Christmas and Snow

Christmas brought back the memory of our trip to Chamonix, France end of last year. I was out-stationed in Lyon for 1 month plus and took the opportunity during weekend to jalan2. That was the first time I experienced snow. Well, Lyon ada la snow but it was nothing much ie the flakes were too tiny and turned to water when it landed on any surface. But Chamonix? And it was a lotttt of snow.

Macam tak real je snow kat roof tu...but it was real.

Husband and I was giddy, on the way, all the way, macam budak2. Frankly, we did not expect snow. We were planning to take the cable car to any of the peaks to catch a view of snow capped Mont Blanc. Rezeki murah, the night before our daytrip, it snowed heavily in Chamonix weeeheehehe.
Being ill-prepared, I did not bring any gloves. Had to buy them in one of the shops. The glove in the photo above, I noticed lateeeerrr that it was pig skin. Pakai je dulu, buang later, samak dengan sabun taharah. Shoes? I worn my Brooks Pure Connect yg berlubang2 tu. Woooo...pedih jari2 kaki. Sejukkk.

Hayaa dok sibuk nak ke negara yang ada winter and snow. We explained to her that we need to save a lot of money first for accommodation, flight tickets etc. We never showed her the Chamonix photo hahahaha..nanti lagi kecoh dia dok menanye.

Enjoying the view at Lognan ski area

Favourite Pacer

Not the running type of pacer. The writing type. Papermate Pacer which I used when I was in primary school. Punyalah suka pensil picit ni. Tiap2 kali hilang je, jenuh kumpul duit belanja and beli lagi. My mom gave me the first one. I think I've bought them like 2-3 times? 4? Tak pandai jaga barang eheheh.

Few days ago I walked past Faber Castell booth in KLCC and a mechanical pencil caught my interest, hence the sudden trip down to memory lane about the Pacer mechanical pencil.
Kalau terjumpa this pencil for sale online, I plan to pick it up. Nostalgia la pulak.

Road tax mati..dah dua bulan..eeep!

I normally do the renewing of our cars' road tax, since hubby is in charge of servicing, car washing etc. Tak perasan lah pulak road tax dah mati which happened few days after I delivered Umar. Sendiri tak perasan, hubby pun tak perasan. Went to Pos Malaysia in bandar salak tinggi, the closest one to mum's house (still in balik kampung duration).

Nak dijadikan cerita...the already dead roadtax was only for 6 month (May-Oct13) sebab hubby konon nya nak jual kereta tu, tapi tak terjual2 pun sampai sekarang. 1 year car insurance policy (May13-Apr14) sebab tak boleh la pulak nak ambik 6mth policy. Oleh kerana sekarang sudah Dec and Apr14 insurance expires, I cannot renew the road for 6 month (Dec13-May14) unless I 'top-up' the policy until May14. Haaaa...ini lah downside nye kalau buat road tax tiap2 6bln tapi tak tekun.

Hangin la jugak bila keluar dari pejabat pos tu (penat menunggu weiii) nak mencari insurance agen. Pos Malaysia tak boleh topup2 policy nih. Nasib baik laaaa ada cawangan insuran tu ada satu dekat la jugak. Otai punya cawangan ni...hehe..terhilang sekejap hangin sebab dah lama kut tak jumpa kedai macam ni... :)

Longgok je, tak payah file..eeep! Ambik gambar sorok2 ni

Pakcik the owner

While I was there, waiting for the policy to be topped-up by the chap in the first photo, ada laaa 2-3 kali pakcik tu jawab telefon. Clients following up. Each time after he hanged up, he would sift through the pile here and there, and sighed heavily. Aku pun saspen nengok nye weiii...jumpa ke idak apa yang dicari. 5S pakcik..5S.

Re-learning Arabic

I learnt Arabic before. When I was in Form 1-3, Arabic was one of mata pelajaran wajib (sekolah agama kan..). I changed school for F4-5 and took science stream so Arabic was not compulsory anymore. Now how I wished I have kept on studying Arabic.

My interest to relearn Arabic surfaced for the past few years. I am also seeing people close to me learning Arabic on their own - my brother and sister in law, a colleague, even my husband has expressed the same wish. I am truly humbled by their passion coz it is not easy learning/ memorizing something new when you are already in 30s-50s.

Hubby suggested buying the Rosetta Stone Arabic Language software. While checking the website, I found a forum which suggested Arabicpod.net ie learning through podcast. Rosetta Stone is very pricey (USD179 for Level 1) while Arabicpod.net offered free lessons for beginners and USD 198 for full access until Advance level. So I'm dropping the stone and getting into the pod.

Tgh maternity leave ni, I might start the ball rolling. A colleague of mine is subscribing an online Arabic class which I find quite tedious (assignment, tutorial etc). Apa2 pun, both of us ie encouraging each other. Syok sikit :) Harap2 ni bukan hangat2 tahi ayam nye initiative.

Medical checkup and other agendas

Went to hospital today for a follow up. My pantang will be over soon OH YEAAHH! I fidgeted while waiting for my turn at the clinic, coz I did not bring the baby along and wished to be home as soon as possible for next feeding. Did not have to wait long and when the check was over (everything is A-okay), I rushed to the parking lot.
Saw a banner in the lounge area on Diabetes Walk and baru teringat about Terry Fox Run shirt which can be purchased at CARIF. Nasib baik tak masuk kereta and keluar parking lagi. Bought the t-shirts for both me and hubby. Mission accomplished!

There was another mission, to buy 1901 hotdog. Today is 19th so macam biasa ada cheap sale RM2.99 for small one and RM3.99 for large one. Not that I crave 1901 that much, it's just that I never had the chance to buy it cheap elsewhere coz the queue would be soooo long. Kat spital nye 1901, lengang je la. Angkat satu!
By the time I got home, I asked bibik about the baby. The baby was still asleep since I left for the hospital. Hah! Syukur alhamdulillah. If all went well, today will be genap seminggu berjaya BF baby 100%.

Hubby's Penang Bridge Run

I started running first. Then managed to get husband to join. So we've been running in events together. The events that he ran alone, usually because I was out-stationed last minute. That happened during PBIM12. We were supposed to run the 10K together. This year, I was on maternity la pulakkk.
For PBIM2013 we registered for 21K...hah amek kao. He's driving to Penang this evening with another friend, also running HM. Another 2 friends will rendezvous tomorrow at the event.
Worrying thing is, hubby running activities also dwindled down the drain when I'm on maternity. Ishh...tak sustainable langsung. His last event was 10K in PBSN Nite Marathon and he did a 7K last weekend. Itu ajeee? Apakahhh..
Good luck to you abang. Kalau rase mcm tak larat in the midst of run, surrender je lah heh? DNF tak pe lagi. Jangan la dah sampai Penang, DNS la pulakk. Lagi kelakar.

Post Race notes :

He did it ehehehe. He ran like 11-12KM then brisk walked all the way. Patutnya tak dapat medal lah sebab qualifying hours is 3.5 tapi agaknya byk medal lebih, officer bagi je la kott. On Sunday itself, live tracking system did not even register his total run but only indicated estimated finish time. Time-out I guessed. However, Monday showed that the system got corrected and hubby's timing was registered properly this time.

Hardcore runners may laugh or even ridicule the time, but who cares? My body, my kaki, my time eh? Hubby was happy enough, siap bawak medal to his office for bragging. He sustained no serious injury except swollen left ankle. First time jadi ni. An evidence, if he were to run HM or longer, need to loose weight or strengthen the ankle. The ankle was an old injury. He broke it while playing football like 10 years ago. For 1 year or so he had a metal with a couple of screws in his ankle bone (a nuisance everytime walking through metal detector in airports).

Baby meet Terry?

A colleague of mine queried whether I will be joining the run or not. Both of us kebetulan tengah on maternity leave but definitely the pantang will be over by then. She'll be joining, pi hangkut sumer anak, suami and baby baru.
Last year, my hubby ran alone. I was out-stationed last minute, hangin la jugak sebab tak dapat join. So this time, I am...contemplating..hmm... to jalan2. I will angkut my baby jugak lah kan, tu je yang buat pikir 2-3 kali nak join ke idak.
T-shirt is sold in several places. Lo and behold, CARIF SDMC being one of them. And I am going there early next week for my follow-up medical checkup. Macam kebetulan ke aper.

21 Dec

Just to note that we did not go for this. Balik kampunnnggg. Anyways, dapat la menyumbang by buying the shirt.

Time2 ni la nak tengok drama :)

Mengambil kesempatan cuti bersalin untuk menonton drama2 ni. Haish...time keje, takde masa nye nak nengok. Balik lambat, penat, nak layan anak lagi, waktu tayangan tak kena. I've been watching, Love You Mr Arrogant (M'sia, dah abiss), Sungkyunkwan Scandal (Kdrama), Legend of Kublai Khan (Mandarin, cerita bibik follow. Kita follow gak le). Janji Adam, Msia pun dah abis.
Tapiiii...dalam byk2 drama ni, my favourite is...

Soooo cute laa this story. It's currently phillipines hottest teleseries, has been running (still running) since July last year. Lotsa 'kilig' moments. It's a simple family story about a girl trying to be a stewardess but ended up striking a deal with a rich and handsome guy to take care of his youngest daughter, and she will be sponsored to study by the guy later on. Kelakar nengok kerenah si Maya (heroine) developing a crush on her boss. I shall miss this series bila dah setat keje, nampak gaya kena resort to pinoytube, youtube etc lah to watch this series.
Apa lagi cerita baru...hmmm. Playboy itu Suami Aku, yg ganti Love You Mr Arrogant. Baru tgk semalam. Macam kayu je hero tu...kecewa..kecewa..

Mission for Mom's Milk

By end of this week, Umar will be 6 weeks. I'm currently directly BFeeding Umar yey ! However, my milk is not yet enough. Still need to supplement with formula milk. Dah masuk 3 tin formula weh..Before this, since Umar gelojoh (mengamuk2 hokay) and my milk flow was selloww melloww, terpaksa la fed Umar with formula. Concurrently I had to pump (using Medela Pump in Style) and once amount of EBM (expressed breast milk) cukup, baru bottle fed the EBM to Umar. Terkejar2 nak pam susu. Awal2 tu depressed ooo..nangis 2-3 kali. Dah pam tapi tak seberapa yang keluar sampai bengkak susu. So bila feed baby dgn formula dgn empunya diri tgh bengkak susu...sedey la. Haishhh..

Truly, those mothers yang practice exclusive pumping (EP), tabik spring lah. Dah lah kena menyusu baby, lepas tu nak kena mengepam. Kalau nak jimat masa terpaksa la sambil bottle feed, sambil pam susu.

Now on average, I'm supplementing Umar with 2-3 bottles of formula. Once in the morning after dia mandi, maybe once late noon and once before he goes to sleep.  Kalau Umar lapaq, mau nak kena double formula feed another one late night.

Terasa geramm la jugak..eeee..I just need to cut down/ cut-off those 2-3 bottles of formula. Sikiiit lagi. 

So, tgh gigih nak meng'up' kan lagi BM. I start to take oats with my Milo during EP days. Siap beli Kjeldsen's oat cookies. Ok, ada laaa half to 1 oz milk increase everytime pumping session. I even took fenugreek for 2 days. Huhuhuhu...this one I buat sekejap je and stopped doing since I was gassy and experienced stomach cramp. Tak sempat tgk whether fenugreek berhasil ke idak. My fren tried and it worked for her very2 well..susu byk sampai tersedak2 la pulak baby dia.

Latest galactagogue I'm taking is alfalfa. This one I just started taking on Monday - Shaklee product, coupled with its Energizing Soy Protein. Tgh saspen la ni whether this will help increasing my BM.
On Monday itself, I managed to BF the whole night. Tuesday morning, managed to cut-off the FM down to only a single 2oz FM feeding at 10pm. Ughhh...so close. Maybe I need to add alfalfa dosage during dinner time.

Beli at Empire Tower. Thaks to Zai, for ID number. Oat cookies tin at the base of bottles.

Wednesday, 100% BF achieved. I'm cautiously happy about this. Hopefully this can be sustained. The 3rd tin FM still there (dah nak habis). I even bought the 4th tin. Hopefully remains unopened. Susu formula mahal ooo, tapi alangkah bahagia nya walaupun rugi tak terpakai the 4th tin tu.
Reminder : Trying to pump at night, 1-2 sessions. Umar sleeps like 2-4 hours between feedings (belum consistent lagi). Let's get a pumping session every 1 hour after he feeds, shall we? Cmon...kena gigih sikit lagi. Tapi dua mlm dok fully BF ni, tiap2 1-2 jam dia bangun menyusu. Soooo...susah sikit laa nak mengepam. Ngantuk weii plus takde susu nak dipam kut. Nyusu je takes like 30-45 mins, sometime can last until 1 hour, campur dgn masa nak menidokan dia.

16 Nov
3 days 100% BF..yey! today wud be the 4th day in shaa allah. ya allah, murahkanlah rezeki amiin. Yesterday got some scare. Umar menyusu tak henti during the day, like every 30min-1hr. Nighttime, marah2 lagi coz milk run dry? But did some reading, most probably he's into his 6weeks growth spurt. So that's why extra demand kut. Tabaaaah...! Preservere..!

9 Dec
Weeheehee..happy..happy :) Soon will be 4weeks Umar on BF 100%. I really have to thank Shaklee product. It works although with a side effect. I really believe the product helped to increase my milk but I developed itchiness on my hands and legs few days after consumption. The itch progressed into rashes - largest rash almost covered my right calf. Gatal oooo. Had to stop using them after being advised by dermatologist (yep..siap jumpa dermatologist). Funny thing is, it still itches but thankfully it's reducing.
Nasib baik susu maintain. I luuuuv my Medela PISA. Berbaloi lah beli although mahal ~RM1800. My previous pump was Avent hand pump. Why do I love this PISA? Kalau dgn Avent, I managed to get 1 letdown je and jaraaang2 dapat 2nd letdown. With this PISA, I can get 2 letdowns or ever 3rd letdown if I extended the pumping session.
So now I'm building up stock, as a preparation to go back to work. So far, I pump once a night, carca marba timing. Kalau terbangun tido and rasa penuh dada and Umar macam nyenyak je...pam le. Depending on duration of pumping, I can get 3oz. 2oz if I pump right after feeding Umar or if I have to cut short the pumping sebab Umar bangun.

MWM2014 - 16 March is the date

March...I'm hoping it would be a biiit later. Sebabnya nak join lah kan and I want to do a 10K. 6 months after delivery and doing a 10K. I'm sure super fit mom boleh je buat but saya idak le super fit.
Hmm..kena muhasabah diri aka self-assessment before I go for this. Barang nak pakai lama ek? Better safe than sorry. Early bird registration is unitl 20th Jan. Pikir2 kan lah. Alah...apa susah sangat. Don't complicate things. Kalau risau sangat, run half of the distance and walk the other half. Hokay?

I missed this year's event, so...nak jugak masuk next year huhuhu

7 Nov 2013
Registered for 10K wakakakaka. Emmm...pay attention to the left knee ok. Niggles at the kneecap (inner side) if I walked a lot ie grocery shopping je punn..

20 Jan 2014
Wooohoooo!! 10K pun dapat pendant. Makcik sukeee gilerrr !!

Mode : Berazam nak kejar limited medal jugak !

Huda's Toilet training

Today is the 4th day. Miserable first and second day. Bibik la miserable ahahaha. Dia yang kena mop lantai. Bersungguh betul makcik tu nak toilet-train Huda. 2-3 months ago Bibik asked me about Huda going to tadika (next year?) and I told her not until she is out of diapers.
First day, Huda wet her pants like 5 times? Same on second day. Luckily she consistently did it in the hall and waddled to us after she did her business. Senang for both me & bibik then mencari2 la the wet spot. The thing is, everytime we put her on the toilet seat, nothing happened and we did this hourly. On some occasions, she would wet herself few minutes just after the toilet visit.
Third time is a charm and third day was a dry day. I put Huda on the toilet seat and gave her ipad so that she could bear with a longer seating. It worked! Tak lama mana pun, 10 mins? My theory, Huda actually is not aware/understand the wee-wee feeling/ condition/ situation. Subsequent visits to toilet gave splashing results ehehe. .
Today, Huda woke up with a dry diapers and Bibik told me byk jugak la dia wee wee time mandi pagi. Hmmm..very promising.
p/s : As long as we keep sending her to the loo, there will be no incident. Twice she wee-wee upstairs and both me and bibik spent most of times downstairs. Night diapers has been consistently dry.

21 Dec
Wee wee dah sangat ok, except maybe when we totally forgot to remind her and she's totally occupied doing something or when she's stressed (ie gaduh besar dgn kakak...).
The poo-poo is another story. Haishhh...this one is really tough. For many weeks, she did it in her pants. Thankfully, everytime she did it, it would be dry sebab dah pandai tahan wee wee. She would only let us know 'after' lah or we would notice due to the not so nice smell lah. Eventually we figured it out that she knows poo goes to toilet but simply does not comprehend that poo-ing itself (sorry, TMI..) must be done while seated on a toilet.
What we did? Demo laaaa...har har har...tak payah la go into details eh. Results? Promising. No accident so far.

A gift from a friend - book on Susu ibu

Recently I posted in FB that I've been bottle feeding my LO with EBM. Yep, direct BF was unsuccessful due to slow letdown and Umar's impatience was not helping. A friend heard the hidden distress call and posted me a book, as a gift. Jarang ibu baru dpt gift ye tak? Selalu org bagi hadiah to the baby.

Thanks Leen! The author is her SIL.

I was too hung up on preparation for delivery, and paid less attention to breastfeeding preparation. I prayed a lot for healthy pregnancy and healthy baby, for smooth delivery and fast recovery. I forgot to pray about BF. So, will be reading this book. Like I mentioned to my FB friend - tak surrender lg to direct BF. It's a strategic retreat, will re-attemp once letdown and milk supply is sufficient. For now, kita pump dulu!

8 Nov 2013
Going into 5th week now. Let's see the progress so far. Still feeding Umar with formula - 3rd tin now, have to buy 4th tin soon (konon nak target full BF by 2nd tin formula - uhuhuk tak dapek). However, BF is taking center stage ie only give formula if Umar still hungry post BF. Got faster letdown, last time macam jenuh nak nunggu letdown. On average, once bottle feed formula midday and once/twice before nap. Once in a while je feed EBM (kalau tgh mlm Umar tak bgn so I'll pump). Now need to tackle milk production. Still low and have to make sure Umar is not that hungry when BF. Kalu idak, frenzy2 marah2 awang tu.
So for the mission to increase milk production. Took fenugreek last Saturday ie half TSP for the whole day. Mmm...gassy and minor stomach cramp. So I stopped fenugreek today. Been taking oats like 2-3 TBSP a day, plan to increase the amount. Will re-attemp fenugreek maybe in few days time.
And yes, makan lebih sikit, minum air byk sikit, minum susu jugak.

Arrival of newest family member

Nama dia Umar...ehehe. It's been 2 weeks plus since the speedy (no joke...) arrival of our first boy on 6th Oct. How speedy? The estimated delivery date was 9th Oct. So Umar arrived 3 days early. Hayaa was 2 weeks late and Huda was 1 and a half weeks late. I thought this one would arrive late as well. Wrong !
On Sunday 6th, manageable contractions were already occurring every hour, it started around 10am (early labor). Water broke around 4pm followed by excruciating labor pain. Emmm..we were at home eheh eheh (lame laugh..). Hubby rushed to car with the hospital bag and I could only grab my tudung, wearing kaftan. Tak larat tukar baju dah pun. The amniotic fluid kept gushing out.
By the time I got into the car, hubby glanced at the time, it was 412pm. I did not know what time we arrived to the hospital. I managed to gasped to hubby to go straight to Emergency, could not walk anymore. The urge to push was already there...Tuhan je tau betapa seksanya nak menahan the urge to meneran in the car. And hubby pegi langgar je bumper2 jalan, panik nye pasal, lagiiii la rasa macam nak terkeluaq.
From emergency, they transferred me to Labor room. I was already at 10cm opening. Sapa tah hulur the mouthpiece for the laughing gas (Entonox) which I gladly took. Dr Siti kebetulan was visiting her mom somewhere nearby and arrived just in time for the delivery - staff nurse dah standby to do the delivery herself if the Doc did not arrive in time. 5.04pm Umar arrived. Speedy huh? Hubby managed to call MIL and my mom during the panicky drive and imagined their surprised receiving another call soon after about the delivery.

Byk nye pink - hand me down from kakak2 dia

Ini lah gara2 tak nak kena induce and prevent episiotomy. I decided to wait out at home until the 'golden rule contraction' - contraction every 5 minutes, lasts for 1 minute, for duration of 1 hour - which I did not experience. Mine was like 3-4 contractions in 15 mins then nothing for 45 mins, happened from 10am to 3pm. Tak sangka la pulak after air ketuban pecah tu at 4pm, active labornye sekejap sangat. Welll...I got what I wished for, was not induced and no epi/ tearing weeheehee.
Now, recovery was definitely faster compared to Hayaa's and Huda's time. I'm not on crutches since mid last week although once in a while the pain in the pelvic surfaced if I walk too fast or sit/ lie down asymmetrically. Still going through the sleepless night uhuhhuuhu..tabaahh.

False Alarm :D kakakaka

Agak tersentap during one of my visit to the bilik air weekend baru2 ni. The reason? Pinkish panty liner (too much info?). Adakah turun darah, bloody show? At that time, we had sedara mara visiting and they were about to make their move, depa dah nak balik. So had to keep cool. Salam2, babai2...then only I told hubby about it. Hubby dah macam saspen but since there were no other labor signs, kita rilek jee.

Went back to the bilik air to have a look again at the liner. Hmmm..oleh kerana mentol bilik air tu kuning, I took it into our bedroom (mentol putih). Under the white lighting, saw that the pink color was....a bit off. Baru lah teringat. Huda spilled air sirap earlier, my pants basah lah sikit. Tapi malas punya pasal nak naik tangga ke bilik and tukar (badan berat...), I just pat and let the pants dry. Hohohoho. Air sirap beb...air sirap.

Nasib baik tak lari pegi hospital. Dah la takde contraction bagai. Braxton hicks ada laa 4-5 kali sehari. Dah 39 weeks ni, mau kena induce tak pasal2.

Tersangkut baca novel

Konon2 nya nak baca these 2 novels by Stieg Larsson during maternity. I've read The Girl with Dragon Tattoo, watched the movie and like the story so much, I bought the 2nd & 3rd books. Gatal, over the weekend I picked up the 2nd book The Girl Who Played with Fire. Malam tadi habiskan jugak novel tu. So, this morning agak mengantuk...

2nd book in the series

Eiiii...gatal tangan nak pick up the 3rd book. Kalau baca jugak buku ni.....alamat kena cari buku lagi laa.

Like father, like daughter

Caught on camera, during the weekend.

Huda asleep on bean bag while watching channel 613

When I checked on hubby..hmm..you can see lah the resemblance eh?

Hubby browsing apa tah

My hurting pelvic joints

La...la..la..what to do. Just bear with it. Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP), Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction, Pelvic Instability. Whatever...my pelvic hurts. That's it. I'm resigned...tapi bengkek di hati.

Right hip joint-right pubic joint-tail bone and right sacroiliac joint

The areas which I circled red, are the one which is giving me the problem, with the right hip joint the most. The pain from the rest, are resulting from the hip joint pain. Once in  while, the sacroiliac joint clicked or snapped into place. Nasib baik split seconds je jadi. Takde lah sakit except masa it snapped into place.
Apart from the common advice which can be found in the internet (pelvic strengthening, posture adjustment, walking/bending/picking up stuff etc) additional steps that I've taken :

• Doing squats, pelvic rotation everytime I rose from lying, seating. Engage my pelvic muscle and glutes, lean slightly forward, bend the kness a bit, before taking the first step.
• While solat. Previously I stood with feet shoulder apart. Tapi tak menjadi lah this time, it hurts every time turun nak sujud dan bila nak berdiri. Now, I stand up with feet making a 'V' ie ankles meet together and toes apart. None/ less pain. Ensure V formation as much as possible during solat, including while seated.
• If I want to change sides while sleeping. Let's say tgh baring on my left side (make sure baring dekat dgn tebing katil) - bangun and duduk kat tebing katil dulu. Then tumbang ke side kanan. Of course, kena tukar lokasi bantal dulu. Takde lah nak shift from left side lying-to flat on the back- to right side lying. Sakit ooo.
• I find walking backwards is not painful. Reverse..selagi boleh reverse

26 Sep 2013

Now both sides of my pubic bone hurts..My hip joints do not hurt as bad anymore...ke actually masih sakit, tapi pubic bone pain is masking it. Grrrr...I cannot solat macam biasa anymore. Maybe subuh, but not zohor onwards. When evening and night approaches, the joints hurt even more. Have to solat seated.

28 Sep 2013
Getting out of bed (to the loo) in a middle of the night was tough. Taking the first step, adoiiii.....and I make that trip like 2-3 times in a night. Leceh ooo. Joints must be aggravated coz the they go to sleep due to same lying position through out the night (left side lying). So I had to call upon the help of my previous trusted companion, for that night trips.

Brand pun Lifeline :)

30 October 2013

The crutches have been stored since last week :) I actually stopped using the crutches fully sometime into 3rd week of confinement. Well, into 2nd week confinement, I have started not to use the crutches a few times. Fastest recovery ever. Already went upstairs, able to sit bersimpuh on the floor, able to sleep on my sides (dulu lama ooo baru nak buleh sleep on my sides), ishh..byk benda lah dah buleh buat. Happy..happy :)

21 Dec 2013
Have started doing walk-run to regain my fitness (hancorrrr weiiii...startt from zero) and to prepare for MPIB2014 run. Well...the run is a carrot to get myself fit punn. What I want to say here is..apart from semput, side stitch etc, I've experienced some discomfort around groin area. Pretty much like the discomfort felt during that monthly period. The core strengthening really helps lah. I'm happy to say, this is the best post-natal recovery I've ever had.

Favourite Chocolate - Whittaker Kiwi

Ishhhh...susah betol nak carik chocolate ni. Previously, I bought them (like 2-3 bars in a go) in Choc Boutique. Then for unknown reason, Choc Boutique stop selling them but still selling other Whittaker's line. I was deprived for a few months..sedey ooo.
Jaya Grocer comes into picture and it sells Whittaker, even Kiwi's. By this time I bought like 3-4 bars in a go. Lepas gian & into hoarding mode punya pasal. But NOW..even Jaya Grocer is short of Whittaker's Kiwi. uhuhuhuhu...I've got a quarter of a bar left, will be

scrimping on it until it got restocked.

Nyam..nyam..

Preparation for baby's arrival

Let's see :

• Beli pakej bersalin. Most probably will buy NR (nona roguy), just like before. Cuma nak pikir, kut2 nak tambah barang2 dalam pakej. DONE ! Dah dapat pun NR delivery Friday 19/9. RM300 plus bengkung free...tak plan nak pakai pun. Got my own 'bengkung'. Additionally, I added a bottle of madu+herba2 (Nu3med) and Lawas Kencang. Nak try.
• Pati ikan haruan. DONE! Bought Harwany+Gamat (6+1free RM36.90) and Ori (6+1free RM33.90)
• Beli waist trimmer, cari kat kedai Cosway (Julian Jill ~RM17/piece). Ni jenis malas nak pakai bengkung. DONE! Hubby belikan 22/9. Need to wash the wrap.
• Beli additional baby boy PJs and day clothing. PARTIAL. Baru beli sikit Friday 19/9.
• Bawak kuar katil kayu & letak in master bedroom
• Bawak kuar basinet & letak kat living hall
• Bersihkan baby carrier
• Basuh baju2 baby yg lama2, including cadar, towel, etc2, socks, mitten, booties, kelambu, padding. PARTIAL
• Beli barut, bibik kater, tak jumpa. DONE Jumpa dahhh
• Tongkat Lifesaver - DONE. Bibik carik dalam store, jumpa
• Bawak mummy's stuff turun and put in daybed drawer. I plan to duduk kat groundfloor, expecting bad pelvic pain, just like before. So daybed IKEA already bought and installed downstairs. PARTIAL
• Stock up toilettries for baby. DONE
• Book tukang urut. DONE. Kak Siti from Rawang, by words of mouth. 3 hari urut & tungku RM270 total.
• Mana pegi barang2 mandi - babybath seat, baby basin
• My salt bath basin yg warna merah tu. Hmm...kena beli garam kati?
• Mandian stuff : salt bath, herbal stuf (nak beli ready made ke or nak beli sendiri pukal?). Saw Mandian Herba TYT. RM10/pack. Shop assistant said, tak boleh rebus byk2 kali like Jamu Mak Dara's (RM30/pack). DONE ordering 2 pkt Jamu Mak Dara's, maybe sampai ujung minggu
• Bawak kuar steam sterilizer. Should I bought a tin of powder milk-soy based since lactose intolerance runs in the family. Just in case susu badan tak cukup. Tapi berazam nak breastfeed.
• Hospital bag DONE

Later2 stuff, less urgent.

• Maintenance of breast pump, milk storage etc. Ice pack, pump & milk storage bag. DONE. Already received 26/9 the ice pack, milk storage bottle & bag, new cooler bag (yg lama dah bertahi lalat..). 
• That leaves the accessory for breast pump. Last check, I may want to buy the pump funnel cover, the handle and the diaphragm. Maybe the rose petal massager jugak...dah kuning yg lama punya.

Jalan2 Cari Makan after kenduri

Balik Penang during recent weekend, for my brother's kenduri. Mom decided to do the kenduri in Penang dengan alasan, banyak sedara mara in Penang. Betullah tu. Yang bagusnya, when you are not bogged down having to entertain the friends, neighbours, colleagues, you have more time to re-establish tali perikatan dgn sedara mara nih. Punyalah tak kenal sedara...hah. takpelah.itu kita cerita time lain.

Sebenarnya nak cerita pasal keseronokan makan kat tempat2 fevret or tempat2 yang orang rekomen. First stop, nasik kandaq Sarip kat Gelugoq. Hubby nak makan. We passed by the stall Saturday night. Tutup..kua..kua..kua. Memang tutup sabtu malam. Aaaa takde rezeki la Hubby. Kitaorg pi je la makan kat Tesco. Sian hubby....frust. Dah berapa attempt nak makan Sarip nasik kandaq.
Sunday morning, breakfast at pasar tmn tun sardon. Wooohooo!!

Tempat makan sebelah pasar Taman Tun Sardon, Gelugor

My first target, nasi lemuni. Nasi kacang? Lain kali bley cuba.

Nasi lemuni bungkus bawak balik satu!! Yang tadi tu, makan right away.

Hubby layan serabai istimewa. Mcm letak youghurt je serabai tu, a bit sourish for me. Oh yes, teh O nipis kurang manis!

Pastu hubby layan macaroni goreng & telur mata.

Hubby watsapp dgn geng2 dia. Sorang mamat suh makan roti jala. Fuhh..kari slurp..slurp.

My aunt recommended sandwich kepit..ehehe..takpelah. Tgk je. Maybe next time.

Macam2 kuih. Last time, kami org borong, pastu tak termakan, This time, bijak berbelanjan sikit.

Ingat nak ngap chapati pulak..sebab baru2 ni mkn chapati dah tak fresh - liat dah. Takpelah. Lain kali

Tapau roti canai kosong (feveret Hayaa) and roti canai telur (feveret Huda). For bibik, kitaorg tapau nasi lemak bungkus.

Pisang emas youuu. Angkaaat. Sedaaap youu. Somehow, back at home, susah benar nak jumpa pisang emas.

Hah...that was in the morning. We departed after zohor, around 2 pm. Hubby wanted to make another eating stop ie Mee Udang Mak Jah kat Kuala Sepetang. Main belasah redah ke Kuala Sepetang. According to a blog, signage to MUMJ is aplenty once you neared Kuala Sepetang. Memang pun, 5KM away dah ada signage. MUMJ is on the way to Kuala Sepetang/ Port Weld.

Mee udang spesel, RM11 sepinggan. Yg biasa RM8, tapi udang nye kecik sikit

Enam ekoq udang in each bowl. I fished out the udang & kopek siap2. Then campak masuk mee balik. Nyummm!

Hahahaha..udang goreng tepung. Abih dah. Tepung was laced a bit with curry I guess. Kulit udang was soft, tak perasan pun. Tak payah kopek kulit, kunyah trus.

All in all, puas hati lah. We did not plan the gastronomical adventure. Sumer plan as we go along. Puas hatiii..

Phasing out the kids from our room

We practiced co-sleeping ie the kids sleep with us. Hayaa slept with us on the bed and Huda slept on the floor mattress. We tried to move Hayaa to sleep on the floor mattress many years ago but it was unsuccessful, she kept creeping back into our bed. Nasib baik king sized bed, so between the 3 of us, it was manageable. But not when she reached 5-6 years and jadi semakin lasak tido. Sometimes hubby tak tahan, he slept in the guest room...apa tak nya, kadang2 budak tu tido melintang kut, kaki naik ke muka kitaorg lah. When Huda arrived, it was a lesson learnt so we were diligent to make sure she stays sleeping on the floor mattress.

Maka, bermulalah projek memindahkan budak2 tido di katil sendiri. To make sure the transition is favorable, rule #1, katil mesti appealing. We think the tougher challenge is to convince Hayaa, so we let her choose the katil lah. We brought her to Home Furniture expo sometime mid this year, and she chose : 

Bunk bed for 3-Tomatokidz

 Pink laaaa..macam tak tau budak2 pompuan nih. Actually, the one displayed at the expo was without the trundle bed (the lowest one). We decided to add the trundle bed. Mana tau for future purpose. Lagipun, one of the parents nak kena teman dulu especially during transition period. The bed was delivered last weekend and we put it in another room.

Gonjeng lagi. Huda berjinak2 dgn katil.

The bed cost is RM1499, free delivery, free installation and free photo frame (on mid bed). Kebetulan pulak photo is about pink butterflies, memang si Hayaa tgh gila butterfly at this stage. Very sturdy bed. I dunno lah mahal ke idak for this package..might be but we did not bother checking others sebab bottom line, kena dapat stamp of approval tuan punya badan yang nak tido in this bed iaitu Hayaa. Lagi satu, masa cari katil, I was already pregnant. Penat lah nak meronda 2-3 kali, 2-3 tempat.
We even bought pink bedsheets and pink/white IKEA cabinet to create the environment that we hope would excite Hayaa. Hasilnya...

Huda in mid bed. IKEA cabinet on left. Pink Hello Kitty sheets.

Huda terlebih excited. Hayaa...hmm..she's not the type to express too much and too long pun. We asked whether she liked it. She said 'yes'. Hah, dah cukup bagus. Both girls started sleeping in it since last Sunday so it's been 4 days. Hayaa chose the top one and Huda slept in the mid. Hubby slept in the trundle bed...kekekeke. Once transition complete, we will leave the trundle bed a bit opened, just in case Huda jatuh katil. So far, so good. But as advised by my fellow friends, it will take about 3 months for the transition to complete. Sometimes the kids might crawled back into the parents' bed in middle of the night. When this happen, cempung je la budak balik ke katil diaorg.
Phase 1 - decoration - complete. Phase 2 - moving out - complete. Phase 3 - transition - work in progress.

Papan Rehal for ipad - salah guna ke?

Last weekend, my husband's nephew got married. The solemnization (akad nikah) was done in a surau close to the bride's home. The akad nikah (sekali lafaz) was successfully completed around 1130am after solat sunat by the bridegroom, upacara membatal air sembahyang and much photo-taking.
The arrangement was to wait for the kenduri to begin so the bride's entourage duduk melepak dulu lah dekat surau tu. Quite a spacious, neat and airy surau. Surau macam baru gitu. Well the neighbourhood is quite new, so it's logical if the surau looks new. Selalunya surau ni bina kemudian kan, after getting the required derma from the residents.
While waiting, my kids ran around the carpeted surau, creating havoc. Bila dah penat, they sat down and asked for ipads to play with. Coincidentally, saw a few papan rehal not in use. So..hehehe..ini lah hasilnya.

Comfy and convenient

Maximizing the use of papan rehal. Kakak main game, adik main educational game. Of course lepas pakai, kena simpan balik lah kan?

Ikan Jerung behaving like kucing..amazing

Yesterday night, me & hubby watched a documentary on Animal Planet about shark. Tak plan pun nak menonton, I was actually restless sebab tak jumpa comfortable pose on the bed so decided to lepak tengok TV.
We did not know the head and tail of the documentary but saw people in shallow waters, catching and holding small sharks immobile. Small meaning like 2-3 feet long je. Like the species yg hubby & I saw during our vacation in Maldives.

Creamy and cute...ehehehe. Shot in Rangali island, Maldives

One phrase kept popping up - tonic immobility. We were stumped. Apa ke bende tonic had to do with sharks and sea. We kept on watching and the documentary getting more and more suspenseful. The diver then attempted to do this tonic immobility on a reef shark. So many sharks meh surrounded this guy and his companion!! Fuhhh..I simply cannot comprehend. I always have this fear of drowning, apa lagi nak diving, plusss surrounding yourself with sharks. Some of the sharks bumped and shoved the divers. Diver ni main tepis2 je the sharks snout. Ohhh..tidaaak.
One shark swam direct to the diver heading toward the area of his stomach. And the diver induced this tonic immobility. Lo and behold, the shark stopped swimming. Diver to usap2 je the shark's snout (macam usap bawah dagu kucing gitu). Selalunya, I tgk mata shark ni, semua hitam.

Evil looking shark

In this documentary, first time I saw different kind of shark 'looks'.

Shark induced with tonic immobility (TI). Mcm mata kucing tgh rilek.

Kena TI. Jerung tutup mata.

 The diver then did the ultimate test whether this tonic immobility is 100% induced. He flipped the shark upside down. Keras kejung rilek je jerung tuh..Truly unbelievable.

Kitaorg punya la cursing that the diver, crazy nak mampus for attempting all the above, but in the end both me & hubby were really stumped. Hubby terus google apa ke benda tonic immobility (tak puas hati nye pasal).
'Tonic immobility (TI) is a state of paralysis that animals enter, in most cases in response to a threat. Some scientists relate it to mating in certain animals like the shark.

Some sharks can be placed in a tonic state.^[1] The shark remains in this state of paralysis for an average of fifteen minutes before it recovers. Scientists have exploited this phenomenon to study shark behaviour.' Wikipedia lah :)

Dah lama tak rasa amazed when watching a documentary. Syok pulak. Ilmu Allah kan, banyak lagi belum diterokai. Subhanallah.

Home Birthing trend

Fuh...it's confirmed that in my organization, already 2 mommies did home delivery. These 2 young ladies are from Gen-Y people. Did it at the comfort of their home, accompanied by husband and midwife/ doula only. Applause..applause.
Home birthing is actually very, very natural and normally done up to our grandmothers' era. I would say, starting from my mother's generation and Gen-X generation, hospital birthing is the norm. Too bad those 2 ladies were in a different office base right now, otherwise I would have grilled them for details.
Am I thinking about having a home birthing? Hmmm...not really. Not ready for it. Honestly, not ready to convert the comfort of our masterbedroom into a birthing room. Emm..messy kut ehehehe. Lagipun kecoh nak handle budak2 kecik dua orang tu karang.
Boleh tak nak deliver in a hospital, but with least/ none medical intrusion? No fetal monitoring straps, no dilation exam (hate this.., berapa kali mau seluk daaa), no induce, no shouting 'push! push!', no doctor/ nurses nyebok2, maybe sorang nurse monitor senyap2, no jabs to hasten placenta delivery/ reduce bleeding, no suction of baby's nose/mouth, immediate breastfeed. I wish to prevent tearing by allowing the baby to come on it's own sweet time so no episiotamy hopefully!
Last two deliveries, we went too early to the hospital. First, the water broke...there was no gushing amniotic fluid really, it sort of trickled twice..that was it. Second, got a bloody (peachy) discharge..not that much, pantyliner could handle it. I got no contraction when I arrived in the hospital. Contraction was induced after 2 hours lying in the labor room. The nurse swabbed some drug to my cervix (dunno what was that), contractions was immediate and I delivered 2 hours later. Fast tracked heishh and it happened during both deliveries. This time, praying for everything to go well, I plan to move to the hospital when the contraction is like reaching the 5-1-1 golden rule - contraction is 5 mins apart, lasts for 1 min, going on for 1 hour. Ganbatte!

Med check up & friends dtg beraya

Saturday...
Hubby rose early and rushed to SDMC to register me and get my running number today's appointment with Dr Siti. He registered no.36 for the whole Level 4 outpatient clinics. Kononnya congak2 boleh la dapat single digit running number for clinic Dr Siti. Guess what number we got at Dr Siti's? 21 beb...21..out of 36 people registered at Level 4 outpatient clinics, almost 3/4 are Dr Siti's patient. Unbelievable.
The nurse told him to come back around 11-1130am, that's was what hubby told me when he got home. Hmmpph..sambung bermalas2an. Hubby sambung tido jugak. Around 11am, we readied ourselves then baru terpikir nak call the clinic before we went out. So we called..and baru giliran patient no.3. Eeekkk.. Time was revised to 130-2pm. warghhh..Hubby will not be accompanying me, he's driving to Singapore 2pm with his friend for Metallica consert (sumer tanya, kenapa tak pegi konsert yg kat KL - gara2 beli tiket cepat sgt before KL's consert advert came out).
Did my Zohor prayer and went out around 2pm. Arrived around 230pm and the clinic was lengang? But patients file bersusun2 atas meja. Nurse Devaghi told me, most patients went out. Patient no 18 not yet finished, total files 51 ke 52?...gahhhh..So I did urine test, read Saturday newspaper somebody left behind. 10-15mins later, I was called in. Yey!
This time Dr Siti did a sampling from my *ehm* since I am planning for normal delivery. Just to make sure canal has good bacteria/ culture what ever. Next appointment on 7th Sept and when I went out, Devaghi told me to do pre-admission (already?!). Then it clicked. Aisey...tak lama dah aku ni ye? Yelah, next appointment is in 2 weeks time. I'll be on bi-weekly check-up soon. nge..hehehe

Sunday..
Hubby got back from concert, arrived home around 6am. Isk..isk..Awat lambat benar sampai rumah pada hal konsert abih around 11pm yesterday nite. Rupa2nya, he bumped into a number of company's GMs, fans of Metallica jugak. Once of the GM mintak jadi supir la pulak..drove around, pergi makan..apa tu..sup merah Singapore..glamer ke? Tu la yg gerak lambat from Singapore.
We were lazing around when a friend whatsapped us to come for Raya visit around lunch. That was 1030ish am, so terhegeh2 la kami turun breakfast, mandi and gegas beli barang kat Mydin. Hihihi..as if I'm cooking warghh warghh..actually, I rarely cook. Already outsourced to my trusted bibik, Mbak Mus! God bless mbak. Apa2 pun, I always ask her to cook dishes that she's comfortable to cook ie boleh tutup sebelah mata lah.
Daripada 1 family, hubby extended invitation to nearby frens. Menu : sup tulang, ayam goreng rempah, bawal cili sumbat, sayur campur. Goreng drumet for kids. Ada kambing briyani frozen from raya. Anggur + nangka + aiskrim potong (durian) + kuih/kerepek/kek raya. Air cincau (malas nak bancuh). Bancuh kopi je afterwards. All in all, 4 families came beraya. Ok lah tu. Tak byk leftover, enough for us to recycle for 2-3 days.
Lepas maghrib, we attended hubby cousin's open house. Hm..hm..kalu pergi rumah cousin ni,tak sah kalu tak jumpa artis. Ngehehehe..this time around, saw Sofea Jane, Vanidah & Rashidi (oh hensemnya..). Sofea Jane and Vanidah..cam biasa..hot mama lah.
Balik open house, my itchiness acting up again. Grrrr!! Lupa nak citer, early last week I went to Dr Guru dermatologist in PCMC. He prescribed me chlorpheniramine (hapal you...abih meng google, checking for any adverse effect to pregnant ladies). A peaceful week with minimal/ ignorable itch but mlm tadi it flared again...awat niiiiii..

Plan for it..Work Towards it - MPIB Run 2014

Registration is open today..oh yeahhh! It will be on 5th Jan next year. It was my first run of the 2013, last time I did 12KM. Tapi oleh kerana MPIB14 tu around the time I would be done with my maternity (insyaAllah), takde lah nak go for 12KM and yet..ahahaha..taknak la jugak go for the shortest distance ie 5KM.

Second time masuk this run.

Weeee!!

9 Dec
Oh maaan...I have to restart from the beginning. Have been doing brisk-walking (yep...no running) for the past 1 week. I am sooo pancit. Niggles everywhere. Semput lah, side stitch lah. Sengal2 post-activity. Sooo sellooww. See?! See?! Haishh...Seriously, if I am not properly conditioned by 5th Jan, I will just walk all the wayyyy. Better be safe than sorry. Barang nak pakai lama ek.