First blog post for year 2013

Hope that it is not too late to wish all readers a happy new year.

The start of the new year also equal to the start of a new school term, which also means the start of my daily routine to fetch the kids from school. Not much changes to the routine this year as compared to last year since there will still be days when I have to go out twice to fetch the boys as their end of school time differs. The only difference I made this year is to feed Faiz and Nuha their lunch first on days when Amirul will be back late, whilst waiting for the time to go out and fetch Amirul.

Today's lunch, beef lasagne:

So, it has been close to 6 months since I quit my job and my new life has so far been great and rewarding. Although it is kind of difficult to adjust at first, and tiring at times, but to be able to be with the kids 24-7 made it all worth it.

One thing about being a stay at home mom is that you will need to have a good discipline. It is not an easy or straightforward job, balancing between the time you spent with the kids and doing the house chores. What more if the stay at home mom also work from home.

For now, I am happy with my current schedule: - make breakfast, clean the house after the kids left for school, do laundry, water my plants, wake Nuha up and bath her, feed her breakfast, start cooking lunch cum dinner by 10.30 am so that there will be ample of time prior to fetching Faiz from school, load and run the dishwasher and fetch Faiz and Amirul from school. After lunch, Faiz and Amirul will start with their homework and I will supervise. They then get to watch some TV and in the evening, after our evening tea and depending on the weather, we will either go out to the playground, go to my mum's place or spend it at home. 3 nights in a week, I will send Amirul and Faiz to attend iqra/fardhu ain classes after dinner.

I love being a stay at home mom. I am a much happier person now and I'm sure the kids also enjoy having me around. 

Oatmeal pancakes

I am supposed to do grocery shopping since last weekend but had not been able to do so... and as the result, barang dapur dah banyak habis and I end up coking with whatever things available in our pantry. Siapa kata duduk rumah ada banyak free time? Seriously, that is soooo not true. Bila dah ada kat rumah tu, ada je benda nak buat. Nak menyapu pun tak tau berapa kali sehari, nampak je ada habuk la, mainan bersepah la etc.

Ok, berbalik kepada cerita asal.. sebab barang dapur dah banyak habis, so saya pon search la untuk  resipi yang guna oatmeal, sebab oatmeal memang ada kat rumah. Lepas tu tanya dekat Amirul pagi tadi sebelum dia pergi sekolah nak makan oatmeal porridge ke nak makan oatmeal pancake for breakfast. Dia pilih pancake. So, hasil dari men'google' saya jumpa resipi ni dari website smitten kitchen.

Kalau nak tengok resipi asal bolehlah refer to the original entry from smitten kitchen's website. Saya dah ubah sikit-sikit cara-cara buat oatmeal pancake tu to make it easier for myself. This is how I made mine:

Bahan-bahan:

1 cawan oat (saya guna quaker quickcook oatmeal, pek yang kaler biru) - dikisar

1 cawan tepung gandum

2 sudu besar gula

2 sudu kecil baking powder

1/2 sudu kecil garam

3 sudu butter, dicairkan (saya letak dalam cawan kecil dan masukkan dalam microwave for 30 seconds)

1 1/4 cawan susu (saya guna susu HL)

3/4 cawan oatmeal, dimasak bersama 1 1/2 cawan air dan sedikit garam (saya campur semua bahan-bahan ni dan masak dalam microwave for 2.5 minutes)

1 sudu besar madu

2 biji telur saiz besar

Campur semua bahan-bahan kat atas tu dan kacau sehingga sebati. Panaskan kuali dan masukkan sedikit minyak + butter. Masak pancake macam biasa.

Pancake ni sedap dihidangkan panas-panas. Saya suka sangat resipi ni sebab rasa lebih sihat (sebab guna oatmeal, walaupun tak berapa nak sihat sebab masak guna minyak dan butter).

Pancake ni sedap sangat, lain daripada rasa pancake yang biasa saya masak. Tak percaya bolehlah cuba :)

Of being a stay at home mom

3 months ago, I decided to tender my resignation to become a stay at home mom. It took me a couple of months of serious thinking before I was finally able to decide. I have taken a lot of things into consideration.. and decided that this is the best for us for the time being. With this decision, I'll have more time to be with my family, to cook them nutritious lunches and dinners, to fetch my 2 school-going children from school every day without having to worry about them coming back on their own, to teach the children things which I wanted to teach but could not because of the time constraint, etc.

I know that it's a bold decision to make. It took a lot of courage to decide. A lot of colleagues were shocked when I told them that I wanted to quit my job as a Human Resource Manager, not because of better offer but because I wanted to become a stay at home mom.

So here I am, after serving the 3 months' notice... My very first day as a stay at home mom and I'm enjoying every single seconds of it :)

I will start baking, sewing and crafting more during my free time. So, watch out for this space as I will start advertising on things I've made / will be selling. I hope to be able to get positive feedback and supports from all of you readers.

But first thing first,  I'm gonna work towards changing my youngest child's sleep pattern.   I hope to be able to get her to sleep during the night as she has been sleeping during the day and not at night for the past 3 weeks and I have had a lot of sleepless nights this recent few weeks. Wish me luck.