Mundae

Yet another countdown to Friday.

Feeling rather tired today as I woke up about 3 times to visit the washroom last night. Baby's getting heavier and so am I. Her weight is pressing down on my bladder and I feel the urge to visit the washroom very frequently. Walking is becoming a chore and my ankles are starting to resemble that of a tree trunk. I have another 9 more weeks to go before baby pops. I can't wait to see how she looks like and hold her in my arms.

I'm just glad that exams are approaching. At least school days will be shorter and I'll be able to get more rest. Will be visiting the gynae this Saturday. Shall see how heavy baby has become and whether the weight that I'm gaining is due to her or it's all with me! Horrors of horrors! Thinking of the aftermath of birth is horrifying. All the weight losing and toning up. Sigh sigh sigh.

Week 30

Today I left school while the sun is bright and shiny. It's been a while since I came home a bit earlier than usual. I figured I needed rest. I mean I'm pregnant afterall and little princess needs to rest. Heh!

Came home and decided to do a little updating for my loyal fans of the blog. It may add up to say about 2? That's me and my hubby. Haha! The blog counter keeps jumping cos I've set the blog as my homepage when I launch my browser. So each time I launch my browser, the counter jumps. Haha!

This week, princess has added two new rompers to her collection.

Thanks to generous Auntie M. Auntie M has been giving princess new clothes and mostly in bigger sizes so that princess can wear them when she's older. Hopefully I haven't forgotten about them when she's that size. Heard stories about how busy mummies will be and it's scary sometimes. Hopefully I'll survive that.

Last weekend was my father-in-law's birthday. So after dinner, we decided to go shopping. Saw this cute little octopus toy and decided to buy for baby.

So exactly how interesting is this octopus? Well, when you squeeze its tentacles, it actually has sound! Haha! Ok, not only sound but each tentacle has its own note and so you can play 'twinkle twinkle little stars' or 'Mary had a little lamb' with it. These are the only 2 songs that I know that can be played with these notes. That's cos it came with the instructions. Haha! Apart from that, I guess you can play 'Three blind mice' with it as well. I think. I'm not really that musically inclined. But nevermind. Babies won't know what song I'm playing anyway.



You can see the diapers that the octopus is resting on. Those are the 2 packets of diapers that I've bought for her in preparation for her arrival. I'll be mostly using cloth diapers for her in the daytime. Save money and the environment. I'm just a poor teacher. So I think 2 packets should be enough for a while.



Alright, here's another picture that I took. Hahahaha! It's a picture of my tummy! I've been asking baby's father to help me take a picture of my stomach and all I get is 'Siao ah!'. So I've decided to do it on my own. It's quite badly taken cos I need to hold the camera, hold up my t-shirt, face the mirror and take the picture. But at least it manages to capture the tummy.

Come to think of it, it's quite blurry. Probably due to the reflection. Oh well, will try to take another one another time when it's even bigger! I guess pregnancy will be the only time when I'll be so proud of the tummy. Haha! How nice it is to just be able to plonk down on a seat without having to worry about whether your fats are spilling out from the sides. Not having to suck in your tummy and stand up straight while taking a photo. Being able to let your clothes wrap round the big fat tummy without worrying about being said fat.

Ahhh...the bliss of pregnancy. Haha! I probably won't be saying this after the baby is out from the stomach!

End of a week

It seemed not too long ago that I was celebrating the start of the school holidays. It's amazing how time flies when you're having fun. Maybe not exactly loads and tonnes of fun. But well, fun times.

I'm almost done with the setting of the dreaded exam papers. Just gotta touch it up and then I'll be done. But as I look back to what I've done in this week, I feel rather empty. I wanted to tidy up my home so that it's a little less messy and a little bit more homey. But I didn't. I wanted to finish all my markings so that I can start on a clean slate. I didn't. I wanted to finish all my ironing. I didn't. Basically, apart from the fact that I have to finish setting my exam papers, all that I've set to accomplish for this week is not done. Sigh.

Maybe I should try to at least finish some stuff tomorrow. We'll see.

More photos

Reality that I've work to do has not set in yet. Probably cos it's still Monday? Haha! So while Hubby is fast asleep after a hard day's work, I was busy snapping pictures of my baby princess' stuff. I took out all her clothes from the one shelf that is now stuffed and laid them all out.



These are the two bedsheets that we bought for her cot. All pink so that we can nurture the lady out of her.

A nice pink beansprout pillow to allay her fears at night. It's supposed to add some weight to her so that she can feel warm and secure while she sleeps.

Swaddles to keep her tightly wrapped up like a dumpling.

Some clothes we bought before knowing her gender. Colours are mainly orange, yellow and white. Colours that doesn't really belong to either gender.



And of course, who can resist the cute little pink tops after knowing that she's gonna be a girl?

Her total collection of clothes. Apart from those that we bought, we've got generous aunties that bought her more clothes and also some hand-me-downs from her cousin and generous aunties.


And the view from the side. 5 piles of clothes for the little princess for the first 3 months?!

And the latest to add on to her collection. A nice pink dress!

Just realised I didn't post this up yesterday. Another of her toy from the Sesame Street Collection, without the poisonous lead paint. Heh!

Finally, all her things kept in a corner of her room. Amidst the mess, her stroller, her cot, her swing, her milk bottles, diapers, steriliser, playmat, baby wipes, baby detergent, baby body wash, toys, bath tub and a walker that doesn't belong to her.

Tell me about typical kiasu parents.

Saving starfishes

Went back to school this morning for my supplementary lesson. It feels different knowing that you'll only be there for 2 hours instead of the usual 12 hours. Although I didn't stay only for 2 hours, it still feels different just knowing that it's the holidays.

Exam papers not set, stacks of papers and books not marked, lessons not planned and the list goes on. However, not having to wake up at 6am is happiness. So lesson ended earlier than I expected. Maybe my kids are feeling the same way as I am. Happy and so they learn faster?

As I'm finishing some work in the office, my colleague called out to me excitedly from across the staff room. I walked towards her cubicle and she showed me a malay article that is on the Internet. I've no idea what was written except for the few words like 'saya', 'anda' and 'cikgu'. So she told me that the article translated to mean that I've changed a pupil's perspective towards mathematics. I was touched and for that moment, I realised the power of teaching.

This girl that wrote the passage is always very quiet in class. She seldom asks and sometimes, I wonder at the back of my mind whether she understood my lessons. I reckon she's just a very quiet girl. But underneath this very quiet exterior, I've touched a bit of her life. It's just amazing to know how my efforts have managed to change a bit of her. It somehow makes my walking into class more meaningful knowing that at least one pupil in the class has enjoyed my lessons.

There are ups and downs in teaching. I always tell myself that it is the same for every job. Except that teaching really touches lives. I rely on the happy moments each time I feel like giving up. The journey is never easy and lots of time and sacrifices are made. When we reap the fruits of our labour, that's when it's all worthwhile.

Today, I was just discussing with another colleague of mine about how time flies. In a blink of an eye, I've taught for almost 4.5 years. My very first batch of pupils have graduated and moved on to their tertiary education. Seeing them all grown up and coming back to school on Teachers' Day makes me feel old sometimes. However, I am still glad that they remembered me. Memories are important. They keep me going. It makes me feel that I'm not wasting my time in school and actually responsible for a part of my pupils' lives.

So below is the article that is online.


Cikgu ,

Anda telah mengubah pemikiran saya terhadap pelajaran Matematik. Dahulu, saya amat membenci subjek ini sehinggakan saya tidak suka ke kelas anda dan menghabiskan tugasan yang diberi.

Namun, dari masa ke masa, saya mula menyukai pelajaran itu dan saya rasa Matematik tidak lagi susah.

Kini, markah peperiksaan saya untuk subjek Matematik mula meningkat sejak anda mengajar saya. Saya amat gemar ke kelas anda kerana anda bukan saja menggunakan buku rampaian dan latihan malah banyak memanfaatkan cara lain seperti kuiz dan kerja kumpulan.

Saya juga amat bersyukur kerana mendapat guru Matematik seperti anda yang telah banyak mengubah hidup saya. Saya percaya Matematik amat penting untuk masa depan saya.

Cikgu, anda berjaya mengubah perspektif pelajar seperti saya tentang Matematik.

Terima kasih Cikgu dan Selamat Hari Guru.

Sweeping away the cobwebs

I've been reminded again and again by various people to update my blog. But I'm sooooooooo busy that I keep forgetting about it. Haha! Ok, maybe not. I'm just too L-A-Z-Y!

It's been a very long time since 'My little fingers' and baby has now grown beyond her rat-like look. I really have no idea how to continue from the thrill of first seeing her little fingers.

Alright, let's see. *Thinks for a long long time*

Ok, maybe I'll start with the detailed scan on 6 July 2007. It was scheduled at 2.30pm and the purpose of the scan is to make sure that her organs are growing well and that her backbone is well-developed. To also make sure that she has no cleft lips and most importantly, to find out her gender. Well, I guess it's no surprise to most people who knows English that even before I announce the gender, you can easily guess that she's a girl. Ok, for those of you who doesn't realise still, the heavy usage of 'her' in this post should tell you that baby is a girl. Haha!

Hubby and my mother-in-law went with me for the detailed scan and the doctor was rather confident of his scan and showed us how he confirmed that she was a girl. He was all professional about it and went, "Can you see the two lines at the labia? It confirms that she's a girl." So any hopes of her being a boy is dashed. It's not that I'm unhappy that she's a girl. I've always wanted a baby girl. But at the same time, I only want to have 2 babies and I tell myself that one of them must be a boy. I mean after all, hubby is the only male descendent of the family. Coming from a Chinese family, it seems quite important that I have a baby boy. So if baby is a boy, I'll have less pressure in the next pregnancy. Haha! But that's beside the point now.

So during that scan, doctor told us that baby is healthy and everything is going on well. I seriously think that is the most important thing to the baby. We were told that she's quite an active baby but generally cooperative as she wasn't hiding away from the scope the whole time the scan was going on.

Here's a pic of her when she was 19 weeks old.


I call this picture the 'princess wave'. She was waving when we were trying to locate her hands.

That was the latest pic I have of her in my tummy. Just yesterday, I requested for her pic but doctor says that now she's too big to be in a single picture and so it doesn't make sense to take any picture.

This week, baby is 28 weeks old. She's now a 1.2kg baby and her kicks are getting more regular. From the last check up, when she is 24 weeks, she has grown almost double. She was 585g the last time we checked. I read somewhere that now she's going through a growth spurt and so that explains the weight gain. Oh ya, during the last check up, we saw baby moving! We actually saw her moving her little thumb into her mouth. She ended up sucking her thumb! Hee!

I'm beginning to feel more and more like a penguin as the days go by as I'm starting to have difficulty walking like a normal human being. Haha! My legs are starting to show signs of water retention and it looks like an elephant leg at the end of day. Especially on days when my teaching periods are more than usual. I always have a hard time locating my ankles. Haha!

Well, apart from all these, I guess I'm quite blessed that this pregnancy has been quite smooth. Oh did I mention bout the breakouts on my face, back and body? Alright, apart from this as well, the pregnancy has been quite smooth. I didn't suffer from morning sickness and the other pregnancy complaints. And of course, the best part of it all is the shopping!

Hubby and I are pretty excited about the arrival of baby and each time we go out shopping, we end up buying stuff for baby. She has now a shelf full of clothes to welcome her and lots of toys for her to play with. We've got the baby cot ready, milk bottles, steriliser, baby wipes, baby bootees, baby mittens, pacifier, night light, swaddles, pram, bath tub, changing mat etc etc ready. We even bought wallpaper so that we can decorate the room for her.

An elmo toy and a bear hand puppet......

A cot mobile courtesy of her aunt.

I don't really know how to describe this. But basically it allows baby to kick on it and the little chick will flap its wings saying 'peekaboo' with a little tune.

We bought this turtle in KL. It will give out a baby giggle when you press on its shell. When we first saw it, we didn't buy cos it was the last piece and we felt that it was quite dusty. So in the end, we went to several other stores and couldn't find it. Finally, we found this at Toy'R'Us in one of the shopping mall. And it was also the last piece! Luckily it wasn't dusty. So we brought it all the way back from KL. Recently, we saw this in Singapore as well. Haha! And we thought this was something unique that can only be found in Malaysia.

Bought this night light on Friday. It is sound activated. Which means if baby cries, the light will be switched on automatically and the theme sound of 'Winnie the Pooh' will start playing. It also has a projection on the wall.

These are just some of the new items that baby has. Will take pictures of her new clothes the next time round. We bought her some nice dresses recently too. For now, we're just counting down to the days when she'll be out to greet the world. I'll be lying if I say I'm not excited. Feeling her little kicks inside my tummy is a real magical feeling. It reminds me constantly that a little life is growing inside of me. She can be really naughty at times. Just the other night, her daddy was trying to listen to what she is doing inside the tummy. Just as daddy was listening intently to her, she gave daddy a little kick on his face. I wonder all the time who she will look like, whether she'll be a good baby, how her smile will be like and so on.

It feels very blissful to be in this stage right now.