How time flies.

I barely blog about our life in China. It was kinda hard to get hold of the "freedom" of using the internet. Had to get a VPN access to be able to serve YouTube or even Facebook. 

Now, we are in New Zealand, freedom it is. A new place, a new life. Hoping that this new nomadic adventure of ours stays longer. Here's to a better family life for AA. 

In 5 more days, our lil' birdie will be 1 years old. Have time pass that fast?! I can't bare to look at all the photos I took of her. Cause I surely will be in tears as I can't imagine I was and am able to go through this new life. Ya Allah. I did it. I managed to keep my baby alive for 1 year. HAHAHAHAHA! Okay, I sounded cruel. Joke aside. 

And I love this month so much because not only I get to celebrate my baby's yearly birthday, I get to also celebrate our yearly anniversary too! Super excited. This Sunday, to be exact. 6 years. Married. Has it been 6 years?! OMG. After typing down the number '6', I was blown away. Amazing. I married to the best partner ever. Thank you, Ya Allah. Oh, thank you.

So here's to both. Aana Aisha & my baker husband, Mohd. Iqwan Shah.

Auckland with a Baby

4th July 2016, we left to Auckland. Flight was around 9pm. So it was perfect. Got all our things needed just to get settled down here. Packed enough for AA's daily used. And the 10 hour plus flight was a blessed one because she was in a very, very, very good behavior. 1 or 2 crying (more to being mengada-ngada), but most of it, she was asleep. I did my bookings online & did our check in too. So I managed to pick the right seats with the bassinet wall in front of us.

I hate sitting in the middle 4 row area, and prefer the 2 seats next to the window because I am fully breastfeeding & I feel that it gives me more privacy then sitting at the 4 seat row. So if you plan to fly with a baby & BF on board, try to get the 2 seats next to window by buying the seats earlier or online check-in prior 48 hours before your flight (AND praying that no one book that seat yet) or go the the counter and request to change seat and be lucky.

I did my research about flying with a baby. Some goes over-board with over-packing things for lil' bub. Extra clothes, extra toys, extra this & that. But I choose to pack less.

1. CLOTHES

Since our flight is at night, I only packed 2 extra baby clothes because AA will be sleeping most of the time, therefore she wont be puking or making a mess to her clothes that needs changing. She is, at that time, just started eating solid. So I decided not to feed her solid on the journey and just kept giving her my milk direct when she gets cranky.

2. TOYS

Just bring what your lil' bub's favorite toy or toys. Because most of the time AA is sleeping & she won't be playing any of it. I wore a necklace for her to bite, brought her Sophie giraffe, and some rattles. And TIPS, keep all the toys in a Ziplock bag or if you're like me, I bought some plastic see-through bag from Daiso and kept all them toys in it, so that its easy for me to search when she's starting to make her noise engine. If your baby likes to play with the IPad, then that's good enough to keep them entertained. By the time we were almost arriving Auckland, AA woke up & end up 'kepoh' looking at people & playing with her papa. Perfect timing.

3. DIAPERS

Okay. So if you know how your baby's bowel movement like me, than you don't need to pack the whole bag. I think I brought about 5 in my diaper bag & another extra 3 in my husband's carry on. But I think we only used like 2. Because before we board in the plane, I changed her then, the on plan fed her and she slept & when she woke up, changed her. And by the time we wanted to change her again,  it's touch down. So we changed her after we exit the plane. And also feed her.

I think that's about it. Flying with a baby is actually not that bad. Or, I can't say, because every baby is different. There were other babies on board and them parents did had trouble. Maybe due to air pocket or the babies can't stay still. But all and all, I'm very happy that AA was a good baby on air. Even when we flew for the first time to Shanghai after I gave birth, she was doing so well. Thank you, my Lil' birdie.

PS : always hydrate your baby. Or them to suck on a pacifier or breast. I think that helped AA fly and sleep well. She is the 'suck thumb' kinda baby.

Good luck to parents who was thinking of flying with a baby. Don't get all panicky (like I did). Cause at the end of the day, it may-be turning out OKAY.

PSS: We didn't have a stroller, so not sure on how the process is with it. Wearing my baby may also be a part of why AA behaved so well.

Again, good luck!

It's Never Easy.

I feel so embarrassed to ask them. But this is my only option. This is my second time asking for help. I feel ashamed. But I need their help. As a daughter, I hope they don't feel I'm using. I don't ask for help much. But, I don't want to burden my husband's worries. Gosh. Living here is a challenge, financially.

But we will go through it. It will be okay.

It will. I have faith in Him.

Adding a Number.

Adding a number to my age. Gosh! Again, I've gone missing. For a long effing years. I kept telling myself, blog up, women, blog up. But either I'm effing lazy that i refuse to blog or i just got things to do. Hastag alasan.

This is updates. The only time I blog, it's always updates, updates & updates. And when I ope my blog space on my lappy, I end up straying away, engrossed in my phone returning messages in Whatsapp, or checking my Insta, or scrolling on music to play on my Beats. Looking at the time, it's prayer time or I have to cook dinner cause Habibi's coming home from work. 

So I told myself, "Women, you got to get this done. You have to start back what you used to do. Stop postponing & giving shit loads of alasan." *Knuckles cracked* Let's do this.

I am Azira. A mother of 1 to lil' birdie Aana Aisha. No. It's not An-na. It's Aa-na. And no, there is no 'h' at the end of Aisha, or 'y' in between Aisha. We like it that way & we want our daughter's future boyfriends or husband (singular) to make a mistake with her name spelling so that he will forever remember that our daughter is special. Hence name spell check. 

I started blogging (THIS BLOG) since 2011. After I got married and started to live a nomadic wife life following my husband and his bread passion. I blogged a lot when we stayed in Hong Kong. Maybe because I didn't have much things to do back then, plus newly married and so in love. Waiting at home like a love struck puppy and sleep a lot. HAHAHAHAHA!

But I picked up cooking. I love cooking. But never able to do much in my younger days because me mom don't like us messing her kitchen. Besides cooking, I'm a freak for cleaning. I clean and re-arrange furniture a lot of time till it satisfy me. So much of not doing nothing, I end up (yes, the blogging) making business by selling H&M clothes online. Malaysia back then didn't have H&M. So i did get some buyers. 

And then a year has gone by. So long Hong Kong. Habibi got a new job offer. And from there, we flew 6389 km to Bahrain. Yes, I Googled the distance. 

Bahrain, ah.. Land of Halal & brothers/sisters of my own religion walk about in peace. Not all. Yes, it's Halal. I don't mind to live there when I'm old and maybe retired. Cause it's like living in Malaysia. Except you see Arabs instead. No. You see loads of Filipinos. & Indian Kerala. Where's the Arabs you ask? Maybe in Malaysia. Or London. Somewhere. 

Peace? Yes, it is a nice place to live. Because of their beaches, sea & cool winter & hot summer. But the men, as I remembered, is so gatal! I do get lustful looks and stare from them (Indians most of it) at their market or Souk. Why? I have no freaking idea. Even I'm all covered (sometimes I wear the purdah) and wore all black albaya, still they stare with horny-ness. Must've be the 'kambing' they eat everyday. Ish. So gatal. Urgh. Gatal!

If you're unlucky, you get days when the Shia's buat hal. By burning tires or start a fire in a oil drum tank or home made bombs thrown in the middle of the highway. And boo, traffic. Cars drive by like "Ohh, that's nothing. Another Shia buat hal day.. Move along.." Sigh. Islam pun bergaduh antara puak-puak. Macam manalah dunia nak aman. Hanya boleh geleng kepala je. 

In Bahrain, I taught kids dancing. I taught traditional dancing. Though I suck and have no experience or any idea about traditional Malay dancing. But, thank you YouTube! Them kids perform for the embassy. We enter some competition, perform for the King and others. I enjoyed it very much. But sucks cause I didn't have a car back then & I had to wait for people to tumpang and hantar balik. Or paid a driver to do so. I even taught the mothers some Line Dancing. And made my bucks from that. And the best thing is, since I love cooking, baking and making food, I self taught myself to make my grandma's kaya (coconut jam) & made a business by selling it. Ah... I miss doing that. 

And the most awesome memory living in Bahrain was, we adopted Nincompoop Al Juffair. My beloved cat. Now living happily and free from kene marah from me with my parents in Malaysia. I'm glad you like living there, Poop. I hope you Doakan your human father & me to Jannah akhirat nanti. 

After a year in Bahrain, did our Umrah (Alhamdulillah, thank you Ya Allah), Habibi got another job offer. And back to packing. 6821 km away, we end up in Shanghai, China. And that's when I stopped blogging. I did some Vlog. But didn't pursue it further. Takde confident kot. Maybe. We left Nincompoop in Malaysia. Poor cat had to fly by himself in a cargo flight 18 hours. Sob sob. And we were in Mekah doing our Umrah. The horror and uneasy feeling I was going through. 

Shanghai, China. I couldnt believe my own self that we end up in China. Because I remembered telling Habibi, when we took the train trip to Shenzhen & Guangzhou while we were living in Hong Kong, that he SHALL NOT work in China, cause it's filthy dirty & their people are just so low minded.

Nope.

Hey, Shanghai! Fast-forward, 3 years & half later, we survived in China. And I've got to say (honestly) we missed Shanghai. Maybe because we have adapted to their lifestyle & is way safer than Bahrain. People stare at you because I wear the hijab but other than that, you just do your own effing thing. Do whatever and no one cares. Because it's China. And maybe most, we missed our friends we made there. I think this is the tightest I have ever made living away from my own homeland. 

Shout out! You guys know who you are..

There. A long snippets of what's left from my last blog. Updated September 18 2015! LOL!!! Shiaaat. 

Yesterday, dated 01.08.2016, I turned 33. And I am in a new location. Continuing our nomadic life. So blessed cause kami dikurniakan dengan seorang anak perempuan. A baby girl that suits our nomadic life. Constantly moving. She's easy to take care. Clingy sloth. But a hardcore baby flying jet-setter. 

To many more number added to my age. 

Here's to Auckland, New Zealand. Here's to the new location. And here's to a better life. Maybe we stay here longer? Who knows. InsyaAllah. We never know what Allah's plan. But we have to always be grateful with what He give and what He takes back.

Happy birthday to me. May Auckland, New Zealand gives us enough sustenance, love & happiness.

And I hope to make friends. Again. I keep kumpul-ing friends all over, huh. Guess, I'm lucky just like that. Amin.

Signing off,
The Mrs. - Me.