My birthday and my present

Firstly, I finally got my birthday present, hurray and no, it's not an IPhone 4. I am not a gadget person so I am not into new phones, my current phone is almost 4 years old and it still works so no plan to change anytime soon unless papa feels generous haha. Plus Hayley enjoys playing with my phone - listening to the music, looking at her own photos or videos so I think an old phone suits me best for now.

But I do love taking photos and because I am not prepared to carry a bulky DLSR wherever I go and papa said he is not going to help me because he is not into photography, so I have to compromise and finally decided on a new digital camera instead. So papa bought me a Canon S95 which is not yet available in Malaysia. Canon S90 is the current model available here, sold at RM1,229 during the mega sale. I bought the Canon S95 (upgraded version) at RM1,300 from Hong Kong, with the help of a kind colleague.

Isn't it a beauty? Black beauty :-). The photos are gorgeous too if compared to the ones taken using my old Canon Ixus camera which is about 3 -4 years old. I am loving this new camera and Hayley will inherit my old camera as she loves photography too :-). I have yet to take any decent photo with my new camera (still playing around with it) and will show you the output in the next few weeks.

As for my birthday, it was a day filled with errands.. haha. Papa and I left the house around 10am to find someone but the shop was not opened, then we headed off to Kinderdijk and got the spare parts for my Avent breast pump. After Kinderdijk we went to Ikea to buy the baby bath tub (I am planning to bin my old one) and stool but both product no longer available, what a disappointment. After Ikea we went for Korean BBQ lunch at Kota Damansara. The food was not good so another disappointment. After lunch we headed to Jusco to grab some more stuff for Hayley and Bun.

Papa also bought me a slice of Secret Recipe Chocolate Indulgence cake and we requested for a candle. At night, Hayley sang me my birthday song (sweetest song ever) and blew my candle for me (I pretended I didn't see the saliva.. haha). She fed me my birthday cake for the first time and I was on cloud 9 the whole night. Then we spent the rest of the night playing lanterns and candles with her outside the house.

Although the day seems simple but being a simple mom myself, I am truly happy and contented with what I have and thank God everyday for his blessing!

I indeed did have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY :-)

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my birthday. I am turning 24 (I WISH) and I am so excited... hahaha.

I am not working today and Hayley is away at the babysitter.

It will just be a simple and peaceful celebration (lunch that is) between papa and me. And hopefully we'll have some time to do some shopping later to get some new toys for Hayley to soften the guilt :-). We also need to go to Kinderdijk to get some spare parts for my Avent breast pump.

As for my birthday gift from papa, I'm getting it next week. Got a colleague to help me buy it from HK as it is slightly cheaper and they have the latest model which we don't have here yet. I can't wait :-)

And lastly, HAPPY MID AUTUMN FESTIVAL too!!!

The new 'nagging queen'

My 2.5 year old have recently taken over my responsibility in the car as the nagging queen - that is whenever the papa is behind the wheel. The papa is not a very patient guy when it comes to being on the road so occasionally he does drive very dangerously even when we are in the car. He always argue that driving a little faster or taking bends without slowing down enough does not necessarily mean that he is driving dangerously.

Whenever papa drives through a bump without hitting enough of the brake and send us bouncing in the car, rascal will say 'Papa..... don't drive dangerously ok' or 'Papa please drive carefully ok'. I believe she picked this up from me.

Whenever she spotted the papa driving with 1 hand 'Papa... use 2 hands!'. She will repeat until he actually placed 2 hands on the steering wheel just to please her. I have never commented on this before so not sure where she picked it up from.

Papa is quite annoyed whenever he hears the above as she sounds exactly like me, the intonation and even the expression :-). As for me, I am just happy that she knows what is safe and what is not when it comes to driving :-)

Bun at 33 weeks

So fast 2 weeks flew by. Today we went for our regular check up again.

Bun
Everything is going well and Bun has been upside down since 2 weeks ago and remained upside down. Today we managed to catch a clear glimpse of Bun's face. The nose, the lips, the face was extremely visible but we still can't tell who Bun looks like. Bun has a big nose (must be from the papa) and thick lips (must be from me) :-). Didn't look at all like Hayley when she was a baby.

Dr Lee said he will weight Bun again at week 34 to keep a close tab on the weight and help me decide by 36 weeks whether to go for a c-sec or to attempt natural.

Me
I only gained 0.5kg this time. Am extremely happy. This means 13.5kg weight gained so far. The pain down there is slowly returning and Dr Lee said it is normal at this stage and there is nothing he could do to help me. He also reminded me to sleep on my sides at night.

I also mentioned to him about the irregular heartbeat. He called it 'skipped beat'. He said some women will experience it although it is not normal. If I am still able to function like normal, ie it is not causing me extreme discomfort, I should not need to worry about it. He said some women who experienced serious skipped beat will need to wear a gadget 24 hours a day to monitor the heart beat.

I am also getting more and more tired by the day. Going up the stairs or walking long distance is becoming a challenge.

Hayley
Brought her along to the hospital again today. She was extremely naughty. Running here and there in the waiting area, touching this and that, refused to sit down even for 2 mins and making all sorts of noises. She will walk towards other babies or kids and play with them and annoyed their parents.

The funniest thing today is when we were leaving Dr Lee's office. The moment she stepped out from the room she said this 'hello everybody' while waving her hands to everyone seated in the waiting area. Sometimes we don't know if we should be angry, happy, proud or sad to have such a child! Maybe a combination of everything best described how we feel.....

Shh... Quiet!

When papa and I used to chat in the car with the rascal around she will often interrupt us by talking loudly or calling me or doing all sorts of things/noises to attract my attention. She started doing those nuisances since she was much younger. Whenever she does that, I will tell her to "shh.... quiet, mummy and papa talking, you cannot interrupt, that is very rude".

After saying the same things to her a couple of times, she started picking up the first two words ie "shhh.... quiet" since young. Sometimes she will say it in a soft manner, sometimes demanding.

She will sometimes use those 2 words on me when she did something naughty and I scolded her. She will sometimes use those 2 words on me when papa and I were talking in the car trying to stop us from talking and she also uses those 2 words on me sometimes even when the situation does not require her to ie saying it for a situation that does not fit.

Today, the babysitter confronted me. She asked if we (papa and me) talk very loud at home and if we argue a lot. I told her we definitely do not argue much and we don't talk very loud at home except when we're scolding the rascal or calling for her when she run to the kitchen or to other rooms etc. The babysitter then adds that rascal got affected by us talking loudly or arguing loudly. She said they don't talk loudly at home so she must have got affected by us. That got me scratching my head, what the heck is she talking about?

Then she said yesterday while in the car, obviously her husband and her were taking rascal somewhere and they were chatting and rascal used the 2 words on her. She said it was the first time she heard it although we've heard it many many months ago. I told her not worry about it as rascal was probably just copying us and I constantly reminded her not to say those words whenever she uses it and I told the babysitter to do the same if she heard it again. The fact that she only heard it for the first time yesterday was solid proof that rascal was using the 2 words lesser than before.

The babysitter then adds again that we have to be careful with our actions and words as we will affect or scar a child badly. It will be worst when they reach 8 or 9 years old. I know she meant well but sometimes I think it is not necessary to be overly worried. Kids will be kids and they will pick up all the good and bad. As parents, of course we try our best to set the best examples but we're humans, we make mistakes too and sometimes even we don't notice when we did.

As long as our conscience is clear, I think we should not worry too much and enjoy parenthood.

Bun at 31 weeks

Last Saturday it was the usual bi-weekly check up for Bun.

While waiting for our turn, the nurses took my weight and also examined my urine, as usual. I gained another 1.7kg in 2 weeks. I am now at 58kg, 13kg gained so far. Urine is normal.

After waiting for about 45 mins, it was our turn. This time Dr Lee checked the weight of Bun. Bun weighed at 1.8kg, Dr Lee said it was ideal for a 31 week old baby. At this rate, Dr Lee 'predicted' Bun to be at 2.9 or 3kg when born. So my next mission is to decide whether I want to opt for a c-sec or attempt natural birth - something that I still can't decide now as they both have their own pros and cons.

As for me, nothing much has changed since 2 weeks ago. The only new condition I have is irregular heart beat which I forgot to check with Dr Lee. Sometimes I felt uncomfortable around the heart/chest, felt like the heart was beating irregularly and the entire body felt uneasy. It doesn't hurt, maybe it felt heavy, I just don't know how to explain it. Sometimes I even think (maybe I was imagining things) that I might be having a heart attack and I would experience it several times a day.

Other than the above, and feeling heavier each day, the rest are as usual.

I have also started preparing things for the arrival such as stocking up diaper, milk bottles, washing up baby clothes, packing my bag etc. Next on the list would be to clean the cot and play pen, washing the baby car seat, preparing the guest room for the confinement lady and also stocking up on herbs.

Just me

Last Sat I attended a friend's wedding in Cyberjaya. We used to dance together and I was really looking forward to the night as I will be able to meet some of my dancer friends - reminiscing the good old times.

I went alone, no hubby and no baby for the night. So I got to talk with friends and eat in peace and enjoy the night fuss free.... :-). Oh boy how I missed moments like these...

Dancers and spouses/partners.. some retired

Retired dancers who now became mummies...

Evon on my right has 2 kids, a 9 year old boy and a 3 year old girl

May on my left has 3 kids, a 6 year old girl, a 3 year old girl and a 9 months old boy

And of course me in the middle, with a 2.5 year old girl and a 30 weeks old Bun :-)