confinement is OVER!

Alhamdullilah ... finally my confinement is over ... 44 days gone and now there are not so much restrictions as before. Guess my little one knows it too by the looks of his charming smile ... was thinking of putting him in a baby show ... should i???
Now Ahmad will response whenever we talked to him. Sometimes when there was a conversation, he would listen attentively and would open and close his mouth as if he's also in the coversation. He really likes when we called out his name ... he would look for the source and smile in reply. His neck and limbs are strong now. When we carried him, sometimes he would force himself into an upright position with his legs supporting him. Of course we were holding onto him. This is especially so when he's not happy or wants tobe carried about. Also another signal for the carrier to bring him around. Smart huh ... :)

Ahmad & his swing ...

Akhirnya Ahmad dapat tidur didalam buainya ... at first, Ahmad was wide awake ... looking around at his new surroundings. But after a while, sleepiness succumbs and he gave in to slumber ... di rumah Nek Yangnya ada buai ... di rumah Wannya pun akan ada buai ... so looks like i had to do the same for my house too :)

Ahmad is 6 weeks old!

Alhamdullilah ... Ahmad is already 6 weeks old now. Growing stronger each day and everyday, there's always something new. Be it new feeding schedule or response. Now he will respond when his name is called. In fact, both his short and long names ... he will smile or respond with some baby sounds. It's really heartwarming when he responded. Now there are times when he would stayed awake ... up to 3 hours to play. Alhamdullilah, during the day ... he would swing his arms, smiled, laughed and looked around for someone to talk to him.

Sincerely there are times when both Nazzer and I are so tired to take care of him ... with sleepy eyes, we woke up everynight to feed him. But when he smiled and responded, all sleepiness and tiredness disappeared. The beauty of parenthood i suppose ...

Ahmad's chubby cheeks!!!

Kenduri Doa Selamat

Tok Yang & Nek Yang have organised a kenduri doa selamat for me & Tok Yang. But before the kenduri, my god-mommies (Mommy Nur, Mommy Ilah, Mommy Sab) came over & give me a big present all the way from Toys R'Us. It was a cradle swing ... can't wait for Abah to put it together for me. Next in line was the loads of food ... satay to fruit tarts to roti kirai ... so many food for the feast. The best of all when everyone turned up for the kenduri ... Wan, Nek Chu, Aunty, Uncle Gee, Nek Rah, Cik Yah, Cik Man & my member couz ... Syamil! Heheh ... Syamil, tunggu Ahmad besar sikit ye ... nanti kita play together-gether, k ~ Ahmad

Wow ... so many pixs ... so many story. Okay ... first thing first, my Atuk from Malacca came over for the weekend!!! All for me! See ?me & my Atuk. Then Umi & Abah made me put on my first jumper ... nice or not? It's blue & it's all mine ... then more people carried and cried for their photos to be taken ... from top left corner is Uncle Hairi, then Uncle Haizq on the top right ... below is a pix of me & Uncle Hafiz and last but not least, me & Nek Cuk. Hmm ... so many photos of me ... perhaps Umi & Abah should consider charging them for each photo taken with me ... tiring tau ... ~ Ahmad

Kesian Ahmad ... semua nak ambil gambar dengarnya. Celik aje matanya tadi, semua serbu nak ambil gambar. Especially Uncle-unclenya ... Lepas tu Nek Cuk pun sama ... tolong burpkan sempat posing untuk camera. Ish ish ish ... oh ye ... ada gambar baru di Yahoo Photos ...

5 weeks & going on ...

Alhamdullilah, Ahmad is already more than 5 weeks old. He's growing steadily and getting more & more chubbier by the day. See his picture!

14 more days to go

30 days down, 14 more to go. I'm counting down to the last day of my confinement. Bukan apa ... it's just the restriction is slowly getting to me ... when the confinement is over, i will have more freedom in terms of going out and all. Need to go back to school and get my timetable and all. I know ... I know I'm on maternity leave. But I don't want to wait till I return to school in February and having to adjust to the school life while the school term is going on. At least prior to my official day to return to school, I would adjust a bit to the paper work or something. Don't worry ... I'm not going to start work. Just getting to know the school better. During this confirement, I missed out on many gatherings - weddings, baby showers, kenduris, class reunions & all. Don't intend to miss out more.

The end of confinement also bring forward another benefit ... According to Nek Yang, it will be easier to take care of Ahmad once the confinement period is over. Sincerely I'm looking forward to that ... also we can bring Ahmad out ... it'll be nice to bring him out to the mall or relatives' place. Also ... if possible, Ahmad can go to Malacca to see his granpa ... betul tak, Daddy? :)

1 month old!

Today marks a wonderful day. I'm 1 month old!!! See my pixs .... btw like my new romper? See the words 'hey good-looking'? Heheh ... am I a handsome boy or what? Heheh ... too bad, I vomitted on my new shirt and had to change to a new one. ~ Ahmad

SubhanAllah ... 1 month really has passed by and Ahmad has grown well ... definitely 'lebih sihat' since he was borned. Has yet to check his weight ... next month, we shall know, k. Taking care of Ahmad is no small joke. It's not an easy task too ... the night shifts ... the changing routine ... changing diet. And worst of all is when he cries and we are not sure what's wrong. It boils down to trial and error ... is he hungry? is his diaper full? is he too warm? is he cold? ...

Another important thing learnt is that when you can rest ... REST! Rest & sleep are luxuries which I dearly coveted now. Not enough rest + not enough sleep = a grumpy me ... not something I'm proud of.

4 weeks old

Look at me, I'm 4 weeks old. So fast time flies!!! ~ Ahmad

Umi's first tuam session & JAMU !!!

Today, Umi tuam me for the first time! Heheh ... I kept still so that Umi can tuam me easily. But in my attempt to be a good boy, I peed on Umi ... opps ... terlepas! Sorry Umi ... can't control my bladder yet. ... :P next in line is milk and sleep time. Once again, Umi took my photos while I was sleeping. See how chubby I am now ... who do I look like? ~ Ahmad

Yupe ... today I tuamkan Ahmad for the first time. Was quite worried at first ... all these while it was his Nek Yang who did it. The usual routine would be Nek Yang would bath him followed by tuam session. Then Nazzer or I will apply lotion, minyak, powder before dressing him up. To end it all ... combing my crown. Oh yes, did I mention that Ahmad's hair is slightly brownish :) ... same like me!!!

Okay, back to my first tuam session (am very happy I'm allowed to do it at last) ... everything went great and according to the procedure as taught by Nek Yang ... first the embun-embun then the feet ... He kept still and does not fidget much. Heheh ... I thot he was making it easy for me. But alas ... it turned out that he was peeing. And on me too!!! Oh what to do ... have to proceed and finished up the whole procedure before I can clean myself up. So now I can tuam my own son!!! Need to tuam him till the whole confinement period is over. Oh yes, fyi, tuam is good for infants as it heats the body ... especially those sentitive areas which cannot be cold. There should be another reason. Let me check with my guru first!!!

Oh yes ... guess what! I had to take jamu:\ Sincerely it's not very nice ... but somehow it beats taking tablets or pills. Of course upon finishing the cup of jamu, I had to counter the taste with something nicer ... I'm glad to say that I have conquered the JAMU! Eh ... me makan Ubat Periuk tau ... also I have conquered that ... not to mention the Polleney. The weird tasting things I have to take ... oh well, a mom's gotta do what a mom gotta do!

My next task ... bathing Ahmad

Muhammad Ashraf ...

Kelahiran mu............

Bermula dengan suara tangisan

Alhamdulillah...........

Syukur kehadrat Illahi

Satu penantian yang mendebarkan

Lambang penyatuan dua insan

Membawa sinar seribu harapan

Semua yang ada penuh senyuman

Menarik berkumpul kedua pihak

Penyambung zuriat jenerasi seterusnya

Mohd Ashraf nama dipilih

Satu ketentuan tak perlu diragui

Mohd bersempena pemimpin agung

Ashraf menyumbang kecermerlangan

Ianya realiti bukan pengaruh usang

Hari hari mu bermula kini

Langkah pertama penghijrahan dilalui

Perjalanan jauh akan kau susuri

Apa yang mendatang penuh berduri

Ketabahan dan keimanan menjadi perisai

Bimbingan rohani didada dipenuhi

Bulan mentari kan menemani

Ayah ibu membelai merestui

Kasih sayang tak berbelah bagi

~ ciptaan & salam sayang Atuk Yusof

same as ...

Look ... here's a pix of me when i was 2 days old & here's a pix of Kak Hannis. Don't we look the same? Kata cousins ... btw Abah said that i have Umi's eyes & hair colour. The rest of my features, i followed Abah ~ Ahmad

24 days gone, leaving 20 more confinement days. Wow ... time really flies by really fast. Just last month, I was still pregnant & just finished my D&T proj. Then many wedding invitation cards came to my hand, not to mention via post too. Too bad, i'm still in confinement so i will miss all the weddings & baby showers.

Ahmad wakes up every hour to drink milk last night. Sure was a big change from the usual every 3 hours feeding previously. We are sure that it's not because he was hungry coz while feeding, he fell asleep and refused to continue feeding. We put him down to sleep and he will wake up abt an hour later. This sure put Nazzer & me into a bioclock frenzy change ... so now we need to adjust ourselves again. According to Nek Yang, change of feeding time is normal as long as Ahmad wasn't crying and crying. She assures both of us that things will get better after confinement. I really hope so ... I'm not such a good person at staying up late as most of you guys know ... sleep is a very precious thing to me :) ... think it's time for me to take 40 winks ... i really need it :P

3 weeks old!!!

Wah ... now I'm 21 days old ... 3 weeks old already! See how much I have grown :) Nek Yang commented that my legs and arms are very strong. Strong enough to push the bottle away from my mouth when I do not want to drink anymore. In these photos, I was doing my usual stretching ... gearing up to take the floor once I can start crawling. Better start working out on those limbs :)

That's my dear son. Like what he says ... yes, he is getting stronger and stronger. It was no lies when he pushed the bottle away when he didn't want it anymore. In fact, Ahmad was already pushing himself up when Nek Yang was carrying him in the bath tub during bathing time. Seems like he can't wait to grow up. Nazzer on the other hand ... enjoys making promises to get Playstation or X-Box for Ahmad. It's more like the Abah who wants it more than Ahmad :P

Now ... 21 days gone from 44 days confinement, leaving me with 23 more days. Well ... sincerely, I'm getting a bit restless, staying at home. But when occasion arised when I had to leave the house, my mind was worried about Ahmad who stayed @ home. Sigh ... wonder how it will be in a few weeks time when I get to bring Ahmad out. There are so many things I want to see and get. Especially since I will be starting work on 9th Feb. Need to get myself accustomed to the new environment and teaching life. However, restless I am, I begin to appreciate the time I had @ home. I mean ... getting to laze around & still get paid ... well ... who doesn't want that. Can't imagine how am I going to leave Ahmad when I go to work next year.

Oh yes ... another piece of news. I just got the keys to my new house in Queenstown. Only moving in next March or so ... need to do some minor reno work in the house. InsyaÁllah, when the house is ready and I have moved in, I will have a simple Open House ... okay ... datang ye :)

murder she wrote ...

Assalamuálaikum semua ... now Ahmad is already 20 days old. Just 1 more day for me to be 3 weeks old. See how big I am now :) Oh yes, Umi & Abah took some photos of me again. On the left, are photos of me when I was stretching. I'm working out my hands and arms now. The other collage are photos of me with Uncle Ji and Hannis. Oh yes, when Aunty checked my baby photo with Hannis's, it turned out that I looked like her. But Nek Yang insisted that I looked like Tok Bak more and more now. Oh well ... he's my grandpa, right!!! Atuk, come back to Singapore lah ... want to compare my face with yours :) ~ Ahmad

Back to me again ... Alhamdullilah, Ahmad no longer has eye discharge. So we need not have to disturb him every now and then to put eye drops into his eyes. Unfortunately pain overtook me last night that I can't take care much of Ahmad. Poor Nazzer has to stay up quite a bit to nurse him. Really hope the pain and inflamation will go away soon. Sometimes, it gets overbearing :\ used to stay away from medicine (especially pills) Now ... no matter how much it is, I still take them (more of forcing myself to) ... be it thru dissolving or chewing them.

Murder shock ... guess most would have heard the news of a Murder case happening right here in my block. Was very shocked when we received the news yesterday from a neighbour. Too many rumours that the story got jumbled up. We ended up waiting for news on TV and we realised the victim was our neighbour. She was a nice lady ... but haven't seen her husband before so I can't comment. This morning, neighbours started congregating, talking about the murder case. It was scary ... knowing that one can lose control and cause grevious hurt to his partner. What's the point of marriage if one ended up being battered like that. SubhanAllah ... everything is in His hands. He is All Knowing.

Visitors ... tuam session ... bathing time!

Yesterday Atuk Isa & family came over to see me. Heheh ... ramai orang datang jumpa Ahmad :) Bila Atuk Isa dukung Ahmad, cucunya marah ... jealous :P Cucunya gang Ahmad yang akan datang. Same year baby!!! Oh ye, ni ada gambar waktu Ahmad dituam oleh Nek Yang. Kesian Nek Yang ... Ahmad kencing waktu Nek Yang dukung Ahmad. Sorry ye, Nek Yang. Oh ye ... lihatlah pusat Ahmad. Kecil aje ... Kaki Ahmad pun kecil aje. Comel ... macam tuannya :) nie gambar Abah ambil waktu nak mandi. Okaylah ... time for mandi!!! ~ Ahmad

Alhamdullilah ... ramai orang dah datang jumpa Ahmad. Ramai juga yang ambil peluang untuk mendukung Ahmad. Semalam Cik Isa sekeluarga datang ... ada yang mengatakan Ahmad rupa macam Tok Bak dia ... ada pula yang kata Ahmad ada rupa macam Nurul Hannis. Kata sekeluarga pe ... mesti ada sikit muka orang sini, orang sana, kan. Rashes Ahmad pun beransur pulih. Hanya tahi matanya yang masih ada. Harus selalu bersihkan matanya dan letakkan eye drops. Marah dia bila letak eye drop ... tetapi yang penting Ahmad makin cerdas, active!!!

As for me, slowly recovering but sudden acute pain above the wound surface. Don't worry, I went to see the doc and he diagnosed that there's internal inflamation (nanah) in the womb. So now I had to be on antibiotics and the pain will subside after 3 days. If not, there will be a minor surgery to remove the nanah. So far, after taking the medication, the pain subside a bit and I can sleep but the pain is still there. Sigh ... according to the doc, 2 out of 10 ceaserian patients will have inflamation. So i guess ... i'm on of the 2 lah. Do pray that the inflamation will subside, Amin. 1 operation is enough for me. Don't like the idea of going through another, be it minor or major :)

me 2 weeks old!!!

Assalamuálaikum semua ... Ahmad sudah 2 weeks old. Today I'm already 15 days old. Very fast time flies. Alhamdullilah ... Ahmad sudah tanggal pusat. Senang hati Nek Yang, Abah, Umi! Atuk, Tok Bak, Wan pun tentu senang hati. Hari ni, Ahmad kena tuam satu badan. Tapi Ahmad diam je ... syiok rasanya. Sedap aje badan :) ~ Ahmad

Alhamdullilah ... Ahmad tali pusat dah tanggal. Jadi Nek Yang boleh tuamkan badannya mengguna daun sireh. Bak kata Ahmad ... dia diam aje ... tak merenget atau radang waktu dituam. Oh ye ... yesterday, Ahmad's pictures taken at the hospital has arrived. Lihatlah gambarnya ... beza tak? The picture collage was taken yesterday when he was exactly 2 weeks old :)

1st day @ work

Today Abah has to go to work. He will only returned home in the evening. Hope Abah clear all his work so that he can return home as soon as possible. In the meantime, Ahmad will stay home with Umi :) ~ Ahmad

After taking 13 days leave to take care of me & Ahmad, Nazzer has finally returned to office today. He said it wasn't easy to go to work as he was used to seeing Ahmad anytime he wants. With him in the office now, he has no access to Ahmad except thru photos and phone calls to check on his beloved son.

For me ... it's another day to stay at home. 13 days have gone, leaving 31 confinement days left. It's still a long way to go before I can go out on my own. Sincerely missing my freedom and independence. Used to be the one getting the toiletries and medication from the pharmacy. Now, Nazzer has to do it. It's true what they say about parenthood. It's when both partners take up new and additional roles ... often covering up for the other.