hari raya preparations....

syawal is just around the corner and that means ramadhan is leaving us for this year....hopefully, we are still able to meet ramadhan in years to come....there are lots of barakah in the month of ramadhan and i'm going to miss ramadhan this year...

i love this year's ramadhan...throughout the month, we only experienced homecooked food cooked by either me, my mum or our maid...but most of them were my mum's....it was only yesterday that we had iftar outside with our friends in Serdang....

as i'm in the middle of preparing my exam, i made sure all the baju raya were bought at the beginning of ramadhan...due to the economic downturn, it's not the best time to spend lavishly for hari raya....the kids got a suit of baju kurung/baju melayu each, a 2 pieces of casual wear each...for me 2 baju kurung that i can wear to work as well, hubby 1 baju melayu...shoes...? we bought jihan a pair of comfy shoes that she wears to school as well, and for Imtiaz, he's not walking yet so no need for shoes...he got the shoes that i won in a giveaway, he could wear that if he wants...if not just socks would be nice for him...kuih raya..? my mum made them with my help...i'm not baking any on my own as i need to study for the exam...

that should be enough, i think...we have prepared the duit raya packets to give out to the children as well...cuti raya..? well, i'll be working till friday but then on leave until the mid week after raya...but i'm taking those extra leaves to study....i need to progress so much for the exam...oh, gosh! and hubby is oncall on 2nd raya, then he'll be back working on thursday...

and jihan and imtiaz got another pair of baju kurung/baju melayu from wan and atuk...that completes our preparation for this year's raya....

imtiaz's first food

finally, imtiaz's is already 6 month old...so it's time for his first food!...we were all very excited to feed him with his first food...and alhamdulillah, a pat on my back too for successfully exclusive breastfed him for 6 months...yeay!

so, i decided to give him carrot puree as his very first food...i opted for natural, homemade food as jihan had previous history to manufactured baby's food during her weaning....so, it is better, healthier and safer to give imtiaz a homemade food to prevent allergy reaction....

i started preparing his food after sahur....i cleaned and cut the carrot into small pieces and steamed it until soften...then i pureed the carrot till smooth...when about to feed him, i add some breastmilk to the puree to give it a smoothie consistency...i refrigerated the rest of the puree for lunch and dinner...

the first bite, he gave me a weird face, then he started to lick all corners of his mouth....it was a fun experience for him and for us who watched him till he finished a tablespoonful of puree....he still breastfeed in between the feeds and on the first day of weaning, he already took 3 meals per day...! he simply loves meal time....!

today, he had carrot and potato puree plus breastmilk....and for tomorrow, he'll have potato and spinach puree....even though imtiaz has started on solid food, i still breastfeed him and plan to do so until he is at least 2 years old....