25+ Weeks: Catching Up on Nutrient

Apart from my fever-shivering-episode, I'm feeling good and have not been experiencing any nausea; well, not lately and the twice a day dose of Maxalon does help.

I am also feeling guilty of not eating well and enough during my first trimester and have vowed to take better care of myself and my diet since I can now eat better.

For a start, I will continue my vitamins and royal jelly. I've also started taking 1-2 slices of bread and cheese for breakfast, making sure that I have a nutritious lunch and been munching fruits in between meals. As for dinner, I will eat whatever I can and I will have a glass of milk (EnfaMama A+, a special formula for pregnant woman) before bed!!

So as you can see, I am trying hard to catch up and hopefully, it's not too late and before I know it, I will be piling on the kilos.

Book: The Camel Club

Don't ask me how but I managed to finish this thick book in 2-weeks, amidst me being sick most of the time. This is my second David Baldacci book and somehow, I find the first book better (the collectors). Anyway, it's still good read and I enjoyed it (which explained my reading speed).

It's the same band of 4, Oliver Stone, Caleb Shaw, Milton Fard and Rueben Rhodes + Agent Alex Ford and his beau, Kate Adams. Although I have to admit that I am lost when it comes to American politics, I like the plot especially the twist at the end where Tom's great plan is revealed; i.e. none of the American died in the "holy war" and the President was to be returned alive. This is to show that violence is never the answer.

Overall, it's well-crafted and entertaining. I would rate it a 8.5/10.

Bun in the Oven

Last Sunday has got to be one of the hottest day in Kuala Lumpur. I wanted to accompany papa when he sends Ryan to his chinese class but the heat was just unbearable. I ended up having a headache and had to seek refuge in my air-cond room bedroom. At first, I wasn't sure whether it is the weather or my condition. My good friend Sham who was on her way back with her family from Johor confirmed that it's the weather and I liked how she aptly described that I am feeling hot not just due to the whether but also the fact that I am having "a bun in the oven". Well, the bun actually makes it worst and I'm glad to be hiding in the air-cond room all day long.

Got to enjoy being pregnant while I am at it!

Banana in pyjamas

Ryan's version of banana in pyjamas.

Money Management for Ryan

Ryan will start primary school (standard 1) next year and until now, he has no idea and does not know the value of money simply because he does not need to deal with it. We buy things for him, all his meals are prepared at home or supply by the kindergarten and he is just not expose to money.

I thought it will be a good idea to educate him now so that by next year, he can at least go and buy himself a meal in the school canteen if the needs arise. I started of by buying him a wallet for him to keep his coins and notes. Papa will give him a RM 2.00 allowance per week which he can use to buy tit bits or toys (with permission of course) and he is responsible for his wallet and the content. He chose his own wallet and as you can see it an-ultraman-theme wallet (are you surprised?).

How's the progress so far? Well, he emptied his entire wallet and gave all his monies (RM2.70) to the ting-ting-man (an uncle on motorcycle peddling breads, snacks etc) and come around our house almost every evening for a RM0.30 snack. He has misplaced his wallet countless times but somehow manage to find it. He will remind his papa for his RM2.00 weekly allowance......so I would say that we are making good progress.

Happy Birthday Aunt Jo

We celebrated Aunt Jo's birthday last Wednesday on her birth date, 23 April 2008. Aunt Jo, Jim + Wife, Cousins and Ryan went out for a sumptuous dinner at one of the seafood restaurants. I was still as sick as a dog and Kho offered to accompany me at home (How sweet!). We got her 52 cupcakes since she loves them and I have no doubt that she will savor each and every piece!!!.

We went to the florist in the evening and Ryan picked flowers for Aunt Jo and got the florist to make it into a small + cute bouquet complete with a small bear.

Have a blessed birthday, Aunt Jo and many, many, many more to come !!! If you are not sick of cupcakes, we will get you more, 53 cupcakes?

On a typical Saturday/Sunday

It's 4.08 pm on a Saturday afternoon and as you can see, papa is busy with his "toy" in the living room upstairs while Ryan is also busy with his "toy" in the room. After taking the photos, mummy is off to her beauty sleep.

Anyway, all these were before we enrolled Ryan to a chinese class. Since early April, Ryan have been going for extra chinese lessons every Satuday and Sunday from 1.00 - 2.30 pm. Now, our weekend looks like this:

Saturday - breakfast, parents will either be cleaning house, doing laundry or laze around, Ryan will be watching TV (all his favourite cartoons). At 12.00 noon, prepare to go for classes. Back from class, have his nap and off to grandma's for weekly visit.

Sunday - breakfast, parents will either be cleaning house (if we did not do it on Sat) or laze around, Ryan will be watching TV (all his favourite cartoons, again!). At 12.00 noon, prepare to go for classes. Nap after class and unwind before starting another crazy week !!!

.....................and our weekends are more or less like that since April :)

Having fever and all plans down the drain

It started with a slight throat irritation last Friday and by night it's was full blown. I began feeling weak and fever kicked-in (38.4%). Could not do much, except laying on the bed waiting to be pampered. Went to the doctor on Saturday evening because it was too hot to go out of the house in the afternoon and with me having a temperature, it was a definite no-no.

Doctor gave me the works; paracetamol, benadryl, antibiotics, something to gargle + dehydration salt. All pregnancy safe.

A frightening episode was when I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night and my body started to shivers, non-stop for 15 minutes. I'm not sure what the cause.... maybe I was too cold and the worst part was I'm not sure how baby is affected by all this drama. Thank god that baby was active throughout my ordeal and maybe it was my imagination but I felt that baby was less active after my shivering episode. I hope everything is okay and will continue to monitor baby's movement.

As I'm typing this, my body is still weak. Hubby has been great, shouldering all the extra responsibilities, managing the household chores plus taking care and entertaining a sick wife. Ryan on the other hand is indifferent.

There's goes my plan for the weekend and I have a new one though....I plan to recover soon!!!

Book: The Collectors

I borrow this book from a friend and she is a David Baldacci fan. After this book, she will be loaning me another David Baldacci, the Camel Club, I think.

Well, I must say I quite enjoy reading the book, especially on the 4 sort of main characters; Oliver Stone, Caleb Shaw, Reuben Rhodes and Milton Forb together with Annabelle. They are cool, eccentric, loyal and supportive of each other. And they come with interesting background and skills. Makes you want to be part of the team.

With the murder of Robert Bradley, Jonathan DeHaven and eventually Cornelius Behan (who at first was a suspect), the plot thickens. The ending gave a closure to only one of the two stories the author span and there is definitely a sequel to Annabelle's "adventure", which was left hanging.

Although initially I was going to take my time reading the book, I ended up finishing it in less than 1 week. Will definitely be reading more of David Baldacci's work. In fact, I will be looking forward to it. I would rate it a 9/10.

23+ weeks: The Verdict is in

We pay my gynea a visit last Saturday. When he did the scanning, I reminded him that we still do not know the baby's sex since baby refused to "open up" during our last visit. Well, this time around, baby is much more cooperative and gynea confirmed that baby is a GIRL. A baby sister for Ryan!!!

I'm going to have a daughter. I don't really know how to describe my feelings. I'm absolutely thrill but I'm a bit scare as well. Because if it's a boy, I will know how to handle him (I am assuming that he will be a replica of Ryan, plus minus; so should be more or less the same). But a daughter? I have no idea. On the hindsight, I should not worry too much. After all, I had Ryan with zero knowledge on parenting and I must say we did okay. Ryan is now a healthy, cheeky,talkative and confident 6 yo boy.

Then, there's always a first for everything, including having a daughter. I think, we will not go wrong if we raise and nurture her with all our love and attention. I think we will do just fine and I look forward to buy all the girly stuffs for her.

In Touch with Long Lost Friends

I received a call from an old friend last week, excitedly telling me that one of our former classmates is launching a yahoogroup for those who studied together in 1990/1991.

I accessed the yahoogroup and were pleasantly surprised to be connected with long lost friends .... I am talking about 17 years here and all of us have "changed". We posted photos of ourselves together with families (parents + spouse + kids). Some of them not only manage to maintain their physique all these year but their looks as well; they look exactly the same now and 17 years ago. Unfortunately, those falling under this category are mostly men!! On the other hands, the ladies in our group looked more ladylike, sophisticated and elegant :) unlike those days.

We are still actively sending each other messages, catching up with each other and trying to "locate" more classmates. This has indeed been an exciting week for me as I found myself reminiscing the good old times growing up in Teluk Intan with my family (grandma, aunties, uncle, brother Jimmy & cousins) and a bunch of good friends, leading a carefree life (other than thinking about examinations, of course).

And thanks to technology, me and my friends are connected again and a gathering is on the card!!

Nut about Nuts

I finished the bottle of dried fruits, nuts and seeds and now I'm moving into nuts. It's not oily and healthy and I hope I will continue with munching these healthy tit bits way after my pregnancy.

Deworming Ryan

I used to deworm Ryan twice a year ..... and now it's close to one year since his last dose.

De-worming him is quite easy. Go the the pharmacy, buy a bottle of zentel (10ml) , go home, give the bottle a good shake, open it and pass it to Ryan and he will gulped it all down followed by a half a glass of water. Done!

21+ weeks: Hubby felt baby's kungfu moves

The wait is over.

Finally, hubby felt baby doing his/her stunts. It happened when we were watching a movie in the living hall, Awaken, starring Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba. It was a short movie and contained a few scenes which in my opinion are not pregnant-woman friendly. So hubby was busy blocking my view and it was also then I discovered that baby is busy kicking and decided to put hubby's hand on my tummy and he finally felt it a few times !!!

Even though it happened only at week 21, it's definitely must earlier than Ryan. Compared to Ryan, this baby is much more active. Ryan hardly moved when in the womb, so much so that we were not able to record the minimum of 10 movements a day. So we really look forward to see baby when it's time.

Caught in the Act

Ryan is supposed to be doing his homework but he decided to have a bit of fun with a 20-sen coin he found laying on the table instead.

It does not matter that mummy dearest is sitting reading newspaper right across him. When it's fun time, there's no stopping, even if it's right in the middle to doing homework.

Behind the Wheels

Like all kids his age, Ryan loves to be behind the steering wheel and he will imitate the sound of the car engine running and pretend to drive. He will also seize those rare opportunities to hop into the driver's seat whenever we are left behind in the car, waiting for his papa to do some quick errand.

Of course, the car's engine is not running and of course, he will be in the driver seat not more than a few minutes. But that short time is enough for Ryan to feel like a grown up and he will scramble to the back of the car when he sees the real driver aka his papa approaches.

Blowing bubbles

Ryan may be 6 years old but he still likes to blow bubbles, seeing them float in the air before chasing and bursting them.

He will be grinning from ear to ear and at times, you can hear him laughing by himself. Ah, simple things does bring great joy! We just need to learn to appreciate and see it through a child's eyes.