My Loo Is Like An Igloo

The heating system in our house went bust the past 48 hours.

At first I thought it was something to do with the gas, so I called the gas man over and he said the gas is working fine so it must be the boiler.

Then I informed the landlord about the boiler and he came over to have a look. He did some fiddling but couldn’t rectify the problem so he decided to call a plumber.

So tomorrow the plumber’s coming to sort out the problem.

I really hope we get our heating back tomorrow. I feel miserable being in a cold house. My brain’s at freezing point and my fingers are falling off as I’m typing this.

Hubby made a funny remark earlier,  ‘It’s no joke sitting on a cold loo!’

Sigh, I really wish I was back in Malaysia where it’s warm and sunny!

And btw,we built this igloo for Aidan weeks back when we had so much snow in our garden

Care To Shed Some Light ?

I am in my S.O.S  mood.

We will be heading home next week and does anyone out there know where I can get cheap, affordable readymade baju kurung ? So far nothing in my wardrobe fits! Mom also mentioned she bought Aidan his first baju melayu and I hope it fits him like a glove, if not – where can I get a decent baju melayu for a 4/5 month old ?

Despite getting all excited about our trip home, I am very nervous about the very long  journey. My biggest worry is his frantic screaming and I am all for sedating the little rascal on the flight if he gets a little out of hand but the daddy has strongly opposed the idea. So looks like I will have to pack his favourite blankie, toy and pillow along to recreate his bedroom scene in that tiny little bassinet, I hope it works. And that’s not counting the pre-sterilized disposable bottles and bibs, nappies, jammies etc that I have to lug too. Oh dear, oh dear – Wish me luck ! Any tips ?

I won’t be having much of a raya celebration this weekend as hubby will be oncall on Friday and Sunday eventhough we have been invited to a few houses. I’ll see how it goes. There’s so much to settle – we called the gardener over yesterday to mow the lawn which was looking rather desperate and Aidan also just had his 4 month vaccination and has been feeling rather contrary. He woke up twice in the middle of the night with a burning head. For the past 2 months, he has been sleeping alone through the night with no feeds, so last night was pretty alarming that he demanded a cuddle and that’s what he got, poor boy.

I am slowly organizing his Aqiqah from here – ordered little favours but I have yet to reconfirm with the people. I have warned mom to not bother about a decorated crib as the hefty boy is already rolling, topsy turvy! We have been joking about putting him in his bumbo seat but knowing him, he’ll be squirming to get out after 5 minutes. That’s why its best to have the Aqiqah when they’re 7 days old when all they do is sleep, hehe.

And…I haven’t come round to emailing you people about our open house! Now I wish I have Facebook, makes life easier. I hope to do so soon-ish (not Facebook)  so do check your email! If not, I have to rely on Momster for everyone’s number.  (How come I only have her number ?)

Some time this week I have to start packing our clothes, send the car for servicing, vaccinate Pepper ( I hope she doesn’t get a fever too) and prepare her food and lodging, clean the house as we’re expecting guests on Monday , iron hubby’s work clothes as he will be coming back to Eire earlier, juggle a very demanding 4 month old baby AND trying to read Dan Brown’s latest!  I know I can hire a babysitter as all of it can be done in a day or 2, but at the same time I know it’s feasible if planned accordingly. And then there’s raya too!

Okay, if you don’t hear from us – Selamat Hari Raya and Maaf Zahir Batin! Have a safe journey balik kampung .

Sorry no formal raya photo of the 3 of us on the sofa and I hope this will do- a pleasant walk in the park before heading off to a friend’s iftar last Saturday.

He kept looking away !

We wanted to take a photo of Aidan in his Harvard tee to give to my father but he was getting too distracted by the other tourists. I caught his Tok talking to him when he was just born  – ‘Nanti bile besar masuk Harvard macam Tok!’

You can be anything you want Aidan as long as you love Mommy! hehe.

Future Harvard Freshman ?

Lovely garden - I wish my lawn is as green as this

And finally now he decides to look at the camera!

ps: All this written in 15 minutes and me sounding like a choo choo train.

What I’ve Been Up To

The Cat and The Crab. Pepper was curious as we brought back live crabs.

I had such a long and tiring day today. Woke up early morning to send one of our cars for servicing then headed straight to the harbour to buy the usual salmon, ray, seabass, prawn, crab and scallops. We then spent the rest of day out and about having lunch and window shopping at one of the malls whilst waiting for the car to be ready. Came home feeling exhausted and whipped a quick and complete meal of Nasi Goreng for dinner.

Anyway, Aidan has been sleeping throughout the night for the past 2 weeks or so from 9-6 am. It’s been ages that I’ve been granted a 6 hour sleep without any interruption that it feels good waking-up feeling fresh and energetic. So no more midnite wake-ups for feed. Occasionally I do give him a dream feed if I feel he has not met his required calories for the day. At times he does whinge a little around 4 am but self-soothes himself back to sleep. So overall he’s becoming more of an angel at night but during the day he’s still Mr Cranky. I guess you can never win with Aidan – he is such a character.

We also bought a really reliable baby monitor and with it, we feel confident leaving him alone to sleep in his own room. That monitor was such a good investment- very sturdy and robust. Has built in lullabies, nightlight, nursery temperature etc. Most importantly the sound quality is crystal clear that you can hear every single whimper. I feel much more at ease too.

With my energy back, I also spent a good 4 days decluttering the house as it was getting a little too crowded since the baby came along. Started with the bedrooms then the kitchen, lounge and store room. The wardrobe was bursting with clothes I couldn’t wear so I packed them and shipped them home to Malaysia along with books, dvds, boardgames, old consoles  creating more space in the house. Some clothes and bric a brac were also donated to the local charity.

As the house now is much more organized, I feel happy to spend more time in the kitchen – hence more good and healthy meals for us. I am very much a rice person so I doubt I ‘ll ever be a size 6/8 again..haha. That is why I was so confident in shipping all my old clothes home.

Till next time, have a nice weekend!

Heatwave

Love the smell of sun dried laundry

Last week’s 5 day heatwave was certainly unusual for the month of June with temperatures soaring into the mid 20s.

But this week we are back to experiencing the typically insane Irish weather that I have given up drying my clothes out in the garden as one minute it could be all sunny and bright and the next minute, it’s all gloomy with drizzling rain.

Once again I began comparing photos in my album and you  could clearly see how the warm sunny weather brought most people out of their homes.

Sizzling June 2009

The weather makes such a big difference to a scene.

The exact same spot. Bitter cold and wintry December

Anyway, on a separate note, last week too I received the worst possible news one could ever ask for. It was devastating to hear that one of my work colleagues whom I used to have daily lunches with at the hospital was one of the unfortunate passengers on that ill-fated flight 447 enroute to Paris. While last week’s sunshine may be an uplift in someone’s spirit, hearing news like this would definitely set you down in the lowest of moods. I kept thinking of her fate everytime I wake up in the middle of the night.

My heart goes to her family, I cannot imagine what they are going through now. May you rest in peace.

Feeling Blue

A 'pear' a day keeps the doctor away. I prefer pears to apples

I didn’t celebrate the New year in style but instead I spent the day with a bunch of sick kids.

And as a result of working too hard over Christmas and New Year, I am now down with a very bad bout of flu.

For the past few days I have been feeling awful with painful body aches, an irritating scratchy throat and the sniffles.

So until I’m feeling better, you won’t be hearing from me.

I think it’s time I listen to my body, I am definitely no superwoman after all.

Our Christmas Nightmare

Despite getting a bunch load of presents from friends and colleagues, my favourite were these personalized cookies!

It has been a rough week for me at work despite it being the holiday season.

Being the only one on the Paediatric team who does not celebrate Xmas, I volunteered to do the call thinking the day would be smooth sailing with no mishaps. I was adamant that no parent would bring their child to the hospital on that very day!

But I was wrong, I worked non-stop for 27 hours from 9am Xmas Day to 12pm the next day with only one hour of sleep. Believe it or not, I saw a total of 40 patients with 9 admissions onto the ward. This was a record for me!

Despite the tiredness (and being pregnant) , my heart went to this mom who was completely distraught. Her 2 year old daughter was really ill and had to be transfered to another hospital the next day. I was up all night with this child and consoling both parents and at the same time, seeing other patients who were coming in by the bus load throughout the day!

Hubby who was oncall in another hospital faced a similar situation, he too had very a busy night attending to 2 very sick patients in ICU. He didn’t manage to catch any sleep too!

Our big plans to go shopping on St Stephen’s Day/Boxing Day had to be scrapped obviously. We both slept right after arriving home that midday the 26th of December, no major handbag sale could bring me out of bed even if Louis Vuitton or Chanel decided to do it’s first ever sale!

Anyway, we completely recovered the next day and woke up really early to catch the sales. I am really happy with my buys which I believe were essentials That’s what I call major retail therapy!

Feeling 17 Again

Reason being ? I sat for my driving test for the second time in my life last week.

I knew I had to get it done sooner or later as the Irish Law is getting really strict about provisional and foreign licences.

So in preparation for the test, I took a lesson with a brilliant instructor who gave me plenty of tips in passing.

I was a nervous wreck an hour before the test as I knew the passing rate was really low at only 49% and it didn’t help that I also knew a lot of people who took the test 2-3 times.

People at work were constantly giving me encouraging messages up till the very last minute. Luckily the 40 euro lesson and prayers from friends paid off as miraculously, I passed!

So I now proudly hold a Full Irish Driving License and somehow I feel like it’s my biggest accomplishment so far.

( If only you knew how many minor accidents I’ve been through with my mom’s car ! )

My trustable car which I drove for the driving test

A Really Quick Update!

November flew by quickly and my last post was 3 weeks ago. A lot has happened since and my life now is slowly coming back to normal. I had a gruelling 2 day course last week (which is a must for Paediatric Trainees) and my last minute work paid off in the end. I passed, yea! I-am-just-glad-its-over!

The weather ? Oh, I absolutely hate the freezing cold weather. It annoys me that I have to start my journey 20 minutes early to warm up my icy car as I could really do with the extra time in bed. And it’s depressing enough that I don’t get to see any daylight on weekdays!

On the brighter side of things, the pregnancy is going well and we now know the sex of the baby. The 2 scans have been showing the same outcome but I’ll wait till I get my 4D scan at 30++ weeks to be 100% sure. Can you guess? Heheh….We’ll leave it as a surprise.

After months and months of anticipation, our house back home is finally ready and complete. I have so many plans for the house but all has to be put on hold for the moment with us being here. To be honest, I have no idea how the house looks like now. My family organized a ‘kenduri doa selamat’ a few weeks ago and I am glad that’s out of the way, so that is one less worry for me. We only have to organize a house warming party next ( whenever that may be! )

And finally, I’ll leave 2 recent photos of us taken over the weekend at a friend’s party. I used to put my photos under private posts but i guess there is no point in doing so if hardly anyone reads this blog.

The black turtleneck is really hiding the bump well

Bogged Down

It’s been a month since I last posted anything here. Initially it was just down to tiredness, then I was hit by the flu bug early october which meant no Eid celeb for me. I think I am slowly recovering but I don’t feel a 100% just yet…hmmm.

I promise to write more updates when I’m feeling better. I will also be taking a week of annual leave soon and that will give me plenty of time to recuperate. We haven’t really planned anything but I’m really hoping we can make a trip to Sheffield to meet up with my cousin …London sounds good too if that doesn’t happen. We’ll see.

And finally I’ll leave you a photo of 2 witches and a pumpkin from the ward..yes, Halloween is in 2 weeks!

Motivation, please!

I am having a super lazy Saturday afternoon as I am going to be super busy in the next 2 weeks! *sigh*

The other night, I was nearly punched in the face by a drunken 13 year old.

Security had to be called in as he became really violent and the nurses and I were no match in holding him down.

The next morning, he turned out be the sweetest boy ever! What???

(It’s true that alcohol brings out the dark side of people)

I wonder what’s in store next.

Sometimes you need just a little encouragement and motivation to keep you going!