Nuha at 6 months

Having a kid takes away all of your free time. Not that I'm complaining. As soon as I walk thru the door, Nuha will greet me with her toothless smile and outstretched arms. Need to pee? Forget about it! Back aching from lugging around that laptop. Who cares! Once I'm home I cant do anything other then attend to her. And she smells so gooooddd!!

She loves to cling to me now and refuses anybody else when Im around. I even have to sneak out of the house to go to work. Once she sees me fixing my tudung she'll squirm until I take her. Hubs suggested I put on my tudung at the lift. heh.

She's six months now and growing up too fast. Here is a list of her milestones so far.

First smile- at birth (I'm a proud momma!)
First laugh- 2.5 mo
First turn- 3 mo
First solids- 4.5 mo
First crawl- 5.5 mo
First sit- 6 mo

The bad news is that she is still waking up 5-7 times a night. Which equates to panda eyes for me. I can handle the feeding. Its the need to sembang that's a little hard to take. I mean really baby?? Its 3am. Do u really need to practice you vocal chords NOW?? I got a bit smarter this past couple of weeks and wedge her in between hubs and I when she gets on these talk fests at night. Coz itll wake the hubs up n ill fall asleep. But it doesnt always work tho. Coz she kindda gets upset if nobody replies her coos n hubs can sleep thru a storm so I still end up layaning her anyway.

Last week she discovered a new high pitch note in her voice and kept on belting it out. It sounds like a cross between a banshee in pain and a dog howling. She would do this voice every minute of her waking hours. It was like she was fascinated by it. Im happy to note that this has stopped :)

I love love loveeee making her food! She even has favourites now. She simply loves pumpkin and sweet potato. I think it has something to do with the texture. Its thick and smooth as opposed to the grainy texture of rice porridge. She loves honeydew with strawberries, pears with oats and apples with blueberries. Her fave rice porridge are ones cooked with lotsa carrots. She hates spinach tho. Too bad I made a huge batch of these and had to throw em out.

On a different note- I started a new role at work. I am no longer based in Cyberjaya- sob sob, and the job is way more demanding then what I am used to. Forget the long lunch hours I used to take, now its more like- what lunch hour?? I guess I'm paying my dues heh.

I'm unusually free this morning hence this post. I wish today was saturday. Here's to hoping for a fast path to an awesome weekend.

Transition

How do you be grumpy at a face like this?

 Mommyhood has changed me so much. I used to need 8 hours of deep sleep, now i can live on 4 hours of interrupted sleep and still be happy and cheery for my baby. Janna pre mommyhood on 4 hours of interrupted sleep would have been a monster who eats children for breakfast.

Yesterday, i found myself buying pegaga leaves. I used to HATE pegaga leaves. But last night i made a pegaga salad with ginger flower (bunga kantan) and onions and lime and i loved loved loved it. I had just that and salted egg with rice for dinner and i was a happy girl. I had that dish once when my mom in law made it for me while in confinement. I turned up my nose when she mentioned pegaga. And yesterday I craved for it.

Chubby wubby Nuha Alanna

Previously I couldnt sleep if im pushed up too close to someone. I need my personal space. Like i cannot stand it if someone breathes in my face. Suffocating ok. I love to cuddle just not when I want to sleep. But Nuha LOVES to smush her chubby body up against mine. Like she will be next to me at 10pm, come 12am- hello Nuha under mama's ketiak. I dont even know how she got there. But i love it all the same.

I used to be grossed out at the sight of poo and boogers. Now i cheer when Nuha does a poopee and dont bat an eyelid at that glob of poo that landed on my arm. And boogers, well.. Janna + baby cotton bud makes one helluva booger buster.

Cruising down the Mekong

Oh and we took Nuha on her 1st airplane ride 2 weeks back. We went to Phnom Penh and as much as I love Nuha and travelling- I dont think they bode well togather. At least not yet. I was a little apprehensive about travelling with her so early and I was right. The plane ride was fine except for her being a little cranky for having to wake up so early. She was okay in the begining, checking out the new surroundings till the novelty wore off and she wanted to move around during landing. I didnt want to mess up her nap pattern so we worked out a jalan jalan time around her nap time which left us with little time to do much. Despite us going back to the hotel twice a day for her naps, she slept thru most of our trip anyway. Which was great. But she didnt sleep well at night. Not sure if this was due to her being in a new enviroment or things that go bump in the night- I want to believe the former because I'm a scardy cat. She would wake up with a start and will just scream her lungs out. She'd cry harder if hubs held her so there I was in a hotel of a foreign country trying to soothe my hysterical baby- while hubs slept soundly. It took all the strenght I had in me not to smack him. Then when we came home he was telling everyone what a joy it was travelling with Nuha- again I wanted to smack him.

Despite all that I miss him terribly. He's in Singapore for a workshop. He'll be home soon tho and we cant wait!!

Nightmare- Mama's 1st day back at work

So its my first day back at work after being on leave for more then three months. And i was working from home forever before i gave birth. Its a wonder i didnt get lost on my way to work this morning. A lot of changes happened when I was away. I discovered two collegues are getting married this year- to each other. We got a new water dispenser machine which means no more squatting like a frog to fill my water bottle. There is a lot of new faces i dont recognise. And the best part- there's a whole bunch of new restaurants all over Cyberjaya for me to sample!! Seriously! 3 years ago we were eating the same thing week in and week out. Nowadays u can have Indian, Chinese, Italian, Malay, Mamak, Japanese, Fusion Malay, Fusion Chinese, Thai, Western, Kelantanese, Utara, Taiwanese, bubble tea, and there's even a speciality chocolate and cookies store opening soon. I swear im gonna blow my lunch budget every month now.

How do i leave this face every morning!?!?

Leaving Nuha was a whole different matter. I must have wore out her left cheek as i kissed her countless times before i left. By the time i had had breakfast, I had called the house five times. At the office my eyes were glued to the cctv that hubs installed. It was heartbreaking listening to her cries. Hubs worked from home today to soften the transition of 'having mama around all the time' to 'no mama for 8 hours'. I must have annoyed the crap out of hubs with my constant calling/ pinging him with questions.

Why is she crying???
Get the shirt i wore to sleep and wrap her in it!
Have u fed her??
Have u wrapped her in my shirt??
What is the cctv thingy's password??
Hello??
How come i dont see anything??
Is she crying??
What's wrong with the camera??
Ok now i can see.
Where is everybody??
Where's my baby??
Is she sleeping??
Has the maid put her down??
Is she crying??
How much did she drink??
Is she crying??
Has the maid bathed her??
Have u fed her??
Is she crying??
Did she reject the bottle again??
How much did she drink??

I was one annoying mother..

Good thing I'm leaving in an hour. I cannot wait to be home!!! Dear god please make this one hour pass real quick!!

I spent more time staring at this messy house then anything else today

Bottle Battle

My fav picture of her

Being a mom has been wonderful so far. I have discovered that I can do amazing things like yesterday i found myself surfing Agoda for hotels, watch the pinoy series ive been following AND breastfeed my child- all at d same time!! And i cooked two dishes for dinner in 15 mins while my baby bawled her eyeballs out wanting me to hold her. Listening to her cry pains me everytime. She's down with the flu so she has been cranky and upset and cried non-stop and nothing i did would make her stop- so i cried along with her.

Were trying to get her on the bottle coz i start work in a month and wont be around to bfeed her during the day. She would cry really loud while hubs try to give her the bottle and i will be confined to the bedroom so she wouldnt see or smell me. So kesian! So we decided that next month, we will send her to a babysitter upstairs for half a day just so she gets used to strangers and the bottle. I foresee myself hanging out by her front door waiting for the time i can pick my baby up, or crying along with her when she cries at feeding time :(

On a happier note- were goin on holiday in Jan! Were going to Phnom Penh. Nuha will be about 3 n a half months then. I hope her first flight will be a good one...

Baby's up from morning nap! Mummy duty resumes!

Confinement Crisis

So im at my mom's to cont on my confinement period of 44 days which feels like a life sentence at the moment. I had seen my mom's hitler ways when my sister was in confinement- often rendering the latter to tears. She wasn't allowed to eat anything!! ok fine she was allowed the basic three meals a day n a hot drink for tea n supper. But that's it!! like even her water intake was rationed coz apparently drinking too much water will make u all bloated n fat- my mom's worst nightmare. So prior to coming here I was super scared I would face the same fate coz really- food is like air to me. 3 basic meals a day is as good as the death sentence.

The lactation expert at the hospital had explained to me the needs of a breastfeeding mom and that included 6 meals a day. Including a high calorie tea time. She specifically mentioned cake- all sorts of cake. I wish my mom was there to listen to all that. But I was adamant to eat well n eat enuf coz I'm planning to bfeed my baby for as long as I can. Cut a long story short- i got my cake(s). Cheese cake, chocolate cake, white cake u name it. And cream puffs too!! My sister is all bitter and jealous coz my mom clearly loves me more since she's feeding me more.

I'm still pretty much living on 3 hours of sleep a day. Nuha has established a routine of waking up 4 times for feeding. She'll be up at 12am- 2am- 4am and 6am. What's difficult for me is getting her back to sleep after feeding. If im lucky (hardly ever) she will fall right back to sleep after being burped. But most times she will insist on being carried and coddled till she falls back to slumber- often times this will take anything between one to two hours. I cant wait for her to grow into the 'sleep-thru-the-night' stage.

That aside- I am enjoying motherhood tremendously. Nothing feels better then to feel her fat cheeks against mine and her baby mouth is just incredibly luscious i cant stop kissing them! She turned one month old 3 days and I cannot wait for my confinement period to be over in two weeks time.

On another note- We celebrated our anniversary a day after Nuha turned one! But since I couldnt go out yet we made do with takeaway from Tony Roma's instead. I cant wait to go out for real!!! One week two days to go!! weehoooo!!

The stork has arrived!!

And baby has arrived!!! Oh mai god i have so much to tell!! I was at my inlaws for 2 weeks right after i delivered and there isnt any internet connection there and of course i could not go out- tho i did guilt trip hubs into taking me out for a spin arnd the neighbourhood.

So how has giving birth changed my view on life? I now worship the ground my mom walks on. Seriously guys- whoever said giving birth is a beautiful thing should eat their foot. But I am very thankful (Alhamdulillah) that my painful contractions only lasted a mere 4 hours- i say mere because i have heard so many cases where the mummy endures 10 and sometimes even 24 hours of extreme pain.

So here's what happened. On Sept friday 21st while being home alone (I was working from home the last few weeks of my pregnancy) i felt a bit off. I wasnt in pain or anything but i just didnt feel right. Called hubs and he asked me to call the doctor for advice since I was 2 days away from my due date. Called the doctor at 12pm n he asked us to come in at 2]
\ for a check up. I later found out that after receiving my call hubs lost his appetite for lunch to nerves n went without.

Went to the hospital and the doc said i wasnt dilated yet but he sent us up to the delivery room anyway to check and c if i was having any contractions yet. Apparently i was- 10 mins apart. But i wasnt feeling any pain at all at that moment. He asked if I had eaten n i said yes and he wanted to admit me straightaway. I asked if I could leave for a bit n come back later to be admitted n he asked y. I said i wanted to get a bite to eat 1st. He looked at me like I was talking gibberish- Hello doc. Goodness knows when I will be able to eat again so lemme go ok. He told me i could go down to the cafe for a bite to eat- we ended up at McD's whr I had their samurai burger n my last iced fizzy drink. 'Twas heaven in a cup. Then i insisted hubs stop by BSC n i ran in to grab some stuff from body shop coz the nx time i step into a shop would be 2 months later n i dont kno if body shop will still b operating by then n i was out of face scrub- of course i grabbed more then just a face scrub. I swear their vitamin c range is the best!!

Went back to the hosp n was properly admitted and tagged n was forced to wear that hideous tissue paper gown with strings at the back that show flashes of ur naked butt when u walk. It was about 6pm then. And the waiting began... Hubs n i talked.. then got bored looking at one another so i read the book i brought while he buried his nose into his phone then went down n bought a football magazine or something. We tried sleeping for a bit. Poor hubs had to make do with sleeping on super uncomfy single seater chairs.

At midnight the nurse came in and inserted the pill to induce delivery. And we waited sumore.. I walked out of the room at 2am coz I was bored outta my mind- consciously pulling at the back of my ugly gown to make sure I wasnt flashing anyone. Then I heard screams of agony coming from one of the rooms close to mine. That was enuf to send me scuttling back to my own room n shutting the door tight.

At 630am another nurse came in to check on my dilation- 2cm (only!!). I had been there 12 hours n i was only 2cm dilated!!- again i was thankful that i wasnt in any pain. By now my contractions were 5mins apart. As soon as the nurse left I felt a kind of bubbling in my tummy then felt a whoosh of water between my legs. My water had broken. Hubs n i got all excited for abt 3 mins then the pain started. Omg the pain was so baddddd!! I immediately requested 4 painkillers having been briefed of our pain management options earlier. Hubs actually asked me to wait. I was ready to punch his nose when he put the nurse call button out of my reach. Thank goodness the nurse came in to check on me just in time. I told her i wanted painkillers n hubs kept shaking his head to the nurse saying not yet not yet. I swear if I wasnt in excruciating pain our daughter's first view of her father would be one with a blackeye.

The nurse was smart enuf to administer the painkiller anyway despite hubs' protests. I guess she knew better then to mess with a women in labor. Got two jabs on my butt n was pretty sleepy n drowsy fr that point on. Mama arrived shortly after (hubs, moms n mils r allowed in delivery room) but i was pretty much out of it by then. I downed one kampung chicken egg togather with a bit or oil in a cup after my water broke- a tip passed down fr my mil to ease delivery n i vaguely rmmber both mama n hubs asking me to drink sumtin thru a straw that was either 'air selusuh' or 'air akar kacip fatimah'. I was too drowsy to care what it was but sipped it anyway.

At 10am i was sure baby was ready to see the world. My mom called the nurse to check on me but she had her panties in a twist and was really bitchy insisting that it wasnt time yet coz the doc predicted i would deliver my baby at noon. At this point my body was in autopilot mode- pushing the baby out against my will. My mom went into hulk mode and insisted they check on me anyway. A glance at my nether region sent the nurses in a flurry and there were shouts and screams calling for the doctor to come quick and for twisted panties to hurry her little butt pls (by a senior staff nurse)!! Of course i was too drugged out to gloat.

The doctor materialised out of thin air and everything happened so fast. They dropped the bottom half of the bed I was on and fixed my feet on the stirups and all the while my head was lolling to one side and my eyes refused to open- all i wanted to do was sleep. I heard hubs and the doctor asking me to open my eyes and to be awake coz baby was coming. They were telling me stuff like when im spose to push and when to take a breather- I was barely listening. Then all of a sudden both nurses, the doctor and hubs started cheering me on to push like i was running the olympic. It was overwhelming really. I pushed till i felt like my eyeballs were going to pop out of its sockets- literally. After three eye popping pushes, baby was out! The doctor placed her in my limp arms n I couldnt even hold her coz i was so worn out not to mention super drugged still.

They took her away to get cleaned while the doctor stitched me up- without any painkillers or anesthetic mind u. He lied and told me he had already given me some. tipu!

Im blogging now with a sleeping baby by my side looking all contented and cute. She came out looking exactly like me for about 10 hours, then she started taking after my husband. Now two weeks later- the only part of her that looks like me are her lips and double chin. The rest is all hubs. Oh well, at least i got a girl like i wanted so i guess it's fair that she takes after her dad.

I'm in my confinement period now and I cannot decide which is worst- the actual delivery or this. I long to go out and eat real food. I have another month to go. Pray I get thru this ok?

Baby kisses from Sharifah Nuha Alanna :)

Lazy fatty

Selamat hari raya!! ok im so last season but better late then never ey?? i havent been in the mood to blog AT ALL throughout ramadhan. both this blog and my food blog were severely negelected, like if weeds could grow on blogs. mine would have turned into a rainforest. Im 3 weeks from my due date and am about the size of an obese elephant. It takes so much effort to move that i need a few minutes just to psycho my brain into getting up to go to the loo. Gone are the days of sudden rapid movements, i move at a much much MUCH slower pace nowadays. My feet have turned against me and looks alot like those of shrek's wife- princess fiona's. They have been the subject of countless moments of delights for my family. Like they will laugh n point n poke and pinch- and even vacuumed my swollen feet at one point, laughing in glee at how my abundant flesh suffocates the vacuum cleaner. Then they will forget all about it, till someone notices it again and makes some stupid comment and the whole thing starts all over again. I have forgotten how it feels to have a ring around my finger. I stopped wearing my wedding ring a couple of weeks back when i noticed my finger turning blue 30 mins after putting them on.

I've began working from home while waiting to pop. Im too tired to make the long journey to and from the ofc everyday. plus- the loo at the ofc is like 2km's away from my workstation. I pee every 20 mins now- i kid u not. Its nice to not have to rush and get ready for work in the mornings but it does get boring being home alone everyday. Ive run out of things to watch on tv. I wanted to watch some of the shows hubs recorded on the astro pvr and all i saw was hagemaru, mr bean the animated series, pawn stars and kings of restoration. Kill me, kill me now. He has time to record ALL of these but no movies or at least good shows for me to watch.

We put up the baby cot in our bedroom last night and i couldnt help grinning evrytime i saw it. Its all becoming so real!! im so excited for the baby's arrival and so nervous and scared at the same time! I hope all goes well- insyaAllah. I dont know when i'll be updating again. If and when i find the strenght to- i will ok. In the meantime- pls pray for my easy delivery. Thank u! mwahh!

Nightime entertainment

Of late, hubs have been making fun of me a lot. The reason for this is- he claims that i have been making unflattering sounds at night... in my sleep. Yes, I now snore. And according to hubs i can get pretty loud- of course i dont believe a word he says. Many a times i woke up to his chuckles of laughter in my face saying that i dont sound human. Its bad enough that he says that, but he actually compares these resonance to that of a farm animal, a cow to be exact, and not just any cow. Apparently i sound like a constipated cow. On a scale of 1 to 10, my level of offended-ness stands at about 30. One time i woke up to him playing back a recording he made of these night time serenade and asked what was he doing. Thinking that I was wide awake, he excitedly replayed it for me and expected me to join him in his joy de vivre. I gave him the death glare and promptly went back to sleep.

Come morning, I sent him this email.

Dear husband,



As of today I have decided that from now onwards, you shall be responsible for waking yourself
up in the morning. I have come to this conclusion as I was, and still am terribly offended of you
poking fun at me for making sounds in my sleep. Being compared to a farm animal in pain- does not help. You also went a step further and recorded this nocturnal sounds and even had the cheek to play it back for me- waking me from a deep slumber. So as punishment, you may now wake yourself up and be late for work every morning. I on the other hand will continue to serenade you with my lovely chords EVERY DAMN NIGHT!!


Love,
Your beautiful wife.

In my defence, it is normal for pregnant mommies to suddenly find themselves stuck with this useless ability (read here)- unless u consider scaring birds away from your window sil at night a talent.

6 months and counting

Being pregnant does stuff to u and ur body. Weird stuff. Aside from being super emo, ive got aches and pains on body parts that never used to hurt. My boobs have grown to abnormal proportions- to the point that im embarrassed to be seen in most of my clothes. Im down to 2 tops that i dont mind wearing. I get heartburn whenever i eat spicy food- which is at every meal. And my dreams are increadibily vivid!

One night i woke up sobbing my heart out coz i dreamt hubs had died. It had seemed so real even tho in my dreams he died when he got up in the middle of the night to go the loo and drowned n the only thing i found when i went looking was his floating credit card-  in the ocean!! dont kno y our toilet suddenly had an ocean in it but it had seemed really logical at that moment- enuf to hv left me crying my eyeballs out at least.

Another time i woke up and hit him hard a couple of times with the bolster. Coz he had had an affair. Well it seemed like he really did- in my nightmare.

I also finally puked for real- Big time, 2 days back. I have a problem vomiting. Basically i dont/ cant do it coz i find the act of puking too icky. Its gross. Eventho i really really need to puke- nothing comes up. Despite hovering over the toilet bowl with someones hand rubbing my back- I just cant do it. But i finally did on the way back from mom's. Hubs dcided to b chatty that night- of all days. He could not stop talking n all i wanted was 4 him to shut it. I was practically turning green with my head shoved into a box (cudnt find any plastic bags in d car). He wasnt d least bit worried coz i had nvr really puked b4. Bout 200 metres from our condo i just shouted for him to pull over and i vomited the entire content of my tummy and judging from the dinner i had- it was a lot. I puked n puked n puked! it felt so good!! liberating even! dont know y i never properly did it b4.. of course ive lost the ability now..

Yesterday i met a neighbour in the lift who asked if i was preggers. I wanted to hug her coz she is the 1st non-family, non- friend to notice! I was so proud of my tummy for growing. Cudnt stop rubbing it after that.

The Euro UEFA has started which means for the nx few weeks i will b seeing less n less of the television hubs- hence this post.

Here's a latest pic of me. C how huge my face is- looks like a talam kan??

Also for those of u who think i actually memorize the news- ur so sweet. But if i had to memorize it. The only thing ill b saying when the camera starts to roll is "Hello and welcome to Nightline". Here's a pic of the prompter. It has not jammed on me yet so far (touch wood). Thr has been instances with the former station i was attached to when mid read, it jammed or instead of scrolling down it started scrolling up, or my personal favourite- turns off completely.

Doa Selamat- dah selamat

Its  been so long since my last post. Actually im not even sure if anyone reads this blog so i got a lil discouraged to write anything anymore, plus, hubster and i started a food blog a few weeks back so ive been guilty of playing favorites- coz it more fun managing a blog as a team i guess. Hubs has been so into the blog it makes me wanna laugh sometimes. He gets so serious in everything he does- even sumthing as mundane as helping Na with her homework. He actually stands over her like a drill sergeant and makes sure she completes everything otherwise she cudnt go to bed. The girl is 3!! She knows she can get away with it when im helping her, telling me sob stories abt how her legs hurt sooooooooooooooo baddd that she just cannot do her homework. When i remind her that she doesnt need her legs to hold a pencil she gets bored and grabs her milk bottle before proceeding to lie down for some disney time. Hrmphhh so much respect she has for me!

So im now coming up to my 22nd week of pregnancy and my tummy's beginning to show a little- YEAY!! And last weekend we finally had our doa selamat naik rumah- we moved in 5 months back. My daddy in law has been bugging us to get goin with it since forever n we finally did it when he threaten to bring all his family n friends over for a surprise visit if we didnt. We ordered a whole lamb mandy from ar-rawsha which is lamb cooked in rice and 2 whole chicken mandy. Mama made some desserts and mummy made rendang and brough more food over. Super rajin me cut up some vegetables and threw a couple o sliced boiled eggs on top and called it a salad. oh n i made drinks! I was so worn and tired that i forgot to take a single picture. boohooo

We underestimated the size of our house and kept invites to a bare minimum- only aunties and uncles and immmediate family members. We ended up with a truckload of excess food that could have fed 40 more people! I packed most up in takeway containers for people to bring home- thank god mama reminded me about getting lots of disposable containers for this reason. We had the kenduri on saturday and my husband was still having mandy rice for dinner last night. Thank god he doesnt mind. The aftermath of the kenduri is still evident at our place- a million rags and kitchen cloths hanging to dry from the wet kitchen, dishes that dont belong to us are sitting on countertops and i lost my wet chopping board and yesterday i found a casserole in my rag drawer and my salad plate in my baking cabinet. A result of too many hands in the kitchen- which i am super grateful for :)

Anyhooo- do visit our new food blog and vote where you would like us to do a review next ok!

Labour day

Hubster had to work yesterday on labour day- boooo!! I went over to mama's as early as 8am. Papa had promised to get me lontong n nasi lemak n what kindda daughter wud i b if i didnt eat both- i mean d man went out of his way to get them for me! then i had some cucur jagung mama made which was crispy and awesome!! all that food made me super sluggish so i took a nap- and woke up just in time for lunch. Had mighty portions of mama's famous gulai kambeng. ok truth b told, i had asked for this dish almost 2 months back. then mama went globe tracking all over the world and forgot all about them. When i reminded her i got all emotional n actually cried- over mutton curry. I am just a basketfull of emotions i tell ya. She felt awfully guilty which was awesome for me coz hello mutton curry!!! I also found 2 la bodega burgers in the fridge and a whole pie of pizza which were untouched. i packed home some mutton curry and the entire pizza and a burger and dinner was ready for hubs and i didnt even break a sweat!! he gobbled the entire pizza and burger- sumtimes i think he's more preggers then i am.

Went for a wedding last night which was lovely and harldy ate a thing- ok ate some thing but nothing that'll add to the pounds that are already piling on. Also- ive been having super headaches lately. it might b my cholesterol shooting up due to all the sinful food ive been downing lately. im too afraid to check bt it does hurt real bad.

Andddd- my baby's started to kick!! i wasnt aware of it at first till we went for our check up n the doc asked if ive felt anything. I sed being a 1st time mom i wasnt sure what it feels like. From then on i became more sensitive towards all feelings in my tummy, and sure enough- i felt it :) I love being pregnant!!! despite having horrible skin and not fitting into most of my clothes- I feel good!! but i do get stressed out when goin out for weddings coz almost all my baju kurung dont fit nymore- that'll teach me to mke tight fitting kurung moderns. hurmphhh. this was us yesterday at a wedding whr im wearing a caftan coz evrything else refuses to zip.

18 weeks and food galore

So we finally know the gender of our baby!!! were having a girl!!!- and none was happier then moi, and my mum in law who was rooting for a girl coz after having 2 rowdy boys- she wanted a better life for me- haha!! Ive been itching to buy cute lil baby outfits since we found out i was expecting but i had to hold myself back coz i wasnt sure what i was carrying. I had a strong instinct that i was carrying a girl but jj brushed it off saying i was being paranoid and biased- which of course i wasnt! it wasnt just that it was only baby girl clothes that appealed to me evrywhr we went, or the numerous dreams i had of actually birthing a baby girl. It was more then that. It was just a strong feeling of knowing that this baby inside me is a girl. Like evrytime i imagined myself with my child- its a girl!! call it a mothers hunch if u may but whatever it is- I won dinner fair and square :)

Ive wanted to try out this thai place for quite some time now. jj was expecting me to pick some pricey place for dinner- haih, he clearly thinks very highly of me- phishhh!! but i didnt! Thai sabye sabye is a veyr down to earth, family eatery and we both loved it. The best item we ordered that night was the salted egg soft shell crab- it was so so sooooooooooooo good!!! i could actually feel it permanently parking itself on my already humungous thighs- but i decided it was worth it. We probably ordered way too much for 2 people but hey- its my winning dinner! lemme!!

Then lastnight we decided to have mama n ariff's bday dinner. for once we decided to cook instead of going out. by we i mean kak in. I only agreed coz she promised i wouldnt have to do anything but the appetizer. which worked for me. She made baked siakap fish with gorgeous butter sauce and wud not stop calling it baked barramundi- which earned her endless mocking by all of us. and 2 roast chickens and some veg. Then she made this reconstucted piped cheesecake with blackberry and apple filling- which was delish!- i hate cheesecakes by the way bt this was awesome! lazy me made prawn cocktail salad which was essentially just blanched prawns eaten with fresh salad and i made a simple cocktail sauce. i even had bibik shell the prawns for me so all i did was just blanch n shucked them in the fridge. but dinner was good! it was nice to be among family, eating good food with ur hands and laughing with and at one another.




salted egg soft shell crabs- 2 thumbs up!!



Dinner is served!

prawn cocktail salad

blakie!!

papa dom and na <3

Then na insisted on taking charge of the camera

Rescued this cutie a week back and made her bibik's new best fren!- the cat not my husband

Awesome cheesecake

4 months and a day

yesterday after work, hubster n i finally made our way up this steep hill near our place. Weve passed this place numerous times and have always said we were gonna jog/walk up it but of course in true malaysian fashion- never did, till yesterday. Earlier on in my pregnancy i had trouble downing rice so we stuck to a mostly rice free diet and it did justice to hubster's bod. He lost some weight and loved it. When i reached my 2nd trimester i had no food restrictions at all. My pre-pregnancy appetite came back togather with my love for cooking- and brought along with it hubsters bulging tummmy. That was how we ended up on the steep hill. Its actually road up someone's driveway but lotsa ppl walk thr so we did too.

Its super super steep. I walked up twice before giving up. I was laughing out loud and telling hubster that if a dog were to walk out of these bushes i would fall and roll down the hill. Then a dog walked out of the bushes. I almost died! bt he was a good doggy. but needless to say that was my last walk up that day.

On the way home we stopped by a durian stall coz i have been craving for durians for some time now. Is it ok to be eating durian when ur preggers?? well i hope it is coz i had a lot last night. Ive also been more in touch with my emotional side- too in touch if u ask me. Last week i cried while watching The Increadibles. This coming from a girl with a heart of stone (according to mama).

Honestly all this change is kind of scaring me. My body is growing and shifting in ways ive never seen before and its freaky and fascinating at the same time. but i still dont look preggers. my tummy looks like how urs would after a huge buffet dinner. 4 months and counting!! hopefully we can find out the baby's gender by next week then i can cash in on that dinner im gonna win..

100 foods to try before you die

Being a food affecionado, I would LOVE to be able to try all the food on this list (with the exeption of the non-halal stuff). Im gonna cross out those that i have eaten and pursue the ones i have not! Those highlighted in green are non-halal.

Abalone
Absinthe
Alligator
Baba Ghanoush
Bagel and Lox
Baklava
Barbecue ribs
Bellini
Bird’s Nest Soup
Biscuits and Gravy
Black Pudding
Black Truffle
Borscht
Calamari
Carp
Caviar
Cheese Fondue
Chicken and Waffles
Chicken Tikka Masala
Chile Relleno
Chitlins
Churros
Clam Chowder
Cognac
Crab Cakes
Crickets
Currywurst
Dandelion Wine
Dulce de Leche
Durian
Eel
Eggs Benedict
Fish Tacos
Foie Gras
Fresh Spring Rolls
Fried Catfish
Fried Green Tomatoes
Fried Plantain- young banana goreng pisang is similar kan??
Frito Pie
Frog’s legs
Fugu
Funnel Cake
Gazpacho
Goat
Goat’s Milk
Goulash
Gumbo
Haggis
Head Cheese
Heirloom Tomatoes
Honeycomb
Hostess Fruit Pie
Huevos Rancheros
Jerk Chicken
Kangaroo
Key Lime Pie
Kobe Beef
Lassi
Lobster
Mimosa
MoonPie
Morel Mushrooms
Nettle Tea
Octopus
Oxtail Soup
Paella
Paneer
Pastrami on Rye
Pavlova
Phaal
Philly Cheese Steak
Pho
Pineapple and Cottage Cheese
Pistachio Ice Cream
Po’Boy
Pocky
Polenta
Prickly Pear
Rabbit Stew
Raw Oysters
Root Beer Float
S’mores
Sauerkraut
Sea Urchin
Shark
Snail
Snake
Soft Shell Crab
Som Tam
Spaetzle
Spam
Squirrel
Steak Tartare
Sweet Potato Fries
Sweetbreads
Tom Yum
Umeboshi
Venison
Wasabi Peas
Zucchini Flowers

Week 13

My perut hurts like crazy! Its been like this for a couple of days. It normally lasts 2-3 days but this has been 5 days n it only seems to be getting worse. I hope it lets up soon. Our next check up is due monday. Hopefully the doc can help fix me up.


On a brighter note- weve started baby shopping! no clothes or anything of that sort yet coz we dont know the gender yet. Hubster and i made a bet on the gender- I bet its gonna be a girl and he says its gonna be a boy. Loser has to treat dinner at restaurant of winners choice. Dear baby- pls be a girl. Its so much fun being female. U get to get all dolled up and we can gang up on daddy when its time to chose what to watch on tv. Seriously- im so sick and tired of having to watch pawn stars and kings of restoration as im sure u are. But ill love u all the same if ur a boy ok. Ill just train u to watch shows like rachel ray and masterchef. The maybe u can grow up and be a handsome chef like curtis stone! too much pressure? ok fine we can watch disney channel instead- ps: daddy HATES disney channel- so be a girl ok.


We bought our stroller today. I know its a lil early and most ppl will scoff and tell me to be careful and not jinx it. But i cannot pass up a good discount. We got ours at a really good price. When i see sale signs my knees turn to jelly. Plus- baby stuff cost a bomb! so we have to buy them bit by bit so it doesnt cause too much strain on the pocket.


i found a cleaning lady in the elevator the other day. i heard her talking to a friend about cleaning a house and my kepohci ears just perked up and i excitedly asked- u clean houses?? i immediately hired her and she starts nx month! yeayy!! nothing major- just once a week cleaning which wud suffice for a house of our size and considering theres only the both of us i think once a week is enough. Im just too lazy tired to mop floors and scrub the toilet. hubster tells me not to do it but im pretty sure he thinks our mop is automatic or is possesed by a cleaning lady's ghost- coz he nvr does it!! so Nor the cleaning lady is just heaven sent- i love u already Nor.

Dont forget to turn off ur lights tonight! lets save the planet one flip of the switch at a time! happy earth hour guys!!


Toodloo!!

Of faint spells, water ballet and elephants

Fuyoo giler lame x blog. Ive been feeling under the weather these past few weeks. Ive been alternating between being super emotional, feeling sluggish, having faint spells and super horrible migrains that lasts for days. the doc said ive got low blood sugar- which explains me dropping like a fly and having horrid migrains after.

That aside- its been good! my appetite seems to be returning tho not fully. Ive been able to eat 2-3 spoonfulls of rice evry other day which helps. I rush to eat sumtin starchy and heavy as soon as im up coz the last time i blacked out- i had bfast at 8am, which apparently wasnt early enuff. So come morning, after a glass of water, ive beein downing evrything from hot dogs, to sushi, to mashed potatoes.

We also saw our baby move about like it was doing water ballet during our last scan! it was turning around n around n around. I asked the doc if it was normal for it to be moving that much- he said maybe its hungry, r YOU hungry?? and i wasss!! i was ravenous but had like 0 appetite. Then i felt so guilty for starving my baby!! so i make it a point to eat at the slightest feeling of hunger now- even if i dont feel like eating. i foresee a pretty fat bum in the nx few weeks...

And na is still upset that my baby is taking forever to come. She has taken to screaming down my belly button as a means of speaking w d baby and claims the baby speaks to her too! She clamps her ear over my belly button and pretends to have a conversation with the baby, alternating btween screaming over my tummy and putting her ear on it. Bt she's been really sweet in sharing her candy with the baby- putting aside a share for it. Which of course i would happily gobble up.

Reading the news has been a nightmare so far. Ive looked like crap twice on tv and sounded worse. Some days/ nights i just have 0 energy and having to read is such a heavy task! bt the show must go on- despite me souding like ive just been trampled on by an elephant.

On a happier note- were going to sabah in june!! i cannot waittt!!!

Priorities

Since a couple of weeks back, I have been working from home a lot. The bouts of nausea kept me at home mostly. But yesterday morning, as i stared at my laptop- i couldnt see. All i saw were black spots and not much else. I called hubster and he told me to lie down till he came home. Mama said it was probably due to low bp as it runs on our family. When hubster arrived he took me straight to the hospital. By this time i was nursing a horrible horrible migrain that made even standing close to impossible. But as we were rushing out the door, i hobbled back in to grab a lifeline- the only think i could think off, should i be hospitalised. Not my contacts lense case, nor moisturizer or toothbrush, not even an extra pair of undergarments. I ran in and grabbed a box of wax strips. Despite having a massive headache- i managed to remember and be disgusted with myself that i had not waxed my legs yet- and i wasnt gonna risk showing them to no doctors nor nurses!

We came back at midday with my leg hairs intact. The doc put me on drip and gave me some meds to take. Im A ok now albeit a lil woozy still. I cant wait to get to the 2nd trimester and all is well again- InsyaAllah

Mama Drama

Last weekend i had the biggest breakdown since i learnt i was pregnant. I broke down and cried like my whole life had ended. It was one of those hard cries that would leave a huge lump the size of china in your throat if u tried to stop it- and would then escape in a huge wail as u try as hard as u can to curb it. Worst still was the fact that my outburst had to happen at a hypermarket- on a weekend- at lunch time. Im embarrased to admit the reason i was reduced to this pile of blubbering mess. no hubster didnt do anything wrong- in fact he was really sweet- bewildered... bt sweet nonetheless. The thing that made me cry half a years worth of tears were none other then Laksa Johor.


Those of u on my fb list would have known of my quest on search of laksa johor. do u kno how hard it is to find it in kl!?!??! most places only serve it at bfast on a weekend. After scouring an entire mall and 5 restaurants- mom and i finally found a place in tmn tun that sold them. They were abysmal to say the least- but at least i got to taste it. However, my craving was not at all satisfied. On sunday- after reading on sat night and had a super late night meetup with hubsters friends- i dragged hubster out of bed to santai. I was told that they had one of the best laksa johor. When we got to the place i was told that they had sold out. at this point i was already tearing and we were only at our 1st restaurant. We swung by puteri and whaddaya know- they too were out. I remember La telling me JM bariani might have it so we went by giant kota damansara and was told that all they had were mee bandung. But the girl was really helpful and point me to djendela a few doors away who might have it. Sure enough they did!! I was beyond ecstatic!! I placed my order right away and waited. Hubster nasi lemak came.... and went.. and still no laksa... I asked the young girl who looked like the owners daughter and she went- yes yes its coming. After waiting a good 40 mins- bear in mind im eating for 2 and am nursing a gastric ANDD i had not eaten since morning AND it was already lunch time- I decided to walk to the counter to give them a piece of my hungry mind. Id rather not get into detail about what i said- i wasnt rude- but i wasnt nice either. After that short exchange we just left. service was really bad and i was too hungry to wait somemore.


As soon as we left the place tho, i started crying like a baby. It was then that we HADDD to bump into some people we know. He must have thought we were having a spat looking at me with my red nose and tears running down my face. I tried to stop it believe me i did. But it was having none of it. I finally dcided to tapau a wendy's burger while hubster went and had a smoke. While placing my order- mama called. I cannot hear mama's voice when im in distress. As if the water works i was trying to curb wasnt enuf, hearing mama goin all kesian on me for not getting my laksa just broke the dam... the tsunami waves came right there and then.. in front of the the guy who was takingmy order... he gaped and stared without mercy.. he must have thot sumone had died...

Later in the car the waterworks kept coming. When mama called i passed the phone to hubster coz i couldnt take another listen to mama's voice and go all hysterical again. At one point i was alternating between crazy heavy sobs and laughing out loud at my silly-ness.

Bt alhamdulillah and thank god for a johorean bestfriend!! she came home that night with 6 huge containers filled with all things laksa!!! there was enough for at least 15 people and it was sooooooooooo goodd!! as of now- i have had it a total of 7 times. Im finally satiated and satisfied!

Ive been really lucky so far to have gotten every food i craved. I wanted some rare cheeses and thank goodness for papa who went trekking in snow and storm to get them for me. Then i wanted some bakmie from jakarta and my dear abg dan was there and hand carried 5 packets for me!!

I pray there wont be anymore silly outbursts over food for the rest of my pregnancy. And I also hope my cravings stay domestic after this. preferably in the kl/ selangor region.

The foodie monster!

I cannot wait to get to my 2nd trimester mainly because i cannot stand feeling nauseous and i cant wait for my appetite to change. i cant remember the last time i had rice. Ive been having mostly junk and fast food coz that's about all i can stomach. Last night i walked up and down the food isle at the pasar malam looking at the food offerings at each stall carefully, tempting my tastebuds, begging them to want something.

After my 3rd round of walking i saw hubster walking towards me with his mouth full of half chomped on keropok lekor, and a pack of char kuey teow and 3 packets of nasi lemak- all for himself ok. Thru a mouthful of massacred fish-he asked if id bought anything yet. I finally bought a packet of nasi ambeng coz i tasted it once at the tmn tun pasar mlm n loved it!- of course i wasnt pregnant then.

When we got home a ravenous hubster started eating his 'not so sedap' char kuey teow smpai licin, while i picked at my food. One bite was all it took to put me off the entire dish when i bit into a corriander seed. yuck eew gross!! So hubster ended up eating the fat chicken which came with my rice as well- on top of the buffet spread he already had.

Later that night i was feeling super hungry so we went to a&w whr i had a coney dog and waffles with ice cream!! I ate 4 mouthfuls before i felt nauseous again- and had 3 bites of the coney dog while hubster finished the rest. I foresee him growing at a more alarming pace then i in the next few months dont u? oh he also finished the entire mug of root beer float then pretended to look surprised when i told him i havent even had a sip! made him go back and buy me another mug.

Dinner!

Lady down!

I was out of the office for the entire last week. We had gone to penang over the weekend for a friends engagement and since we were there- we had planned to pop over to kedah to visit my family. However- as luck had it, we did in fact go back to kedah, but it was under rather sad circumstances. My Pak Lang passed on in the evening just a few hours before we were due to arrive in kedah. He had been sick for a couple of months prior- but the news still brought about much sadness to the entire brood.

When we got back from the trip, I was so lembikk!! I swear i felt so lethargic and all I could do was sleep. Hubster was going about clearing this and cleaning that and hanging clothes. The only thing he asked me to do was pick up some stuff in our bedroom and put them away. I went 'yeah yeah sure' and went straight to bed. At 4pm. When i woke up, our new sofa had arrived and was nicely positioned and I found 2 new nightstands by the bed and my grandma chair which is totally mine alone was also prettily set in our bedroom!! All this while i slept! Such a productive 2 hours hubster had! lucky him! :p

I was lembik for 3 whole days after that. Every morning i would park myself on the sofa while hubster leaves for work. When he comes home in the evenings- guess who's still parked on the sofa? With pillows and a blanket now... The long drive up north really took a toll on me. I was crazy nauseous and just plain lembik. I couldnt do anything! So hubster is reconsidering out sabah trip which is scheduled for sumtime in the middle of the year :( I was so bummed when he told me coz really- i was born there and we moved back here when i was a year old and ive never been back!!! He says no promises for now- itll all depend on my condition then :(

Btw na has learned how the traffic light works. She'll say 'Red means topppp!!! Green means goooooooo!!! Yellow means papalannnnnnn (Pelan- pelan)!! comel giler!!! and she also bit grandpapa real hard yesterday. her excuse? 'na gewammm sebab gempapa kiutttttttt sgt!!!'. dh gigit org tu nk butter him up pulak. podah.