It is very quick how one week move in to another and another and by the time it comes to realization, I start to panic.
Alhamdulillah I received a lot of hand-me-downs for this baby boy. More than what I used to have for Rania.
I have a carton of shoes just for my little boy and tons of clothes!

Rezeki anak masing

But the Malays believe that as the number of children grows, so will your share and the children's share.
Somehow, we always manage to make ends meet. Feed mouths and have an extra little thing or two.
That is Allah's promise.

And surprisingly, it is the same promise believed by the Christians as well and sometimes I wonder why many of us or them would like to stop at 1 or 2 children, blaming the Singapore living standards.
I may not understand but I planted a little bit of faith and keep going. So when many said I am lucky to have a girl and a boy and that I can "close shop", I really pray that that would not be the case.

I do have to admit though that I do not have as much energy this pregnancy as in the last.
I take comfort for the fact that every pregnancy is different not because I am OLD!!!
*lol*
Alhamdulillah, my asthma did not flare up as terribly as it did during the first pregnancy. I am very thankful.
Of course my body is increasingly more sensitive with allergens at each pregnancy but being breathless is really no fun.

As any other normal pregnancy moms, I do download those apps to track my little one's development.
When I hit 12 weeks, I was like,"Yeay! Safe zone now. Chances of miscarriage is halved!"
Then when I reach about 17 weeks, I was like,"I am in my second trimester! The best trimester!"
When I was 20-ish, I was like,"Are we halfway?" Because the engine was starting to wear out. The stomach got bigger. Walking was quite a chore. Rania started to be so clingy.

Then I hit the 30-ish week.
I went from,"Wah! We reach the third milestone already!" to "Are we there yet?"

But the time ticks pretty quickly. Just when I read I was in my 31st week and wanted to blog, there was a notification after a few days that I was in my 32nd week!
That fast?
Or have I become a tortoise.

This is me over the past two weeks. There isn't much difference about how big I am.. but I am definitely huge.
Thank goodness, despite my food rampage, I didn't put on as much as I did when I was pregnant with Rania.
Oh well.. let's hope the weight loss will also be easier.




Over the past few weeks, my little princess has been very clingy with me.
Entering into the house from work, she will squeal and spin and squeal and laugh that it makes me fall in love with her all over again.
Most times, she will refuse to let Alfi carry her and end up strangling my neck when Alfi tried to pull her from me.
A lot of people advise me against carrying Rania and a lot also wondered how I can manage carrying Rania with my tummy so huge.
Sometimes we as mothers do not have a choice. When the child wants you, there is no negotiation to that.

Rania will only sleep when I lay beside her and pat her to bed.
Alfi will always have a hard time putting her to bed while I am in the shower. The minute I come back into the room, she will run across the bed and say" mummy.. mummy.."
Again, how can you refuse that.

She has grown up so much over the past 20 months and Alfi and I still gushed about what a big girl she is now.
She has already called herself Kakak Nia.
I didn't even think about it!




I am sure I will miss her when her little brother arrives but I pray I will be a better mother being to juggle all my activities, work and then two children.

Now I am just savouring my times with Alfi and our little girl.
I promise Alfi a date which I always end up bringing Rania (not that Alfi minds) so I need to put my mind to it.

The end game is scheduled on 27 Oct which I hope to deliver right after Hari Raya Haji.
Yes, I am ready to receive him from down under.

xoxo

Life Changes

So much has happened over the past 4 to 6 weeks that I have been pretty quiet.
I have put on much weight now. I may just hit the 90kg mark again.
Thank god I have not yet walked like a penguin but I am definitely walking slower now.

Entering into the third trimester now has been quite challenging and some of these challenges were something I did not forsee.
One big example was having Rania being extremely clingy with me.
While I enjoy her running to the door screaming "Mummy" repeatedly everytime I come home from work, it also means that I have to pick her up and carry her, kiss her all over and ask her how was her day without sitting down.

This is also the time when the 'nesting period' sets in.
So I end up cleaning my own room, packing and repacking, trying to make some space for the little baby boy.
It is really a challenge to maintain an upcoming family of 4 and Her Closet in the same room. Just that in mind makes me miss my home in AMK and the space I can potentially have.
But the hubby is also worried that I need those extra pair of hands to help me when baby no. 2 comes.

Over the weeks, I bid goodbye to Android (especially HTC), a semi-goodbye to Windows (because it is still awesome when it comes to my work productivity) and welcome Apple into my life episodes.
Hmmmm.. yeah.. finally.
I was very resistant to step into the Apple world but it is very key for me for get connected to the people in the social network. That is where I get my daily doses of chats and sharing among the sisters. My online business works very well with an iPhone apparently.
I love the photography apps available to feed my obsession. I love the fact that I do not need to carry my iPad around anymore. Diaper bags are an ease now.

So switching to an iPhone made me a happy girl though I must admit it takes a lot of discipline to put the phone aside.
Plus, I ended up doing more microblogging than blogging.

I think my Instagram pictures looked better. More of character.
You know how a picture tells 1000 words. Maybe I can do it not with 10,000 words.





How I find it very convenient not to lug around my camera because I do it all on the iPhone.
Third trimester, back ache, sleepless nights, the iPhone keeps me company because Alfi bought me a 3m long cable wire where I can play with my IG, upload videos, watch YouTube and play Candy Crush while lying on the bed.

Pampered much?
Perks of being married. Bonus to be pregnant.

*lol*

So here is how I spend my Eid.
4 days of visiting and the body gave up on me.



I'm in the 30th week now.
7 more weeks to go till full term and looking forward to the maternity leave.

It is probably no rest time for me since the newborn will feed all the time and give me sleepless night but I am looking forward to use this time to spend time with my children.
It's amazing how my hair stands when I use the word 'children'

First it was just me and Alfi. Then we had a little girl. Now another addition coming along.
Trust me, I swear there is still a lot of space in our hearts to welcome more.

Just the other day, I shared with Alfi that if I were given a choice between luxury and children, I will choose children.
He smiled.
One of the reasons why we got married was because we agreed to have a big family and having one just makes me look forward to grow old with him.

May Allah continue to bless us with so much love and joy.
It is truly a priceless gift.

xoxo

Eat with your Family Day

Last Friday was Eat with you family Day.
Microsoft employees were given time off at 3pm to go back home early to their family.
Alas I was stuck in a meeting till 4.30 and when I reached home at 5pm, I was rushing for some urgent works via email.

I was actually more eager to get home early and make my way to Motherhood Expo fair with Alfi's godfamily's nephew's wife.
Complicated right?
But our relationship isn't.
*lol*
It helps that I get along with almost anyone and they are very warm and accommodating.

So by the time I reached expo it was 7.30pm and the exhibition was huge.
Alfi was always reminding me to find what I need first! But that is so hard because I will be hopping here and there and then get confused.

So this is what I came back with.
Tons and tons of Pampers. I told you I am making the switch and I am really loving it.



A lot of mummies actually message me via FB and my mobile to ask if Pampers was really the trusted brand.
I stand by it and told them I was not bull-shitting on my blog just because I am getting free stuffs.
We as bloggers can always not agree with their marketing if we feel it is not good enough.

Can you see I even bought diapers for my newborn!!!
I would have bought more if not for the lack of space in my room.
From a 5-room to a 12meter square room, it has become a karang guni place. One more year to go.
My mom's place will be enbloc and it is a good time excuse for me to shift out (without hurting my mom).
We started off staying in that room just the two of us. Then we became 3 and now coming 4.
It is really cramping up!

Can't you tell from the videos I have been posting up about Rania?
*lol*

I keep telling myself it is just a phase.

So anyway, it didn't turn out a quiet eat with your family day. That Friday night, after the fair, we went to get awesome food at Changi 89.7
And it is good to see Rania starting to build relationships with children her age.




Then over on Sunday, this pregnant woman was craving for satay and there we head off to Satay by the Bay. Going on a Sunday was wrong timing. Too many satay orders that the place was awfully stuffy.









Nonetheless, company was great and we ended off the day with Mac'D drive-through ice cream.

Today I am encountering Monday Blues.
Sometimes I wish weekends were longer.

xoxo

18 out of 40 weeks

I am disgusted with myself about how much I lack blogging and it is not that I do not want to.
Time just does not seem to permit.
Sometimes (only sometimes!) I let Candy Crush decide the best of me.

Wakakaka!

But the days are really taking a toll on me. So many things in my head. So many things to execute but I just do not seem to have enough of 24 hours.
Then I question myself, 'Is this what the world is to me now?'

Then I am saddened.
I have long since took a back, enjoy the sights and the scenery or even bend down to smell the roses.
Ok.. all those are metaphors. Sure.

But that is what life seems to me now.

The new role I have despite being very interesting and something I enjoy just sponge up my time very quickly.



If you think this is my typical work day, let me share with you that it is not.
This is one of the rare days which I get to sit in the office and work my emails on my laptop.



Otherwise, I am constantly on the move, visiting and hosting customers. This was a picture taken on my birthday with the Japanese delegates. Looks fun but I swear it was exhausting.

I reply a lot of my emails on the move.
Whenever I am from one location and need to head to the other, I will use the time in the taxi to first do my work calls, then I moved on to calling my mom and daughter to see how they are doing at home. Check if she is alright and playing well. Listen to her antics from my mom. Then I will make a final call to my husband. Always a quick one to check on his schedule and tell him that I missed him.

And because of this, I have little or almost no sentiments of my pregnancy times, which is sad.
There was only a handful times where I sat down, rubbed my tummy hoping and trying to feel the connection with me and my little one inside.

Rania sleeps at 11.30pm. She cries for milk (yes, at 17 months) at 3am and 7am.
By 8am, I am up to get ready for work. If Rania is up and I do not have a meeting till the afternoon, I will have her showered and changed then I get ready for work.
I am lucky that work is pretty flexible and mobile in that sense (though there are monsterous days)

I buy or bring lunch before I head to the office so that I have good productive hours.

By 4.30pm I'm off.
Again, if I am in the office. Otherwise, if there are meetings and dinner appointments, it can stretch till late night.

By the time I am home, my home tuition classes start. One after another.
Sometimes if I am lucky, I have 1 class. On normal days, I have two classes.
And on really exhausting days, I have 3 classes back to back and will not get to spend time with Rania will about 10.30pm.

That is when my dinner is, shower, read Rania a book and I may end up dozing before her.
It is the same for the husband too.

Now that June is coming and exams are over, we start to see a slow down rate of classes. Which gives the family a little bit more space to breathe.

For a start, I am already at my 18th week of pregnancy! Yay!
How time flies this pregnancy. In the past, I will do my weekly reading of the baby's development, diligent with my multivitanmins, folic acid and fish oil.
This time around, I am very complacent with my prenatal care which makes me feel like a terrible mother and how I wish I can hold others responsible but then again I let fate take its course.



So far, I have only put on 5kg and I was overestimating my size terribly.
Partly because I was really huge when I was pregnant with Rania. At the same time, being pregnant with an active 17th month old baby and working round the clock is really hectic.

But to say I am small is such a blatant lie. I was among the flourishing mothers who could not lose the last 5kg from the first pregnancy.
With Rania, I put on a total of 22kg. I WAS A WHALE!!!

But to lose 17kg was quite a good job, don't you think?

Today, I am looking out for a good massage lady for my post natal care. So if you know of any good ones, do share with me. I am looking for those who can wrap me up nice and tight.

There are times when I pity Rania who will have to share my time with her sibling at a tender age of 1 yr 10 mths.



Rania can already help me with simple things. She understands instructions like 'take', 'give' and when I say 'please' it means I really need her cooperation. In fact, she has been helping out with her pregnant mummy take things in the room because I am too tired to move around.

I am also trying to spend as much time I can with her. It guilts me when she hugs me around my neck out of no reason or when she whines unnecessarily for me to carry her and her father would not allow.





My advertising for Pampers was great! Not only did we have were on the OMY (a blogging community within Singapore Press Holdings) highlights



But we also made it on My Paper, a bilingual paper which is given out for free!



So yes, there has been a lot of things going on.
Work is work and family time is always the best to keep your sanity. So for all that is worth, I am still contented on the small little things He gives me despite I spend less time smelling the roses.

I will be back for more, definitely.
Just to quickly share, we got sponsorship for Canon Pixma and it has been awesome fun!



June is the time where many spend time with their children over the school holidays and I will share with you fun and exciting things you can do as a family with a Canon Photo Printer.

xoxo

On Family

Being a working mother and wife, I really treasure the times we spend together.
My weekdays are burnt.
Now that mid-year examinations is on the way, my weekday evenings are spent with the students doing revisions and polishing up their weaker topics.

By the time my day ends at 10pm, I have only enough energy to eat up my dinner and play with Rania for a while before I call it a day by 11pm. I can really sense my daughter missing me.
How she whines, grabbing my legs and look up at me wanting me to carry her.

I am under strict instuctions from Alfi that I must not carry Rania no matter how hard she cries. He does not want me to go through another miscarriage and the spotting was a scare enough to him.
But which mother can have the heart to do that. Whenever Alfi is not around, I will carry her as much as my body could take.

And it breaks my heart that whenever I do, she quickly lay her head on my shoulders as if afraid I will put her down the next minute.

So time is limited and weekdays are burnt.
Many will say weekends would be the make up time. But that is tough too. I have to split my time with my family, my in-laws and god in-laws. It is not troublesome but I wish the weekends were longer.
Maybe 3 days?

So whatever time I have with the three of us is really precious to me and Alfi.
It takes a lot of time management and managing the expectation of others. I think many of you will understand my situation.

And when we are out together, we challenge ourselves to keep our spending to the minimum. Say like about $50 per outing inlcluding parking and ERP charges and we feel a sense of achievement when we hit the target.
So we find where is the cheapest parking even if we need to walk a little further. We do not compromise on food but we do compromise on desserts and things that we need to buy.

Rania sharing a $1 ice cream potong with her dad and look how she is enjoying it.



Us, sitting at the corner of a pillar finishing up our ice cream potong.



At the end of the day, what matters most is that you have your loved ones around you and have happy times together.
The smiles captured are priceless and nothing can replace that for me.

That is family. We go through ups and downs but I always share with Alfi that it is ok.
It is not as bad as many other around the world have it.

I am just happy to have a great husband, awesome kid and with His Willing, another one along the way.
It's called building the love.

And that is how I would love to groom my family to be.

This post is brought to you by Pampers Singapore

Sponsored: Happy Baby, Active Baby

Mothers typically get excited when they have sponsored diapers.
I am one of those typical mothers.
*lol*

I remember when I was about to deliver Rania, I asked the wise mothers on Facebook which was their recommended diaper and the response was awesome. But that made me one heck of a confused mother-to-be. It didn't help that I am very fickle by nature (sometimes)





So I remember standing there a month before my delivery, looking at the whole rack of different diapers in the supermarket.
When all logic fail, I decided to pick out what all mothers have trusted for the longest time.

Pampers.



To be honest, I have been out of touch with Pampers since Rania outgrew her newborn diapers so to be given this opportunity is very exciting.
A lot of people say anything we see in the market is just marketing gimmick so this is the time I can really try this out.

To be honest, I only tried this out on Rania over the weekends.
When I opened the pack of Pampers, I was amazed to see how thin the diaper is!



The first thing that came to my mind was,"Damn, this might leak."

So I decided to put it to test. I was out since that morning and travelling non stop.
Off we went out with her in the Pampers Active Baby. I brought the same number of pampers diapers as I would with other brands. 2 tape diapers (Active Baby) and 2 diaper pants (Active Baby Pants).

So when we were out from 11am to 7am, I only had ONE change of diaper for her in between and NO leakage.
The only reason why she changed her outfit was because she played with her water bottle. But there was no need to change her pants/skirt!

The best part when I open up her diaper to clean her, her 'butterfly' was very dry!
Amazing!!!

She was a happy kiddo yesterday, playing and running around, doing her own things and it makes my job as a mummy much easier.
It's amazing how a diaper can change lives of a mother and child!







I am looking forward to lug around less things in the diaper bag just because of Pampers!
Can you believe it?

When the diaper is great, you bring less diapers and less change of clothes!
That's it baby.. we are making THE switch!

So far, like that.

I have so many things to blame on.
I need to blame on my HTC phone for making me so impaired. There was a time where I could not take photos, of which until today I am unable to upload them onto Instagram.

I have a mouthful to talk about HTC services and how they eventually did not repair my phone because they mentioned that my phone was dipped into water. They must be kidding me!
It has not once touched into water and Alfi and I have been wasting our time arguing on the phone and going down to their service centers, the phone was not repaired. They even had the cheek to charge me evaluation fee for my phone which is still under warranty.

Tell me who would not be a hantu!
That, I swear is my first and last HTC.

Cut the story short, my team pitied my phone story (more like the need to have me a phone call away) that they handed over to me a Windows 8 phone.
Good thing is that it saves me money to purchase another phone. Many question me about the phone and mock me for being on a Windows platform. I am in the role where I need to walk the talk on MS Business Productivity.
Yes, it gives huge productivity gains in accessing my emails, referring to my meeting notes on One Note and then being on the move and running a conference with Lync and it is all in the phone.

But I became less social productive.
I don't like the Facebook user interface. I didn't like how everyone reads their Watsapp messages and laughing over it and here I am waiting for the app to launch. Yeah it is laggy like that.

While the Carl Ziess camera can be awesome with still life, it lags in focusing.

So please imagine my frustration.

But life has been great! Maybe because I feel guilty that I do not spend enough time with Rania on weekdays, teaching 7 sessions squeezed into 3 or 4 evenings.
That is the life of any typical working mom isn't it?

Some view it as pitiful that I need to work so hard but tuition is truly one of my passion. It is a time where I can choose students I want to groom and give them confidence in education. Plus, it is very important (in my opinion) that I stay relevant with syllabus so that when Rania goes to school, I am not in shock of how education evolved or how kiasu schools are.

In fact, during hosting one of the schools in Microsoft, I wanted to chat up with a teacher found out that she is my blog reader. Doesn't it just make networking easier? :)

Talking about work, it has been nothing but crazy!!!!
One morning I can be in Woodlands at 9am, the next morning I can be at Punggol at 8am and I most times, I cannot even find time to come by the office. Or by the time I need to head back to the office, I am all exhausted that I will make my way home and have a pile of follow-ups after that.

That explains why I neglect my photography and Her Closet and blogging but I am missing all these.
These are what I love! So I am trying very hard to make a come back.

Which is why I always look forward to weekends. It is my time with my dearest husband and daughter and I will balance the remaining with my own family, my in-laws and my foster in-laws which are like my own.

I have tons of photos on my SD card but these are pictures taken from the phone and a very quick update

This is my little girl, all grown up and mummy is so happy to be able to bunch up some hair to tie (though she hates it!)



Dinner with my family



Disclaimer: This picture was taken only during red-light stop. No one was harmed and Rania went to the back of the car when her daddy needs to move off.



I love gluttony (occasionally)



This is Rania when Mummy is at work. She forgets that people in the house sends me 'report card' like this via watsapp



A weekend at the zoo with my in-laws (though I don't have their pictures here)









Lunch date with my cousin aka my bridesmaid. Its amazing how we rarely meet and yet we sizzle everytime we do.



Now it is time to grab hold of my SD cards and work on the umrah pics, Dubai pics, zoo pics, etc etc.
I will be blogging again in no time.

Watch this space.

p.s: My blog traffic went down my 70% but for the 30% who stayed and constantly came to visit, THANK YOU! It means a lot to me.

xoxo