New Kid On The Blog

19-Aug-2009:

After more than 2 weeks since we got back here, things are starting to slow down now. I still haven't got my car yet but it is arriving on Monday (fingers crossed). Our daily routine is roughly the following:

1. Saimun goes to work at 8am++. I eat breakfast and then wake Dom up (he normally sleeps till 9am but I've started waking him up at 8am recently to get him used to waking up early for school next month).
2. Dom eats breakfast, I sometimes do the laundry if need to and 'lepak' around the house.
3. At 9:30am, MIL and I start to prepare lunch. Seriously, she cooks 4-5 dishes a day and lunch needs to be ready by 11:30am so it really is quite necessary to start early. Besides she needs time to clean up the kitchen after cooking. Sometimes I get to skive out of cooking lunch when I need to go to the hospital for check-up. :p
4. 11:45am, the kids eat lunch. I eat at the same time too (around 12pm).
5. 12:15am, FIL sends Joe (nephew) to school. Everyone except tags along for a ride. Dom said he wants to go because there's air-cond in the car! Meanwhile, I prepare some fruits for Dom and I.
6. 1:30pm, bathe Dom, read a book and take a nap. This is my favourite part of the day because I get to switch on the air-cond! If it is my own house I would switch on the air-cond the whole day! I then stay in the room for about 2 hours while Dom naps.
7. 4pm, Dom wakes up and we have a snack - fruits for me and whatever is available for him.
8. The time between 4pm and 7pm is the hardest for me. There's basically nothing to do. I wish I have my car so that at least I can bring Dom to the playground, or swimming, or some art or music classes, or at least grocery shopping.
9. 7pm - dinner time, then TV and dessert for the kids, and then I bathe Dom and bathe myself. The rest of the evening is playing/screaming time for the kids.
10. 8:30pm - the nephews and niece go home and all was quiet in the big old house. I then do some reading and writing with Dom,
11. 9pm - brush teeth, read a book and go to bed.

We're still house hunting and hopefully we'll find something soon. At least we've now narrowed down our targets and have set a budget.

Last week, I've managed to settle my confinement arrangements. I'll be getting someone (my MIL's butcher's wife) to deliver food twice a day and we'll handle the rest ourselves. Saimun will be on leave for the whole month.

By the way, I haven't been to church since we got back, mainly because of the lack of transportation and also because I haven't found one yet. Will aim to get round to that next week.

I also don't think I can take staying at home for long, especially when I'm not living in my own home. I wish to go back to work. I wish to go back to work now, if somebody would hire me. But I'm also scratching my head on childcare arrangments. My MIL is already taking care of 3 kids (not including Dom) and I don't think she can or wants to take care of another 2 kids. Does anyone have any suggestions?

10-AUG-2009:

I've knocked one item down from my to-do list again today. I've enrolled Dominic into 'Tadika Diyana' at TTDI and he starts on 1 September after the coming school holidays. He will attend from 8:30am to 11:30am Monday to Friday, and if we want to, he can also enrol in after school activities. School fees are around RM2200 - RM2400 per semester (two semesters per year). He will be wearing school uniforms for the fist time. :-) I'll post photos of course.

9-AUG-2009:

It's been a week since we got back now. It has been a busy week for both myself and Saimun. Saimun works 12 hours a day and Dominic hardly sees him except for the past couple of days (weekend). It's hard working long hours and I think he's probably going to call it quits after 6 months. :p

Meanwhile, I've bought a car. A brand new Toyota Vios Class E, but I'm only getting it in 2 weeks time.

Dominic's jet lag is gone now but he still takes long afternoon naps, sometimes for 3 hours. I have also established a routine - doing the laundry and helping to cook lunch in the morning and running my errands in the afternoon while Dom is napping. My errands include visiting the gynae, the haematologist, checking out kindies, test driving cars (now done) and on Friday I went out shopping with a friend but took Dom along. At the moment, I had to rely on my FIL and brother to take me to places since I don't have a car yet.

All our stuffs were fully unpacked on the 2nd day since we arrived. Space is scarce but manageable. All 3 of us are sleeping in the same room and I don't really like it. Next week, my mission is to do some house hunting, but I reckon it will be at least 6 months before we can move out. Meanwhile, I'm planning to sell our apartment which we are currently renting out. My MIL is offering to sell me her house (actually it's my FIL's but she's just suggesting). She said I can renovate the house and make more rooms, etc and then we can all live together. But how do I tell her that I need my own kitchen, bathrooms that are dry instead of wet and I really hate handwashing my underpants? I think I don't mind living next door to my in-laws but preferably not in the same house.

7-AUG-2009:

It is soooo hot here that one the 2nd day after we arrived, Dom's yeh-yeh took him for a hair cut (Indian barber - costs only RM5) and this is how he looks like now. I didn't go along, otherwise I would have said, not so short please!

I've always thought that Malaysian kids look more "notorious", as in not as sweet and adorable as my Dom Dom (hehe!), but now I realize it's because of their hair cut! Now, I think Dom looks notorious too. I much prefer his old hair style but it is simply too hot here. He even told me he wanted to cut all his hair off because he is still hot!

4-AUG-2009:

I went to see my gynae today (a new one recommended by a friend, I fired my previous gynae) and during the ultrasound scan, the baby's genitals was in so clear a view, even I could tell for sure that it's a girl!

Everything's fine - baby is very active and I look fine. However, I have another appointment with the haematologist tomorrow afternoon.

By the way, 4D scan over here is only RM160. In London, it was �110. Glad that I didn't do it in London, but I'm not going to do it here either. Don't see how it can add any value to the normal scan.

3-AUG-2009:

It's been more than 24 hours since we arrived in Malaysia. The past couple of weeks had been stressful and I'm really glad that we finally got here safely.

In the week leading to the day we were scheduled to fly off, my main task was to get a letter from my GP confirming that I was fit to fly. However she needed confirmation from my consultant obs and haematologist before she would issue the letter. I saw my consultant and the result wasn't good as my platelet count has dropped some more to 29. She recommended the anti-D treatment which is infusing human immunoglobin via IV into my blood stream. The logic is to confuse my spleen into not destroying my platelet. Saimun got worried because immunoglobin is a blood product (from the plasma) and there's a risk of allergy and slight risk of shock. So he flew back a week earlier than scheduled. The treatment went through but when my blood count was taken again there didn't seem to be much improvement. We saw my consultant for one last time on Friday (we were to fly off on Saturday). Although my platelet count was still low, thank God she didn't see any problems with me flying at all. However she advised that I get followed up asap after I arrive in Malaysia.

The flight was the most pleasant thus far. Dom slept for 8 hours out of the 12 hours and behaved very well throughout. I had very mild backache but other than that it was really pleasant.

For the past two nights, Dom had been waking up at 2am and he couldn't fall back asleep after 4am. Since he woke me as well I too had difficulty going back to sleep. Both of us just lied in bed wide eyes (him) and brains churning planning on what else needs to be done (me). There are 101 things that I need to do, first and foremost being seen by a doctor, which I've arranged for tomorrow. Next I'll need to get Dom into kindy and then I'll need to buy a car. Saimun went back to work on Monday and I'm basically stuck at home all day, therefore I'll need a car asap. Next, I'll need to get myself a mobile number.

More updates coming soon.