Crossing the 2nd item in my 2012 wishlist!

Alhamdulillah :)

Hopefully sooner than that. Insya Allah. Ameen :)

BFF vs. bundle of joy!

So, my best friend is back..

2 years outside Malaysia and let's see what he already missed..

1) Me getting married to the love of my life.
2) Me giving birth to well.. my life.

So, imagine how "culture shock" he became when he met me! Even more, he's the type of guy whose not yet ready to commit to anything.

When I was pregnant/gave birth to Khaira, he rarely asked me about my pregnancy/baby. To be honest, I was quite worried. He looked as if he tried to avoid the 'baby' conversation whenever possible.

I don't blame him though. See, I once promised him nothing will change with me, be it when I'm married or with a baby. And even specifically told him, "If I ever be a different person than I am now, you are the one whose responsible to wake me up!!"

So, after I got married, everything is pretty much the same. I once told him, "Once I have a baby, we can still lepak every now and then, my mum will take care of the baby!" (I am VERY sorry, Khaira!)

Little did I know, once Khaira was born, it became so hard not to have Khaira in my arms even for a moment. Everything I do, I think of her. And the love that I have for her is so deep that the following conversation took part..

Him: Joms gi Cranberries. Kapal pon pegi kan?
Me: Nooo.. i can't bear to leave Khaira..

And.. It's Cranberries!! So, every passing day, I can feel the distant between me and him. Imagine, we did not talk to each other for about 4 months after the baby was born, when previously he'd call me every now and then from there.

For a while, I was so worried he would not love my baby. Then, he came back to Malaysia.

Him: Lunch?
Me: Dinner la joms, you haven't met my baby!
Him: Hmm.. (Not that psyched)
Me: And my new house! You haven't seen my new house! I'd cook. (Ayat pancing)
Him: Ok!

So, he came. I was quite nervous to introduce Baby Khaira to her. But when I came downstairs to greet him, and he was holding Little Khaira in his arms saying, "She's the most beautiful baby I've met."

The stress is all gone.

And finally, my best friend is BACK!

Moral of the story:
1) People change no matter what, so don't ever think you never change.
2) And if your BFF is a true BFF, he'd support you, no matter what.

"The only constant in life is change"

Tips to increase your milk supply :)

*Not that I'm an expert, but since 'sharing is caring', so I thought.. Why not? :)

1) Du'a
- Surah Al-Baqarah Ayat 60
- Surah Hujurat
- Recite Ya Mattin "The Forceful One"

2) Foods
- Among foods that are known to increase our breastmilk: Alfalfa, Fenugreek, Cumin, Dates, Milk, Cheese, Soy, Veges, White Radish, etc.
- Every mother has different foods that work as their booster. As for me, my personal fav. is white radish.

- Though, I really believe as long as you eat and drink a lot, you'll produce lots of milk!
- Food to avoid: Chives!!

3) Supplement
- Just google and you can find lots and lots of supplements, they work best as a booster, not to be consumed everyday.
- I've tried Galacta and Shaklee. Again, since supplement works differently for everyone, Galacta works like magic for me. Shaklee tade effect for me. But if you would like to try Shaklee, a friend of mine, Kdy sells it, her link is in "I ♥ these" belah kanan blog ni.


4) Pumping
- Pump every 2/3 hours. I pump at least 3 times a day. Double pumping.
- Find a breast pump that suits you. I am currently using Spectra 3, I don't think it's suitable for me. Thinking of changing to Medela FS for our second baby, boley ke Sayang?

5) Marmet/Hand expressed
- Important to empty your breast after pumping or nursing.
- I superlove marmet because milk can be expressed faster than manual pump, cuma penatttt.. But, I think everytime I marmet, the next pumping session will make me expressed more milk.


6) Power pumping
- I tried this once, since last Monday my supply is not as high as usual. It works like magic!!
- Technique: Pump for 10 minutes, rest for 10 minutes, pump again for 10 minutes, then rest and continue for an hour.

7) Stimulation..
..from your baby!!!

8) Rest
- Having a baby sure is tiring, but make sure you get some rest whenever possible.
- Enjoy your pumping session by remembering your baby as much as possible.
- Take a nap!
- Andddd.. visualization. You should have a control over your own body :)

Hope it helps! Kalau ada any other tips, silelah share ye :)

If you've tried everything, but still you don't succeed, always remember Allah SWT has a greater plan for you k? Yang penting, usaha. Doa pun part of usaha!

*Pics from google

For our keepsake :)

The best thing about a lecturer is..

..that you can have a big influence to your students!

I figured that, other than technical stuff, I can also teach them ethics and morals.

So yesterday, I tried a new technique. Next week, I am going to have a mid term test for my class. I love giving hints to them; whether subtle hints or direct hints. So, I told these little fellas, "If ALL of you can do whatever I asked you to do correctly, within an hour, I will give you hint for mid term."

For the first time, they were really struggling. Quarter of the class finished within half an hour. Since my requirement is that EVERYONE needs to finish within an hour, so those who finished early, I asked them to help their friend.

Example, this one Malay guy who barely speaks English in my class, I asked him to help the foreigner guy. I said, "'A', go and help 'K'!"

His reply was, "'K' yang mana, Mam?"

It's the middle of semester already ok, and they don't even know their classmates! So, this way, I helped them mingle around. The Chinese guys help the Malay ladies. It was fun looking at them rushing to meet the time.

To help them "ease" out the pressure, I'd add every now and then, "If you get it wrong ni, have to blame your 'teacher' yang guide you! Haha(add my evil laugh)" *Teacher is referring to the friend that helped them.




Anyway, in my class, they were about 4 couples (as in boyfriend girlfriend) partner up together. 2 of the 4 couples finished within half an hour. And these particular 2 couples, from my observation, were in "flirting" mode. So, once they were done, I asked them, "Pick any of your friend who have not yet done, go and help them."

About 5 minutes after my instruction, they were still sitting next to each other side by side flirting. I let them be. Takkan nak suruh tolong dalam paksaan, tak ikhlas kan?

So, after that, I instructed again in general, "If you're done, better help your friend kay! If ALL of you couldn't get it done in an hour, no hints!"

They were still flirting with each other, rasa macam cakap dengan kayu! So I purposely walked behind these lovebirds, and the girl was saying to the guy, "Is it ok for us not to help these people?"

"Ala.. other people can help.." The guys said and continued discussing about dinner.

Whateverlah girl! Your choice.. But don't complaint if one day once you get married, that guy refused to help you with house work. You made that choice. Should have seen the sign from beginning ;p

Anyhow, something good came up in the end. 'K' was having difficulty with his subject. And since next week is midterm, I asked him if he wanted some help for his test. But he said, "It's okay Mam, 'A' wanted to help me out for my test."

:) Once, they were strangers..

My super romantic husband a.k.a meme-freaks-tapi-tak-mengaku!

Yesterday, I was feeling all lovey dovey and dropped Love a sweet and short email, saying I could not wait to go out with him on May. (Yup, now nak date pon kena buat appointment.)

His reply was..

"I love you too sayangku~!!
Here’s something for my sayang..

"

Seriously? Lipas?

Whatever happened to roses and chocolates? Ohh wait.. He did bring back some chocolates for me yesterday.

But still, quoted from someone's meme, "I sense a meme freak.." ;p

P/S: If you're reading this, tutup tab sebelah blog I, I bet it's another meme!!

Preparing for solids :)

Made this chart for Baby Khaira based on http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/index.html.



I'm looking forward for the day I get to introduce solids to Baby Khaira. Pray for me, insya Allah I will be given the strength to cook for her everyday. I want her to eat the healthiest food possible, doakan!!! :)

Btw, on Saturday I went to Mid Valley's Baby Expo.. Ohh.. How disappointing! Only 1 hall for the expo, so damn packed and we didn't buy anything there! But we dropped by at the organic shop, Just Life to buy brown rice and instant baby food for Khaira..



Brown rice = about RM17 for 1kg
Instant oat= about RM7 for 0.5kg

Last week, Khaira dah jadi Kakak!! One of my bestfriend back in high school gave birth to a wonderful boy..



Assalamualaikum Eusoff!! :) Welcome to the world.

The most awaited wedding of the year :)

It's bestfriend Mel's solemnization last weekend!!



The most beautiful.

I'm uber excited to meet my two bestfriends, FJoe and Fiah!



Fiah refused to hold Khaira. She said, "Nanti bila you dah pandai jalan, I pegang tangan you ok!"

Sengal as always.

I wonder how she did not have the heart to hold this Spiderbaby ;p



Such a happy weekend.





Congrats Mel!! I love you to the bits!