134 - 36 and Counting

Assalamualaikum.

Since I am quite free (because my Manager is not around *wink*), I decided to post another entry.

Alhamdulillah, I am currently in my 36 weeks. Can't believe I have about 4 weeks to go before the due date. I have discussed with my Gynae that I wanted to try for VBAC and she has been very supportive. Let's hope for the best.

Two weeks back my blood pressure went up and I was a bit scared. Kalau BP tak turun-turun, I may have to do another surgery. But, everything is good and back to normal. It just that I have to monitor my BP everyday to make sure it won't escalate.

Here are some of the facts that I want to share with regards to my second pregnancy;

1) My morning sickness during the first trimester was really bad. I practically live in the toilet and while I was in there, I was hugging the toilet bowl. 

2) The morning sickness was so bad that I became dehydrated and was admitted to hospital for 2 nights. Even celebrated my third anniversary at the hospital.

3) I prefer to drink cold drinks and carbonated drinks once in a while because I was craving for it.

4) Until 36 weeks, I only gained 8kg as compared to previous pregnancy where I gained 15kg. I wish to lose 10 -15kg after I give birth. 

5) This pregnancy, kaki dan hidung tak mengembang..Weee!

Oklah. These are the only points that I can remember at the moment.

Till then.

#133 - Dubai (Day One)

Assalamualaikum.

We shall continue on our first day in Dubai. Started our day with breakfast at the hotel and like other kiasu Asian tourists, we were up and about in Dubai town as early as 8.30 (and that is actually considered very late) but damn that was the wrong decision.

We reached Dubai Marina Mall at about 8.45am but it was already scorching hot that we quickly tried to find some place with aircond. But of course, the mall opened at 10. Since, we can't do anything much except taking a few photos, we decided to go to Ibn Battuta Mall.

Ibn Battuta Mall is quite an old mall but it has very interesting and unique features. We took our time walking around. Had our lunch and did some shopping there. We walked and walked until we couldn't walk no more. My feet was killing me. I wanted to get a new pair of sandals but damn they were so expensive.

Then. we went to another mall which was Dubai Mall to see the main landmark over there, Burj Al Khalifa. We tried to figure the best place the catch a glimpse of the iconic building but it was so damn hot that we couldn't think. We went inside the mall, wandering around and ended up in Costa Cafe. 

The initial reason why we were there was to get free wifi (hahaha) but luck was on our side. It was indeed the best spot to take photos of the Burj al Khalifa.

After we were done with the touristy stuff, we took taxi and went back to hotel. At this point, my back hurt so much. I forgot that I was 5 months pregnant at that time.

We had Pakistani dish for dinner at the comfort of our hotel room. Time to rest.

Till then.

132 - Dubai (Arrival)

Assalamualaikum.

It has been almost month and a half after we got back from our annual holiday trip. Like I have mentioned earlier, we went to Dubai and Abu Dhabi and were there for a week.

Our initial plan was to go somewhere else but after some calculations, we decided not to proceed. Everything went back to normal until one day, En. Suami dropped the idea of going to Dubai.

Truthfully, I wasn't quite keen to go because the first image that came to my mind was a desert. I don't know. When he was ecstatically selling the idea to me, I didn't feel excited at all. Padang pasir je kot. Nak excited macam mana uolls. Hahaha.

Obviously I googled about Dubai. When I saw the pictures of Burj Al Arab and Burj Al Khalifa, then only it hit my mind. I was like, "bodohlah kau nie". Masa tu baru rasa nak excited.

We got quite a good rate for the flight tickets and even good rates for hotels. 

As usual, I started to list down all the places that I wanted to go but didn't get to properly organized the itinerary because I was swarmed with work. 

For some reason, I decided to go with the flow rather than cracking my head arranging the itinerary.

Inas behaved well during our flight to Dubai. She slept half of the journey, watched Finding Nemo and tried to hold a conversation with other uninterested passengers. Hahaha. But all in all everything was okay.

We arrived in Dubai about 6ish in the evening. It was quite a long walk to the immigration counter. All the Pak Arabs looked so damn intimidating but the process was quite smooth for us.

We decided to take a taxi to our hotel. Though we have the option to go to our hotel by taking the Metro (their version of LRT) but with 2 luggage and stroller, we decided not to. Buat penat je.

No, that was not the total fare but the meter starts at AED25 (equivalent to RM25. More or less). Nak nangis uols, bayar taxi fare.

Upon checking in at the hotel, we thought of going out again to find something to eat. But this pregnant lady and the cranky toddler decided, it was best to stay at the hotel and made do with whatever we have. So tired already.

We called it a night and ready for some middle eastern adventure the next day.

Till then.

#131 - So Long Malaysia, Hello UAE

Assalamualaikum.

The wanderlust in us decided to bring us to Dubai and Abu Dhabi this year. Alhamdulillah. I am grateful to Allah for giving us the opportunity to travel and see the world.

Insya Allah, we will be off for a week. Doakan kami selamat pergi dan balik.

Panjang umur kita jumpa lagi.

#130 - Celebration

Assalamualaikum.

August has been a hectic month for me. Endless work, weddings, open houses and gatherings.

Speaking of gathering, this month alone I've organized two different events for two different groups of people within the span of 2 weeks. I forgot how much details that I need to take into account when organizing gatherings. Date, venue, theme, sending out invitations. Tiring but fun nonetheless.

The first gathering was with my fellow Fanatics to celebrate our 10 Years Anniversary. We made a plan to commemorate this event since last year. So poyo liddat. Hahaha. We wanted to have something special thus the need to block the date as soon as possible. Tapi sesungguhnya kita hanya mampu merancang tapi Allah yang menentukan.

Though there were some setbacks but we managed to pull through. It was a joyous event indeed. Had so much fun with the girls like always. 

We have gone through a lot for the past 10 years; memories, laughter, sweat and tears. We may have our differences but we managed to put everything behind us and enjoying each other company. For the past 10 years, I had so much fun and experienced so many new things with them.  May Allah bless this friendship always.

The second gathering was something that I put together for a dear friend who will be getting married in October. The bridal shower had to be done earlier as the party organizer is pretty busy herself.

The theme was Traditional Malay and suggested by the bride to be so I tried to think of something that won’t cost a bomb. It was only a few days before the bridal shower that I managed to come up with the design of the cake, the props, decoration and the activity.  

The table setting, decoration and props; kain batik lepas and tepak sireh (both from my mom's collection). Welcome sign designed by me using Microsoft Word (hahahaha)

The activity; Advice for the bride. 

The cake. Ordered through Pinkies Cupcakes. The cake probably the only thing that I really worried as I ordered quite last minute but Darna (the cakemaker) was so accommodating. The cake was delicious. And I'm glad the bride to be liked the cake.

Alhamdulillah, the bridal shower went well.

Despite the minor hiccups and setbacks, I'm glad everyone had a good time. Insya Allah more to come.

Till then.

#129 - Ding Ding Round 2

Assalamualaikum.

Second entry of the day because I have nothing better to do (side eyeing the pile of work on my desk).

Today, I feel like sharing something with my readers (if I have any). I am currently 4 months pregnant with the second baby. This is actually a  planned pregnancy so when we found out that I was pregnant, we were more like "okay, I am pregnant. Here we go again, sayang" rather than "OMG I AM PREGNANT. How lah like this?"

Both my husband and I planned to have a medium sized family. 4 kids at least. But, after my horrendous first trimester, I was having a second thought about having more than 2 kids. So I thought. My husband shut the idea of stopping at number 2. So, you guys would probably would hear another 1 or two pregnancy announcements from me in the future.

Anyway, since this is a planned pregnancy, I was fully aware of my body changes. I was tired all the time, nauseous and the biggest hint of all, I was late. Took the first pregnancy test before my period was due cause I was poyo like that. The result was vague so I decided to take another test after I was 3 days late.

Then, the result was crystal clear. Showed the pee stick to husband and he was like grinning from ear to ear. 

The first 4 weeks was bearable. Onto the next 8 weeks, I was practically live in the toilet. I couldn't eat or drink anything. At one point, I was like crying to my husband "I dah tak tahan. I lapar sangat". The morning sickness was so bad that I got dehydrated and eventually admitted to hospital for 2 nights. Thank God, Husband was there all along to accompany me at the hospital. We even celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary at the hospital. How romantic!

Alhamdulillah, am entering 18 weeks and things are looking well right now. I can eat better now and my appetite is slowly growing. So far, I don't have any weird cravings. Yet. I don't think Husband would layan me if I got any weird cravings.

Insya Allah, we will be welcoming our new bundle of joy in January 2015. Please pray for both of us. 

To my dear Baby Boo (nickname TBD later :P), grow well my dear. 

Till then.

#128 - Selamat Hari Raya

Assalamualaikum.

Selamat hari raya and maaf zahir dan batin, everyone! Hope everyone had a good raya celebration with your loved ones. Minta maaf lah kalau ada readers yang menanti entry baru di blog ini.

Obviously, I have been busy. I was practically swarmed with work and was exceptionally busy the week before raya. Orang lain sibuk pikir kuih raya and whatever not, aku dok pikir bilalah semua kerja nie nak habis. I rather finish or complete all the important things before going off for my one week break so that my manager won’t call and bug me (but she did on the third day of raya)

Anyway, we went back to Kuantan and Pekan for our raya celebration as this year is my husband’s turn. We off to Kuantan on Saturday morning and the journey took us about 6 and half hours. Gila. Normally it would take us 3 hours max to reach my in laws. Sakit satu badan.

Celebrating raya in Pekan means chaos on raya morning. Nak berebut toilet, nak pakai iron, nak bersalam raya, nak photoshoot family photo. Serious! This time around, ada pulak yang akan jerit “Selfie” at random times and semua pakat berlari nak masuk frame. Kelakar tapi seronok.

And one person that truly enjoyed herself was my Twinkle. Had a great time playing with the cousins and collecting duit raya. She was quite unsure why people keep giving her small, colourful packets but once she understood the concept, she would go and collect the duit raya herself.

Alhamdulillah, I have been given another opportunity to be with my loved ones on this special day. Look forward to more celebrations in the future.

#127 - If You Happy

Assalamualaikum.

Has it been that long since my last entry? Wow!

For the last couple of weeks, my life has been upside down with a lot of things happening around me. And on top of that, I have a cheeky little toddler that demand attention every moment possible. Twinkle is now 1 year and 7 months. She is more active and talkative now. 

Currently, she is in "ee i ee i o" phase. Which means, she'll be asking for iPad and my phone every now and then to watch "Old McDonald Had A Farm". Initially, I don't want to expose her too much to gadget but I must say it does come in handy when I need to do house chores or while we are out for dinner. We've downloaded flash card app too so whenever we are out of WIFI coverage, at least she would have other things to do and learn. So far, she has picked up a few words on flash card like "apple", "bear" "pink" and "banana".

When we are at home with her, we try not let her totally depend on gadgets so we play with her and make up some activities. So far, I only managed to do "If you happy and you know it". We come up with different instruction every time like "if you happy, you kiss Baba" "if you happy, you hug Mama". You know along that line. Yes, I need more engaging activities and need to research more.

Anyway, work has been "fun". Haha. Don't worry, I am still enjoying whatever am doing right now.Things are little bit harder now so time to step up on my game.

Oklah, it's time. Till my next entry.

#126 - Of This and That

Assalamualaikum.

It's lunch time now and since I had a heavy breakfast, I decided to skip lunch and update my blog instead.

I am almost entering my second month here. Alhamdulillah, so far everything is still great. Of course, there are a few hiccups here and there especially dealing Expats and Academicians. Need a lot of mental strength and will power.

Dealing with them would require you to be tactful. You can be humble but with limits. They tend to push you around thinking that you are there only to serve them.

I wish to rant more about this tapi malaslah. 

Anyway, one of my social groups is planning for an event in August to commemorate our 10 years anniversary. I am actually excited to plan for the event as it has been a while since our last event. Been checking out a few places and hopefully we managed to shortlist one or two soon. There are a lot of other things that we need to consider for this event. Hopefully, the 4 months time that we have now would be sufficient.

 That'll be my updates for now.

Till then. Toodles.

#125 - Pet Peeve

Assalamualaikum.

Things were quite mundane at the office on the last few days of last week. Both my colleague and I, we were taking our own sweet time to do our work. Mainly because our Manager was not around so we lepak a bit lah. Thought of updating my blog last Friday but of course, my writing mojo was not really cooperating.

Anyhow, since am not going out for lunch today as I just finished with an interview session with a candidate, I shall take the opportunity to write down my thoughts.

Ok, I have a question. When a person ask you "Hey, we want to go this place this year at this time. Do you want to join?"

What would be your answer or how do you answer the question?

It seems that whenever I posed that question to certain people, they would ask me with this question "Kenapa?"

I would normally answer the question with "Saja nak bercuti". Then, they'll be offended because they thought I am being sarcastic which am not. I am basically answering your question.

They would be like "tahulah nak bercuti. Ada kawan ke kat sana?"

Again, I don't find the logic. Why would I need to have somebody in certain places or countries for me to go there? I want to visit a place because I want to.

If it so happen I have a friend staying or living in certain countries, it would be a bonus. That's all.

As for me, whenever people ask me do I want to join them for a trip I would be "oh bestnya. Berapa lama nak pergi. How's your itinerary like or where do you plan of going?" You know that sort of questions.

One more thing, people's reaction when I want to go to certain places. "Nak pergi Adelaide? Tempat tu boring kan. Takde apa2?" "Oh ye ke. Pernah pegi sana?" "Tak pernah tapi tengok macam boring je?"

Penampar aku pernah kena?

#124 - 1 Month

Assalamualaikum.

A month of a long commute to work.

A month of familiarizing with new system and job scope.

A month of building new professional relationship with senior peers and colleagues.

On 24th March 2014, marked my first month working with the current organization. Alhamdulillah. Now, I can say that I am enjoying whatever I'm currently doing.

I am blessed and grateful to be given this opportunity to be exposed to new branch of Human Resource, acquire new skills and enhancing my current skills. These are among the things that I've been waiting for. 

I like the fact that everyday I am swarmed with work leaving me with a little bit of time to do things other than my job. I don't have time to scroll my Instagram feed, scrolling through 9Gags and blog hopping.

I hardly counting the hours anymore as time passes so fast that I wished it would slow down a bit so I can breathe.  

There's nothing much I am hoping right now except for endless motivation, energy and strong will to be with the current employer and gain as much as knowledge and experience.

InsyaAllah.

#123 - Babbling

Assalamualaikum.

It has been a crazy-roller-coaster month. Beginning of the month, the whole of Malaysia woke up to MH370 of MAS lost while flying to Beijing. While the incident happened about 12 days ago, there are no definite answers on where the plane is now. 

When I first found out about the news, I was actually numb and had butterflies in my stomach. You see, my family and I travel a lot. Either for work or leisure. Almost every other month, we will send someone at the airport. It could happen to anyone of us. Just weeks before that, my husband mentioned about going to Beijing as he has never been there. But, I brushed off the idea as I was not really keen to go there just yet. I could not bring myself to imagine what if we were on that plane?

However, when some people are considerate enough to think of the families' feelings and their sensitive state of mind, there are still a lot of people think it's funny and appropriate to speculate, make up some theories and passing judgments to the crew, passengers and airlines. 

It is already reaching beyond sickening. I don't have a word to describe these unfortunate shallow-minded citizens of Malaysia.

Enough babbling on MH370. May Allah protect us all and ease our journey of finding the plane and bring everyone back to the loved ones.

On the other hand, for the first time after so many years I am overwhelmed with work. There are a lot of things to do and catch up. Familiarize myself with system, SOP etc. Everyday, before I switch off my computer I would spend a few minutes to write down thing-to-do for the next day. That's a first, I might add. There are times when I have so many things to do that I do not know where and what to start. Even with that list in hand, I only managed to cross out one or two things from the list as there would be unexpected meetings and interviews to attend to.

But. I am not complaining. For once, I feel sense of belonging. I belong the company, to the department and people actually come to me for advice and opinions. 

Alhamdulillah.

May Allah always bless this opportunity that He has given me.

Break is over and back to work!

#122 - Snippets of the Week Part 9

Assalamualaikum.

Today is the last day of February, second month of the year and this is my first post of 2014. Wow!

A lot of things happened for the last couple of months that make it impossible for me to sit down and put down my thoughts. Plus, being a SAHM can be challenging with ever the curious little toddler of mine. 

Anyway, here's are my updates since I tendered my resignation in November.

1) During the first month of employment, I took the opportunity to spring cleaning the room and plus the house. Though not entirely because most of the stuff are not mine but at least the house looks like a house rather than a reban ayam.

2) My bestfriend, Yan is back from Brisbane for good and she got me Nine West heels that I super love. When she asked me what I want from Aussie, I told her I want shoes. Since the shoes that I like was not available at the outlet so I asked her to get something that screams me. And she nailed it! That is my bestfriend/soulmate right there. Awesome I tell you.

3) My FIL was admitted to ICU for heart condition in the middle of January so we've been travelling to Kuantan quite often. Then, he was transferred to IJN, KL. So another round of visiting him at the hospital everyday. I became Gloria Jeans regular over there because they only allowed children below 12 after 6pm. 

4) During CNY, we made impromptu trip to Jakarta and Bandung. Spent 6 days and 5 nights. It was quite an eye opener trip if you asked me. We only went to Pasar Baru in Bandung to buy some lace (itupun sebab my MIL order kain lace and my aunty hasn't been to Pasar Baru before) and spent like 3 hours there. Ahhh the horror. We managed to avoid the crowd and off to Jakarta after lunch. In Jakarta, we skipped Tanah Abang and visited the major shopping complexes instead. We were lucky enough not having to experience macet in Jakarta as we were there on weekends and most of them were out of Jakarta. 

5) Celebrated my 31st birthday in February with Family at Harrods Cafe KLCC and the lovely bunch at Melur & Thyme KLCC. Happening like always.

6) And the biggest news of all, I've started working again. My ex manager proposed my name at the higher management and I was offered on the spot. I was speechless. It is quite a distance but so far I'm liking the place, colleagues and most importantly the job. However, please ask me again after 1 month.