HANZKY

we went to this small playground in front of our apt complex this afternoon...baru sekali tuh kesana jalan kaki..cape juga dorong strollernya Jibran soalnya nanjak jalannya..hehe. Jibran seperti biasa lah seneng banget kalo di ajak ke play area gitu. Baru liat playgroundnya dari jauh aja udah teriak2 kesenengan..

Jibran is one year and three months old today. We didn't do anything...ya abisnya mau ngapain coba?..hehe..It seems just last week when he was 3 months old and just sitting pretty in his bouncer mesmerizing the imaginary fishes floating around the screen. ..so helpless, so immobile and so fragile. Now one year later I can't even make him sit still for more than a minute..except when he is strapped in his high chair or car seat or stroller but other than that...my attempt has never been successful. I even have to chase him around the house to put his diaper on, and most of the time I failed to put it on him before he peed on the carpet!!. Akhir2 ini kelakuannya dia yang selalu bikin ketawa tuh kalo dia di tanya where his fat belly is, he will pull his shirt up over his tummy and patting his belly button...hehe..

Speaking of birthday, I just realized that I haven't wrote anything about Jibran first birthday party in here..i know i have a looot to tell but haven't got the time to write, either because i'm busy or just plain lazy. But I'll give it a try this time. His birthday was on wednesday, three days before we went back to the states. We didn't plan a party with a clown and a room decorated with balloons and confetti..soalnya memang nggak sempet arrange yang ribet2 gitu dan kayanya percuma juga Jibran belum ngerti, nanti aja lah ulang taun yang ke 2 ato ke 3...instead we went to my dad's pesantren in parung. We were planning to go there in the afternoon to have lunch together with the kids (30 of them yang semuanya yatim piatu) and the teacher, but two days prior to his birthday the principal told us that they were gonna be fasting on that day..soalnya kan 2 hari sebelum Idul Adha. Jadi daripada kesana trus cuma nge drop in makanan kan mendingan malemnya aja, pas mereka buka puasa. Yang ikut kesana itu gue, dendre, nyokap, bokap, my sister and brother, dendre's mom, dika, alvin dan mbak2nya. Kita sampe sana menjelang maghrib...pertamanya kenalan dan ngobrol2 dulu sama santri2 nya trus mereka semua pada ngaji dan pas waktu buka puasa kita hidangin kue2 yang udah di siapin...abis itu sholat maghrib bareng..berdoa..dan nggak lupa minta Jibran di doain juga..hehe..abis itu makan makanan yang udah di siapin di box2..pesen di cateringnya sodara gue, menunya nasi kuning, ayam goreng, perkedel, tempe kering, sambel goreng hati, lalapannya dan kerupuk. Tadinya mau pesen Mac Donald aja..tapi setelah di pikir karena acaranya selamatan kayanya lebih afdol nasi kuning yah. Mereka semua makan dengan lahap...trus abis itu tiup liliin..tapi nggak pake acara nyanyi happy birthday siih..trus potong kuenya dan di bagi bagiin deh..nggak lupa juga bagiin goody bag untuk semuanya, isinya snack2 kaya cheetos, bengbeng, permen2, minuman juice, ada juga alat2 tulis, baju koko buat lebaran, peci dan kerudungan sama ada angpao juga sedikit.

Ya walaupun dengan ulang taun begini juga tetep aja Jibran juga nggak ngerti apa apa tapi mudah mudahan kalo dia udah besar nanti dan liat foto2 ulang taun pertamanya dia tau kalo we put emphasize on teaching him to share with the unfortunate from early on. Btw, kemaren itu juga pertama kali nya gue ke pesantren itu..jauuhh aja lokasi nya, tapi tempatnya enak sih..it's huge..halamannya luas banget, it has a swimming pool, its own petting zoo dan ada banyak pohon duren sama rambutan. There are 3 small houses, untuk yang santri cewe, cowo sama untuk ustadnya dan satu aula untuk kegiatan belajar sehari hari. Memang pesantren ini khusus untuk belajar agama aja sih...he owns another school yang sekolah umum SD-SMA nggak jauh dari situ..kurikulumnya pake yang di keluarin pemerintah but he only charges a very minimum monthly fee. My dad really takes his giving-back-to -the world mission seriously and has set a high standard for his children that's just seem impossible to surpass, or to even come halfway close to what he has done. He builds mosques both in and out of the country, sponsors a few HopeChild in Kenya, donates here and there and is now working on the permit to adopt 10 aceh children..and soo many other things..he is definetely the most generous man in the planet that i know..and i'm so proud of him for that. God bless his heart.

Pas udah mau pulang dari pesantrennya..we got a phone call from my auntie..telling us that grandma is in the hospital..waahhh..memang sih sakitnya bukan sakit parah..cuma mau operasi bisul aja..hehehe..but still kasian aja kan. But it was late so I didn't go to the hospital right away, besoknya baru deh kesana. Hari
Jum'atnya Idul Adha..trus malemnya ada makan2 di rumah, sekalian farewell dan makan2 Jibran ulang taun. Everybody was there, practically the whole family deh, my mom's side, my dad's side..dari nenek (udah keluar dari rumah sakit), buyut, tante, tante, saudara ipar semuanya ada...plenty of foods..and good thing we found the cake we were looking for..it was huge..it was like 30 inches by 16" or something...everybody got a piece of it. .dan kali ini dinyanyiin selamatulangtaun dong sebelum tiup lilinnya...hehe..dan ada juga goodie bag buat anak2 kecilnya. Jam 10 malem mulai pada pulang deh...kayanya yang terakhir sekitar jam 11 an. Asli capee..tapi seru juga sih, cuma panik juga karena packingnya belum selesai..padahal pesawatnya jam 2 siang besoknya. Tapi bener deh nggak kerasa udah setaun aja umur Jibran yah..and he survived his first year with me as his mother!!!..wow..that is something to celebrate...:p

We just got back from new york trip yesterday (saturday-wednesday, from albany new york to tarrytown and weschester area to new york city) and still too tired to type. Too bad we didn't take lost of pictures..the trip alone (although so much fun) was exhausting so I didn't bother to take my camera out of my purse most of the time. I was planning to call baby dylan and baby toby to meet up and was looking forward to it..but i didn't realize that it would be so 'ribet' there..soalnya rame2 sih disananya, there were my Dad, my sister Nabila who came to study there and also Jibran's cousin Indy, Mbak Nanda and Jason who live there. Dendre didn't go with us, so it was my first trip out of town with Jibran...and i think it was my first time to miss a flight too..haha..story to come later..and oh Jibran fell of from the bed for the first time since he was born..and I bought my very first flat shoes in a looong time...I guess there's always a first time for everything.

Maybe it won't be this gloomy had we won the game last sunday..cause that means we are gonna play tonight against Arizona..hehe..masih sebel nih gara2 kalah, padahal we would have a good chance of winning the game tonight since it's gonna be in Chicago...which is like our second home and everybody knows we never lose at home..the entire all state arena will be rooting for us...and then there is the Illini waiting at the elite eight....sweeettt!!!

I haven't been doing anything productive lately..I have tons of things that I have to do that I've put on hold..but I did take care some other things though..just not much...been basically just sitting in front of my laptop and browse the basketball news and the message boards all day while munching on the chewy chips ahoy (the one with 20% more chips!!)..*sigh*..what ever happened to my new year resolution to get my body *sort of* bikini ready come summer time??....and where is that pilates dvd I bought last january?..right....it's been remain untouched ever since I bought it.

Jibran is napping right now. He's been off the bottle for more than 2 weeks...he is now drinking from his sippy cup, but his sippy cups look pretty much like bottles and they come with the soft spout..so i don't know if it's a good thing or not. Jibran juga sekarang kalo malem bangun udah nggak ASI lagi..so we're now completely done in that area..palingan dia nyari binkie nya. Jibran rusuh siih kalo tidur...kesenggol dikit aja marah marah..tapi nggak mau tidur di cribnya, udah gitu gue kan senengnya pake selimut, tapi dianya enggak..trus marah marah kalo kakinya kena selimut....rusuh banget deh anak kecil. Sekarang giginya udah 8, 4 di atas, 4 di bawah..dan dia seneeeeng banget kalo disuruh sikat gigi..when i tell him it's time to brush his teeth..he will drop everything and go to the bathroom with me, then I sit him in the sink and ask him to get his toothbrush..he knows which one is his and he will get it himself along with the toothpaste.

I hate to lose, but the salukis didn't dissapoint anyone today, they played their heart out and showed valiant effort, there are absolutely no reason to hang their head down. Oklahoma state is a damn good team, one of the best teams in all the land of college basketball (if i'm not mistaken 4 of their starters were in Final FOUR last year) and we battled them well..we were the one with the lead most of the time, until a few minutes of the second half. It hurts, but it doesn't sting as much. I'm sad to see the dissapoinment in Darren Brook's face when the buzzer beat and to see Matt shaw broke down on the bench, i think he feels bad for the seniors. Boy there are sure a lot of crying in this NCAA tournament, like a quote from the msg boards. "All 65 teams are gonna cry at some point during the tournament, 64 teams will cry due to losing and only one team will cry tears of joy when they win the National Championship on April 4th....only one team".

My complain is only the home court advantage..i think they have the biggest homecourt advantage of the tourney, the crowd was just ridiculous and we got homered on a couple of questionable calls so we were killed with their almost perfect free throws, they have 29 points from the charity stripe alone!!!. It would've been a different story if it were played on a neutral floor. Heck we'll take them again anyday of the week, anytime of the day and twice on sunday on a neutral floor!!..hehehe... But coach sutton is a class act and so are the players, he was praising us in the press conference which helps to soothe the wounds. I think i will root for them all the way (except when they play illini cause i'm a fan of coach weber) so we can say that we lost to the champion!!..hihi...

All in all, thanks to all the players, especially the seniors (particularly Darren Brooks and Stetson Hairston), thanks for another memorable year of basketball. I'm so sad that they have to leave us..I'm gonna miss watching them play in salukis jersey. I hope they can have a great career right after they graduate, I know Darren is an NBA prospect and have been invited to the NBA camp, i hope he can make the second round draft if not the first round. Hmm now that I think about it.. i could have dated an nba player..hehehe..man i sound like a groupie..oh well but that's a whole other story..:P. On the meantime..here's to another great season. Go Salukis!

Oh sweet..finally we pulled out a win in the first round of the NCAA tournament after two years of dissapoinment when we lost only by one point!!. Finally the smack talking St. Mary's fans can shut their mouth. Next we'll take on Oklahoma State...and i have faith in my salukis..i believe we have a decent shot against them..and if we play 40 minutes of in-your-face defense and bring our A game..we can win this one out. Now let's the trash talking begin with the OSU fans..hehe..naahh I have been to the couple of their msg boards and they seem like a bunch of nice people, some are coming to our boards too and they are very respectful..maybe it's the southern's charm..or maybe not cause I know sooners fans are annoying to the bone!! But still..they all better go to church sunday morning and pray like they have never prayed before..hehehehe...!

Of course we're in...:P, we were ranked #15 in the nation last week (RPI wised). We're seeded in the Chicago bracket as #7 and will be playing St. Mary #10 this friday in Oklahoma City where the salukis will be wearing their white jersey for the first time in NCAA Tournament, we usually got to wear the maroon one since we were the under dog, but not this time. I don't know anything about St. Mary, but really hope we can pull thru and move forward to the second round in which we will face the winner of #2 Oklahoma State University or #15 Southestearn Louisiana game, I think OSU will win it and that's what so scaryy....playing OSU in their backyard. But hey, sometimes miracles never cease so who knows we'll run a little deeper and meet the Illini in the elite 8..hehe..it's a dream match up.

We won the Saturday game against Indiana State, but we didn't win by default, it should've been one easy game for us..turned out it was tougher than expected. Sunday game (the semifinal) was against Southwest Missouri State, just like last year. We had a 23 point lead in the first half, we hit so many threes and completely owned the bears in the first half...even their coach said "the salukis were so hot in the first half that you could fry an egg on their back". But the bears suddenly came back in the second half while we seemed to be playing not to lose rather than playing to win. They drew so many fouls and finally took the lead in the last 40 seconds of the game and won by 4 points.

I thought this year would be the year we'd break the curse (the last time we won the tourney was in 1995, exactly 10 years ago!!!)..it would have been awesome to give Brooks and Heirston the trophy that they deserve cause it's their last year. I know the tourney is not that big of a deal especially since the salukis have won four straight leaque titles and have been invited to the NCAA tournament back to back. The ESPN says that we are a lock for the NCAA even if we don't win the tourney, so it's good to hear..but still...why can't we get to monday night and win it, once and for all?!?!..Arrggh..I'm still bitter here..hopefully we'll make some damages in the NCAA. I'll be rooting for you guys in front of my TV!!!.....

Akhirnyaaaa hari Jum'at dateng juga, I've been waiting for the weekend to come cause it's March Madness Weekend Babyyy. Salukis finished the conference game in style and came up as the number one seed in the conference, so we'll get to play the first game on saturday at savvis center against whoever wins friday night game (it's either Bradley University or Indiana State). We're now in the Top 25, sitting at the last rank but that's fine caused it's nationwide!!..woohooo...

Anyway..this week has not been a smooth week for me. It was started on Sunday night (pass midnite) when Jibran was suddenly threw up all over the bed that we all had to get up, washed him, changed his clothes, changed my t-shirt, changed the pillow and bed cover. Jibran rarely throws up, kayanya semenjak lahir baru 3 kali deh dia vomit gitu..and it smelled like cheese cause he ate lots of cheese in the afternoon, we had lunch at Old Spaghetti Factory where he ate some of my food, so maybe it's the cheese or something, mungkin yang di pake special kind of cheese yang mungkin belum cocok untuk di makan Jibran kali yaa. Anyway, jadi pas hari senennya Jibrannya lemes...didn't want to eat anything, he didn't even want to drink his milk, but thank god there wasn't any vomiting scene lagi sih.

But I was the one who didn't feel good the next day (tuesday)..i got hit with a migraine..it was soo bad that I couldn't do much of anything..Errghhhh I hate migraine. Rabunya dua2nya baik2 aja tapi pas jam 5 sore Jibran had a bowel movement and it was a lot and very wateryy...and he had another two BMs before 9 o'clock..poor baby...i don't know what could be the cause..he ate just about the same thing he eats everyday. So I was afraid to give him any food and he seemed to lost his appetite too..I gave him lots of water and a few sips of pedialyte..thank god he hasn't had any BM anymore up until now, but his appetite is still low and he doesn't drink that much milk..langsung keliatan pipinya kalo kurusan..padahal baru aja gemukan lagi sejak balik dari jakarta....

Sekarang Jibrannya lagi napping, he's down to one nap a day now, kadang masih 2 kali sih tapi jaraang...seringnya cuma sekali from 1 to 3 o'clock. Minumnya udah 100% whole milk..dan sekarang babblingnya tambah sering dan lebih kedengeran seperti real words, only in french or maybe finnish..hehe. Intonasi nya juga beda2 kalo dia lagi ngomong in his happy mood sama kalo lagi kesel atau marah2 gitu. Kata dokternya sih karena kita ngomong ke Jibran in 2 different languages...so it might slows him down a bit at first in the speaking area. But it is better for him in the long run..it will make him smarter cause it improves brain activity and he will have more vocabulary, better sentence structure and comprehension skills later on. Dan katanya juga sih menurut research, children who brought up learning two languages score higher on standardized test. We'll see lah...

Hmm..apalagi yaah, nanti sore kalo jadi mau botakin rambutnya Jibran..hihi..abisnya kalo gondrong sedikit suka di jambak2in sama dia. I will post picture of his new 'do later......!!!.

Sebenernya ini udah di tulis dari kemaren kemaren...tapi kok maleeessss banget ya nyelesainnya?..Anyway...last week was full of event. Ada 2 keluarga yang balik for good ke jakarta. Salah satu nya mas heru n mbak susi dari carbondale, memang sih sejak kita pindah ke st. louis jadi jarang ketemu lagi..but we always visit each other once in a while. They are really nice to us, we used to hang out at their house every weekend, just to chitchat until pass midnite..they always cook delicious indonesian food for us, gives a hand to help and all that. Too bad I didn't get the chance to take them to the airport, I called them the day before their departure but they had disconnect the phone. They promised to call me to let me know the check in time so we can meet in the check in area but i guess they were too busy they forgot to call me..huhu.

The other family who has gone back home is MD, Mbak Risti and Rashad...Rashad is Jibran's buddy..they are only 2 weeks apart at birth. Sekarang kalo ngumpul2 agak sepi deh..biasanya ada 2 babies..sekarang tinggal 1. They had an early flight..so all of us went to the airport around 4.30 in the morning to bid them farewell..ugh why why why everybody is going home?!?!..I knew I wanted to go home for good sometimes..but after my last visit there..i realized that i'm not ready to go home..not mentally, emotionally, physically (not until i lost this bellyyy..hehe..oh man i'm so shallow..:p), not financially and other possible lly. I know I want to be around my family more than anything but i'm just not ready yet to face whatever the hell i have to face back home. I do feel guilty most of the time for being away from my family for so long, especially now that there is Jibran...all they want is to be near him, to watch him grow and witness his every milestones..and i take that away from them. Huhu..sedih jadinya kalo di pikir. Airport is a sentimental place for me, makanya pas kemaren ke airport itu jadi inget waktu harus balik lagi ke sini...masuk nya di lama lamain, kita baru masuk ke boarding area pas orang2 udah ngantri masuk pesawat, padahal itu juga udah di anterin sampe ke dalem, passed the check in area..passed the immigration gate..masiih aja kurang...and i'm not good in saying goodbye to my family cause then my voice becomes strangled in my throat, my heart is throbbing and tears start streaming down my cheek..huhu..cupu banget deh pokonya.

Anywayy..we have heard the news that MD and family have arrived jakarta safely..we wish you the best of luck and continual success in your future endeavor..mudah2an bisa cepet adaptasi sama lingkungan dan suasana baru. We miss you guys already..=))!!

So after we took them to the airport, we went home to catch up some sleep...woke up at noon, had dimsum and planned to go to st. louis mills right after, but jibran was sleeping on the way there, kasian kalo turun pasti dia bangun, so we stopped by at target, d and yoga went inside and i just waited in the car sambil nemenin jibran bobo...made some phone calls, played with the camera..and i even had a chance to pluck my eyebrows..:D. Abis dari situ baru deh ke mills where jibran played in the PBS kids play area..he looked so happy. He walked like he own the place.

Monday was a valentine's day...I woke up to find a cute package, a small red teddy bear with a red Mrs Fields heart tin filled with decadent chocolates and a card that says.."To my wife: Thank you for being you ...and for being mine"...ahh..monday is not that bad afterall..=))