Yawn ...

Lately, sleep has been alluding me.

Although I am on leave now, I tend to get up earlier than when I was working. And I feel a little miserable during the day when I am super duper lethargic.

Hope sleep comes back to me quickly .....

My Eventful Saturday

On Saturday, I went for my routine gynae check-up with Ryan in tow. As usual, Saturdays are "bad traffic" days as there will be many many patients waiting. To kill 2 birds with one stone, I had gotten an appointment with the orthopaedic for my fingers aches.


With my gynae, Ryan was very excited to go because he was convinced that he was going to see his baby sister on that day. When the doctor put the tool (I cannot remember what it is called) on my tummy, we could hear the heart beat very clearly. Ryan was happy to hear it and was beaming all over his cute little face. But then he left the doc's office with a disappointment - his sister is not ready to come yet.

The visit to the orthopaedic was a little different because the doc had to administed a steroid jab into my fingers. Ryan was looking at me, looking out for signs of pain/ discomfot. In the end, everything went well, but Ryan was concerned with the blood that came out of my fingers. He kept asking if I was in pain.

Next on the list was a visit to Delicious at the Marc Service Residence. I figured that since Ryan had been so good, I would reward him with his cupcakes that he has been asking for. Also, that place is a little quiet, so I can live with it.

The lunch was good, we had pasta, cupcakes and hash browns. We also ordered water and a strawberry milkshake. I thought that even if Ryan does not end up with all the cupcakes, the shake and the hash brown could at least fill his tummy.

The pleasant thing was that Ryan DID manage to finish all 3 cupcakes, one hash brown and a third of my pasta. He even down a glass of water and half the shake. Lesson learnt: I can no longer afford to just order for one and have him share with me. I have to order for 2 and then sees him eating more than his share. And they say kids are not expensive ....

After filling our tummies, we were going to head home and sleep. This is where the "eventful" starts to kick in - my car battery went flat. And I mean really flat - not even a single sound was heard. All the lights went dead, even the car alarm did not work.

I was in a state of panic, I really hate these sorts of incidences. I called my hubby, then my brother, then some friends. In the end, I figured that the auto assist made more sense, after all, the services charges were borne by them, I only had to pay for the battery.

The horrible thing was that it was going to be another hour to wait before they get here. And seeing that I had no choice, I agreed. The wait itself was also eventful as I had to deal with a hyper kid running around the lobby, then my own body who was dying to lay down and sleep. Soon after, it began to rain and then Ryan had to poop and then he had to pee etc. When he finally settled himself, the mechanic came.

It took him about 10 mins to get the bonnet opened and figure where things were. Then another 10 mins to conclude that my battery is really flat beyond any jump start chance. He then proceeded to change the battery, this took like another 15mins. All these while, I must say that Ryan was very well behaved despite being so late in the afternoon and all the discomfort we were facing. Finally, all was done. It was already 2 hours since this ordeal started.

We drove out on the street - and it was jammed. Really jammed at 4.30pm - why do people automatically slow down when there is rain??? We got home at about 5pm, tired, worn out, agitated, looking forward to a clean bath. Ryan fell asleep soon after while I pondered over the happenings of the whole day.

I was still feeling tired, but could not sleep. Rain continued and it was all dark and gloomy. I am glad that Ryan was well behaved the entire day, I was glad that I had been well fed before the battery died on me, I was glad that it had happened in a nice basement instead of the car park at the hospital, I was thankful that there was an ATM machine in the lobby so I had no problems in paying the mechanic. I was thankful that the auto assist came on time, that he was patient and that he had to go through the rain in his raincoat on his bike to come to me.

In the end, I think the main lesson was that although some things do happen to us in the most unexpected way, if we look hard enough, there are always things that we can be thankful about.

Oh No! I AM a hippo!

Just as Ryan correctly predicted that he is going to have a sister, he also correctly predicted that I AM a hippo, not only look like one, but also eating like one!!

I just finished 6 "siew mai" all by myself. I had to shoo hubby away from my food. And after finishing that, my stomach is still growling.

And I think I had better go to sleep now, else I will start on my ice cream. And I also had this sudden flash of Coke going across my mind.

OMG! I AM a hippo!!

I think my baby has engaged!

Technically, I am supposed to be in Week 34, 35, thereabouts. The last I checked, the baby has not engaged itself yet.

However, this morning, I had gone on another shopping spree again with hubby, parents, brother and Ryan. After 6 hours of shopping, I think the baby decided that the exercise was enough to put her into the engage mode.

I was walking and then I heard a "Click", rather loudly as I was also able to hear it. Then it struck me, I think the baby's head had gone into the deeper end of my uterus. I am quite sure of it and hubby was quite shocked that I could just continue walking and walking.

I would know about it by this Saturday when the gynae will give me another round of assessment about how far I am into this pregnancy.

Till then I guess.

Of spots and sorts

Yesterday, my parents were down in KL for some shopping. We had a good dinner at the newly opened Food Garden at The Gardens - relatively cheap and filling.

We then proceed to Isetan as hubby had wanted me to buy him a wallet. According to him, it is considered to be good luck for a pregnant lady to buy wallets for family members. Just to save me the need to walk up and down again, I had my parents down so that they too can buy their wallets. We ended up buying 3 wallets for hubby and one for my dad.

Mum was happy not to have any seeing that she still has 6 in her stock. So, she helped take care of Ryan while I went round paying the bills. Mum said that he was naming her all the main characters in the Madagascar and he was going on and on about it.

Hubby got me a perfume from Estee as a Christmas gift - I had originally wanted 5 lipsticks in a set, but I think this was much better.

We then went home and stopped at a mini market to buy some food - I was already hungry by then. Traffic had been slow when exiting Mid Valley, that did not help to the fact that my stomach was growling.

While dad and hubby went to get food, Ryan was talking to mum. Mum had asked "Poh Poh pretty or not?" Ryan was quick to answer "No." When probed with a "Why", he responded by saying "You, see, you got spots on your face!" I could not help but burst out laughing. I know, it is not funny to have him say that, but my mum also thought it was funny.

And guess, where he got that from?? Madagascar!!!

Conversations about Auntie SL

This was a conversation I had with SL when I was sick the other day. It was one of those things that make me smile everytime I think of certain people.

Ryan seems to have developed an unexpected liking to SL, despite her thinking that he used to be anti-her at one time.

Now, Ryan talks about SL quite a bit and usually, out of the blue too!

What does the sun look like?

Ryan did this last night.

He had placed a ball in the middle of an overturned stool and declared that to be the sun.
Then he put the green pieces of a dominoes puzzle by the side to make it his "steering wheel". Yup, so at any point in time, depending on where you want to take the sun, you just have to touch the dominoes pieces and it will steer you in the right direction!

So, to a 3 and a half year old, the sun does look pretty easy to him, what's more, you can even control its direction!

Madagascar 2 - Escape 2 Africa

Last weekend, we went to watch Madagascar 2 and Ryan thoroughly enjoyed himself. It was the first time that he got a seat on his own - at half the price!

The main cast were a lion, a hippo, a zebra and a giraffe. After watching the movie, Ryan was grinning when he said this to me "Mummy, you look like the hippo, your stomach is so big!"

There, so much for being pregnant and trying to look pretty at the same time. After all that effort, my son thinks I look like a hippo!!

My Starbucks 2009 diary

I have attempted to sustain a diary for many many years now and I have always been very disappointed with myself for not being able to do that successfully. The excitement of it all - finding a new diary, filling out the details, putting in the important dates etc - usually fizzles out by the third day or so. And then I wonder, what had started it all.

Last year, there was this motivation tape that I was listening to which prompted me to re-think about the entire concept of diary as I know it. Instead of just writing in the history of the day, it should also contain future actions, plans, concepts, little things that excites me, memories etc. And so, I looked around.

One day at Starbucks, I was buying one of my "once in a blue moon" coffe and this little diary was staring at me. And I knew I just had to have it. After downing many litres of coffee, I got my hands on this. And I have managed to sustain this for 2008. Look how worn out it is now? I had to tape the sides together so that it will still bind together!

For 2009, I again embarked on a search for my ideal diary, one that probably says "Busy mum's diary" or "Diary for the woman on the go". As if to answer my call, today, there was a Starbucks ad in The Sun which was promoting their diaries - pay RM18 on top of a grande drink - and you will get this leather bound diary.

I was very excited and spent a good 30 minutes marvelling at the diary before putting in those little details on contacts, important dates, leave plan etc.

The next thing to put in? My 2009 resolutions - and this is something I have always put up, but cannot achieve. In 2009, I will have the achievement of my resolution as my top top priority. And it cannot get any easier than penning it down in my lovely Starbucks diary.

Books Books Books

At the beginning of 2008, I have decided that I would complete at least ONE book a month. This is to make up all those years I had spent working and not catching up with the wonderful world of books.

To date I have only completed 8 books and I have exactly 1 month to go before the end of 2008 is here. And so, how am I going to complete all these books by then??