A Mother's Discovery

a mother's experience nurturing her little ones, treasuring every single family moments with her loved ones and sharing her thoughts on day-to-day life experience, breastfeeding and natural parenting ...

Monday, May 26, 2008

happy 1st birthday "A Mother's Discovery"


this blog is celebrating it's 1st birthday....i learnt a lot from my viewers who also shared their opinions and thoughts with me....and i made a lot of new friends too...


i'll carry on pouring my thoughts and ideas into this blog and hope to share more with you...


enjoy reading!

Friday, May 23, 2008

feeling better...


i'm not sure at what time i actually, properly dozed off last night...probably 2 am or 3 am...the last time i remembered, i was still heavily wheezing....alhamdulillah i'm still alive today...


i woke up in the morning with no wheeze but i was extremely sleepy...i invited few of my colleagues for lunch today, so i must get up and prepare the lunch!


alhamdulillah, the cough was better, no shortness of breath and no wheezing...i continued of regular dose of corticosteroid inhaler...i prepared the ingredients and cooked the meals with no problems...


and my colleagues enjoyed my foods, alhamdulillah....and i went to take a bronchodilator form the clinic, fearing of another asthma attack during the weekend...


hopefully, i'll be in good health throughout...


acute asthmatic attack


i can't sleep tonight...i'm currently having a bad wheeze...NO, i'm not known to be asthmatic before...i do have allergic rhinitis but no eczema or asthma...


i discovered that i was having a bad cough after i came back from Pulau Kapas...and my cough mainly worsened at night...last week, i had an episode of acute nocturnal wheeze...when i went to work, it disappeared...


i consulted my colleagues as i was in denial of having asthma at the age of 27+..! she said probably i was having a hyperactive airway post URTI...so, i took a course inhaled corticosteroid as a preventer of my wheezing episode....


and my cough was getting better....no more nocturnal wheezing and nocturnal cough...and i started to taper down my steroid...


but tonight, i really cannot sleep as i felt a little bit of chest tightness and a lot of cough, followed by both inspiratory and expiratory wheeze...when i was doing my cross trainer in the evening, i also had an exercise-induced cough but not as bad as tonight...


i took my stethoscope and heard rhonchi all over my lungs...


i definitely going to take a bronchodilator from the clinic tomorrow...but as for tonight, i will see first...if it worsens, i might go to the emergnecy department for a nebulizer...

Thursday, May 22, 2008

relaxing....


i'm on my 2 weeks leave now before i join Master in Medicine (Family Medicine) in June 2008...i'm planning to relax and do whatever i wish to do before the madness starts again....arghhh!!..


so, what's the plan for these 2 weeks..?


well, i completed my 2-days full cake decorating course with my sifu, Kak Ayuliana...she's the BEST!! i learnt to decorate 8 pieces of cake using different techniques and methods and the results were superb!!! i never dreamt to be be able to make such beautiful cakes...it was never my ambitions before...but now, i've acquired the skills and that is one of the wonderful gift and knowledge given by Allah...i thank HIM for giving me the chance and the opportunity to learn these beautiful techniques from a wonderful friend...


i bought 2 new books earlier, Sundays at Tiffany's (James Patterson) and He Loves Lucy (Susan Donovan)...already finished reading the first on and currently reading the latter one...


i need more workouts!!! and control my foods!!! arghh....! i reached 55kg (from 61-62 kg) in around 4-5 months but during the past week i put up a kg....! (sigh)...i'm feeling happy and good with my new weight and figure...this was my post delivery weight...my aim now is to reduce further to at least 53kg and down to 50kg....!


i just came back from Petrosains...brought Jihan along to give her some scientific exposure...she enjoyed herself there...and now she is fast asleep....


i'm planning to try out new recipes...aiyaa, how am i going to curb my appetite then...?nevermind, i can do extra workouts to burn the calories...hahaha...


i bought a new activity books with a lot of colourful stickers inside and i plan to do it with Jihan...she doesn't know about this book..if she is being good, i'll let her have fun with the stickers later...


next week, we are travelling to Kuantan...ooh, i can't wait to taste my favourite ikan bakar, sotong goreng tepung and such!!


at the end of my 2 weeks break, we are going to celebrate mother's day and father's day at Cyberview Lodge again!! i'm longing for spa treatment...must beg dear hubby to treat me!! and not forgetting a hair cut and a hair treatment too....


that's all i think...i'm planning to have all the fun before June 2008!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

travel cheap, healthy and nutritious


usually when we travel outstation, we usually eat at the local restaurants/stalls...but on the recent vacation (a 3D2N package with daily breakfast and 1 BBQ dinner), i chose to prepare homemade food plus some other healthy snacks for my family...


i made egg and tuna sandwiches with lots of lettuce and tomatoes and cheese (yummy!!)...and i packed some Jacob's biscuits as well...i also brought some packet drinks (Ribena and Yakult - bots are Jihan's favourites!) and the 3-in-1 drinks.....not only that, i also brought some raw materials (namely mayonaise, tomatoes, cheese, bread and tuna in can) so that i can feed myself and my loved ones with sandwiches....


we travelled almost 5 hours to Lumut and had lunch in the car with my homemade sandwiches....a lovely, healthy and balanced lunch!....that night for dinner, there were still some leftover sandwiches so i finished them off and ordered room service (nasi goreng) for Jihan nad hubby....


we had good buffet breakfast the next day...we were all hungry after splashing and swimming in the pool....i made a cup of hot milo and nescafe for me and hubby and we had a few biscuits and bread too...we planned to go to the Lumut Jetty in the afternoon and i prepared yummy tuna sandwiches for our lunch....


that night, we had scrumptious seafood BBQ dinner (inclusive in the package)...


i was glad that we finished all the raw materials that we brought...on the way teravelling back to KL, we stuffed ourselves with strawberry wafers and Jacob's Crack (my favourite!)...we stopped at R&R Tapah to pray and treated ourselves with a single scoop of Baskin Robbins and a mocha ice blended (shared by the 3 of us)....


we save quite a lot in this vacation in terms of food....furthermore, it's homemade and you know how clean, healthy and safe the ingredients used...this can prevent events that you hate most during a vacation - to fall sick!....

Monday, May 12, 2008

Happy Mother's Day



to all great mums out there, Happy Mother's Day!!!!


we spent the weekend at Swiss Garden Damai Laut, Lumut...we didn't purposely planned that this short family vacation to occur on Mother's Day, it was a coincident...i really enjoyed this vacation with my hubby and our dear princess....


we spent our time on the beach, playing with the sand...Jihan was afraid of the waves though....then we took a dip in the swimming pool....i managed to make a few laps while Jihan made new friends with other kids while splashing and playing in the pool....hubby took lots and lots of great photos with his Nikon....


we had good food that i cannot resist!...and we drove to Lumut town and the turtle sanctuary...


this is the only time that we can spend our quality time with Jihan without thte help of others...i wish i can do this more often ...


will upload our precious moments @ our fotopages soon....

Friday, May 9, 2008

to touch a mother's heart



mother's day is just around the corner....we are going to celebrate it at Swiss Garden Damai Laut and Spa in Lumut for a 3D2N rendezvouz....


during this year, i've read a few novels by different author that really touch my mother instinct....i've written about My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult and subsequently after that i read my sister's novel, Olivia's Sister by Claire LaZebnik....it is an interesting story which touches on responsibility....



At 21, Olivia Martin has mastered the art of cynicism. Maybe that's inevitable because of her dysfunctional family - a desperately needy, alcoholic ex-model mother; a rich, ill-tempered father with an imperious new wife; and a spoiled half-sister. Olivia's modus operandi has been to ignore them all and just drift through life, tough and alone. However, just as she is in danger of falling in love - or at least in lust - for the first time, Olivia's familial responsibilities come crashing down about her. Her father and his second wife are killed in a car crash, and she is left to inherit both their considerable fortune and guardianship of her four-year old half-sister. Despite, Olivia's view that 'If I'd wanted to be saddled with a kid at this point in my life, I'd have grown up in Oklahoma,', she has no choice but to do the right thing and try and raise a child she's only met on a handful of times.


currently, i'm reading My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Komsoon....similarly, it is a totally enjoyable reading.....



Best friends Kamryn Matika and Adele Brannon thought nothing could come between them - until Adele did the unthinkable and slept with Kamryn's fiance, Nate. Worse still, she got pregnant and had his child. When Kamryn discovered the truth about their betrayal she vowed never to see any of them again. Two years later, Kamryn receives a letter from Adele asking her to visit her in hospital. Adele is dying and begs Kamryn to adopt her daughter, Tegan. With a great job and a hectic social life, the last thing Kamryn needs is a five-year-old to disrupt things. Especially not one who reminds her of Nate. But with no one else to take care of Tegan and Adele fading fast, does she have any other choice? So begins a difficult journey that leads Kamryn towards forgiveness, love, responsibility and, ultimately, a better understanding of herself.



Thursday, May 8, 2008

a romantic getaway - kapas island



we spent a 3D2N romantic getaway at Kapas Island recently...just the 2 of us...we took an early morning Airasia flight to Kuala Terengganu (whoaa...so many people at LCCT at the wee hours of the morning!)... this is actually our first time using Airasia services and we opted for the express boarding....


arrived in Kuala Terengganu at around 8+ and got transferred to Marang jetty..we can see the island from the jettty ..took a boat to Kapas island, a 15 min journey....the water was so blue...it gave me a piece of mind...


arrived at the island safely...sat by the beach...and surprised hubby with an anniversary gift- a Nikkor lense for his Nikon...then we checked in to our room....a simple,cozy chalet and they surprised us with a box of Ferrero Rocher and a bouquet of roses.....


had lunch, the food was marvellous...i put on 1.5kg on this vacation!!!! arghhhh!!! in the evening, we walked along the beach, had many photos snapped, had a splash at the beach and captured a romantic sunset moment....


dinner was equally good as well and we had a good night sleep despite the heavy rain that night...


the next morning was bright...had a good breakfast and explored the other side of the island...went for our snorkeling trip...got to see beautiful fishes swimming around at our faces...then went for an island tour...our faces were sunburnt but nevermind, they will heal later...


we had a good lunch then a good rest...went for another splash at the beach in the evening...then our candlelight dinner...lovely ambience...


last day of our vacation, had a good breakfast the prepared to go back to the mainland...we arranged for a town tour and got to see a batik factory, Masjid Terapung, Taman Tamadun Islam and Masjid Kristal and bought some keropok and batik blouses and kaftans at pasar Payang....


took our flight home to KL at 4.15pm....


a memorable vacation for the two of us but we really missed our little Jihan....


we are going for another vacation this weekend, but this time with our adorable Jihan...


will upload the pictures @ our fotopages soon...

Friday, May 2, 2008

happy anniversary..


it was our 4th anniversary yesterday...and every year will be a public holiday (Labour Day)....nothing much special yesterday, porbably today we are going out to have dinner just the 2 of us...and we can't wait to go to Pulau Kapas for our honeymoon on Monday!!!



i read a novel P/S: I Love You by Cecilia Ahern.....it was so touching and my tears kept falling down my cheek every time i turned over the page...



i haven't finished reading it yet....


Some people wait their whole lives to find their soul mates. But not Holly and Gerry.

Childhood sweethearts, they could finish each other's sentences and even when they fought, they laughed. No one could imagine Holly and Gerry without each other.Until the unthinkable happens. Gerry's death devastates Holly.

But as her 30th birthday looms, Gerry comes back to her. He's left her a bundle of notes, gently guiding Holly into her new life without him, each note signed "P.S. I Love You."

As the notes are gradually opened, and as the year unfolds, Holly is both cheered up and challenged. The man who knows her better than anyone sets out to teach her that life goes on. With some help from her friends, and her noisy and loving family, Holly finds herself laughing, crying, singing, dancing - and being braver than ever before.

Life is for living, she realises - but it always helps if there's an angel watching over you.

A Mother's Discovery got noticed by the media

i was browsing through the website and came across this article featured in The Star on October 11 2007....it's kind of late to post it in my blog but hey, i'm proud of it...!!! and it was quoted by some other foreign medias as well.....

i haven't got Dr Sheikh Muszaphar's book yet...i was looking at it at a local bookstore recently, but did not grab it as my Jihan kept pullinig me to go to the children's play area...sigh! i'm going to buy it soon....and 1 more book that i wish to get si a book written by my senior in MRSMPC and he is now a fitness celebrity, Kevin Zahri...

P/S: by the way, my streamyx is not yet fixed...sigh!!!


Cyberspace filled with excitement over historic flight


PETALING JAYA: As Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor headed for outer space yesterday, Malaysian cyberspace was abuzz with excitement over the historic event.
Many local blogs and websites posted news of the event as well as messages of congratulations and good wishes for the first Malaysian to go into space.


“I hope it will inspire our children and youth, especially the younger generation of Kedayans to achieve similar things,” A. S. Kasah, a Kedayan from Sabah living in Subang Jaya, wrote in itsurday.blogspot.com


Bloggers among the colleagues of Dr Sheikh Muszaphar from Hospital UKM also took the opportunity to write about the space-bound orthopaedic surgeon.
“We are praying hard for (his) safety ... and I am so proud and glad that he is from the medical profession,” said Dr Ezura, who works at the hospital.


The mother of a two-year-old said in her blog, A Mother’s Discovery (ezzuramd.blogspot.com), that her daughter has just learned the word “angkasawan” and expressed her hope that she would become the first Malaysian woman astronaut.


Faridah Ariffin, who blogs at anuarfamily.blogspot.com, wrote of her nine-year-old eldest son who was “very interested in science, especially space exploration.”
“He’s always wanted to be an astronaut, but I asked him ‘what for?’, macam tak logik pula (it doesn’t make sense). But I would never have expected that Malaysia would send an explorer into space today,” she said.


The gushing pride and enthusiasm in the space mission is a relatively recent phenomenon in Malaysian cyberspace, which in the weeks and months leading to the launch was dominated by questions on the rationale of spending money on a space programme, as well as on Dr Sheikh Muszaphar’s designation as a real astronaut.
But explanations on the important scientific experiments that Dr Sheikh Muszaphar will conduct has helped to win over many sceptics and generate excitement in the programme.


Many readers of The Star also took the opportunity to congratulate Dr Sheikh Muszaphar online via a special website thestar.com.my/angkasawan set up by the newspaper.