Happy Australia Day

Wednesday, 26 January 2011

Australia is the best.. because i was born there.. :)

Today, Australia is celebrating its national day. Happy Australia Day everyone!! Though it is a public holiday today, i still had to work to catch up. Little Princess is showing her patriotism by taking photo with Australian flag behind her while waving her hand at the camera. Well, rightly so.. afterall she was born in Australia.

Appointment with Neonatalogist

Monday, 24 January 2011

Rania had another appointment with her neonatalogist today. She was seen by Dr Kelly as her actual doctor, Dr Adam couldn't make it to her appointment. But he did come and visit Princess Rania while we were in the waiting room. He was happy to see that Rania is off her the subnasal oxygen completely. When seen by Dr Kelly, she was also very happy to see her progress. The last time she was Rania was when she was very small (in the incubator). She has grown so much that she now couldn't fit some of her small premmie clothes. At the end of the appointment, I was hoping to bring her upstairs to see all the baby nurses. But she was a bit unsettled after the appointment because she wanted more sleep! Maybe next time, I'll definitely bring Rania to see all of them.

Subnasal O2 Graduation

Wednesday, 19 January 2010

Little Rania's 28th Blogpost:

Hi Daddy.. Look at me on my graduation day!!

It has been a very wonderful week for me this week. I had a fantastic sleep without tubes last night. Mommy told me that Daddy was also watching me through the webcam from Brunei. Being watched by Daddy, i managed to maintain a consistent saturation of above 97%.  It was a different feeling for me without the tube on my face. It felt really great! Never had a better sleep like last night.

Today, Mommy and Grandma brought me to my appointment with the respiratory doctor, Dr Alan Isle. He was really happy with my progress and the results from the oximetry test was really good. Good news!! He said that i i was ready and didn't have to put on the subnasal tubes! Yeay! Mommy and Daddy were really happy with the news. I wish Daddy was here to celebrate with me.

What do you think of my new look? My cheek is now easily available for kisses too! Come and get me!!HeHe...

We were in Borneo Bulletin

Wednesday, 19 January 2011

Photo by Cath of KGUV. Thank you!

Tubeless Night

Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Little Princess' night watcher, Sateria Pahlawan. Her Daddy is
monitoring her o2 saturation while Mommy takes turn to sleep

It is a big night tonight for little Princess Rania!! It is the night that we've all been waiting for. Since 7.00 pm this evening, she was being put on a test without any help of oxygen supplement while being monitored by the oximetry machine. This test is basically to monitor how she would be doing without tubes to really be sure that she doesn't need it anymore before completely removing it. Duration of monitoring will be 12 hrs, so this should end early tomorrow. This is her first night sleeping without tubes since her returning home. Excited and nervous at the same time!

She is currently doing very well. It has been 5 hours now and her oxygen saturation has been consistenly high at 97%, which is really good. While we are sleeping here in Brisbane, her lovely Daddy is wide awake monitoring her oxygen saturation from Brunei via Skype. Hubby and i are very much excited about this day and also very much hoping that she will easily breeze through this test without having her to put on her tubes no more.

Her next appointment with her respiratory doctor at the Royal Children Hospital will be tomorrow at 2.00 pm. That will the deciding moment whether or not she had passed the test. Please pray with us that she will  pass the test and never have to use the ventilation tubes anymore, like any other babies. She had gone through so much and hope this will be the end of all of this. I'm sure that she will grow out of it eventually and it will only be a matter of time, but hopefully this is the moment. Amin!!

Another Community Nurse Visit

Monday, 17 January 2011

Last Tuesday Rania had another visit at home from Vivian, her community nurse. Everything seemed to be going very well. She gained a fair amount of weight since one month ago. Her latest weight is now 4.050 kilos. Nurse said she looks very good, in terms of her skin tone etc. She mostly asked about how she is going with her feeding and sleep. Nurse Vivian encourages her to do lots and lots of tummy playtime which will help to improve her head shape. Apart from that, Nurse Vivian told us to avoid her looking at the TV for too long because it is not good for her brain development. The reason is pictures on the TV keeps on changing which prevents her from processing the things that she sees long enough for her to learn. Ooopps! I guess no more Barney and friends for Princess Rania for the time being.

Food Supply

Thursday, 13 January 2011

Food Supply by Brunei High Com Representatives

Two officials from the Brunei High Commission are still here in Brisbane to give us any sort of assistance. They have done a wonderful job dealing with the current situation in Brisbane. A group of young Bruneians students were flown back to Brunei at 1pm today. Whereas some of the LDP students with families are still here at Kelvin Grove. The officials from the Brunei High Commission has kindly donated necessities such as rice, instant noodle, mineral water, sugar, etc. Thank you!

Bruneians: All Safe

Thursday, 13 January 2010



Group photo with all Bruneians, including little Princess.
Photo courtesy of Husin of KGUV, thank you!

Great news! All Bruneians, families and friends has all been gathered at a safe place here at Kelvin Grove Urban Village (KGUV). At this moment of time, some of them are already on their way back to Brunei. Thanks for all the effort by the Brunei Embassy as well as our seniors LDP staffs here.

As for myself, Rania and my parents, we are currently at our place. Honestly, it is abit daunting with what is happening in Brisbane at the moment. If hubby is right here with the both of us, he would know what to do best for us. As far as it goes, our family decided to just stick around at our apartment. We are currently quite updated with what is happening out there through live news on the television.

The water level at the Brisbane River is still rising which will reach its peak in about 1hr and is rising as i'm writing this blog. Once again, to all families and friends, not to forget to all relatives of Bruneians studying here, don't worry, we are all at a safe place.

Flash Flood in Brisbane

Tuesday, 11 January 2011

Photo courtesy of "The Australian News"

 

It is a sad news about flash flood affecting Brisbane at the moment. Just to let everyone know that, the area where we live is on the high land, therefore we are not affected by the flood at all. Been following the news today, it does look kind of frightening. One of the worst affected region in Brisbane is Toowomba which has claimed some lives unfortunately. Thirty other suburbs are expected to be affected with the flash flood.

Currently, the rain is starting to slow down, however the flood are coming fast from the rising tide level is expected to peak on Thusday. Therefore warning was still released for the safety of everyone. Those living in the low-lying area were asked to leave their homes and gathered at an emergency point which is located just near the Royal Brisbane Women Hospital. I hope that the rain will recede soon, so that those affected can get back to their home. As expected, just now, groceries stores shelves was emptying so fast, as prices of perishable goods are expected to increase. We manage to stock extra eggs, rice and some fruits and vegetables.

Passport Photos Tryouts

Friday, 7 January 2011

Passport Photo Trials..

Salam everyone. Two more weeks, our little princess will be off her nasal oxygen tube completely. It is overly exciting for us. We have started to let her have sometime off subnasal oxygen for about half an hour every now and then. She was very brave and she didn't struggle at all. She is our true Superheroin!! Good girl!

While removing her tubes completely from her face, we took the opportunity to trial her passport photos. We took about more than 20 shots of her while daddy try to hold her still. We manage to take a couple of good ones! The one above, although abit blurry is our favourite one. We later found out that little Rania wouldn't be needing a passport to go back to Brunei, only a special one is enough, which the Brunei Highcom would produce for us. Though no real passport, still exciting!

Soon that Rania is going to be free from subnasal oxygen, we are starting to gather some thoughts about bringing her back to Brunei in the next couple of months for baby shower ceremony (Mandi Berlawat, Aqiqah, Bedzikir) and to let her meet all 30 of her lovely couzins. Hopefully soon! Amin!!

Happy New Year 2011

Friday, 1 January 2011

Happy New Year 2011 everyone! Good Bye 2010! The year 2010 has been a miraculous year for us especially with the arrival of our lovely baby Princess. Hope 2011 will bring more joyous memories to us and to all of you.

We celebrated the New Year's Eve watching the spectacular displays of fireworks at the South Bank (see photo below) with some Bruneians who are celebrating the new year here. We were quite amazed at how the area was closely monitored by the security staff. For public safety, the venue was fenced off with security staff controlling what was coming into the area. Nobody was allowed to take in any glass, alcohol, dogs, drink bottles with broken seals, including bottles of water or soft drink.

Here we are at the most popular location, South Bank to watch
Brisbane’s biggest and most spectacular fireworks displays

The venue where we were sitting, outlooking the spectacular
night view of Brisbane City

The incredible displays of fireworks

Without Tubes Soon

Thursday, 23 December 2010



Today, we made a visit to "The Royal Children Hospital" for a follow up respiratory check with Dr Alan.

Little Princess had an oxygen saturation monitoring session at a lowered oxygen setting of 125 mls/min (from previously 250 mls/min) using the pulse oximetry machine (the white box device sitting on the chair in photo above) and the result was fantastic!! Dr Alan said, all she needed was at least 85% of oxygen saturation but our little girl had about 98-100% throughout, which was really good. He also said that she is well on track and adviced that she should continue to grow with enough oxygen. Because of that, her oxygen supplement was lowered to 125 mls/min from now on. This would be the lowest setting before she is breathing on air. Alhamdulillah!!

Her developmental progress has been fantastic!! She is gaining weight well, now 3.9 kg (50.2 cm in length), a gain of about 100g since her weigh-in during the community nurse visit at home last week. Since her last appointment with Dr Alan, about 3 weeks ago, she was never irritated or crossed or had any difficulty when feeding. Dr Alan was happy with her progress that in about a month time, if everything goes well, he planned to put a stop to her supplemental oxygen, completely. Yippie!!

Hubby and i really cannot wait for her oxygen prongs to be removed entirely so that we can see her cute little face - without the tubes. We take comfort that this is not going to be forever. We just need to be patient and take things a step at a time. Please help pray with us so that she would soon grow big enough not needing any oxygen supplement.. Amin!!

She is one little fighter and she never complains. We are strong believers that positive things will come out of this. We take our inspiration from her!!

Barney Time

Tuesday, 21 December 2010

Let's learn how to count 1 to 10..

Our little baby tentatively watching TV

It has been a while now that our little Princess has shown some interests listening to sounds and following toys, faces or moving objects. Her head control has improved tremendously and now starting to suck her thumbs. She smiles often when spoken to and would wave her arms and kicks her legs whenever she is awake.

Another big milestone for little Rania is being able to pay attention when watching TV. She would just sit down and watch for hours. I noticed she has a long concentration span, which is amazing. Just take a look at her photos watching her favourite educational video - Barney.

Welcome Back Daddy

Sunday, 19 December 2010

Missed you so much Daddy!!
I've always loved Kangaroo cuddling with Daddy!!

It feels good to be able to spend the end of year and new year with Hubby!! This is our first time spending the new year together as a family.

It has been a crazy travelling year for Hubby this year. This year alone, he has been travelling quite alot, he has made about a total of 7 return trips from Brunei to Brsbane, back to Brunei. In fact, he has come to Brisbane almost every month especially since little Princess was born. He managed to get his work done despite the buzy travelling schedule, i'm really amazed on how he still managed to juggle between his work and family. Thanks for all the sacrifice dear..

Now that Hubby is here, we will cheerish every moments we have and enjoy our time together to the fullest!!

Playtime

Friday, 17 December 2010

Olalala... Who is that cute girl?

Hello Princess, i'm Patrick, the dragon, your best friend!!

Little Princess Rania is now 8 weeks of corrected age. She has started to show some interest to play especially her colourful toys. She is mostly fascinated with moving toys or things.

Baby Rania has started to smile a lot more too. It is very fun to play with her as she has now starting to interact with us when we talk to her. If you noticed, her hair has grown too! HeHe...

Community Nurse Visit

Thursday, 16 December 2010

A community health nurse came to visit little Rania at our home in the morning. The purpose of visit was to check how Rania is progressing at home. The nurse asked a couple of questions about her development at this stage i.e. 8 weeks of corrected age. Some of the questions asked including whether she had already started smiling, managed to lift her head up while on her tummy and hand to the mouth suckling. The answer to all the questions are yes!!

I'm very much happy that our little daughter is progressing well and her development is on track at the moment, which is really really good!! Little Rania was also assessed on muscles development. Alhamdulillah, all going good!! I couldn't be more happier to hear all the good news coming from the nurse.. HeHe.

Childhood Resemblance

Tuesday, 14 December 2010

Cute little Princess' 27th Blogspot:

 

1984: Family photo taken when celebrating Daddy's b'day.

I definitely got my good looks from my Daddy (center) - who

by the way loves to cuddle, just like me!!  

1987: Family photo where Mommy is the one with the

cute little smile (left), very chubby, just like me.. I definitely 

got my cute looks from my Mommy!!



I have been thinking to find out where i got my looks from. Many people think that i got most of my looks from my Daddy. But it is really difficult to be 100 percent positive right. So i have a better idea, the best way to really find out is to compare my looks with how Mommy and Daddy looked like at their childhood. Really classic but i think that is a fair comparison. Mommy and Daddy were so cute when they were little, just look at them in the photos - aren't they adorable?? 

Hmmm.. even after taking a good look at the childhood photos, it is still hard to say, i think i got my good looks from Daddy and my cuteness from Mommy. Overall, i think i got most of my looks from Daddy, Mommy, Daddy??!! I cannot make up my mind really, what do you expect, i'm just a 5 months old girl. HeHe. Lets be fair, lets say i got my looks from the two most amazing person in my life, Mommy and Daddy. Love you Mommy, Daddy!!

Get Connected

Monday, 12 December 2010

Hi Daddy! Really miss you.. Why can't Daddy come here
like now?! Orite.. I guess this weekend is also not that bad.
I'm excited to see Daddy this weekend!!

Hello Iring Sija!!!! How's Brunei? I cannot wait to go home
to Brunei to meet everyone. Say Hi to GranPa and everyone!!
When will Iring come back visit me again? 

We are starting to introduce the little one to the world of internet video communication - Skype. We've actually known about this all along but couldn't be bothered until Sis Sija, who are currently in Brunei, started video conferencing with us, that was when we realised that it would be a wonderful idea for Hubby to see his little Princess while talking over the phone with us and we did!! Skype is very easy to use and the best of all, its free of charge! Little Rania adapted with the video skyping really well, so well that most of the time she was looking at the screen, as if she was talking to her Daddy being present right in front of her. HeHe. She is one SMART girl!!

On another note, its been a quiet start for the new week, this week. I'm feeling much better today. Mom and Sis Miah had been taking the role of some night shifts, while i was recovering. HeHe. But tonight, i'm back on duty again - back to waking up 3 hourly for nursing the little one. It is very exciting, yet challenging to be a mother but with plenty of help around, life is so much easier! Especially during the day because i need some time out to do some reading for my literature review.

I couldn't wait for Hubby to be around this weekend to help me out especially with the mid night feeding and tummy playtime. Excited and looking forward!!

First Headscarf

Friday, 11 December 2010

An Adorable Little Muslimah Princess - a description of her given by her Daddy when video skyping today. Thanks to Wawa Miah and Iring Sija who bought the headscarf from Brunei.

Little Princess was very much awake almost the whole afternoon today, so we made use of this opportunity to play a little dress up game, which in fact, is her first headscarf dress up!! It was fun actually. HeHe. The headscarf fits her very well. She was a bit angry when we first put it on her. I think being the first time wearing a scarf must be awkward for her, she is simply not used to having something wrapped around her head. HeHe. But after a while she was all right and happy.

I have not been feeling well since a couple of days ago, had a bit of cough due to changes in weather and eating too much mangoes, i guess. I had to keep myself away from our little Princess for a while because i didn't want to transfer the virus to her. GrandMa and Wawa Miah had been a great help with her feeding. Thanks you guys!! You're the best!! But i'm getting so much better today, hence this dress up game. I hope i could get much better tommorow so that I can start cuddling her again!! Amin!!

Crab in Tomato Sauce

Thursday, 10 December 2010

One of my mum's cooking specialities is "Cracked Crab in Tomato Sauce". I love this dish so much!! There is one problem, it is hard to get it here in Brisbane.

But after a long search, we finally found a shop in Chermside that sells this particular type of crab, not sure what it is called, Coral Crab maybe? But back in Brunei we call it "Ketam Suri". It was a bit expensive though, about AUD19 per kilo. Whereas in Brunei, we could easily buy it at only BND$7 per kilo. But the cost would not deter me from buying it, i would pay however much to get this favourite dish of mine. At the end, it was really YUMMY!! It was worthed because the crab was very meaty, if there is such a word. HeHe.

Hi Again Wawa Miah

Sunday, 5 December 2010

Welcome back Wawa Miah to Brisbane. She just arrived last night. Wawa Miah bought lots of gifts for Princess Rania including new hats, a dress and tummy play time mat. Thank you Wawa Miah and Iring Sija for all the wonderful gifts for our little princess. I wish Aunty Sija is here as well! But i know she will come and visit Rania a bit later.

Take a look at our active little Rania making some progress, trying out her new tummy play mat!! She is very much loving it!!



Cute Bips

Saturday, 4 December 2010

As usual on every Saturday, there's fruits and vegetables market close to our apartment. Apart from that, some stalls are also selling some nice baby clothes and items. One stall was quite new there selling some baby items such as clothes, mitts and bips. I was very much interested with the hand made bips! It was not just any usual bips, it is quite wide and colourful too. Managed to get two pieces for Rania at $10 each. What do you think? Cute isn't it? :)

Tummy Play Time

Saturday, 4 December 2010

Little Princess' 26th Blogpost:

Hi Daddy.. Look at me!! This is for you Daddy!!

After hearing my physiotheraphist advising Mommy to let me have lots of tummy time, i have been doing as much tummy time as i could lately. Of course, i couldn't do it without Mommy helping me around. Today, I made a bit of progress, i moved myself slightly forward. I managed to hold my head straight up while on my tummy!! But just for a little while, of course! It is quite a big progress for a little girl like me!!

I think practice is all what i need, lots and lots of them. Mommy took a couple of photos while I was trying to show off my skills. HeHeHe.

Learning to play on tummy is really hard work! But I know one day I will be a pro! Daddy, please come back and train me with my tummy play time!!

World Class Innovation

Tuesday, 30 November 2010

What does Hubby really do? His work was briefly mentioned in the local newspaper. Despite the buzy travelling schedule he managed to balance between work and  family. I'm so proud of you dear!!

Some quotes from the newspaper describing the job as "The high performance project, which BSP admits is "a uniquely challenging, high technology" undertaking to open up the country's mature oil and gas fields is driven by BSP's innovative and total integration of technology, exploration and its development teams". More details can be obtained in these links: for Borneo Bulletin article, entitled "First two wells exceed expectation" and for Brunei Times article, entitled "Extraordinary oil discovery for BSP"

Progress Appointment..

Monday, 29 November 2010

Today, our little Princess Rania had another appointment with her main doctor, Dr Adam at the Royal Brisbane Women Hospital. Before seeing her doctor, her physiotheraphist came to see how Rania was progressing physically. Her physiotheraphist told me to encourage baby do lots and lots of tummy playtime to help her develop her muscles. She also mentioned that her head was a bit flat on the left side too. Rania should be encouraged to sleep on her right side to balance it out. Or while she was awake to put all her toys that she loved on her right side to encourage her turn that way. I think its going to be hard work because Rania loves to sleep facing her head left and turns her head to the left side when she is awake! HeHe...

Dr. Adam said that Rania is growing very well based on her weight gain and increase in length. Dr. Adam received a letter from Rania's respiratory doctor, Dr. Allan, telling him to reduce her oxygen from 250to 200mls/minute. But I told Dr Adam that it couldn't be done because  the next level down on her oxygen regulator is 125mls. So he decided to keep her oxygen at 250mls. Hopefully in the next appointment with the Dr. Allan on the 16th December, her oxygen can be reduced to 125ml! The aim is to get Rania to cope with the lowest oxygen settings a much as possible and then get off the oxygen completely. I wonder when that will be??