Part 1 (of season 2)

I should've start somewhere right? Why not the birth of my second star :)

After quite a few Braxton Hicks episodes since the 30th week, I've learnt not to scare myself silly and installed a contraction timer app on my phone (nerd much???).

That morning on May 2nd, at 3 am I was tossing and turning in my bed, not quite in pain, but just uncomfortable enough not to fall asleep. Went to the loo, back in bed, drank warm water, recite anything I could in the dark and quietly clicking on the app. Fell asleep and up again around 6, and prepped Umar to be sent to the nursery. I dressed to go to work as usual (background, still clicking on the app - 7 minutes apart... self conversed that I've had this before, it might be BH again).

On the road, hubster and I were still conversing as usual (me with the phone in my hand - 6 minutes apart). We already reached Batu 3 when he asked whether I wanted to go to the hospital and I just agreed. I mean why not, just check lah, if BH can go to work. Mana la tauuu kot-kot betul kan. Anyway the app showed the contractions were 5 minutes apart, and it was getting STRONGER.

By the time we reached the hospital I was already having difficulty getting out of the car,and I was wheeled up to the labour room to check my CTG and opening. It was about 8.15 in the morning. ALREADY OPEN 5CM!

And the waiting began. Along with some major zapzapZAP of pain coursing through the body.

At 11+ I was having major ZAPPPPP and couldn't take it anymore, so I finally asked for pethidine jab. NO POINT WHATSOEVER.

By 12+pm I was fully dilated and so ready to push.  As I had epidural with Umar, this was a first full-on painful delivery. It really was like nothing I've ever felt before, like YA ALLAH APA YANG NAK KELUAR NIIIIIIII!!!

And at 12.32pm after 4 pushes, Ilyas was safely delivered :)

Food for thought

I do follow forums and groups on topics of baby-raising, one in particular is on homemade food for babies. For one thing, i know mothers would try their best to give the best to their children, hence the promotion of feeding fresh (better if organic) homemade food to babies and toddlers.  But I think it is unnecessary to ask the forumer to throw away all the baby bottled food, or nestum, yang dah dibeli. 

I mean, those are not cheap, and we don't pluck money from trees, see. it baffled me to see a mother writing a response 'saya buang je..' with a smiley. Well, maybe she didn't buy them with her own money, so without any guilty conscience whatsoever she threw them away. 

Memang bagus, to give fresh food to our children, tapi, tak baik membazir. kan? A tin of Nestum might be a day's worth of wage for someone. Is is better to use them in adult food preparation. We are used to processed food, kan? tipu la kalau cakap tak pernah makan burger, sosej dan nuggets. awak tu bukan sufi.

a bottle of sweet potato and pumpkin, for example, can be used to thicken your stew, or curry. a bottle of apple pear  can be mixed in your smoothie. That's just a couple of varieties you can try. And always, you can eat it on its own as snacks :)

No, it doesn't happen to me, but i pity the person who get that kind of advice. worse, if the person follows it.awak bukan buang duit orang yang mengomen, tapi duit sendiri.

a big blob of blabberism

This is soo weird. I've been hankering for a lot of food lately. when I say a lot, I mean A LOT.

For example, for the past 2 weeks i think I've had in me about 4 (BIGGG) bars of cadbury (n thinking of buying more).

Even hubster noticed my demands on meals are now, as he said, very demanding.

Blame it on PMS, sure. Because i'm quite sure nowadays my water intake are adequate, so no way i've mistaken thirst with hunger.

HOW DO I STOP THIS??

more importantly:

HOW TO SLIM DOWN IF I CONTINUE TO BE LIKE THIS????

haih.

Beauty profile review

Browsed through my archive (yes I am a narcissist that way) and found a post on my own beauty profile. Let's have a review and see my current status:

Face: normal/combi dry (normal T-zone, dry cheeks) NOW: weyyhh now nose also quite dry! 

Main problems: hormonal zits, temperamental dry-ish cheeks NOW: no more zits, only dry, itchy whole face

Current products used:

Skincare:

Cleanser: Clinique Mild Facial Cleanser , Clean and Clear exfoliating daily wash

Eye makeup remover: None

Scrub: none as the C&C already has exfoliating beads

Toner: Clinique Clarifying Moisturizing Toner 2.

Serum / Essence: None (????!!!!!)

Moisturizer: Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion, Clinique Moisture Surge Thirsty Skin Relief

Eyes: None

Masks: None

Makeup:

Face: Bobbi Brown Compact Powder in Sunny Beige.

Favourite blushes: Still loves light pinks and corals, another pan has hit bottom recently. cue new blush!

Favourite eye-colours: currently, none. I bet my cream shadows have dried already.(RED ALERT! anis please destash your shadows)

Favourite lip colours: nude rose/pinks. Prefers lipsticks rather than glosses. But currently only using lipbalm.

Currently hunting for: New blushes, eyeing the new Maybelline bounce blush, but i haven't seen them at their stands yet.

Can’t live without: Vaseline lipbalm


oh dear, compared to last routine, my performance sure dropped real low! time to buck up Anis, you're not getting any younger you know. 3 series coming right up!

My resolution to have a resolution

I noticed that I usually don't state any new year resolution every new year, except stating that I don't have a resolute resolution. Seperti appraisal, resolutions for me need a midyear review, so anything intangible can be dropped and new plans for the year can be incorporated. ecehh... tapi ye memang sangat pemalas maka tak pernah buat...

But now with a child in tow, I should have a plan for this year. Everything has gone haywire, trying to suit into new routines. And just when I've adapted, a NEWER routine needs to be incorporated. So this year I'm vowing to:

1. Be more organized. Really. I have to.

2. Take better care of my body. Since Mr. Attention Seeker came to town, I've been neglecting myself more than ever. Get up and move around Anis! AND don't forget your supplements! But first I have to do No.1 to achieve No.2.

There. I think that's 2 big stuff I critically need to sort out. And oh, No. 3:

To cook more.

Nowadays dapur berasap cuma untuk buat bubur/ bakar pisang for umar. Mama ayah ikut sempat je sebab sampai rumah pun dah dekat pukul 7.. kalau rajin masak la satu benda, kalau tak beli takeaways or order la saja kat Joe. Oh tak cerita kan, at my place kat clubhouse ada kedai makan yang buat delivery namanya Joe, maka dengan senang hati telefon saja ;) so no, less Joe's Anis.

And No.4, to be more green. We tried bringing our reusable bags everytime we go grocery shopping, tapi kadang-kadang tu terlupa jugak. So this year I hope we'll try to do that more (cue No.1, again!). 

I've been clothdiapering Umar full time for the past few months since his stash has almost doubled (dropped from the bandwagon 2 times, totaling about 2 weeks during his bouts of sickness), so I vow to keep the heat up and clothdiaper him until he's potty-trained. Less waste to send out for disposal, and my Umar's butt has never looked cuter :) And no, our water bill is not much elevated while clothdiapering. Still below RM 10, which means in Selangor, still free :D

I myself has jumped into the wonderful world of clothpadding recently, so I hope I don't waste more money on disposable pads. No arguments whether it's icky or not because:

1. It's your own blood.

2. As with the disposables, as a Muslim we have to wash them pads clean before tossing into the garbage bin. So it's the same principle, just that we get to use them back.

And anyways cloth pads are soooooo pretty! Wait till i show u my (measly) stash. Cuteness! And because it's cloth, it is so comfy, you won't feel like you're wearing any!

Oh Christmas and Year End Sales, what damage have you done to our pockets!

A quick recap on our December haul:

For Ayah - A new set of perfume

For Mama - Oh! Lola for me, and about 10pc CPs to get the stash going ;)

For our Wee One -

1. After a 'healthy' discussion, a booster seat for feeding.

2. Munchkin fresh food feeder.

3. A supersized playmat.

4. A hand blender for making Umar's meals.

5. On the go thermos for making Umar's milk.

6. soapnuts for Umar's CDs

7. More CDs for Umar!

Alaaa terlupa lagi dua..

..movies this year yg i missed in the cinema hahahaha

Green Lantern - actually not bad, not bad at all. Walaupun concept dia agak kelakar kena pakai cincin n charge kat lampu gawd it sounds soooo ridiculous in malay hahahahaha .. Most probably sebab Ryan Reynolds hihihi hotttnesssss pppsssshhhh

Thor - Another superhero movie.. Ok jugak la walaupun concept dia pun kelakar power di tukul kahkahkah the Thor is not as hot as Ryan Reynolds tapi perut perrgghhh if you enjoy superhero movies like superman batman ironman i think Thor is quite enjoyable as well..

These two movies, walaupun telah diketahui kekelakaran dan tak masuk akal punya concept  tapi yang tuuu jugak ditengok kalau agak2 bosan (selain cartoon movies for umar n how i met your mother for moi) ;)