8 years into parenthood: Muhammad is 8

Muhammad Abdurrahman , our eldest child turns 8 today n effectively that is our parenthood anniversary. We now have 3 kids, with Iman, 5 & Asha, 3 and at the moment there no plans for more :)

This year Muhammad celebrated his birthday at his school (Kindycare Kuala Belait), as most of his friends are from school (unlike his daddy in the old days, our friends were our village boys - budak kampung). It was really tough to manage 90 kids, but at the end of the day, with the teachers help and also my sister, the event went well. Alhamdulillah.

Happy Birthday Muhammad, Semoga Hidupmu penuh berkah, dimurahkan rezeki, dadamu dipenuhi iman dan kebijaksanaan, dan sentiasa taat perintah Allah dan ibu bapa. Amin.

My Ben Ten - Awangku Muhammad 'Abdurrahman

His schoolmates... photo grabbed from my sis' blog

Muhammad flanked by sisters, Dayangku Izzan 'Aaeeshah @ Asha on the left, 

and Dayangku Iman 'Aaliyah @ Iman on the right

The sweet 8 year old smile

Muhammad with his brithday presents

As revealed here. Thanks Muhammad's friends, he is sooooooo happy with the gifts, but as exam is looming, we have to put it away for the mean time.

Man Utd cake, a special gift from a very special friend

And the cake chosen by the birthday boy himself!

For the kids

A little boy looked so sad for days, and was approached by his teacher when he was about to be picked up by his grandad after school. The teacher was worried, the boy had lost weight and was not his usual chirpy self, and asked him if he was ill - he replied, with tears pouring, "I missed my daddy so much!"

That boy is our son, Muhammad Abdurrahman, and I learnt this a couple of weeks ago from my mom's cousin (my office mate), whose little daughter is my son's school mate.  Not a good thing to share in the office, as I really had a hard time fighting back tears.

My wife used to bring the kids out for good meal, mostly during weekends. During my recovery, the 'outing' was merely "reaaaaalllllly healthy food" (read: porridge, soups etc) at home.  I promised my wife and the kids though, that I'd treat them to a very sumptuous meal when I got better.

Alhamdulillah, my health improved and I started working about 3 weeks ago (2 weeks in the mornings only).  And as promised to the kids, we drove across the border to Miri and treated them to a great dinner at Secret Recipe a week before last. 

We've brought Muhammad to the Secret Recipes in KL and Singapore, and he loved the lamb shank, prawn macaroni and that giant curry puff (I can't remember what its called). So we ordered the giant curry puff for Muhammad (2 piece!), I had my lambshank (he ate a quarter of it), Princess Iman had a macaroni (Muhammad ate half) and my dad in law had a caribbean style fish fillet (Muhammad ate a quarter). My dear wife had a laksa, and guess what, Muhammad had a few slurps hahah - talk about APPETITE! The pictures are shown below, and what's so great about the meal is its very good value for money - from where we come from. At RM160, it is roughly B$60 and for a meal for 5 including drinks, that's great value.

"Daddy, can I order Oreo Milshake?"

"This one here?"

"Thanks Dad! I love you!"

Admiring the cakes - pity we're full at the end, otherwise wouldn't have mind to have a couple of cakes for desert.

Daddy's lamb shank... oh no, my mouth waters as I am writing this!

Dad's caribbean style fish fillet

Princess Iman's macaroni

And Muhammad enjoying his giant puff!

For photo enthusiasts looking for reviews on Canon 450D, these shots are taken with no flash, ISO1600 and speed 1/13 (of course, with IS kit lens)