I am 43 today

 I have lots to update on this blog. But it seems like I am only updating the birthday celebrations. I hope to update all our adventures and our stories soon.

My son is 7

 Ari turns 7 today. He is at school and once he is back we will have a small celebration at home. Tomorrow I have arranged for a celebration with his mates at a bowling centre. He is very excited and looking forward for the celebration

42: The answer to the ultimate question of life, the Universe and everything

Just as the tittle depicts, I turned 42 today. I am wiser and hope to have achieved the answer to the ultimate question of life. To achieve that, I have obtained the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy novel series.  Lockdown was lifted in NSW yesterday and we have more freedom to celebrate my birthday instead of being cooped in the house. Although we were vaccinated, and it is the beginning stage of the lockdown easement, we chose to have a simple birthday celebration at home. Ari was feeling unwell in the early morning and because of lack of sleep he was quite tired throughout the day. He was very kind and hugged and wished me many times. We ordered a small cake and celebrated amongst us in the afternoon of the day. My happiest moment is that I get to spend my day with Ari as I am still working from home and school starts next week. 

My favourite thing about lockdowns are, we get to do many things with Ari and we do not have to stress about time (leaving to school and work on time). He gets to learn many things at home during the lockdown. He roasted a chicken, did puzzles on dinosaurs and the solar system. He also learned to rollerblade and improved on some physical workouts. He misses is swimming lessons and currently he told me that he is not looking forward to going to school but I am sure that it will change next week. He spent 10 weeks of Term 3 of school at home doing zoom sessions with his teacher and doing some school work online. He was a bit stressed to be copped up at home and every evening we go for very long walks exploring the park near our place. He developed some interest on spiders and will always check them out every day. He even dared himself to touch a few of them. Last week, after ages, we took him to a nearby small beach which he enjoyed the most. He was running and playing on the sand and also dipped in the cold water. The next time we went there, it was raining and he enjoyed playing in the rain and running barefoot on the park that leads to the beach. He kept reminding me that he had a wonderful day that day. He also learned about the human organs through the model such as the heart, ear and the eye. But mostly, he enjoyed reading his books and could never get enough out of it. Overall, it is a very beautiful birthday for me. Importantly, after almost 15 years, Satya got me a ring and it arrived today on my birthday. I hope to have more happy and contended birthday and of course to have achieved the ultimate question of life. I appreciate the good things that I have happened in my life and I hope to be contended for the many more years to come.

My husband's 44th birthday

 We celebrated my husband's 44th birthday today. Nothing fancy, I just ordered a cake from the bakery and we had a simple celebration at home. Recently we enjoy going hiking in Karloo walking track at the Royal National Park and we try to make it a habit to go hiking as often as possible. Ari enjoy leading the way on this track and we often take the opportunity to let him explore and research on interesting things that he observes from muddy water to charred trees. It's great to have the opportunity to spend and do these activities as a family

My son is 6

 Ari is 6 today and we had a simple celebration at home. This year he was sick and could not even celebrate his birthday at school. We had planned to give his buddies some goodies from the canteen during the school break. Therefore, we had ordered these through the school canteen's website weeks ago. Unfortunately, he was not in the school on the most important day. He was still glad that his buddies got to enjoy the cupcakes despite his absence to school. I was glad to have spent the day with him. We cheered him up by bringing him out that weekend. I have also got him Robobloq which he enjoyed building and playing. He likes building and fixing things since very young and he loves jigsaw puzzles. He had worked on many puzzles and Dinosaur themed puzzles are his current favourite. Usually, he gets to enjoy some sort of celebration with a larger crowd in may family at the end of the year when we go back to Malaysia. Unfortunately, it did not happen last year. However, we are so thankful to be safe and hopefully once we were able to return to Malaysia, Ari will surely get a wonderful celebration

41st Birthday

 Happy 41st birthday to me. 

My son had been planning to get me a gift for weeks now :)

It is just us in Sydney for this birthday, glad that we are coping during this difficult time (COVID-19).

Happy birthday to me. I need to keep striving to celebrate more birthdays with my wonderful and amazing son!

10 years post transplantation

Today marks the 10th year after my kidney transplantation. With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, I am taking extra precautions to avoid the virus. Being a transplant patient, puts me in a high-risk category because I am immunocompromised. That means that my immune system may not be powerful enough to fight the virus. It is a very difficult time indeed, but exceptionally exciting for me to have accomplished 10 years post transplantation. A big thank you and credit goes to the health system in Japan for the monthly check ups to ensure that I am healthy. Now that we are in Sydney without Medicare (as we are on a working visa), it is entirely my responsibility to keep myself healthy. To appreciate the second chance that I was given, I plan to reduce my weight to keep my health at the optimum level. 

Today is also Tanabata in Japan, a special celebration in Japan. A special day to mark the special gift that I have been bestowed with. 

As I mentioned earlier, I plan to reduce my weight and aim for a healthier and longer graft survival. I hope to post more about this progress. Till, then happy 10th 'birthday' to me. A great gratitude to my selfless donor (salute).