Category: Motherhood

Motherhood, The Travel Tales

Long Flight Ahead! 

Dyan

In preparation for our long flight to New York, i’ve made plans to make that 23.5hr journey bearable for us all 3. I know we’ve got to expect meltdowns cos even adults can’t handle long flights seh. Apa lagi toddlers. 

Babywearing: 

I plan to babywear Nadya most of the time in the plane. Will probably put her in the bassinet only when she’s asleep or during playtime. 

We survived a 6hrs bus ride with babywearing and if we can do it again, even for 6hrs pun aku bersyukur sangat2 seh. Lol

Essential Oils:

I love using essential oils on Nadya so will definitely resort to oiling her. And me. Hahahaha. Lavender EO for sleeping time. Peace & Calming EO for obvious reasons. 

Will also be bringing other EOs like Lemon, Peppermint, Thieves etc since weather will be quite cooling. 

Activities:

Super excited about this because i bought few stuff for Nadya and i’ve been keeping it aside for the trip cos i want her to be excited cos new things mahh. So hopefully it’ll make her spend more time on it! 


Especially love this Smiggle Casing! It’s so cute with all the cartoon characters and i can already picture Nadya poking the characters and saying “tatik…tatik.” Hahaha.

I’ve filled it up with blank papers, a small notebook and gel crayons so she can do her conteng-conteng. 


Activity Book! Mad expensive but there’s so many things to do and really nice stickers. Nadya loves peeling out stickers and pasting it everywhere. Suspect she’ll paste it all over the plane seat. Lol

I also bought her some new books and small activity toys to play onboard to help keep her occupied.

Videos

This is my last resort. I usually don’t allow Nadya to hold any gadgets on her own. I do allow screen time but most of it strictly through the TV where i still have control over it. When we go out, she only get to watch in the car through the car dvd player. 

I have a spare iphone and i have downloaded all Barney shows on it. This will be the very very last resort and i hope i’ll still get to control it as in i’ll be the one holding it for her or u know i’ll use a monopod or something but i hope this will be the last resort in case she gets really really cranky. But let’s hope she behaves most of the time! 

Cos i really don’t want her to develop the habit of wanting to hold a phone all the time and doing this might just trigger that. Sighhh. 

Let me know if u have any suggestions to keep a toddler occupied during flights! 

Motherhood

Picking Battles

Dyan

With Nadya venturing deeper into toddlerhood, i’ve learnt how to pick battles with her because sometimes there’s no point getting so worked up over something that’s beyond my control and at this age, they really test your patience.

I don’t have any preference in bringing her up because i prefer to just go with the flow and that’s hard cos i’m such a planner but i gotta admit raising a kid is not easy. You don’t have time to refer to your Excel sheet to see what’s good or not. U just react to the situation.

Earlier today, Nadya managed to twist open my nail polish bottle and by the time i realised she has it in her hands, she quickly put in the nail polish wand in her mouth. Ahhh such a darling. Then i realised there’s no point getting angry.
So i told her “you can’t do this. It’s dangerous” and pray she understands.
I wiped her mouth, let her drink water and she showed me an apologetic face. Lol

Eating time can also be challenging. Sometimes she’ll go on a strike and refuse to eat anything else but biscuits & “kokok” (keropok) and forcing her to eat would be against what i believe right from the start. So i follow her cue. If she wants to eat, go & eat. If u want to eat keropok all day, gasak lah.

When she eats, i’ll leave her to it and she gets to decide if she wants to eat with her hands or her spoon. Some days, it’ll be hella messy. Some days, i don’t have to clean up that much. Scolding her when she plays with her fully loaded spoon is pointless too. So i’ll tell her not to do it and if she keep doing it, i’ll just take her plate away and tell her “No more food. Told u to stop playing.”

If she refuse to go in the toilet & shower, i’ll leave her outside,  go in the toilet and play with water. She’ll step in the toilet herself in few seconds.

I guess this works for us now. For my sanity at least.

But i’ll be kidding you if i tell you i’ve not snapped at her.
Truthfully, many times. I’ll feel so guilty after that, i’ll break down & cry.

Everyday i strive to be a good mom. Better than yesterday.

Motherhood, Our Little Family

Mummy’s Day

Dyan

Mother’s Day! Overrated for some people and I know some people will go “I don’t celebrate Mother’s Day. Everyday is Mother’s Day” and that is so damn cliche. When you’re a mum, even if you don’t want a full-on celebration, maybe a free pass of housework pun jadi lah. Seriously.

And also some who said “Why make a fuss over Mother’s Day when u don’t treat her nice / post pictures of her every other day?”

ALL THE MORE U SHOULD CELEBRATE MOTHER’S DAY! 
Kau dah lah perangai serupa Tanggang. Hari2 harap kan mak kau jaga makan pakai kau. Then cannot just take one day to celebrate & appreciate her meh? Facebook kau takde space ke nak letak 1 gambar of your mum for just one day?

And then those yang cakap Mother’s Day tu haram. I just don’t want to start, really.
So much angst over a Mother’s Day post eh? Hahahaha.

We spent Mother’s Day with dinner at Carousel, just the three of us! My little family. ❤

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Also i think Nadya enjoyed stuffing herself silly! Took a video of her stuffing her little mouth with food.

I gave her mostly boiled prawns, steamed chicken from the chicken rice counter, steamed fish, some pastas, breads & even gave her a dessert treat!My daughter is so gagah.

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I love the food from Carousel! Although i can no longer stuff myself as much as dulu. No idea why. So i took really small portions of everything.

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Carousel was really thoughtful to place a photobooth area for that day so we took the chance to take one and yes we’re the kind of people who hates wearing ridiculous wigs and holding up cheesy boards so we always end up taking boring pictures at photobooth. Hahahaha.

I had fun that day spending time with two people i really love and care for and here’s a video i uploaded on Instagram that i can recycle here. Hahahahaha

 

Motherhood, Our Little Family, The Husband & Wife

husbands

Dyan

Never underestimate your husbands. I know we always complain them guys are always clueless about everything. But sometimes they really do surprise you. Little things that you thought they won’t notice, they actually do.

I’ve never openly declared love for anything Hazelnut-flavoured although it’s quite obvious i would always choose Hazelnut over Cocoa flavoured.

Sometimes, when i tell Rusly to buy home some chocolates and i don’t specify anything in particular, he’ll come home with Kinder Bueno / Kit Kat Chunky in Hazelnut. It’s not exactly my favourite but i think Rusly realized i always reach out for them.

and then sometimes, without me asking, i’ll find a random Kinder Bueno in the fridge. No sweet notes or whatever. Just plain ol’ Kinder Bueno staring back at me and that to me is super sweet. No pun intended.

I’m sure all husbands do this. Antara kita sedar ke tak je.
And then when u enter into motherhood, sometimes it’s really easy to overlook the small things your husband do and just dismiss them as ‘not helpful‘ cos we feel like we do much more than them. Which is true to a certain extent but how do u measure all these and do we seriously gotta be calculative in everything we do in marriage?

Yesterday, i needed a nap badly cos it was so hot and i’ve been sleeping at 3.00 am and waking up by 7+am cos the budak kecik suka2 bangun siang these days. I woke up from a 2hr nap with the laundry all done and my husband feeding Nadya her dinner.

I’m just thankful for this guy. No qualms about doing housework. It’s not a woman’s thing. It’s just plain housework. Does not matter who do it. It just had to be done.

❤

#NadyaNomNomNom, Motherhood, Nadya Raessa, Uncategorized

Oh so Mat!

Dyan

Mat as in the floor mat, play mat, you know? Not the Mat & Minah kind of Mat. Heehee

So anyway, now that Nadya is full on eating, i’ve upgraded her to eating placemats!
Previously i either feed her myself from a bowl etc or if it’s something that she can feed herself, i just put it on her High Chair tray. We’re using the IKEA High Chair. It’s basic, cheap, light and easy to clean.

We initially bought another high chair but that damn thing was so heavy and such a hassle to move around. Cleaning up is also a hassle. The IKEA chair goes to the toilet after almost every messy meals and get hosed down and left to dry. I’ve got 1001 things to do so cleaning high chairs must be a chop chop affair.

Andddd back to the mat! We’ve used the mat since last October and that thing is good investment! We bought the EZPZ Mat from Mumspick during the last Baby Fair. It was about $70.00 for the regular Happy Mat and the Happy Bowl. That’s the promo price btw. The retail price is $48.00 for the Happy Bowl & $52.00 for the Happy Mat.  We’ve got a new addition to the family. The Mini Mat!

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This would be a good indication on the size. The Mini Mat is the only one that can fit the IKEA Chair properly. The others is slightly big and the suction might come out. But Nadya is usually too focused on eating that she didn’t even try to peel it off or something.

Here’s how they look like on the IKEA High Chair.

The Happy Mat

 

The Happy Bowl 


The Mini Mat

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What i think about them individually:

The Happy Mat 

  • It’s huge so i usually use this Nadya’s meal. I love the compartment as well so i can usually place her fruit together with her main meal.
  • It’s bigger than the IKEA Tray but the excess surface helped to catch some of Nadya’s food. So she made lesser mess now. Previously, all her food will drop drop drop like grapes seh.
  • The only thing i hate about it is it’s heavy & bulky so i can’t bring it out with me. Usually when we go out, i paste the disposable Winnie The Pooh Mat but nadya will peel them off all the time!

The Happy Bowl 

  • This is perfect for porridge or rice with soup. The bowl’s depth is just nice! It’s not too deep that it’s hard for her to self-feed using a spoon. But it is deep enough to house her food and not spill when she tries to scoop food out.
  • Only thing i don’t like about the Happy Bowl is that there’s no place to place her fruits. So i’ll have to remove the bowl and then place her fruits on the tray or use the regular mat. So it’s more clean-up for me.

The Mini Mat

  • The size is perfect for the IKEA Tray, as mentioned and it is light!!
    So bringing it out is easier. Just put in the bag it came with and throw it in the diaper bag. So now i don’t have to bring use the disposable placemat cos really nadya will just peel it off.
  • The small surface area means u can’t put much food in it. So i’ll use it for travel etc. Or for her tea time snacks at home.

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This is how they look like with food on them! I have not taken any action shots with the Mini Mat. Maybe some other time.

Hope this can help you decide which one to get! I personally love all three.
Oh and another reason why i like them, there’s no sharp corners. All rounded corners.
So no chance for mould etc to settle in! Wooots!

 

Friendship, Motherhood, Nadya Raessa

Playdates!

Dyan

This is so last year. Tapi nak jugak update cos it’s part of Nadya’s growing up. Barely 1 year old but this girl dah made a few friends and went to several playdates with others.

On Christmas eve, we met up with the bloggirls and their babies.
We went to Kallang Wave Mall to have Cheesesteak which is unexpectedly yummy. I might just go back to KWM for it, even though jauh beribu-ribu batu. Hahaha.

We chose The  Cheesesteak Shop cos it’s seemingly baby-friendly. I didn’t know what to expect but it turned out to be quite baby-friendly. Plenty of high chairs, not too crowded and it is situated at the outskirts. So if your baby makes a scene and you need an escape route, just go out and you can roam around at the huge space outside. Trust me, babies will make a scene and you’ll want to hide yourself in between the cheesesteak buns.

How did they all grow so fast! lol.
The last time we met, Danyal was a tiny newborn.

Continue reading “Playdates!” →

Motherhood, Nadya Raessa, Uncategorized

Pancake & Play

Dyan

So we tried Paddington House of Pancakes for the 1st time.
Currently, the only branch in Singapore is at City Square Mall and to be honest, i wasn’t really keen in trying it but since we had to go City Square Mall anyway, i thought why not?

We also thought a Pancake place would be quite good for lunch cos i can let Nadya have it as well. Nadya lovessss Pancake!

I ordered Oslo which is the Smoked Salmon one and Rusly ordered Monaco which is the one with the lamb shoulder. We ordered Blueberry Pancake Shortstack for Nadya. We ate the ice cream though. Lol

They were nice but we tasted nicer savory pancakes elsewhere but it’s still nice & worth the money! The portion is huge. The smoked salmon, i suspect they gave me half a pack of it. Lol There were too many! I got jelak after a while. The place is also kid-friendly. Ample space for a high seat. Not stuffy at all.

Would go back there again if i’m around the area but won’t specifically go to City Square Mall just to have this.

Paddington House Of Pancakes
180 Kitchener Road, City Square Mall
#02-35/36
Tel: 6612 9029

So anyway, the reason we went to City Square Mall was to let Nadya have her 1st Indoor Playground experience.

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I chanced upon The Petite Park while googling on Indoor playgrounds for infants. As we all know, most indoor playgrounds mostly target the toddlers / older kids with all those big slides etc. Nadya is mostly a crawler so i don’t wanna overwhelm her with those kind of indoor playground, just in case she gets stepped all over.

According to the website, The Petite Park is designed for children under 130 cm or (in most cases) children under 7 years of age. In fact most of the toys featured are quite Petite! Nadya was the youngest and the shortest. And of course the cutest but that’s just me being biased and shameless. Hahahaha.

She loves this station the most, spending the longest time here. I had to take her away cos eh eh baby, i pay so much, u play wooden blocks only? lol

I notice she likes the pretend play area. Like this masak-masak corner also and she has this liking for taking things out from a basket. She’ll take out the content one by one and then leave the scene and you’ll see me at the back putting back all the things in the basket. Hahahaha.
I kasi chance tau baby.Nanti dah besar u do like this, u kemas sendiri ok.

I brought her to the Bouncy Castle and she end up loving that too. Or maybe she likes it cos got friends. She loves company, this one!

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Hates the ball pit though. She cried bloody murder when i tried putting her in. I wanted to go into the ball pit so bad. But aiyah Nadya spoiler ah.
Hahahaha.

You know what’s surprising? She wasn’t that tired but we left before the 2 hours were up because Rusly & I got really tired running after her and all. Age is catching up seh.

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We then went to Toys R Us which is really a tempat puaka cos i wanna buy everything there. Really, mak dia yg melebih. But we got her.. surprise, surprise… wooden blocks! hahahaha

Ok we also got her a push-walker and then she end up walking on her own days after without the help of the walker! Thanks ah baby.
But now she pushes that walker macam nak gi racing kereta. Living the dangerous life, this one!

I love The Petite Park cos it’s targeted to the younger ones but the location is too far from us and i’ve recently found out that an indoor playground just opened very near home so maybe we’ll try that one soon!

I’ve signed her up for a trial class at My Gym. We’re waiting for them to get back to us when we can go for the trial! If she likes it, then we’ll get the package for her.

I personally think indoor playgrounds are quite fun for them. I’m all about keeping Nadya occupied and minimize the usage of gadgets as much as i can. Nadya is quite hyper  and really there’s just so much she can do at this age. But i’m not gonna be going indoor playground hopping all weekend though! I’m fine even if she’s just out socializing with people her age. Until the next play session!

The Petite Park
180 Kitchener Road, City Square Mall
#B2-51/52
Tel: 6636 7267

Don’t forget to bring socks for baby & for yourself!

Le Familia, Makan Chronicles, Motherhood, Nadya Raessa, Uncategorized

Star Lights, Star Bright

Dyan

I love weekends especially cos Rusly work office hours so once it’s friday, kita hooray2!

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Our friday ritual is to go my mom’s place and i always dress Nadya up even though my mom’s place is only 10mins  drive away. lol

Too cute, i cannot! She’s at the stage where she can’t keep still so taking ootd is reaaallly hard work! But check out that side profile. lol

Continue reading “Star Lights, Star Bright” →

Motherhood, Nadya Raessa

Tula or Lenny Lamb?

Dyan

One of the babywearing question i always get asked is “Do u like Tula or Lenny Lamb better?”

To be honest, you won’t know which one u’ll prefer unless you’ve tried it on.

Here’s a comparison between the Tula and the Lenny Lamb.
Both are Standard Size and Wrap Conversions in this case.

2015-11-11 16.43.59Left: Lenny Lamb (Charlotte)
Right: Tula WC (Berry Sweet)
Continue reading “Tula or Lenny Lamb?” →

Le Familia, Motherhood, Nadya Raessa

Being Happy

Dyan

And i guess nothing makes me & rusly happier than seeing Nadya happy. And she really had fun last weekend cos we went to the S.E.A Aquarium on saturday.

 We initially wanted to bring her to Gardens by the Bay but the haze was back and I don’t think she would appreciate flowers at this age cos they don’t move? Although the colours would definitely catch her attention. So maybe we’ll wait for the next Tulipmania next year.

I was keen on bringing her to S.E.A Aquarium cos i personally love the marine life. I find it interesting and i know bright colour fishes moving at high speed would definitely catch her attention.

We bought the tickets online (Mastercard 15% off Promo) the night before. Printed the E-Tickets & exchanged for an actual ticket at Guest Services, skipping the Ticket Box, thank god!

We brought along the pram cos we thought it’ll be easier for her to sit and view the fishes but only for a while cos we end up carrying her in our arms so she could take a closer look and try & ‘touch’ the fishes! So yes, don’t bother bringing a pram cos i think they’ll have limited visibility if they sit on the pram.

19Her face when we put her in the pram cos she couldn’t bounce up & down. Lol

Nadya’s favourite aquarium was the one with lotsa neon fishes! So bright & colourful she kept shrieking each time one of them comes near. It was too cute!

One of my personal favourite is the seahorses aquarium. They were so…. elegant. I can only come up with that. The way they were bobbing up & down. So understated.

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It was a short excursion out. She slept even before we could exit the place!
We did however managed to get a family photo taken and because it was disgustingly expensive, i told Rusly i’ll get it only if Nadya’s looking at the camera.
And there you go, my big round-eyed girl smiling at the camera, as usual. Of course i have to get it lah!

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These were candid shots taken by Rusly and these pictures make me happy. It’s almost like seeing us from his point of view.

and here’s a short video of Nadya talking to her fish-friends!

View this post on Instagram

Fish language. #NadyaRaessa

A post shared by Dyan Razali (@deardyan) on

Once the haze is gone, we’ll go and visit the zoo soon!