November is Here Again

I love November.

I love how the word November just glides out of your mouth. Unlike April, which must be spat out or February which can be a bit of a tongue-twister.

But, November is a lovely combination of sounds.

I love November. Yet November's always the period when I feel melancholic. It must be the weather, I guess. When it's rainy, it somehow makes the heart feel heavy.

Pick Me Up, Wasabe

If you need a pick-me-up, do click this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtJRNyPK-lc&NR=1

P.S.: The subtitles are not the translation of the song. It's what the song sounds like to the English ear.

P.P.S.: My brother sent me this link. Don't ask which one.

Mop

Ajax Fabuluso!! I've been looking for you all over the house! We used up the big bottle and I knew you were somewhere in the house but you refused to surface until we've bought a new bottle! Grrrrrr!

Cough Cough

I wanted to write about today's Mind Your Body's article about not feeding cough and cold medicines to children under 2.

Of course I'm happy because I've always been anti-chemicals. I believe in letting your body fight it out. (Although now that I'm a mom to a little dynamo, a quick -chemical- fix is sometimes just what I need.)

Then, I wrote lengthy paragraphs on products grown/produced/modified unnaturally.Perfectly red/green capsicums (hydroponically grown in controlled greenhouses, of course). Rice that resists pests. Trans fats.

But, it turned out a very long, rambling entry and I was sounding more and more like.. like.. *gasp* myself (!!!) I deleted the paragraphs away.

I wonder, how much of what we're eating is affecting our insides without us realising it. We may look all healthy and well on the outside but all the health woes of today - cancers of all types, newer and more virulent strains of the common cold, fertility issues, clogged arteries - I wonder if all these 'new foods' that we eat are responsible for the increasing medical problems of today.

I think it's just a matter of time before I start choosing organic items over their suspiciously produced counterparts. But, well, if my time in the kitchen is always more like a hazardous science experiment than anything else, it seems like it'll be a loooooong while before I can turn those organic products into tasty, healthy and most importantly, edible dishes.

 

Coughing again. Robitussin? I'll pass this time.

 

 

Dolls

Huda had her 18-month check-up at KK (19.5 months, real age; 18 months, corrected age) and prior to that, we worried about her speech. According to the 18-month questionnaire we were supposed to fill up (or is it fill in?), she should be able to say 8 other words besides Mak and Ayah. We listed down all the words she knew and came up with a grand total of 6 words.

1. Air (Water, in Malay)

2. Nanna (Nenek = Grandmother)

3. Buh (Bird)

4. Bah (Ball)

5. Ambba (Umbrella) - Loooong story why umbrella is in this list

6. Nak ni (Want this, in Malay)

 

Of course we were concerned because the other items in the list were an ability to form three 2-word sentences and one 3-word sentence. For which we ticked the pleasantly-worded 'Not Yet'.

 

So, we thought. Confirm oredi. Speech therapist, here we come. On top of the physiotherapist, occupational therapist and dietitian that we are already seeing.

 

But, alhamdulillah! Her neonatologist said, although she scored below the cut-off point for the speech component, we do not need to worry because Huda maintains eye-contact when we talk to her, is sociable, understands our requests and does not have any hearing problems. So, whew! What a sigh of relief we heaved! 

 

And, more good news followed: her physiotherapist and occupational therapist discharged her! Wooooohoooooooooooo!! 2 less specialists to see. Now, if only we can get her to eat and bulk up, we can cross out the dietitian from the list too.

 

But, well, in the height and weight department, Huda's at the 3rd percentile for her height (Wooooohooooooooooooohooooooooooooooooo!!! Finally, she's on the charts!) but still below the 3rd percentile for weight. But, okay lor. She's been gaining a bit of weight in the past few weeks. And, she's been eating well. So, hopefully, she'll gain more weight when we next see the dietitian 4 months from now.

 

So that was it.

 

Totally unrelated to the above - I realise that my skin looks so much better after a bout of fever. My pimples seem to have dried up and almost disappeared. And, I must remember that I am still allergic to Panadol.

Warm Like Chicken Poo-Poo

There's this Malay saying that means, warm like chicken shit. So crass, hor? It means, you have a desire to do something but, this desire lasts only a short while. And you end up either abandoning it mid-way or not doing it at all. (It describes a lot of my 'projects' perfectly.)

Ever since I saw my mom's crocheted tablecloth and not able to find it (for sale) anywhere, I've been thinking of crocheting or knitting. With my newfound skill, I can also knit cute little hats for Huda and even knit hats for the preemies at KK! So exciting!

This is insane because my mother tried teaching me crochet before but I was just too inept at needlework to form anything decent.

So, now, with a tablecloth in mind as an end-product, I am seriously thinking of starting to crochet again.

I then went on to do a bit of research (looking at online forums of avid needlework fans) which  sent shivers down my spine - skein, 4mm hooks, 8mm hooks, threads of varying thickness...So many things to consider! Where do I begin?

Reality then hits home. I shall just wait it out - see when all these desires will end.

Ratu Kebaya 2007

The granddaughters of Datok P and Nenek S were all decked out in baju kebaya. The first Kebaya Kasualty was Ain Sofiya who regurgitated her mother's milk onto her white baju kebaya. She fell out of the competition even before it started. The rest lasted long enough for the posse of very enthusiastic photographers (darn! no one took pictures of the overexcited photogs!) to snap, snap and snap away.

Bag of Emotions

What???!!!

It's already the 27th of Ramadan??! Hari Raya is just mere days away???!!!!!!!!!!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What happened to the rest of Ramadan? Where did it go?????

My house is in a mess. We're still supposed to look for a coffee table. Tablecloth - no have! Window grilles yet to be wiped. Oh no no no no noooooooooooooo!!!

Why?? Why on earth do we leave all these things to be done at the very last minute?

At least, in a few hours, a handyman is coming to fix the curtain rods in the rooms. For the past 4 years, we do not have curtains in the bedrooms! Hahahaaaa!!! (Don't ask.)

Okay. So, there's like a gazillion things to do.

And, we want to visit that dear friend of ours who has just given birth! And another dear friend is preggers! Weeeeheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! I'm so excited! i'm so excited! It's raining babies!

(Okay. Now I can see why things do not get done around here. My train of thoughts always gets derailed.)

Ooohhh.. And if you are into the tearjerker Petronas' Hari Raya commercials, here's this year's. I diligently watch RTM 1 as Hari Raya approaches to catch the commercials. Sob sob.

Another Whiny Story

Yes. Yes.

I'm whining again. And I hope this is the last of all whining about weaning.

I must count all the good things that have taken place lately like:

1. Huda slept from 8pm to 6am last night. She could have slept longer but we purposely woke her up so that she could drink some milk so that she would not wake up at 7am when we were dreadfully sleepy.

2. She's sleeping longer and longer through the night and I have so much free time now. In the past, she would wake up about 11pm, asking for (breast)milk and so, my time alone without a little girl hanging on to my hips was very limited.

3. She's eating more now because she knows that she cannot just lift up my T-shirt and get a snack whenever she wants to. 7-11 close liao.

4. I no longer have to watch what I eat, always making sure I have a palm-size portion of fish/chicken/meat, a mountain of rice, vegetables, gallons of water, gallons and gallons of milk and soya bean... If I'm hungry, I don't have to worry that it will affect the quality of my milk. I now eat for me alone and it's such a relief because if I don't feel like eating the proteins, I can easily skip it for the day.

I've weaned her off. (Although occassionally, when I can't stand the engorgement, I let her have some and she'll be grinning away after that. Tomorrow, confirm I need her to have some really fresh milk cos the left side is getting uncomfortably hard after 2 days of "No! No! You cannot have this. You must drink milk from the bottle.")

Hana said, I should quickly produce the next one so that I can continue my breastfeeding career. Yes, soon. After all, that's one of the two reasons why I weaned her off.

---

And, once, I had to throw away all this milk because there's no way my fridge could store all these. These are the ones that we brought to KK Hospital every evening some 18 months ago. When she was discharged, we brought back about 20 bottles and kept the rest at KK, thinking of bringing them back one day. But, fridge space not enough. So, I had to ask KK to get rid of them. Sad.

 

Circuit.Cookie.Shitty.Bang Bang.

This is one of those I-did-this-I-did-that entry. (Read: Bo.o.o.o.oring)

1. My maiden attempt at the circuit during my driving lesson just now .. Wah leow! I'm gonna fail big time xiaaaa!! Just when I thought I'm pretty okay on the roads, my instructor brought me to the circuit where I mounted all the kerbs there were. Thankfully, there was only 1 other car there. Otherwise, I would have crashed into all the cars. Doesn't help that I have very little spatial awareness. And, once I've made a mistake, I won't even know left from right. But, one thing I'm grateful for is that my instructor is patient. He'll nag, yes. But he doesn't scold me for my stupidity.

2. Cookies! My sisters and I baked Milo Chocolate Chip Cookies just now. It's the one and only thing I'm baking 'cos I've ordered the other Hari Raya staples. I'm amazed by how fast we completed baking - it could be because all the little kids were sleeping. And, unlike previous years, no one bailed out midway although my older (is it older or elder?) sister and I threatened our younger sister that we'd go home at 3pm and leave everything hanging. Hahaaa! We're evil, eh? :P (Wednesdays are good to carry out projects like this cos the older sister takes Wednesdays off - her 3rd month maternity leave - and the younger sister has no classes on Wednesdays.)

3. Weaning's a bitch. Please pardon my unrefined English. I hate the pangs of guilt I have when Huda's constipated. Her first time in her entire life today. She was trying so hard to push her poo out but it refused to come out. The poor girl was crying in pain. I applied Minyak Telon (the Malay/Indonesian version of ru yi oil but a bit milder) and massaged her bloated tummy. After many, many massage sessions and frantic calls to my mother and sister, it finally came out. The guilt? Oh, I'm quite sure that the constipation is related to her not having breastmilk. You can't convince me otherwise, no matter what. Sob sob.

4. Talking about weaning - Huda's taking to the bottle quite well. She's drinking up to 6 ounces of milk a time with that half teaspoon of Milo added, of course. I should be celebrating but a part of me feels soooo saaaaaad to say goodbye to breastfeeding. When will all these feelings go away? I've read about this - that weaning comes with a huge dose of guilt but will it come to an end? 16 years down the road, when Huda's down with a cough, will I think that it's related to my weaning her off at 18 months? Sigh.