I just thought that I want to share my own birth control experience. It’s a frequently talked about topic as general awareness sense, but as I talk to my own friends, I find few of us are using birth control methods.

I also often hear stories of messed up periods or hormones after taking the injection and Implanon methods.

A quick disclaimer: I’m not a doctor, so please seek your doctor’s advice.

Moving on. As I talk to my friends who have had an ‘accident’ pregnancy, and I asked them about Oral Contraceptive Pills (OCP). A lot of them gave this excuse of fearing forgetting to take their pills. And of course, they don’t want the ‘side effects’ of the other birth control methods.

I get it. Birth control sucks. It’s tricky to choose one. Especially if you are breastfeeding or you have other conditions.

I once took an OCP that severely impacted my mood swings. Luckily I noticed it and quickly got off it. However, I have used this brand called Loette, and it works wonders for me. I don’t experience any negative side effects, no weight gain, no mood swings, nothing. Probably a little bit of vaginal dryness but with a good diet and supplements, it’s easily overcome.

The beauty of using OCP is, there is no long-term side effect. You can stop using it, and your period will adjust back to normal immediately or in 1-3 months (realistically). Unlike injections and Implanon, it may take about a year to get back to your normal fertility rate.

My tips on taking OCP:

1. Take it on the same day every day. Ideally place it in a visible place, easily accessible to you.
2. I like to place mine on my bedside. I will always have a bottle of water -or you can learn to swallow the pills without water. The pills are very small.
3. The pills are individually labelled with days of the week, so you’ll know whether you’ve taken the pill, in case you forget.
4. If you miss one, don’t panic. Just take it ASAP even if it means taking 2 pills a day.
5. Track your period and intercourses. I use Apple Health apps. Easy and basic. That way, you can clear yourself of any doubts if any should arise.
6. If you find yourself missing atleast to 2 days of pills in a row or in short period, make sure to use backup contraception as that is considered unsafe. There may be escape ovulation If you already had intercourse during unsafe periods, just take the emergency pill.

So far, I have managed to prevent unwanted pregnancy during the first 2 years after I was married. (I got pregnant in <2 months after I stopped taking OCP). Now, after 2 kids, I’ve successfully prevented pregnancy for 5 years.

I don’t know about you. But I personally do not want any unwanted pregnancy -having remorse when seeing that double lines. Don’t do it to yourself, or your unborn baby. It’s a gift to be able to plan your family.
It really saddens me to hear some of my friends and people I know, who regretted her pregnancy. They don’t want to get pregnant, yet won’t educate themselves to prevent it.

Also, a husband has no say about how you should be doing the contraceptive. A good husband should always respect you and your body. A husband who prevents birth control is a disrespectful husband to his wife, her body and her choices.

At the end of the day, when it comes to pregnancy, it is your body and you are subject to all the pain that comes with it. So, don’t ever give in to someone who won’t respect that.

There is no reason in the world you should get pregnant, except that you, YOU want it yourself. Not even your mom, your friends and even your own husband should be allowed to pressure you into getting pregnant if that is not your wish.

I guess my point is, take contraceptives, get educated. Newborns deserve to be born in a place where they are truly wanted and be unconditionally loved. 💛

Ramadhan is the most holy month for Muslims and is the month where Muslims all around the world try their best to be better Muslims. Ramadhan is sweet and it’s special. However, it can also pose many challenges of different kinds to most people. One of it is maintaining patience in amidst of hunger. For me, the real test of patience is with the kids.

One of the struggle is meal time. Meal time can be a battle zone with kids, no joke. All the negotiations, and the cleaning up, IT’S HELL. And you know, during fasting month the negotiations are harder because you can’t eat to prove to them that the food is delicious.  and of course, that whole monkey-see-monkey-do situation as well.

What’s the worst thing, though? The wastage, because I can’t eat their leftover! Oh, the heartache to throw away good food.

Sara is a really picky eater. A lot of negotiations come into play just to make her eat. Sometimes, I don’t have the energy to negotiate, and let her starve until she cries for food. Although, that’s not actually helpful because it can happen at very inconvenient time. Also, I need to feed Amira too, so it’s just easier to feed them both, in terms of cleaning work.

Oh, speaking of Amira.

She likes to eat. Sort of. But here’s the thing, she’s one year and a half, and ever since she was like 11months old, she only wanted to feed herself. Yeah, sounds good right? It helps with her motor skills whatever, but you know, I am soooo tired of cleaning up the mess! But she won’t have it any other way. It’s either she won’t eat or she feeds herself. Clever little b-.

So yeah, don’t even get started with just how embarrassed I feel every time we leave a restaurant. The table and the floor is always a mess! Oh god.

Do you see what I’m dealing with?

There you go, the unglamorous life of a mom. It’s so easy to see on instagram and think that people’s life is perfect, but behind those cute pictures, there is this that people never really see. But you know what, my motto is, “pick your battle”.  On days where I don’t feel like negotiating, I just leave some biscuits accessible to them, and let them fend for themselves whenever. Let them starve until they are crying for food. Even if it means lunch is at 3pm.

And when they are sooo hungry, they would eat more with little negotiations. That, my friends, is victory.

Amira fell asleep on the baby chair right before lunch was served

Living in the crowded city of Kuala Lumpur, we sometimes find it difficult to set some time to go on a vacation. The reality is, we can’t a afford to set aside 1-2 weeks of vacation every 2-3 months HAHA. So, what do we do?

Staycation.

1-2 (or 3) nights anywhere in Malaysia. In fact, we have even simply stayed within Kuala Lumpur and simply enjoyed the nearby attractions. Last December we went to Avani Resort Sepang.

Recently however, we went to Lost World of Tambun, Ipoh, Perak. It was my previous company’s event, and a great opportunity to bring the kids out for some fun. We stalked the website, and our initial expectation was that there were many different parks there.

Ipoh is the capital city of Perak. It’s not as big and as busy as KL but it’s still vibrant with activities and culture. This would be our first time having these kind of staycation as opposed to our usual beach destinations. It’s always either beach or big cities for us.

They had several parks such as water park, petting zoo, amusement park, adventure park and few others.

However, once we got there, it turns out that all of these parks are integrated into one, including the hot springs and spa. I thought it’s such a wonderful idea, because that means, there’s always something for everyone!

Sara riding a donkey at the Petting Zoo.

Happyganics is a plant-based brand and the products are made in USA. I think they just started selling in Malaysia because I’ve never heard of them before. If you know me, I’m a huge natural products fan. I’m all for natural skincare and (natural food!). We have been using all-natural laundry detergents and bottle cleanser of different brands before, so it’s definitely not new to me.

Not only it’s better for us, but it’s better for the planet too. The chemicals from the detergent that are being dumped to the drainage system can be harmful for the earth.

Anyway, it’s been a little over a month since I’ve been using these products and I have to say I love them!

First of all, let’s talk about the packaging. I mean, tin container? And that cute graphic – I totally love them! They look so cute on the counter and I love looking at the packaging. I don’t know if it’s a designer thing, but does anyone else cares about product packaging? haha.

Read More