baby matters

Our apartment has just been given a fresh coat of paint last weekend and it looks new and much cleaner now. We took advantage of what little sun we have left and decided to do the painting now before the cold weather sets in for good (and also, before the baby comes).

We may not have a nursery for our newborn but we managed to create a baby corner in the sole bedroom of our apartment. Everything is up and ready to welcome our baby home.. well in terms of the sleeping area, at least. Those are one of our first baby buys, bought during our summer vacation. We still have a long list of things to get, like baby clothes, winter wear (since it would be a winter baby), car seat, mobile for the crib, toys and other little details. Can't wait to go shopping again!

Oh, I weighed myself this morning and for the first time in my life, I tipped the scale at 60kg.. but it's all for a good cause and most of the extra kilos is due to my ballooning tummy ;)

Here's the progress so far:

tummy at 3, 4 & 5 months

home sweet home

Our summer vacation has ended and we're glad to be back home.. well there's no place like home, right? (Vacation actually ended last weekend but I wasn't in the mood to update the whole of last week). Well we didn't do much during the 2-week break. We had one wedding, three family get-togethers, a trip to a rather boring castle (boring due to limited access and the sparsely decorated rooms) and a couple of visits to Dijon, where I got a much-needed rush of city life.

Too bad cousin Buang couldn't make it to our place during his work trip to Belgium due to a no weekend off. He left for Singapore earlier than expected and we chatted on the phone before he left (would've loved to follow him back to Singapore!)

Well apparently the weather in Belgium wasn't that much different than here. It has been a strange summer, with the sky looking grey most of the time. Bad for vacationers aiming for a tan, which by the way, is the tradition here comes every summer. But I'm not complaining cause it's neither too hot nor too cold, which is perfectly fine by me.

Well, that's that for summer I guess. Our next long vacation would probably be end year.

[Click here for photos]

wedding bells

Summer spells wedding for most of the betrothed couples here. And so it was my cousin-in-law's turn to get married last Saturday. It's a female cousin from hubby's maternal side. It was my first French wedding and it was a pleasant (and tiring) experience.. tiring, due to a lot of standing and waiting. [Photo = the wedding card]

The day started off by witnessing the couple's matrimony at the mayor's office, followed by a church ceremony, a cocktail and then late lunch lasting until late afternoon. The celebration then continued until the wee hour in the morning but we didn't stay for the late night celebration as I badly needed a bed rest after all the standing and sitting.

I was the only Asian present at the wedding and the only one with a very obvious bump up front. So most of the conversation I had there was centered around the pregnancy. I was introduced to quite a number of the family whom I've never met before and they were all nice people. It's one of the rare occasions where families far and abroad reunited.

Well it was a really charming summer wedding although the weather was a tad on the cold side during the first part of the day but the sun did come out in the afternoon and it didn't rain, so it was a very pleasant day indeed.

On Sunday, we had another family reunion at my paternal grandma-in-law's, lunching and dinner-ing and then admiring the beautiful fireworks display in the heart of the village (it was for some kinda celebration.. dunno what).

So in whole, we had an enjoyable weekend. A good start to our 2-week summer vacation, which will be spent here at my in-laws.

happy birthday singapore!

I just saw a live webcast of the NDP and it was spectacular as always (thanks Mak, for calling and reminding me about it :). Watching it made me real proud to be a Singaporean and appreciate it all the more.. especially so if you're living abroad, I guess.

We miss you, Singapore! Can't wait to be back home.

fille ou garçon?

We're having a ger-gerl! :) If the last scan showed a hint of the determining sex, today's scan confirmed it. Well even before we knew the baby's sex, we've already thought up of a few names both for boy and girl. And we're pretty much fixed on a name already.

The baby is in good health, Alhamdulillah and I can feel the baby's movement more frequently now and it's a great feeling. And hubby's favourite pastime now is to chit-chat and 'listen' to the baby.. heh.


Oh by the way, I'd like to wish all the August-arians a Happy Birthday especially to Uncle Black, Big Bro, Rina, Shahira and Tamara, who're celebrating their birthdays today.


fille ou garçon = girl or boy

hawaiian-y

What's a woman to do? More precisely, what's a Malay Singaporean woman to do when she has a hankering for a hawaiian pizza in an Occidental country where halal eateries can be counted by the hand? (Well actually it's not as much my hankering as it is hubby's).

Well, you make it yourself! And that's what I did yesterday - from dough-making right till the finish product. Tiring?-yes. Worth it?-oh yes! But as much as I am pleased by the sense of accomplishment, I'll be the first to make a beeline for the halal pizzeria if ever one exists here. I don't think I'll be making a feast like this one again anytime soon. Too much work, too much time needed. But at least the pizza will last us a few meals.

One of the things I miss about Singapore is its diverse food and the abundance of halal eateries.. you can find anything and everything there. Well I guess I've tamed my Melayu palate down a few notches over the years and make do with what I can find and cook here. But that doesn't mean my kitchen is void of Malay dishes.. when there's a will, there's always a way. And just recently, I willed myself to make satay goreng & the works, chicken porridge, chicken cook red.. albeit with some ingredients missing but they turned out just fine. When you're in my situation and lacking in some ingredients, you just have to improvise.

I love cooking and trying out new recipes but there are days when you just wanna hang the apron and sit back (especially now, with double body, y'know).. and on days like these, I wish we're in Singapore where we can just drop by the nearest hawker center and buy takeouts.. ah, to be in the face of convenience...

the fruit of my labour - barbecue hawaiian pizza (made with halal chorizo.. yum)

getting there

building up defence / in the thick of action / game over

6 nukes, 2 s.landmine, 1 b.c.bomb and 1 b.c.b.landmine got me this far. Will improve next time.

For those who don't know, I'm a gamer.. love them boys games - speed chase, car crash, shooting, killing.. I'm in. Blame it on hubby.