Furball

Today, Baby is in his 14th week. According to Baby Center, "Your baby is no longer a baldy! He's sprouting his first locks." Wow! Isn't it amazing that something so small can have hair? Only just 4 inches and already growing hair. Soon he'll be shaving!


Aside from the growing locks, Baby's also covered with lanugo, which is some fine body hair, which thankfully, usually disappears later in the pregnancy. Baby's practically a furball right about now... just like mommy. Hahahahah!! Mae's got all these simian-like traits; She's furry, she grunts, and she loves bananas. It's like evolution skipped a step when it came to her. Hahahaha!


I'm kidding, of course. I have a beautiful wife. She, on the other hand is not so lucky. :)

New Look

I thought about doing this for awhile now. But since I hardly have time to do anything, this took ages to happen. Over the last few days I have been designing and coding like a man possessed. At work. During working hours when I really should be working. Hehhheh... The plus side is; it does look like I'm hard at work at my desk. So, here it is, the new look. Say you like it. :)


Too bad these guys went and beat me to it! And theirs look better than mine. Hmph.

Missing In Action

On Saturday, I was whisked off to Seremban on a pow wow session. While spouses were invited, Mae decided to give this one a pass on account of her perpetual morning sickness. So, early Saturday I dropped her off at her mom's and I took off to Allson Klana in the company of 2 ladies (ahem). Okay, okay, so it's not nearly as dubious as I make it sound since another guy was in the car as well and it was a church thing! :)


Anyway, I felt quite miserable that I had to be away from Mae since she was quite pregnant! And I realised that this was the first time I had left her side since discovering Baby's existence. It was only a one-nighter but I couldn't help feeling that I'm somehow running away from my responsibilities. Like one of those "Wham-Bam thank you Maam!" cases. By the time I got back on Sunday just before noon, I had begun missing her quite a bit. And so, for the rest of that Sunday, I tell her over and over how much I missed her.


Today as we were lying in bed talking she attempts to trap me, in typical-Mae fashion, with a trick question, "How come you don't miss me anymore?" Never to back away from a trap, I answer in the only way I know how:


"Honey, how can I miss you if you won't go away?"

Kiddy De-programming!

do you feel lucky, punk?


I hate Barney!!! Just the mere look of him is enough to drive me into a murderous frenzy. What an insufferable wuss!


Whatever happened to Sesame Street? Whatever happened to Big Bird and gang? Whatever became of Fat Albert? And the Muppets. Are they suddenly passe now, after years of shaping and molding the youths of yesteryear? These were the epitome of children programmes. They were wholesome and entertaining. And educational to boot. Instead, today kids want Barney. Barney is such a pedophile. I would never my kid anywhere near Barney. He's such an annoying puke! Everytime I hear Barney break into into song, "I love you... you love me... we are happy family..." I just wanna scream!!


But all is not lost. There are still some good kiddy TV around. Like Nickelodian! Good stuff. And then there's my favourite, Bob The Builder! Now that's a good role model for kid all around the world. "Bob the Builder... can we fix it... Bob the Builder... yes, we can...". See? Bob's can-do attitude is what we need for our kids! And since Bob's a construction professional, you can bet he's a tough guy. Not like that Barney. In fact, I bet Bob the Builder can cream Barney's ass any day!


When Baby grows up, he'll be watching Bob the Builder and loving it too! There will be no Barney in our household. And no Tellytubbies either. If I had a sniper rifle, I'd be up on the roof pickin' off Teletubbies one at a time! "Tinky Wink, tough guy eh? Blamm!! Dipsy You're time's up, sonny. Ker-pow! Po, you think you're soooo cute, duncha? Bang!!! Laa-laa, go ahead. Make my day!Ker-boooom!!!!"


I should be in programming.

Is It Mental?

This is just gonna come off sounding insensitive, but it's something that needs to be said. I have this great big suspicion that a pregnant woman's symptoms are largely a mental thing.


Mae was pregnant for some weeks before we discovered she was preggers. Her monthly "affair" was a little erratic but other than that, she felt practically nothing. No headaches. No vomiting. Nothing. Anyway, she decides to visit a gynecologist to see what was wrong. Doc confirms the fact and suddenly all hell breaks loose!!! The very next moment, she started feeling queasy, she wanted to hurl and all that!


Turns out, Mae wasn't the only one who had it like that. A close friend experienced the same thing. She was feeling top of the world until her Clearblue showed positive! Immediately after, the morning sickness set it. Similarly, one of Mae best buddies, Soopy had pretty much the same thing. The thing is, when she entered her 2nd trimester, the symptoms went away as mysteriously as it had appeared. Apparently, she wakes up on the first day of her 2nd trimester and decides that it was gonna be okay! And she was.


So I decide to try out my theory. Mae's 2nd trimester was scheduled on 15th Feb. But I figured, since Valentine's Day was on the 14th, perhaps I'd just tell her that 2nd trimester starts on V-Day and she'll be feeling perfect. If I could cheat one day from her, perhaps she can enjoy V-day. Yes, it was audacious, but then Mae is this blurry girl when it comes to dates and calculations so what the heck!! Hehhehheh!!


Tragically, it didn't work. So there goes another wonderful theory (I have lots of these!) down the drain. I wonder if any husband out there ever tried this, or is it just me and my harebrained schemes?

Second Trimester Begins!

Today marks Mae's 2nd Trimester. Yup, we've been pregnant for 3 months now! According to everyone, the 2nd Trimester is the best. No more pukings, no more nausea, no terrible mood swings. Well, Mae did have a small episode of nausea this morning but I remain enthusiastic!


Yesterday was a weird Valentine's day. This time around, Valentine was a little watered-down. There are just so many things happening in our live right now that we decided to perhaps tone it down a couple of notches - just to ease the pressure off the two of us. Still, strangely enough, I thought we had a fabulous V-day this year. First of all, it was refreshing for us to get up early (11am on Saturday is early, no matter which planet you come from) and dress up to go out. We have been staying home so much these days!


Anyway, we had a Valentine lunch instead of dinner cos Mae might not be up to it by night with her morning (more like all-day) sickness and all. After that we were out pretty much the entire day. We ended up buying one gift for the both of us (it's a cop-out, I know). So, lo and behold, a spanking new 29-inch TV sits in our living room even as I write this blog. Fantastic! Next up we watched a DVD on our new TV. Finally we decided to just goof-off in the comfort of our bed eating chocolate cake and drinking (gasp!) sparkling juice!!! Hahahah! She still very pregnant and besides, I didn't wanna get my kid started off on alcohol too early.


I thought it was a nice Valentine - but that's probably because there was no pressure and I got me a big screen TV. Deep down inside, I think Mae's probably just letting me off easy this time.


I sense trouble looming on the horizon. The voice in my head says, "Buck up, boy!" I need to obey.

Baby's Eighty-Three!

almost as big as daddy


Today, we got a second look at Baby, and *fuuhh*, how's he's grown!! Baby is 83 days old today and as the ultrasound shows, is shaping up nicely. He's about 52 mm long and his head is approximately 20 mm wide! He was so tiny just a month back. Praise God!


Baby is that white little-guy lying at the bottom of that black oval-shaped thingy. His head is on the right and at the other end is the butt, of course That white horizontal line at the bottom of Baby is his left arm. And that white speck above baby seems to be Baby giving us the thumbs-up... or the finger, we'll never really know! Hahhah!


You would notice that I no longer refer to baby as a she cos Doc suspects it's a boy. We can't really tell for sure but we're seeing this prominent appendage between the legs which could be Baby's little birdie or it might just be the umbilical cord. Doc says we'll need to wait a couple more weeks when we can see the full set of genitals. Doc thinks we've got a pistol there, but until we see the bullets it's still really anybody's guess!


If Baby turns out to be a boy, he'll be an heir to my throne - as my brother Jeff says. Unfortunately for Baby, the only throne I have is white, made of porcelain, and manufactured by the good people at GBH! Heh! Poor kid!

Yikes! It's Valentine's Again

I'm not a romantic person. It's not in my genetic make-up. Which is strange, since I do consider some of my siblings romantic. Heck, even my dad's a romantic! But tragically, I never inherited his smoothness. Instead, I got his high blood pressure. HAhahhah!! That's another story altogether!


I have this thing about Valentine's, birthdays and anniversary. I can hardly remember them. Or remember to do anything about them. We're two days away from V-day and the urgency of that does not seem to have set in just yet. Besides, Mae's not up to any dinner this year what with the puking and nausea and all!


But unlike other guys, I don't suffer too much for not making a fuss about V-day. Two years ago, just a couple of hours before picking her up for dinner, I called her up to say I'll be a little late. I thought it would buy me some time to pop into 1 Utama to get her a quick gift. And so I did. And there in the middle of my frantic search for a V-day present, I bumped right into her in the midst of her frantic search for my present.


It was at that precise moment that I knew this was the girl for me.

The Adventures of Garlic Man & Other Stories

Hahh! It's late and my mind's all over the place, hence the title. Today a brand new revelation came upon me. I was driving Mae to Old Klang Road to show her how to get to this place she needs to go tomorrow, and then it happened. Out of the wild blue yonder she suddenly says, "Honey, I don't know why, but your body smells like garlic..."


How on earth do you respond to something like that, for goodness sake?! So I went, "No waaaay!!!" and started sniffing myself all over. Nothing!!! HAhahah!!! I know I'm not a sweet-smelling guy, but surely I didn't smell like garlic. But with her acute Daredevil-like sense of smell, anything's possible. So what can I do? Keep my distance till I've had a chance to take a shower. Guess what... I STILL smell like garlic. Hahahah. I can't wait till 2nd trimester! Sigh...


In other news, just a couple of hours ago a name came into my mind and refuses to leave. Bee Jeng. I feel like I know someone by that name and yet I'm not sure if I do. So there I am going, "Bee Jeng... Bee Jeng..." all night trying to figure who the heck this Bee Jeng is and it's just driving Mae crazy. Weird.


note: Last para removed out of respect. Thanks to Natasha's suggestion to Google, I found out why the name is so familiar!

Lip Service

Every now and then, we learn a new thing about Mae's pregnancy. Today was of those days. Today being a day off, we decided that we'd run some errands, do some banking and paying of bills and such.So, there we were readying ourselves when Mae decided that today she must look good. Never mind that we were just going to the bank. And never mind that she'd probably just stay in the car anyway, she decided that she must look her best anyhow.


So she yells out to me from the bedroom and declared that she would put on some lipstick since she looked pale. To which I answered, "You look fine!". She replies, "But you always said my lips are pale." I never say that. Not aloud, anyway! So I tell her that I've always thought she looked nice. And that she had nice lips. And that I preferred her sans make-up.


I also rationalise to her that we're just running some errands. And that we're not really going anywhere. But as I have said before, when my wife goes into her throes of vanity, there's just no talking to her! So like a woman possessed, she ignores me completely and announces that she would put Cyber Pink today. And she does.


And then the funniest thing happened! She started frantically spitting and spewing and wiping Cyber Pink off her lips. I was worried at first but then I realised she was OK. Apparently due to her pregnancy, the smell of Cyber Pink was now unbearable!! And so I did what any man would in instances such as these. I laughed. Out loud. Thankfully, our relationship is built on fun and laughter. And some say, insanity.


An advice to guys: Don't try this at home. Most pregnant women will resort to murder at the slightest provocation.

Just Buy It!

steps towards parenthood


Baby's approximately 75 days old. By now, she'd have fingernails and toenails! Imagine that!! All this on a fetus the size of a lipstick!! Another milestone is that Baby would have started kicking and screaming moving a little bit but Mae's not gonna feel anything since Baby's still very tiny. Also, we'll be getting some swallowing action right about now.


In the next couple of weeks, Baby's expected to double in size. By then, Mae's tummy gonna start showing and we're gonna have to get her a new wardrobe. In a rare moment of leisurely activity, we actually made it to Jusco over the weekend. We had gone to get a pair of flat-soled slippers since comfort will be the top priority for the coming months. So there we were walking around this spanking new Jusco in Kepong, when we came to Mothercare- a fairly uppity maternal-fashion boutique. We go in and Mae felt weird since she didn't quite look pregnant yet. And so we left empty handed! Besides, the footwear there wasn't much to shout about.


Anyway, we ended up in Hush Puppies instead. She picks out these really nice red slippers/sandals. I pointed out to Mae that they weren't exactly flats but there's no talking to that woman when she's in throes of vanity! I gotta admit that I thought they were nice too but I worried that the one-and-a-half inch heels might be bad for her back. She insists that they're very comfortable and perfectly safe.


I didn't buy the story. I bought the sandals. I thought (quietly, to myself) they were a little pricey but at this stage, who cares what I think. I'm not the one who has to carry a baby for nine months! :)

Goodbye Social Life

Since finding out about Baby, our social life has been reduced drastically. We haven't been going out together much. At the very most, it's a trip to church and the occasional visits to my in-laws. No window-shopping. No mamaks. No visiting friends. No spontaneous trips to Petaling Street. And no movies.


Can't be helped, really. Mae is suffering from everything a woman should in her first trimester. She tires easily. She needs sleep so badly she practically hibernates! And then there's the nausea. And with that we have the wonderful world of morning sickness! Morning sickness is a misnomer, really, since most pregnant women feel sick all day long. In Mae's case, she's pretty fortunate that there IS a time in the day when she actually feels normal. Ironically, its in the mornings. Go figure!


At this stage I miss going to the movies so much I actually feel pity for myself. The thing is, by the time Baby arrives, we're never gonna get an opportunity to go watch a movie at the cinemas. That is, unless we become one of those annoying couples who insist on bringing their crying infants into the auditorium. I hope I never, ever lose my mind and decide to bring Baby into the cinema since I have always felt that parents who do that ought to be neutered!


Anyway, Mae's second trimester starts in a couple of weeks. It's supposed to be a whole lot easier on her. On her part, she's taken pity on her poor, pathetic husband and has agreed to go watch a movie when the symptoms stop. Yay!!! I guess if we don't go soon, we'll never get to go till Baby is ten or so! On the other hand, I'm banking on Baby to entertain us so much that we don't need the movies. Otherwise, we'll have to drug her whenever we wanna go out!! Hahahaha!!!! :P