Emotions and Feelings

I thank God and baby too that I personally feel I do not have too much of mood swings during my pregnancy (my hubby might beg to differ) but I generally do feel good.

I do get annoyed and break down in frustration sometimes but I do need to release the worries and tension inside of me.

To date, these feelings have plagued me on and off which I release to God to help take care for me:

1. Worry about baby in the womb
Due to early pregnancy bleeding and stress from wedding planning plus a last-minute trip to Europe, I couldn't do much but leave it to God. Thank God, He has always been faithful to help me pull through this largest worry.

2. Worry about getting a babysitter
I've only visited 2 potential babysitters which thank God, were introduced by friends - found one couple who seemed nice and not to calculative; hope all goes well and when the time comes to pass my baby to them, they will love my child too.

What helps me through times of worry? God's words from Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV):

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.


<sup>Annoyances
I get irritated when these happen and during these period, I feel no shyness in voicing my annoyances.

1. People complaining about things beyond their control - what I did was smile and try to walk away from the conversation
2. People giving unnecessary opinions - Just tried patiently to "listen" and hold my tongue especially when the people are "older people" which in our culture should be respected.
3. Work thrown to me because I was around during then even though I was not in charge and the new person-in-charge wasn't.
4. Colleague always switching off the air-con when a pregnant lady is usually very hot - I wear very thin top and avoid a squabble because that particular colleague will make it such a big deal by putting on a scarf around her neck. SIGHHHH... no respect.

and the list goes on....  God I pray for more patience.... and hope the annoyances-feelings will not be passed down to my child.</sup>
 
  

Virtual shopping spree

 I learned another way to shop virtually.

What some "mothers" did is to go to warehouse sales and take picture of the stuff there. They will post the pictures in the Facebook group you are in. If you are interested, you can send a private message to the mother and she will help you buy. It is good because good deals are usually on the first day of the warehouse sales which falls on the weekday (working day). Hence, full-time working mums (FTWM) will grab the opportunity to get help. Or if you have friends going and don't mind getting on your behalf if you roughly know what you want.

It's good that I have helpful friends and helpful "mothers" to help me buy stuff during warehouse sales. In fact, I'm quite amazed of the extend some "mothers" do. Some take orders and help to buy for the others on top of their own purchases. Some charge a percentage of fee or some just do it for free out of own good will. :)

If not, you have to take leave and queue as shown in the picture below which I found online for the recent Mattel warehouse sales.

2012 in a nutshell

2012 to me is..

1.  Marriage
2.  Family
3. "2 become 1" ... lol
4.  "2 become 3.."

A very momentous year with so many eventful occasion which will impact my life and my husband's life forever.

I thank God  for all the wonderful blessings and pray that He will guide us in our new chapter in life together as husband-wife, son-daughter and now father-mother. :)

Baby kicks

In week 18: I haven't really feel the kicks but more like the baby's movements.

I tried recalling the comments other mothers say about feeling their baby movements.
"Bubbles".
"Flutters in the stomach"

After these few weeks (months), I only can describe my baby's kicks as "nudges in my tummy". Perhaps he is more subtle and not so active yet. :)

In week 28: My baby kicks whenever I sit or sleep in a position he doesn't feel comfortable in.

I will tell him "Sorry" and try to find a position where he doesn't kick.
However, when I play music to him - he also kicks at specific songs. I wonder it shows his dislike or like? Lol (Blur mummy here)

I was talking to another mummy whose pregnancy is about the same time as mine except hers is a girl. She tells me she talks to her daughter since the very beginning.

She can even ask her daughter, "Where is your legs?"
Then her daughter will kick in her tummy... That is so cute!!!

So far, I've only press gently into my tummy and count according to the number of times I press in. Sometimes when he is active, he will react back by kicking the same frequency. :)

Whatever it is, I guess this bonding time is precious because it's only a time where the mummy really connects personally to her child. He or she lives inside the safe confines of the mother's womb and hears her soothing voice daily. I thank God for this precious cargo and experience which I hope I will remember for the rest of my life.

There he goes giving me a nudge which makes my tummy wobbles! ;)

Happy pregnancy to all mummies out there! :)

Bridezilla?

Thank God... I hope I will not reach to that stage but it's just one month away to my wedding dinner and I still have items on the "to-do-list" due to the Mr not confirming some stuff.. Sigh

Hence, yes, we argued and stressed each other out. We shout, we cried, we even hated each other to one extend.

Why does wedding do these to happy couples?

In fact, I have several infuriating scenarios to share with about my experience with wedding vendors. But I'll keep the venting session until after my wedding. Don't want to spoil the mood.

Anyhow, as the days approach, I'm not that apprehensive because we have done our ROM. I just hope food will be served on time and I can fit my gowns nicely! Lol

In the meantime, I pray to God for more patience and endurance during this trials of a one day event which sometimes spoil the beginning of a new life if not handle delicately...

Wedding Dinner planning

I think I should share my experience. Thank God we found a place on the same day we started looking.

Basically, my hubby is not the "window shopping" type while I am. So lucky him I've done most of my research online and off-hand have a few option of wedding dinner venues in my mind.

Hence after buying wedding bands, during CNY week, after discussing with my mother-in-law, he finally agreed and said "Ok, we can go and look for wedding venue." (more like in an exasperated tone and just decided to go with it... rolling eyes). Armed with a list of few dozen potential wedding dinner dates (on weekends and avoiding the inauspicious Chinese "ghost" month), we went down to PJ to try out.

Option 1: Imperial Garden Restaurant, Intan Square PJ.

I chose this option because of the following reasons:
a) Location is in between the groom and bride's location; just off Federal Highway
b) Open carpark or elevated carpark - easy parking
c) Menu was within reasonable range with suckling pork available below RM1k per table
d) Venue looks interesting and nice with no pillars blocking the view towards the screen

Plus after googling, found reviews with pictures showing me the place of the wedding i.e. CH & Luna's wedding dinner. Found another one with the food tasting pictures: Et_Chai's blog . General comment in another blog: Look, see, eat

Only comments I have after visiting the place were:
1. Narrow lobby/reception area for the hall
2. Carpark was a bit dodgy looking
3. Hall is long and narrow but seems ok to me.

Reasons why I didn't chose this option:
1. ALL the dates I wanted was not available.
2. Insufficient tables (I wanted 25 tables) to have the whole hall. They only offered half the hall without the stage ?!? Minimum 30 tables.
3. Suggested to have lunch instead of dinner.

So say bye-bye to Option 1.

Option 2: Oriental Banquet, Jaya 33

I shortlisted this restaurant because of the following reasons:
1. It's behind the church I used to attend; location is in between the groom and bride's location
2. It has convenient parking (RM2 on weekends)
3. The ambience is nice (high ceiling and quite cozy)
4. Food was delicious from the one time I tried.. Lol

Wedding dinner reviews available online which will help you to decide:
1. Lynn's wedding dinner
2. Khee Liang & Eugenie wedding dinner

In the end, I took this because from my long list of dates, I got 2 options - 1 in July and 1 in September.July clashes with my trip so September it was. Unfortunately only the "small" hall was available to accommodate 18 tables max. Hence, it started with cutting down the guest list. Thank God, we found one venue. :)

Anyway, apparently the RM3k booking fees is only for the place. The menu had to decided later. We booked in February 2012 and was not allowed to select the menu till June 2012 whereby the price has increase RM70/table for the exact same menu for the earlier half year.

I guess anything to do with "wedding" is a really profitable business whereby you can gradually in a year or half year, increase price happily..

Since it was my first time and hopefully only time, these are few items which I tried to ask and advise you to think about before going to the restaurant.
1. Total number of table (combined wedding, separate, guest list - offhand prepare first)
2. Budget for per table
3. Liquor served/ or not (eg corkage charge)
4. Decorations of hall
5. Projector/ music/ etc
6. Emcee if provided
7. Cake cutting/ champagne toast/backdrop decoration (usually have unless you need something special)
8. Band/performance needed - got stage? size?
9. Agenda for dinner (was told to discuss during food tasting)
10.Food tasting (Free? 50%? 30%?)
11. Colour of the hall (in case you have colour theme)
12. Reception table - provided - location
13. Any other freebies e.g. wedding card provided.
14. Bridal room for makeup and angpow counting (forgot to ask this...)

Other options:
1. Dynasty Dragon Restaurant in SS2 Mall..
2. Other Imperial restaurants in Subang or PJ.

And I would have thought of more if needed to. But anyhow, that's how it was in my process of planning my wedding dinner.

Now continues the next steps