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) ;)

movies i missed (n would have to miss out)

Semenjak ada cikonet, tak pernah lagi p tengok wayang. We actually stopped earlier before, during my pregnancy lagi. I dunno why, but i guess being a fussybutt i couldn't tahan duduk kat shopping complex lama-lama. Kaki tak larat wei. Everything swelled early into the 5th month so mmg by the end of it I ended up waddling like a penguin.

This year ada banyyaaaakkk movies yang i missed out in the cinema. Hubster made up for it with HD movie downloads so tak la rugi sgt. All that was missing is the popcorn. hrmmm... should have bought that microwave so i can make my own kan..

X-Men First Class - hmm oookkk laa.. tak la seronok sgt for me. not exciting enough to warrant subsequent watch (i'm known to watch movies again and again and again and again

Transformers Dark of the Moon - pun so-so.. takde rasa teringin nak tengok berkali-kali.. sebab takde megan fox? perhaps, walaupun dia cuma bimbo yang tak la pandai sangat berlakon.

Fast Five - punnnn tak menarik sangat.. eh aku tak suka banyak jugak movie tahun ni rupanya hahahaha.. i've watched number 4 much much much more times than number 5. eh number 5 tgk sekali je kut.

Kungfu Panda 2 - haaaa ni seronok :D and it's also Umar's favourite, apart from princess and the frog heheehe maybe he can correlate dgn baby po? perhaps, perhaps, perhaps ;P sebab baby po comel, macam umar hahahaha

Rio- This is my favourite for this year. B.E.S.T. best best best! love the movie, love the songs - Jamie Foxx punya suara mmg best, Party in Ipanema baby! n LOVE the collaboration with angry bird! at least lawa la, dari tgk babi-babi tergolek-golek kan..

Hangover Part 2 - I've said it before, I'll say it again. GROSS, GROSS, GROSS. tapi kelakar. tapi GROSS. Bradley Cooper hottttttt!!

Cars 2 - my son didn't seem to like it, and so did I. i guess we have similar taste ;)

Pirates of the Caribbean 4 on Stranger Tides - I don't know why but the movie seemed a little off. Not because there's no love story, no Orlando Bloom. no no no! Johnny Depp tetap chenta hatiku. tapiiiiiii MAKE UP yang off.. OFF GILA.. haih.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - hmmm... i'm on the fence on this one. nak kata best sgt pun tak, tak best pun tak. some parts adalah sedikit kecewa, tapi some parts adalah sedikit teruja. see?

There's two more movies that i haven't watched - Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1 and The Smurfs. Kena carik yang at least 720p baru cantikkkkkkk

And the latest that i would, again, miss, is SHERLOCK HOLMES A Game of Shadows. HWAAAAAA

MOVING

to make it clear whose territory is whose, i've made a special place for Umar's development, favourites, milestones etc. so skrg tempat ni boleh dibuat tempat merempan tak tentu arah mcm biasa ;)

umar's new place:

MY LITTLE MAN'S DIARY

A Review on Rumparooz

i received these lovelies from my beloved sspians who threw babyshower for me and aishah cum ifi's housewarming (another excuse for makan fest and gossip session!). there is another one in sunshine - bright bright orange (couldn't take the picture as it was in laundry). it was love at first sight.

the colours are the most vibrant i've ever seen! u won't see any boring pastel colours from rumparooz. love love love :)

the rumparooz i have here is the new G2 pocket diaper. each diaper comes together with a set of inserts - a small 2 layer microfibre newborn insert which can later be used as boosters, and a 3 layer microfibre inserts which has adjustable snaps.

here's a look on the inside of the diaper. it's made from soft soft stay dry microchamois. the winning feature for this diaper must be the poopscoop, the inner gusset that keeps EVERYTHING in.

umar could fit in this diaper since about 2weeks, using the provided newborn insert as the soaker. trim dan cantik. n true to its claim, the poopscoop never let anything out. another thing that i love is the laundry tab for velcro closure. its made of cloth (barely noticeable in the picture) so it's very soft and won't graze my baby's skin.

the sad thing is, now at 5 months umar is already set on L setting. why? while the crotch is narrow, providing good fit so the baby won't look terkangkang much even as newborn, the thigh casing is trim too, which is bad news for my chikenet's drumsticks.

hot and sexy umar in rumparooz only :D

overall view: thumbs up for trimness and vibrant colours. i wish i could say the same about the fit on my chunkybaby, but sadly, no :(

Out of the blue, a make up review..

dah lama tak review makeup kan? i recently found a long-lost love, hence this post :D

presenting, Eyeko Fat Balm!!!!

i bought this just b4 i found out i was pregnant (which has since led to a looooooooong pause on any cosmetics purchase, until recently ;)) n loved it to bits! its actually a lip balm, n a fat one at that (hence the name) but it's also tagged to be used as cream blush. n i AM a sucker for multipurpose cosmetics, so i must of course have it. i have one in strawberry, will post real pic when i have the chance.

the thing i love most is while its moisturising as a balm, and the tint is suitable for my complexion, it being a cream blush is not sticky much. just pat pat pat on the cheeks, blend blend blend blend, then pat pat pat on the lips, smack once, twice, then ur already done! it's effortless to do my face nowadays, which is crucial since other times are spent playing with umar ;)

the not so good news part is that when i head to its website, www.eyeko.com, i realized it's no longer there! upon further investigation i noticed that the brand has rebranded itself and has since focused on the eyes only, which i think is a little nonsensible. i mean, have u ever heard of a cosmetic brand that focused on only one area of the face? don't give me empro please hahhaha i know there are brands like that!

more googling, n i found out that some online shops still carry this gem, but yeah, they don't ship to malaysia. kalau rajin ada je personal shoppers at lowyat.net yg take orders to buy for you, which is how i get my eyeko in the first place :)

A FLIP REVIEW

Another AI2 system that umar currently use is Flip. It's a basic one-size waterproof PUL diaper cover with lay-on insert. There is an option of snap or velcro closure, and staydry or organic cotton insert. The staydry insert is comprised of 3 layers of microfibre topped with stay-dry suede. the Flip system caters for babies from 7-35lbs.


I first bought a day pack of Flip which consisted of 2 diaper covers (moonbeam and butternut, both in snap closure) with 6 stay dry inserts. i've since bought more staydry inserts, and another cover in clementine (above) with velcro closure.

Umar started to fit into Flip as he was about 4 weeks old, roughly 3.5kg. And since then, up til now, Flip has become a staple for him. i even use them on umar for night diapering, added with microfibre or hemp booster.

As with Thirsties diaper covers, Flip covers are also made of breathable PUL, which enables it to be wiped clean if there's no stains and airdried before alternate use. The cutting of Flip is generous, which is thumbs-up for chunky monkeys. It has flaps on both sides to put in the insert's ends so it stays put. Umar was at the smallest setting and just upgraded to M setting at 7kg. no red marks on umar's thighs at all on this system, yeay!

inner view of Flip cover

the look inside Flip with the insert laid on

the only minor thing that i (ehem!) disliked about Flip cover is the laundry tab for the velcro closure. since its laundry tab is velcro strip sewn onto the back of the cover, it touches umar's back, and mama doesn't like the feel of it. so my solution to it was to lay the insert onto the laundry tab instead of underneath the flap, so its contact to umar's skin is minimised :)

i love, LOVE Flip staydry inserts as it is very thirsty, hold umar's pee about three hours without leaks, and easy to clean. The staydry insert is also convenient to use as it has marks sewn onto it to show small, medium and large setting. I can just fold the insert according to the marks and it fits well into the cover. nowadays i use the inserts not just into Flip covers, but also into other diaper covers as well.

overall view: 4 thumbs up! more than a third of umar's stash is made of Flip, which goes to show how much i love them :)

recipe gone ermmmm... not quite right..

last night was my first try to make carbonara pasta. sangat senang sebenarnya, but i still manage to get it wrong. kena repair2 baru ok sikit rasa dia.

sorry no pictures, sebab rupa sangat kesian putiiiiihhhh je.

pasta carbonara

pasta of your choice (takde spaghetti masa nak beli maka bantai beli vermicelli pasta)

carbonara sauce:

1 cup cream (substituted with evaporated milk)

2 whole eggs

1 cup grated parmesan cheese (takde kat rumah so i used 4 slices cheddar cheese)

1/2 cup hot water

pinch of salt

this recipe calls for crispy fried bacon, but i just used leftover cold cuts of roast beef and chicken pastrami. u can also use turkey ham and slices of button mushroom.

to do:

1.boil pasta according to package instruction.

2.cut the cold cuts into bite-sized pieces. fry as u like, i just fry plain je.

3.combine all carbonara sauce ingredient. if u like it thick u can omit the hot water and salt, the cheese is already salty enough. mix with fork/beater, and simmer on slow fire. season with pepper and mixed herb (kalau ada chilli flakes lagi sedappp).

4. add in fried cuts and sliced mushrooms into sauce.

5. mix pasta into sauce, garnish, and you're done!

Thirsties: A Review

Really. i really can't emphasize enough how much i depend on these covers during confinement. In fact, the Thirsties covers were used on umar since he was born until yesterday (umar hit 7kgs. size 1 Thirsties covers 6-18lbs which means it should fit umar till about 8kgs, but his thunder thighs said differently :( )

first off, a little about the brand.

Thirsties is a USA made diaper brand, the most famous products being their range of diaper covers. There is also fitted diapers, sleeve diapers (kinda like pocket but with both ends open so the insert agitate itself out during washing) and more.

The Thirsties came either in aplix or snap closure, in sizes (XS, S, M and L) or 2-size system:

Size 1 which fits 6-18lbs (3-8kg), and
Size 2 which fits 18-40lbs (8-18kg)

Here are the ones that i used on Umar:

from left: aplix cover in Blackbird, snap cover in orchid, snap cover in storm cloud, and duo insert, all in size 1.

All three covers are the Duowrap Size 1 (i couldn't find the XS cover). the covers are made of breatheable waterproof polyurethane laminate (PUL) and wipeable, so if there's no poo stain, u can just wipe it clean and airdry for alternate use. These fit Umar since he's born (2.5kg) till 7kg at 5 months.

The DuoInsert is made of two parts: 2 layer microfibre topped with stay-dry microfleece, and a bottom part made of 5 layer jersey-hemp. these two parts are connected with snaps, so u can unstick them and they dry faster after washing.

here is how it looks like in the duowrap.

my take after using the system for 4 months?

on the duowrap:

easy to use, the wipeable feature made it a breeze. u can just lay on any type of soaker (but NOT microfibre insert!) on it, snap your baby in, and voila, all done. until umar outgrew his duowrap, i love to pair it with FLIP staydry insert (review coming up later). in terms of using aplix or snap closure though, i must say that it's a personal preference. and i prefer the snap ones, since the aplix easily folded under umar's belly and cause leaks.

on the insert:

although hemp is reputed to hold a LOT of liquid, sadly it didn't work out much for umar, even when he's about a month old. these days i separate the two parts and they are excellent as boosters for umar's night time diapering.

overall view: thumbs UP!

Clothdiapering A Newborn

When i first got pregnant, mak advocated on using the traditional lampin masa berpantang, and at least masa cuti bersalin to cut the cost of using disposable diapers. i was a little apprehensive, knowing how pemalas i am and kesian mak nak jaga kitorg masa pantang tu. but i was little curious when i came upon the term cloth diaper at babycenter community forum.

more and more i read, regarding the whole myriad of CD systems available. it was overwhelming, at first, especially the jargons used. AIO, AI2, pocket. what's the difference between insert AND soaker???? what's the difference of fabrics used to make these cute stuff? THERE'S ACTUALLY FABRIC MADE OF BAMBOO???

to name a few.

on and on i read, and did a lot of research to avoid disappointment (and waste of money). at first, the thought of using one size cloth diaper was very tempting. but the more i read, the more i came upon mothers who failed to use the one-sized ones since newborn, mainly because after all, newborns are very small, and the cutting of onesize CD just don't cut it.

at 26weeks i finally decided that i would use lampin and small sized diaper cover during confinement, and when my baby finally fit, the one-size CD would be economical.

during confinement, i used lampin, folded macam kapalterbang tu (the proper term is origami fold), lapik dengan liner, with thirsties cover XS or duowrap size 1. tak payah pakai pin/snappi pun (buat rugi beli je), sbb lampin tu tak bergerak pun dlm cover. umar was snug and happy in them. memang kena banyak kali tukar, sebab umar is a poopertrooper, and lampin cepat basah so baby kurang selesa. on the other hand, we experienced zero diaper rash episode. yeay!

malam still pakai huggies though, sebab tak confident dapat bagi umar pakai lampin dgn selesa malam2.

i also used thirsties duo insert, but since Bonnie (of mycheekyboo.com) ada 2 keping je size 1, tu je la rezeki umar. but more on that later :D

First post on Umar's CDing journey

I did say I wanted to post on umar’s adventure in cloth diapering kan.. eheh, my bad.

Umar start pakai lampin biasa+diaper cover around his 4^th day, I think. Nak bagi pakai CD yang one-size still too big untuk umar, dah dia kecik comel je 2.5kg, and one-sized ones usually tagged for 8-35lb (±3-15kg). I bought a few diaper covers that are suitable for 6-18lbs, so the fit lebih cantik.

After much MUCH reading and researching and browsing through online sellers to find the best deal (for I am an avid bargain-hunter), here are the list of diapers that I’ve already bought before delivering umar:

1 Thirsties cover in size XS

3 Thirsties Duowrap cover in size 1

3 dozen flats/ lampin

2 Thirsties duo Insert in Size 1

A day pack of Flip (2 one-size (OS) Flip covers with 6 stay-dry inserts)

the links i provided is where i bought the respective items.

N during babyshower that my dearest friend Ya threw for me and Aishah, I’ve got:

3 Rumparooz G2 OS pocket diapers

1 Freshbots fitted diaper in size S

There are a few websites that I always refer to when in doubt or have a lingering question in my head:

www.clothdiapermalaysia.com

www.allaboutclothdiaper.com

www.diaperpin.com

from then on, i slowly bought more and after 4months, this is how umar's stash looks like:

not much, but enough to fully CD umar. i've since kept away the flats for my coming niece/nephew :D

i'll keep different posts on CDing a newborn, and reviews of each brand okies. later!

Date Night

last night was a date night. umar dah balik bermanja dgn maktok awal2 lg kat kedah last weekend. i'll be heading back to kedah for raya haji so then only i'll be picking him up. but for now, it's back to being 2.

watched hangover 2 last night. super hilarius, but also superrrrrrr gross. i mean it. G.R.O.S.S. a little review, this time round it's stu's bachelor party gone AWWWFUULLYYY wrong. think thailand, thugs, transgender (gawd it looked like a lab experiment gone wrong!). enuf said.

but the highlight for me is this:

super HAWWWWWTTTT!

a dad as hot as bradley cooper? check!
FUSCHIA diaper bag???? check!

it's a Ju Ju BeAll in fuschia blossom! upon more research i.e. googling while watching tv there's actually another 2 version of this print:

IN ONYX BLOSSOM

IN COBALT BLOSSOM

but he chose to wear bright bright pink! u just made my day :D

all pic googled

Current Routine

Today is Day 30. Yeay Umar dah sebulan!

Unfortunately, it also means 30days of no TV. haih. nak buat cne, TV kat tingkat atas, dlm bilik takde TV. not that mak doesn't allow me to go up the stairs but i didn't trust myself holding umar going up the slippery stairs. Yet. Who knows? maybe tomorrow i will.

u guys know how vain i am right? right? righttt... well now everything goes out the window. n sleeping with the aircon blowing direct ke muka doesn't exactly help. At all. Even my sister, when she wrongly bought a cleanser for oil control for me and i said well this won't help at all now i'm quite dry, went 'ooh yaaa... i can see the dry patches...'

Sedih.

My current beauty routine:

hair tied in high bun to stretch whatever feature that is sagging, nothing done on unconcealable panda eyes.

Clinique Mild Cleanser on face.

Lucas Papaw ointment on dry lips (n dry, cracked nips).

DONE.

2x sedih.

I need face (and body!!) overhaul, STAT.

A pic to soothe a panicky fat mom:

aaahhhh... heaven...

if you have the time, do this:

A reminder for myself, for the next round :)

Things to do before getting admitted for delivery:

1. pack baby and mommy's stuff, yes, but don't forget daddy's stuff too. at least a change of clothes, kain pelikat, kopiah, and extra pillow and blanket for him and family members who will be waiting for you. like you, he'll have sleepless nights too in the ward, but minus a bed.

2. wash yourself, especially your hair, thoroughly, you won't know when you'll be wheeled into the labour room, and when you get to wash it again. and please, don't forget to trim your nails (like i did before delivering umar).

3. have the phone and camera ready, unless u have a doting father-in-law (like mine, loves!) who took videos and lots of pictures from the time you're wheeled out of the labour room, pictures of the star of the day in the nursery, till you're both checked out and getting in the car to go home.

4. please have something at hand to while the time away, especially if u don't have tv in the room. i had to wait a day and a half before my bundle came out after being induced. thank goodness for ebooks and smartphones!

5. have hubby to get some food supply, fruits and drink packs at least, for family members who's waiting for you. they'll fend for themselves, yes, but it'll make u feel much better.

Day 15

Today marks 15 days of life of our little darling. kejap je dah 2 minggu... n it has been such a roller coaster ride of adapting to new routines. diaper changing, poo-sniffing, feeding is especially a challenge since the boss is VERY keen on sleeping. but Alhamdulillah umar is not a screamer, cuma sekali-sekala bila mama lambat sangat bagi attention, n bila mandi terlentang. otherwise he is such a good boy, and he always smiles, which made all the night waking hours worth it.

He did have to come out early due to some circumstance, and the labour room had a little drama having him to get out, but Alhamdulillah we managed to get through normal delivery safely. the moment he opened up his eyes and smiled at me (before he managed to let out a loud cry), i know we're gonna be alright.

currently we're stationed at mak's, with doting aunties and uncles. cucu sulung, nak buat cne. jadi la bahan. tengah 'buat kuih' pun ada video.. kesian umar, cam reality tv show dah. takpe, at least we'll have things to remind us of little him when he's all grown up, and also all those potential embarassing shots to show his wifey haha