It's a Boy!

It's a BOY! And above all; he is healthy and whole and beautifully formed; Praise the Lord!

Baby's timeline is now at 22 weeks, EDD is 30th August.

Technology is so amazing today it's totally incomprehensible. I bet this will awe and baffle my mum's generation. Here we have a 4D scan pic of Baby Boy (below). I have no idea what a 4D scan is but it's amazing and the Sonographer even managed to save it in short video clips in a DVD for me!


This is an ultrasound of his ... ahemmm ... proof of gender (!) ... see where the tiny white arrow is pointing!


Here is the short video clip of a combined Ultrasound and 4D scan:

See how he is actively moving his little baby fists over his tiny face? Daddy says he is just like mummy; rubbing face and nose and possible even biting fingers ... tsk tsk ... inheriting mummy's strange habits already??? LOL!

It's the most amazing feeling ever, to feel and see your little baby move inside your body and marvel at all the little little developments. I am thankful and honored that the good Lord above has given us such a precious opportunity to bring a precious new life into the world. It's our own little miracle from heaven.

Mountain Cat King Durian

The sweet hubby treated Mommy and Baby Chin to a sumptuous feast of one of the most expensive species of durians you can find in this country; the Mausan Wong, or direct translation is Mountain Cat King Durian. It is simply divine, words cannot describe, so I'll leave you with this sumptuous tempting picture ... heehee :P

To give you a heads up, it cost approx RM98 for a total of 2 durians *gasp* So you can imagine it's a rare and treasured indulgence for us! Donald and boys of Donald's Durian at SS2 are quite experienced with picking durians according to how you like it; sweet, slightly bitter, you name it, they will 'smell' it out for you!

Superstitions & Creepy Stories

When we first found out I was expecting, we didn't blast the news to the whole world, we waited almost a month before we even told the parents. I wanted to be super certain as I didn't want them to start fussing too soon. It was the hardest secret to keep in my entire life!

Once the news was out, it's really interesting how people react to your news. It's my first pregnancy by the way and I've very little experience in this arena as most of my close girl friends are not mothers yet. Since half the responses I've gotten are quite entertaining or brow-raising, I've grouped them here ...

The Strangely Superstitious

1. Don't watch Avatar or your baby will turn blue.
2. Don't take soy sauce or your baby will be dark/tan. I love soy sauce, too bad!
3. Don't look at monkeys (real, pictures, movies) or your baby will have ape-like features. So if you happen to work in a zoo, you're so doomed! LOL! Same principle applies on alien movies by the way.
4. Someone told me the baby can recognise you better if you stare at the mirror and talk to the baby as he/she sees through your eyes. Now that to me is just bizarre!

The Single Ladies

1. I've a friend who relayed a detailed account of how her other friend had a tragic miscarriage, in graphic detail! Really, do I need to hear that? That story actually bothered me for days! I had to pray quite a bit to clear my head.
2. Some start lamenting about how all their girl friends are dropping of the world of movies, music and margaritas and are holed up at home with diapers, breast pumps and bibs and how they are slowly losing their social circle. Sigh, while that's true and that's life, do you really think you'll succeed in making a pregnant woman feel guilty about her unborn child? No kidding.

The Creepy Colleagues

1. One colleague told a story about how a baby came to have a hole-in-heart situation because the father was drilling and assembling the baby cot while the mother was pregnant. Even though logic and common sense tells me this is crap, that story stayed in my head for a while too. Sigh.
2. Another colleague (who has no kids) keeps drilling me about everything I eat. She sees me eat something, she'll ask me if it's a craving. She questions the portions I eat as well. I don't really have cravings and portions really depends on how hungry I am. While I know people are generally kind and concerned, I really don't enjoy answering to every eating habit I have or explain why I eat or not eat certain things.
3. Some actually tell me "wow you're starting to show hor?" or "perut sudah nampak la" every other week they bump into me. Yes, that's kind of like the whole idea, the belly grows when you're pregnant with a baby. Kapish? I guess people are trying to be polite, I'm such a skeptical cynic ! LOL!
   

The Mommy Club

1. The young Mommies are the best; they are the most sensitive, genuine and sincere of the lot. Maybe it's because they see a kindred spirit in all moms-to-be or they're probably thinking "Welcome to the world of diapers, stretchmarks and sleepless nights! Muahahaha!"
2. Either way I love talking with mommies, especially the recent new moms, they are bursting with valuable, relevant, real life advise and they totally understand how you feel.
3. But they really confuse me when it comes to the Pro-epidural vs Anti-epidural. Haha. Anyway I've yet to decide on this .... hmmm.
   

The Questionables - Right or Wong, who knows?

1. Some say don't paint your nails, some say it's dead cells so it's ok, anyway I just renewed my nail salon package and since I'm incapable of cutting my own toe nails anyway, my nail salon is here to stay.
2. Soya bean milk makes fair babies. While soya beans are generally healthy and rich in protein, I just don't care for the taste of it. I tried though.
3. Caffeine makes babies hyper? I know mothers who abstained from all coffee, tea and cola during pregnancy yet their kid appears to be bouncier than a magic jelly bean. So who knows for sure.

I do take heed on anything that is scientifically proven though, especially with certain types of food, medication and chemicals. Bottom line is, if it's scientifically proven or raises reasonable doubt with the medical community, it's valid.

All in all, the past 2 months has been pretty fun and I'm just about immune to all the strange remarks and comments. I guess most people are just concerned and trying to be helpful and make conversations, so I'll graciously overlook any insensitivity. After all, hubby and I are just so thrilled to be blessed with this little growing bud, nothing can ruin our joy. Ultimately, we have to trust God and listen to the gynae :)

Introducing Baby Shortcake!!!

As usual, my disappearance is not for no good reason ... I'm thrilled to present the upcoming new addition to the krazy koala family .... Baby Shortcake ... tadaa! Baby Shortcake is pictured here on Saturday, 8th March, at almost 15 weeks.

That's baby's head on the left and the rather visible spine on the right, baby looks asleep and rather shy at this point. Isn't the ultrasound scan such an amazing device? Alas, we do not know baby's gender yet but we're really excited to find out so we can start buying PINKS or BLUES.

More details next round, Mummy Shortcake gotta go catch some snooze now, Baby zaps all the energy out of me.

The Trilogy Ends

I alluded to the closing of a certain crucial chapter in my life in my last post. In fact, I'm such a sucker for all things symbolic I actually chose to end my 'trilogy' on the last day of the year, at the close of a decade.

My trilogy; it's my 3-season stunt with my current employment. It's very interesting and rather amusing to many that I left and returned to this company TWICE. Hence the trilogy, and, now it's time to end the trilogy, well, technically I have 12 days to go before my grand exit. All in all the trilogy totals up to almost 7 years (seven year itch? LOL!)

The closing of this chapter not only points to the end of this trilogy, it also ends my decade long career in the field of brand management and marketing. The turn of the decade sees my taking a bold step to move out of the high and lofty pinnacle of branding to the challenging depths of the advertising agency business.

Why am I doing this you may ask? Have I gone mad to take the path less ventured? I even get the typical but standard retort of why would you move from BRAND (mastery) to AGENCY (slavery)? Haa, I have masochistic tendencies, I tell them. I thrive on being pushed about! LOL! Well, truth is, I've hit a painfully stale plateau in my career, it's high time for a change; to move out to the wilderness and make my way in the world. Well, also because after much exploration, a divine opportunity came at a most pressing and opportune time. I've been looking at all the wrong places when whammbamm suddenly there was an open door! Anyway I'm so jaded right now, I am willing to put up with anything that's NEW and DIFFERENT, leaving out the factor of GOOD or BAD. Let's just say I'm the kinda girl who prefer to hang out with the Angel she doesn't know rather than the Devil she's known all her life. The unexpected vs the predictable? Something like that *wink*

So ... I truly believe the new decade will bring much excitement for me; a new industry, a new environment, new learnings and new friends. What's a better way to start a new decade than with new heights to scale, new depths to explore and a new traffic route in the morning huh? I'm oozing with optimism and and excitement as I write! *double somersault*

I don't know if I'll be busier than I've ever been or if I'll have more blog-time, but I do know for a fact that once I'm out of brand management, I can blog a whole lot more freely! Now I'm looking forward to that! :)