Precious 2011

Checkup at 16 weeks

I went for my fourth checkup today. Since my doctor scans the baby at every checkup, both moms decided to accompany me to see their first cucu for themselves :)

Anyway, everything's fine. I gained less than a kg since the last checkup, but I'm told it's normal cuz I'm still in my early stages.

And as usual, we moved on to the ultrasound, and I the moms were even more excited than I was. They were ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the image, and all I could do was smile like a dummy because it's just so amazing!

The thought of this tiny person growing inside my womb, the sight of his/her little fingers and toes, that little heartbeat and how actively he/she was moving around? I guess I was juat in awe of everything. He/she is growing at a normal rate, consistent with the expected due date. Very healthy, I think, Alhamdulillah.

It's still too early to tell the gender, but hopefully, by next month we'll be able to.

And for some reason, I still find it hard to believe I'm gonna be a mom! :D

Shorts

1. I'm 9 weeks pregnant

2. I had my 2nd ultrasound last week. The baby is doing good. It's the size of a grape, and it's got a tiny little heart that beats like a champion :P It's the cutest thing in the world, seriously (or maybe that's just me, cuz it's my baby and it's living in me). It's got hands and feet, but no fingers or toes yet.

3. The morning sickness persists. It's not bad, but it's not great either. As soon as the nausea pill runs out of my system, I get nauseated all over again.

4. I haven't been craving anything much. In fact, for some reason, the thought of food sometimes makes me wanna throw up.

5. No weight gain either. Yes, I know I look tembam, but the tembam came before the baby.

6. but I've got massive lower back pains, esp at night! It's a good thing that my husband seems to be an awesome untrained masseuse though :P

And that's about it! :)

The Reveal

Cheh, the title sounds poyo kan? haha, whatever.

Anyway, here it goes, we're expecting!

It's been 7 and a half weeks so It's really really new. To my friends out there, please doakan that the three of us will make it safe and sound yeah?

So far I've had a mild to moderate case of morning sickness ("morning"? lies i tell you, lies!), sleepless nights, backaches, extreme mood swings (I cried for three hours over assam laksa. like seriously, how emotional can you get over food?) and the inability to smell certain scents (i.e: my neighbour's cooking and it's bad cuz she seems to cook the same thing e.v.e.r.y.s.i.n.g.l.e.w.e.e.k.d.a.y.m.o.r.n.i.n.g), but I'm healthy so far, and thinking about what's to come makes it all worth it!

So yeah, there's my big news, it's also a major reason why I deactivated my facebook - initially it was because I was excited and didn't want to reveal it before letting some of my best friends know about it first.

I was also getting annoyed by some idiots - posts, liking things they should not be liking, stuff like that, so i figured before I gave them nasty, nasty messages on facebook, it was better for me to step back until my moodswings are over.

I know that some of the people who found out early were dying to let it out, because someone actually posted a status without actually revealing who it was! hehe, thanks darlings for keeping it secret this long.

There are still a few important people who don't know the news yet. Hopefully, they'll read this and find out soon.

So again, please doakan that baby, mommy AND dad will all make it through this, safe, sound, healthy and sane. Thanks!

The Day We Turned T.h.r.e.e

Time flies, seriously. Yesterday was our 3rd anniversary. It feels a whole lot shorter than that you know? The day itself is almost a blur, but I remember how my bridesmaid ran away with my flowers and how we were so exhausted by the end of the day, tapi i still had to take off my gazillion inches of makeup. Macam nak pengsan.

I tell you, never do whole day affairs. I mean, nikah in the morning and then reception at night? Not to mention the photoshoots and makeup process, and then removing and then re-makeup-ing in between. It saps up all of your energy. Plus, as bride and groom, you don't get to eat much. Yeah, I know there are some of you out there who are thinking

"Fsck it. It's my wedding, I can eat as much as I want to!"

That's what I thought too, trust me. And then the big day comes along and you (or I, at least) hardly touch your (my) food cuz of the cameras flashing in your face and the gazillion people looking at you. haha. And then later on bila dah malam, exhausted and your tummy is grumbling, you want to start regretting the fact that you didn't eat, but you're too tired to do that either. lol.

I also remember how I felt the next morning, while we had breakfast (sent to the room), realising that it's my first breakfast ever as someone's wife. And then the first time we found time to solat jemaah, afterwards rasa nak nangis. haha.

Anyway, newlyweds, we sure aren't no more.

ok,that was a really really long digression.

So yesterday, Epol took leave just for the occasion.

We had a late breakfast





Then we went to redbox and sang our voices out for three hours! I thought the morning package was only 2 hours, but boy was I wrong.

And then we had a movie marathon, A Tangled Tale and Harry Potter - both were pretty awesome so go watch!

And then dinner at Bubba Gump.

Tembam. I know. Shadap.

Bucket of Boat Trash

Rib

Alabama Smoothie. This may not look like much but it's delightfully sinful!

It was an awesome day, with my best friend ever ever ever :)

Hot Chocolate Pots

Last week, I made some chocolate pots, just to try out the recipe. They're basically gooey chocolate goodness in little ramekin pots. For the life of me, I can't seem to find any ramekins over here, and since the recipe doesn't require any baking, I dug up some of my mom-in-law's cute little white teacups and decided to put them in those.

It's an extremely easy recipe which takes less than 5 minutes to make, but Epol and mama suka. Last night, Epol asked me when I was gonna make some more, and since the last time, I only used half of the ingredients, I decided to just finish the other half today.

No pictures, but they basically looked like these:



(I took this picture from Easy French Food, tapi the recipe is not the same)

After pouring the mixture into the cups, I saw that there was quite a bit of residue stuck in the pot and the ladle, so I just reheated the stove, poured in some milk, and voila, hot chocolate.

This was the first time I made my own hot chocolate, and let me tell you, I was very pleasantly surprised that it tasted just like the ones I love at Starbucks! :D

So yeah, byebye Starbucks, hello homemade hot chocolate.

I feel all warm, happy and sleepy now...

The Past, Present and Future

Someone from the past came back into my life a few days ago. I'm happy to say that I managed to put it all behind us and accept what happened as fate leading me to another direction. And I'm comfortable with where going right now, and the person I'm going with. :)

Currently, my appetite has returned with a huge boom! Ermm, not exactly. I can eat a full meal now, but I no longer feel hungry every 2 hours, and the portions that I'm able to eat are enough that I don't feel like a pig. That probably means that my hormone levels are back to normal :). I've started swimming again, which is great because I need some exercise after the ridiculously long recovery time from the first surgery.

I'm also happy to say that we've decided to start a little family of our own. However, due to the near future plans, which we've already put cash into, it's gonna have to wait until at least a few months more. Till then, I have Langkawi to look forward to, and hopefully, my masters in a few months time, assuming I get accepted.

Life is great.

Welcoming 2010

With amazing company, namely:

1. Reliving my childhood with these little munchkins



who helped me find out that Littlefoot's mother's death STILL makes me cry after all these years, and that Sharptooth STILL scares me. I am happy to say that I still find this movie one of the best movies ever made.

2. Reliving my husband's childhood with them



Although I have to admit I fell asleep a few times during the show. Not that the movie is boring, I think I was a bit tired.

3. And of course, last but certainly not least, with the hubby.

The two movies ended right before the countdown and guess what?

Our room has a beautiful view of One Utama and The Curve and as the clock struck 12, we managed to bag ourselves TWO hassle-free, crowd-free, FREE fireworks shows, right from the comfort of our own bedroom.

This is the life. :)

Happy New Year Everyone!

p/s: The Land Before Time picture taken from The New Parent's Guide and Transformers 1986 picture taken from Tfkenkon.com

TV Shows

A few weeks ago, my mom-in-law was telling me about a show she was addicted to on TV. Nur Kasih, katanya. Obviously at that time, dengar acuh tak acuh aje la, because I thought that I was too cool for Malay series (ayat berani mati, memang nak kena sumpah kot). No offense to anyone, but I found a lot of them cliche and plot dia somehow susah nak lari, mesti orang2 kaya yang corporate yang dengki mendengki antara satu sama lain, make up and hair wajib over the top, sampai nak tidur pun rambut 'big hair' the nanny cantik gila and make up 3 inci.

And so my mum-in-law asyikla remind me to watch because she loves it so much, but I kept putting it off, expecting the same things that are always on tv. On Raya Haji, we made our way back to my husband's kampung in Muar, and it turns out that everyone there are Nur Kasih addicts and it just so happened that they were airing the last episode that day, and everyone was excited about it so I finally decided to see what the hype was all about.

The moment I saw that the director was Kabir Bhatia, I realised the folly of my earlier judgments. I had watched Sepi earlier this year and I absolutely loved it. Similarly, Nur Kasih was indeed a wonderful tv drama.

The cinematography was awesome. I thought each scene was filmed carefully, and the effect? beautiful and breathtaking.

I loved that instead of the usual 'oh help me I'm a damsel in distress and I'm just gonna keep quiet when someone does something bad to me' protagonist, this one had spunk and while she was the poster girl for the type of woman every muslim man would want to marry, she did not let anyone step on her head and is known to deliver lines akin to a slap in the face.

I loved the storyline as well. It made me cry, laugh, smile, in fact I probably went through all the emotions I have stocked up during the whole 26 episodes. Oh and for the absolute FIRST time, I LOVED Jalaluddin Hassan's acting. First time ever. I've always thought he was ott and stiff, but this time around, it was effective enough to make me cry.

I rarely ever sing praises for Malaysian made films, but I have to admit that the quality of our films are improving a tremendous lot. I find this particular series meaningful, and, for the first time, considering this is a Malaysian made tv series, when i watched the last episode I felt the same way I usually do when I finish reading a great book or get to the end of a wonderful movie. The feeling of slight sadness that it had to end.

So, Team Aidil or Team Adam (boleh tak apply Twilight punya kat sini? ;p )?

I never get tired of looking at this...

Yes, I know a lot of people have graduated before, and I'm obviously not the pioneer of all degrees first class, but it's my pride and joy. It's something I never thought I would get (although admittedly, I failed to achieve something else I was pretty sure I would get, due to some technicality, which explains the two stars instead of three)

But yeah.

I worked hard for four years to get this, and I believe I'm entitled to little bit of narcissism and a whole lot of pride.

Early Graduation Present

My husband gave this to me last weekend. Granted, it's not one of those fancy cameras which take amazing-looking pictures. In fact, reviewers describe it as an entry-level camera. I think as far as compact cameras go, this one's pretty good. It takes nice pictures and that's enough for me.

And one fine day, I will get over my laziness and take pictures of our cozy little loft and post them here. :) One day. Haha.

Gastronomic Delight?

I was reading through I Do Things So You Don't Have To (refer to my bloglist, I'm feeling a little bit lazy) and came across the term Geoduck, pronounced as Gooey Duck. Now, contrary to what I thought when I first came across the term, it is not a duck, nor is it gooey, it's some kind of sea creature that people eat, apparently.

Now, the name sounds slightly weird, so I decided to click on the link that the author provided, which I'm providing here also. CLICK!

Doesn't it remind you of something? Heh.


On a WAAAYYY different note, results are out!
I'm happy.
And more confused than ever now.