Don't look back in anger...

Remember this post? Well, my patience was certainly tested the other day. So, I wrote an SMS to dear Mr M

" Salam En. M, it has come to my attention that you are apparently dissatisfied with the fact that I went back early from PD. Sila ambil maklum bahawa saya ke sana untuk menggantikan En. A yang cuma boleh hadir pada hari ini. Harap maklum"

background story :
As most of you know, I am working for the Government. I do not always agree with what I have to do, with the policies and whatnot but I do sincerely believe what I am doing right now, is for the greater good. I believe that in some miniscule way, I play a part in ensuring our nation's sovereignty is intact.

Eventhough I am not particularly fond of my "demanding" boss, what makes me love the place I'm working right now is my colleague. In fact, I would go as far as calling them my comrades. In my section, we have the smart, hardworking and fun soon-to-be momma, the sisterly, bright and experienced Mrs H and the superbly cool dude Mr. A along with highly cooperative, sweet and helpful staffs. I love all the people in other sections as well. We got along really well, we can discuss about anything and divide our work equally (or so we thought).

I have a very high respect for all my colleagues, I am sometimes in awe of how they can maintain their cool facade when faced with all sorts of nonsensical things. So, when we are burdened with the task of organizing a workshop on the fifth day of Raya, everyone is hesitant at first, but hey, its people first, performance now so we roll up our sleeve and just do it. Our section was in charge of logistics, so we have to be there through out the workshop. Mr A had already went back to his faraway kampung and since this the first time momma celebrates Raya with her hubby and bun in the oven, I thought I'd give them a chance and offered to be there on the first day. Mrs H also offered to be there on the first day and Mr A would take over the next day. So, between us (in our section) it's pretty much settled.

On the first day, Mrs H and me arrived early and facilitate in whatever way we can to ensure the smoothness of the program. True to her nature, momma also came along (since she's the one who is actually in-charge of the whole thing) and took care of the whole thing. Bless her :) We had fun there, we brought our families along, Sara got to see the beach, all was good.

On the second day, I had to go back after breakfast since hubby was working and Mr A will be arriving. All was still good, nobody complaint about anything so I went back. In the car, I received an SMS saying that Mr M is questioning the fact that I went back early. Mr M? Questioning me and my ethics? Err, bitter much? He was my dear friend, in fact we were in one group during DPA. The fact that he was questioning me AND ridiculing me behind my back pisses me off soooooo much. He said that everybody have their own problems, what gives me the right to go back early. He even said that if my hubby has to work that day, why did I brought him along...I was fuming with anger, smokes are emitting from my nose.

So, I wrote the SMS above to him. And did he at least have the courtesy to reply that SMS? NO!!!! I know its Raya and all, month to forgive and forget....NOT!

* edited to omit a few words that I think is inappropriate for my lil angel to use (Mommy has to stop using bad words..hehe)

Selamat Hari Raya

Hi everyone, although its a little late, we'd still like to wish everyone a very happy Hari Raya and as usual, maaf zahir batin...hope everybody enjoys their holidays :)

Where is Adlyna Qaisara?

Wow. Sara is now officially 8 months (well, 8 months and 4 days to be exact). How time flies *sigh*. And her newest and most recent habits are:

1) She loves sticking out her tongue. In fact, she can copy any sound we make using her lips and tongue i.e the kissing sound, the hissing sound.
2) She still loves her bath time. And now, she can sit in her tub. She loves splashing the water and get Mommy all wet.
3) She still loves to eat and still NEVER spat out her food. Gotta love her for that :)
4) She still cries when left alone - budak manja
5) She can sit unassisted BUT only when somebody propped her into sitting position. She can't bring herself from all fours to sitting YET.
6) She still doesn't crawl or move forward or backward. Seems like her development is more on the mental side rather than the physical side
7) She looovvveeessss to dance (by dance, I mean rocking back and forth) to music Nenek or mommy makes. Haha.
8) She knows aeroplane, cats and birds. She will look up if we say "Sara, look at aeroplane" or "Sara, bird.." and she'll look down underneath the car if we say "Sara, where's the cat?" (the cat always sleeps under the car).

and the most cutest thing of all is when we ask her "Where is Adlyna Qaisara?" she will proudly pat her chest as if to say "I am Adlyna Qaisara". It's beyond cuteness, I tell ya... Check out the video below :)

sorry for the tilt-your-head video, mommy is not very good at using camera ;p

One Grand Richer

Mommy is now officially one grand richer courtesy of darling hubby. So, this post is dedicated to all the wives out there; a how-to guide to extract RM1k from your beloved hubby. The "coercion" goes as below :

Me : Eh, yang baju pink ni dalam gambar yang kita dapat plain, tapi rupa-rupanya bercorak eh..
Hubby : Eh, bukan mmg plain ke?
Me : Bercorak la
Hubby : Plain la...sayang ni, cuba tengok betul2...apa la
Me : Bercorak la...sayang tau la, sayang yang amik
Hubby : Plain, sama mcm dalam gambar tu
Me : Bercorak la (getting annoyed)
Hubby : Plain. Konfiden je cakap bercorak..
Me : Dah memang bercorak (getting pissed)
Hubby : Plain. Kan ada abang tengok hari tu. Plain la. Apa pulak bercorak

- ok, this is where I am getting super pissed. When you know you are totally right about something and people just refuse to believe it? Yeah, THAT feeling. I bet anybody would have felt the same way then. Arrrggghhh -

Me : OK. TAK PERCAYA SGT CAKAP SAYANG. KITA BETTING. SEJUTA, NAK??
Hubby : Taknak la sejuta...RM 50, nak?
Me : Ah, tak main ah RM50. Seribu, berani?
Hubby : Errr...
Me : Aii...tadi konfiden sangat...kalau abg sure dress tu plain, apa nak takut?
Hubby : Abg sian kat sayang nnti kena bayar abang seribu
Me : (getting super-super pissed) Cepat ah, berani ke tak??
Hubby : Ok.
Me : OK. FINE. SERIBU EH.

The result is:

bercorak, ok?

So, there you have it. A story on how a wife succefully gain RM1,000.00 in 10 minutes of conversation. Yeay!!

my confinement method

disclaimer : This post is written by me, who has absolutely no medical expertise whatsoever. My methods may work for me, but the result will differ according to your pregnancy and delivery. Please do not take my writings and ramblings here as some form of expert opinion. I am merely jotting down my experience for my future reference.

I was always 53-55 kg before pregnancy. With 165cm height, I think it was an ideal weight for me. During my pregnancy, the first trimester I gained almost 10kgs. Heh. Blame that on my desire to eat lots and lots of carbs and good food. Luckily, as I entered my second trimester, it was ramadhan. So, I had to cut back on eating rice and other things. Like most mommies out there, I had morning all-day sickness as well. I would vomit after eating breakfast or sahur but the funny thing is I will immediately search for food after a session of vomiting. (The worst thing to puke is spaghetti bolognese...oregano tasted sooo bitter and disgusting)

Anyway, in total I gained up to 20 kgs ++ during my pregnancy. I was 75kg ++ when I delivered and I went home from the hospital still looking like 9 months pregnant. I was worried. My tummy was hard as a rock. So, I was determined to follow traditional Malay confinement method (Pahang traditional method to be exact)

7 months pregnant II 3 months after delivery

Basically, my daily schedule during my confinement is as below:

6.00 am - 7.30 am : bertungku (I usually falls asleep during this :P) note to self : do it yourself - it'll help you burn all those unwanted and unsightly "chicken wing"

7.30 am - 7.45 am : breakfast (oats or few biscuits with horlicks/milo)

7.45 am - 8.00 am : bathe (my mom made a mixture of hot bathe water using various type of leaves "daun serom" and a mixture of "biji kani" for the va-jay-jay (per dr bailey grey's anatomy..heh)

8.00 am - 8.15 am : rub the "jamu" mixture on the stomach area and bengkung (I use the traditional bengkung Jawa - sooo hard to wear, it's a long cloth (7 metres long) but very comfortable and makes u feel secure if worn properly

8.15 am - 10.00 am : relax, watch TV, watch Sara being bathed, tend to Sara, massage (I only did this 3 times during my confinement), sleep - basically just relaxing and chilling out (thank God for my mom and MIL who took care of everything else)

12.00 pm - 12.30 pm : ate lunch (no food that could made you itch, lots of hot foods i.e black pepper. I usually eat a slice of spanish mackerel (tenggiri) grilled with bits of tumeric and salt seasoning plus lots of black pepper. After 2 weeks, my mom would made me "singgang" with lots of herbs and ginger and I drank "air sepang" for two weeks.

12.30 pm - 4.30 pm : chilling out, sleep a little, have a little snack, this is the time where I usually play with Sara alone and she amazes me everyday with each tiny movement that she makes :) I miss newborn Sara

4.30 pm - 6.00 pm : one more bertungku session. *yawn (My mom will bathe Sara during this time)

6.00 pm - 6.30 pm : bathe and bengkung. Usually hubby is already home, so he can help me wear the bengkung. It's very hard, I still haven't had the hang of it. My bengkung keeps riding up like a loose panties..haha

6.30 pm - 7.00 pm : have dinner, rice with fish (again!) and air sepang

7.00 pm onwards : relax, cuddling with Sara, watch TV. Sara wakes up every two hours, so eventhough I am not doing anything, waking up every two hours is certainly tiring. Everybody (my mom, my dad, my sisters, my hubby would be groggy and zombie-like in the morning).

notes to remember :
1) "biji kani" - must have item. helps to heal wounds faster. grind it on hard stone and rub it to the va-jay-jay
2) "daun serom" - mixture of lemongrass leaves, pandan leaves and a whole lot of other plants/leaves (just found a cool blog explaining all the details). I bathe with this for 10 days. After that, just hot water.
3) "jamu" mixture on stomach can also be replaced with limau nipis + kapur
4) I think 3 times of massage session is not adequate. Should do 7 times and then once a week until the end of the confinement period
5) all foods must be of "hot" nature. No cold food are allowed. Iced water is a no-no.
6) "air sepang" - dunno other name for this drink, but it is the boiled water of "kayu sepang" plus bits of saffron. The colour and taste is like hot tea, quite nice actually. It'll make ur body warm all over.
7) "bertungku" - always rub a little bit of cooking oil before putting the tungku stone on fire. For the first 1 week, I use river stone, but my hubby over burn it and it broke into 4 pieces. Heh. Then, I use the traditional northern tungku (see pic *credit to nanabizmom.blogspot.com - she even sells it) and it works wonders. I will compile another post explaining the details about bertungku because it has specific methods.
8) "bengkung" - I use the traditional Jawa bengkung, will also compile another post explaining step by step the method of doing it.

I am somewhat lucky because I do not feel the urge to eat anything during my confinement. Partly because I was soooo in pain during my confinement. I'm back to my pre pregnancy weight within two months after giving birth. In fact, now I am slimmer than before. Now, I only weigh about 50-53 kg. It helps that I don't really like to munch on chocolates, junkfoods, biscuits or anything of that sort. I only enjoy heavy food in particular hot rice. Haha.

I am also the luckiest person on the planet because my mom, my dad and my sis are around to help me and hubby. All of us sleep together in the living room and they wake up everytime Sara cries out. Family support is very important during confinement period. Thank God for them...