The (mad-rush) weekend that was...

Last weekend could not be more representative of my life as a doctor's wife , and the kids' lives as a doctor's kids.

It started on Friday night when Ayah had to work late to meet the dateline to submit his MM article to the editor. Ayah knew that he would be very late, but he wasn't sure as to when exactly he would be coming home that night. So, the kids and I decided to have our dinner at One-U, and then tapau some for Ayah and join him at the hospital like we would sometimes do on Friday nights.

Our first stop was MPH as we had to get some workbooks for the kids to practice in preparation for their Final Exam this Friday. But, seperti biasa we ended buying books which were not in our original list lah kan... Anyway, after MPH we decided to have dinner at TCRS, after which we left One-U to join Ayah at the hospital, with some tapau-ed chicken rice for him. Mind you, it was already 10:15p.m, and he had not had his dinner yet, and his lunch was taken after solat Jumaat earlier that day.

We reached Ayah's office at about 10:30p.m, and he was still working on the article. Every now and then his focus would be disrupted when he would be called to the ward and/or ICU to attend to his patients. The kids and I decided to just do our own things as we did not want to disturb Ayah.

We would normally go home separately in our own cars after our Friday visits to Ayah's office, when the kids would choose who they would want to follow in the 15 minutes journey back to SD, and we thought that night would be the same, too.

However, by 12:00a.m, Ayah was still with his patients, and his article was not even halfway done yet! I thought of just driving back home with the kids first, but, Ayah was not keen on the idea of me driving alone with the kids at that hour. So, we decided to just take a short nap while waiting for Ayah to finish his article. He was not keen to bring his work back as he knew that if once he was home, he would be tempted to sleep, and he could not afford that to happen!

Anyway, our short nap in Ayah's office turned out to be an overnight stay when I woke up the next morning at 6:00a.m! I saw Ayah still working on his article, and the kids were occupying different parts of his room - sound asleep. Hilman was sleeping on the patient's bed, and Hanna and Hasya were sleeping on the L-shaped sofa where I was also sleeping on earlier.

Ayah finally finished writing his article at about 8:00a.m, after which he had to do his ward-round, while I struggled to wake the kids up! Syok sangat tido kat Ayah's office, kot? :) Anyway, the kids and I just washed our faces, and luckily Ayah had some Listerine stocked in his office. We brushed our hair - trying our best to look fresh - like we already had our shower, etc, but of course, our wrinkled clothes actually gave everything away... Hehehe!

Ayah has his own toiletries, towels and some change of clothes in his office for days like this, and he managed to shower before we decided to have that rare breakfast together at the Cafeteria, before he had to go see his patients at another hospital in Puchong. Thank God, it was a public holiday on Saturday and there were not many people at the Cafeteria :)We finished our breakfast at 10:00a.m, after which we went our separate ways, with the kids and I going back to SD.

The plan for Saturday was "Open Houses Marathon" from 12:00p.m until late at night. We had 4 open houses and 1 wedding to go to, and we had to strategize so that we could go to each in good time.

We knew that it was going to be a mad rush as we were planning to go to Section 14 (PJ) - Damansara Heights - Kajang - Shah Alam - Rawang within 8 hours, with the hope of reaching our last destination by 10:00p.m. So, we had packed some spare clothes, especially for the kids, just in case we needed to change mid-way through the marathon.

Ayah came back from Puchong at 11:50a.m, and we left the house at 12:20p.m, reaching the first house in PJ at 12:45p.m. We left at about 1:50p.m and made our way to the second house in Damansara Heights for a Deepavali do. And just as we were leaving for our third house at 2:50p.m, Ayah received a call from the hospital, and he had to rush back. And of course, seperti biasa di dalam kes-kes sebegini, WE also had to rush and tag along with him.

The kids and I waited in Ayah's office while he attended to his patient. A half hour wait ended being a 2 hour wait, and we only left for our third open House in Kajang at 5:00p.m! We reached Kajang at 5:25p.m, and spent quite some time chatting with the hosts who were back from the UK for a short break. The original plan was to stay from 3:30p.m until 5:30p.m, but the fact that we only reached the place at 5:25p.m, all our plans had gone haywire lah kan? (Mu*ni, if you're reading this, nanti kita catch up later this week, okay?)

Ayah and I had a wedding to go to in Shah Alam that night, and we knew that we had to leave Kajang by 6:30p.m the latest to go back to SD and get ready for the wedding. And of course, there was that final open house/birthday do at Ibu's place in Rawang which we would be going to after that. Logistically, memang sakit badan lah we all, if we were to go back to SD after the wedding to fetch the kids to go to Ibu's. And the kids would miss out on most of the birthday party.

So, tukar strategy. Nasib baik Sh*dy and On*ir (Mr and Mrs Engineer) were also at the Kajang Open House, and as they were also going to Rawang that night, we decided to deposit our kids so that they could follow their Uncle Sh*dy and Aunty On*ir to the birthday do first, while Mommy and Ayah gi makan khenduri. Luckily we had all their spare clothes with us in the car, maka bermulalah sesi mengeluarkan beg-beg baju from our car to be brought by Hanna to their car :)

Ayah and I left Kajang at about 6:40p.m and reached home just after 7:00p.m. We got ready for the wedding, solat Maghrib, etc, and only left the house at 7:55p.m (and the wedding was supposed to start at 8:00p.m!). Satu hal lah pulak coz' we were not sure where Kelab Golf SAAS was, and with a bit of sesat larat, we only reached the place at 8:30p.m! Pengantin dah dok bersanding kat pelamin!

Luckily, it was a free and easy buffet style wedding, and our tardiness was unnoticed as people were going in and out of the hall going to the buffet stations. We stayed on until 9:40p.m, after which we had to leave as Ayah was again called to the hospital. We reached TMC just after 10:00p.m and Ayah had to review his patients at the ICU, and we only left for Rawang at about 10:40p.m.

Sampai ajer Rawang, Ayah just had to catch up on his sleep. Remember? He had not slept at all since the time he woke up on Friday morning because he was working on his article,on top of his usual hospital routine, right? Meaning at that point in time, he had not slept for over 40 hours! He went up to the room (which is one of the rooms at Ibu's reserved for MT members for out late nights in Rawang. Hehehe!), while the kids continued with the party funs, and the Mommies engaged in meaningful activities - basically borak-borak and kraoke-ing :)

By 2:30a.m, everybody decided to call it the night, and one by one of Ibu's guests started to bid good night. And we thought that we should also make our way home. I went to wake Ayah's up, and I had a tough time to make him open his eyes!! He was really catching up with the last 2 nights sleep which he didn't get. So, finally, we decided to just stay the night at Ibu's... (Errrr, macam tak biasa, kan?! Hahaha!) Again, nasib baik ada spare clothes for everybody in the car. And as always, Ibu being such an efficient host was always ready with all the spare toothbrushes and items yang sewaktu dengannya. Hehehe!

The next day, we left Rawang just before noon - but not before being fed with some Yummylicious Nasi Lemak cooked by Ibu's Bibik - siap dengan Sambal Kerang and Sambal Udang, Ayam Goreng, Ikan Kering Bulu Ayam, etc! (Mana lah nak kurus, kan?!)

Thank you so much for having us over, and being such lovely hosts, Ibu and Mr. Ibu... ;)

We reached home at 12:30p.m, and Ayah had to again go to the hospital at about 2:00p.m. We were planning to go to a khenduri do'a selamat-cum-Raya open house at Bukit Jelutong which was supposed to be from 1:30p.m until 5:00p.m, after which we had planned to go to our BJ house to do some cleaning and mopping and have our shower, and then go out for dinner around there like we normally would do.

However, by 4:30p.m, when Ayah was still not back, I SMSd to the host to apologize and tell her that we would not be able to go to her do. I asked the kids to change (from their Baju Kurung, etc, to some casuals) and help themselves to the Macaroni Goreng I fried earlier. She immediatly called and said that we could still go, even later as they were still receiving guests at that time. Even then, I still tak berani nak janji coz' I wasn't sure when exactly Ayah would be home.

Ayah FINALLY came back at 5:05p.m, and the kids were asked to change back to their Baju Kurung, etc, after which they were bundled into the car, and we headed to BJ. We reached our friend's place at 5:25p.m and met some other friends there and caught up with them over some delicious Briayani spread.

We left our friend's place at 6:30p.m and headed to our BJ house and Bibik Dar and I started to sweep and mop the floors, while Ayah and the kids took their shower, etc. We were done by about 8:30p.m, but instead of going out for dinner, we decided to go to my brother's new place (also in BJ - at Tr*pi*a), and ended up staying there until about 10:50p.m.

We reached home at 11:15p.m and by then, everybody was like kain buruk already...

And I was gone to the world as soon as my head hit the pillow, and only woke up at 6:00a.m this morning...

And it's already Monday...

Sigh.

:(

Of Pink Panther 2, Shoes, and Los Angeles...

We went to watch Pink Panther 2 last night. I am a big fan of Steve Martin, so, I may be a bit biased when I say that it was SUPERB! Or rather, I should say, HE was superb :) But, Ayah, Hanna and I enjoyed Pink Panther 1 more. Hilman and Hasya loved both equally and they could not decide on which of the two was more hilarious :)

The younger kids didn't know that we were watching the movie. I told Hanna about it though, as I wanted her to bring her jacket with her, or at least wear a long sleeved top, as it can be pretty cold in the movie halls sometimes. As we wanted it to be a surprise for Hilman and Hasya, I had to secretly bring their jackets in my handbag (Yup. I have a VERY big handbag. And it's like ASTRO in there - macam-macam ada... :)) If I were to ask them to bring their jackets themselves, they would surely suspect, as the only time I would ask them to bring their jackets during an outing would be when we're going to the movies.

And as Hilman was (and is) still coughing, I also had to bring all his cough medications with me to be given to him before we went in to watch the movie. So, you can imagine how bulky my handbag was last night!

We went to Sk*chers to get Hilman's new slippers. The Sk*chers that I got for him from Newcsatle two years ago (ala Crocs) dah botak habis the tapak. And we managed to find a nice Camouflage design for him. And Hasya also got a pair of nice sandals for herself there. Hanna wanted a pair of Sk*chers trainers for herself, too but, the ones that she liked were selling at RM269! And considering that we just got her the Alhambra guitar 2 weeks ago which burnt a big whole in Ayah's pocket, RM269 for a pair of trainers for her is out of the question. And immediately after that, she pulled me to the side and said, "Mommy, tadi in Ni*e, there was a pair of trainers that I liked selling at RM159 only..."

(ONLY??!!) Hmmmm...you speak to Ayah, lah Hanna... Fenin Mommy...

We had dinner at Kl*ang St*tion, and all three kids ordered Hainanese Chicken Chops which came rather late. The movie was supposed to start at 10:20p.m (or rather the trailers and all), and the food only came at 10:05p.m! Obviously, both Hasya and Hilman were rather perplexed when I kept on asking them to finish up their food fast, and I kept on looking at my watch.

They finished everything at 10:20p.m on the dot, and I immediately gave Hilman his cough syrup. We walked up the escalators to GSC and the smaller kids got really excited when they realized that we were heading to the cinemas. We decided not to tell them what movie it was that we were watching, but both of them could sense that it was PP2. And Hilman, kept on asking me throughout the trailers, "Mommy, we're watching Pink Panther 2, right?!", and all he got from me was, "You'll just have to wait and see, okay?" And when the movie started, there were squeals of "YES!" from both Hasya and Hilman :)

(But, I later found out that Hanna had already told Hasya about it even before we left home last night! Trust Hanna to do that. But, I guess sisters can never keep secrets from one another. Hehehe! And pandai betul Hasya "acting" as if she didn't know... :))

And just as the movie was starting, Hilman asked me,

Hilman : Mommy, can I have the Los Angeles, please?

Me : Huh?! Los Angeles?!

Hilman : Yeah, the ones the doctor gave to me. The sweets? The ones like Strepsils?

Me : ??! (and after a few seconds, then only I got it) Oooooo...you mean the LOZENGES?!

Hilman : Yeah, the Los Angeles...

Hehehe! Kelesss gitew...my son takes Los Angeles to soothen his sore throat, you all...Hehehe!

Syukur alhamdulillah, after taking his cough syrup and his Los Angeles, and after putting on 2 layers of jackets, he barely coughed during the movie.

We reached home just after midnight, and everybody went straight to bed. But before they went to their rooms, the kids thanked us in concert with their, "Thank you, Mommy. Thank you, Ayah. For tonight. We had fun..."

Thank you, kids. Mommy and Ayah had fun, too :)

P/S : Oh, by the way, looks like one of our kids is closely following Ayah's footsteps...Check it out here