Things She Says Prior To The Delivery

She woke up one morning and started crying, big drops of tears flowing down (not the wailing type of crying). Me : What happened? Zara : Mummy gone! Me : Did you have a bad dream? Zara : *still crying* Mummy gone to Morib. Me : Mummy is not gone, see, mummy is here. Zara : *smiled and wiped her tears* Yeah, mummy is here. Not gone. On our last visit to the Dr. Zara : Zara ask Dr Jason to take out baby from mummy's stomach. Me : Why? Zara : Then mummy can go to the park with Zara. Zara can sit on mummy's lap on the swing, then Zara and mummy can swing high high. (She missed the time I used to sit her on my lap and we shared a swing together) Earlier today. Zara : Mummy, Daddy, Zara, family. Me : Yeah, later we'll have mei-mei. Then it'll be Mummy, Daddy, Zara, mei mei. We're a family. Zara : I don't want mei mei. Zara's family only have Mummy, Daddy and Zara. When I tugged her to bed, I prepped her for tomorrow. Me : Tomorrow mummy will go to the hospital and stay there ok? Zara sleep with Daddy in the night. Zara : *started crying* I don't want mummy to go to hospital, I want mummy to stay with Zara. Me : Zara can come and visit mummy with Daddy you know. Zara : *still crying* Then Zara say hi to mummy. *started wailing* I don't want. Me : Ok ok. We talk about happier things then. What did we do today.. let's see....... Zara : *stopped her crying*

Ho-Ho-Holidays!

I'm going to pop soon, and here is what we'd been doing, to spend time with Zara as the only child before the arrival of no. 2. Eve of Christmas Eve : We had dinner at Eat Work Shop, and I had my roast turkey! It was good! The owner, Marcia, even threw in the turkey wing for free! After that, we took Zara to hotels (The Saujana and The Holiday Inn Glenmarie) to check out the Christmas decorations, and she really had a good time, since these 2 hotels were very spacious and quiet, and she can run around freely. Christmas Eve : The big family dinner was supposed to be 3 tables at a Chinese restaurant. My eldest sis decided not to join us and my youngest sis got admitted for dengue fever the day before. So the dinner ended up being a small one, with only King's Wife's family and ours with my dad. Dinner was err.. cut throat price in Overseas Restaurant and not nice at all! After dinner, we adjorned to the hospital to visit my sister and open up our presents together with my sister's family. On Christmas Day : Zara was kept busy playing with her Christmas presents in the morning. We then went to have lunch with my dad, and later dinner with Daddy's friends. Whole day of eating and outing!

She and her favourite present, the singing pink car, from Chloe, our neighbour

On Boxing Day : Daddy went back to work. I brought Zara to Kidzsports with Tuyam and then to the Pet Shop, per the requests of the little girl. Bought myself the Allerhand bag (Christmas present from Daddy), and end my hunt for the perfect bag for carrying Zara and baby's things. Best of all! Zara and I are both very happy to receive these from Domestic Rat and May. Thanks Ladies!

Zara loves the doggie; I believe the Chocolate lolly was supposed to be a raindeer, but it has melted. :( Zara was however, very keen in tasting her first lolly pop.

I'll be going in to the hospital on Thursday to get induced. Today (Wednesday) will be my very last day spending with Zara before the arrival of baby. Some how, I feel a bit melancholy. After this, she will no longer be my only child, where all my energy and attention has been channeled to the last 2 years.

Wish me a safe and quick delivery, will you?

Confinement Sleeping Arrangement

We had very bad experience with our first confinement lady (CL) when we had Zara. Being extremely unhygenic (picked nose then applied diaper cream on Zara; dipped a spoon into her mouth to taste her own cooking and then using the same spoon to stir the broth later), totally non supportive of my breast feeding plan (when Zara cried because of hunger, she started chanting, "aiyo, girl girl ah, mummy naughty ah, don't let you drink powder milk ah", as though I wasn't already stressed enough) and rough (the thumping sound she made when she burped Zara was heart breaking); she got the boot the 2nd day. I took care of Zara on my own (no MIL to offer help, didn't trust maid with Zara) with a few visits from the hospital nurse to teach me how to bath and care for Zara. We are trying our luck the 2nd time this round. Since I only started looking for one after I got my amnio result (into 5th month), we were not left with many choices (better ones were already hired). I haven't met the CL, don't know what she looks like, how she is. Daddy is extremely skeptical about leaving baby at night with the CL alone in a room for that one month. Since I'm going to breast feed anyway, we plan to have the CL sleep with me in our room, while Daddy takes the guest's room. The thing is where will the CL sleep? On our queen size bed with me? Err.. I don't think I want that. On Zara's bed? Hah, here is what Zara said when we tried to 'negotiate' with her. Me : "Zara let Aunty sleep on your bed, then Zara sleep with mummy on mummy's bed ok? At night, mummy can hug hug you to sleep (to 'motivate' her)" Zara : "Zara's bed is Zara's. Aunty sleep downstairs on the sofa." Me : "There are lots of bugs downstairs at night." Zara : *pointing to the guest's room* "Aunty sleep in the other room." Me : "Daddy is sleeping there already... We changed the mattress, bed sheets on your bed, then Zara let Aunty sleep on your bed can or not?" Zara : "Nooo! This is special bed *pointing to her bed*, only Zara can sleep here. Nobody can sleep" (and I was worried she won't settle in her own bed, when we moved her from her cot to the bed) Me : "Then where will aunty sleep?" Zara : *pointed to the floor in our room* "Sleep there then." So, here is our plan, we'll be setting up another single bed in our room near the cot, and have the CL sleep there for that month. Have a look at the room now, it'll turn into a dorm when the other bed is moved in!

Weekend Parties

Tasha (my eldest sis' daughter) celebrated her 1st birthday on Saturday in Cocca Restaurant. The thing is, Zara never wanted to admit it's Tasha's birthday. When we told her we're going for Tasha's birthday party, she said, "No, it's Zara's birthday!". When we asked her to pass the present to Tasha, she said, "No, it's Zara's one!". She didn't want to give Tasha a hug, or wish her Happy Birthday. She didn't even want to join in the other children for a group photo. Hmm.. at this age, she is really not showing much interest to kids her age or younger than her. Maybe it's the competition (for attention) she finds unsettling. She stuck to her older cousins all the time, joining in their games.

Playing with her cousins; Tasha with BIL and sis; Tasha and her Tinkerbell Cake; Zara attacking the sugar flower on the cake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Sunday, we were invited to my neighbor's daughter, Cayley's full moon party. My neighbor's older daughter Chloe (the same age as Zara), is Zara's play mate. They seem to have this love hate relationship. They want to play with each other, and yet, they can't share toys, and sometimes even have the occasional shouting bout. E.g. "It's mine!" "I take (took) first!" etc. Before we left for Chloe's house, Zara herself was telling me, "Go Chloe's house, no fighting yeah? No snatching toys yeah? Must share share, yeah?" Daddy and I were busy stuffing ourselves silly with all the lovely home cooked food, while Zara made herself at home playing with Chloe's toys (she's been to Chloe's house a few times, and knew where Chloe's toys were kept). And true enough, to my relieve, she didn't do any snatching or fighting with Chloe.

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I'm trying to get all my cravings fulfilled before I give birth and start the herbs, wine and ginger confinement diet (blech). The next item on my list, Turkey!

I'll be starting my leave next week, back at work on April 1st. Lots to clear up before the long leave!

Christmas Spirit

Most of the evenings after dinner (especially now when it's close to Christmas, and she sees Christmas trees every where), Zara will ask us to play the Christmas Karaoke VCD for her. She only selects a few songs she wants to listen to or have interesting videos. These are her demands when she's watching the video. "Mummy come, sit near near Zara, Zara scared with (of) Santa Clause (which appears in the Jingle Bell video)" "I don't want Fer lis na we dah (Feliz Navidad)." "I want Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer only." "I want Pram-pam-pam one (Drummer Boy)." "I want the one got horse pulling carriage one." While playing one video, sometimes, "I don't want the next one, I'm scared with (of) the statue." Since I'm the one who's familiar with the VCD (which songs have which scene etc.), I have to sit with her the whole time she watches the VCD. One of her favourite video in the VCD is Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer, and after a few listening, she started to be able to sing some part of the song. Here's her singing, with me helping out. (Half way through, you can actually hear her say, "I want birdnest." One of her favourite after dinner treat these days, which I'm making quite often for baby and myself.)

Zara is happy to have stay over Guests!

Guess who stays over at our place this week? King's Wife and her daughters! Guess who's the happiest of the lot? Zara! She's so happy to have her cousins play with her, especially Sam. The house is noisier, busier, merrier. During the day, she no longer shouts for me, it's always, "Sam jiejie, come!" "Sam jiejie, play with you (me)!" "Sam jiejie" here "Sam jiejie" there. She wants to dress up like Sam, wants Sam to sit next to her when she watches her TV program, wants Sam to watch her brush her teeth, wants Sam to bath together with her, wants Sam to accompany her wherever she goes etc. Luckily Sam is a girl with full of patience, and she gives in to Zara's demand. That's also probably why Zara loves her to bits!

a glimpse of her with her cousins (she's always so affectionate with Sam)

She's going to oh-so-miss-them when they go home!

Pregnancy Update - Baby coming soon?

My stomach is extremely huge, I have slightly more than 3 more weeks to go. Resting is no longer possible. Laying on the right or left no longer feel comfortable. Sitting hurt my back. Standing tires my calves. I wake up middle of the night with eyes wide opened, trying hard to go back to sleep. Baby is still active although with not much space for movement, we can see the tremors she creates when she moves, skin stretching before our eyes. I'd sorted out all the necessities for the arrival of the baby : 1) ordered my confinement herbs and herbal wine from my Chinese Dr. 2) confirmed with friend's mum who will be supplying me with home brewed rice wine. 3) signed up with Stemlife for baby's cord blood banking 4) bought a few new pieces of clothing to welcome baby's arrival (the rest will be wearing her jie-jie's clothes) 5) checked that we have enough bottles/milk storage bag to store breast milk if I need to pump out 6) bought new Dr Brown bottles for her during occasions where I cannot breast feed directly 7) rearranged the furniture in the room to accommodate the cot (Daddy has yet to raise the cot and fixed its railing) And yesterday, I'd even packed my bag for my hospital stay. So now, I'm just waiting for baby's arrival. ~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~ On the other hand, Zara has been bugging us to bring her to the beach, to Morib, to Penang, to Cowboy Town. We had to explain to her I'm too big to be traveling now, and we have to wait for Mei-Mei's (Chinese : Little sister) arrival before we can travel again. So over the weekend, besides bringing her to the mall, we let her play in her wading pool. She was very very happy, since her last dip was actually in Phuket, quite a while back.

On Zara's Speech Again

Zara has been calling Daddy other names other than just Daddy. When we are going home from my sis' place, she would announce, "I'm going home already, to see my Old Man, Bob The Builder." When she has shouted for Daddy many times and got no response from him, she'll start using his name (first and last name together), "XXXXX LOW! XXXXX LOW!" Just like I would address him when I don't get any response from him. ~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~ She started to have some sense of time, and started using words to describe the past. However, she's still confuse with the usage, and it's cute to see her attempts. E.g. "Just now we went to Cowboy town, the pony kick kick Zara right?" (although it wasn't just now but some time back.) "Last time Zara saw reindeer in Ikea, and point(ed) to Mummy and Daddy." (although it was something that happened the day before) Me : "Zara you shu-shu (Chinese : Pee) is it?" Zara : "No, I didn't. I (am) lying down only" (she was on the bed trying to get herself to sleep). Me : "How are you today? Do you still have runny nose?" Zara : "No I didn't (don't). I'm feeling better already." ~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~ She likes to help Tuyam with her pronunciation or us when we can't find the right word to use. Me : "Remember in Phuket, you saw the lobster in the restaurant, hmm.. what are those things on the lobster's head? *using my pointer to make the 'horn' on the head* antenna?" Zara : "Mummy, it's fillers mummy! It's fillers." *grinning happily* (Is it really called fillers? I actually don't know, but that's what Daddy told her during the trip and she remembers.) Tuyam : *Pointing to a bee picture on her book* "See this 'beh' flying flying." Zara : "Bees lah. Kakak, Bees" ~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~ Yesterday, she was crying so much for me before her nap. Wanted me to give her milk and nap with her. After her nap, when she was in a better mood : Me : "Why did Zara cry just now? Kept asking for mummy?" Zara : "........" (she always doesn't like to talk about embarrassing stuff, and crying is one) Me : "Tell mummy, why did Zara cry just now?" Zara : "Because mummy pregnant (I started wondering what has this got to do with her crying) . *She paused then continued* (obviously trying to find the right words) Zara wants to sayang sayang (Malay: TLC) mummy." ~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~ On a loving day, Zara : "Zara is mummy's 宝贝 (precious). And mummy is Zara's 宝贝."

Mixing Too Much with Boys

Little Miss Engineer has been mixing too much with her cousin Norman and playing a lot of his toys when she's stationed there at my sis' place. She gets very excited as well when Daddy has to do some DIY stuff at home, she calls her Daddy, "Bob The Builder" (and other names, which I'll talk about it later); and herself, "Little Bob The Builder"; and starts singing the Bob The Builder Song when Daddy takes out his tool box. She knows the name of some of the tools used like hammer, screw driver, spanner, screw, saw; and always keen in lending a hand to Daddy when he has to work on something at home.

'Drilling' my dad's table; All geared up to be Bob The Builder; Working on her own 'project'; Helping Daddy to put up the storage box for her toys.

My sis' maid was so curious that I allow her to play with such toys and even thinking of getting a tool set for her for Christmas. This is an exploring stage for her, so I just let her play with whatever toys that interest her, be it boys' or girls'. That reminds me, I have to start doing some baking, to expose her to some of the girlish' activities.

Weekend Short Takes

Daddy installed the Ikea chest of drawers we bought for the girls' clothes in our room, and a new toy storage bench for Zara's toys, with lots of interruptions help from Zara. Now the girls will have proper place to store their clothes (I used to store Zara's clothes in Ikea bought boxes), and later, a proper play room (we planned to convert one of the rooms to a play room so that Zara can stop messing up playing in the living room). ~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have a big family dinner at Eat Work Shop on Saturday, in honour of my nephew, Nick, and niece, Ally, who got 5As each for their UPSR (Primary 5) exams. Zara was happily occupied by her favourite Sam jie-jie and Norman kor-kor (her 2 younger cousins), and I have Tuyam (who rarely goes out with us) to run after her. It means I could stuff my self silly with all the sumptuous food (And Eat Work Shop does serve very good western cuisine).

She kept sticking to Sam jiejie

Zara with her favourite 2 younger cousin, Sam and Norman; Sam with Tasha; The dinner table; The 2 As scorers with the dinner sponsor, my dad.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Daddy insisted that we go visit an Ostrich Farm (he thinks I'm still super mobile in my 9th month pregnancy) on Sunday and decided to go to the one in Klang.

For RM15/adult, it was more of a 'mini zoo' than an Ostrich Farm. We saw some sickly ponies, bald ostriches, skinny horses, ugly pythons and other small unhealthy looking animals in a smelly and muddy environment. Zara wanted to leave the minute we stepped into the 'farm', claiming it was "So smelly!", and she refused to walk about, saying the ground is "So dirty.", and complaining the ostriches are "So ugly." In and out, it took us less than 30mins. Daddy said, "Give me another hour, and I'll bring you to the one in Semenyih, which is supposed to be bigger and better." But I said that's enough of Ostriches and smelly animal dung for a day. So we went home instead.

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For dinner, we went to Benkay Japanese Restaurant in Nikko Hotel, since I got a RM50/- off voucher.

Dinner was absolutely lovely. Zara ate some softshell crab maki, a whole prawn tempura, and a bowl of chawan-mushi. It always gives us a good feeling to see her enjoying her food (which is rather rare).

After dinner, we spent sometime enjoying the Christmas Deco (We forgot to bring the camera, what a waste). Daddy purposely drove passed the busy Jalan Bukit Bintang to look at the Deco put up by the malls and the hotels. However, the decorations were pretty lame.