The start of 2014

Because this horse-y year is going to be so exciting, I resolve to try to write something everyday.

1st of Jan - Brought baby M to Pavilion. She was so excited seeing the Christmas tree and was totally captivated by the huge carousel. Cried when we left. She now screams when she hears another kid screaming, and yells when she hears a kid yell.

2nd Jan - Started work again. Got a "fun watch" from the boss who just got back from Turkey.

3rd Jan - Checkup at TMC. All's good. Fibroid the size of a fishball :P

Need to find if there's a mobile app for this blogger thingy.

Last post for 2012

My greatest achievement in 2012, and probably my entire life. This year, I survived needle jabs, a C-section and myomectomy and a 6-week recovery, endless sleepless nights - all amidst moving to a new house, a job promotion, growing responsibilities and a holidayless year.

I have never felt more accomplished, and it is true what they say - she brings an entirely new meaning to my life. She may have turned my life upside down and changed it to something unrecognizable, but she is the sole reason why I do what I'm doing everyday and look forward to waking up everyday just to see her crack that toothless gummy smile at me. She's approaching 5 months, and cliche as it sounds, it really seems like it was just yesterday when the lines appeared on the stick.

2012 has zoomed past in a Ferrari. But, it's been one of the most rewarding years of my life - one of the best. And I thank the heavens above everyday for surrounding me with fantastic people who made the year a smooth-sailing one for me : you know who you are.

I am so looking forward to 2013 - life, as I used to know it, is just getting better.

Counting down ... (2)

Since I've been home the whole week (on MC, but I basically worked from home), I suddenly have some time on my hand and realized I need to blog down some of these before I become a Dory mum. Admittedly, my thoughts will be scattered everywhere and I will blog what I suddenly remember.

1st trimester
I suffered from frequent headaches. Thankfully, Dr said it was perfectly okay to pop Panadols, as long as I didn't exceed the dosage of 2 tablets per 6 hours. He said it wouldn't go to the placenta. And he said that if Panadols worked for me, that was good and nothing to worry about, as Panadols were extremely safe for pregnancy. Ok, I was reassured.

Dr also mentioned that the growing fibroid was the reason why I was having headaches, as the fibroid was restricting blood flow back to my brain. Sounds logical enough. So I continued popping Panadols throughout - I basically needed to pop only 2 Panadols, and I'd be okay, and I took it almost every day for a couple of weeks at the end of my 1st trimester.

2nd trimester
Less Panadols required. The headaches had gone down to very occasional ones - maybe once every 1-2 weeks. I was happy. I resorted to hairwashes at the saloon to massage away my headaches.

Baby's kicks have become stronger - and baby likes to move most when I am seated, especially at meetings. I have to try my best to maintain my composure when baby gives me a hard kick during a meeting.

At the end of this trimester, my tummy began to show a very faint line of stretchmarks. I resigned myself to the fact that I won't be one of the lucky ones to escape them.

3rd trimester
No Panadols at all. Yippee yay. Spidey stretchmarks spreading around the tummy, the linea nigra is becoming more faintly obvious (although thankfully, still quite light), and the belly button is slowly protruding out. Baby wriggles alot these days, and I love it. Sometimes it gets a bit awkward and I have to "sayang" my tummy back into a comfortable shape, but most of the time I'm always happy when I feel baby moving in me.

Today's my next weekly appointment with Dr Menon - hope it's good. We're discussing the delivery procedures today, and I'll put up my birth plan to him.

And, on a happy note, KF got me a Samsung Galaxy SIII for my birthday! I'd been clamoring a little for an iPhone 4S since earlier this year and I was disappointed when I found out that my annual bonus would only come in 2 installments in August and October. I really wanted the iPhone for its camera function so I could snap photos of baby all the time. The SIII was just launched in KL a couple of weeks ago, so I was so happy to get one - thank you dear! :)

Counting down ...

Been a long while - been busy growing a little human being in me :) So now, we're counting down the days till the little one joins us.

1st trimester
One early morning in early December 2011, I woke up really early to see KF off to airport for a trip to KK. Then, on a whim, decided to trawl thru my drawers to find a Clearblue test kit. (Morning pee is supposed to be the most accurate - I have no idea why that thought went thru my head that morning - must be gut instinct). Peed and waited, not expecting anything at all - been a long time since I peed on a stick. The red lines appeared, so I looked at the instructions to find out what it meant. Rubbed my eyes, and read again. OMG! Quickly snapped a photo and whatsapped it to KF (who told me later that he was just about to board the plane). I didn't get a reply from him at all - figured he must be shell shocked.

I then drove out for dim sum with my family. Didn't feel like eating much. After dim sum, drove to a GP to confirm it. So I peed again, and he congratulated me. Then he recommended that I go see a gynae about a week later, as the scan would be able to show something by then. I was so excited! Couldn't wait for KF to get off his 2.5-hr flight.

Anyway, the weekend flew by. A week later, we went to see Dr Dev Menon at Tropicana Medical Centre who showed us the pregnancy sac and confirmed it. He also found a fibroid, so he put me on Duphaston pills (some hormone pills aka anti-miscarriage pills). Gave us an EDD of early August.

When we went back to Ipoh during Christmas, we told KF's family. They were so happy, and I was treated like a queen :P 


I thought the 1st trimester would fly by safely. All I suffered was lack of appetite during dinner time, when the smell of food completely threw me off. But, at the end of the 1st trimester, some time around KF's birthday, I came down with a fever that wouldn't go away even after 3 days. Dr Menon admitted me into hospital on suspected viral flu. I was put on drips (1st time in my life) and cried like a baby when the drip needle had to be inserted in me. But I recovered after 3 days in hospital (didn't bathe nor brush teeth during this time as the drip was on my right hand). Then spent an entire week recuperating at Mummy's house, during which I threw up repeatedly and finally went thru the real motions of being pregnant :P

The only food I could really take during 1st trimester was Balinese food at The Uma, Nando's chicken, chee cheong fun. I particularly hated Chinese food, but I loved nine-course dinners - small little bite-sized pieces of food that came course by course, those I could stomach.

Stretchmarks were showing on my boobs. I had to buy bra extenders. And could only live in big t-shirts and comfy shorts. 

2nd trimester
Then during about Week 16, I started to feel much better. No more throwing up, and I could eat meals like normal already. I was also less tired, and had lots of energy at work - which was good, because work was becoming quite hectic.

At Week 18, I was working on the laptop when I felt a little gas bubble inside my tummy. Quickly texted Nat who told me to lie quietly in bed to see if it happened again. So I lay in bed, and felt a little kick! I quickly called KF into the room and asked him to put his hand on my tummy, and the little one gave 2 hard kicks! We were ecstatic :)

We took leave to attend the 1Utama Jusco member's day sale. Bought loads of baby stuff that day, and were glad we could use the vouchers that we had been saving up. It was a satisfying haul :)

I loaned the Babyplus prenatal education system from a friend, because it promised that baby would learn to self-soothe more easily. Also, bought a book of children's stories, so that KF could read to baby. He reads and sings to baby a few nights a week. Baby kicks, stretches and wriggles to show that she can recognize the daddy's voice.

KF concentrated on renovating our new house, for which we received the keys just before CNY. We wanted the house ready before I delivered, so that there would be space when KF's mum came down to look after the baby. The house renovation was extremely stressful for KF as it was also a busy work period for him. But, he pulled through :)

My tummy looked a little small, so we saw Dr Menon who told us that the baby was lying horizontally. And the fibroid was growing. But he said not to worry. Baby was growing well.

Work was requiring me to fly often to JB. At the end of the 2nd trimester, I was in JB when I noticed some spotting. There was spotting the night before, but I thought I had just poo-ed too hard. When I was still spotting in JB, I got worried and immediately called the doctor. He said not to worry if the spots were dark brown, but told me to come into his clinic first thing the next morning (Saturday) for a check up.

KF was at work, so I had to go see doctor alone. He scanned and said he saw a blood clot and a trail of blood. Gave me a week's MC to rest at home, and got the nurse to jab me with something that apparently makes the blood clot disappear. Reassured me that baby was growing well and that I just needed to rest.

I decided to stop all work travel and cancelled my work trip to Penang. Spent the week's MC at Mummy's house again, catching up on TVB drama The Boxing Glove - Cheng Kar Wing sure is handsome, and the little one in the tummy was kickboxing all the way.    

3rd trimester
Tummy was growing. Had to buy new large auntie panties to remain comfortable. Continued working hard. Moved to Mummy's place for 2 weeks while KF moved house for us. When I finally moved into the new house, I was so happy. KF did a wonderful job with our new home, am sure our little one will love it here.

I'm more easily tired now. But, still loads of unpacking to do at the new home. And I have begun to slowly wash baby's clothes, some of which Nat has kindly loaned to us from Anne's wardrobe.

We attended a breastfeeding talk by a lactation counsellor, Gina. Also just got myself a Medela Freestyle (probably the most expensive item in the baby list) - am determined to breastfeed, as I want to ensure baby has as much protection as possible against my asthmatic lungs and the dad's weak tummy / sensitive skin. 

And right now, in Week 37, I am typing this so that I can still remember some details in the future when baby wants to hear the story of "Where did I come from?"

During my last visit to the doctor last Friday, he advised us to look into a 2-in-1 operation: Caesarean section and removal of the fibroid. Told us to select a date. I am worried, for so many reasons. But I am sure that it will all be fine in the end :) We're excitedly anticipating the day when baby joins us.

Happy 4th anniversary

After 7 years of knowing each other, 6 of which we dated, we moved in together as husband and wife. That was 4 years ago. And it has been a learning experience, another milestone in the graph of life. We learnt that one squeezes the toothpaste tube from the top, and the other gripes about it; one's messy, the other tries to be a neat freak; one's an early sleeper, the other loves late night movies; one loves to travel, the other does too :)

Romantic getaway at Pangkor Laut Resort in August

And so, we have been to many places together - from our very first one together in Manila (before the sparks flew) to the most recent European adventure in Munich last year. This year, it's been Bali, China, Seoul as well as Yangon and Danang by the time the year is over. We have had plenty happy travel moments, and I wish for many more :)
I took a leap of faith, eons ago. And am glad I kept the faith. Am looking forward to many more shared adventures - good, bad, ugly, beautiful, happy, sad, boring, exciting - everything. Because I can not imagine who else I'd rather share it all with. Happy anniversary my darling.

On our Seoul worktrip in October

"For you, a thousand times over." - The Kite Runner

Am tired. But I cannot quit, because "I can always do more than I first thought I could".

And, "think of it this way - it's a money-can't-buy experience". Well, if you put it that way ...

Plus, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger".

And I remind myself that : "I love my job." But I hate the deadlines and the pressure.

But then again, what's work without pressure?

And, eventually, "it will all pass". Yes, it will.

Major Battle Accomplished (with flying colours!)

Finally, after what seemed like endless late work nights and deadline-filled weekends, he graduates! *beams from ear to ear*

Receiving the scroll from the Vice-Chancellor

Yippee, got it!

Pictured here with the main source of strength and biggest supporter - cheh wah! LOL :D Am so proud of you dear :)

Bali getaway March 2011

Bali was great! On a different scale from the honeymoon of course, but still great with the gang. Highlights of our 3D 2N getaway ... 1) Bali Dream Villa - we booked 2 villas, each with 4 and 3 bedrooms with private pools ... Bali villas are affordable luxury! 2) Sunset @ Rock Bar at Ayana Resort 3) Visiting my favourite temple in Bali for the 2nd time

4) Sunset on the Bali Hai cruise boat

5) Morning breeze at Tanah Lot

The past 6 months

• Went to Phuket for the first time, and watched girls spit goldfishes not from their mouths
• Fell quite deeply in love with German beer and all things German - this is one place I would love to return to, one of the best trips of my life
• Rode a bicycle (not the stationary ones in the gym) for the first time in 15 years, and was thankful I still remember how to ride
• Got my very first Apple product - the iPad (thanks boss!)
• Made the biggest purchase of my life and am looking forward to enjoying it
• Left my boss after 8 years, and started a new job
• Experienced a sleepless night for the first time in my life - looks like my stress levels have never really been tested prior to this
• Picked up the badminton racquet for the first time in 20 years! Am feeling it today, 2 days later, but boy does it feel good to know that my racquet can still meet the shuttlecock :)

Only 18 posts in 2010! But had a great year of travelling (my bank account doesn't thank me though) and great experiences (authentic nasi kerabu in Kota Bharu woohoo!, learnt sudoku, Glee-fied my life, experienced firsthand the mass density of China at the Expo, tried but failed at capoeira, went for my 1st yoga class).

Am hoping that 2011 will be as good, maybe better. Here's to another year of new experiences, adventure and spiritual growth :)

The end of the first week. My productivity levels have increased by leaps and bounds. The workstation is not the best in its class, but it suffices, for the moment. Thank goodness pest control came in the week before I started work. My neighbour said it was a haven for my "best friends" before that. So far, I haven't seen any grown ones - just little baby ones I could snuff out with tissue paper. So that's alright. Having downgraded myself on so many physical levels - open car park, having to pay that on my own, a partition-less workstation, no computer speakers, lack of so many researching / brochure facilities - it's amazing how I managed to get out so many reports on time this week. But I guess maybe the lack of those physical boundaries (or distractions) improved my focus? Or, just being put in a new environment did it. My brain juice has been squeezed dry this week. Cannot type eloquently - especially with constant drilling going on in the neighbouring office lot. All those aside, am appreciating the amount of learning I can pick up from the new bosses. It's gonna be a good ride.

Okay, today is November. My one week of being a housewife was fully utilized for housewifely duties. And the house isn't even fully spring-cleaned yet okay. It was just the kitchen cabinets, a store cupboard, the linen cupboard, half my wardrobe (or maybe not even half), the entire 2nd room (which still looks like a store room). Sigh. Being a housewife is a full-time job.

And now that my full-time job has started, housewife-ing can take a back seat. And that goes for the trip photos and travelogues, not gonna happen nope.

Today's first day at a new desk, new office, new parking lot, new boss, new colleagues. It's interesting. I'm happy :)

Watch this space for:-

• Shanghai in early June
• Perhentian in mid-June
• Kota Kinabalu in July
• Phuket in August
• Munich in September

Yes, those are the reasons why I neglected this space, and why I cannot afford to belanja you makan when you're in town.

This year has turned out to be rather (happily) unexpected. Starting off with that whirlwind trip to Angkor Wat in March, and then into several other great trips - and a couple of meaningful life events (I know I'm fat but no I'm not pregnant and yes I shall go to the gym more and eat less but then what's the point of working so hard if you can't indulge?!).

All coming up in mini-spates before November (you will find out soon enough why November is so significant). 2010 is turning out to be an awesome year :)

We grew up with them

Just watched the Deathly Hallows trailer. Awesome doesn't even begin to describe it. Epic, more like. And the fact that it's coming to us in 3D is even more thrilling.
Can.not.wait.

Love online

Now, you tell me. Where do you find them online?

I wonder which poor soul typed that question up into Yahoo Answers.

This weekend I shall be able to fulfill my lifelong dream of eating nasi kerabu in Kota Bharu. Okay, I exaggerate. It's been my dream only for the past 12 years - ever since I was introduced to my first bite of nasi kerabu from a humble gerai next to my university hostel block, I've been hooked. And I religiously search for it at the pasar Ramadhan annually, never being able to find a good one since 12 years ago. I hope Kota Bharu's most famous stall lives up to its name - yay, Kota Bharu, here I come :D [Obviously, nasi kerabu is gonna be more of a highlight this weekend than Pulau Perhentian, which I actually also am looking forward to, just not as much as that great carbo-fix I shall get at the end of all those strenuous water activities]

As Sue Cs it

Because Glee has ended its first season, I shall re-quote my favourite Sue Sylvester lines:-

On her life philosophy

• "You know, for me, trophies are like herpes. You can try to get rid of them but they just keep coming. Sue Sylvester has hourly flare-ups of burning, itchy, highly contagious talent."
• "I, for one, think intimacy has no place in a marriage. Walked in on my parents once, and it was like seeing two walruses wrestling."
• "Me, I never wanted kids — don't have the time, don't have the uterus."

On her nemesis - Will Schuester

• "Your hair looks like a briar patch. I keep expecting racist, animated Disney characters to pop up and start singing about living on the bayou."
• "I just lost my train of thought because you have so much margarine in your hair."
• "I thought I smelled cookies wafting from the ovens of the little elves that live in your hair."
• "You have enough product in your hair to season a wok."
• "I don’t trust a man with curly hair. I can’t help picturing small birds laying sulfurous eggs in there, and I find it disgusting."
• "God, it feels good to finally pop that zit known as Will Schuester."

To her award-winning cheerleading team

• "Nobody quits the Cheerios. You either die or I kick you off."
• "You think this hard. I'm passing a gallstone as we speak. That is hard!"
• "I’m going to ask you to smell your armpits. That’s the smell of failure, and it’s stinking up my office."
• "I’m all about empowerment. I empower my Cheerios to live in a state of constant fear by creating an environment of irrational, random terror."

Jane Lynch is awesome!

Am counting down again - seven and a half more days. My sanity is hanging by a thread. Lack of sleep and banging away on the laptop and calculator is crankiness-inducing, particularly with the prospect of a full working weekend ahead. I want to crawl into a fabled tempurung and hide till the deadlines pass and come out with the work having been miraculously completed. But that's not gonna happen, issit?

Shanghai was a good holiday.

Being back at work - not so good.

Pictures maybe this weekend when my in-tray has been half-cleared.

I picked up sudoku on the trip! Yay, one resolution ticked :)

And therefore, I will be anti-social for the rest of the month because work dictates it is so. Although work shouldn't dictate my life. But it's so ironic that the older you get, the more experience you accumulate, the more responsibilities you start to shoulder, and thus the more work you get, and the more you feel that you have to deliver, just because. Ah well. I'm excited to be going to the biggest "Global Village" ever, really. Travelling the world with the price of a ticket to Shanghai - awesome. Hope the Expo lives up to its hype. And although I don't like that China beat us last night and that more than 90% of our consumer products are made in China, there's no denying that China is a force to reckon with - if not now, then maybe in 10 years' time. They built that massive metro system for the Expo within a few years. And it takes us like 10 years to decide to extend our LRT line. Fabulous.

I know, like sungguh the lama dah.

I had a thoroughly busy Labour Day, joining throngs of people in Mid Valley and throngs of people in 1 Utama.

We started the day early at The Gardens Mall, having I Love Yoo! for breakfast, then collecting our RM 20 voucher from Robinson's and shopping for the man's clothes there. Headed to La Senza, wanted to see their fashion show but the shop was just too hot (why don't they on the frigging air-cond?) so I left. Spent my RM 50 voucher in Aussino on a new bolster - yay, can relegate my 9-year-old hand-me-down to the guest room.

Trooped over to the property exhibition to do my work. Seemed to be mostly the same as those that were there in KLCC's last week. But nvm, work pays for my parking. We went back to Robinson's again - I wanted desperately to get a new handbag and some shoes, but they didn't put any likeable stock out, boo. The man got another shirt. We went to Isetan to try, but no luck for me there too. Had oyster mee suah at Shihlin Taiwan street snacks stall - so yummy - and because we were exhausted dyy, we went home, releasing our precious parking spot to a super-grateful driver.

Got home, dumped the stuff, and plonked straight in for a much-needed afternoon nap. Was supposed to be 5 minutes, ended up 90 minutes. Gosh, that was luxurious indeed. Very nice to just plonk into bed in the afternoon and not care how long I sleep for or whether it's gonna affect my sleep at night in case I need to get up early the next morning - yah lah, I'm a worrier.

Got up at 4pm, felt awesomely refreshed. Bathed and we headed out again at 5pm. The throngs of cars heading into 1U was something I haven't seen before in a long time (because I usually never head to a mall unless it's 10am in the morning). Luckily though, we got a spot quite quickly. Went shopping for my new iPhone at Maxis - they're out of stock, cis. Went to Digi - the same, cis x2. So with no place to fulfill my "want", we went to Parkson and I fell in love with a new brand of handbags I'd never seen before - Radley. I truly fell in love, in a matter of 5 seconds. But the price tags, oh the price! Maybe I could give up the iPhone for a Radley? Hmm ...

Luckily the movie partners called us, and the man whisked me off for dinner. Yummy Chili's, love that place - the triple play is awesome as always, and the mushroom fajitas was yumminess. Can you believe they've got bottomless Milo now?

We then went off to watch Ip Man 2. Great fight scenes. The drilling of the "Chinese spirit and integrity" was a bit much - but I guess that's what is needed for such an alpha male show.

Went home and watched an episode of Criminal Minds before falling to bed - was exhausting having to fight the throngs of people okay, me not young anymore, when I used to be able to spend entire weekends pacing the malls. And now I'm up early - must be the long nap. I wonder what I shall do today - besides work :P Damn I can hear Radley calling ...