Hari Raya Haji

Happy to have many willing 'victims'!

This year, we spent Zara's first Hari Raya Haji at Tok's house, where Mama (my MiL) spent most of her formative years. These days, it's brimming with cousins of all ages (mostly babies!), and has become quite the playground for our little girl since she started becoming more mobile and finally being able to join in the fun.

Now that she cries less around strangers and allows people other than Mummy to carry her, Zara can be such a joy to have around (note I say 'can', because she has her fair share of moodswings too!). She particularly likes Aunty Nina, who's carrying her in the picture above, and Nanie Fa'i, whom she bullied into walking her around most of the day.

HRH is generally a more quiet affair than HRA, with the exception of an hour or two before Zohore when the poor cows were being slaughtered in a compound right opposite Tok's house! I found that quite traumatic and kept Zara well out of earshot for that. The rest of the time, when she was not with Nina and Nanie Fa'i, Zara entertained herself with the balloons left over from Ilhan's birthday party.

Oh joy! A yellow balloon!

A little chomp is mandatory...

I LOVE this balloon!...

...And now I hate it!

After tiring of the balloons and with Nanie Fa'i in hiding, Zara then pestered me into walking her around the house. This is a new favourite activity of hers - although she can crawl pretty well these days, she prefers to be on her feet... But because she tends to fall after 5 or 6 steps, she prefers to have her hands held, hence requiring willing victims to help her 'walk around'.

Once the festivities in Tok's house wound down, we proceeded over to Nek Pon's place nearby, which was also packed to the brim with relatives. Here, Zara spent plenty of time entertaining people with her new tricks, including clambering over a sea of legs, cruising around furniture, 'chatting' with cousin Hamzah and showing off her limited walking skills. 



Cruising around a captive audience.

'...And then Abang Hamzah, the balloon attacked me...'

'Abah, hands up!' 

Fending off the paparazzi...

All in all, it was a pretty eventful HRH, despite not having done very much at all... thanks mostly to our little entertainer, who has obviously inherited her Abah's outgoing personality!

The Many Faces of Zara Aaliyah - The Eating Out Edition

I thought it would be nice to put together a little "scrapbook" of sorts, chronicling the many faces of my daughter as she ventures out into her exciting new world.

The first series of photos would certainly have to be at all the makan places Mummy and Abah have taken her to over the last 5 months. I never realised how many photos I've snapped of her at various mamaks and restaurants since she started being able to sit in a highchair. I suppose it's because Zara is probably at her funniest when we go for these kinds of outings, and because she's so cheeky (quite the attention-grabber), we always inevitably end up making 'friends' with the waiters and other restaurant patrons.

Like tonight, for example, she was playing 'chiak' with her Abah while he was trying to eat dinner, and everytime she got a response, would giggle at the top of her lungs, then grin like a naughty cheshire cat until the next 'chiak'. This went on throughout our entire dinner, and because she's a baby, people didnt seem to mind the ruckus at all; in fact most found it incredibly cute (!).

So here, I present to you, the first in the series of...



"The Many Faces of Zara Aaliyah".... The Eating Out Edition!

 

Around 4.5mths old at Alexis, Great Eastern Mall. 



At 5 months old, the Ah Pek pose made its debut in Cherating.



6mths old at the Hard Rock Hotel in Penang. Ini bukan rocker biasa beb, ini pose rock kapaaaakkkkkk brader!

At around 7mths we took her to our local Mamak Shop for the first time. As you can see, she felt right at home!

At around 7.5mths, she began to get very fidgety and annoyed when people began to eat in front of her. That's when we introduced the spoon as a distraction. This was taken at Subang Airport the day we saw Uncle Yean off.

Finally at 8mths, Mummy discovers the joyous distraction that is the Heinz Teething Rusk! And also, the miracle of the rubber band and string to prevent her from dropping that damn expensive rusk for the 100th time!

Sometimes, she gets so distracted by the rusk, she chews the string instead!

Note: I'm happy to report that we no longer have use for the rubberband and string, as the cheeky girl has since learnt to pass it back and forth between both hands and chew both ends without dropping it even once! Yay!

Zara's Magic Playpen!

Yes, I've been busy! Knowing me and my past life as a workaholic, I just had to menggatal and think up some ideas for a Stay at Home business.

And so, I am proud to say that I am currently taking orders for this fantastic playpen, which Zara loves to pieces.

It hasnt been easy negotiating this deal and I really am starting right at square one - having to learn from scratch how to run a business.

Here are more details about the playpen:

"This lightweight but durable indoor/outdoor playpen is made up of individual coloured pieces that you simply snap together to change the size, shape or even create a separate smaller playpen! Best of all, it's easy to remove, pack up and store until the next baby comes along!"

Suitable up to 5 years of age.

Delivered as two boxes, each containing 16 pieces (4 of each colour).

Each individual panel measures 30cm wide x 61cm high x 3.5cm thick.

Designed in Australia from baby-safe polyethylene plastic.

Please feel free to contact me at sheahnee@gmail.com for more info and thanks so much for your support!