Baby's First Christmas

On Christmas Day, we get discharged and its time to bring baby home!!! So we pack her in the car, put her in her new car seat, and whizz back in the morning before it starts getting really hot.

Before we know it, we're getting calls from hubby's parents, sister and brother in law and Nora and gang saying that they're bringing over lunch. So we put away all the stuff we brought back from the hospital and start getting ready to have visitors.

Come 1pm, hubby's parents are over and they've brought a Christmas spread!!! Ham and prawns and salad and coleslaw and buns and butter and pickles and the lot! Everything that they usually have at Christmas. Then hubby's sister and brother in law turn up to join in on the festivities. Then Nora and gang turn up with Indonesian food to add to the feast. Oh, how quickly it turned from being a simple, quiet homecoming to a full blown family Christmas affair.

And at the centre of it all, slept a perfect littl' baby...content to bask in the attention while everyone ooh'ed and aah'ed over her. Out sweet littl' angel - our very special Christmas present come early. 


Merry Christmas little one...

The birth...

On Monday the 20th, hubby took me  to the hospital. We arrived at about 5:30pm and proceeded to the labour ward where they hooked me up to some machine to get a baseline reading of baby's heart rate and my contractions. About an hour later, Dr Tai came to insert a gel in my cervix to help it to soften. Apparently, my cervix was already quite soft and I was 1cm dilated.

I was checked again at midnight and at 5am, and at this point, was found to be 2cms dilated. After a short nap, hubby arrived and we both went to the labour ward after I had a quick shower. There, Mel the midwife, asked if I was going to have an epidural. She said that I didn't have to use it if I didn't want to but that the anesthetist could be difficult to get hold of later on if I did. Hubby and I decided to have the epidural catheter put in and to use it if we needed to. There was a drip and a spinal tube and again, I was linked up to the fetal heart and contractions monitor.

After breakfast, Dr Tai came in to break my waters at about 9:30am. It felt weird, having all this warm fluid come out of me. And when a big contraction came, it would push out more amniotic fluid from me. Hubby and I would look at the contractions monitor from time to time, just to see how big some of the contractions were...but I was still pretty comfortable.

Come lunch time, Maggie the next midwife, offers the both of us some lunch and says that she's going to have to increase the amount of oxytocin to get the contractions to come closer together. She said that I was getting inconsistent strong contractions and they needed to have 4 strong contractions in 10 minutes to get things going. Time to up the dosage from 30mls to 60mls. This was about 1:30pm or so and was also right about the time when things started to hurt. And so we started the epidural.

At about 4pm, Maggie does a VE and says that my cervix has completely dilated and so off she goes to ring Dr Tai and gets me to start pushing. She coaches me on how to push with the contractions, where to put my hands, and what to do with my breathing. And so it begins.

Dr Tai came in at about 5-ish (time starts getting really fuzzy at this point as I'm concentrating real hard on pushing) and gets a bit concerned with my temperature and baby's heart rate. Apparently, it would take another 3 hours of labour to get baby out naturally. So he decided that we were going to have a vacuum delivery and tells me that if I push, he'll pull...and we'll have a baby. At some point, the vacuum comes off the baby's head (poor baby!) and I feel it too. Then, he puts it back on and we continue...

Dr Tai then gets concerned that she's not going to fit...so he does an episiotomy. Later, hubby confesses to hearing the snip and then witnessing all that blood loss. He was helping hold my legs up and was giving me encouragement but at that point, needed to sit down and gain a bit of colour. I remember the pain and how it felt to have baby bearing down...it was like I was being torn apart and I didn't know if I could take it any longer or if I could push anymore...I was so close to giving up...so so close...

It took 3 sets of strong pushes before baby came out...there was a pause at one point where Dr Tai got me to pant before asking me to start pushing again. And then presto - she was out! Once she was out, Dr Tai placed her on my breast, all bloody and wet and everything. It was a sight for sore eyes and it was just amazing. Our littl' girl...I was finally holding our baby.

Soon after, she was whizzed off to get cleaned and weighed and APGAR tested etc whilst Dr Tai harvested the cord blood, delivered the placenta and sewed me up. I was starting to feel the pain of his sewing as the epidural wore off and it probably took him a good 45 minutes to finish all that stitching. By this time, it was well past 6:30pm and I was exhausted.

The next thing we know, Dr Tai announces that the parents are here! Apparently, they had schemed to go to nearby tavern for dinner and then decided to walk over to see what was happening because there hadn't been any news on what was going on. Hubby sent them home and came back to spend time with baby and me. Baby had started rooting at the breast and that was the first time I breastfed. At that moment, the wonder of it all hit me and I fell in love with our littl' girl...

She's here...she's perfect...and she's all ours.

Welcome to this world littl' one...

Not Ready: Baby NinJa

It's almost time for me to come. Am I ready? I don't think so...its so nice and warm in mummy's tummy and I'm all safe in here! I get fed, I get rocked, I can do whatever I like...why would I want to come out?

Ah Ma keeps on checking Mummy's tummy's position with her fingers and saying that when there's 4 fingers between the top of the bump and Mummy's diaphragm that I'm ready to come. Well, I'm not...so there's no point continuing to check...

Twas the weekend before...

It's like that poem...'Twas the night before Christmas...but this is more like 'Twas the weekend before the delivery! Wow, getting so close to Baby NinJa's due date that it's scary how real this is starting to feel.

All my bags are packed and I think I've finished all my nesting stuff...put her clothes and nappies in the drawers, organised the nursery, put up the cot mobiles, organised the stuff she won't need straight away and packed away some of the stuff I won't need anytime soon...

I've tried to do as much housework as possible so that we don't have to worry about this and I've tried to finish reading "What to Expect When You're Expecting" so that we're all prepared so hopefully I'm ready. It's crazy how we're almost at delivery point...almost...almost...almost!

Am I excited? No...not yet. More anxious, nervous, worried...I guess its the whole fear of the unknown. Hopefully, all goes well and Baby NinJa comes out safe...I guess there's enough time to get excited when I get induced and when we know for sure that its time to have a baby. OMG, we're having a baby!!!

We're almost there...

Stuff! Baby NinJa

Boy oh boy oh boy!!! Did I get spoilt today! I got clothes and more clothes and lots more clothes! Onesies, bibs, tops...I also got a cool Christmas top!!! My first Christmas outfit! There was also all this other stuff like a baby book, photo frame, bath thermometer, food masher, cot mobiles, food warmer, wraps...so cool so cool so cool! I get pressies even before I'm born!

I'm so lucky...=D

Baby Shower

Ever since we told Nora that I was pregnant, she's been most eager to have a baby shower. She even knew how the invites would look like (which incidentally, turned out to be littl' red nappies that we made with felt and pinned together with littl' safety pins). And so we had a baby shower...and it went really well!

It was a small party, but just the right size me thinks for what the house could hold. Nora made yummy food (potentially a tad bit too much) with others bringing in odds and ends here and there...and hubby had to scoot off before the festivities began.

So what did we do? We were divided into 3 groups and started off doing blind taste testing of baby foods. Man, I can't believe we feed babies this pureed can/bottle stuff. It was yuck!!! No wonder babies end up throwing it on the floor!! Must learn how to make porridge...that would be waaaay nicer than any of this stuff!

Then we did celebrity babies...now I have no idea where Nora got all these baby photos (and I didn't know 99% of the babies' faces!) but one of my ex work colleagues, Em, was really good with this! I think everyone was amazed at her memory...and so her team scooped this one up!

And lastly, we played Pictionary with kids related stuff...there was some really hard things to guess in there (and our team seemed to pick most of them!)...so being so disadvantaged, obviously we didn't win. But it was all good fun. It was interesting watching some of the drawings that came out!!!

Then we opened pressies and there was a whole heap of stuff for baby NinJa!  She definitely got spoilt. Lucky baby...

An absolutely perfect afternoon spent with good friends, good food and good times. Thanks Nora!

Birthday: Baby NinJa

Mummy and Daddy took me for my final scan on Tuesday and the sonographer told Mummy that if I came between then and when we went to see the obstetrician on Friday, that I was in a good position. She also assumed that Mummy had her hospital bag packed...I know Mummy didn't but I was good and didn't say anything! But that's the first thing Mummy did when she went home...hehehe...

So on Friday, after having a look at the scan, the obstetrician told Mummy that he's booked her in to get me induced for the 21st of December. Unless I come early, I have a birthday!!! So everyone, get ready...in not too long to go, it'll be time for me to come out!!!

Woooooo hooooooo!!!

Surreal...

I can't believe how fast time flies. The last big thing at work was applying for maternity leave...now, I'm on mat leave already! Friday was my last day at work and it felt surreal...the only time I've had to leave work was to leave the country (or resign). Its never been a case of leaving work for family reasons...so it is a bit surreal that I won't be going to work on Monday due to an illness or holidays.

I was also surprised by the number of colleagues telling me that they'd miss me (and the amount of stuff I got as a going away present!). And by the head of the department coming to my going away drinks. It was an outer body experience, having people come up to wish me well and all the good wishes for a speedy delivery for baby NinJa.

So what do I have planned up until the 21st of December? I guess its time to do some nesting...and to kick it off, I have a whole lot of washing to do...I hope the washing machine's going to be able to handle this!!! And also to take up Allie's advice and get some rest...it really is getting to be quite tiring! But not long more to go now...not long at all...

Happy: Baby NinJa

I got to meet cousin Alannah this weekend...okay, 2nd cousin but who's keeping track? She gurgled to me and said hello! She's also helping Mummy and Daddy get used to the idea of a baby in the house. Daddy was surprised at the amount of time he has before I supposedly start crawling (*hint hint* Daddy, its not that long!!!)

Alannah's mummy and daddy brought me stuff...I have another board book now (Ten Little Fingers I think its called!), a toy and this thing that Alannah's daddy's mummy made. Apparently, she knitted it and its a sling to carry me in. Kinda like the one that Auntie Allie made...but just knitted. Looks too hot for summer...

I saw what Auntie Allie made me...it looks cool! I can't wait for it to come...*clap clap*

Cousins!

Jason's cousins were over from Sydney recently and we caught up with one of them for lunch on Saturday. They have a lovely littl' baby girl who's 9 months old and is forever smiling!!! She's so lovely and all you want to do is cuddle her!!! And she's such a good baby...her parents put her in her pram, gave her her bottle...and she went to sleep after feeding herself!!! I was gobsmacked!

And then we found out that his other cousin's wife, who's been trying to conceive for like forever (!) is also pregnant! She's due in May and is really looking forward to it.

Its so cool that baby NinJa is going to have cousins around her age (well, 2nd cousins anyway!)...what's not so cool is that they're going to be so far away! The time it takes to get to Sydney is almost the same as the time it takes to get to KL!!! Why can't they be closer to us?

I hope she doesn't miss out on having lots of family around here, just like how I did back home...

Funny: Baby NinJa

Daddy read to me for the first time tonight. He read 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle. Mummy handed it to him to read to me.

It was funny because he'd read a page & make comments & deviate then come back to the story. & continue...like an endless circle!

But I liked it, coz it made the story last longer & I got to know my 

Daddy a bit more. Plus it was funny in parts.

Love you Daddy! Can't wait for the next story!

Last fling!

Hubby's had his last big boys night out before baby NinJa arrives. It was a Sat filled with junk food, carbonated drinks & Halo Reach. & lots of testosterone. Hubby's not one to do things in half, so the house was turned into a play zone, filled with at least 4 Xbox360s, 4 TVs and areas for the guys to connect in & play.

I'm all for hubby doing this - I like that he gets social like this.

What I don't like is that he buys all this food & drinks, provides transport (come on man, you guys are old enough to drive! Be less of a geek & get a car!!!) and then doesn't get any help from the boys to clean up after.

I dunno...doesn't cut it for me, doesn't feel like true friendship methinks! It feels like you're using my good natured husband to have a LAN party & then just leave everything up to him. Especially when you know his wife is expecting! That's really poor form.

Plus most of them didn't have the courtesy to say "Hello"...and there were some with hygiene issues (can't be that hard to wash your hands after using the bathroom!). So thank God this isn't going to happen again.

Or if it is, I'm going to have to put my foot down because it's not on, my darling having to stay up til 3am to drop you littl pricks off then come home & clean up your mess!!! Let's see how you'd like it if the tables were turned!

Play! : Baby NinJa

Guess what?

Mummy & Daddy & me had lunch with Uncle Ken, Aunty Taryn, LeAnn che-che and Evan kor-kor. Mummy & Daddy wanted to catch up before they went to Singapore & KL.

Anyway, I digress.

Guess what they got me? A playmat! One of those that has toys that dangle from arches and make sound and stuff.

I'm quite excited. Just as excited to wear the t-shirts Mummy bought me today. One says 'Eco Angel' and the other has 'My daddy recycles more than your daddy' on it. Oh I'm really turning into a green baby!

Tired...

As we approach the home stretch, I'm finding myself becoming increasingly tired & irritable. Patience is my enemy and snapping is my friend. No longer am I the placid, contented mother of 2 weeks ago.

I feel like an ogress, not the Princess Fiona kind from Shrek (although maybe a wee bit similar to Fiona in the last Shrek movie!) but close enough to resemble the nature of the ogress that people are supposed to fear.

Is it the hormones? Is it the carrying around of the baby? Is it the weather turning warmer? I don't know, but whatever it is, I'm sorry for my poor hubby. The more of a b*tch I become, the more of a Prince Charming he gets. & he's ever so patient with me that I'm sure he'll make a great daddy.

Just like how he's been such a great husband.

Love you baby...xoxoxo

Stickers! Baby NinJa

Ah Ma & Ah Kong bought me some wall stickers while they were here. Mummy & Daddy were choosing between farm animals and the circus and ended up with circus ones.

Mummy put them up today - I heard her ask Daddy to move the cot so that she could clean the wall then put the stickers up.

So now, I can look at giraffes and monkeys and lions and zebras and more when I grow big enough to understand about animals. How cool is that?

Very cool!

The clock is ticking...

Less than 7 weeks. That's what I'm tracking to at the moment. In a month and a half, a mini little version of me + hubby will enter this world and begin world domination (our world, that is).

People keep on asking me if I'm excited. Honestly, I'm more bummed out about this whole diet thing than anything else at the moment. Why?

Well...

1) I've never had to watch what I eat so keeping track of portion size and being picky over what I eat is a pain!

2) Having never been a big fan of blood outside of my body, having to inflict pain on myself & prick my fingers 4 times a day to test my blood glucose level is such a hassle.

But I'm sure I'll get excited when I get of work and do nothing but nest. And I'm sure it will kick in when we have the baby shower. And then it'll be big time excitement when I meet her for the first time...

The obstetrician says that I might get induced and have baby NinJa early. All because of the gestational diabetes. But that's okay - coz that means I'll meet her sooner. And that can only bring good things...So sit tight & I'll see you soon little one!

Excited: Baby NinJa

Ah Kong and Ah Ma are coming soon!!! I can't wait!!! I overheard Ah Ma telling Mummy that she's bringing over some stuff for me! Aunty Diane got me a handmade quilt from Vietnam...Aunty Diane's mum made me a pillow and bolster set...Snar Ee Poh gave Ah Ma a book for me that's huge! I don't know what else is coming over but I'm getting excited!!!

Proper Cravings

I always thought I had cravings with the pregnancy...I'd feel like having something and we'd go looking for it. But to me, it didn't really matter that much if I didn't have it. I wouldn't be thinking about it or thinking about having it or obsessing about eating it.

That all changed today. I think this is probably the first proper craving that I've had.

This morning, I really really really wanted to have roti telur with kari and dhal. We usually have this for breakfast when we're back home in KL and it comes hot hot hot, fresh from the rotiman's grill. The urge to have this was so strong that I told hubby that we had to have it.

Given that nothing opens here for breakfast that's anywhere close to being mamak, I had to wait out the craving until lunch. But even then, I kept on thinking about how the roti telur would taste. And I was just obsessing about roti telur...roti telur...roti telur...

Lunch time couldn't come soon enough. I was so looking forward to going to an Indian place to get my roti telur.

And what ended up happening?

No roti telur...*sigh* but they had thosai telur...

So I had that instead...

Has that fulfilled the craving? No, not really...Do I still want roti telur? Yes...Am I going to be fantasizing about it until I get it? Probably...

*sigh*

Baby NinJa, what are you doing to me?!?!?!!!

Furniture...

Mummy & Daddy went to pick up my cot & dresser on Saturday. They had to do two trips down to the shop (which was like half an hour away) coz it didn't all fit into the car.

But it's not home yet. It's at Nanna & Pa's house at the moment while Mummy & Daddy do some furniture readjustments. 

Don't think that's going so well...

Convenience

Ahhh, the convenience of having a iPhone! It's gotten to the point now where I blog using the phone!!! Surely, that can't be good for me (or the baby) but it's sooooooooooo easy to do!

1) No need to turn the computer on and wait for it to boot up.

2) No need to sit at the desk to do the typing, I can just as easily lounge on the couch and type out my blog.

3) Predictive text!!! With an injured finger, you don't realise how much you actually use that finger when you type.

But the only downside to this convenience is needing to proof-read what I've written and also check out the blogs of other people (coz all the links are on my blog site). Oh and formatting too...perhaps I'll need to learn how to do that with email.

Hmmmm...I'm sure there's a way around this...I'll just hafta convince hubby that I need an iPad ;)

Tap Tap Tap: Baby NinJa

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

*whispers* "Mummy wake up".

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

*whispers* "Mummy wake up".

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

"Mummy wake up".

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

"Mummy wake up!".

"Oh good Mummy, you're up. That was a really uncomfortable position.

Now that you're up, I can go back to sleep"...

Zzzzz....

Comfort first

I've started borrowing items out of hubby's wardrobe. First, it started with pyjamas. Hubby wears those satin boxers that are loose & sit low on the hips (well, for me they do anyway!). I started borrowing these when I felt my jammies start getting really uncomfy around the elastic waist bit.

Then it was shorts. I ordered some online because I couldn't find any that I liked in Australia (or ones that were reasonably priced). And given that summer is just around the corner, everyone talks about how it's unbearably hot carrying in summer.

And now, it's t-shirts. His smallest ones that don't fit him are perfect for my expanding belly. And I can wear it around the house (and one of them outside too!).

I can't wait for my summer wear to be sent to me. As much as I love the comfort of hubby's clothes, they still are boys clothes and it's not something I want to continue wearing. But for now, comfort over appearance rules...And for as long as it's comfortable, I think that's how it's going to be.

NinJa: Baby NinJa

Apparently, I'm growing - but Mummy doesn't seem to be growing at the same rate as I am! Its getting more and more cramp in here but I still need to practise my ninja moves!


Just the other day, I was doing a roll and Daddy had his hand on Mummy's tummy and went "Whoa! That felt weird". I thought it was a pretty successful roll...nothing weird at all! And I find the best time for me to practise is at night...coz' then Mummy's staying still...


"Hai-yah!"

Plants then pets then kids...

It seems that the totem of responsibilities start with:

If you can keep plants alive, then you can graduate to:

   If you can keep pets alive, then you can graduate to:

      Children!

I've never been a big fan of green stuff so I guess hubby graduated with plants. Mind you, we did kill an orchid a friend gave us as a housewarming gift but that was more because the pets knocked it off the table (I think).

And we've successfully had the pets for 3 years now so we should be ready for kids. This recent emergency that we had this Friday is really making us rethink the whole pet situation though.

Friday night, hubby and I come home from work after grabbing dinner out to find the younger furkid, Kitt, limping and breathing really hard. Hubby brings her in and checks on her leg and finds this big hole on the front right leg. It looks pretty bad so we start looking for a vet that we can take her to.

We end up at a vet that opens until 10pm but because of the hour of the night, they refer us to a emergency vet place 20 minutes from where we are so that they can put her under and do the operation. The vet explains that what they need to ensure is that someone is there to KIV her when she gets up from the anesthetic and they basically finish at 10pm.

So we drive to this other emergency vet place and get her in for a consult. After waiting for about half an hour, the emergency vet has a look at her and says that he thinks it could be due to our older furkid, Sam, but that's not 100% conclusive. He says that its best to get the operation done ASAP as infection can make it worse and that she'll definitely need stitches and possibly an x-ray.

Come the next morning, the vet rings at 8am saying that the operations being done and there was more damage than they had first anticipated. She's got tissue and muscle damage and they had to put in shunts to drain the liquid out and do some extra stitches. Then he says to ring again at about 11am to find out when we can take her home.

Come 9:50am, hubby gets a call from the vet emergency place saying that we need to come pick her up in the next 30 minutes, otherwise they will charge us a late discharge fee. So we drop everything, get Sam to the 'grandparents' place, and head off to pick Kitt up. When we get there, they bring her out (but first they give us this long list of instructions on what needs to happen and her bag of meds) and she's just pulling at the leash, ready to go. The right side of her is shaved with stitches over the wound and this littl' rubber shunt draining any excess fluid out, and her left leg's shaved where the drip was put in. But otherwise, she looked very much alert and very much like herself.

So since then, we've basically been keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't pull out the shunt or her stitches and that she doesn't exert herself too much. This also meant sleeping on the couch to make sure that if she needed to go out, she'd come over and lick me awake. Plus if I heard anything that sounded remotely like chewing, I could get her to stop.

While we're pretty sure we've now graduated with the pet phase, what's happened has got us thinking - is it going to be safe for our littl' one given that one of the furkids may have a violent streak? Is it a wise idea to be 'courting' danger? Are they acting up because we've been spending less time with them? Would we give Sam away and if so, who to?

Questions, questions, questions...when will we make a decision on them?

Reading: Baby NinJa

I heard Mummy and Daddy talk about books! Mummy said she's getting some books from Amazon. And Mummy said that Daddy has to read to me.

I can't wait! I know that Amazon takes awhile to send stuff but it feels like FOREVER! When am I going to get read to?

*impatient*

Feet

I was surprised when I read in the pregnancy book that two things can happen to your feet - one, you could go up by about half a shoe size and two, you could get swollen feet. 

Now this struck me on two levels. First, I was told that the size of your womb is proportionate to the size of your feet. So if the body naturally starts loosening up everything (hello hippo hips!), does that mean that its loosening up your womb as well as your feet causing the size increase or does it just mean that because the womb is expanding, thus, your feet expand due it being proportionate in size? 

The second thing is swollen feet. I've never had swollen feet before and its SCARY!!! Seriously. Looking down at your feet and seeing them balloon up is an unnatural experience me thinks! Why does it happen (and I don't mean just for pregnancy)? Why would God make feet swell? And again, if the feet size is proportionate to the womb size, is the womb swollen as well?

Ahhh...things that come to mind on an off day...

Dancing: Baby NinJa

Mummy & Daddy have some real boring music that they play. I think Mummy thinks that playing classical music is good for me (and I think I overheard Grandma telling Mummy the same thing too!).

But that isn't dancing music!

The other day, Mummy went onto the In the Night Garden website because cousin Bubba Bee loves them and there was some music on the website that made me dance! So I did a littl' boogey in Mummy's tummy! I think Mummy must've got the message because the sound was played again!

It made me happy =)

*yawn*

This business of being pregnant sure is tiring. I haven't had a full night's uninterrupted sleep in a while now. Be it a bathroom stop or just due to being really uncomfortable, at some point during the night, I have to get up. Now this is completely alien to me as I usually sleep through the night (and then some!) so having uninterrupted sleep is really playing with my system.

Sure, I agree with what other people say in that it's my body's way of naturally getting me used to waking up at night for baby. But that doesn't mean that I have to like it one bit!

And its totally wrecked some of the things I enjoy doing - like waking up early, during the weekend making myself a hot cuppa and then curling up  on the sofa with a good book. Nowadays, the thought of waking up early (besides having to go to work) is like pulling teeth...and curling up with a good book is not an option. By the time I've curled up somewhere comfortable, and read a couple of pages of my book, I start to nod off and fall asleep.

So no proper sleep...no enjoyment of reading a book (besides the fact that the pregnancy is affecting my eyesight) and no way around this when bub comes out either! And this is only the beginning! So how do the people with kids and a job and their own business do everything anyway? I'm struggling as it is just to stay awake!

Let me know when you find out their secret, okay? I'm just going to take a littl' nap now *yawn*

Tall: Baby NinJa

The obste...the obsta...the obstar...the Doctor measured my legs the other day and told Mummy and Daddy that I've got long legs!!! He also measured my head but he said that that was normal.

Mummy took the news and told Ah Kong and Ah Ma on the way home and they said "Maybe she'll be the next Miss Australia!". And Daddy went "She's going to be a Basketballer!!!". So much pressure already!

Me? I'm just happy that I'm going to be tall. That way, I'm sure I won't get bullied. I'll just look down on other kids...

Hippo!!!

Its funny that no one makes any negative comments about growing pregnant ladies (ie moi). Yes, I'm ever expanding, to the dismay of my ever contracting wardrobe. I've gone up 3 sizes in every department (aside from shoes) and have yet to see an end in sight.

Yes, I feel like a hippo and yes, people talk about waddling but the worst I've heard is "Oh wow, you're getting big!" Well, duh! Of course I'm getting big, I'm pregnant, remember? That's the worst line I've ever heard - you can't really forget that the pregnant woman has a growing being inside her. You think I just swallowed a soccer ball for the fun of it?

And then you get the remarks "No, you're not big" or "You're glowing" and stuff like that when you know that people are just trying to be nice and are trying to make you feel better because some of them have gone through pregnancy before. I appreciate the comments etc but really - I'm a big girl and you can be truthful. The hormones aren't going to make me feel all emotional if you tell me that I remind you of Violet Beauregarde from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

So if you're wondering, I've already come to terms with my expanding figure. No, I'm not eating for two but she grows anyway. And I've hidden all my pre-pregnancy photos that remind me of how thin I used to be (OMG, I couldn't believe it!!!). And now, I'm just content in waddling, throwing my weight around (literally!), waiting for the day until this littl' bundle of joy comes. Then perhaps we can talk about my figure...

Birthday: Baby NinJa

Guess who had a birthday recently?

My cousin NinJa all the way across the other side of the world!!! She's a big girl now, cousin NinJa Bubba Bee!!! She's all turned one! That's like...a looooong loooooong way for me to go! Feels like it anyway...

Happy Birthday cousin! I'm sure you had a really cool birthday! Hopefully I'll get to celebrate a birthday with you someday...and have some yummy cake...and blow out candles...and have balloons and presents and all sorts of cool stuff! I can hardly wait!

Hugs & kisses,

Meeeeeee xoxo

Just the two of us...

Hubby and I spent a wonderfully, lazy afternoon on a date. One of those dates where you stroll hand in hand by the marina, pop into a cafe for a lazy, sinfully delicious lunch, then top it all off with a cold, yummy, creamy vanilla with chocolate chips ice cream. It was totally a last minute decision, and I'm glad that we're doing these things before littl' NinJa comes.

I've been reading this baby book that talks about how baby needs to be welcomed to the family as an addition and that this should not change the husband-wife relationship that we currently share.

In some ways, I agree with that. But in some ways, the relationship will change forever. There's no more just you and me - there's you and me and baby. And baby's not going to be capable of looking after herself just yet. So the relationship will definitely change. Its just a matter of how you're going to let that relationship affect you.

To be honest? I don't know...I don't know if hubby's going to become jealous, if I'm going to be climbing the walls from staying at home or if I'll be in a bad mood all the time due to lack of sleep. I don't know if we'll do the things we do now or become more hermit-like (like we aren't already super hermit-ic!!!) or focus solely on baby and forget our relationships with everyone else.

I guess all things take time to adjust and this is definitely something that means we will need to take some time to find our feet...but hopefully we'll get there. And hopefully we'll get there in one piece...and maybe at some point, we'll even love this so much that we won't even remember what it was like to be just you and me...just like the saying goes...

"Two littl' hands, two littl' feet...

   Now our family is blessedly complete..."

Environmentalist: Baby NinJa

Mummy picked up my first ever set of diapers from the Post Office! I was excited! (So was Daddy, I could tell!)


I'm a green baby and I wanted cloth nappies so we got some MCNs - Modern Cloth Nappies. Mummy and Daddy saw some at the Baby Expo that they went to and got me a starter set of Pea Pods. Mind you, that set will probably last me a day! But at least I'm not going to be au naturale!


Aunty Jocelyn gave some suggestions too and I know that Mummy's thinking of getting another set so maybe, I'll be getting an addition to my wardrobe! Yeay! I can't wait...

Off with his you-know-what!

I get really annoyed when people act all nonchalant about a male dog misbehaving sexually. Yes, he may be an animal and yes, they have instincts but so do humans and they don't go humping anything that walks (most of the time. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule).

I was taking Kitt (one of our furkids) out for her walk (SAM was left behind coz' hubby couldn't come with me and with bub on the way, I can't manage 2 dogs) and because of her pulled muscle, was on the leash. We normally go to this field where the furkids have their furfriends that they meet and get along relatively well with (most of them anyway).

Anyway, we were halfway around the park when Kitt gets assaulted by this big American Bulldog. His name is Big Boy and usually SAM runs interference and distracts him before he can get anywhere close. Anyway, he ran up to Kitt and naturally, Kitt drops to the ground to provide the least amount of available area of attack. This mutt gets behind her, mounts her and starts humping away!!!

Now the owner of this dog is generally close by but on this day, he was on his phone and very distracted. Here I am, trying to pull Kitt away and get rid of his dog and he's sitting down, chatting away. A few shoos and tugs later, he realises what's going on and shouts at his dog. The mutt then starts rambling off towards his owner, reluctant to leave his prey.

After this whole ordeal, poor Kitt is cowering, staying close to me, and his owner doesn't even have the decency to say "Sorry". He continues on his phone conversation and when we pass says "Hi little doggy" repeatedly then continues with his phone conversation. In my head I'm thinking "WTF? Is that supposed to make my dog feel better? How'd you like it if that happened to you and someone said "Hey littl' man"? repeatedly?"

Oh it makes me so angry to think that he thinks he can allow his big, ugly mutt to come up to my poor littl' doggy and do whatever he wants to her. If that dog was a human, he'd be in jail by now. And if it were up to me, so would his owner! I'd have that mutt's instruments removed from his body and hung out to dry, and his owner's too right next to it. That'd teach them a lesson!

Mobile: Baby NinJa

Guess what?

I'll give you a clue. *Wheels*...

I'll give you another one. *Have wheels will go places*.

No ideas? I've got my own set of wheels now! So I'm all ready to go places *grin*. Grandpa and grandma on daddy's side bought me my ride. My bassinet changes directions and I've got inflatable wheels that go really fast and it looks really cool! Pity it doesn't come in red but it looks really cool and has a stand that rocks (literally! I can get rocked to sleep anywhere that stand goes - yeah!)!

Now...where to first...the park? The shops? Paris maybe? Who knows? Look out world, I'm zooming by soon!

Ikea...really?

We're trying to get the house in order to fit a kid in. Everyone says that we really don't need much room for a baby but if we're going to do this, we may as well do this right. So hubby and I decided to start furniture shopping for a sideboard to put under the kitchen bench to increase our storage capacity.

And the first place that we decided to go to was Ikea.

Now, we've never ever bought Ikea furniture. We've got 3 pieces of Ikea furniture in the house, all hand me downs from friends. 2 low white tables and a pink reclining chair and they're all doing what they need to do. So we figure how hard can it be to get a sideboard, right? Plus we have some history with Ikea furniture so we should be alright in finding something, right?

Wrong! The stuff from Ikea is so bleah (for want of a better word...although, that's not really a word!) - its ordinary, flat packed, generic...and comes in the very basic of colours. Now we were hoping for something in a warm maple sort of wood but there was only particleboard stuff in white, birch, beech or dark brown.

Nothing wrong with the colours except that it would match nothing in the kitchen area! Plus all the sideboards more or less look the same. Sure you can customise it with various door designs etc but how much more do I need to pay for a door and a handle? And then there was the issue of having very few staff members on the floor to help with each area specialising in their own thing ("Sorry sir, I'm with the kitchen department. You're going to have to go back to that area...what? There was no one there? Well, they also look after the living room area so try there".) So frustrating!

So 2 hours later, we end up at the Ikea food market looking at their chocolate and cinnamon rolls and end up getting food from a furniture shop. Not a single piece of furniture, not even any of their knick knacks...a pack of chocolate, a pack of nougat and some cinnamon rolls. Which actually turned out to be pretty yummm...

Funny, huh?

Listening: Baby NinJa

"Shhhh....you have to be quiet because daddy's talking to me.

When mummy talks, I don't know if she's talking to me or not so I don't respond and do what I usually do...sleep, drink amniotic fluid, suck my thumb, kick around, push some organs...you know, normal everyday stuff.

But when daddy talks, because I know he's talking to me, I get real quiet. And I stop moving. And I listen...

Shhhh...."

Passion...

My best friend in KL has found her passion outside of work. She's opened up her own littl' store that sells fabrics and she also does sewing of clothes and bags and lots of other stuff. I'm really happy that she's found something that she enjoys doing that she can make money from and am a littl' jealous that she can do something with her hands and be creative...but I'm more stoked that she gets to do something that makes her happy.

I still remember way back in Form 3 when we had to sew a quilted bag for Kemahiran Hidup (also known as Home Ec in the Western World). My mom can't sew for nuts and so her mom let us use her sewing machine to do this project.  I remember spending a few afternoons at my best friend's house trying to get this dang thing together - trying to get straight lines that would make the grade and end up with an end product that resembled a quilted bag. Oh what folly...we probably managed three quarters of a bag before we broke the needle on the sewing machine.

Oh what fun....oh what anguish! It was great getting to spend time together. But at that moment, never did I hate sewing more than back then...and so did my best friend. But now? It brings her happiness. Which is great. I'm happy to hear that.

So check out this page: Beverly Collection. Its her littl' spot and I'd like to support her in every which way that I can. And hopefully, when she becomes successful one day and does her magazine interview, this will be one of those fond memories that comes up in conversation that gets into print and immortalizes that moment forever.

Sex: Baby NinJa

"It's a girl!!!"


I tried to tell mummy and daddy when they went to get my 19-week anatomy scan. I got a rainbow to appear in the sky when they were driving there as a sign...I think mummy got it. I think daddy was in denial.


Mummy told me to be good and to show the doctor whether I was a boy or a girl and I did...but then I went to sleep and got rudely awakened by the doctor with all her prodding and stuff of mummy's belly. So I sucked my thumb and rubbed at my eyes and moved a bit to get comfy again.


I hope mummy doesn't pinkify me...

Catch Up

Finally, getting to sit down and blog after a hectic 3 weeks...

What's been going on?

First, I had a work event. Not like a big big event, but still, sufficiently big enough for me to be working weekends and long days to get things up and running. But the end result was very satisfying. And the feedback from the participants was great - everyone had a great time and loved what we did.

Second, I organised a surprise party for hubby. My darling was turning the big 3-0 and at the spur of the moment (crazy, I know), I decided to throw him a surprise birthday party. So lots of organising and getting friends to come but its great that everyone was so cooperative and we managed to pull it off. He was surprised, I was happy and we lived happily ever after.

*grin*

So what's been happening this weekend? Baby window shopping. Ummm...that's not right, baby stuff window shopping! The first one made it sound like we went to the department store to pick a baby out...whilst funny, would have been totally weird to do that. So going around picking out what we think we need for NinJa. 4 essential big items and $2.5k or thereabouts later, I think it might be coming up to the time that I break open the piggy bank. Hmmmm...

And today, a spate of cleaning took hold of me and so I did cleaning this morning. Most unusual given that that's the last thing I think of doing any weekend (even though it needs to be done!) but I did it and I attribute it to this nesting instinct thing. *sigh* Nesting is bad...makes me sore after.

Oh well, I think its off to make some lunch now then perhaps end up convincing hubby that he needs to get down and dirty with me so that we can wash the furkids. Time for a good wash given that its 21 degrees at the moment...come on spring, I can feel you coming! Can't wait...

Lullaby: Baby NinJa

It's been a full day, NinJa's sleepy. Mummy will you sing me my

favourite lullaby?

"Somewhere over the rainbow,

Way up high.

There's a land that I heard of,

Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow...

Zzz...blue...

And the dreams...zzz...

Zzz...come true...zzzzz

Take me out to the ball game...

& take me out hubby did!

But not to a baseball game - over here, the main 'ball' game is footie. It's kinda a mix between rugby, handball and American touch. Season starts come winter & fans barrack for their favourite teams across the nation. Me, I've never been a big fan. But I've always wanted to experience a game. Just once.

& so when hubby announced that he had been offered free corporate box tickets to the game, I said yes! How much more fun would it be, sitting under cover, being served food and having a birds eye view on everything while soaking up the atmosphere?

& so that's what we did today. Along with 32,816 other people. With about 90% of the stadium dressed in purple.

The crowd was amazing. The game was full of "Oohhhh!"s and "Oowwww!"s and "Booo!"s and the ground & ball were all slippery from the drizzle. But the players didn't mind. & I was under shade so I didn't mind either.

My conclusions for the day?

1) The game's probably half an hour too long;

2) You need to start choosing a team; and

3) First game in a corporate box will spoil you for life. The food was great & the service was impeccable.

But definitely a true blue Aussie experience and I feel a bit more white for it. & when NinJa comes, it'll be something that we'll probably start doing - taking the kids out to the ball game.