Kimmy and Julie :: Family Journal

I Was Due!

I was exactly in my 40th weeks yesterday but I’m still here in the office. It means that my little baby is still in my tummy and he is feeling so comfortable. He is a smart baby and probably knows that his mummy still got some stuff that has yet to be handed over to her colleagues. He is also very tolerant and patient to give me another day or two to clear my office matters. Albeit he has my characters…SMART! 😛 Cheers to you Darling!

If baby is not out by Sunday, I will need to be admitted on Monday for an induce. Good for Darling as he don’t have to go through the panicking moment…receive my emergency call while at the office and driving madly home to send me to hospital. Darling has been quite excited since yesterday calling me every few hours to check if I’m ok.

So now I have another two days (hopefully) in the office. Must really appreciate this time. I may have another weekend (not so hopefully) to do a last minute shopping and eat-all-I-can-eat. I’m already thinking of the Ramadhan buffet or bazaar, cold icy drinks, cooling desserts/tong shui and lots more. I’m gonna miss that. I must also spend longer time under the shower now before I go for my one month “water rationing”.

But of all those that I’m gonna missed, I just can’t wait to hold my little baby. His blessed number may be 5, 6, 7, or 8…

38th Weeks…

I’m now counting down to hearing our little baby’s cry. He is putting more pressure to my lower abdomen. At times it’s a ticklish feeling and at times I’ll feel uncomfortable especially when I’m having a full bladder. I’m not only getting pressures from baby but also from office. Since I’ll be away for 2 months and it could be anytime from now, I am required to pass down my knowledge and whatever is outstanding. I don’t know how much my colleague can absorb. Good luck to her! Anyway, I also don’t want to go unprepared to avoid the office from calling me during my confinement.

Darling said I’m having an expensive lunch today because I packed one mooncake for lunch that cost RM10.00. It’s the month of Ramadhan so I have to pack lunch to the office. All my lunch partners are fasting. I better eat whatever I can now otherwise I’ll miss that for two months later.

37th Weeks…

Time flies and it’s approaching October soon. It’s exactly 3 weeks before the expected date of delivery. Starting from the 34th weeks, I can feel the heaviness which really affected my movement. My tummy just grow so much bigger than the weeks before. Before that, I can still move around comfortably. But now, I have to do things in a slow motion. I realised this when I started organizing my long-untouched stuff (or you can call it antics) last week. I could barely squat, bend down, sit on the floor or carry more weight. You can see me walking like a big elephant.

With all these, I give thanks to the Lord for I am assured that baby is growing well. Baby is giving me more “tidal waves” movement. He will turn my round tummy into odd shapes and make me figure out whether the little bump is his fist or elbow or foot or head. I love this game and hope baby will not stop playing with me.

I have started to pack and organize my bedroom/stuff to make ways for baby cot and closet. I bought two large 5-tiers plastic drawers and yet they are not enough for my antics and baby stuff. And I still can’t see an empty space to put the baby cot. Looks like baby’s gonna share the bed with mummy and daddy which is a no no for me. Some of the things have to move out from the room which gives me the headache to think of where to place them.

I managed to shop for my post-natal and baby’s stuff during the Merdeka Sales. My sisters passed down some old baby stuff and clothes. I already got them washed and ready for our baby. Went together with mom to get some herbs for confinement too. Got some tips from sis on what to bring along to the hospital for myself and baby. These are the most I can do right now while waiting for baby’s arrival. There are few more things to be ready but mom is having this beliefs that “not to do it yet until baby is delivered”.

Blameless

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the gem of their eyes. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open. He was late for office so he asked his wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. His wife, preoccupied in the kitchentotally forgot the matter.

The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the bottle fascinated by its color and drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages. When the child collapsed the mother hurried him to the hospital. He died. The mother was stunned. She was terrified how she was going to face her husband.

When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just five words.

The husband just said “I am with you Darling“.

The husband’s totally unexpected reaction is a proactive behavior. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he had taken time to keep the bottle away, this would not have happened.

No one is to be blamed. She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her. If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be much fewer problems in the world. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears. And you will find things are actually not as difficult as you think.

Sometimes we spend time in asking who is responsible or whom to blame, whether in a relationship, in a job or with the people we know. By this way we miss out some warmth in human relationship.

30th Weeks…

Praise the Lord!

By God’s grace and mercy, He has blessed Darling and I this little being that has been growing in me 7 months ago. We went through a tough time last year and through that, God had taught us to be more faithful to Him.

Darling has been extra supportive, loving and caring during my pregnancy. He is already a supportive, loving and caring husband and now adding the extras. So you can imagine how much he sacrifices for me and baby emotionally, physically and financially.

God is really good to me. Besides the backache, heartburn and indigestion, Darling and I don’t have to go through the nightmare of morning sickness. Zero MC so far which makes me a proud employee. 🙂 I had loss of appetite initially but my appetite came back in the 4th month of pregnancy which resulted in weight gain after that. My gynae always say, “Watch out your weight!”. Oh my, what can I do? The food is so tempting. 😀

Month by month, we sees how the baby has grown. My stomach is getting bigger, belly button has pop up, I am much heavier each weeks and my movement is getting slower. And of course baby is growing well in the “comfort zone”. I can feel baby’s movement more intense each day. It has been a good progress so far. We continue to pray that our gracious God will see us through this pregnancy until we meet our baby eye-to-eye.

SAHM

It has always been my dream/ambition to be a SAHM and I have confidence that I won’t turn back to the marketplace until my children is old enough to take care of themselves. Darling is quite supportive about me being a SAHM to take care of the children and household but he is also quite worried that I will like a “ah sam” or bored. He allows me to be a SAHM provided that I must have a group of friends to socialise with and involve in meaningful activities (not just shopping and gossiping of course) such as handicraft, cooking, church, etc.

Recently people has been debating about SAHM, PTWM or FTWM. Each have their own reasons. And recently, Darling was promoted to a managerial position and has extra responsibilities. Worse still, he has to clean up his ex-colleagues “rubbish” which puts more pressure to his work. Yesterday he told me that he wanted to let go and go back to programming.

What he had shared with me makes me reevaluate my dream/ambition to be a SAHM. He too has an ambition to having his own business or work from home. It is not fair for him being alone fighting in the war for the family. If I were a SAHM, it is not enough by just giving him the emotional and mental support when he feels down at work. If I can contribute to part of the household income, then he don’t have to climb the career ladder just for the sake of the family’s financial. Even if both of us are working, I believe that by God’s grace, both of us can still nuture our children to walk in the ways of God. Things will be perfect as long as we are one in the bond of love and faithful to Him.

Let the Lord guide and give us the wisdom to make the wise choice.

Being an “Educated” Homemaker

Ever since I was matured enough to think about my future, my ambition/dream is to be a Homemaker.  Most, in fact all who heard about my ambition were suprised. Some think that it is not an ambition. Some think that I will not last long as a homemaker. Some think that it is a waste of education. I still remember asking my mom if she would be disappointed for spending money in my education until Degree and yet I ended to be a homemaker.  To her, she has fulfilled her responsibility in providing us education up to tertiary. All she hopes to see after that is her children lived well and have sufficient income to support ourselves and family.

I’ve been asked by numerous people why I pursue my tertiary education if my ambition is to be a housewife. In fact, I am now a Masters Degree holder. The reason I pursue higher education is to be competitive and for the security of my future. When you are educated, it doesn’t mean you need to be in the marketplace and practice what you have learned. Education is not just for job security in the marketplace. And obviously your husband does not want an uneducated wife for his children.

Our Birthdays in 2006

Our birthday is an additional celebration which Darling and I make it an effort to spend time together. It can be a holiday, a simple or sumptious dinner, or just a blow of cake. Most of the time, we would take a holiday break, be it a budgeted holiday or an annual breakaway.

This year, felt guilty for not able to celebrate Darling’s birthday to the fullest.  I joined F&N last year thus was still under probation so were unable to take vacation leave.  So, had to celebrate his birthday at home.  He didn’t seems to grumble of course because he had no choice I bought him his favourite Blueberry Cheese Cake. :P He wanted Durian Cake but it was not durian season.  We didn’t want to end up like the durian cendol we had in Kopitiam!

A birthday cake that’s all? Of course not. I made him a birthday card and attached a bookmark. Initially, it’s gonna be card-without-words (hoping Darling can read my love to him which are in my mind :P) but haha…luckily I saw Kharsyn had this cute rubber stamps from McDonalds. So I stamped the whole card with it.  I was thinking to myself: Darling better not get dissapointed, or else….he make his own card. 😛

How about mine? Of course mine would be a good one. 😛 Was confirmed in F&N in March so I took two days leave. We went to Penang for a 2 days holiday. (Thanks to Chyi for her warm hosting) Why Penang? Well, Darling have not really toured around Penang. The last time was there for 2004 Christmas and we experienced the Tsunami quake. We visited the Butterfly Farm, Spice Garden and Bukit Jambul Orchid, Hibiscus and Reptile Garden.

Learn to let go…

This story was taken from a forwarded email.

Jenny was a bright-eyed, pretty five-year-old girl. One day when she and her mother were checking out at the grocery  store,  Jenny saw a plastic pearl necklace priced at $2.50.

How she wanted that necklace and when she asked her mother if she would buy it for her, her mother said, “Well, it is a pretty necklace, but it costs an  awful lot of money. I’ll tell you what. I’ll buy you the necklace and when we get home we can make up a list of chores that you can do to pay for  the necklace. And don’t forget that for your birthday Grandma just might give you a whole dollar bill, too.”

Okay?” Jenny agreed, and her mother bought the pearl necklace for her.

Jenny worked on her chores very hard everyday, and sure enough, her Grandma gave her a brand new dollar bill for her birthday. Soon Jenny had paid off the pearls.

How Jenny loved those pearls. She wore them everywhere – to kindergarten, bed, and when she went out with her mother to run errands.

The only time she didn’t wear them was in the shower – her mother had told her that they would turn her neck green.

Now Jenny had a very loving daddy. When Jenny went to bed, he would get up from his favorite chair every night and read Jenny her favorite story.

One night when he finished the story, he said, “Jenny, do you love me?”
“Oh Yes, Daddy, you know I love you,” the little girl said. “Well, then, give me your pearls.”
“Oh daddy, not my pearls!” Jenny said! . “But you can have Rosie, my favorite doll. Remember her? You gave her to me last year for my birthday. And you can have her tea party outfit, too. Okay?”
“Oh No, darling, that’s okay.” Her father brushed her cheek with a kiss. “Good night, little one.”

A week later, her father once again asked Jenny after her story, “Do you love me?”
“Oh yes, Daddy, you know I love you.” “Well, then, give me your pearls.”
“Oh, Daddy, not my pearls! But you can have Ribbons, my toy horse. Do you remember her? She’s my favorite. Her hair is so soft, and you can play with it and braid it and everything. You can have Ribbons if you want her, Daddy,” the little girl said to her father.
“No, that’s okay,” her father said and brushed her cheek again with a kiss, “God bless you, little one. Sweet dreams.”
Several days later, when Jenny’s father came in to read her a story, Jenny was sitting on her bed and her lip was trembling.
“Here, Daddy,” she said, and held out her hand. She opened it and her beloved pearl necklace was inside. She let it slip into her father’s hand.

With one hand her father held the plastic pearls and with the other he pulled out of his pocket a blue velvet box. Inside of the box were real, genuine, beautiful pearls. He had them all along.He was waiting for Jenny to give up the cheap stuff so he could give her the real thing.

So it is with our Heavenly Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasure.

Isn’t God good?

Are you holding onto things God wants you to let go of? Are you holding onto harmful or unnecessary partners, relationships, habits and activities you have become so attached to that it seems impossible to let go? Sometimes it is so hard to see what is in the other hand but do believe  this one thing……………..

God will never take away something without giving you something better in its place.

Rice – Is it meant to be consumed by us?

Please take note that this piece of information was obtained from a forwarded email. Readers discretion required.

The human body was never meant to consume rice! You see, our genes have hardly changed in more than 30,000 years. However, our food choices and lifestyle have changed dramatically. The caveman would hardly recognize our food or way of life.

Caveman food was never cooked as fire was not yet tamed. Thus, he ate only those foods that you can eat without treatment with or by fire. He ate fruits, vegetables, fish (sushi anyone?), eggs, nuts and meat. Yes, even meat. You can even eat meat raw if you were starving in the forest. You have the necessary enzymes to digest meat.

However, rice, like wheat and corn, cannot be eaten raw. It must be cooked. Even if you were starving in the desert, you cannot eat rice in the raw form. This is because we do not have the system of enzymes to break rice down. You were never meant to eat rice. To make matters worse, you not only eat rice, but also make it the bulk of your food.

In some parts of Asia, rice forms up to 85% of the plate. Even if you take rice, keep it to a minimum. Remember, it is only for your tongue – not your body. Actually, rice and other grains like wheat and corn are actually worse than sugar. There are many reasons:

• Rice becomes sugar – Lots of it.
  This is a fact that no nutritionist can deny: rice is chemically no different from sugar. One bowl of cooked rice is the caloric equal of 10 teaspoons of sugar. This does not matter whether it is white, brown or herbal rice. Brown rice is richer in fibre, some B vitamins and minerals but it is still the caloric equal of 10 teaspoons of sugar. To get the same 10 teaspoons of sugar, you need to consume lots of kangkong (= some watercress)- 10 bowls of it.
• Rice is digested to become sugar.
  Rice cannot be digested before it is thoroughly cooked. However, when thoroughly cooked, it becomes sugar and spikes circulating blood sugar within half an hour – almost as quickly as it would if you took a sugar candy. Rice is very low in the “rainbow of anti-oxidants”.
  This complete anti-oxidant rainbow is necessary for the effective and safe utilisation of sugar. Fruits come with a sugar called fructose. However, they are not empty calories as the fruit is packed with a whole host of other nutrients that help its proper assimilation and digestion.
• Rice has no fibre.
  The fibre of the kangkong fills you up long before your blood sugar spikes. This is because the fibre bulks and fills up your stomach. Since white rice has no fibre, you end up eating lots of “calorie dense” food before you get filled up. Brown rice has more fibre but still the same amount of sugar.
• Rice is tasteless – Sugar is sweet.
  There is only so much that you can eat at one sitting. How many teaspoons of sugar can you eat before you feel like throwing up? Could you imagine eating 10 teaspoons of sugar in one seating?

Rice is always the main part of the meal – While sugar may fill your dessert or sweeten your coffee, it will never be the main part of any meal. You could eat maybe two to three teaspoons of sugar at one meal. However, you could easily eat the equal value of two to three bowls (20 – 30 teaspoons) of sugar in one meal.

I am always amused when I see someone eat sometimes five bowls of rice (equals 50 teaspoons of sugar) and then asks for tea with less sugar.

There is no real “built in” mechanism for us to prevent overeating of rice. How much kangkong can you eat? How much fried chicken can you eat? How much steamed fish can you eat? Think about that! In one seating, you cannot take lots of chicken, fish or cucumber, but you can take lots of rice. Eating rice causes you to eat more salt.

As rice is tasteless, you tend to consume more salt – another villain when it comes to high blood pressure. You tend to take more curry that has salt to help flavor rice. We also tend to consume more tomato ketchup and soy sauce which are also rich in salt.

Eating rice causes you to drink less water. The more rice you eat, the less water you will drink as there is no mechanism to prevent the overeating of rice. Rice, wheat and corn come hidden in our daily food. As rice is tasteless, it tends to end up in other foods that substitute rice like rice flour, noodles and bread. We tend to eat the hidden forms which still get digested into sugar. Rice, even when cooked, is difficult to digest.

Can’t eat raw rice? Try eating rice half cooked. Contrary to popular belief, rice is very difficult to digest. It is “heavy stuff”. If you have problems with digestion, try skipping rice for a few days. You will be amazed at how the problem will just go away.

Rice prevents the absorption of several vitamins and minerals. Rice when taken in bulk will reduce the absorption of vital nutrients like zinc, iron and the B vitamins.

Are you a rice addict? Going rice-less may not be easy but you can go rice-less. Eating less rice could be lot easier than you think. Here are some strategies that you can pursue in your quest to eat less rice:

• Eat less rice – Cut your rice by half. Barry Sears, author of the Zone Diet, advises “eating rice like spice”.
• Instead, increase your fruits and vegetables.
• Take more lean meats and fish.
• You can even take more eggs and nuts.
• Have “riceless” meals. Take no rice or wheat at say, breakfast. Go for eggs instead.
• Go on “riceless” days – Go “western” once a week.
• Take no rice and breads for one day every week. That can’t be too difficult. Appreciate the richness of your food. Go for taste, colors and smells. Make eating a culinary delight. Enjoy your food in the original flavors.
• Avoid the salt shaker or ketchup. You will automatically eat less rice.
• Eat your fruit dessert before (Yes! No printing error) your meals.
• The fibre rich fruits will “bulk up” in your stomach. Thus, you will eat less rice and more fruits.

Please take note that this piece of information was obtained from a forwarded email. Readers discretion required.