My (...and my small family) 's 2020

Alhamdulillah... Alhamdulillah.. Alhamdulillah....

2020.. what a year..
But syukur, Alhamdulillah for all the nikmat, dugaan, rezeki, blessings and a lot more....

Started the year konon² brisk walk/jog every evening at the nearby park daily lepas balik ambil SNM from school... Alhamdulillah as well we found a new school/day care for SNM this year. Was quite a year masa 2019 hari-hari risau tengok keadaan dia nak pergi sekolah. Now I know why Mom will know if something is wrong with me, it is just the instinct. But alhamdulillah 2020 we found a better place for her.

Back to the brisk walk/jog Sampai February jelah. Lepas tu dah PKP. Sekian jelah. 

In January and February too, three of my cousins tie knot. Dua orang engaged, seorang got married. Alhamdulillah...

Started with Azmil bertunang, then we all ke Taiping for Natri's engagement and of course the no other #zahiraAH 's wedding. 

Glad that we slot some time for an early dinner with my beloved #iiumsisters . Planned for a glamping together with our families but tinggal kenangan aje for now. InsyaAllah soon.  Bagus juga my bothDs adalah budak International School, so their Sports Day kami dah selesai selamat before segala PKP bermula. They're in yellow house this year, and me as their Aunty of course lah yang terpaling excited ok... kuning tu... fav color terus! 

(Tapi my school years, rumah kuning ni selalunya corot. hahahaha..... )

Come March.. PKP bermula.. gosh how our #babysnm koyak mental berkurung. According to our Pediatrician, snm started buat perangai sebab her normal routine berubah drastically. Since she is 8 months old, memang dah hantar dia to school/day care. Then, weekend memang akan lepak at sis's place and Monday the routine stars again. 

Sekali, bila PKP ni, memang tak boleh keluar langsung... dia macam murung. Awal-awal memang dia happy sebab both of us memang depan mata dia 24/7 kan, but along the way, dia rasa macam something wrong.  But hikmahnya, we get to spent more time with her. From learning, playing, eating, exploring and semuanya lah with her. We even started teaching her gardening!

First time tak celebrate my BIL's bday in April due to PKP and also first time 'gather' with our BIG FAMILY via Zoom. 

In early May juga, we changed snm's insurance with out good friend Nuar. Senang tukar to someone yang kami kenal and terus juga sign up hibah with him. Kalau ada sesiapa yang tanya-tanya je, or interested nak tau boleh click link ni untuk usha his IG and his contact ada over there at the profile. 

Myself and husband started our #guloanauwaghih and #nasitanjaur journey and alhamdulillah masih on it. We also mula ber Young Living in May juga. Eh bagus gila oils ni. Mula-mula memang rasa macam ehhhhh biar betul... but somehow, these oils memang encourage and divert us to enjoy life and push our potentials. It's all about positivity lah. Dia bukan lah magic ke apa. But macam asbab gitu.

Also, kena juga di catitkan... buat pertama kali dalam hidup.. diri ini gunting rambut manusia lain. Dan mangsanya tak lain tak bukan adalah husbandku sendiri! hahahaha.... Perhatikan betul-betul collage di atas ye, habis semua clip rambut snm ku kerjakan. 

One day je dapat berbuka puasa with my family this year...and nasib baik waktu tu dah PKPB. Dapat lah celebrate birthday sis as well. 

We celebrated our #babysnm 's 2 years old birthday PKP style. Went to all important close family members house with full SOP just as long as our baby is happy. Tq families for making it happen! 

Come July, school dah start buka semula. Tawakal sangat-sangat hantar kenit tu semula. But before it start off, her school panggil us all bagi briefing on how the new norm going to kick off.  I actually requested for office to bagi I masuk balik. Our laptop dah tak boleh carry dah the amount of data that I saved in. Sebelum dia kaput, memang kena buat something about it cepat. Masa dapat masuk office rasa jakun pun ada jumpa orang selain the household. Hahaha...

July and August banyak juga benda yang sangat-sangat unexpected happened to us. After years of working, my first time dapat laptop and my work sangat-sangat senang banyakkkkk sangat with all my necessary systems and applications ada depan mata. 

Our dear #busukmasam  a.k.a bigD did super well for his IGCSE and masuk college dah!! Alhamdulillah!! Our lil SNM pun dapat award juga for school. Our lilD also did well for her exams. Syukur, Ya Allah. 

Bila Zoo Negara reopen, bawak snm there. To support the industry and also she's really into animals now. Semua pun nak sayang. Sayangggg tiger... sayangggg lion... sayanggggg bird... sayang panndaaa.... haih.

Kami also sempat bawak snm naik Genting but sampai GPO jelah. Tak berani nak bawak sampai atas sangat sebab takut dengan crowd. Kalau GPO senang kawal sebab she'll be in her stroller most of the time. Thanks to her school practise, she have no problem wearing mask lama-lama. 

We also sempat layan a really super short trip to Penang. Agak clingy lah bila PKP ni kicks off. Mana-mana pun kemain bertiga beranak je kerjanya. Walhal dulu tak kisah pun. 

Also in August, something hit our big family badly. Remember awal-awal tadi I cerita pasal my cousin Natri bertunang at Taiping? Siapa sangka that this is the last time we actually jumpa dengan dia...

My dear cousin passed away mengejut a few days before her Nikah day. It was a really sad and shocking moment to us all. I ni takde adik, but dengan anak-anak my UncleM nilah yang memang I buat adik-adik I sendiri..bukan hanya cousin. 

Nak menaip ni pun, entahlah.. masih bercampur baur perasaan tu.

Al Fatihah to our dear Wan Penny Sunestri Binti Wan Zahari. Semoga Allah menempatkan Natri bersama yang beriman. Ameen Ya Rabb.

Celebrated msn birthday in September pun sangat PKP style. We stayed at Sheraton PJ for one night bagi seronok budak kecik tu. Dia punya excited macam orang celebrate birthday dia pulak. Hahaha...

Come October, first time ever hubs admitted in due to high BP and now we are trying to change our food intake and lifestyle slowly but surely. Sangat menakutkan OK waktu tu. Dahlah myself and snm was at my sis's place. Husband stayed at home sebab MIL baru lepas operation. Jadinya, he wants to monitor and jaga MIL at home. Dia lepaskan myself and snm sebab tak nak kacau routine snm yang baru nak mula semula. 

Ada hikmahnya Allah gerakkan hati kami susun begitu. If not, tak ke kalut? How to handle snm kalau I sorang-sorang. Bukan main-main that night itself msn terus kena duduk ICU/HDU. BP terlalu tinggi sampai dia kena dipantau ketat. 

But Alhamdulillah, semuanya selamat dah. Now memang kena jaga betul-betul.

Come October also, I got Norwex-ed. Hahahaha.. Nak jugeeeekkkk... But seriuslah paling in love dengan the Kitchen Towel. Eh kemain senang lah... ini baru magic! (Padahal it's the technology)

Also in October, my dear husband kicked off a project called Kongsi Kasih which we will be launching and elaborate soon!! (Appreciate your kind support and doa for this!). Really high hope for this where we wanted to not only help ourselves, but also others and the economy as a whole. InsyaAllah.

Masuk November, which is actually our month dengan tak la seronok sangat. Our dear Cik Lia masa ni dah mula kritikal... Dah la musim-musim PKP ni.. it is not easy for us to ke sana ke sini sebebas dulu untuk lincah menolong apa-apa yang patut.

Alhamdulillah dapat juga curi masa and redah visit dia waktu she's at the ward. Earlier in September tu, dapat lagi berborak dengan dia masa we sama-sama celebrate birthday our Daniel. Nak jadi cerita, on my birthday eve this year, Cik Lia pergi meninggalkan kami semua selamanya. What a year 2020. What a year.

My adik lost her mom. I know she's strong to go through semua ni. But, losing someone close to us bukan mudah, Tambah lagi, mak kita kan....

Al Fatihah Cik Lia.

Celebrated our Anniversary / my birthday our way and enjoy our 3 nights staycation at Mandarin Oriental, KL.

Sesudah Subuh, kami pay our last respect to Cik Lia dulu. Sementara snm masih tidur kan... Dah selesai, pagi tu, kami breakfast with MIL dulu. snm hantar school macam biasa. Then noon, kami dating and usai dating pick kenit from school and terus ke sis's place for dinner with my family pula.

Tahun ni paling banyak surprise delivery yang diterima. Syukur ya Allah.. Memang PKP style sungguh kemain asyik-asyik orang panggil hantar macam-macam! Seronok gila! Semoga Allah kurniakan yang baik-baik buat semua yang memberi.

Tak habis lagi November, berita kematian ketiga tahun ni pula. This time, on arwah Abah's side. My cousin lost her husband. 

Ni pun macam sekejap sangat baru dapat tau diagnosed cancer and due to PKP semua tak sempat nak susun visit ke apa, but Allah lebih sayangkan Abg Ikram, Al fatihah... 

Ini jugalah asbab kami kembali ke Malim Nawar.  

Ended the year with a weekend birthday-cation for Mak's birthday and Ipoh trip for Wani's wedding.

Alhamdulillah despite all the hardship, challenges and macam-macam dugaan, we managed to end our 2020 quite well.

Indeed, Allah is the best planner. Jangan sesekali kita semua ragukan rahmat Allah. Ada jalannya untuk setiap kesukaran. Macam mana genting sekali pun keadaan, jangan sesekali biarkan ianya putus.

Bismillahhirrahmannirrahim to 2021.
May Allah protect and keep us safe always.

Maaf Zahir Batin from us. May the new year brings everyone a great blessings, health, iman and happiness. InsyaAllah, Ameen. ❤️❤️

Love, Ayu

Down to memory lane...

25th December 2020... the last Friday of this tough year.... is definitely a memorable one. Maybe since ada all these social media platforms, I have never or sangat cuit-cuit je mentioned about my hometown on arwah Abah's side. 

Bukan marah, bukan benci, mungkin berjauh hati. Biasalah, setiap keluarga ada 'drama' nya kan? At the end, blood is definitely thicker than water. What I can say is, communication is the key. Ego kena buang jauh-jauh. Hidung jangan tinggi sangat. Sebab, nanti menyesal dikemudian hari. #selfreminder 

Alhamdulillah, syukur that my sis had this idea of coming back here to visit our cousin sister yang baru kehilangan husbandnya. 

But wait, before anyone wants to terdetik on anything, let me get this crystal clear, first. Yes, we literally menziarah but of course, we followed SOP ok. My sis makes sure everyone was disinfected before kami sampai to Yong's (our cousin) place. My husband siap bawak our portable UV light ok. Ni bukan nak self-defense ke apa as we don't owe anyone an explanation. But, it is also something we wanted to ingat sampai bila-bila... a visit during pandemic and how we embrace the new norm by #kitajagakita.

So anyways, back to the visit. Arwah Abah was born and breed from Kg. Malim Nawar, Malim Nawar, Perak. I can truthfully say that I spent most of my childhood and school holidays, here. I learned how to ride a bike here. Weiiii jangan main² bukan sebarang basikal ok, basikal tua! (go Google on how it looks like!)

Punyalah 'rajin' sangat balik kampung kan.... sesat barat weiii!!! Ya Allah... lawak nak mati. Memang berderai gelak tu. Mula-mula macam excited... eh ni dah lain, eh ni dah lain... tiba-tiba sampai penghujung jalan... eh! mana jalan masuk kampung? hahahhahaa.....

Lepas tu bergaduh² on house number and address. Sis pro gila siap hafal lagi nombor rumah Yong. But macam biasa, semua competitive tak bertempat..kemain argue dalam kereta kata dia salah. Hahahaa.... (Turun² kereta terus sis terpa Yong.. "Yong, apa nombor rumah Yong ni??" - Korang mampu terpa tuan rumah macam tu?? Hahhahahha... And yes, my sis betul ye. 👏👏👏👏)

Tapi eksyen weiiii nak juga try sendiri (yes, Waze fail on us!) .. last² called our niece to the rescue. She got his brother to rescue us. Adoih. 

(Thanks Tajul & Ayie!)

Awhhhhh.... my heart just bloom. Speechless. There's no words to describe how I felt bila jejakkan kaki back here, in Malim Nawar.

It's my husband's first time here. It's lilD's first time too. Our daughter's too!

Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah syukur. 

(Abaikan muka ku yang menahan gelak tu)

From left, clockwise: Mom, our nephew Tajul, our cousin Yong, Yong's sister, also our cousin Kak Ulin, hubs, BIL, bigD, lilD, yours truly and sis. (Missing in this picture, Tajul's wife, Wati and their children)

Start from bercerita perihal arwah Abg Ikram (Al Fatihah), sampai la to all the memories that we've been through here. Aduhai... Tak tau la nak describe macam mana. Lost in words to luahkan.

Budak kecik kat hujung tu bukan main seronok ye. Bebas berlarian kesana kemari sebab semua melayan dia. 

Yong bagi dia main toys lama Ala a.k.a Iskandar (her youngest son) which is a remote car.. eh punya happy joget joget minah tu. Awak tu girl laaaaaa... Perangai siapa la dia ikut ganas macam boy niiiii (jeling diri sendiri).

Thanks Wati for the delicious Mee and Cekodok. 

Lawak seterusnya bila balik kampung ni, my sis and I adalah yang bongsu here. Ini menyebabkan bigD, lilD and SNM automatically jadi Uncle and Aunties here. Anak² Tajul macam tercengang and blur sebab kena panggil SNM, Aunty Baby. Hahahhaha... Bertabahlah ye. I would like to keep this tradition bukan sebab pangkat, tapi untuk mudah for our younger generation get hold of the susur galur keturunan. Jangan nanti tak tau macam mana bersangkut. At least, bila teringat that you kena panggil si kenit ni Aunty Baby, it will somehow clicked who is Nenda Ayu to your Opah. 

Tak nak nanti senang² je, sedara tu.. sedara ni.. tapi tak tahu macam mana bersangkut. 

Tq Yong, Kak Ulin, Tajul & family.

InsyaAllah, we will come back. There's a lot more to show and tell to bigD, lilD & SNM. Selama ni, they dengar cerita je. But now, we can actually show it to them. 

Masih terngiang² ayat pertama Tajul once I stepped down from the car.. "Macam mana Mak Ayu boleh sesat, tadi???"

(Danggg!!!!! Memang lawak laaaaaaaaaa... Heroin round kampung dengan basikal sesat bila balik kampung)

Last but not least, I end this entry with picture rumah pusaka arwah Atok. Al Fatihah Atok... I missed you, dearly. 

Love, Ayu

Majlis Pertunangan kami

I don't know what I'd do without my sis, BIL and of course my mom. They listened to what me & MSN wants and if tak langgar syarak, tak tempuh adat.. semua ON. jalan.

So, after selesai preparation yang patut, semua yang terlibat tunggu di check point masing2. Alhamdulillah, cousins, nieces and nephews ramai membantu. Syukran jazilan.

Anyway, back pada cerita tunang ni.

My sis and BIL yang susun semuanya. Of course la Ayu trust them. Yelah, orang yang lebih pengalaman and faham susun atur untuk keluarga. 

Seperti yang diplan, around 10am, sampailah rombongan lelaki. 

Rock tak bakal ibu mertua saya? Selamba bawak kereta park situ sebab memang khas untuk dia pun.. sebab dia bawak MSN's opah. 

Untunglah, ada lagi opah. Best kan?

Masuk semua dah duduk, maka sessi perbincangan pun bermula.. Ayu masa ni ada di dalam bilik je tunggu que my sister untuk keluar.

Kami semua tak tahu pun apa script bil saya. Rupanya dia jual nya our mom sekali...

Sebab nama kami kan semuanya Siti... boleh dia tanya nak meminang siti yang mana. Katanya ada 3 siti dalam rumah ni and satu tak boleh pinang sebab dia punya... lagi dua available.

Sabar je kan?

Selesai perbincangan, sesi membaca doa selamat. Pada mulanya, I wanted my bigD to recite the doa. Saya punya sebab saya sendiri. bigD masih budak.. dia dah berkhatan, hati dia bersih lagi dari sebarang perkara negative. Doa dia lebih mustajab. But Allah knows best, ada few tentangan yang ayu dapat sebab kenapa bagi seorang budak yang baca doa..

Senyum je.. InsyaAllah, Allah faham. 

.....dan of course, selain bigD saya nak my cousin brother yang bacakan doa. Alhamdulillah, I have everyone in my family to run the show. Alhamdulillah.

Tq Abg Zaidi. 

Saya diring my lilD.

Saya tahu, orang semua pandang dia.. jadinya, selamat la saya tak la gugup sangat. hahahaa...

The rest, saya let the pictures speaks ok. :)

Semasa Bacaan Doa...

Sarung Cincin Pertunangan...

Bersalaman...

Sessi Bergambar...

Makan makan...

Ramah mesra....

Personal session with close family members...

(Kambing courtesy of MSN's family)

Family time....

......and it's a wrap.

Alhamdulillah semuanya lancar. Syukur...

Hantaran, Mini pelamin, Candy Buffet & Welcome Board by:

Merisik Gallery

My baju by:

Sam : 019 2023 201

Caterer:

Aimier Collection all the way from Tanjung Karang.

Khemah:

Keramat 10 

Photography:

Joe 

Roasted Lamb:

Me'nate Steak House : 012 3347 107

Love, Ayu