My grandmother is buried today at the Masjid Azizi, Tanjung Pura, Langkat, in the same spot as her husband's cemetery. It is a family cemetery, as our family could be buried there as a family of Sultan of Langkat. My grandfather, my great grandfather, my great grandmother, my mom's oldest brother and the older brother, now my grandmother are buried in this royal cemetery.

We are still have the royal blood, from Tengku Abdul Aziz, the Sultan of Langkat who once build this Azizi Mosque in 1900, such a beautiful mosque, it also has the cemetery next to it for the family who passed away.

Good bye, grandma. I love you so much.
I still remember your touch and how you played with my hair every time you visited us in Jakarta. I am so lucky to have you as a a grandma, such a wise, kindhearted, loved, patient, and beautiful woman.

My grand mother passed away today. I am very sad, especially knowing that I really like her, she is the only grand parent I have ever really known in my life. When I was little, I really fond of her, I had never seen her mad, she is always full of love to all of her grand children.
She died in peace, no sickness, very sudden, at 2.30 am Indonesia time, on april 26, 2007, at the age of 89.

She survived 13 children (4 passed away while she was still alive, the last one about 5.5 months ago), lot's of grand children (38 of them), and Aidan is the last great grand child, of 25 great grandchildren.

My mother is here with me, and she kept telling me that she would like to stay here but she wanted to wait until her mother passed away, if not, she wouldn't think about living here... she kept telling me stories about her for the past 7 days... and I am so sad that she will miss the whole funeral, and she won't be able to see her for the last time just because to come back to Indonesia will take 2 days with the time differences...

I love you grand ma.. (Tokwan)..
My mother, me, Ammar, Nadia and Aidan.

After the whole long 2 weeks working in the yard, Ammar finally gave up. He thought it was not worth to work on the yard for so long, especially leaving Nadia with me all the time in the weekend which he supposed to spend time with her.

He was a bit upset, he felt like a failure, I told him, he was not a failure, it was just too hard to work in the yard, especially his profession is way far from gardener.. so we decided to hire a gardener..... good thinking. We met one gardener, he will start tomorrow.

I cut his hair afterwards, cutting his hair made me thinking his first haircut with me 7 years ago in Vail, Colorado.... wow, time flies, ever since, he had never once had a haircut in the saloon...... no I lied, once only in Indonesia....
I have to be proud, that he looks better with my hair style design than a regular saloon in the US..... as good as the one in Indonesia.. Am I talented ? Yes, I think I am talented...hahhaha

We ended up having lunch outside, playing with Nadia, walked down in Ann Arbor downtown, sitting down out side drinking coffee at Starbucks, checking on the fairy doors again for Nadia.. and walk back to the parking lot.. it was hell of the nice time out in the perfect weather.. Finally!

Gee... It's been a very long long time that I haven't gone to the world of internet for the full week. We spent the whole weekend doing the yard project, the 3 of us (of course, Nadia is just a cheer up party). Ammar bought the mountain of mulch to change our old mulch which has been filled with weeds.
Wow... was it a lot of work.. we worked on the yard out side in the cold, and we didn't even finished third of the flower beds around the house. It will be a really long time to finish up with the project (sigh)
As much as how much work that we had to do and how much our back are hurting, I really enjoyed our time we spent together in the yard as family. Listening to Nadia singing for us during the time was priceless. How much we love this sweet little darling, thanks God for the precious little girl You gave for us. We feel so blessed for how Gracious God is for our family. My mother took care of Aidan while we were out in the yard. Thanks Mom.!!!

Not only that, I have been so busy preparing for the welcoming party for our little boy. It turned out to be a wonderful little gathering. Yummy food that was. Everyone was happy.

Today, I got my post partum check up. I am in the best shape ever, 167 cm height and 55 kilograms. Ammar told me not to loose any weight at all.. he likes the way I look. I took a good nap in the afternoon and just now, when I was about to pick my little girl from school, finally I get a chance after a full 5 days to be in the internet world again, boy, how many emails I got and how much stuff I want to tell for the blogspot. I only got 15 minutes online, now I have to go (again).

I have to admit that I really missed my little laptop I haven't touched for quite some time, Ammar has been playing lots of tennis after work that I really bummed with taking care of both kids and I really didn't have time to be online at all. I should start to just log in to the WWW at least 5 minutes a day. I am really addicted to this internet thing.

 

 

Ammar is proudly wearing the sweater I knitted for him.

I realized that my breast milk is more on the right side than the left side. Before bed, I asked Ammar about it.. here is what he said : "Because you are right handed."
I said : "Really ?"
Ammar : "Nope.... (laughing so hard)"
I hit him on his belly....

It was last winter when I planted these tulips bulbs with Nadia. We were not sure that they will come out, but they did. I was so happy because then My mother can enjoy the tulips during the spring. The tulips will be spread around the house... yay!!

I was updating our children's photos in their blog while I checked my e-mail. Ammar sent me a really nice e-card, he wanted to thank me for the beautiful children we have...
Amora, Thank you, too. We are so fortunate to have this wonderful family, most importantly, we love each other so much.

 

Me and my 2 kids, Aidan turned 40 days, with my mother.

 

Bubur Ayam (Indonesian chicken porridge dish). I made it for my mother. Sorry Lisa, you are not around. You missed it. So here is the picture, haha

Beautiful day today.

According to the weather channel, it will be crappy today. In the morning, it was so cloudy, I believed the weather channel, but after lunch, it was sunny and so beautiful. After sending both kids for nap, we carried the papasan chairs to the patio, sat side by side, and enjoying the sun with cool breeze. Something we haven't done for a while, just the 2 of us. Being tickled by Ammar was not fun, but it refreshed us. Nice weekend. After 20 days of consult rotation, finally it's over. Enjoy your weekend, darling.

Asthma under control.

Went to my pulmonologist for a check up today. It's been a year that I didn't have a single flare up from my asthma, thanks to the comprehensive health services I got from U of M, and I am on the lowest dose of Advair.

My doctor said : "Your lung is clear like a bell". That makes me happy.
Another thing, with my height of 5'7", and weigh 121 lbs, the nurse got so jealous at me.. she told me how lucky I was, although I just gave birth to a baby 5 weeks ago. I got the ideal weight rightaway, fit my old pants again.

Ammar decided not to go tennis today, thanks Amora. We ended up having barbeque, marvelous potato, and some salad. It was a yummy dinner. The weather was awesome, we sat down in the sun room, listening to the insects making noises in the backyard. Nice night.

Last night, we ended up having Aidan co-slept with us. He was so gassy and colicky, he woke up literally every hour. On the top of it, Ammar got a beep, he made some phone calls to the hospital regarding one patient who was really sick at 3 am, lasted for half an hour. He went back to check on me who was like a life Frankenstein.. half asleep. He hugged me while I was nursing, and he told me : "I am sorry, baby. It is so hard to be a mother. Breastfeeding is harder than the formula feed just because they get hungry more often. But it will paid back. Hang in there, baby. I love you so much."

Just hearing him saying that to me, it feels I was not tired anymore. He is so supportive, much more than I ever noticed before when we just had Nadia.

We both were so drowsy when we woke up this morning. He made me a cup of coffee to wake me up. Thanks, baby.

I love you so much, Amora.

What a wonderful husband.

Ammar came home late, he has 2 weeks full for the rotation with residents and fellows at the VA and U of M hospital to cover the consults for those 2 hospitals. On the top of this double busy schedule, he played tennis after work and came home at 10 pm, found me breaking off because it was just too busy taking care of 2 kids and my mother who just suddenly got sick after 6 pm.

He put the kids to bed and got me a glass of milk in the bed and a banana (because I haven't eaten dinner yet and didn't feel like eating, too tired), and once I knew and alert again, it was 6 am, and I found my husband in Aidan's room, lying down with him on his bare chest, sleeping. That's the cutest and sweetest thing I have ever seen to see father and son sleeping together.

I got my first 7 hours sleeping through the night since Aidan's born, thank you my darling husband!!!

 

This is the view of Ammar carrying both kids up to their bedrooms almost every night. He enjoys being a father of 2 and he doesn't mind carrying both of the kids upstairs. How about me.. can you carry me, too ?

It's been an exhausting 2 weeks after Aidan was born. My mother is not a great help for sure, so I am sooo lack of sleep that makes me having a stubborn headache for the last 4 days. Ammar has been so a great help during this time, he usually pick Aidan up from his bedroom at around 11 pm-12 am... then I ended up sleeping in Aidan's room through morning. He still wakes up 1-2 times, but it just a big adjustments again to keep waking up every 2-3 hours.
Ammar made me promise to sleep at least 4 hours straight, but I can't keep my promise, there are so many things I needed to do around the house, can't see the dirty house eventhough the maid will come on Monday to clean up, I ended up vacuuming (very very slowly due to the pain still on my stitches) the whole first floor of our house.. now, I can relax my eyes from all the crumbs in the kitchen!!!

It's Friday night, while Ammar spent time with little Nadia, bathing her, getting her ready for bed, I was nursing Aidan, and I could not open my eyes, I ended up sleeping with him in my bed... Ammar got Aidan, put him to his bed, and so sudden I felt like ... wow.... what happened ? My breast felt so full, and I wonder if Aidan had been awake... Ammar came to the bedroom after 5 minutes, it was 1 am, he just finished up his lecture for the 14th... and he told me, Aidan woke up 2 hours after he slept with me, he gave him the milk I expressed, and he finished it all, and I slept for a straight 5 hours!

Since Aidan was born, we really feel that we are the luckiest family... I was a bit worry about our relationship because Ammar's friend who just got a baby boy (second one), got divorced right after the baby boy arrived... and I always wonder what will happened after Aidan is born.... fortunately, since he was born, we bonded more and more and realize how lucky we are to have 2 healthy and beautiful children. Even Nadia got the sense of what a family is all about.

Ammar, if you read this... I love you so much, my darling. Thank you for everything.

It's the 19th today. The president's Day. It is also the anniversary of my father's 13 years of his death.
Dad, I wish you can see how much big Nadia is... and wish you can see our lives here and I love you so much!

I also read my sister's blog whose birthday was yesterday. She wrote her blog on Feb 15th, the 4th anniversary of her husband's death, the lyrics of Josh Groban's "To where you are"
It really touched my heart reading her blog today. It's so funny that the deaths of the men in her life were surrounded by her birthday. Don't be sad, my dear sister, our newest son will be born tomorrow, too... around your birthday.
I feel blessed, because then I will always remember Ardi, my beloved brother in law, your birthday, and our beloved father.

I went to my doctor's appointment today. Everything looks wonderful and we are scheduled to check in the hospital at 12 pm and have the c-section done at 2 pm.
My mother wanted to come and she wanted me to take her to buy some more sewing stuff for the baby's room and Nadia's curtain (changed plan...I only wanted to go to the doctor, not going around!), so I ended up taking her, had lunch together, and when we checked out at the cashier, the cashier asked me : "When are you due ?" I answered : "Tomorrow!!" She was so surprised and said : "Oh my God, you are so brave!!" I told her, if it were not because of my mother, I wouldn't be there at the store.

It's 2 days to go for the delivery. Ammar asked me not to do anything, so for this weekend, he was all over, taking care of Nadia, clean up the drive way from the snow, cook, carry stuff to be moved out of the baby's room, helped arranging the folded laundry, and even put Nadia to bed.
Amora, if you read this, I am so thankful that you are such a great father and a wonderful husband. It feels you are so helpless at this point of time, got lots of Braxton Hicks contraction and being so tired all the time. I love watching you and Nadia played together outside making the snowman.
Love you so much.
PS: Do you know that I love you so much more than I love my mother ? (psttt.. it's a secret!!!)

This is what I got from being pregnant. A nice surprise e-mail from my habibi...

"To my lovely wife,
I'm so exited with the news today. We are going to have a baby congratulation my love.
Our family will grow with our love. I hope you will have easy pregnancy and delivery. Just in case I did not tell you, I love you sooo much.
(note: we should stop!! I'm not going to buy a minivan..)"

Amora