27 weeks

Baby in me has started to be much more active and his movements are getting stronger. Responding to his brother's voice and sometimes, to his father, seems like baby favors Jaden more. :)

We have yet to determine on a name yet. I am not sure if Hubby has a specific name in mind yet but oh well, that is not really important now on the list. Not sure why, we are still taking our time out to choose the right name for baby. 

We chose a name for Jaden fast, because it was me that had the naming rights to our firstborn, and the agreement was that the children after, all naming rights will go to Hubby. 

I have not much weird cravings this pregnancy, nor do I want to eat anything in bulks. I remember chowing down meat ribs, pancakes and tubs of ice-creams during Jaden's time. This time, anything goes and I try to eat in moderation as heartburn is kicking in. 

I am starting to experience what most pregnant women goes through, things I somehow managed to 'skip' during my first pregnancy. Could this be because of age?

Coming into the third trimester soon, I no longer take naps like how I needed to during my first trimester. Failing to do so, without a doubt, I will get a really throbbing headache. Can't speak too soon as I hear many of my other pregnant friends in their third trimester starting to feel the tiredness all over again.. so I am just appreciating each day as it goes, that I am able to power up from morning 7am till 11pm at least.

Last few months, when other friends were getting all their baby essentials, I was just taking the back seat, as relaxed as ever and suddenly, it just hit me with a sudden panic that I should start doing serious research and getting what is essential to baby and me. 

I have been keeping an eye out for baby strollers and before I laid my eyes on this one stroller, we were eyeing Bugaboo. Though now, my heart has changed and I fell in love instantly with this one. Quinny Moodd by Britto.

Pricey? Yes.. of course.. *sigh* but it seems like a good deal to me now that our car has space to keep it. People do tend to ask, why buy another since Jaden already has one? Well, my reasoning would be because Jaden's stroller has become so dirty and Jaden might still use it from time to time. Yes, I still have to lockdown my Jaden at times in the stroller as he do get lazy walking around with me in shopping malls and he behaves best when strapped in his stroller.

Just last Friday, I called up Cryocord and signed up the cord blood stem cells (HSC -Hematopoietic Stem Cells) banking with them, with their latest offering, MSC (Mesenchymal Stem Cells). We did not do it the first time round with Jaden, as we weren't that well-informed and also, it was not that medically forward well-known then.. but with Jaden's situation, we felt that its better to store up the brother's cord blood stem cells and should there be a treatment in future to help treat Jaden, at least we have something to use. Hopefully, baby does not need to use any of those storage cells though. No need is good news. Pricey? Yes.. again.. we paid up a lump sum instead of by installments, so we get the additional one year of storage for the stem cells.. and it comes with a RM1899 baby shop voucher, which I can use to redeem it for the stroller I want. =) *gRin*

People have been asking me too, if I have started preparing Jaden about his baby brother's arrival. Yes, we have started telling him since we found out I was pregnant. We told him that he is getting promoted to becoming a kor kor and that he will have the responsibility to teach his baby brother house rules. That he will have a new best friend, other than his father. I am not sure how well he understands all that has been said to him, but I am sure when time comes, he will understand.

Jaden, on the other hand, is growing up much more independently. We have moved him to sleep on his own bed, still in the same room, but he has a Goodnite single mattress (won it in through on online competition.. YAY to that!) of his own, padded by a mattress pad, mattress protector and his single quilt cover. He has his own bolster, three pillows and his one and only smelly pillow and it seems he is doing well with the change. He goes there automatically on his own when he wants to sleep and since there ain't movements from either hubby or me when we go to bed, he sleeps soundly through the night and hes protected from the strong aircond blowing in his face. 

We have no idea where to place baby cot or baby to sleep just yet. *sigh* Confinement lady? Nah, we are going to do without confinement lady just like my first post-delivery moments. This time round, I should be asking my mother to come down instead so she can help me take care of Jaden. Yea, you read it correctly. I can take care of baby by myself and Hubby can help me out but when it comes to bathing Jaden, cooking for him and cleaning up after him, I don't think I would have enough energy for that so I will really need my mother to help me while I recuperate from post-partum delivery. 

Can you imagine it, I am already starting to feel the panic already on how to handle baby when baby comes.. and both my babies at that.. :) 

At the moment, this month, I am also feeling the pressure to give Jaden his annual birthday party, a party he deserves and this year, since he is already school-going and have his own friends, we are going to hold one tiny one in school for him.. and that would mean finding the right cakes for him and his friends, party-packs and then, on his real birth day, the venue, friends.. and oh boy, his birthday present. My baby boy is just growing up so fast.. 

Rampage ramblings

There are many types of people in this world.

Some are just plain nice, some are just neutral, some are just oblivious to what is going on, some are just too happy-go-lucky-without-a-worry-in-the-world, some are just grumpy with ten lemons stuffing up their nose everyday and some are just plain assholes. Insensitive assholes.

Assholes like these are the one that makes me go on a rampage. In fact, I bet any assholes would just make anyone go on a rampage.

I think its just my imbalance hormones that is making me type all these out but still.. I really need to get it out of my system.

So to those that 'I hate children' people, well, I feel sorry for you the way you might have felt sorry for us but children are actually lovely and they can brighten up your day with just their innocent smile. I feel sorry for your mother who must have wanted you badly, to get pregnant and give birth to you because if she had felt the same way you do, then I would not be here bitching about you, would I? You might have the loveliest man with you by your side, you might have the top paying job that you have always wanted, climbing up that corporate ladder as you go but bear in mind, when you do grow old and frail, and have to retire from all that, you will be all alone.. pets? well, there is only so much a pet can do for you.. of course, there will be a debate about how infilial most of these children can be, but if you do bring them up the right and healthy way, I am sure there won't be a single worry about them dumping you in an old folk's home. Oh wait, your staying abroad might be so westernized that children ought to be kicked out of the house by 18, then that is your fault. As for me, being as Asian as I am, I would want my children to grow up and old with me in the family house, making every festive season a happy one with a large growing family that loves one another. Sons, bringing their wives home and grandchildren running happily around. So yes, I feel really sorry for you children haters out there. You were once a child too, remember that.

Then, there is another group of assholes that speaks through their ass as they have no brains.

No experience, trying their very best to be funny, yet it is wrong in all aspects. Thinking that they are so smart with their sarcasm, *sigh* it only shows us their sorry sight. You might be leading a high life.. oh wait, you are yet you are complaining every single second of your life. You are whining about how miserable you are right now. How others don't understand you. Don't worry.. I don't understand you either. If I were you, I would have been really grateful for what comes and what is being prepared for me. Anyway, I am grateful the way my life turns out to be too.. although I may make some senseless remarks or status updates but at the end of the day, I live with the fact, accepting them as they are. Grow up! That is what I want to say to your face. Grow up, please grow up! 

So how do I handle these people in my life? Easy.. I avoid them.. I try not to have anything to do with them anymore and yes, with these type of people category, I distant myself from them. They are nothing but hazard to my life. They can feel miserable all they want, because that is what they want to do but to suck me together into their miserable life, please.. that is the last thing I need.

I have a beautiful growing up boy, albeit special needs but he is my joy, my everything. In fact, I am not even feeling sorry for him, nor would I want him or others to feel sorry for him. He is learning how to cope with life on his own, with our guidance. Its not as if he is really unable to.. it just takes a little longer than his peers. If he is not giving up on himself, why should I? 

and, I also have another child on the way.. whom I believe will be a really great addition to the clan. Maybe a few hiccups here and there with children tantrum, fighting but that is all part and parcel of being in a family. For sure, I am going to make it damn clear to my children that they need to grow up and be good people, not selfish miserable ones.

Scatterbrain

I used to think it was just one of the exclusive excuses, us women, could use to escape from blame.

Now, I think its real! As real as it can get.

I was already quite a scatterbrain before pregnancy, but when it comes to anniversaries, birthdays.. I am pretty sure I have this thing in me that is programmed in me to remember yet, with this second pregnancy around. I totally lost that talent in me, if u can actually call that a talent. :p

Friends that are really dear to heart, which I never fail to convey my birthday wishes across... I came to forget about them until I see their status on facebook where others are wishing them and I am already few days late at that. 

A series of dramas that I have been chasing so intently, once the series comes to an end, one week later, I can't recall the title of the drama that I have chased with such fiery interest. *sigh*

Things I am supposed to say or thought of wanting to say.. and if I don't say it out the instant I thought of it.. it is officially lost, gone from memory.

I pray that my friends don't think that I have changed to someone that is trying to grow a distance. Its just that my poor fat brain has other things to think about or mostly empty at that right now. 

So, here I am, officially announcing that if I do ever forget something important between us, please forgive me. :)

p/s: come to think of it, I almost forgot what week of pregnancy I was in, and needed to count back from the week I had my detailed scan ... *sigh* and nearly nearly forgot my next appointment date if I had not chanced upon my appointment card, which I forgot where I put them. *shakes head*

Forgo-ing appearances

I remembered when i was first pregnant with Jaden, I had an issue with dandruff. 

Seems like that was the downside of my pregnancy with Jaden. 

I just seem to have this flakes, that I could scratch off my scalp, that results in pieces and often, they bleed after that or make me just want to pull it off until I needed to tug that few pieces of hair off and that resulted me til this day, a bald patch that never grew hair back in its place. :(

Since my hair was long back then, and I really could not bear to part with those locks, I asked around and proceeded in getting my hair straightened for easy maintenance.

Those who knows me, would know how wild, thick and frizzy my hair could be, resulting me in looking very unkempt and crazy-like.

The dandruff problem did somehow went away on its own after I had my hair done, back at my hometown at that time.. and I was very happy with the results. 

I was 23 going 24 then. I knew about nothing, I knew nothing about what not to really do during pregnancy and what I should be really avoiding when pregnant or after giving birth. I just went with the flow, listening to what modern doctors allow you to do and what the elders said you can or can't do.

Fastforward to today, I see quite a lot of young first time mummies, just like me having their hair dyed, hair treated. I am sure they, too had asked their doctor's permission for the go ahead just like me and was given the green light.

Hey, if I hadn't had Jaden in his situation right now, I would have most probably go do the same thing again because the last thing you want to be critisized about is how aunty your looks has become with pregnancy and motherhood.

What the heck? I am only going 30 and no way, I want to be associated with the women who let themselves go once they get married and become housewives that dressed down in just house clothes. 

BUT

BUT

given the situation and lesson learnt from whatever my husband and I had to go through with Jaden, I no longer give two hoots to people that are talking behind my back, or even at me for how I am letting myself go a bit for this pregnancy.

How I went and have my hair cut short, forgoing my hair treatment and letting my manes be wild for these coming months, maybe until I stop breastfeeding.. stop wearing heels and tube tops because its just not advisable when you have a six year old to chase after and you don't want to embarass yourself in public with the top pulled down if the six year old happen to throw a tantrum... Its only logical to wear flats from the day you are pregnant and when you are out with child/children.

So to those that are saying how much aunty I have become, or have let myself go.. well, I will be more happy to show you my middle finger and I could not care less about your comments. You can go take care of your own look for all I care. All that self-pampering, I will have that time soon, after my baby stops breastfeeding.. and at that time, I shall be in my best primetime thirties with no regrets because for me, my babies come first before me. For their health, I can forgo my looks for them.  

Little submarines ...

If you are eating or drinking right now, just stop reading this post for a while until you do not intend to eat anything for a few hours..

Ok.. ready?

So.. as I whipped out my iced chocolate drink from the fridge, ready to drink... and that was just after seeing to Jaden peed and wore his pants back.. from the corner of my eyes, I saw a boy going into crouching pushing manner. Then came a moan that indicated he needed to push something out badly..

Quickly, i fumbled for his bath towel, and have him take off his pants and undies in lightnight speed, whipped out the kiddy toilet seat and put it on top of the toilet bowl and parked him butt on it, i gave him words of encouragement as I helped him make pushing noises and held him down, just in case he decides to run off with 'things' coming out after him..

Mind you, the toilet door was closed so he don't stink up the whole room.. luckily there were still two widely opened bathroom windows, just not wide enough for me.. and then, he made that 'pushing' sound even more stronger and 'plonk, plonk, plonk' it went.

oh dear.. even now, as I try to blog this out, its making me wanna puke. *sigh*

Anyway, i try to flush whenever i can to avoid the smell from building up. Well, from experience, I can tell you that won't work.. shit smells! Final.. no flushing will hide the smell until it fades into the air and out the window goes the stench with time. 

So, the boy actually did his business there, and this is the second successful time without him being scared of the toiletbowl nor trying to keep it back in until he has his diapers on for pooing. 

Right after he was done, I washed him up nicely. Clean and fresh...

*sigh* Can you imagine the scenario if I haven't caught him in time and was enjoying my drink back then? I would have puked even worse.. thinking of the what ifs and what sticky, smelly, dirty situation it could have been instead...

So there, not that I wanted to disgust you, the one reading this post right now, but its just something for me to remember by, my boys milestone in potty training for his number 2 since we are quite on it for number 1 already. 

Jaden is mostly off diapers during the day now unless I really really have no time to pay attention to him or have to go out running errands with him for half a day. He, too, like i mentioned in my previous post, seems to be wanting to be off diapers now. :)

Last weekend ...

... was Jaden's last Friday in school before he gets a 2 week Raya break. His school had the break earlier a week compared to other local school schedule as his teacher had to leave for Europe. Well, guess when the others are enjoying their second week of Raya break, Jaden has to go back to school again as his class will resume earlier.

... Hubby left for Bangkok. Everybody that knows him would know what a big Liverpool fan he is and the only reason he went to Bangkok was for Liverpool's preseason tour and Bangkok was the last leg of that tour schedule. So, two weeks before the game, Hubby bought his stadium ticket, flight and hotel. Other than watching football, he went around shopping for his two children. He bought quite a number of clothes for Jaden and the coming baby. 

... my parents came over from Penang to keep Jaden and I company while Hubby was away so everybody will have a peace of mind since I am pregnant and everybody is concerned if I could handle Jaden all alone by myself for 4days 3nights. My parents stayed until Sunday and it felt so good that they were here. My mother really went into automated mode of cleaning up and making sure the house was spic and span. She took over all my duties, including bathing, feeding and looking after Jaden while all I needed to do was sit around and relax and plan where to bring them to for meals. My father was in charge of entertaining the grandson. How wonderful is that right? They had to leave on Sunday as my father had early morning work the next day, so that leaves both Jaden and I alone for that night.. only that night but we made it through! :)

Jaden's classmate and his mom came over on Monday afternoon for a short playdate, which started out as a fight over puzzles as no one wants to share but everything turned out good in the end. Both boys were actually playing 'chase' with each other around the whole house, which is something rare among our boys when it comes to social play. YAY to that! 

and later that night, both Jaden and I drove to the airport and picked up the big one.. and the whole clan is re-united again after being 4days apart. It just feels so good to have the big one home... :)

Farm In The City

Last Wednesday, 17th July 2013, Jaden went for his first ever school field trip. 

Since I was pregnant and can no longer handle Jaden's growing strength, I engaged the help of his ABA therapist, K.

His school field trip was to a place called the Farm In The City.

This place is rather interesting as they have quite a number of rare animals, and the children are allowed to have the wonderful experience of petting, feeding, riding, fishing and animal shows. It is really a place recommended for families with children to come and experience it for themselves.

Parents, teachers and students were all to drive there on our own and meet at the location latest by 10am. Of course, there were some late comers as this place was not very easy to find, even with the help of the GPS. We were nearly late ourselves despite leaving the house at 845am and the morning traffic was surprisingly smooth. I made the mistake of turning into Puchong area instead of heading straight and paying the toll, that leads us to Cyberjaya and then take the exit for Seri Kembangan instead. *sigh*

Luckily, K had google maps on her phone and we followed the instructions from there :)

Since I knew it was going to be a hot trip, I dressed Jaden as comfortably as he could. Sleeveless tops, shorts and sandals. 

When we first went into the farm, we were greeted with this tiny pony, that was so small, you would not have the heart to want to even place a child on it. Then, the farm guide lead us to the first pit stop -Tortoises.

There were all sorts of tortoises in their enclosures and there were two big ones that were out and roaming around, getting fed by the children. Boy, it was a feeding frenzy where the children were just trying to stuff the tortoises full with veges. Feeding food was handed out for free by the farm employees. I guess, it was all included in the entrance fee.

After the tortoises, we had to pass by the reptile area. Well, these reptiles were in their enclosures, which is a huge relief to me. Pythons, monitor lizard, were there cayman; not that sure...

After the reptiles, we went past the chicken and duck coops, where really fat chickens were freely roaming around. Next to the chicken coop, we were led into the locked pen where children gets to feed the deers and bearded goat. There were three deers roaming freely, although at that time, the farm guide held on to one deer and the children got to touch and feed them. These animals must have been used to crowds of children coming at them.

Jaden's therapist did a wonderful job in letting Jaden experience all of the feeding and petting and pointing to where the animals are, and making sure he sees them. In fact, she commented that Jaden was not afraid at all of the animals and he was just trying to stuff the food into their mouths. Scary! 

Then we came out and saw some wallabies. Of course, these wallabies were in their own closed up pen. Supposedly there were some joeys but the joeys must be fast asleep in the pouch. 

We moved on to the birds enclosure where everybody gets to experience these friendly birds coming and eating off from their hands. I am not sure if Jaden got to do that because he was sort of in a rush. He didn't like the idea of stopping.. he just wants to move on and on .. *sigh* my impatient boy but hearing feedback from his classmate's mother, these birds will just perch on your hands and eat their bird food. Budgies, pigeons.. as for me, I just wanted to get out from there as fast as I could. I was so afraid of getting shat on by all those birds flying around. Did I mention that there was the green and white peacock in there too. Sadly, these birds did not want to show off their beautiful feathers. 

After the birds, we climbed up and down the stairs, went past the vegetables and fruit farms and came to the cow shed. In there, was a big black bull. Jaden fed him grass a few times and we moved on to see the ostriches.

It was really tiring by then for me, as there were a lot of steps to climb back up, and thankfully, the next stop, there was a big airy canteen with lots of seats for us to rest. 

In front of the canteen, were the rabbit and guinea pigs hutches and the children get to feed these super friendly fluffy animals. There was also a long man-made drain, where all the guppies are, and the children were busy fishing them out into the pail. The children were just going wild there.

Jaden had his snack there at the canteen since he did not really want to fish. He was more interested in getting himself into the drain. 

Hubby cooked fried mee hoon for Jaden the night before, so his son won't feel left out where others have meehoon. :)

After Jaden ate and rested enough, it was time to move on to the jungle walk. There were iguanas sunbathing themselves up on the trees, little friendly monkeys and of course, another tortoise that decided that he wants to roadblock the exit.

We came out to another petting area, where the children got to pet an albino skunk (carried by the farm caretaker, of course) see two giant rabbits, ferrets, more snakes and then, the beautiful macaws. 

The children got to watch the bird shows, which the clever birds each have an act of their own. 

Since Jaden was not very interested in the birds, K and I brought him to look at the ponies and it so happened on that very day, was the day the raccoon was brought out to test out his newly finished enclosure. So we got to see that bandit like animal.. 

K brought Jaden to walk further while I went and rested in the shade a bit. K said Jaden seemed interested in the pelicans instead and wanted to stay a bit longer there looking at them.

After all that walk, it was lunchtime for the whole school gang and we headed to the air-conditioned restaurant and had our lunch. That, was the best moment for all of us as after all that hot, sweaty walk around, everybody welcomed the air-conditioning.

Since Jaden has his ABA team meeting that very day, we had to leave earlier than the others. So, the only thing Jaden missed out on was to have his pony ride. I am sure he would have been ok with it, rather nonchalent if I must say. Just like how he was on our Phuket elephant ride.

Anyway, it was a good school field trip and I am glad Jaden got to experience it, with the guidance and patience of his loving therapist.