Life Before You..

Dear Mini-N,

When I started this blog, I told myself that I must write about how daddy and mommy lived our lives before you came around so that when you eventually read this 10 years down the road, you'll see how we have or have not changed over the years. I'm not sure actualy if I prefer us to have changed a lot over the years because life now is pretty fun in its own way. But maybe, just maybe, if we changed, we would make better parents because life now is like living in a big fat bachelor pit.

You see, mommy and daddy are not quite the cleaning type. So most of the time, the house is in a mess, laundry undone, dishes unwashed. We spent most of our times, downloading and watching lots of US TV series, and our favourites being "Desperate Housewives", "Lost", "24", "House" and "Heroes". We eat dinner in front of the TV most of the time watching one of these exciting series. If we didn't have an episode waiting for us downloaded into the X-box, we'll pop in a DVD. Occasionally mommy has a Chinese drama series to follow. For these, Daddy doesn't quite participate in watching but mommy always voluntarily re-tells the plot of the day's episode to daddy whether he wants to hear it or not.

We play lots of games on our game consoles. Mini-N, this is the era when the X-box and the Wii game console is in fashion while the Sony Playstation III is losing out. We have both of those high fashion consoles and there are a few games we play over and over again, such as "Zelda" and "Psychonauts". Although it's a good game, "Munch Odyssey" is a no-no in this home because it's an EX-ed game (meaning a game daddy played with his ex.. pooh! pooh!)...

We also play a lot of board games, the favourite being Monopoly and Rummikub. Mommy prefers Rummikub anyday because she losses to daddy with Monopoly 9 out of 10 games, mostly because your daddy's a BIG cheat. When it comes to Monopoly, you gotta be careful with your daddy, that sneaky one. Even your Opa had to resort to cheating to battle your dad the few times he was here in Malaysia. Mommy's a sore loser so most of the time, we avoid Monopoly and go with Rummikub instead.

Rummikub is a game introduced by your Opa and Oma when they were in Malaysia early this year. This will be a game you'll learn to play the moment you start to count. It's a game that definitely tests your intelligence and IQ. The first time Mommy played Rummikub with Opa and Oma, she was very worried about creating the wrong kind of impression (being dumb and slow) since she lost quite terribly to the old folks... so that night she quietly asked daddy to steal the board game into the room and kiasu-ly played all night long. When Opa and Oma went off for a short holiday, mommy also kiasu-ly forced daddy to play every night so that when Opa and Oma came back, mommy's as good at the game as everyone else.

Daddy and mommy still plays Rummikub at least once a week during bedtime and the worst side of ourselves come out when we're dueling away on the game. We hurl all sorts of insults at each other while playing, some of mommy's favorite lines being, "What do you know? You don't know anything!" and daddy's favourite insult being, "Take this! This is for you and your leprosy friends". Ofcourse, I don't have any leprosy friends but it's just a figure of speech/insult. We also call each other "bowling ball head, egg head, small penis...", basically anything you can imagine. It's not very good example for the young I know, so this side of us probably will have to be repressed when you come about. And not forgetting your dad has this chanting song that goes, "You are a loser.. A big fat loser"... He sings it in a very Enigmatic Gothic tune which he says has a power of making me lose the game if he sings it over and over again. Yeah, it drives me nuts sometimes so maybe that's how it makes me lose.

On weekends, since we're in a country like Malaysia where shopping is key, weekends are spent mostly in a shopping complex such as One Utama, The Curve or Midvalley. Most of the time, we watch a movie. We talk endlessly about how we should go outside and do some sports but we never seem to be able to drag our fat behinds out in the sun to do it. In this arena, Gong Gong and Po Po are much more successful. They go for a morning walk every morning without fail and on top of that, Gong Gong spends at least 2 hours at the driving range every day.

As for your mommmy and daddy the 2 young 'uns, we walk past the pool to get to our front door everyday and everytime, we have this partial longing and yet guilty look on our faces but we almost always manage to find an excuse on why we can't go out to the pool that day. There's someone else in the pool, the water's too cold, mommy's swimming suit is getting out of fashion... etc..

Once daddy made a new year resolution to swim for 30 mins everyday but unfortunately the resolution never lasted beyond mid-February. Mommy once dragged daddy to sign up for a gym nearby and unfortunately, we never made it to the gym more than twice before we finally canceled the membership a few months later.

Once in a while, mommy and daddy banters about something mommy call the great Passage Thru India mystery. Whether or not many years back when we were still dating, daddy secretly had dinner with his ex at Passage thru India while telling mommy that it was dinner with a friend. Ofcourse till today, mommy still highly suspects that the secret dinner took place and till today, daddy still denies it endlessly. Mini-N, I suspect you'll never hear the end of this.

Today for example, being a Sunday, we woke up at mid morning and sat in bed for close to an hour just talking about where we should have breakfast. Being pregnant and great and all that, Mommy usually has the final say. We dragged ourselves out of bed to a nearby mamak, had nasi lemak and roti telur then dragged ourselves back home. Believe it or not, we spent most of the rest of the day in bed, where mommy was reading Harry Potter 7 and daddy was playing Sim City on his spanking new Vaio laptop next to her. I got up a couple of times to do the laundry and daddy got up a couple of times to make lunch and get snacks and that was about it really. So there, a lazy Sunday before you came along, Mini-N. A most un-befitting type of Sunday to have when a baby comes along.

I suspect, people who reads this has so much to tell us, 1000 ways how our lives will be changed after the baby comes and 1000 things we're doing now that's bad example for the young. Yes, I know, we know... Which is why, I'm writing all these down as a memorabilia now, in case we never get to do this again for the rest of our lives. When you read this further along, Mini-N, you can tell us how we have changed (or have not changed) for the better, we hope.

Mini-N, your daddy can't wait for you to come. He told me he wants to fix up your crib already, just to stare at it. Speedy growth, Mini-N. Love you..

Starting Life the BIG way..

Dear Mini-N,

Many people tell us that our lives will be drastically changed after you migrate from Womb world to Earth world. Although we're still laughing it off living in denial with those snickering remarks, "Hahaha!...How can? Baby only need to eat, sleep and bath what! No need so much work one lar!" Deep down inside, we fear that these couple of months will be our last days spent with our beloved Wii game console and the One Utama GSC cinema. So we decided to play Zelda one last time before we put it away for good.

Mommy's butt has officially grown from skateboard size to surfboard size. My tummy has also grown to the size of a large watermelon, not just any large watermelon but those that have been fed crazy with all sorts of fertilizer to make it look like a mutated LARGE watermelon. And you're only 22 weeks. No kidding, man. When i tell my friends or colleagues that i am only 22 weeks, they stare at my tummy for a while before they suddenly break eye contact and then with a slightly embarrassed look, they go.. "Hehehe.. I think is because of the mat salleh genes lar..hehehe.."..

Looking at my huge middle sometimes, mommy and daddy wonder if it is actually used to store extra food more than storing you. We suspect it's the former. In the last visit, Dr Tang helped us confirm this. She came into the room when I was already lying comfortably on the check-up bed.. Her first reaction when she saw me was an exclaim, "Wah.., very big ah"... Then she laughed a bit and walked over to me... (What's so funny?!)

So she decided to put things right.. "Only THIS part is the baby, you know." She used her hand to draw a small circle underneath my belly button.

"THIS part is not the baby." Her hand gestured at the area around the rest of my tummy. Gee.. thanks for the precise information. Narrrling gave me this wide-eyed woman-what-have-you-been-eating look..

You were highly active during the ultrasound session. We have it on video, you were moving your hands and legs about a lot. Dr. Tang was just a bit short of calling you a naughty boy. Then you know what? She told us that you are oversized too. Like mother, like son, huh.... At 20 weeks, you are the size of a 22 weeks baby. It's not that you're fat or anything but your growth, size of your skull, femur and all were the length and size of a 22 week baby. You are about 130 grams heavier than you should be! Dr Tang said, "This is going to be potentially a very big baby. Babies grow exponentially. Now he is already 130 grams bigger. This probably equals to about 1kg bigger than normal babies during birth"

My gawd.. 1kg bigger! You are going to be the giant nation representative in the infant care unit during birth.. There are the cutesy little infants next to you and there's you the O-Big/Great-One.... I must prep daddy ready with all his equipments to come film you together with the rest of your tiny friends in the ward.... but seriously, no joke man.. although I'm kinda big in size myself but it doesn't mean my special passage of pleasure/birth is roomy too, you know. I definitely NEED epidural, the life saviour of mankind.

Your Little Penis

Dear Mini-N,

Alright, alright, let's sort this out once and for all. So you're a BOY after all.. Sorry for calling you a girl for the past month. Really, you can't blame us. Last month your wee wee was soooo small that Dr. Tang couldn't see it. She said, "Ah... ah.... ah...., cannot see any penis, so maaaaybe a girl lah!"

So luckily, your penis has grown a substantial size in the past month so that last weekend, when we visited Dr. Tang again, she said, "Ah, I was wrong! It's a boy! 100% a boy!" She was showing mommy and daddy your little penis. Honestly, I was still struggling and squinting to spot it. Dr. Tang was moving and scrolling and zooming the view on the screen until it came to this..



I exclaimed, "Wahh! This whole thing is his penis? SO BIG!"

Narrrling was just beginning to have that extremely proud look on his face when Dr. Tang cut in and said, "NO no no! That's his leg! This small thing on the left is his penis".



Oh, i seee.. So there you go, Mini-N, that's your little kuku at 20 weeks still in your mother's stomach. Don't worry about it, I'm sure it'll grow to its full adult size some day to make your daddy proud. Love you!

Daddy Felt You for the First Time

This post was originally posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2007.

Dear Mini-M,

Your daddy felt you move for the first time last night and he was pretty darn proud of it. He felt you in the early evening after I came back from work and after a few hours, he still hasn't stopped talking about it. He would push his jaw out and cover his upper lip with his lower lip and say in the proudest tone with those smoky eyes, "I felt the baby move today, ok."

Yes, I think your daddy felt like he got a promotion last night, that he was finally able to feel your movements because for the last week, only your mommy could feel you moving inside. You should see the first time your daddy felt you. His eyes lit up with suprise, he sucked in a quick breath, he turned to look at me and stared at me for 3 seconds before he said, "I felt it!"

If I had a video cam then, I would record those moments and put them down as one of those moments that you'd like to remember for the rest of your lives.

For the last week, rather frequently your daddy would ask me, "What's the baby doing?"

And I would say, "Sleeping" ...

Then after an hour or two, daddy would ask again... "What's the baby doing?"...

I would say the same thing, "Sleeping"...

To that, sometimes your daddy will say, "So lazy".

You see, he is just waiting for some action so that he can try to feel you again on mommy's stomach and finally last night, he got his calling. Which is why, maybe last night was one of the most important nights for your daddy that for the first time, he started to feel your movements.

At the beginning...

This post was originally posted on Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Dear Mini-M,

I am your mother. And through these pages, we will live your life together. This is my first letter to you and this is where you learn about yourself, your mommy and your daddy from the time you are 18 weeks still in your mommy's womb.

Mini-M, you're going to be one hell of a lucky girl, because your daddy is a real sap. He watches romance movies and at scenes where the hero and heroine stares into each other's eyes for the first time, he unconsciously shouts, "Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiiiiss her laaarrr!!".
At the end of each romance movie, he looks at mommy with those puppy man eyes and lets out a loong sigh and says, "Soooo nice".

Yeah, this is your daddy, the hopeless romantic. You will love him just as much as I do.

Some people say, babies start to kick in the womb when they're a little after 4 months. Unfortunately, I've yet to feel you. Your cousin Hailey has already started to kick last week in the womb at 5 months. I am still anticipating for the moment where I can feel your movements inside me for the first time. I wonder how it feels. I wonder.

I did a blood test recently to test if you're going to be a healthy girl. The doctor said they'll call in within 10 working days if something untoward comes back from the test results. So far it's been 7 days, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they never call.

Papa and Mama has been shopping for things for you recently. We have these great battles on which models and which design to choose. Your daddy likes ugly dark coloured wooden stuffs while I like white-ish, clean feeling stuffs. Your daddy wants white sheets and white beddings for you while I want colourful designs to avert your attention when you open your eyes to explore the world. I told daddy this is not about him but about you because I'm SURE you enjoy colourful beddings more than plain white ones. Your daddy's last line of defense is always, "Our kid will be like me, got European taste."...

To be honest, we're still not very sure if you're going to be a boy(Mini-N) or a girl(Mini-M). In our last visit, the doctor told us she can't see anything where your wee wee is, so maybe you're a girl. Same goes for cousin Hailey. The doctor couldn't see anything and therefore pronounced Hailey as a girl. I told my brother, in our next visit, by HOOK or by CROOK, we confirm the gender of both our babies. I'd hate to call you Mini-M when you're actually a Mini-N. You might be offended later in life.

It will be exciting for you, Mini-M. You'll be growing up with cousin Hailey who's about just a month older than you. Your grandpas and grandmas are practically squirming in their chairs everyday waiting for your arrival, getting excited chattering away in their own respective languages.. some in Hakka, some in Dutch...nothing in between..

Your daddy says you'll look like him for sure because he's the first born which means the sperm who represented him was sleek, fast and STRONG, no doubt a thoroughbred. Mommy rebuted that you'll look like me for sure because you know why? Mommy was unplanned, an accident. The sperm who represented mommy knew how to get to places, no doubt smart and will win the race anytime, anyday....

Speedy growth, Mini-M. Mommy needs to get back to 'pretend' working.