A Homemaker’s Diary

I think most of the people I know gave birth to their children last year which means that the children were born during the year of Rat (born after 7 Feb 08). I found this description of the Rat child online. Despite the not-so-nice traits that the Rat child has, I kind of like the positive aspects of his/her personality.
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A child born in the year of the Rat will be sweet and loving. He may be shy, but inwardly he is fiercely competitive. Often, he resorts to crying to get more attention and usually clings to one or two people with whom he identifies. Although he has a charming disposition, he is possessive of parents and friends and jealous of attention given to others.

He will talk early. He likes to eat (mention of his favorite foods always makes him light up) and he takes an early interest in cooking and other household chores. Being affectionate and demonstrative, he will not like being left alone. He will enjoy group play, can concentrate on detailed work and make friends easily. You can depend on him to keep things tidy or at least know where they are.

The Rat child will start to show his calculating nature very early in life. He will insist that he get the bigger half of the apple, exactly the same number of cookies as his older brother (preferably more, but under no circumstances less). It will be hard to cheat him on anything. He learns fast and never misses a trick. He takes regular stock of his possessions–so don’t try to give away any of his old toys thinking he won’t miss it. Then again, if you consult him, be prepared for a struggle as the selfish little Rat won’t part with anything easily.

With younger children, the Rat child will tend to be motherly; at his worst, he will boss them around mercilessly. Given the proper encouragement, he will be ambitious in school. He will be most eager to participate in anything that stimulates his sharp mental powers.

The vivacious Rat will be an avid reader. He will learn the importance of the written word early and be able to express himself well. Many of the world’s greatest writers and historians were born in the year of the Rat.

It’s been a week into 2009, and here I am reminiscing what 2008 means to me. Well, I have been devoting days and nights for the past one month towards my new role of being a mother that I hardly remember what my life used to be like..huhu (sound pathetic, right!)

The year 2008 started with us deciding to try to get pregnant after almost 5 years of being married. I was like am I ready for it? will I be a good mom? will I miss my carefree life without kid in tow, the extra sleeping time, the leisure days..

But we thought just give it a try and God answered my prayers by giving me the best birthday present. (Actually on my birthday, I still didn’t know I was pregnant) The 2 lines on the pregnancy test kit made me realized that there was a whole lot more to think apart from myself and Hubby.

By May and June I had a terrible time with morning sickness. Hubby went to US for 3 weeks for his training. I was at home alone all that time (and both of us survived..heh). And by August I was all energetic again, doing the preparation for Niece’s wedding and bunga telur orders.

We decided to buy a house though we were not sure whether we could afford it financial wise (especially with a baby coming). And then it was Ramadhan and Hari Raya season. I conducted the craft classes every now and then, sometimes just to fill up the time, especially when Hubby has to work during weekend or on standby.

Then November came, marking our 5th anniversary. I was hoping that the baby will come out on the anniversary date itself although it was too early from his EDD.

He decided to surprise us on the eve of Aidil Adha..heh..(which was more than a week early from the EDD) diminishing my hope to eat SIL’s lontong, kari and rendang (nevertheless I still ate and causing him stomach pain the first night he came home) And by then, my life was changed completely. The long weekend and end of the year leaves that most people enjoy were spent with me in confinement (and I am still in confinement..huhu!) I told Hubby if we were like before, we will be sleeping till 2pm, wake up and go out, watch movie, window shopping, dine out and come home to watch DVD and sleep at 4-5am, and the cycle goes on.

Now with a son of our own, somehow I think that I have concluded 2008 with another meaningful mark. I am no longer the lady of leisure, doing and thinking as I please, I am now a mom, responsible for the well being of a helpless little creature that we decided to conceive and welcome into this ugly, selfish world.

I might not be the best and perfect mom in years to come, but I vow that I will strive to be a mom that my son will be proud of…and hopefully one that he will never be ashamed of. And that is my new year resolution, for 2009 and many, many years ahead.

We managed to find a paed to go today. Reason being Hubby is worried sick that our son has been breathing heavily and has stuffy nose. Actually we wanted to go and check yesterday but all paeds were on Christmas leave. After researching around, I decided to see Dr Nazim at Az Zahrah, Bangi and fortunately he is good and not menyakitkan hati..haha!

My first impression when I went into his clinic was like..alamak doktor pakai kopiah tarbus la plak..I’m not being judgmental but experiences have taught me that certain people gaya-gaya Usrah ni is more annoying than those yang hu-ha cucuk langit. But Dr Nazim was allright, he explained in details and checked our son carefully. He even has one small koala bear hanging on his stethoscope. So now we are not worried anymore. The heavy breathing and the stuffy nose is all because of tersedak susu, more to overfeeding, nothing to be worried as his respiratory system, heart and lungs were all normal.

Dr Nazim advised us to bedung the baby tightly as erratic legs movement will push the milk from the tummy upwards causing more sedak susu. Now we know why all these orang tua2 bedung newborns, not because all the kaki kengkang excuses..huhu!

I hardly notice that this weekend is supposed to be a long weekend. For someone in confinement, it makes no difference whether it’s weekend or not. There’s a friend’s wedding tomorrow which if I am not in confinement I would like to go. Oh talking about Sinetron Indon, I watched Istri Untuk Suami Ku again today. It’s the usual family crap – the mom emphasizing her rights, the usual perasaan seorang ibu bullshit, forcing the child to choose between the spouse or her, and the menantu trying hard to live up to her standard, making child issue as a big deal.

Well, now being a mom myself I hope and pray that there will never be a moment in my life that I have to be that kind of mother, God forbid, I wouldn’t want history to repeat itself.

I don’t know about others, but these days I noticed that it has been hot (sometimes I feel super hot), day and night. Thanks to the air cond in the bedroom, I always run upstairs for the comforting coolness it provides especially when I want to relax and watch TV.

It rained last night but I think it didn’t help much in cooling down the weather over here. But somehow I feel like drinking teh tarik at mamak tonight…huhu..(if I could manage to put on proper clothes and tudung etc and head to the restaurant), somehow I feel that teh tarik doesn’t taste good if you tapau it..haha! Must be the extra dirt on the mug that they use to fill up the tea and serve you..yikes..if you check closely how they wash the mugs, they hardly use soap, simply rinse with water, fill up with new batch of tea and offer it to the next customer..heh! But surely that doesn’t turn me off from ordering one.

On another note, I continue my monthly subscription with MangkukTingkat.com. Reason being this month they don’t use mangkuk tingkat, but use the microwaveable container instead. Plus I still have deposit from last month’s subscription and entitle to 7 more meals which they failed to deliver. So if I were to give birth later, Hubby can eat the lunch and simply throw all those containers. Less hassle and at least Hubby will have something to eat during lunch. Although the food is not that tasty but still it would be better than nothing, right!

I think I just can’t stand the heat downstairs. I better get some shower and watch Kiteretsu upstairs while waiting for Hubby to come home. Just need to check the fish I am grilling in the oven. I decided to cook for dinner tonight. Pity Hubby for having ridiculous lunch in the office..ada ke menu Chinese herbal egg, sayur tauge and plain rice, I don’t know what on earth the caterer is thinking..feeding a bunch of employees in confinement?..huhu!

Hubby told me that his colleague’s wife with EDD a day earlier than mine gave birth on Sunday…that guy email everyone at the office since he would like to take the 5 day paternity leaves..waaa…when will it be my turn? I know that I have like a few more weeks to go (if it’s overdue) but still I can’t wait to see the baby coming out. Maybe the baby wants to be a Christmas baby..heh! Hubby has been asking the baby daily whether the baby has decided when to come out..siap pesan suruh SMS dulu kalau nak keluar..ceh!

We went to the antenatal class on Sunday, learning the breathing technique, how to pant, push, massage during labor, care after delivery etc which I found very useful. Actually there were many more sessions in the morning, but I was too tired to wake up in the morning. Since the organizer told me that it was OK to attend the afternoon session, we decided to go anyway.

After that we went to Rimbun Klasik as I wanted to eat Western style melayu..haha! Before that I had pengat pisang at Restoren Amir while Hubby had nasi campor for lunch. (We rushed to the afternoon session class and didn’t have any lunch, luckily they provided tea..kalau tak mau kebulur..huhu!) Anyway, the sirloin steak was so tough, but for a set that costs RM13 what do you expect, right!

Monday, Hubby decided to work from home. After all we have appointment for the weekly check up. Surprisingly when we reached the clinic around 5:20pm, there were like 4 people in the queue before my turn. The baby is still not engage, so the gynae told me that by next week she will have to do the vaginal exam to check…huhu..am I going for c-sect? Can I deliver normal? huhu…

I hope things will go well. Please pray for me! Whatever it is, normal or c-sect as long as the baby is safe, I am OK with it.