Abi's Plan for You

i read several baby and parenting books, but i never see any single phrase about 'financial' (or, do i need to read more books?) unless in books that really talk about financial planning. for us, financial plan is something crucial when having a baby, and need to be prepared before he is born. having baby is something exciting. even before the baby is born, people already congratulates the dads & moms to be. and even more after the birth.

baby's arrival means a real change in a couple's life. undeniably the endless happiness, by having your own flesh and blood. but for us, it's not about the happiness and excitement of having you, as a not-so-rich (when lah... the time is gonna come....) we have so many things to plan in term of budget and financial. it's true, there's must be your rezeki somewhere but still, nothing ventured nothing gained. we still have to plan for our (especially yours!) best.

it's time for us to get out pen & paper to jot down the budget we'll use once we bring you home. the expenses that will occur every weekly and monthly, as addition to our regular car, house, astro, phone, stremyx, etc. payment; for diapers, clothes, nursing wear (it's mine!), etc.

since before i get pregnant, we read a lot about cost of having baby and what is the preparation. and we just get into very serious after you're conceived. when we went for shopping your goods, our principal were "the best & dear for more than 5 years things & as cheap as it can for only 2months thing" and "no 2-3 time of purchasing on the same thing". that's why we have no regret on your bombastic price feeding set and stroller. and your infants' set like... apparel? bedding set? towel? blanket? hehe, we got it at mydin & @70% off je... wait until you get bigger and handsome then only we'll buy you branded sikit (maybe that time you'd ask for 'em).. and we did some calculation on disposable diapers available in market. i think we'll try the cheapest one first. and i'm start thinking about using cloth diapers je...

and after you're born, we have to prepare some amount for your akikah. and your flight ticket. huhu. oh yes, and your travel cost to visit our families at jerantut, KL & Johor. since we're not gonna be in Semenanjung regularly, we think it's fair if you go to visit your Mbah's and Mbah Buyuts before we bring you back to Miri.

and once we are in Miri, we have to start paying for your child care. a personal nanny might rates higher than a care centre. however, we prefer a personal one. oh, no! we still can't find anybody who is willing to babysit you! i hope bb can help on this... ;p

we have to plan for your insurance, your development, education and so on. things such as baby gears according to your ages, etc. and for early education, we did survey some kindergartens in Piasau, and most of them are Montessories. we thought that's interesting. maybe.. we'll put you into one of them or at a Tadika Islam next to our office :D and until now, we did not buy you any single toys. abi said, wait until you're born.

that's only a 3-4 years plan. for long term.. fuh... exhausting. we have to consider if no more scholarship for higher education given in the next 18 years. today's high educational fee is already a bombard, in next 18 years? phew~ and we have to consider also for the second, third, forth, fifth,.. eleventh :P

however, i'm sure after after you're born, it isn't as hard as we thought. we'll actually can save a lot.

1. we're so lucky that our company covers your healthcare including major/minor illness and regular check-up :D
2. having you will give us tax exemption :D
3. we won't go out as often for dinner and a movie :D
4. we won't go for honeymoon anymore (hwaaa... i haven't gone for any!)
5. we don't have to go out to fill our time & avoid boredom :D
6. maybe, don't have to fly back to Semenanjung with own expenses often. excuse: traveling with baby is leceh :D
7. maybe, more bonuses next year...? oh...mimpi sajalah.

...so terukla these parents!

look like we're thinking about money quite a lot, huh. hmm, whatever people may think, for us, even if there's so called rezeki anak but if we don't have proper plan & management, it may be goes into tokei supermarket's pockets for something unnecessary rather than into what you really need for your present and future.

Naming You Part II

H for..... ?

the idea of choosing this name for you was come since.. when ah? maybe at my 3rd month of pregnancy. initially abi would like to name his kids with.. something +UL at the end of the first name. something like shahrul or saiful or badrul etc. and for girls maybe zatul or ainul etc -> to make it rhythmic with his name: zainul.

but dont know when, suddenly the idea vanished and we planned to name you with 2 words A + H. but again, i felt not very nice for having long name but you'll be called with other name like what both of us are facing. - the hardest question for me to answer is "what shuld i call u?" i am called KakLong by family&orgkampung, Alin by inlaws, Alom@Along by my frens, Lyna by the others, Mek Na by some frens, CT by my colleagues... till i dont know which one is the most appropriate for a first timer. and, in the intention of not to burden you with such problem, we decided to name you by a word only.

but still we stick to the name we chose before (that's your name), by eliminating the first part. i checked in several baby names books for the meaning and all told me the same - 'The One Who Ennoble', and i didn't feel satisfy. i don't think it's the true meaning of the word. i don't have any arabic dictionary with me to check and i don't really rely on those books. sometimes the translation is not as per meaning in arabic. so i checked in the tafsir (tak ada kamus, tafsir pn berguna) cos ur name recites several times in al-Quran.

i could spot one time in surah Maryam and one time in surah al-A'raf. both surah give the different meaning. in Maryam it means 'Gracious' while in al-A'raf it means 'Having Good Knowledge'. however, both are spelled differently, and in Arabic, even if only a tanwin, it changes the entire meaning e.g. ummi & ummiy, umar & 'umar, etc. then i found summary about a book written by Sayyidi Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti about the Prophet's names and, guess what.. your name is one of those! and it means 'Affectionate and Kind'.

now, then only i feel satisfy with your name's meaning. my bad, i should continue learning Arabic.. whoaaa..... and now i can tell confidently if people ask me about your name's meaning. what available in the baby names' books are not convincing, the meaning is hanging and doesn't impress me. but since your name is unique (at least among my frens), that's why we chose the name.

i really like your name. it sounds soft and indulgent to my ears. sometimes i just call your name over and over again. just because i like it =). can you hear me?
** I think somebody who's a smart can guess your name already.

28 weeks...

you are now a 28-week-old fetus. i have a bittersweet memory about this number, that i want to tell you.

13 years ago, i was a little girl with not much responsibility than sitting for my UPSR exam. my mom was pregnant that time, together with her two sisters. i used to see them talking to each other about their pregnancies.

one fine day on 9th june 1994, i woke up and saw my mom looked very weird. she wasn't get up from bed, didn't talk any word and gave me a strange look. my dad brought her into the washroom, bathed her and dressed her up. but mom was very dull and cold. her sight was very blank.

my dad told me that he's going to bring mom to the hospital. yet we still didn't know the reason. and i went to school as usual.

when i came back after school, i got a call from my dad. he said that my mom was going to operation theater to get the baby out from her womb.

actually my mom had a pregnancy induced hypertension, that caused her a great headache all night long, but my dad wasn't home last nite, went out for some political election activity. when my dad came home at 2 a.m., she taught it was too late at night and my dad was too tired to be woke up. then she tried to bear the pain until the morning, but...

dad said there's no other way to save either one, my mom and the baby rather than an emergency c-section. and my mom had some renjatan and that means if the baby hold longer, it might harm both of them.

somewhere at 4.30 pm i guess, my uncle called me, congratulated for another baby boy in the family! 2 month earlier than expected, but it was a very happy news for us after my little brother's birth 5 years back.

the next day, a weekend. i was in my room, sleeping and i saw my dad went around in the house and heard a bit noise in the living room. i heard about "baby's bedding set", and it wondered me. what to do with the bed set? isn't at hospital they have all those things to accommodate babies? or, is my brother already taken home? does he need to be kept in incubator for his pre-matured birth?

finally i went out. my grandma was in the living room. i saw something wrapped in my dad's pelikat, on the baby's bedding set that my mom bought few weeks back.

"nenek, apa ni?" i asked my gradma.
"adik" she answered.
"kenape..?"
"meninggal"

i didn't remember how sad i was. but it was really miserable. i ran into my room and wept. my dad came and tried to calm me down. "don't cry" he said. but i saw tears in his eyes, he cried too.

i couldn't stand to see my little brother's ceremony before funeral (mandi, kafan, etc). but my dad asked me to see him. for the first and last time. he was very small, about 39cm long and weighted 1.1kg. he was so pale and fair, might be because of his blood circulation was already stopped. some said that he looked like my sister, fair and very cute.

however, i didn't follow them to the cemetery yard. i never see any funeral before and i was too afraid to go to the cemetery - takut hantu kubur (i was very stupid back then).

i didn't know my sister and brothers understand or not. but i really felt the loss. that nite, i asked my dad, what was the name of the baby. he said, he named him Muhammad Syazwan.

my dad told us to not telling our mom about Syazwan's death. he said, the death might be because of the trauma he had since my mom had the very hypertension and the renjatan. his lungs became weaken and most of his organs malfunctioned. afterall, a 28 week fetus would be able to survive.

the next day, we went to the hospital to see mom. she was in a great depress. we tried to shut our mouth from telling her about the departure of our Late Syazwan. but then she said, she already knew about the death, since the nurse took away the tag from her. and my little brother (be a little one again) kept on telling her about the baby's condition... blacked hands, very small, very pale, etc.

i don't know how a mom feel about her child loss. but as a big sister, i felt so sad. i had a friend who the mother was expecting too, and we used to talk about our future brother/sister. and after that i had nothing left to talk. and when my aunties gave birth, we felt a bit jealous, our brother went off already, after only 11 hours of survival.

today, after 13 years, everysingle tear we had, left as a memory and a tomb for us to visit every aidilfitri. and the sad memory erased by the naughtiness of your latest uncle who was born 5 years later. hmm.. this just triggered since you are 28 week now :) and i expect you to be a very healthy 39cm and 1.1kg boy, like your late uncle did at his 28week!

**al-Fatihah to Muhammad Syazwan bin Noh (9Jun-10Jun 1994).

I've Been Tagged!

Sis Jazz tagged me!
this is the first time we are tagged! ;p
this is a really nice one! guess what... she's a friend from Brunei! our neighbor! so.. who do you think we should link this chain to.....

Oman's Mom, Aunt Luna
Emir's Mom, Aunt Mira
Adam's Mom, Aunt Diana
Afifah's Mom, Auntie Nonie
Hariz's Mom, Auntie Hanis
The Triplets' Mom, Auntie Munirah

you rock, Mommies!

**Aunt Long dh kuar hospital ke?

Choices in Your Birth

in malaysia, i dont think we have much choice in childbirth. if i could list down here... might be natural birth, c-sect and hi-tech birth i.e. induced labor or manually broken the water. so i don't have choice, it depends on my and your condition during the labor. oh Allah please allow me to deliver this cute boy naturally...ameen~

intially, we planned to deliver you here in miri. and go back to my hometown for confinement after a week, or something like that. our reason was because of our limited leave left and abi wanted to be with me during the labor and delivery. but we received so many negative responds (everybody questioned your ability to fly during your very first weeks). actually we had refer to dr aida and she said no problem. and i asked several friends who did travel with newborns and they gave me some tips to ensure your comfort along the journey.

but our second thought came when thinking about your EDD is during eid. first time parents like us, who are never ever used to handle newborn, can we manage to handle without the presence of elders? and none of our families will be able to come... nobody wants to sambut raya in miri!

finally we decided to give birth to you at my hometown local hospital. i asked several friends about the best place to give birth in KB. auntie eeja suggested perdana specialist hospital, where her baby afnan was born. then auntie mardhiyah suggested to find a baby friendly hospital, since i planned to exclusively breastfeed you. and our choice is right.


we went to the hospital last may, during balik kampung moment, asking for any female gynae. there's a female gynae there! abi is very particular in choosing gynaes. no male please! he said, no matter how s*cks the gynae is, as long as she is a lady, we'll still go to her. phew~

and you know what, abi keep on asking me whether i wanna take epidural or not. i said, as long as i can bear, i will try the natural way. but still, we'll make appointment with the anaestathic later, in case i need it, so it won't be a last minute arrangement. another thing about abi is, he wants me to give birth at GH. i said, our company pays for this, so utilize it! actually abi is a bit obsess since his two siblings who were delivered at private hospital gone thru c-sect, in fact it was becos of placenta previa.... and only after my friend who works at GH advised me to go to PSH (even her senior who works at GH delivered at PSH), then only abi agreed to go to PSH. so now, the counter is closed :)

hmm.. actually i am afraid of undergoing c-sect. now the placenta is at the right position, and i hope you'll contribute in normal delivery by keeping your head down and make sure it engaged when the time is come. oh Allah please allow me to deliver this cute boy naturally...ameen~

My Passion... My Satisfaction

what can be the best thing in life other than getting what we want and able to be happy on that? mommy don't know what you do want right now, maybe you want to stay longer in my womb or maybe you can't hardly wait to come out... but please... don't come out too early!!! we have a very minimum leave left!

on monday, i got an email from facilities engineering section head (of course, not my boss lah). he offered me to do a structural engineering project! guess what, it was the project i used to involved before i was transferred here! and the team leader is my ex-mentor!

you have no idea how mommy keep on waiting for this promise to be granted - to do technical job beside my daily-routine-damn-boring job. even if i am not formally a structural engineer, but doing some structural engineering works, is a great excitement. you may not feel this until you trapped in the positions like what my several friends and I are facing now.

now your mommy feel soooo release... and Oh Thanks ALLAH! this is something like moon comes to your lap. as what i said, it is not about salary, in fact the payment is still the same whether i am an engineer or not. but this is about passion and satisfaction. someone with fishing as his hobby, he doesn't anticipate to catch a pool of fish but the passion and satisfaction when he can fish and get some fish. and me, it doesn't really matter if my job is more relax, more time to sleep, more time to rust my brain but the matter is, my passion is.. answered below.

i miss this thingy.....
6 legged jacket. i remember after my trip to a fabrication yard at lumut 2 years back, i drop by UTP to send my convo robe. the man at the counter asked me "buat apa pegi lumut" i answered "tengok orang fabricate jaket" then he looked at me with an astonish look "tengok orang buat jaket pun kena pegi jauh2 ke?". huhu... actually he was misunderstood between jacket leg for offshore paltform and the cloth thing. saba je la..


..and this software...
the name is sacs and pronounced as 'sex'. a friend of mine once went to a yard during his very early days as a structural engineer. a senior asked him "have you learn sacs (pronounce=sex)?". he was in a great surprised and thought "wah so great to be an engineer. i have to learn about sex!"

actually this is a software used to model an offshore platform. phew~ until now i'm still a beginner.










...this figure....
this is a very common figure in geotechnical. but it took me 4 years to understand. when? at work! huhu.













..this place...
this is not in offshore. this is at a fabrication yard. luckily i am here so i don't have to go to this place. so far from home! only available in pasir gudang, teluk ramunia, lumut and kuching!
but still, i miss the memory visiting those :)







i don't know why, but i really enjoy doing this part of engineering. since i took teknologi kejuruteraan when i was in form 4, i felt happy learn about civil engineering rather than mechanical, electrical or chemical. i got c3 in my spm's physics for the electrical-thing-sort of questions. couldn't answer any... i don't like machine and until now i can't understand what the hell is quantum number in chemistry I.

if you want to do something and you wish to success, choose a way where your passion leads. there's nothing can stop you as long as you have a strong passion behind you. passion is something that drives you to any point you want to stop in your life. i don't success in my career is not because of anything, it's because i lost the passion. i don't have any form of that feeling toward my current job. phew~ (if my boss could read this, please send me to other section!)

there's no such a coincident in life. everything happens and not happen for reasons. do you think bill gates would become a billionaire coincidently? and if i didn't have passion toward abi, you won't be here today :) you came after many hard works, no coincide...

Preparing for Nursery

#this not gonna be your room#

we planned to transport few goods from our current house to the new house at pujut this weekend but suddenly abi caught in high fever and need to rest for the whole day.

even if we are not moving yet, we already had plan for your nursery. previously in this very house, we planned to have a part of our room as the nursery (sooo a big room). however, our room at the new house is very small. enough to place your cot only. so we planned to have another room as your room.

now i guess we have no more worry about the cot. abi's gonna borrow one from his friend who is now staying at labuan (abi.. please make it done!). we'll place the cot in our room until you're able to sleep by yourself on your own bed, which is now ready in your own room :) we are now at the stage of resisting the temptation to think that you have to have everything new, in fact most of the things will be used for a very short time. so, no cot with playpen & changing diapers.

on top of that, instead of variety, we think about safety (and of course frugality). even if we are yet to borrow a cot from friend, but we make sure that the cot is safe. and we are not to get interested with any nursery exhibited in magazines or www or even TV. too lavish and unnecessary for these not-so-rich parents. huhu. it's just enough if we have all your necessities and a room for you to grow naturally.

to paint your room? i don't think so. in fact, it is just a rental house. we won't pay any cent to change the wall look. maybe mommy will put some colorful papers on the wall that may interest you rather than the white paint. and we'll get some colorful container to place your toys (yet none of them were bought, haha)- these containers can be decorative elements too. and maybe a bookshelf to put your books, toys and peektures! abi doesn't want to buy your toys yet. he said wait until you're born.

since we can't sure how long we'll be staying here (i guess it would take us 5-6 years to move back to West Malaysia), i don't want to have a long term plan. so, if i choose baby theme for your room, it should be usable until we move out. a 5-year-old boy is not that 'big', huh! this is not a big deal. :)

we try as much as possible to minimize capex (capital expenditure) because we are going to spend a lot in opex (operation expenditure). so, if someday you'd find out your friends' room are decorated like casa impian and yours is not, please change your shoes into Warren Buffet's. and considering that educational fees nowadays is very costly, we have to cut some unnecessary cost to send you to a good school so that you won't grow up like an orang kampung like your mommy.

#new house rental house.

Welcome to The 3rd Trimester

mommy puasa yesterday. i set the clock at 4am to wake up for sahur. abi just wanted me to fry the chickburger but i had an urge to makan nasik. i cook the rice with ommelette plus the burger. but abi just want burger alone, he said he was sleepy.

initially, i was a bit unsure about the puasa. cos usually in the morning i need a cup of hot milo to energize myself.

but everything was very OK the whole day. and you were actively kicking and i felt energetic as usual. suprised me, you became more active than ever. maybe you had more space and don't have to compete with the food i took :P

yesterday was a great one, in office and at home. i didn't know where does such that 'power' came until i can talk to my boss like... well it was a bit rude but full of satisfaction. at least i could let go the feeling i kept for this long. and i could speak to him loudly than ever. wow, never imagined i can do it in front of my boss (sometimes stress & pressure taught us to be tougher). and at home, i managed to make a fruity jelly (agar2 buah?) for buka puasa. but time constraint (reached home @5.30, maghrib @6.43pm), so the jelly was only ready to be eaten this morning.

after buka puasa, then i started to feel drowsy. i slept on the couch at our living room for 2hours huhu. and, you didn't stop moving, kicking, punching, etc. until i told myself "doesn't this boy feel tired?" (till this moment you still don't stop). oo, i know maybe you are very excited cos auntie naza** delivered a baby girl yesterday. another candidate ah?

or, you are welcoming mommy to the 3rd trimester? erk.. mommy don't know what is available in this trimester for us. i heard that people say this trimester is a 'home stretch' and we'll be in a great emotional spectrum-excited and panic. i heard about water retention, stretch mark, aches, rashes, varicose vein, headache, backache, heartburn, leg cramp, swelling foot, braxton hicks etc. become more significant in this very trimester!

and you'll rapidly growing, thus you need more iron, calcium and protein. hm, i think i should be very attentive to these nutrients and have some light exercise (in fact sometimes i use stairs instead of lift & walk quickly). i did not have any complaint during the 2nd trimester (honeymoon what?) except the SoB, and hopefully this 3rd trimester also doesn't give me much discomfort.

keep up the good works honey. we make a very good team!

**congrates to naza&idzuari on their 1st baby girl delivered 2.30pm 12/07/07.

Sulky Sulky Baby

***THIS IS A MOM-TO-BE IMPRESSION ONLY

yesterday evening, after Maghrib, i sat beside abi while he was reciting surah Luqman. you did nothing until abi mentioned the word "Ya Bunaiya.." then you kicked. it happened everytime abi read that word.

after dinner, i sat in the living room, watching TV while abi was concentrating on his job, with his PC. you were actively moving, kicking, punching, grasping, and with full of excitement i called your name "H****.... H****". as usual, you'd stop (i don't know why you'll stop everytime i call your name. are you listening to me or you don't like that name?). then mommy just let you play alone, and i continued watching TV.

tired staring on PC, abi laid down on the sofa. i told him 'don't sleep' because i couldn't sleep if not sleeping with him. nonetheless he fell asleep. knowing that it was hard for me to sleep without abi, so i decided to have a nice chat with you. i woke you up by pressing all sides of my tummy and luckily you were responding and we started by singing our favorite songs together.

then i iasked you "do you love mommy?"

you said yes, by kicking.

i asked "do you love abi?"

you didn't do anything.

i said "you are my good boy, aren't you?"

you kicked.

i asked again "do you love abi?"

then only now you said yes. huhu.

it must be something miserable for you by not having abi around during bedtime. i still remember since i'm carrying you, i couldn't sleep if abi did't sleep with us. i rather waited for him to finish his job on the PC to sleep together. and during the period where abi was in KL for a week, i couldn't sleep for the whole week. but when we went to KL and had abi around, i could sleep soundly. and now, if abi sleep earlier than us, for sure i can't sleep. you (abi will get mad at me if i point anything on you) just want to sleep with abi. good boy! when you come out later, just call to abi to make you sleep ok. don't disturb mommy's sleeping OK!

and during the play-play session, i didn't know when i fell asleep. with abi slept outside and mommy fell asleep while playing , both of us got punished, you were merajuk for the whole day!

6th Month Check Up

we were very excited to see our baby (it's you!). wanna see his face, and how is he doing. before we saw dr aida, mommy kept on telling you to wake up and show your face. and seemed like you were listening.

o yes, we met your friend at the clinic. she'll be born maybe somewhere in january, and she's our new neighbor! you two may be good friends then.

after donating a portion of my urine, we went in to see dr aida. she asked me whether i have any problem, and i said it's just my SoB. she said it's OK, it'll be OK in the next 10 weeks. huh, sabar aje lah....

after getting my BP reading (it was normal), as usual we went to the couch for ultrasound. she firstly used the 2d one, but we (mommy & abi) couldn't see you. dr aida kept on explaining, this is your head, this is your leg, but.. either the doc's screen was blur or ourselves... then after measuring your head's size (which is normal :)), she changed the probe into 4d, and these are what we got...

1. you turned you face, covered it by your hands and kept you legs close. we could only see this. the doctor tried from the different side of my tummy but you still ran from the probe.

dr aida commented "baby u ni aktif betol. rasa dia gerak2 kan?"

i nodded.

and this is the best she could snap.





2. the doctor keep on calling you "baby, baby pandanglah sini. baby jgnla nyorok.."

finally you moved you hands from your face. but still didn't turn...









3. after several attempts, the results were still the same. until dr aida said "baby u ni bijak sungguh. bijak betul ni. takmo kasik kita tgk muka dia. kaki pn dia rapat2kan dah".

and finally... you turn your body completely to the other side. tunjuk bontot pulak dah..

and abi said "kecik2 dah pandai buli abi yer..."

heheh. and hmmm... from these... whose face are you i inheriting? i said it's abi's but abi said it's mine. ah, whatever la, but you are sooo handsome!

even if we couldn't see your face clearly, but mommy feel so proud of you. the doctor gave you some credit! i told abi, it's ok if he doesn't want to reveal his face, of course after you are born, you have no chance to hide it anymore :P

You Today

it's been a month since our last visit to dr aida's clinic. last time via 3d scan we couldn't see your face clearly cos you were hiding behind the placenta. hopefully you won't be that mean tomorrow.

you're 6 month now. and your behavior become more consistent than before. now mommy can read your sleep time and your happy time. usually your routine (up to now):-

early morning
- wake mommy up. then continue sleeping.

mommy at work
- sleep and sleep until mommy have discussion or meeting. u'll join the discussion very excitedly.
- playing football the whole session.

evening
- play football until mommy go to bed.

nite
-sleep together with mommy & abi until the next morning to wake mommy up.

what excites me is, you really love to join any discussion i attend (maybe it just the time you become very active :P). abi said maybe you wanted to be a CEO someday :) anyway, your activity hinders me from sleeping in the meeting :P

mommy can see, since last month, your behavior is more or less like your abi. abi, when i ask for something, he'll buat don-no, until when i stop asking, then the starts to offer. hmm... and you.. when mommy call your name "H****....H****....." you don't respond. but when mommy buat don-no, who'll kick, punch, roll, etc.etc., but again during the extreme session if mommy call your name, you'll stop. hmm... like to play-play ek... mommy rotan-rotan nanti...

however, mommy really love this experience. everymorning, my tummy will be seen bigger at one side. and you like to kick the left side of my tummy, if not my lower ribs. and when you kick & punch at the same time making me feel like my tummy is going to explode. and when you roll, i feel soooo geli-geli. and my tummy is getting bigger day by day. during the 1st trimester it was seemed like months to see my tummy become big.

now i become fatigue, and very easy to get tired. it's different than during we entered the 2nd trimester where i felt a bit more energetic. maybe this just the transition, of preparation for us to enter 3rd trimester in the next 4 weeks. i guess the honeymoon period is about to get over...

nonetheless, i feel so proud of you. you don't cause me backache, or any ache over my body, i don't have health problem (except the sob, but i already have it long ago) i can walk like usual, even my body maintains its shape (except at the tummy part, tight, bum & boops).

so my good boy, just give mommy chance to sleep soundly tonight, don't be like last nite ok...

Carry Cot, Pushchair, Carrier, Carseat or Sling?

we are not-so-rich parents to be,so we find the cheapest solution to buy your goodies, but still in the highest satisfaction. people always mention that buying thing for newborn especially the first child is an investment. yeah, we are strongly agree since invest itself means to give or devote something to achieve something. so we give our $$$ to have a better you and better future for your siblings. that's why we don't count for each money flies into the supermarkets' tokey as long as it is for your good.

we have no experience in choosing your travel set. only when we started our survey by visiting almost all baby stores in KL, then we began to learn. until we found out that the cheapest solution is having a travel system set with push chair and the carrier. buying a separate carry cot is quite costly for us, and we decide to have the carrier as carry cot even if it is curvy, not straightly horizontal like a carry cot. this curvy is not good for baby's spine development but we hope you'll just be fine. mommy will not putting you in the carrier for a day!

infant carrier

carrycot

for carrier, we sought for something multipurpose, i.e. can be used as carry cot, carseat, bouncer and swing. we went to several stores, looked for travel systems and try the carrier, whether it can swing or not. finally we found something attractive at sogo.this is safety 1st acella LX travel system. it's a bit bulky but we found it's very convenience and comfortable. we saw it as a solid performer, and the carseat has 5-points harness. the stroller also has trays for parents and the baby. and, we found the infant car seat clipped easily yet securely into the stroller to use it as a complete travel system. plus, the wheels have absorbers so that it won't go toing..toing... and most importantly we adore the design.

but we didn't buy it at sogo. still sought for another options like graco, chicco, peg-perego, maclaren, recaro, sweet cherry, elego, cosco, maxi cosi, combi, etc. finally we found one at mom's care 1utama with discount price! same brand, same model. safety 1st acella LX.

considering after your 1st year, you may not using the carrier anymore, we will spend for a toddler carseat later (we didn't buy a carseat for newborn-toddler bcos its not functioning as carrier or carrycot). long way to go, still have time to save money! :D and considering spaces at miri's shopping complex is very small, we'll get a sling once we back to semenanjung later.

so many things to consider before buying your thingies. we asked around about the most popular brands and styles, read the reviews, compare prices, etc. and we found out that this is the best choice. the cheapest in its class --after discount.

New House & Babysitter

yesterday abi got a phone call telling that now it's our turn to move into pcsb's housing at pujut 7. it was a big surprise for both of us, yes we put our name in the list but never expect this soon. we tot it will come in 2-3 years from now.

now our dilemma is... the pujut house is fully furnish but we already bought complete home applicants which are quite bulky and expensive... especially our 2-doors hitachi refrigerator. lucky that the new house has no TV set and washing machine. if not.. how to let go those just-settled-the-payment thingies...

i really want to move to the house. because it's a double storey. we will have more space and more ground for you to play. and the neighborhood is our friends. however, it's a bit far from our office, and make impossible for us having lunch at home anymore :(

but the highest ranking reason why we agree to move because it is not easy to find babysitter in this area. and abi doesn't want to drive out farther just to send you to the nanny. and i prefer if we can send you to anybody who lives on our way to office. i heard that babysitters are available at pujut or piasau rather than lutong. and senadin will be out of our list, because it is at the other side of our globe.

we start to look for babysitter since last month, coz we afraid if we won't have time to find one if we start late. many other mommies will deliver their babies end of this year and we have to compete. furthermore, i have only 2-3 days off after the confinement before go back to work, then it is impossible to grab one in a short duration. to make it worse, we stay soooooo far away from our families, and nobody is going to look after you if we can't find any babysitter.

talking about babysit you, some friends of mine choose to have maids. it is easier, and they have more time to spend with their kids. i have this in my mind, since the rate in sarawak is not very costly, but for now i decided to send you to babysitter. for a newly married couple and abi is full time in house, i refuse to have another lady in my house. unless abi works offshore or not in the house all the time. maybe i would consider this option when the second one comes...

so now we have to find another tenant for this house, and to let go our fridge. anybody interested?

25 week fetus

14 week before i can go back to a single-resident-human and about 3 weeks to leave 2nd trimester. you are getting bigger, about 35cm and weighed 660 gram. and now your skin is no more transparent, it's more opaque-like. i notice you can grasp by now, sometimes you make me surprise by grasping.. i don't know what but it was very obvious. i tot it was abi but abi said he didn't do anything and i knew it was you.

now i notice you are no more laying horizontally, leaning against the placenta. sometimes you put your head down or vice versa. i guess it is because you have more space by staying vertically. and abi loves to listen to your movement by putting his ear on my belly.

you started to deposit your own fat. and i think my belly is about a soccer ball. soccer? hehe. you are the striker what...

now you have more noticeable sleeping pattern. but still, you are a very good boy. you wake mommy up everymorning, and fall asleep back after mommy get up. and you like to listen to conversation. everytime mommy attend engagement sessions with the bosses, or meetings, or at the discussion tables, you'll move vigorously. maybe you are preparing yourself to the business language :)

The Family of Os

i am type O, abi is type O and the most possible type you & your siblings will be are type Os as well. our blood doesn't have A & B antigens, the two distinct chemical molecules present on the surface of the red blood cells. our blood is free from those molecules. we are the universal donors, and we can't accept blood from neither types, because if our blood with no antigen mixed the antigens, our blood cells may begin to clump together in the blood vessels, causing a potentially fatal situation.

on top of this, our blood also has its uniqueness called rhesus factor. my blood does contain a certain blood protein (discovered when scientists do some tests on monkeys to learn about human anatomy), so my blood is said to be rhesus positive or Rh+. if the blood contain none of this protein, it is called rhesus negative or Rh-. alhamdulillah both of us having this kind of rhesus, and you may inherit ours. it is very dangerous if the mom's and baby's blood are not the same rhesus factor. if the baby's blood enter the maternal circulation, the formation of agglutinins against the baby red blood cells may occurs, destroy the fetal red blood cells, causing the severe hemolytic disease of newborns, which is the destruction of redblood cell in bloodstream.

actually i have interesting stories about our blood type. abi & i are kinda leisure persons, we like to read about human including the nonsense fact, especially the zodiac and compare them to ours. abi always says that i am a flirter and i call him an emo. after all, it is what written in our zodiac :P haha, it's just for fun.

but for bloodtype, i dont think this is for fun, because many studies done & i can see it from my observation. especially when type O is said to be high stomach-acid content. i have grandpas who passed away because of gastric or stomach ulcer. and abi also has the similar problem, when he skips his meal, he'll get stomachace.

actually i had plan for our family, since all of us are from the same type, i planned to put us under type O diet program but until now i still fail to because too many dont's than do's. think i can live without wheat??? so i told abi, wait until we have a severe disease that has no other antidot unless we control our diet, and i'll start the diet program. (or maybe i should start now to reduce my short of breath?).

the interesting part about blood type that it carries personality traits with it. from japanese perception, type o's are outgoing, and very social. initiators, although don't always finish what they start. creative and popular, they love to be the center of attention and appear very self confident. i think most of them have reflection to myself. and we are so-called 'the hot ones'. but unfortunately i am not very popular... maybe i'm a loser of this kind. huhu.

well, since all of us are in the same group, i hope it's not that hard to control our family especially when you're getting bigger. and if you may grow up in abi's character, it wont cause any burden for me. live with abi gives me comprehensive and efficient training to grow his kids up.