Tough, huh?!

Aza: I'm a big boy, and you're a little girl..

Kyra: Yeah.. That's why when you cry, Mum tells you to be quiet.. And when I cry, Mum picks me up and feeds me..

Aza: ....!!!!

Aza: Look, Sis.. I can touch my ear and drink my milk at the same time.. Hee hee..


Kyra: Yeah.. So..???

I'm small and cute, but.. He's big and strong.. You know!

So.. Don't mess with me, unless you want to face my big brother.. !

Deep talk..

Kyra: I'm so upset.. I'm so GRRRRR.. you know?!

Ariq: Ah, you'll be fine, little sister.. Just take a look at me, and you will start laughing again.. :-)

Definitely not my genes.. :-P

(left to right: big knife, Christmas tree and keris)

Aza suddenly asked me if he could use Kyra's nail scissors (it is the little scissors to cut baby's nails, not the clipper thing). First I said 'NO', but then I realized that if I kept doing that, he would only be more curious and he would start trying to get the scissors when I wasn't looking.

So, I told him he could  use the scissors as long as he doesn't take it away. He agreed to use it to cut a piece of paper while sitting on the floor near me..

After a couple of minutes (if not a few seconds), I was really surprised when he showed me these three objects.. (I am very sure that he did not have any kind of writing tools with him).. I asked him how he drew the objects, and he confidently answered, "I didn't draw them.. I just cut them! A big knife, a 'keris' (Javanese traditional knife) and a coconut tree like in 'Home Alone' movie." .. I'm very sure he meant Christmas tree from the movie ;-)

WOW!

Have any of you seen a silhouette artist? I mean, the people who can cut a piece of black paper while looking at you facing sideways and the piece of paper would come out to be a silhouette image of you? Well, I have seen one while he was working and I think it was amazing how a person can do such thing..

Aza could actually visualize the things he wants to make from the paper and cut them into shape without drawing them on the paper first.. WOW!

I was speechless.. completely speechless.. until he asked me, "Mum, can I show these to the fish in the pond?"

I shook my head and replied, "Well, you shouldn't. If the fish swallow them, they will die."

Aza asked again, "But I can just put it on the ground next to the pond."

I tried to answer as calm as possible not to disappoint him, "If you put it on the ground, the fish cannot see them, because fish can only see the things that are in the water.. But if you put the shapes in the water, the shapes will be wet and ruined and if the fish swallow them, they will die."

Aza finally gave up and just asked me to trim his nails and let me have the nail cutter back.. but I don't feel that it was the point in the whole thing anymore.. :-)

One last thing.. please don't ever ask me to cut shapes directly from a piece of paper! I can assure you I can never achieve the shape I'm meant to have.. ;-) If this is a talent Aza inherits.. it is definitely from me! It is definitely not my genes.. :-)

The end of my absence..

"Have a lot of rests and increase your food intake!" That's the line the doctor always said to me for the final trimester of my pregnancy period.

The baby was fine.. the heart rate was strong, the umbilical cord was neatly positioned on top of the baby, and the baby was already head down. However, the baby's weight, though steadily increasing, was not increasing as much as it should.

My mind could not go anywhere else but towards the baby I was carrying.. I was a little worried, but trying not to let my worrying take away my nutrition.. :-) I tried to stay calm and relaxed, I only did things that I found exciting and fun.. I tried to eat healthy food and had a lot of rests (a little too much, maybe)..

I could not write any stories or poems.. I could not even put words together into this journal.. My mind was too focused on my little baby.. although at so many times, when I found myself a little over-worried, I could almost hear the baby whispered to me, "Don't worry, Mum.. I'm fine.." Every time it happened, I took a deep breath and assured myself that everything was fine.. my baby was fine.. :-)

On the 39th week the doctor said, "Is there any possibility that we miscalculated your ETD? Your baby's weight looks like -2 weeks.."

I replied, "Could be, Doc.. Is the baby alright?"

The doctor answered confidently, "Oh yes, the baby is fine.. The baby's heart rate is strong, and it is active. All the vital organs look fine too.. It's just the baby looks very slim for its age.. We'll wait and see next week. Have a lot of rests and increase your intake."

I replied, "I don't know how much more I can increase my intake, Doc.. I eat until I can't see food anymore.. I have put on 20kgs as it is.."

The doctor smiled, "Everything looks fine.. Don't worry.. We'll check the baby again next week."

On the 40th week, the doctor said, "Your water is still clear, a lot and intact. Let's give the baby as much time as possible to give it a chance to put on as much weight as possible."

On the 41st week, Monday, 17th May 2010 at dawn.. I felt the contraction. Still mild, but not false ones anymore.. I asked my husband to take me to my parents' house (the hospital was near my parents' house) before morning rush hour started. We left right away. My husband got ready for work at my parents' and the same thing with me, before we went to the hospital.

My husband and my parents stayed with me during the observation session. When the midwife told us that there was an 'opening' already, my husband quickly arranged for a paternal leave from work.

What I thought would be a midday birth, turned out to be a whole day wait at the hospital.. :-) The opening stayed the same until the 5 pm that afternoon! The doctor let me decide whether to wait or be induced. I decided to be induced before I lost more strength, because I could not sleep between contractions. At 7 pm, after dinner and a shower, I was moved into the delivery theater and the midwife started the drip on me. My husband left to have dinner while my parents stayed with me.

For almost half an hour being on the drip, the contraction and the baby's movements were still happening at different times. I was preparing myself to face a few hours of increasing contraction strength. Nearly 7.30 pm, around the time when the midwife came to increase the drip, I felt the contraction and the baby's movements were becoming synchronized. The midwife left to report to the doctor, she told me she would come back at 8.00 pm for the next check and to increase the drip again. My parents' turn to have dinner as my husband was back.

After the midwife left, I was just talking to my husband (in-between breaths and contractions).. Closing to 8.00 pm, I felt the contractions were escalating, and suddenly, my breathing could not contain the situation anymore. My water broke, and I told my husband to call for the midwife. He called the midwife and then called my parents on the phone. The midwife quickly called the doctor who, at that time, was in the middle of practice hours. The doctor quickly came into the theater.

Quickly, the nurses/midwives prepped me, but before the doctor could put on her coat, before the grandmother entered the theater, the baby had already decided that it was her time to come out.. :-) So, she did! A beautiful baby girl.. She was little (2,410 gr and 47 cm), but her cry was loud, her heartbeat was strong and her kicks were firm.. All my worries just disappeared once I heard her cry and felt her kicks as I was holding her.

We named her 'Adinda Shafia Kirana'. Adinda (Indonesian) means little sister, Shafia (Arabic) means cooling/soothing, and Kirana (Indonesian) means beautiful.

The pediatrician was puzzled on why Kyra was healthy yet so little. However, since she was doing fine, the pediatrician decided she could go home on the 2nd day (Wednesday). My doctor decided the same thing. After being visited by Ariq and Aza on Tuesday night, once they left, I felt very lonely in the hospital room.. So, when I received the news that we could go home, I asked my husband to check us out, and he gladly did (he really wanted his time with his baby daughter without the limits of visiting hours, etc. :-P ..)


Kyra is now four weeks old (almost one month old). She feeds well and has nicely put some weight on. I am very happy about it. We will see the pediatrician again next Friday, and I hope he is also happy with her development.

Now that my mind is free of over-worrying (no one can blame me for worrying a little every now and then, though..), I decided to end my absence in this virtual world by writing this post. I don't know how often I can write for now, as I am still going through changes and enjoying my precious time of early nursing period when Kyra and I are almost 'an item', but I still enjoy writing and blogging.. I just have to take it easy for a while (I took several breaks in writing this post)..

Anyway, it feels really nice to be writing again.. and it is really nice to be among all of you again.. :-)

See you later.. :-)

This is Kyra, 2 weeks old.


(The picture on the top of the post is Kyra, 1 day old)

Only in Indonesia..

A sequel???

Not really..

A sweet girl in Moscow (namely my sister-in-law, Sinta) just suggested to put together all the photos of the animals in Taman Safari that are indigenous to Indonesia.. So, here I am writing a post about it..

This is not going to be a scientific report, because I am neither a veterinary or an animal scientist.. I just like watching and learning (a little thing here and there) about various animals because I think they are fascinating.. :-)

Anyway.. here are the animals that are indigenous to Indonesia..

ANOA -indigenous to the island of Sulawesi (Celebes)-

Anoa is currently endangered and protected as the population has decreased a lot. At the end of April and early May, 2 Anoa babies were born in Taman Safari. These babies are now living in Taman Safari compound with their families..









CENDRAWASIH -indigenous to the island of Papua-
-I am trying to put the video here... Please be patient.. Thank you..-
Cendrawasih is currently endangered and protected. People love the beautiful colors of Cendrawasih and many people would pay a high price for the captured ones, either alive or dead (embalmed and decorated in a glass display).

SUMATRAN TIGER -indigeneous to the island of Sumatra-

Sumatran Tiger is currently in the brink of extinction as only a handful left in the wild.

ORANG UTAN -indigenous to parts of Indonesia-

Orangutan is currently protected. Orangutan is a type of big ape which is very shy and gentle.






 

KANCIL -indigeneous to South East Asia-

Even though Kancil is not an animal indigenous to Indonesia only, I still think that it is quite unique to mention here, as even in South East Asia, it is becoming quite difficult to see it in the wild. Kancil looks cute and mischievous. In local fables it is pictured as a naughty vegetable thief. As far as I know, in most South East Asian countries Kancil has the same name.







If you are interested in finding out more about these fabulous animals, you should be able to find more information about them on the internet. I will try to add some links here in the future ;-)

Thank you for reading this post :-)

Another successful family day...

It wasn't really planned.. It was only Aza's words every now and then, because this plan kept getting cancelled.. "I haven't been to the Safari Park (Taman Safari). The last time we were going, there was a long traffic jam on the toll road and we had to turn back!"

Aza has been very patient about this, so, we were really thinking about the perfect time to take the boys to the Safari Park.

Safari Park is an open-range zoo, where the animals are free to walk around their compounds, while visitors have to remain in the cars. In tame animal compounds, visitors can slightly open the car windows to give carrots to the animals (for the animals that include carrots as they normal food -otherwise, a sign will be put up, not to feed carrots to the animals-).

In the wild animal compounds, car windows must always be locked and cars must not stop at all! If the car is broken during the tour, we have to sound the horn three times to notify the park staff.

From Tuesday to Thursday, Ariq did not have school because Grade 6 students were having National Exams. Therefore, my husband applied for one day leave on Wednesday (at the last minute). The leave application turned out to be still pending, but nothing urgent came up, so, we could go ahead with the plan..

On Wednesday morning, amazingly, the boys woke up early and had breakfast right away. Once everyone was ready, we got in the car and started our journey to the Safari Park.. :-)

It was a nice morning.. the sky was clear but the air was not too hot.. perfect for outing..

The toll road were clear, although we finally had to face a traffic jam anyway, going through a famous local market on the way to the park (Cianjur market).

We decided to have lunch just a little bit before the market, at this new restaurant that has kids playground. The kids had lunch and fun there.. ;-)

This restaurant is a local enterprise, where they grow cows (in a separate farm, of course) for milk, yoghurt and sausages. The company is called 'Cimory'.

 

After lunch, we continued our journey to the Safari Park. There we saw all the animals..

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... and .. we fed some of them with carrots ..

Some animals were having their own lunch feast when we went through their compound..

And here are photos of animals that I had to take with car windows closed and the car kept slowly moving (the sign says 'Don't Stop')..

The following is the ANOA family, animal indigenous to Sulawesi, Indonesia. Far to the back, there are the mother and two babies who were born in April and May 2010 (yep, they were only about 1 month old). The father is showing a protective stance, watching all the cars passing by..

I wish I could get a closer shots at them, but, I was using my mobile phone and using the zoom would only degrade the picture quality... :-(
 

At the recreation part of the park, Ariq and Aza were having a great time riding a camel and ponies..

 

Aza also asked for a photograph with a baby orangutan (I really need to take this photo to a shop to have it colour-fixed and enlarged)..

Aza also asked for a photograph with the baby tiger, but my husband shudder at the thought of Aza being considered a fresh-lunch for the baby tiger.. and I thought his worry was not unreasonable.. :-)

So, we said NO.. gladly, Aza was happy enough being allowed to stand next to the baby tiger photo area, watching other visitors having their photos taken.. -gladly, there were no other little kids having their pictures taken with the baby tiger, otherwise, it would be a very hard job to keep saying NO to Aza-.

Finally, it was time for us to go home.. As soon as we were in the car, Aza found his peace of the day in the middle of the traffic jam... -we adjusted his position after a few minutes-.. ;-)

It was really another great family day out.. :-)

Little king's man..

Mother came back from Solo (Surakarta, Central Java) last night.. She was away for 5 days on a family visit trip..

Welcoming Mother back at home, of course, Ariq and Aza who were asking about her every day were very happy..

Surely Aza, being very excited, enjoyed his presents/souvenirs so much.. Now Aza can pretend to be a soldier on a horse, carrying a mighty sword.. Just like in the old tales.. ;-)


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Healthy house inspection..

It is always a lot of fun whenever Ariq's classmates come to visit our home..

Today, the class is here again with the teachers on their science period, to do an 'inspection' of a healthy house.. ;-)

Well, gladly the visit was in the morning, when the house was in its best appearance, haha.. Plus, the kids much prefered to run around the backyard.. so, the condition of the inside was very well preserved until the end of the visit.. :-)

When everyone had completed their worksheet, noting their observation of the requirements of a healthy house, then it was morning snack time.. 

I thought I did better than the last time in serving the snack -during the last visit, I ran out of food much too soon-.. It turned out that although I did slightly better this time, but still.. I should have put more of the macaroni and cheese, because the kids came back for 2nd and 3rd servings!! WOW! Everything, -cartoon milk, macaroni and cheese, sandwiches and waffers- were gone by the end of the visit, which made me a very happy host.. :-)

The thing that I noted the most was the way the kids behaved.. It was only one year since the last visit, but they have grown so much in terms of manner.. the way they asked about things they needed to find out about, the way they take turns in taking their food, communicating with each other, and mostly.. how they only tiptoed and had a peek when checking the bedrooms.. (last year, they ended up jumping up and down the bed!), hahaha... :-D

It is amazing watching and observing how children grow.. :-)  This is really a great day.. :-)

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Ariq's birthday..

It was Ariq's birthday on the 19th of April..

But, guess who was having a blast??? Well.. this little brother, of course! Hahaha...

Ariq asked my parents to come over on his birthday  and bring a cake, since it was a school day (the grandparents were initially thinking about taking him out for lunch or dinner)..

When mum asked Ariq what cake he wanted, his answer was, "Oh, any choice will be nice, but.. it might be better to have Aza's favorite." -Aza's favorite, by the way, is strawberry cheese cake, with fresh-whole strawberries on top of the cake-.

On the same day, in the art and craft subject at school, Ariq's class had their party hats returned from grading.. so, yeah.. Aza had his favorite cake and a cute hat! Oh, he also had the honor of blowing the birthday candles for the second time.. ;-)

Our family has never been big on birthdays.. It looks like Ariq and Aza like it the same way.. we usually just have a family dinner (either at home with a special menu, or out in one of our favorite restaurants), and buy a cake to share at home.. Birthdays are usually lovely though, because we would all be relaxed -even the birthday boy is allowed to blow the candles wearing pyjamas- .. :-D


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The boys' busy afternoon

Ariq came home at 2 pm, bringing home 2 books from the school's book festival;

'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'

and

'Pirates of Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'.

Aza and I were reading the books, while Ariq was listening to the story and playing his game on the computer..

Then, Aza asked Ariq to print a picture of Lich King sword.. After that, they went to the minimarket to buy play-do, with which Ariq made a tank

and Aza made a Ninja Turtle eye mask.. ;-)

When they had enough, they went outside and played with the waterhose.. Quickly the nanny caught up with them and gave them their afternoon shower..

After having a serving of milk each (Ariq, chocolate.. Aza, natural),

now the boys are happily sitting with me in the study.. Ariq is back with his game, and Aza successfully 'forged' his own Lich King sword from scratch..

A very nice way to start my weekend.. :-)





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