Confinement Craving...

My 44 days of confinement period finally over..i'm freeee now..Well tho i didnt religiously followed the strict confinement period, pantang is still pantang. So yes, to celebrate it i decided to reward myself with something sweet. I have sweet tooth and i want to eat thing that I craved during confinement period..a macaron!. No not macaroni, macaron..;) The first time I ate these sweeties was at The Whisk@Empire sometime ago. But after tasting those to die for Laduree's macarons bought by a friend's sister before giving birth, i'm craving for more. The taste was so heavenly i wanted to pass out when i first sank my teeth on it.haha, exaggerating. Still in my hometown finishing my confinement period and of cos it is impossible to get macaron here unless u're really enthusiastic to dig for the recipe and do it on your own.

So the hunting began. I googled baking blogs that sell macarons and in my quest i successfully found it. I love internet(*wink) and immediately emailed the owner . The best part is that they can courier the macarons right to your doorstep. And I got them this morning..;)

Love the colours, they look particularly appealing.

The verdict? Yummy, the texture and the filling were just perfect and I really enjoyed the fact that it wasn't too sweet at least for me..;) For the flavors I chose Chocolate ganache,peanut, Dulce de leche and Mocca Buttercream. My parents tasted the macaron, it was good but sinfully sweet to their likings that can increase their sugar level,hehe.. Glancing at Hana, no she doesnt eat macarons, she just crazy over breast milk, I think she don't even bother if i finish the whole box myself...hehe. But not too worry, i did not eat them all in one day..

dulce de leche is my favourite flavor...

I came to know that Harrods,KLCC also sell macarons but since now i live in Putrajaya, KLCC is just too far to my reach.huhu. So if u tempted to try without having the hassle to get them outside and can wait, u can have them delivered to your house by contacting Cik Min..;)

the homemade macarons...

*Just realize Cik Min dok Bentongje, on the way ke rumah mak mertua saje..hehe.Will definitely order some more in the future.

Wordless Wednesday- "Cukur Jambul"

Joining the bandwagon of Wordless Wednesday. At least there's something to post when i have nothing to put into words or coherent sentences. More than a photo wont do any harm rite..;p

Birth story...

Hi. I really wanna blog but I just cannot find the time to do so. My life is now pretty much occupied with more exciting stuff. Yup our little bundle of joy is finally here..! Have i told u its a girl? She was born on 8th February 2011 @ 9.45 pm. Induced at 38 weeks of pregnancy. Her name is HANA SOFEA. Hana means happiness,bliss. Or flower in Japanese and Sofea means pure or wisdom.

I think I better briefly blog down my labour story first of all, while Hana is asleep or before I start to forget it. As you know I went for induce labour. Although most birth begin naturally and it's usually best to let nature take its course, but sometimes the birth process may need a little help if the risks of prolonging your pregnancy are more serious than the risks of delivering your baby straight away. (source : i read somewhere about induce labour)

So in my case, since i had an IUD case during my first pregnancy, I was advised to be induced at 38 weeks. At the given date, 7th February 2011 we got to the hospital then went for the ward registration. Checked myself in, it felt more like I was going for a check in a hotel than going to pop out a baby into the world. I’ve been told by the doc that they will start the induction process the next morning. I was pretty relaxed and the waiting game began.

8th February 2011- exactly about 6.30 am, the doctor inserted a tablet, pessary or gel containing prostaglandin to help stimulate the uterine contractions. However I didnt feel any contractions for the next 6 hours and can happily eating and chatting with hubby and family in laws. In the meantime the nurse kept coming in to check on the baby's heart beat and my contraction on the CTG machine. The doc was pretty amazed I didnt feel any contractions yet and at 2 pm i was given the second prostaglandin. She even helped me opening the cervix to 2cm. The contractions started to build up a bit by 3pm but it was still bearable. The biggest mistake i’ve done is i drank the "air selusuh" that MIL gave too early and it made the contractions went stronger but not the opening of my cervix. Haha. U should drink it when u’re about to deliver. At this moment i tried to read every single doa that i had memorised while hubby recited Surah Yassin from his phone. We even walked around the ward to ease the pain.

The contractions grew stronger i couldn't even bother to eat my dinner. At about 7 pm, the doctor decided to break my waterbag to speed things up and i was then pushed to the labour room downstair. As I entered the labour room, I was again being monitored with the CTG thingy and everytime the contractions came i kept telling myself ‘its all in your mind’ though i knew it didn’t help at all.Hehe.The pain was unbearable! The midwife gave me the ethonox gas and showed me how to use it if I needed to. You're supposed to breathe in throughout the contractions. I tried to give it a go, but I found that it didn't really help, just made me feel high and dizzy and wanna puke. Hubby was there all the time, and to my surprise I threw up everytime the major contractions came while hubby hold the plastic bag and massaging my back. The doctor came in and checked my dilation progress. 5cm. ..I was only 5cm dilated! What???after all of that pain, only 5cm??? The doctor asked me to try pushing slowly, like practising pushing and said i was doing well. Then the midwife told hubby to take the air selusuh. Hubby went upstairs to get the "air selusuh" and after drinking the water, I felt the urge of pushing so bad. It was like a magic when the midwife said I am fully dilated and can push now.

I can remember i told hubby to just stay beside me and dont look down where I’m going to push the baby.haha. i still remember that he once said that he’s afraid of the big amount of blood. And the next thing I know, I was pushing and pushing and pushing... and then the baby's head popped out and i can hear her crying. It was the most beautiful moment..Alhamdulillah was all I could think as they placed Hana on me. I survived the normal labour without taking pethidine or epidural. ;) (give a pat on the tummy)

reciting Azan/Qamat to her ears...

1 day old Hana Sofea..

So that's it...that's "not so briefly" about Hana's birth story.. Now that I have my own mini family and all I can say thank u Allah for this gift and really glad He gives me a chance to experience this again in a truly different ambiance.

On Baby Shower...

Last weekend my colleagues threw me a baby shower. I was hesitated at first when they expressed the intention to organize the baby shower. But they insisted and told me this to show their supports on my second pregnancy. The girls prepared everything, from the food selection till the deco and table arrangement. How sweet, when some of them wore preggy attire.

Date: 15th January 2011
Venue : Equestrian Club, Putrajaya
Theme: Blue and White

was forced to give the opening speech..

The food were awesome. I gobbled everything down till my stomach full.

We played 3 games altogether and i have to be the judge. First, the Baby Words Unscramble. The groups were divided to two, the single group and couple group, the married/engaged couple. They had to unscramble the words of baby's brands, complete the puzzle and of cos the couple group won this game. The second was Guess Me game. They had to guess the name of baby stuff based on the picture showed. It was hilarious when one of them confidently guess the baby bibs as an apron.
Finally the Mom's Circumference game where the guys had to blow up a balloon according to how big they think my belly was. The girls had to put the balloon on their bellies while i checked the correct measurements. The nearest measurement win but none of them got this right.. The losing group had to sing twinkle2 little star. Haha. After all it was fun I laughed so much I felt my tummy aches afterward.

Some of the pics...






The cute diaper cake for table deco. The talented Shilashower 'baked' it.. U can get one from her..

Milion thanx to my colleagues for organizing such an awesome baby shower that i'll cherish and remember forever.

Baby stuff..

It still awkward to type letter "2011" on any documents relating to work. I'm still adjusting my mind that we are now cruising into 2011 and sooner i'm gonna get use to it...

What we did on the first day of 2011. We went for the so called final shopping spree for baby (did i say final? But i still continuing my online shopping habit for the baby) ..haha. I got hoard of baby stuff in my office locker resulting from online shopping and haven't bring them back home yet . I think baby shopping is much more exciting than shopping for self now. Just adding up certain thing that I don't get to buy during my first pregnancy. Positive, remember?. So we went to IOI Mall since the initial plan was only to get the Medela breast pump at the Stroller World. But the Stroller World offers so many things that are soo irresistible. So ended up buying this:

pic from littlewhiz.com

We bought this Medela Mini Electric Breastpump which comes in package: the cooler kit, bottles, nipple cream and breast pump bag. Hoping that the milk flows well so that I can fully utilise this thing.

What's the point of going to Stroller World without buying the stroller. So after a prompt discussion with hubby, he insisted to buy the stroller since we dont have to think about it later on. Beli je terus senang. Although I love Maclaren but stroller is indeed a guy's thing so I let hubby choose. So he chose this CYBEX Callisto stroller since it's more user friendly and easy to handle. He just fell in love with the aluminium rims and how the stroller is easy to maneuver with one hand handle and plus it comes with bumper bar. Well he manage to convince me to agree on this over Maclaren..haha. The CYBEX Callisto looks like this:

Sarah Jessica Parker got herself Cybex Callisto too, but ours is in purple..

Finally we bought a white baby cot that comes together with BumbleBee crib set and the Getha latex baby mattress which is worth it.

checking everything intact before making the purchase...

Overall I'm satisfied with what we got so far. It clears up my mind a little despite being super anxious about this second pregnancy since the firsthand experience of giving birth always clouding my mind a bit. I'm hoping that God see this effort in order to bring the best for the baby and silently pray He let us have our bundle of joy for this time. Yups.

Went to hospital yesterday and met the O&G specialist. I was told that they will make me deliver by hook or by crook during my 38 weeks of pregnancy since I've IUD history. Was quite surprise since that means its wayyy early than the expected due date. Hopefully everything will be fine and i get through this journey safely...

*IUD-intrauterine death

On Anniversary and Little One..

Today marks the second year of our marriage. I cant believe how time flies and we've reach the 2nd year milestone together as husband and wife. It seems like just yesterday we were walking , holding hands in front of people on our wedding day,with those pinkish dress and baju melayu... I'm grateful to Allah for the blessings that He showers us along the way of our marriage...

We usually exchange gifts on the anniversary. He already bought me an early anniversary pressie like 3 weeks ago but I haven't get anything for him yet. Petang ni sajelah..or instead just wait for another 2 months or less and I'll present him the little one that still growing inside me (if God willing)... Ok that's not fair...

Talking about the little one in the bump, i notice I haven't talk much about this stuff on the blog. Shall put a new label for this one, pregnancy2, so it doesn't mix up with my first pregnancy memories with lil angel. I'm heading my 31st weeks this week, so last Saturday we decided to have our first detail 3D/4D scan at the clinic. 3D/4D ultrasound will definitely give a much clearer picture than standard 2D ultrasound...and plus it comes with photos and videos in a CD. But it depends on the amniotic fluid volume. The plenty of fluid u have, the clearer and better shots u get.The sonographer did every detail scan, from head to toe and Alhamdulillah everything is fine. We had a hard time to have a peek on his/her full face since the baby kept closing the face with his/her arms. Like this:

dont disturb me..i'm trying to sleep okayy... (see,both hands covering the face)

The sonographer asked me to turn my body to the other side for better view while hubby urged me to poke and shake the tummy so the baby will move his/her hands. But he/she was pretty much asleep most of the time and just move his/her hands once in a while.The more we moved him/her around, the more he/she covered the face.

ok..i put one hand down now..

So I can conclude that he/she is one shy baby then..or maybe because of a plate of nasi lemak that I ate just before the scanning that makes the baby feels so comfortable sleeping in his/her own little world..

We have been confirmed about the baby's gender, but will not reveal it just yet but all i can say that shopping is going to be a whole new world of fun now despite of having all the baby stuffs during the first pregnancy...hehe...

In the meantime i will always keep the positive vibe in me and praying for the well-being of the baby until the arrival in 2 months time..Insya-Allah..

Movies-Magic

It's been a while since I watched movies in cinema. I think the last was Avatar-3D. So last weekend hubby and I decided to catch up some movies. On friday, after work, we went to watch Rapunzel-Tangled in 3D at 101 Mall since 3D is not available in Alamanda. Rapunzel is about a girl behind 70 feet of magical, golden hair. She's a princess stolen from her parents' castle as a baby, Rapunzel is locked in a hidden tower longing for adventure. I'm sure all of u know this fairy-tale. All I can say Rapunzel was so good, I couldn't bear to miss every second of it even though I felt I wanna go to toilet really badly (the baby keeps pushing my bladder which increase the needs to pee) but managed to held it though. The movie was much funnier than I expected, it was worth every ringgit especially when u watch it in 3D on the couple seat..hehe and you can't go wrong with this one..lots of magic, adventure, humour, great disney songs, and yeah lots of hair too... The voice of Rapunzel was done by Mandy Moore and for the hero, Flynn Rider was done by Zachary Levi ( the actor in Chuck). From what I read before, it is the most expensive animated film as to date. Go watch..

with the cast of Rapunzel. Just ignore the fat bump, it just for temporary period only, I was slimmer than Rapunzel before...;p

We went for a movie as well yesterday..yup, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! I've been a HP fan since I read the first book so this movie was the one I was looking for the whole week. Still remember during uni years I could stand in the long queue just to get the copies of HP book at Kinokuniya and was chirping when I got the free wand . I think generally it is the most faithful adaptation of HP series although there are some details that are not included. It's not poorly done like the third movies and even u're not following the books or the first six movies the main plot picks up quickly so u start to understand what's happening. I didn't re-read Deathly Hallows prior to seeing the movie ( no time to do so) so there was a lot that I'd forgotten, but I feel like I was able to approach the story with fresh eyes. I can definitely say that this movie is by far my favorite movie except on the snake part, it looks so real i just shut my eyes. The plot is quite dark and the characters getting matured so there’s a lot of intense and sad fight scenes especially when poor Dobby died..

A smart idea when they decided to make this final book into two separate movies but maybe its better this way, coz if they trash everything in just one movie, so many things would be left out. I just don't one HP to end so soon. Anyway, cant wait for the second part to come out though the wait seems interminable, but I know that the time will fly by.

All n all both movies are worth a watch ..at least for me..

Cow, Crab and Hamster...

Just got back from the clinic for the check-up routine and the office seems so quiet and peaceful. I guess some of the staffs are still on leave for Hari Raya Korban. 5 days of short break (yes,short) still not enough, spent 3 days at parent in law's house and the balance at my parent's house. I did not able to celebrate it last year since the Eid fell exactly a day after i delivered my little angel and u can guess how gloomy my Eid was.

Oh yes speaking of Hari Raya Korban it was a special one since this time around me and hubby contributed and joined the Korban. After performing the eid prayer and listening to the khutbah about the history of qurban, we waited at the mosque to witness our cow to be slaughtered. Ours was the first, so i managed to witness the qurban event and tried not to get disturbed especially to pity the cow during the slaughtering process. When the cow was about to be sacrified, my mom in law grabbed my hand and asked me to touch the cow and niat “This is my Korban”. Oh well it was quite an experience since it was the first time I touched a cow and saw it up close and personal being sacrificed..hehe. Too bad I didnt bring a camera to capture the whole event.

Alhamdulillah, the Korban went well and hope it will be accepted as we try to get closer to Him. I guess sacrifice is beautiful as it is not only about giving and being unselfish, its about being grateful for what we have.

So I had a pretty relaxed Eid, eating, seeing hubby did the beef cutting, playing Saidina with in laws and yes, like other people our days were full with beefy affairs, ate n ate the beef until I couldn't handle it anymore. We bought 3 kilos of crabbies to my parent's house in order to neutralise the taste buds..

And now, I wonder what to do with the rest of the meat in the fridge..


Talking about sacrifice, I guess this baby also went sacrificing himself..

This is Summer, my sis hamster. He went missing from the cage few days ago and nowhere to be found despite the searching efforts done by the family members . Wherever u're Summer, I hope u rest in peace ... pic from my sis blog.