Before Year End

Some people asked me how I went with my pregnancy. Just realise that I didn't put much stories about it here. That was simply because I have other journal where I post the development of the bub every week and all the joy and complaint related to the pregnancy, including photos, ultrasound, and videos. But it requires permission if you want to have a look at it. Unlike other people who are pretty open to show her own tummy to anyone, for me I thought it's rather private. But I'll be happy to share it with my friends. Just send me message or email me.

In this time of the year, I thought I'll share with you a bit from my preggy journal.
Last Saturday I went to obgyn for another monthly check up and had another ultrasound. As I only can feel bub's nudges, and don't feel the kick yet, I asked the Doc if that's normal. He said the bub is kicking but I might not feel it because he is still small and this is my first so I might not sensitive enough to feel it. We could see through the ultrasound that the bub is moving a lot, and his heart is beating. Doc also said that the bub is now weight 900 gr. Good news is all are looking good, perfect baby, nothing to worry about. Doc also said to Hubby that I am worry too much!! Hhhh.... Hubby just laughed, very happy to get a partner in crime who agree with him since he's also been telling me over and over that I am worry too much about everything. (*ugh*). But I couldn't help being worry. I guess, it will happen to all women on their first pregnancy. I still think I'm normal! (*stubborn grin*) ....

Recently I'm craving for sweets more than usual. I even couldn't help myself to get a donut after ordering cheese croissant when I had small lunch with my friend last week. My friend noticed and said, ooh,.. I don't know if you like donut! :D Well, not that I like donut so much, usually I will not be bother. I was just looking at it and it look sooo tempting that time :) Also I started to eat more sweet, cakes, and biscuits at home.. and coke and teh botol!

I also do have itchy skin lately! around my belly, hips, thighs, and legs. I've been using body lotion and butter cream from Body Shop to reduce the itch and stretch mark. However, I haven't seen any stretch mark on my tummy by far. Hopefully never!

As for pregnant 'shape',... o ya,... I definitely have that shape now. Tummy is really growing, and it's getting bigger and rounder. I weight 56 kg, gained around 9 kg so far. I feel heavy on my lower back, and have a very bad back ache, particularly at the up left side. It's a hard work every night lately to be able to sleep well at night since it was very hard to find comfortable position to balance tummy and back.

The pregnancy went very fast without I even realised. It is only around 4 months more to go. I'm sure it will go very quick too. New Year is coming soon, next year will be very different and merrier for me and Hubby, with little bub come into our life. Can't wait!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Hope 2008 brings lots of great things your way, good health and happiness.

End of 2007, 24 weeks preggy.

So It Is Christmas

So Christmas is finally here. I was wishing for a white christmas, but unfortunately (or luckily), no snow today. :)

This year we are celebrating Christmas differently. No presents - as we thought we already have too much presents for ourselves during the holiday last month, we had no roast which Andrew usually make for Christmas lunch - as we didn't have time to do it. We went to church at 12pm on christmas day and invited to dinner at friend's house in the evening, and no church on christmas eve as we usually do every year - as I still not feeling too well and Andrew was tired from work. Yeah,... it sounds like very ordinary day.

But Christmas not always about presents, festive, and roast. We called and talked with both of our families in 2 countries, and we are glad they are all healthy and celebrated christmas safe and sound. We are thankful for our families and their support, thankful with our partner's warm companion, and especially thankful for the little bub coming. In the evening we had a great time at dinner with friends.

I feel blessed and happy. That's all I need on Christmas day.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!
from both of us :)

Poor G Of Mine

It must be hard to be a g-string, especially it's back side, where it always have to stuck between buttocks. Lucky if it gets to clean nice puffy fragrant buttock. I feel so sorry for them....

Mmmm..... i'm not sure why I wrote this. It might be effect of the flu. ;p

But also maybe because I accidentally bought wrong undies and can't wear them. About 5 of them, and all are g-string model. I never have or worn g-string before and too lazy to return it back. So I thought I would try and keep it. It looks cute anyway. I understand it was made for women and men who especially have nice buttock, to show off their buttock, or for other people who need to wear it when they wear white or tight pants, and swimwear. And it does look good when i see other people wear it. But I didn't work for me. Not that I don't look good (*grin*) but mainly coz I don't feel convenient. I tried few times,... but always can't last long. At least half day and I would change to usual undies again. Well, at least I've tried. While I'm sure some people used to wear this and feel convenient, still I wonder if some other people feel inconvenient but wear it anyway just for the sake of their buttock's look in public. I can't see if it's worth it enough for me. Being convenient when you wearing something is number one for me, especially if it's about underwear. I do not see the need for me to use g-strings model. My buttock looks good enough already with usual undies. :D I've decided, I'm not a g-string person! ;p

So I don't know what to do with my g-strings now. They might just sit in the drawer for a looooong time.

Btw, I woke up this morning feeling much better than yesterday. But I still feeling weak, have runny nose and sore mucle and a bit of cough (*uhuk..uhuk..*)

Sicky Day

It happened so fast.

Started with funny feeling on my throat yesterday evening, then sneezed a lot, followed to runny nose like a leaking tap, and only can breath through mouth at night and of course couldn't sleep. I woke up this morning feeling terrible. Dizzy, sore throat, sore muscles and weak. I think I have a bit of fever too. I hate flu, and as I'm pregnant now I hate it more. Upset and frustrated as I can't take any drugs other than panadol.


I felt as gloomy as the weather outside today. I treated myself with couple cup of tea with honey, chicken soup, orange juice and plenty of warm water. Couldn't go to doctor as today is a weekend holiday. Besides, I'm confused as do I have to see GP or my Obgyn. Really hope I feel better in a couple of days without seeing doctor and taking special antibiotics. (*grunt grunt*)

Answer Of The Big Question

ALERT!!!

Anyone who don't want to know the answer of the BIG QUESTION is not recommended to continue to read this post.

Well, we know the answer of our curious question, finally.

After 2 monthly check up, and had a couple of thorough ultrasound, we (doctor, I, and hubby) are now sure that our baby is.... a boy!

So we are going to have a baby boy! I still can't believe that sometimes. Life is changing so quickly for me lately. At least that's what I felt!

Anyway we both happy with the result and started to fill our mind with plans. One of them is find a boy name. I tell you, it's not easy. Boy's name are so average while girl name can be more varies and interesting. We threw names out and also look up some options on the internet. After a few days we finally have a short list, and from it we have one that we both like the most. Seems like we have our choice, but we are still open to other names and going to see if we can find other name on the way.

So many things to think about baby, and we are looking forward to have another team work to welcome the baby into the world.

Christmas is in The Air

Cool weather, christmas trees and decoration in the shops and malls, and christmas functions. I even found some street seller change their merchandise into Santa hat and fresh point sepia plants. Surprise surprise seems like Christmas in Amman won't be too bad after all. After settled down from the holiday I started take out christmas decoration from the cupboard and have put up bit of it around the house. We don't have christmas tree. At first was thinking what kind of christmas without christmas tree (I used to have christmas tree every year at home in Jakarta), but we survived, we always have good christmas. It's not about the tree. But the companion, friends and our heart ;p. As to light up the christmas feeling in the house without tree, it's even better as I'm challenged to do something different every year with simple and same decoration. Other than christmas songs playing every morning, here is a little christmasy stuff in the corner of our house this year.

Back In Town

I'm back in dusty and cold Amman. Yes, it's cold, as we are officially in a winter season. We were back on Friday night (4 days ago) and been busy with household things and catch up with friends. Also tried to catch few photos to show from more than 1300 photos we have from the trip, and I only could upload 50 of them. See the "Picture Of My Life" on the left bar.

I had a lot of walk up and down the stony street around Italy. Whilst we have a few day with clear blue sky and sun, but mostly we have gloomy rainy days. The temperature fell down to 2 degrees at some nights, but mostly around 6-12 degree. As for walking, surely I can't walk too fast and carry heavy things around with my preggy condition. But I have Hubby to carry bag pack and shopping bags, (and suitcases) and he was very patient to wait and walk with me in my 'granny' walk. We had a relaxing trip and not in a rush. So I felt pretty relax and enjoyed it. Of course I usually got very tired at the end of the day, usually had sore back and waist and just have no energy. But Hubby was ready to give me gentle massage before sleep. :)

In 21 days we've done pretty good in travelling around middle, south and north Italy, managed to visit about at least 18 towns by plane, car (Hubby drove), train, bus, and ferry. Started from Rome, we drove to Positano via Capua, then spent a day in Sorrento. Then we went to Orvietto visa Pompeii, then a night in Asisi via Todi, Spoleto, Montefalco and Spolegno. Spent couples night in Sienna, then headed to Pisa via Monterigioni and San Gimignano, then drop the car off in Florence where we spent 3 days there. We took a train to Venice and spent another 3 nights, where we spent one day in a close town, Padua. And back to Rome from Venice by train, spent another night in Rome before going back to Amman the next day.

Hubby enjoyed driving in the country side, The autumn scenery was nice when we get to Tuscany. But the tuscany view must be much much better in summer.

I was looking forward to taste the real Italian food before we go. But then we both a bit shock with it. Real Italian pasta and pizza are not as rich as pasta and pizza we usually eat. They don't put too much in it. Pasta usually just plain and serve as first main menu (meaning it wont be too much portion - sort of like appetiser). As a main you can have grilled chicken, pork chop, or steak, also plain and small portion. We found that eating out in a normal restaurant quite expensive. But as the time go by, we got use to it and decided that the food is healthier than food we usually eat, and planned to change the way we cook. Hubby even have some idea for him to cook at home that he pick from the trip.

I was also surprise that people still enjoying a cup of ice cream in 2 degree weather. I know the Italian ice cream, gelato is very very nice, but I imagine it would be very cold for your throat and body. Anyhoo, I could not resist to eat it too one day, too many ice cream shop and people eating it. So tempting! It was nice, and it was truly cold. :)

As for the masterpiece from the Michael Angelo and friends,.... it was just AMAZING. Italy has so many churches, duomo, basilica, piazza, ruins and museums loaded with amazing and unique carvings, fresco, painting, statues, and arts. It was so brilliantly made and well maintained. We entered and saw so many churches and museum along the way, so that we felt tired to enter museums again once we reach Florence. A slight regret that I didn't go to Uffizi Museum where they have a lot of famous masterpiece... but I felt so tired at the time we got there and the queue was long. Then we don't have time to see it the next day.

It was again a new adventure for me. Overall, it was a tiring and expensive holiday, but certainly worth it, and we are glad we did it. Hubby was in a good mood the whole trip, done a lot of hard work during the trip (carry bag, drove and read the maps), and we had a wonderful quality time together, and we learnt new hopefully healthy habits during the trip that we will keep it in our daily life.

Btw, pregnancy is going ok. Baby is good. I think I could feel the baby movement very slightly since I was in the plane on the way back to Amman. It was just very slight jolt around my belly. We went to doctor the next day after we back, and doctor said everything looks fine. Doctor did a thorough ultrasound check and record it in a dvd. It was awesome! My tummy definitely growing as I entered the 5th month (20 weeks) last Saturday. I gained around 7 kg so far, and i think I look very chubby! and I need new big legging for winter!