Ilhan Lights up My Life in a Million Ways...

But let me share with you 20...

1. The 1st thing he does when he wakes up in the morning is flash me a big smile :)
2. He lets out a hearty chuckle at ALL my attempts to make him laugh, no matter how lame.
3. He farts. Alot. And so loudly. Its soo funny!
4. He pouts and pouts and he is so good at it!
5. He looks at me like Im the most beautiful thing he has ever seen, in the morning (when I look the crappiest) and even when I dont have a smudge of make up on.
6. He steals a loving look at me now and then when Im nursing him.
7. He tries to sing along when I sing to him. Too adorable.
8. And when I sing, he smiles and enjoys it so much I think I might actually be a GOOD singer. Haha.
9. When he poops, its a major event. His pooping face is priceless!

10. He understands how the camera works. He loves and poses for the camera whenever he is in the mood and when he is not he'll just look away.
11. Whenever he is grumpy or in a raging mood (ie screaming at the top of his lungs), all he wants is Mommy - me! Mommy feels soo loved, appreciated and wanted :)
12. He is such a happy baby he smiles at every tom, dick and harry.
13. Listening him cooing gibberish is absolutely precious.
14. Its so nice to cuddle up with him on the bed at bedtime. So precious....
15. Its so nice when he hugs me and lay his tiny lil head on my shoulders when I carry him.
16. Its so fulfilling to see him grow and achieving little developmental milestones everyday.
17. Its lovely to see him light up his Tok's serious face and bring out the kid in Tok :)
18. Its lovely to see him light up his Daddy's face everyday when Daddy comes home from work.
19. No matter what Ive done, what Ive achieved or what I may have failed, he still looks at me with alot of love.
20. Sometimes when Im feeling low or just lost, all Ilhan needs to do is flash me his big toothless smile :) and it works every single time...

Mommy loves you to bits lil Ilhan :)

What's In A Name?

It's been ages since my last post, and there's just sooooo much I wna share I dunno where to begin. Since my baby was born, every time I tell someone my baby's name - Ilhan Moris, I receive about the same response - "wow, mat salleh nya!". So let me start updating my blog by sharing with you that it is definitely not because I perasan mat salleh nor is it because he has mat salleh blood ;p

Moris is actually my mother in law's late father, which makes him my husband's grandfather, and my son's great grandfather. Despite having a very mat salleh name, Datok, as he was fondly called by his cucus, was 100% Malay. Based on his choice of name, Datok's father must be one heck of a cool person!

When my husband introduced me to his family, I found out what a unique surname his mom and her siblings had. It sounded so cool to me...  Nora Moris, Ami Moris, Kay Moris, Faridah Moris :)

Even before we knew the sex of our child, I told Hanif that I would like to name our child after his grandfather, if it was a boy. Not merely because it was a cool name to me, it was also because of all the stories Ive heard about Datok. Datok, I gathered, was an amazing person.

And since we were honouring Hanif's late grandfather, I thought hey, let's honour my late grand father too :) His name was Yeop Adlan. So it was agreed tht if it was a boy, we would name him Adlan Moris. Perfect!

But one fine day, Hanif had a 'bright' idea - we shld include his paternal grandfather's name too!

All I had to do was insist tht we include my maternal grandfather's name to get Hanif change his mind as quickly as he came up with his bright idea. Phew... Otherwise my child's name could have been............ Adlan Hashim Cheah Moris :p

In the end we compromised and chose to stick with just Moris as our kid's 2nd name. (We figured we cld always name our other kids after our late grandfathers.)

And Ive always liked Ilhan. When Hanif came home one day suggesting that name after a string of totally uncool names (like Hamzah. Hellooo... Im not giving birth to an old man. No offense Liza/Linda/Lena) I quickly agreed. Ilhan means precious.

So there, the story behind our son's unique name :) phewwhhh.