My Raya

before ramadhan began, i was contemplating whether to fast as i was reaching my 9th month. i fasted during both pregnancies, but during amir i was in my 6th month and asyraf, i was coming up to my 8th month. i managed to fast the whole month during amir but skipped about 4 days during asyraf, towards the end of ramadhan. but being in my 9th month, that was something different. i knew i would get tired easily around this time, i had a big tummy to carry around, plus i had 2 active boys to run after (hubby did most of the running after, of course, but i had to play my part as well).

hubby told me not to fast. for one, he wouldnt be able to send me and pick me up from work. he was working near home. i had to take the lrt everyday. can i save my energy til 4:30pm? people still dont give up their seats for me, even with this big of a tummy i carry. there were times when i was hanging on for dear life, thinking i would faint right there and then.

so we compromised - hubby and i - i would fast 15 days, half of the month of ramadhan. but i had to promise hubby that i would break my fast, if i ever felt i could not carry on til maghrib. so far, alhamdulillah, i managed to fast for 15 days. no half days here and there. i missed out only 2 days as i had my check up.

today is my raya day. celebrated my raya with a good makan-makan with my colleagues at the klconvex. we didnt want to go initially as it was on sunday night. hubby and i made a pact long time ago that we would never go out on a week night (and sunday nights) as the boys needed their sleep and we didnt want to rush their bath, dinner and wind down time.

zu was kind enough to volunteer mind the boys while hubby and i ate (volunteer or terpaksa?). we couldnt join the terawih prayers, we couldnt leave the boys with other people for an hour - that would be just irresponsible of us.

it was a good night. the food was good. and it was nice to see amir having a great time and to see asyraf not throwing up on anyone...

I Made It!!

a couple of days after hubby started his new job, he was informed that he will be working late on wednesday for a buka puasa event.

that was a week ago, since then i have been mentally preparing myself for the day when i have to take care of 2 active boys all on my own...while fasting! hubby and i went through the drill (serious macam buat fire drill...) for days. what to do when i come home, where to put the boys, how to feed them, how to bathe them, how to put them to bed.

come the day, i was honestly very nervous. i was scared something would happen. first thing i did was limit the number of times i had to walk up and down the stairs to just twice, ie when we come back home and when i went down to get dinner (this was also already planned - mcd delivery, what else!)

after picking up the boys, i drove straight home. no pasar ramadhan today. we got home by 5:45pm. asyraf was asleep so i left him in the car for a bit while i bring amir and the bags inside. i quickly turned on the kettle for asyraf's flask and put milk in amir's tumbler and send him upstairs. went back to the car to take asyraf and then carried him, with the flask, a bottle of water for the upstairs fridge and a tupperware of coco pops for amir. when i reached the top most stairs, amir said...mummy, amir punat (yeah right...what about me, kid?!)

took them both to their room, switched on the dvd and prepared their clothes for bed and for today. gave asyraf his susu (which he didnt really drink) and went to my room to change my clothes and wash asyraf's bottles from the daycare (i make it a point to wash his bottles everyday, even though the teachers give them back clean).

then i called mcd for my dinner. went a bit overboard and ordered 2 burgers and fries for myself. thinking they would take at least 40 minutes, i gave the boys their bath. that was a bit stressful cos both wanted to main air instead of just mandi. asyraf is ok still...i can take him out of the water easily (kicking and screaming easily) but amir had to be given 2 bababs before he would come out, all pouting. 10 minutes not enough?

went to check on the delivery guy and found out that he came while i was giving the boys their bath. so i had to call them up and ask them to deliver my food again. they said they'll be around at 7:20pm. ok...berbuka with just water then. scared i'll miss him again this time, i took the boys to our room and let them watch dvd. amir was less active then usual, being still warm-ish and asyraf just wanted to follow me around, whining.

10 minutes after buka i was already shivering and feeling faint. i stood by the window macam tunggu boyfriend. finally the mcd delivery guy came. asked amir to wait in the room and put asyraf in his cot (again kicking and screaming). when i came back upstairs, asyraf had fallen asleep, so i took amir and had a quiet dinner with him.

8pm was my shower time (cum quiet time) though i know it wouldnt last long. amir wouldnt be able to leave asyraf in peace, seeing him sleeping in the cot like that. true enough, before too long i can hear asyraf crying. there goes my quiet time. went out, i saw amir hiding from me in asyraf's cot.

i ignored both and did my maghrib & isyak prayers. amir was still hiding from me. he's already up and about courtesy of the paracetamol i gave him after dinner. i looked at the clock...its only 8:30pm. the boys usually sleep at 10pm. god...this is going to be the longest 1 and 1/2 hours of my life. they wouldnt stay still...run/crawl here and there, pick this and that up, pushing each other, pushing the remote off the table (asyraf lah ni), picking up the phone to call daddy (ni kerja amir).

before 10pm, i've had it. i made milk for asyraf and asked amir to go to bed. since he refused, i switched off all the lights and the tv. after a while of standing in the dark he said he wanted to sleep with me. 6oz wasnt enough for asyraf, so i made another 3oz. he started to doze off and rolled over once the bottle was clean. eh...senang pulak today.

then i turned to amir. i can see in the dark that his eyes were wide open. great...another one! i knew he wanted hubby cos hubby always sleep with him. he started to ask if adik's asleep. then he said...amir punat (he doesnt look penat at all). then he gave me his feet to play with and then his back and then...we both fell asleep halfway through singing "on top of spaghetti".

looking back, i wouldnt want to go through that again. taking care of a 2 year old and a one year old while being 9 months pregnant and fasting. it was tiring, it was stressful but hey...i made it!

hubby came home at 11pm. he said something to me, but i just brushed him off...mummy punat lah. and because we didnt visit the pasar ramadhan today, my sahur was just a quarter pounder that i didnt touch last night, plus pengat pisang that hubby remember i was craving for (thanks babe).

on a more serious note, dot (aka bumpylittlebaby) will be undergoing c-sect in the afternoon due to pregnancy complications. her baby is only 34 weeks old. please join me in praying for the health of both of them.

Moody

he gets very moody when he's not well. on sunday afternoon his temperature shot up to 39.7c. we were surprised. just earlier during the day he was fine and playing with asyraf. he gave him voltaren around 3pm and let him sleep (thank god asyraf was also in the mood to sleep - he slept from 1pm to 4pm!) then he was fine and asked for food.

that night his temperature went back up to 40c. another voltaren for him, and he slept restlessly the whole night. he wanted to sleep with daddy and i slept on his mattress. when we gave him the volteron, he cried out loud. it woke asyraf up and we had another difficult task of getting him to sleep. he wouldnt sleep until after a full 9oz bottle of milk. ish...asyik minum je mamat ni.

we still sent him to school on monday. i cant afford to take leave anymore now. i'm crossing my fingers for a week (and then some) of medical leave so i've got to settle all my outstanding work before then. he came back from school still a bit under the weather but not too bad. after his little bit of dinner, eating while laying his head of the table, hubby gave him paracetamol and he feel asleep in front of the tv.

after his shower, he was all well again and was playing non-stop with asyraf. this morning, we're still administering the paracatemol and gave instructions to the teacher to not stop, even if he feels better. hoping we'll be up and about soon.

hmm...big reason to put the two boys in their room as soon as possible. dont want them to spread germs to eai#3.

Updating Some

hubby
after a month of working in god-forsaken sentul, hubby has accepted a job offer in shah alam. he really liked his previous job, depsite working saturdays. he got alone well with his colleagues and bosses and he could see potential of growth in the company, so he was not too happy about leaving. i think he felt that i pressured him into leaving. honestly speaking, i wasnt too happy he took up the offer last month. i especially hated the fact that his saturdays had to spent in the office rather than at home. with a young family, i felt he should be at home as our boys needed both parents to be around. i didnt want him missing precious moments with the boys and i didnt want the boys missing us.

there were times when we picked the boys up at 8pm (sometimes after that even). with that, plus the mileage, the kl jam and toll charges he had to face daily, i think i did do a little bit of pushing for him to leave old place.

anyway, he started his new job on tuesday. i called him up around mid-morning to ask how the new place was. he said the benefits seem pretty good. so i asked...do you like it there? all he answered was...its too soon to tell. then he said, his boss seems very laidback and open. so i asked...do you think that's good? again, all he said was...its too soon to tell. then he said that the work seem good (he gets to deal with media and participate in sports and other events the company sponsors). knowing at least he would like that, i asked...that's nice right? the answer i got was...its too soon to tell. then he went on about how the place is sort of like in e&y, where everyone is quite open, professionals and uses lotus notes. so i asked...arent you happy you are back in the same kind of environment? again...its too soon to tell.

jeez man...i know he feels i pressured him into taking this new job but cant he at least give into his excitement just a little bit? i dont know if pressure was the right word to use about my role in him taking up the new job offer. i know i didnt like the distance, the time away from the boys, the working saturdays, but i couldnt compare what he did then and what he would do now. but i am now happier with the distance of his office from home and i was particularly happy when i knew he would be getting these every month...














me
i'm just counting the days till my no 3 pops out. asyraf is very clingy and wants to be held all the time. my back hurts and my arms hurt. i have to carry him in a certain way in order to stop him from putting all his weight on my tummy. i went for my check up on friday. i told the doctor i want to be induced come first week of october. let me finish at least 15 days of fasting first, then i'm all for inducing.

i dont really have cravings during all my pregnancies. not those cravings that i just have to have this food or else and those cravings that i would get hubby to go and get at 3am because i wanted a taste. i do get these "i feel like having..." moments but nothing too major. if i dont get, its ok and i dont go out of my way to get them. recently i had a bit of a craving for pizza hut and cornetto ice cream (both of which i got tonight) and pengat pisang (god...where can i get that?!)

amir
my cheeky boy is showing his new skill of playing pretend. every now and then he'd get into character and calls himself "harry potter". when he's in the hp mood, he would say daddy is "ron" (yon in his language), mummy is "hermione" and asyraf is "voldermort" (the kepala botak and all). other times he would be "mickey mouse", hubby is "donald duck", i am "daisy duck" and asyraf is "goofy". he really would use the character and say...ron, harry potter nak water. the amazing thing is that he knows when he's in character and when he's not, and even which group of character we are all in.

what i dont like is now he's getting a bit rough with asyraf. he starting to grab asyraf, grab toys from asyraf and even kick asyraf when he's crawling. i know he just wants to play but there are times when he plays a bit too rough. maybe its only starting to show recently because asyraf has started to respond to amir's playfulness. sensing asyraf wants to play too, amir gets a little too excited but he cant comprehend that asyraf is still very small and unable to protect himself.

asyraf
after being discharged from the hospital a couple of weeks ago, asyraf has been putting on the pounds. he eats 3 bowls of nestum a day and drinks endless bottles of milk. before going to bed, he would drink 6oz of milk...twice. then he would wake up again at around 6am to drink another 6oz before going back to bed. his face is so round and his tummy is so bloated. even his teachers commented that he's so montel and gemuk now.

i can see that we'll have a bit of a problem getting him off his milk in a few months time. i'm hoping he'd stop milk by the time he reaches 18 months old, insyaallah. after that it will be full cream milk for him, just like amir.














baby no 3
from having no preparation at all for his arrival, i've ticked almost all of the things in my "to do" and "to buy" lists. having extra energy the couple of weeks before ramadhan, i managed to wash the baby clothes and store them (in order, of course) in the chest of drawers cum changing table in our room. asyraf's clothes have been moved to his room. i bought a few things on my day off last week and managed to grab a few more things this week.

i bought his toiletteries on monday and some new clothes on tuesday (i felt he needed some new clothes, not too much as his drawers are already packed to the brim due to my over-excitedness while pregnant with amir and my discovery of the bundle rack in fos during my pregnancy with asyraf). i also bought a new towel, since i bought a new one for each baby, and a new bathtub, since the one previously used have been hijacked by two certain water babies. all that's left are his diapers and formula. both of which hubby assured me he would get nearer to the date or even when i'm in the hospital. well, i trust him to know which brand to get.

the clothes we bought in perth and the clothes i bought in marks & sparks...















the new tub and towel and the bathtub-hijackers...














another thing i need to do is to get a mattress for asyraf so that he would stop sleeping in the cot. i have to wash the cot bumper, the comforter, bedsheet, pillowcase and air the mattress before the baby's arrival. we're planning to get it tomorrow, if we have the energy.

house
my house projects are taking off nicely. hubby called the gardener (our monthly grass cutter, more like it) to change the grass last week. the grass that the developer put in our yard is of bad quality - more of lalangs, actually. we initially thought of putting carpet grass but it seems that carpet grass cant grow well in my area. i see my neighbours green grass slowly turning yellow and i didnt want to spend on something that would look like that. so we opted for normal cow grass but something of good quality and something that is inviting and something my boys can run around on. within 4 days, the gardener and his group managed to transform our hutan belantara to a soon-to-be nice garden. hubby's planning to buy a few trees to spruce up the back and to cover the tnb box in front of our house.














the boys' wardrobe has been booked. i called up the same company that did the wardrobe in our spare bedroom and they said it could be done within a week after measurement. of course, the time between my calling them and confirming what i wanted and the day of measurement was a bit too long for my liking. maybe its because i'm only doing up a 5-and-a-half-feet wardrobe instead of a brand new kitchen, that they are taking my order less seriously. anyway, the salesman came over to measure this morning and assured me they can put the wardrobe up latest by next saturday. i dont mind waiting till then, at least hubby will be around and i dont need to take an extra day off work. i can air the wardrobe the whole of saturday and start moving the boys' clothes, our luggage and amir's "cant use yet" toys on sunday.

Week 36

i drafted another entry before this but that entry is not quite finished yet, so i'll post this one first.

i am currently in my 36th week, coming up to 37 in a couple of days. so far i've fasted a week. the first few days went smoothly, i was energetic and on the go. come the 4th day, i could feel myself starting to get tired and lethargic. maybe because that day i started work again. the lrt journeys to and from work took a bit of a toll on me, i think.

i had my check up today. it was supposed to be yesterday, but my gynae had an emergency c-sect so it was postponed to today. i was at the hospital since 7:30am and finally got to see her at 10am. i went early because i wanted a good parking spot and wanted to have a good breakfast. oh ya...this is my second day of not fasting, since i didnt fast yesterday as well.

i was the first to see the doctor. my weight went up by a bit but it was nothing significant. the baby's put on only 100grams during the week. my gynae advised me to eat healthily. she didnt stop me from fasting but she said, i had to break my fast with something substantial, which is the opposite of what i've been eating - 2 kuih & a murtabak, or 2 kuih & a mihun soup. she also wanted me to compliment my food intake with lots of milk. ok...so what do i do with the carton of vanilla coke in the fridge?

while she was checking whether the baby is engaged (which he is not - according to her, subsequent to the first one, babies may not engage as fast...they'll engage during the actual labour), she said that my baby is just below the skin. she can tell where his elbow, his knees, his head is just by touching. she said if i had transparent skin, we can see the baby as it is. she said my stomach is unlike other people's that's why its so potruding. the baby pushes everything out of his way and he lies just under the stomach skin. its the same for all 3 pregnancies. they just lie down there...

anyway, i asked her if i can be induced on oct 1st. she said that would depend on if the baby is able to put on another 500grams to reach 3kg. if not, it would have to wait. so now...do i continue fasting or dont i??

Geram

asyraf took a nap for a couple of hours. amir kept asking where he is, kept saying...nak asiyaf...nak asiyaf. when asyraf finally got up, amir scream and ran to him...

Still On Leave

i was planning to go to the brands outlet at ikano today but i'm not in the mood. compared to yesterday, i'm more tired today. maybe cos asyraf woke up for almost 2 hours last night. gave him his bottle, he didnt finish it. patted his bum for him to sleep, he kept turning over - and crying out loud cos he hates sleeping on his back. hubby took him to sleep over his shoulders, still he whined and cried. even amir got up and went under his comforter, i think he was pissed with the noise asyraf was making. finally after burping and throwing up once (hei...itu je kerja dia), asyraf finally went to sleep. hubby thinks its angin. then amir couldnt sleep and wanted to sleep on our bed.

we finally went to sleep at 230am and had to get up again by 450am. sahur was last night's food - ayam masak kicap and kacang goreng. hubby wasnt in the mood to eat. he was ransacking the kitchen looking for something else, rather than rice. weird...he's the one who insists on eating rice, saying he needs the energy. i, on the other hand, can survive on mcd and pizza the whole month. have to think of something else for buka today.

unfortunately there's no pasar ramadhan here, if not it would be easy. the closest is the one in ttdi jaya but its not so good. there's also one near the shah alam stadium, but i'm not that desperate to fight the crowd for parking, for space to walk and for the food.

seeing as we didnt get much sleep last night, hubby got up late for work. once the boys left, i sorted the photos from perth. i was out of albums and got another 1 yesterday in 1utama. finally got all the pictures in.

i did only 1 load of laundry so far, the bedsheet and comforter that asyraf threw up on. since yesterday wasnt a sunny day, i left most of the laundry i did yesterday and the day before still on the line. hopefully they'll dry by today. so at least i would have some clothes to fold. i'm thinking of preparing asyraf's party favours today, as well. put them all in the favour bags, the only thing that's missing are the balloons, masks and something from cmog.

i'll do all those while finally watching the season 3 of grey's anatomy...

so now...mandi time...

Last Minute Dash

i consider this really last minute. i was well-prepared for amir's and asyraf's arrival but i havent prepared anything for baby no 3. the most i did was transfer asyraf's clothes to the chest of drawers in his room and taking out the baby clothes to be washed. i did 2 loads so far, waiting to do the last load while i'm on medical leave.

we went to giant after the boys' check up yesterday and i managed to pick up some things for the baby and me. since i'm on leave again today & tomorrow, i was thinking of going to 1 "everything under 1 roof" utama to grab some more things.

storage box for the baby's mittens & botties, container for his sterilised bottles for daycare (the handle comes in handy), his laundry basket (i regret i didnt get a more macho colour), sterilising tablets for the bottles, bottle brush and packs of wet tissues.










































i also plan to buy some new clothes (kesian dia takde baju baru) at brands outlet at ikano power centre. that needs to be done pretty early as well as i have to wash the clothes first.

not to be ignored, i bought amir & asyraf new conforter sets for their bed (asyraf's bed is still in the "to buy" list...)














asyraf's new comforter set and his 4 new towels (2 for home, 2 for daycare)














a little bit of things for asyraf's party favours...














all that's left are the baby's toileteries (i use sebamed for both boys til they turn 6 months), diapers and formula (i dont plan to fully breastfeed the baby - my own personal decision with approval from hubby, so please do not comment on the matter, thanks). but i'm not too worried about these items. i plan to get the toileteries on monday while i wait for hubby to pick me up from work. the diapers and formula hubby is well-versed with so he can pick them up nearer to the date, if i dont have the energy.












oh, plus the bottles. i hinted to my colleagues that i really, really, reallllyyyyyy want bottles as presents when i deliver. ehhh zu, being normal, s.o.g.l, fadz, anyone from work...nak yang ni ye...

My Babies

hubby & i brought the boys along for their follow up check up with their pead this afternoon. amir's been ok since he was discharged, so there's no problem there. its just asyraf and his loose stools. we certainly didnt expect the doctor to conclude that amir was wheezing and had to use the nebuliser. amir was a good boy throughout...control macho.














i also had my 2-weekly check up today. it was supposed to be tomorrow but i just realised that tommorow's the first day of ramadhan, so i brought it forward to today.

my check up went ok, she gave me 3 days off work since i was coughing badly and had a seriously bad flu. she was also worried since i havent been putting on weight and i've been very weak and shaky the past couple of days. i told the gynae that the baby's movement have been pretty limited especially since i wasnt too well since the boys were admitted. she said its quite normal since the baby's big now...2.4kg. i asked her for a possibility of me being induced as i'm just so tired carrying this stomach around. i also wanted to go on leave the last week of september onwards. she was pretty ok with the idea since she said its just a matter of 2-3 weeks before i give birth by the looks of it, so yeay. but the bad side is, staying at home puts a dent on my fasting. i just cant fast when i'm at home...i'll be a "clock watcher" and will be all lembik and cant get anything done. not that i dont want to fast, but i think i should be realistic and accept the fact that i cant fast and run my errands at the same time.

anyway, the thought of the baby coming soon makes me wonder, how will he look like? from the scans, he looks more like amir than asyraf (even though the 2 of them already look alike). amir looked like me when he was younger. now that he's bigger, he's the exact copy of hubby. asyraf, too looked like me when he was a baby. now he looks like...well, himself. we cant tell who he looks now - he looks neither like me or hubby.

amir...


















asyraf...

Better Weekend

compared to last weekend. we didnt have much on our plate as hubby and i wanted to relax. we did have a few tasks listed down, but they're no biggie.

good thing is it was sunny throughout the whole weekend. i managed to do loads of laundry - our bedsheet, towels, our working clothes, 2 loads of the baby's clothes (i've got just another load of his mittens and booties to sort out) and the boys clothes. i am just shocked at how much clothes the boys have right now, and this is during asyraf's non-throwing up sessions. imagine how much i would have to do when he throws up.

after hubby came back from work on saturday, we all slept for 2 hours in amir's room. his room is cooler compared to ours which gets the morning sunlight. after asar, we went to wash the car, patch one of the tyres, cut the boys' hair (asyraf look soooo nice now) and had dinner. i actually wanted to make my daging goreng kunyit from last week but hubby wanted to have an early dinner.

we bathed the boys early and lepak-ed in amir's room until almost bedtime. by this time asyraf seems better and was no longer throwing up. his stools are still loose though, which confuses us. what is actually wrong with him? why is he sick all the time?

on sunday, i made my all-time favourite breakfast of scramble eggs, fried onions and tomatoes. then hubby had a craving for baked pasta. weird since he's a totally anti-pasta person. i made enough for lunch, dinner and even tomorrow's breakfast.

for me, sunday was a totally laundry day. hubby went round the house cleaning here and there, the boys car seats, our bathroom sink, ironed his company shirt for tomorrow.

the boys were great this weekend. both slept when we told them to (more of cos we wanted to sleep) and they were angels, except for asyraf who is at his clingy stage. my hips hurt from carrying him all the time - and the bad (great, if i'm not in this condition) part is that he prefers to be carried by me than hubby. asyraf ni...















pre-hair cut...


















post-hair cut...














what to do if your child wont stop talking...