. Ok, Shana, i need to admit. It was funny since Ekha acted real good! Haha.

I don’t really have a lot of thing to tell during the holiday. Just have a look at some of the picture of the place, ok. Oh, the place we stayed at was the Taj - Rebak Island Resort.

The welcoming yacht at the Rebak Island jetty. I wish to own one. *pray*

Mak at the Rebak Island jetty

 

I missed kayak so much, that I’m happy that we get to kayak there.

Since there were not many people around, it makes the kayaking more fun! But, to have to team-up with Shana means you need to get yourself to work harder. Shana suka curik tulang, duduk belakang tau la I tak nampak!! :P

Plus, look……

…she bullied me… :’(

Get to play in the sea water!!

The next day we were there, we get to cycle around, played indoor games i.e ping-pong, archery (yeahh most of them try to beat Robin Hood so badly, but, well, you know..), and spend the time at the beach. Very chillaxing!

Kak Ann cycling.

Kaina at the archery spot

Ekha on the hammock, at the beach. 

Uncle & Aunty relaxing

The resort library. Can you spot Shana?

Spend the next day at Langkawi main island. Went to several places, bought some chocolate and had lunch before coming back to Rebak Island.

Makam Mahsuri

Galeria Perdana

If only this baby is mine… *drool*

An, with the eagle at Eagle Square

At the room balcony. Ok i know it’s too bright you can’t see the beach at the background –_-“

Abang during the breakfast on the last day

The whole crew before leaving the lovely Rebak Island

Rebak Island is indeed a nice place to go, to spend the leisure time out of the busy life once in a while. Well, at least i think so since I was tired of reading and writing. But hmmm… now I am here back in the campus, and need to write and write again.

Thank you so much again Uncle, Aunty & the whole family for the trip, and for making the trip fun!! *hugs & kisses*