Curry mee

instant one of course...but soon, very soon I can have the real thing in M'sia. Can't wait!

Rash update

As a result of his dry patches/rashes




We planned to put his mittens back on, but took it off again as he couldn't suck his thumb with them on (thumb sucking is his new found passion btw). But big mistake, he scratched them whilst asleep and resulted in THIS!



ARRRRRRGH! So heart sick! That was when we closed our eyes and put his mittens on disregarding his protests....at least until his rashes subside. It did, thankfully. That was after me being obsessed with keeping his skin moist and ensuring his nails are well trimmed and filed.

This pic was taken this morning

Gosh! hard being a mum.

Victorious!

Preparing to go out no longer just involve taking a shower, decide on what to wear and hop into the car. It involves packing the nappy bag with enough disposable nappies, wipes, disinfectant spray, a change of clothes, a blanket, a muslin square, pacifierS, nappy rash cream, plastic bags, a toy and of course the obligatory bottles, formula, hot water for feeds. Then come the loading of his gears into the car. The car seat, the stroller and the baby carrier. We would then ensure Tobey is well fed, burped and changed into suitable clothing.

I remember clearly the first trip out we took with Tobey. It was nerve wrecking.

It was to our usual shopping haunt. Our main focus was on him, everything around, the shops, the sales, the people, the weather, the fashion were lost on us. They were just some blurry images that we passed as we pushed our stroller along. For me, it was like a trip that marked the start of normalcy, the finish line that signified my readiness to rejoin the outside world. What used to be just another boring trip before Tobey’s arrival became literally a life-changing event. We knew if we can endure the first trip without breaking down, the subsequent trips would gradually get easier…and hopefully one day it would be a breeze and we would actually enjoy shopping again. So we took off every weekend without fail. To the park, to the shops, to restaurants, we even try to do evening walks on weekdays; weather permitting of course…each trip taught us more on how to manage a baby whilst trying to achieve other goals. On learning Tobey’s preferences on the stroller, on the carriers, on crowds, and more.

Glad to say that today was the day we 100% enjoyed ourselves fully without the slightest doubt of our competency to attend to Tobey when being away from the safety of our home. It felt as though we were back to our pre-child couple days, except now we are actually with child and have his needs to attend to along the way.

We were out for 5 hours today. Tobey was a gem. He slept when he wanted to, he sat up and look around between naps, he smiled and laughed.

I am positive that all three of us enjoyed ourselves.

Week 12

Tobey has been having some sort of dry skin patches on his face. I suspect it's because I've been giving him longer baths nowadays as he truly enjoys his bath! He would kick and laugh happily each time. Unfortunately long bath times means his skin gets wet longer and prunes up. When it prunes up, it's extra sensitive to the drier air nowadays and hence dries up. When it dries up, it itches and he would then scratch it. When he scratches, the outer lining get bruised and his skin gets even more sensitive and even more itchy. It's a VICIOUS cycle!!!!! So my plan is to break this cycle by giving him short baths (just to hydrate the skin) then quickly dab a little lotion on whilst it's still damp for maximum absorbtion, then put mittens on his hands and try hard to stop him from rubbing those dry patches. Hopefully my diligence will help his skin get better. Breaks my heart to see him like this. (The pic was taken before his skin got worse)

Stats as of today: 7.26kg and 64cm (91st percentile on his growth charts)

Homemade Seafood pasta

Ahhh...mussels, not allowed during my pregnancy and confinement duration. It's nice to regain the freedom to indulge in all types of food, without worrying about issues such as mercury content or the effect of certain food to my baby. Bliss!

Week 11 -The Thumb Sucking Week

Tobey's Week 11 developments:

He enjoys sucking his thumb this week.He would place his thumb right in front of his face, look at it for like 3 seconds and then in slow motion position it in his mouth. SO FUNNY! Then he would make it sound so delicious..HAHA!

He's also discovering his feet. When we place him on his rocking chair, he would bend over and stare at his feet. He's using them alot nowadays to kick his toys.

Also trying to turn to his side when put on his back. We are encouraging him to flip to the front, hopefully he'll get that soon.

His hand-eye co-ordination improved. He can grab hold of our fingers or his rattle/toy and bring it to his mouth.



Oh, SK says he has a ROUND face...what say you?

Week 10

9 Weeks old

- 7.5kg and 63 cm

- Tries to pull himself to sit up whenever he can

- Make bubbles with his saliva, starts drooling as well.

-Definitely recognises mummy and daddy as he would purse his lips and cry pitifully if others carry him

-Gurgles alot, as if talking to you...and when you gurgle back, he would smile or laugh as if that's funny

-Movements less jerky and he would place his open palm on your shoulder or chest when you carry him

- Can see further

- Flirts with himself infront of the kitchen mirror.

-Dislike big groups of people, love peace and quite, definitely mummy's boy!

Things I love

I know I should concentrate more on milestones and yadi-yada, but these are some of the instances that make me happy beyond words...

* How he would smile endlessly at me when I sing and do silly actions
* How he would try so hard to immitate my silly actions
* How he would sit for 30 mins on his rocker chair silently in the kitchen whilst I cook and never once complain about the cooking smell
* How he would complain (in his own way) when I finally carry him after letting him cry for a while (usually when I need to dash across the house to do some housework in lightning speed)
* How he would sleep on my shoulder blissfully even if I am carrying him in the most uncomfortable position (usually when I need to use my other hand for something else..like eating..hehe)
* How he smells like when he wakes up
* How his hair feels
* How he snores when he's in deep sleep
* The many faces he pulls that make me laugh and laugh and laugh...for example this





and each of the million times he makes me feel like the most fortunate person to walk the earth...

I love my Tobey

7 Weeks old Tobey

- He loves looking around, more aware of his surroundings.
- Tries to pull himself up when we hold his hands.
- Loves sucking onto his fingers. Gets abit frustrated when unable to suck onto his thumb fully.
- Can stay on his rocking chair for up to 30 mins just watching Disney cartoons.
- Smiles ALOT!
- Tries to imitate mummy and daddy.
- Loves it when someone whistles to him.
- Body is 'straightening' up more.
- Eats 4oz every 3 hours. Have abit of reflux, so more frequent but small feeds. He loves his milk.
- Weighs more than 6 kgs.
- Beginning to 'need' entertainment during his awake times.
- Started on nursery rhymes.

Routine -revised ( Edited on 280707 )

Just for my own record, below's the NEW routine (changes every few days) as of today. Feeds are 5 oz every 2.5-4 hours (more frequent during daytime)

After 5/6 am feed: mummy wakes up to shower, sterilises bottles, empty nappy bin and prepares the meals for the day.

8/9 am: feed baby and if baby pooed, bath and change baby, else baby sleep till 10 am then mummy bath and change baby. Meanwhile, mummy slot in some housework.

11-2 pm: Baby alert and playful, watches cartoons and power naps between 11-12 noon. Mummy try to eat some lunch and do some housework whilst entertaining baby.

2-5 pm: baby does serious napping. Mummy sufts net, shower, sterilises bottles, does some housework, take a nap and completes dinner.

5-6 pm: entertain baby and watch some tele.

6-7 pm: Bath baby and daddy spend time with baby.

7-8pm: Mummy and daddy have dinner whilst keeping baby awake.

8/9 pm: baby start his night sleep

and the night routine continues...currently hoping that baby will sleep through his 2-3 am feeds so that mummy can have 5-6 hours continuous sleep. Fingers and toes crossed.


Urgh..might change again soon...

Routine

The first few weeks with a newborn are said to be the hardest. VERY TRUE in our case. Is it because our son is a 'High-need' or fussy baby? Well, could be, but every baby is unique an has his/her own temperament. For Tobey, all the pre-baby idealisms about not introducing a pacifier, of not letting him get use to the 'sarong' are thrown out the window from week 1. SK and I know that Tobey will grow out of whatever clingy-ness or fussiness he's having in a couple of months time. So from week 2, we've decided to do and use whatever method or gadget to survive these grueling months.

It's the end of week 5 today and glad to say that we're beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel...still a faraway light though, but nevertheless offered much needed relief. Words can't begin to explain what a shocker week 1 & 2 has been. Looking after a newborn/firstborn all by myself whilst recovering from a c-section wound was no fun, especially when this newborn only goes to sleep after vigorous bouncing and swinging on his parents arms. So much tears shed, so many sleeps broken and we still soildered on because of this immense sense of love and responsibility for this kid.

Anyway my point for this post is to record down roughly the routine we kinda fall into nowadays - our little light

7 am: mummy wakes up to shower and dress, sterilise bottles and empty the nappy bin and goes back to sleep.

9 am: mummy and baby wake up. mummy bath and feed baby.

10:30 - 12:30 pm: Baby does some serious napping. Mummy does some housework. Ideally get to eat some brunch.

12:30 - 1:30 pm: Feed baby and baby stay awake a little to play.

1:30 - 3 pm: Baby 'cat- naps'- meaning mummy has to put baby back to sleep a gazillion times. Ideally gets to prepare dinner.

3 -4pm: Feed baby

4-5 pm: more cat naps

5-6 pm: Play time for baby (if he feels like it, else he can choose to cry out his excess energy)

6 pm - 7 pm: Wipe and change baby into his night clothes. Feed baby. Quick dinner slot for mummy.

7 pm - 8 pm: Daddy spends time with his son after his dinner, mummy showers and do some housework

8 pm: Feed baby and put baby to sleep.

then the night routine starts....basically baby wakes every 3-4 hours for his feed. Then mummy spend the next hour feeding, burping and keeping baby upright for at least 20 mins before putting baby back to sleep.


...and back to the start......

4 weeks old Tobey

-Traces object
-Recognises familiar voice
-Lifts head when put on tummy
-Drinks 4-5 oz every 2.5-3 hours
-Want to be held to sleep in the day time. If put down to sleep, will stay asleep max 40 mins before crying
-Cries angrily when not fed when hungry or not carried properly
-My fav: chuckles when sleeping after feed

Mummy to 4 weeks old Tobey

-Don't cry that much anymore
-Has muscular arms
-Trying hard to set a routine for baby so that can slot housework in between
-Accepted the fact that couple life has to take a back seat at least for a couple of months

Master Tobey

He arrived on the night of the 10th June 2007 and changed our lives.

The Drama

Went in for induction on the 9th June at 9 pm, 10 days overdue with posterior cervix and baby head facing upward rather than downward. The plan is to bring on contractions and hope that it would fix both issues. Contraction started at 2.30am, 2 cm dilated at 4.30am and 6 cm at 8.30am. After 7 hours of labour pain, took Entonox and Epidural to block it out. 8 cm dilated at 12.30pm and baby's head faced the correct direction, water being broken artificially. Dilation went back to 6-7 cm and discovered that earlier dilation reading was partly caused by the engorgement of the sac to the cervix. Waited till 9 pm to be fully dilated, with the help of the augmentation hormone Syntocinon - a synthetic form of the hormone oxytocin and another dosage of epidural. Unfortunately, baby's head turned and faced upward again. Given the narrow passage of my pelvic, the size of the baby, the angle the baby's head was at and the long labour I had , it was deemed too dangerous and harmful to deliver the natural way. Hence, emergency C- section was scheduled. Was given the 3rd dosage of Epidural, shook uncontrollably, vomited bile and tried hard to stay awake and make them understand that I needed 5 mins alone with my husband to think things through. Of course I wasn't taken seriously after all the drugs they pumped into my system. Less than 2 hours later, I heard Tobey's first cry. I remember thinking that I was going to pass on if I fall asleep then and would not be able to hold my son, so I fought with whatever energy left in me to stay awake right until I have him safely by my side in the high dependency ward.


The Aftermath

Mixture of happiness, sadness, helplessness and most of all tiredness. Still coping one day at a time. Slowly but surely, we are getting use to this new 'normal' and finding more and more bittersweet joy out of this thing call parenting.

The Waiting Game

..the first game my baby is trying to play with his mummy. I am 38 weeks and 6 days today, yet no sign of baby wanting to make an appearance. True, there's still 8 days more, but he is measured a week older by the sonographer at the 12 weeks scan (can't help but to repeat this again and again..just to give myself some hope at least).

Yesterday, whilst examining my belly, my midwife even said to this little boy " Time to think about coming out, little man!". It doesn't really help to know that my close preggy friend actually delivered at 38 weeks, plus many preggy blogs that I encountered also have the mummy popped at 38 weeks. So 'naturally', I was hoping that mine will be the same as well.

Other than having difficulty sleeping (it hurts as he tends to curl up to the upper region of the uterus when he's asleep, or when my bladder is full. I always felt like my lungs and ribs are being bashed up from within. Hence has to wake up every 2 hours to empty my bladder), I just get on as normal. Sometimes, I got so complacent I found myself even forgetting about the enormous life changing event that's gonna happen in a couple of days time. Well, it's hard and emotionally tiring to stay at the edge of my seat 24/7 when this baby is so contented to stay inside.

Urgh...enough of complaining. I need to go cook lunch for MIL and myself. And I am proud to record here that at this stage I still cook 2 meals a day, clean the house and can walk the mall for 6 hours :)

I hope to deliver good news in the next post...not such whiny ones.

Tobey

Dear Tobey,

Mummy and daddy loves you lots. Mummy is so so sorry if I've not been a very happy mummy to you lately. The 'occasional' screaming that you heard nowadays were not meant towards you, not at all. It's just that sometimes it gets abit overwhelming being pregnant for so long. Plus I want to hold you so badly. It really worries me to think that you are slowly running out of space in my womb. Must be so cramp for you in there. I am sorry, but just a little bit longer ok...and I promise you'll never live in tight spaces again.

Mummy looked at your 3d scan pictures again just now and I got a bit teary. They remind me of how lucky I am to have you. You are just too precious my son. Daddy didn't want to look at them again, not because he doesn't care, but I guess he didn't want to cry man tears..hahaha!(it's ok for man to cry by the way, regardless of what your daddy says about crying) You really should get to know him (if you think you do already, there's always more) , he's really a character. I think you'll enjoy his company a lot.

You are 34 weeks and 3 days old now (gestational age - remind me to explain this term to you when you read this) and hopefully growing well. Your movements now are more distinct. I think I know how to tell the position you're in at any one time. How I wish you can tell me what nutrient you are lacking so that I can work towards eating more food which are rich in that nutrient. All I want is for you to be a healthy & happy boy :) . It's very important to be happy. Ask daddy to explain that to you, he's good at things like that.

Grandma (your daddy's mummy) will arrive from Malaysia in a fortnight to stay for a couple of months. She is here to look after us when you first arrive into this world. You must remember to thank her for looking after you, ok.

By the time you can read this letter, mummy must already be old already hahaha! (Hope you like reading, and yes, the internet is a good place to store something for years). Anyways, you must always remember to take good care of yourself.

See you soon!

Love,
mum

New management

Our fav hangout cheap & cheerful spicy food place, The Trill of the Grill (located at the top of The Drapery road, Northampton) has been taken over by a new management and operating under a very 'muslim' sounding name ...


It reminds me of KFC's logo. Fine. We went in anyway but delighted to find that the cooks are the same people with different coloured uniform. There were several new clumsy waitresses though. One even dropped one of those cast iron dish right beside me. Scared the living daylight out of me. And another one only brought our drinks to us after we enquired about it after 10 mins. She still got the nerve to ask me to repeat my drinks order! *&$%! If not for my hubby holding me back, I would have told her how incompetent she sounded. Well, she shouldn't be messing with a hungry pregnant woman. (Same goes for this Argos teller we met today who spoke to us in her bloody 'chavy' English as if it's completely acceptable and gave me this look that spelled "stupid yellow people" when I asked her to repeat herself..grrrrrr! You'll understand my frustration better if you're 8 months pregnant and not so loving it anymore)

We ordered
Massala fish (~£5) :

This was as good as we remembered it to be. Full of flavour and fish was fresh. It went really well with our naan bread.

Lamb curry (~£5) : Noticed that the cutlets of lamb used was of a cheaper cut. Hence, caused the dish to be more oily that what we usually get.

And...

Baby spring chicken (~£4): I hate hate hate the name of this dish. Why must the word baby be in it. Still feeling really bad from eating it :(

Overall, still a nice place to eat but would much prefer the previous name which is cooler sounding. Of course, after returning from this restaurant, all item of clothing worn has to be washed, as the result of being smoked by the open grill.

Thought I should record this visit as it could be our last visit to this restaurant, as it's not baby friendly at all. Must spend the next couple of weeks visiting new haunts that has high chairs or stroller friendly.

Still pregnant...

...exactly 33 weeks and 2 days......this is getting tiring to say the least. I feel imprisoned in my own body, infact it's not my body anymore, it's just a vessel, a baby carrier, a place to grow and mature this precious baby of mine...tick-tock, tick-tock.....time is passing me by TOO slowly!

He's growing really BIG...uterine stretching on my upper right side, below the ribs is not ticklish at all. If I were to sleep in the wrong position, the pain resembles the agony of tearing skin. My midwife said given the position my baby is lying (bum under the ribcage), it's very NORMAL..furthermore, this baby is relatively bigger compared to my body frame.

Oh, I also realised that I am not as 'able' as I use to be, in terms of energy level and speed of carrying out tasks. I do try to walk as a form of exercise, but every half hour, I'll have to stop and rest. No more walking the mall for hours without even a wee break. Now, I have to be in close proximity to the loo. Doesn't matter that each time I go, I'll only eliminate like 10 ml, but if I have to go, I have to go NOW!

Thank GOD I am on leave (annual then maternity). Although it's boring when you can't do much, at least I can sleep the 10 hours I NEED nowadays. Plus, I can plonk myself on the bed for a lie down whenever I need to. Seriously, I do not know how many Malaysian friends and relatives that I know that could work right up to their due date...

So what can I do when I can't do much and have too much time? Now that the hospital bag is packed, all clothes are washed, the nursery is ready and all major cleaning has happened, all I can do is to read and rest and eat and suft the net and cook and WAIT...patiently I'll wait.....

All I want is just to hold this little boy in my hands as soon as possible..... for the next chapter to unfold.....

The cutest washing line

All hand-washed lovingly by yours truly with the non-bio gentle Ecover detergent...

Prawn noodle

It was rather bland one, but ok for a cold winter day. My blender broke down on me halfway through cooking. But we got it replaced eventually.

Hubby becoming self-sufficient...

'Char Keow Teow' and Fried rice, prepared all by himself...so proud of him!!!

Healthy Breakfast

This is what I call maternal instinct...kicking in even before the little boy arrives. By the way, I baked that marble cake :P

CNY 2007 Eve Dinner

It was at my China, Coventry. Hubby's friend's new restaurant.

Being far away during this festive season has always been and still is difficult. Hence it was nice to get together with several Malaysian friends to have a smallish celebration.

Snowy Day - 8th February 2007

We got ample warning from newspapers and weather forecasters. All the main roads were gritted with salt and many families even stock up on food supply. Strange enough, at the back of people's mind, there's still this doubt that it might not happen after all. Well, it's the british weather after all.

But it DID happened. I actually peeped out the window at about 5 am and saw the first fall... 30 minutes later (baby was kicking, can't sleep, the usual joy of pregnancy), the ground was starting to turn white. I was so happy!

Three hours later, there was like 6 inches of snow, pure white snow. Around 200 schools in my county shut for the day, hence you could see children building snowman and throwing snowballs. I opted not to go to work fearing for my own safety. Instead, I spent the day at the cinema. Watched 'Note on a Scandal' and 'Dreamgirls'. And hubby went to work later. We managed to slot in a snowball fight...aha, we're still very much kids at heart. I wish my baby was out to witness it.

It was truly a Thursday with a difference.

Pineapple Jam Tarts

Errr....I know it doesn't look that nice, but it tasted not bad. Oh well, hopefully next CNY I'll improve.

Link to recipe

:)

Oriental City visit... again...

We had mamak mee goreng, Vietnamese fried udon, tosai, tim-sum, teh tarik, and curry puffs....yum.

Then we sat on one of the seating places in the middle of the mall and hubby asked me to closed my eyes and imagine that I am in 1-Utama...HAHHAHA! Impossible! Had a great time talking and laughing till tears rolled down and tummy ached.

Went home feeling like new lovebirds. Let's just hope that when the baby is here, we will still get the chance to spend time together like this again...

Peanut butter & Nutella Cookies

Here's my first instalment to instill the CNY spirit in our UK household- Peanut butter & Nutella cookies. It's a mixture of 3 tbs of chuncky peanut butter, 3 tbs of nutella spread, 1 1/2 cup plain flour, 1 cup of self-raising flour,1/2 cup of melted butter, 1 egg, 3/4 cup of caster sugar, 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of Sodium Bicarbonate. Mix it all into a dough, roll it into balls, flaten a little at the top of each ball and bake on greased baking tray in pre-heated oven, at 220 celcius for 10-12 minutes. Let it cool and transfer to storage.

It tasted quite good according to hubby, like 'chipsmore' back home. Success!

Hopefully I'll be motivated enough this weekend to do the pineapple jam tart.

Various

London visit...


Comparison...

compare this to this at 22 Weeks 3 Days.

Custard puff...

Give me a break..first time baking this ok

Chocolate craze...


Also been going on baby stuff buying frenzies.

Gosh, I am tired now. Nap time!

Week 21 and counting.....

I am on week 21 of my pregnancy. Little foetus is actually not so little anymore. He is about 10 ½ inches in length. We went for our mid-pregnancy scan last week and we saw a lot! For one, he has a big head. Hopefully he’ll turn into a great thinker, or even a great philosopher like Socrates.

Little Socrates has been kicking mummy a lot lately. I got a feeling, he kicks when he is protesting against something he doesn’t like, e.g. being hungry, being out in the cold (even though he is wrapped up warmly in his amniotic sac, he still could sense the temperature change outside of mummy), or when mummy is having one of those hormonal nightmares which caused her blood pressure to soar to an uncomfortable level. Talking about dreams, I have been dreaming every single night. Dreams that were most vivid and seemed so real! The other day, I dreamt of my hubby’s ex and I could even see the colour of her eye shadow in my dream! I read that each dream actually manifest an inner fear within the pregnant woman. Got to admit, I have tonnes. The mother of all fear is of course for the health of my baby. Although the hospitals gave me and baby a clean bill of health (thank God for that) so far, I can’t help but to find something to worry about (i.e. whether I would be depriving my baby by just getting a cot which is 10 cm shorter in length and width compared to a cot bed which has no future use as a single bed for us whatsoever, as it’s more sensible to get a proper single bed, whether I am reading enough on breast feeding and all sorts). Some experienced mum said that it’s all part of my ‘nesting’ instinct. Why can’t I just resolve that by just buying and storing a tonne of disposable nappies (a close friend of mine did that) and be happy about it. No, my ‘nesting’ instincts need to come in all shapes and sizes, which caused me endless headaches.

I worry about my changing appearance a lot. Not that I am putting on a lot of weight, but I don’t feel like the most attractive woman either. It’s just a frightful feeling to know that there will be more changes to come and nothing you can do to stop it happening. It’s like God saying to me “listen lady, you want the baby, something has to give, in this case, your waistline and heels. Oh, of course, some varicose vein, stretch marks, sore boobs, cravings for food you can’t have (pineapple, sushi, banana leaf rice), ‘roller-coaster’ like emotions and sore back to complete the package”. Seriously, I have dreamt of glorious authentic Malaysian hawker fare more than once. I am now contemplating on taking my maternity leave early, and fly home to Malaysia just to eat to my heart content. This bloody country has so little to offer my pregnant taste buds. My ever-protruding baby bump is quite a load to carry around, not only I now have to stand further away from the sink whilst washing dishes, sleeping on my back (my fav position) is almost not possible, I could feel the baby moving under the constraint of space, can’t bear the guilt, hence have to sleep on my sides which is so uncomfortable. SK also made a joke that I am now walking like a penguin and that it’s a tough act to follow. Wait, wait till I assign him to empty the nappy bin daily.

Then again, I’ll have to be the responsible mummy and save the money up for little Socrates future. I can’t wait to see him. In fact, I’ll give anything to speed this pregnancy up. Even labour pain won’t stop me.

2007

Fireworks Over New York City (I)
Originally uploaded by Linus Gelber.

I've got a good feeling about this year :)

Christmas holiday so far...

9 days of hols!

Day 1 & 2: We visited friends in London and had a great time visiting around the Docklands area, Canary Whaft and also went to Greenwich. It's amazing how enjoyable London can be when most of it's residents went away for Christmas. Oh, I tried the Tai Woon Mein restaurant for the first time. Quite big servings indeed.

Day 3: Chilled and watch TV in the day time and Christmas dinner at friend's in the evening.

Day 4: Cleared out the study to make way for the nursery and went to Ikea to get some furnishing. Dinner at Ikea.

Day 5: SALES starts today! Spent most of the day shopping objectively (a.k.a getting only things that we need). Mainly to get hubby's work clothes and baby stuff. Essential baby/nursery items weren't on sale (which annoyed me quite a bit). Mostly, only baby clothes was on sale. Of course my hands were itching to buy them, but not knowing the gender of the baby makes it almost impossible. I want to be able to indulge in pinks and purples or blues and combat green confidently and not just going neutral. So, I shall wait. Just one more week and I shall hit the shops again.

Day 6: Which is tomorrow. We plan to paint the nursery. Of course, have to decide the colour first. I hate pink or blue or purple walls anyways, so it won't be a problem. Hmm...maybe peach? we'll see...

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

First kick!!!!! (16 weeks 6 days)

For the past week, I have been wondering and worrying on why I haven't felt the baby kick yet. I was looking for a significant one, not those 'fluttering' and 'gold-fish moving in tummy' sensations (even that did not happen for the last week).

Last night, I have been having 'rumbles' after dinner for quite some time, I put it to air. Then it happened. I felt it as I was lying down with the classical music on. It was on the left side. It felt strong, until I could feel my skin bulged out. I kept playing that track, hoping to get another kick, but it was just replaced by gentle rumbles as I dozed off. I guess baby went to sleep. Track 7 should be 'our song'.

It's Amazing! My worries immediately evaporated and I felt a new form of happiness - of a proud parent :)

15 Weeks 3 Days

HAH! This is me and baby in my new maternity dress. As you can see, I am carrying quite low...and round. Maternity clothes are my best friends nowadays, as they allow my baby bump to grow into it freely, hence making me feel VERY comfortable.

I am enjoying my second trimester more than the first. Most of my morning sickness has gone away (hopefully for good), my appetite is back with a vengeance, I find myself regaining back my energy and best of all, there's an obvious preggy tummy to show the world the reason why I have been so smug and happy all these while.

Now, all I ask for Christmas is for baby to kick for mummy!