A night like this ♥️

My husband is on night shift and as usual, it's me and Adriaan at home (with the little one wriggling inside the tums). 

As I am typing this, Adriaan is already sound asleep on my tummy, hugging the bulge (his adik hehe). I wish I can freeze the moment in stills and have it printed but the room is dark and my phone camera does not take good night shots. #bummer

When he was awake, his head was on my tummy, playing with my fingers quietly. 

It feels so surreal to be spending time with him alone, all quiet, in our own moment. 

Mummy wish to cherish this memory forever close to my heart. 

I love you, my son - Adriaan Shariq. ♥️

*kisses his forehead

Welcoming July

Time flies and we are already at the second half of 2017! Say whatttt!

Ended my first Ramadhan with being able to fast for a full 30 days (Alhamdulillah), but not doing so much this year as compared to my previous years. :( I don't know if caring for a baby plus carrying one in me is a valid "reason", but hais, I am sure I could do better.

Nonetheless, Ramadhan this year is already over and I could only do'a that I'll be able to meet the next Ramadhan... Aamiin.

Few quick updates!

RENOVATION:
We are almost halfway through our renovation progress.
- Hacking of our kitchen was done on the first few days of renovation
- Then we had to choose our toilet floor tiles again because the one Steven showed us from Hafary is out of stock
- Doors installed, and painted
- Delivery of the items we bought (Note: Gonna blog about our buying process, insya'Allah!)
- Toilet floor tiles have been overlaid once we confirmed our new tiles
- Our kitchen entrance have been touched up after the hacking
- Installation of our instant heaters has been done

Upcoming week:
- Installation of our kitchen cabinet

To do:
Pass the second payment to Steven

PREGNANCY:
We are at our 17 weeks 4 days today. Alhamdulillah.

The first very very mild movement/shifting I felt was exactly on the 17th week, around the same time as when I first felt Adriaan's movement. But Adriaan's one was more prominent in a sense I could actually see the bulge forming. This time, I could only feel the subtle movements internally.

The next appointment will be on the 19th July where you'll turn 20 weeks insya'Allah. We will also get to know your gender.

Your Ayah and Nyai is guessing girl whereas I still have no clue. I kindaaaa have a feeling it's a boy though from the shape of my tummy. But Ayah said it looks different this time round. Don't cheat my feelings leh. Hahaha. Show your true shape please!

Well, we will see lah eh. Like I once told Ayah, it doesn't quite matter girl or boy this time. All I know is if we plan to have a third one insya'Allah, to be much more careful in the family planning department (not because I don't believe in rezeki and qadar Allah), but I need the time to recuperate especially since my recent Prolapse episode.

To-do: More kegels!

ADRIAAN:
Few updates pertaining to this son of mine haha.

- He is no longer "butt-heavy" and "lazy" to use his leg muscles to stand. He has shown keen interest to start walking. Good progress but no rush though! I would prefer him to take his own sweet time and crawl longer.
- He has his sleep regression episodes. *cries* It comes and goes. There are weeks where he'll sleep through the night so SO peacefully. But there are nights where he'll be jolted awake either by his own version of nightmare or just wanna play and not sleep. Pfft.
- I've started giving him 2 meals per day, one in the afternoon for lunch and one in the evening at 6pm. There'll be 2 different purée flavours for his meals. He'll be turning 1 years old about 4 months' time and I need to get him used to more food. Time is running out and I've yet to explore more food options for him. He's still "stuck" at some 4-6 months' old food range. :/ I've yet to start him on Baby-led weaning (BLW) because 1, we don't have a high chair for him to sit on it quietly and explore. 2, my husband HATES mess, in CAPS, Bold, Italics, Underline kinda seriousness of hatred. Hahaha. But I hope to explore when his Ayah is not around, with fruits that are more soft like bananas (can you try bananas again, Adriaan?), Avocados or dragon fruit? Insya'Allah.

To-do: Buy more fruit and vegetables, and maybe try starting him on fish and meat?

Alright, that's it for the updates this time round.
Note: This is just a skeleton of a proper update espesh on my renovation progress. Will do a more proper one with visuals. Hehe!

On a quest: Eczema part ii

It has been a long time since I do an update regarding the progress of my son's eczema. I feel I should.

Been really busy, you see. :p (New respect to all mummy bloggers - Where did you get all that time man! #SALUTE)

So cut long story short, as per the previous entry on eczema got me trying out recommendations by mummies by the Facebook group page SG 2016 Mummys.

The first ever wash & moisturizer combo that I tried was Cetaphil Restoraderm. This was the second popular one as compared to Physiogel AI Cream. The reason why I chose this was due to the fact that there is also the wash for his bath time. So at least it could sort of reduce the inflammation on his skin, I think?

So as usual, we put the wash and moisturizer to a test.

BEFORE: His whole body has spots which looked like ringworm/discoid eczema. Like patches of it all over his body.

Diligently slather moisturizer over him every. other. hour (I am serious!) and saw improvements. Of course no moisturizer works like magic so we saw improvements like in a matter of days.

The more we applied, the more it showed improvements on his skin.

Alhamdulillah.

There are days that his eczema will flare up - think days where the weather is unforgiving-ly humid, or if his face get into contact with clothing that has not been washed/washed with adult laundry detergent.

Eczema sufferer's skin is pretty sensitive. To be honest, I don't hate him having eczema because it teaches me to be patient? But I hate explaining to overly-concerned strangers/people on days that his face flares up. 

It's like when I go to Point A, a stranger asks. To Point B, another stranger asks. It can be very very annoying to have to face the same questions by different people many times in a day. But through this episode, I have learned to filter away the questions I choose not to hear and answer. Eg. When people ask "What's wrong with his face? Why is it red?" I'll just smile and look away. I don't think I have to answer your question if I don't feel like it. 

Or like the other day where this makcik actually made an effort to catch my attention by waving at me continuously. And when I turned to look at her, she dropped the question. "Asal muka dia merah?" Waaaa sanggup eh, cik lol. Wave hand bagai just to catch my attention and then ask a question like that.

Did I answer her? Nope, I did not. I chose not to. I smiled and looked away. I feel that it's not any of her concern and not like it bothered her anyway.

Eczema is an uncomfortable condition to go through and to see your son scratching his face and his body parts till it bleeds, can be really painful to witness. It only takes one to go through to know.

I hope your immune system gets stronger and you'll grow out of eczema, just like what people said. (Although I know lahhh some people say "Eczema can't be cured", but we can always hope right?) :)