18th December 2008 - A Special Day

The 18th of December 2007 was an auspicious day.

What was so great about that day you might say. Well for starters it was a Tuesday. Tuesday means MRT at Kak Ton's place in Kelana Jaya.

Didn't I attend the previous MRT and blogged about it?

Yes I did. Everybody knows that I attended the previous MRT by being fetched by no less than Elviza Michele with Acciaccatura as the navigator and later sent home right to my daughters doorstep without having to ride the now well known RapidKL bus no 69 to Amanputra Puchong.

The MRT of 18th December was important as I had permission from Kak Ton to bring my wife Fatthiyah and the whole family of my son Azrin comprising his wife Yani, two and half year old son Irsyad, daughters Ayen who is one a half year and Syakirah 4 months. Even the Indonesian maid came. Hey we need extra hands to keep the two hyperactive Irsyad and his sister Ayen. I have requested an early arrival and so by 12 noon we were in the vicinity of PKNS hockey pitch in Kelana Jaya where Kak Ton's place was located.
When I rode in Elviza's car I wasn't paying much attention to the actual route. All I remember was Kak Ton's plece wasn't far from the field. Elviza took several turns as she wanted to buy some 'buah tangan' for Kak Ton at the convenience shop of 'Seven Eleven'. That detour screwed up my recollection abit. The fact that we were early and non of the expected many cars were there made me doubt that the place we were looking at were really Kak Ton's. A few calls to Elviza failed to get a responce. She must be facing the right honurable judges or something or suspecting me of asking for another ride to Kak Ton's place may have deterred her from answering my call. When in a fix, many silly reasons suddenly play up in my mind. If only I had asked Kak Ton for her phone number all this doubt could be avoided.

It was Yani who gave me the confidence that this was indeed Kak Ton's place as she had seen the photographs I had taken of the bloggers at Kak Ton's house. Smart girl this daughter inlaw of mine. Seeing photograph of the inside of a house can make her visualize the outside of the house. With that booster to my confidence I rang up the door bell. Somebody from insde the house came out and she confirmed my inquiry of whether that house really was the house I was looking for.

I beckoned to the rest of the family in the car to alight and join me in the house.
Profusely apologizing to Kak Ton for being too early and bringing along such a large entourage (others only bring themselves, their spouse or at the most their friends) we immediately trooped to the back of the house where most of Kak ton's grandchildren's toys were located. Kids being kids immediately made it as their home to play with the toys. At least the toys kept them occupied instead of going after the many ornamental things used to decorate the house.

One for the album with Kak Ton.

'Can we play with the toys?' Irsyad was pleading.

The grandchildren making themselves at home

The reason for me to bring my wife along is for her to meet some of my friends from the blogspere. She must know what kind of crowd I am keeping up with. How I wish I could take her to Ontario to meet my good friend U Lee. Since she didn't read blogs she wouldn't know what sort of history or background U Lee had.

Prior to this I had taken her to Ampang Jaya to visit Pak Idrus and his wonderful wife who served us with great nasi minyak. She met Akmal there too.

Being early we were served with the Mee rebus early and on the way back we talked about how great the mee was. Even the children had second helpings. I didn't go for second though since my family had taken a big chunk of the food to be served to the other bloggers who arrived soon after. First to come was Captain Yusoff Ahmad, followed by Bernard Khoo who came with Tony Yew. Soon after Stephen came. Kak Ton's sister Nuraina came next. By then I was already taking leave of Kak Ton and Abang Ruslani.

Kak Ton and Abang Ruslani, the ever gracious host.

Lending an ear to Tony Yew.

Stephen, don't we look like brothers?

I couldn't stay much longer as I had intended to visit a close friend in Pandan Indah. This friend had the misfortune of having a second stroke attack. Now he couldn't even speak normally. This friend was one of the best specimen of a healthy man. Slim and finely built with no noticable tummy. He was a sportsman. Where did he go wrong to deserve such a fate. Maybe an immediate stop from hyperactivity to a slow and mundane one did the work on him. Or the high pressure of his job that did him in.

Halfway to Pandan Indah, we were caught in a heavy traffic snarl. My headache acquired from lack of quality sleep start to build up. Thinking that it will only get worse if I we were to proceed to Pandan Indah, I told Azrin to proceed directly to my other son's place in Shah Alam, much to the relief of Azrin who was driving. He had cautioned me about my plan to go to Pandan Indah at that hour but didn't dare to object being a filial obedient son. I will have to make a spcial visit another time and time my visit perfectly to avoid the high midday traffic level on the way to Pandan Indah.

Getting away from the maddening traffic of KL was one way of easing my headache. Thinking of getting a swim in the pool and have a sauna after that tricked my mind of the pain the headache was giving me. Immediately after arriving at Azuan's 13th floor apartment in Shah Alam, the grandchildren quickly changed to their swimwear. This pressure us adults into doing likewise imediately and so we trooped to the recreation area on the fifth floor where the swimming pool, gym, surau, library and the games room were located. The sauna is one floor below accessible by a short flight of steps. This is the benefit of apartment living though the homes were mere cubicles high up in the sky. Ample fascilities were built in into the package beside the good security. I believe security at Brunsfield Service Apartments was adequate. I wonder how things were at nana's Acapella a few minutes drive away. It being newer and more posh was definitely something to dream about. The tenant immediately in front of Azuan, a Datuk, had moved to Acapella immediately after it was completed. It must be something definitely better than the one at Brunsfiled otherwise why would he vacated his unit at Brunsfiled.

The swimming pool at Brunsfiled is what attracted the grandchildren to come here most. So today, the four of them (Syakirah is still too young to enjoy such facilities) had fun splashing in the childrens pool. I took to the pool before going for the sauna which like most other well maintained facilities on weekdays seemed to be under utilized. What a happy situation for retired people like me who can choose the times to use them whenever I am in Shah Alam. The sauna could really relieve the tension and hopefully the headache in me. How I wished I could have a sauna in Pasir Mas. I used to do my own repairs to my house and up between the ceiling and the roof, the situation is just as warm as any sauna. Maybe I should go up there more often to enjoy a free sauna.

Irsyad swimming in his birthday suit.


They love the play ground too.

When evening came, my eldest daughter Azura arrived bearing the birthday gift for the mother. The 18th of December being my wife's birthday is another reason for this date to be auspicious. After what the children did to me for my birthday in October in Pasir Mas, a similar affair though as small was definitely due. This was the first time in our life that we get to blow candles. Let this be our day even though it was just this once. Remember such events has never been a custom in our family. So let us too at this late age, enjoy it like the grandchildren does. Remember the Shakepeare's Seven Stages of Man? We were getting to the 7th stage hahahaha.
Azuan came home with a cheese cake from Secret Recipe. I heard cakes from Secret Recipes are nice and the children deemed it fit to buy one for the mother to blow her candles on. When the time came everyone including the grandchildren stood around the mother and sang the birthday song. Of course Shakirah didn't stand or sing as she is only 4 months old.
The cheesecake from Secret Recipe.


Irsyad being nearest to the cake blew away most of the lit candles except for one which was left for the grandmother to blow away. Young kids don't know whose birthday it was and must have thought all candles on a cake is meant to be blown off by anybody. Yummy, cheesecakes from Secret recipe is really delicious.
Singing Happy Birthday to mama.

Another one for the album
Next was the giving away of the gift. The eldest grand daughter Lis (Real name Nor Alia Jazleen, the one who called herself Budak Puchong) was given the honour to hand over the gift to her grandma. It was a Dior's perfume, the 100 ml Tender Poison in a gift box bound by a Dior ribbon. The gift definitely brought a happy smile to my wife. She was happy to be remembered on her birthday with a gift rather than the usual sms and phone calls from the children which was the norm for earlier birthdays.

Tok Ma proudly posing with the gift from the children.
Opening the gift.

The sarong is definitely comfortable at home. Why cant we wear it to the office?
With that done over we began to shovel in our dinner, so happy to be together with our children and grandchildren again. Azini, Lokman and daughter Nur Aqila Balqis were too faraway in Labuan to join us.

When Will I See You Again?

Nur Aqilah Balqiss

When we opened the house door, we could hear the eery silence inside the house. It felt so empty now she is no more with us. Not that she was making much noise when she was here. She broke into the occassional childish cry only when she was hungry. Otherwise she would be as quiet as any other baby. Whatmore if she was sleeping. My wife and me peered into the room that she was usually sleeping in. We saw the empty bed that her mum used to let her lie down when we were not holding her in our arms. She is not there anymore.

Barely an hour ago that Nur Aqilah Balqiss flew off into the blue sky heading for Kula Lumpur and later to Labuan and we are missing her already. We had been anticipating this feeling and thought even before she was born. We know we were going to have her around for just a few months at the most. We were prepared for this moment and yet we couldn't take it.

Our youngest daughter was 7 months pregnant when she came back from Labuan to deliver her first child. She had to come back early since her pregnancy will prevent her to fly when the due date was too near. Since this was her first delivery, she wanted to do it back home where we could be close to her when the time comes. The husband would come back later when the time was due for her to deliver.

At 2 days old

Nur Aqilah stayed in Perdana Specialist hospital for another 2 days after her delivery. Since the mother was still weak from the delivery, and my wife teaches on most days, I have to do the bathing of the baby every morning. My experience with newborns like my first nephew and later my own child has made me a sort of expert in handling babies of such a tender age. Later when the baby was older and the mother was stronger, this job was taken over by the mother with coaching from her mother and me.

Giving her a bath

Since I am retired, I dont really have much things to do around the house. The baby was like a gift to keep me occupied everyday. Feeding him with the bottle is one of my job since the mother didn't lactate immediately after her birth. When the mother produces sufficient milk, bottled milk was alternated between breastfeedings. I made sure that the baby received the colostrum, that is the first milk which contains a very rich concentration of antibodies essential to the health of the baby later in life. Many people are ignorant about the importance of feeding their babies with the first milk. My own daughter didn't know too until I have explained the details. Without this antibodies the child would be susceptible to disease later in life.
The doting parents was bent on giving their child the best formula milk. The best may not be always the best for a newborn baby. Compatability is important. As such the baby developed constipation which needed to be resolved with the use of laxative introduced via the anus. The mother then agreed to a change of ordinary milk powder that she herself was fed on when she was young. The change to 'Lactogen' not only cost her much less but solved the problem of constipation with her baby.

Later the baby was infected with nasal infection which resulted in nasal congestion. She had problem sleeping.We were often disturbed from our sleep with her incessant crying due to the nasal congestion. Both me and my wife will wake up and alternately cradle the baby to get her to sleep. The change in position helped her with her breathing problem. We tried to change her sleeping position so that she will sleep on her stomach with her face facing sideway. Azini wasn't confident as she feared that the baby maybe suffocate if she were to fall asleep herself and if Balqiss were to change her head position downward against the pillow.

This sleeping position gave her some respite when having nasal congestion.

The next day we took Balqiss to Perdana Specialist Hospital to have her checked and there they tried to suck out the phlegm blocking her nasal passage. Even that didnt help her much. I presume one of the nasal passges was blocked by inflamation. Luckily she responded to medication after a few days and was able to breathe normally which helped her with her sleep and also the mother's own need for sleep.

At two month old, she had already exceeded by a kilogram over the normal baby's weight of a two month old baby. Most of the clothes bought for her which was supposed to fit babies of below six months became too tight for her. So were the nappies.

Look what the doting grandma gave her.

All these while Lokman the father, had to be away since Balqiss was about a week old. The plant where he was working in Labuan was having a major shutdown for maintainence and his presence on site was much needed. Later an explosion occurred at the plant. I was shocked to read about it in the papers since Lokman didn't mention about it at all in his many phone calls and sms to his wife. He didn't want his wife to worry about it. That accident costs a worker's life, the welder. Something that never happened before in the history of the plant.

After the maintainence work at the plant was completed Lokman was granted 3 weeks leave to comeback to see his baby. From that day we started the countdown for the day when Balqiss will be taken back to Labuan which will be on 23rd October 2007. As a trial we allowed Lokman to take Balqiss to away to his parents home which is just less tan 10 km from our own home.

When Idilfitri came on 13th October 2007, we had full house when all the children and their children came home not only for the Eid but also for Azuan's wedding. After all these years we were all united again. We made do with all the discomfort of a full house. Since not all rooms were not fitted with air conditioners, some families had to suffer the discomfort of a slightly warm rooms with fan only accompanied by pesky mosquitoes which managed to escape from my electric mosquito swatters. Without fail I would religiously swat those mosquitoes to smitheren with the assistance of my older grandchildren who love to hear the sound of mosquitoes being zapped. At every zap, they will shout 'yea dapat'. Even the two and a half year old Razin Irsyad joined in the fray much to the consternation of Fatthiyah who was scared that her many precious glass and crystal decorations adorning the house would also be destroyed in the process.

If you are wondering what a mosquitor swatter looks like, wonder no more. It's made in China with a built in rechargeable battery. The handle can be seperated to become a torchlight. It is priced at RM15.80. There are other versions of course which come with different price.

After the wedding reception on the 16th of October, the exodus began. Azrin and family had to leave that very night as he had to work on his coming exam before he could renew his pilot licence. He left that night after all the presents for the brides were opened. Razin Irsyad was most involved with the opening of the presents.

Next to go was Azura with hubby Joe and their two girls Nuralya Jazleen and Nurfarhana Jazreen. They went by the Cameron Highlands route with a nightstop at the highland resort. The next one to go was The Brides Azuan and wife Wan Hanizah. They flew home by AirAsia on the evening of 19th October. Azuan's in laws were there too at the airport to to see the couple off.

The final one to leave was Nur Aqilah Balqiss and her parents on the 23rd of October 2007. It was their being going to Labuan that made it so difficult for us to let them go. If only Labuan is located at the southern tip of peninsular Malaysia, it won't feel so heavy on us. At least I can drive to Johor and hop across to Labuan by ferry if it is so located. But alas Labuan is at the tip of Borneo which is across the China Sea. Of course I have to fly there. Upon checking on the internet, it would cost at least RM600 per pax to cover both the KBR-KUL and KUL-LBU sectors for a return flight. Still too expensive even on a no frill airline for a retiree living on a government pension like me. Anyway it is still too soon for us to visit them in Labuan. We will wait abit longer. At least by then Balqiss will produce a giggle when coaxed and not just the silent smile that she managed to give us thus far. That will be reward enough for us to travel that distance to see her.

The Smiling Balqiss

We missed the other grandchildren too. Come November 25th, I will be with the 'Budak Puchong' in Taman Amanputra, Puchong to stand in for their nanny who will take a month leave to visit her parents in Sumatra. After 4 years away from them while working for my daughter Azura, she definitely deserved the break. 'Budak Puchong' was the term Nuralya Jazleen used to proudly call herself when talking to her friends in the Taman Amanputra neighbourhood. While there I will be able to visit the three 'Budak Labu' in an enclave at Enstek, in Labu, Negeri Sembilan next to KLIA. I wont also forget to visit the newly wed at Brunsfield Riverview Apartments in Shah Alam to see whether Wan Hnizah has been affected by the feeling of throwing ups as often happen to mums to be.

Azini with daugther Balqiss

Tokma Fatthiyah on the last day with grand daughter.

Balqiss latest picture sent via MMS on 31st October 2007

All the grandchildren with Razin Irsyad, the only grandson not wanting to be photographed after a scolding by his dad for being naughty.

The other grandpa during the 'Bercukur Ceremony'

Posted by Pak Zawi at Thursday, November 01, 2007 66 comments

The Wedding In Pictures

A week before Hari Raya Idilfitri, the new porch which will be used for the kenduri was yet to be ready. The contractor was confident about delivering it before the wedding. He did and it was one day before Hari Raya minus the paint job. I had to do the painting myself with the help of my son and son inlaw.

The porch is now ready

The wedding procession to the bride's house.

The entourage.

The procession

The Akad Nikah

Azuan's marriage to Wan Hanizah Wan Din was solemnized on the 14th of October 2007 (My best birthday gift) at Mesjid Kg. Pauh, Pasir Mas. It was done after the Isyak prayers and was solemnised by the Imam. The 'Lafaz' needed only be done once and it was over despite the butterflies swarming in Azuam's stomach. He looked composed and confident.

' Membatalkan Air Sembahyang'
This was done when you touch your wife for the first time after being wedde and thus rendering the Abolution obselete.

The Hantaran
Gifts to the bride including the monetary gift of RM6,666. The figure is paltry compared to the RM77,777 given by a millionaire to his bride, but 6,666 is significant as it is equivalent to the number of verses in The Holy Quran.

The bride's return of gifts.

The King For The Day.

They look resplendent.

Posing for the camera

The bride is hungry.

The grand uncle reliving the moment.

The newlywed with the other siblings and their mum and dad.

The newlywed with the brides parents

With the eldest sister Azura, her hubby Joe and children


The Camerawoman Yani and husband Azrin (extreme right and extreme left) with the newlyweds.

With Lokman, the brother inlaw, sister Azini and neice Nur Aqilah Balqis.



En. Tantawi (Director of Alumni Center UiTM) his spouse Bahiah, Fatthiyah (my wife) Dr. Rohani Ibrahim (Director of Alumni Center UPM) and her spouse Dr. Yusof Salleh (Honourable Secretary UPM Alumni Association)

Datuk Mohd Nor Mashor, the Assistant Governor of Bank Negara (second from left) with the GM of Kelantan SEDC Tuan Haji Wan Yahya (in blue batik) were some dignitaries who graced the occassion.


A long lost friend Tuan Haji Zainal came for the wedding. We parted ways since 1969. Now we met again after 39 years.

Razin Irsyad guarding the presents

Curious nephew and neices anxiously waiting for the presents to be opened.

The nephew and neices helping to open the presents

The above pictures more or less tell the story of my son's wedding. It is the last wedding among my children. I hope Allah will answer my prayers that his marriage and the other siblings marriages will last forever. My wife and I has gone through for 34 years and is still going strong. Till death do we part

Posted by Pak Zawi at Thursday, October 18, 2007 49 comments