Hi!
I'm so very busy nowadays especially come year 2012.

So many things had visited me since my last blog. I dont know where to start. Arissa is now 18months and she has grown so big now. She started walking at 14months and now that she could do some little running, she makes me run to catch her..in a way she is making the gap a threadmill to me!

She enjoys eating, and vitagen is one of the irrisitible drinks. She eats on her own and decorates mess on the floor with crumbs, rice or whatever that she's eating. Imitating people humming, talking, even sneezing or coughing is what she does best. Whenever i scold her, she would give me that kesian face which makes me guilty. Eyes turning red and she would put her head down.

Another thing that she would not refuse is "shu ah". She means susu in her language, mama's susu to be specific. She loves dancing, especially to barney's beat. She could call mama and papa very clearly now.

In march, we went to singapore. We picked march because it's papa's birthday. We enjoyed our time at universal studio the most, and the zoo too.

I shall continue this later.

Suddenly..

I know I rarely write. To you, I may appear like 'chips more'. Cliche huh.

Let's go straight to how I'm feeling at this very moment, before it fades away.

I am not in Ara now(in my head), unintentionally I fly off to where I was 6years ago. And to tune up the mode, I youtube Bad Day by Daniel Powter, the song that was always there for me when I was having a bad day in the UK. I miss every single bit of it. I miss the winter, the spring, the first part of summer, and especially the autumn! Even though I was on my own, it's the best experience I have gone through.

So many things are jumbling in my head now. They're just wonderfully lovely thoughts to remember... And now I miss my dear friend, Jihan...

in her sleep...

I was facebooking when why lil baby sleeping next to me on my bed giggled TWICE, about 5mins ago. Mengigau la tu!

Quick update before I doze off

1. Oh it's already 12.01am(29April2011)!

2. At around 11.30pm, Arissa slept by herself tonight, after calling Mama was no use. I needed to pack, dear! You slept in your cot with lullabies...and pacifier of course.

3. Just finished packing...finally! Seriously, can't wait to see my family in Terengganu.

4. Came home around 8.30ish after work. Had dinner... Kak Mina cooked kuah singgang, not bad, especially when there's sambal belacan.

5. Pumped at 9pm. Accident happened! It was almost 4oz when the bottle got unattached to the pump just because I moved a bit. I was deeply stressed of my clumsiness today. To get 1oz is not easy let alone 4oz! I felt like screaming out loud, but Arissa was sleeping before me.

6. OK I've gotta hit the sack now... not only I am looking forward to Friday and TGIF, I am super duper excited to going back home. BALIK KAMPUNG!! A slight repetition of no. 3. But who cares!

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

....familiarly known as MRI.

Never would I have expected and imagined that I was required to do MRI. I still could not distinguish it with xrays or CT scan. To me it's all radiation. But basically it's used to envisage in detail the internal parts of our body structures for medical purpose.

When orthopedic Dato Dr Anuar Onah of SJMC spoke about the scan, I went like 'Do I have to, Doctor?'. Then his response was: Ya lah, 30 minit masuk gua. Kenapa? Are you claustrophobic?

Fine. I followed exactly what Doc had asked me to do. So I set an appointment at 8.15am, Saturday 16th April for the scan, plus x-ray too. God, all the machines at Imaging Department at SJMC look scary. So about 8.30ish, first half of my body was in the so-called 'gua'. My brother told me, as he did it before, that he was listening to music during his MRI. But no-no! My ears were plainly covered by earplug! No music, no nothing..and as a matter of fact, I still could hear the noise of that machine. The 'dong dong dong' plus some 'ZzzzZzz' vibration, made it sound like one of those Lady Gaga songs. A remix or something. So bye bye to the plan of napping in the "cave".

I could feel almost 30 minutes had past. I couldn't wait to get out from there. The custodian announced through a mic, "Cik Nurin, lebih kurang 3minir lagi ya". So ok I started counting to 180. But STILL!! I was lying straight in the machine.

MRI scan. *source

Camera/phone/watch are prohibited.

After they opened the door, I re-confirmed that it was more than 30mins. Infact it's more than 1 hour(poor hubby had to wait.. nasib baik ada angrybirds!). It's because they had to do twice, the upper & the lower part of my body.

Why I had to go through all this...? Because I have been diagnosed with scoliosis. Something that I felt embarrassed to share publicly, even with family & friends. I have been complaining backache ever since I was 19 years old. So when I went to check at one specialist near Kelana Jaya, whom I first learned about scoliosis from, he suggested that I undergo operation. But my parents disagreed.

Back in the UK, I also went to see another specialist at NHS(It was free anyway). He said, there's no need to do operation unless it really limits my movements. There are a lot of risks if one were to undergo such an operation i.e. lost of massive blood, and possibility of paralysis.

So yesterday, Doctor Anuar during the consultation (after he saw the report of MRI/X-rays) said, "Spine is all normal, no slip disc. But yes the scoliosis is there, not so serious. It's not gonna get any better. You just need to do some exercise as you will definitely get backpain unlike other normal people". He assigned me to 6 sessions of physiotherapy which should have happened since last week. But I haven't gotten the chance to speak to my boss about sessions during working hours.

He also encouraged me to swim, "20 laps a day!" was his expression. And also Yoga.

Oh yes, I have started Yoga last week at Menara Citibank. It was ok for me because I have done pilates in Sheffield during Uni days. I was impressed with my friend@colleague Chynna. Her body is so flexible, she could bend to the max all kinds of pose, and she is like that elastic girl in The Incredibles. 8 years of performing Yoga, she deserves a beautiful posture. Tabik lah!

Whatever it is, I am so blessed to have gone through this with very supportive parents, and family. To hubby, he has been encouraging me to do stretching, getting me to use his chinning bar to improve my posture/structure. Thank you so much and LOVE you all!

And when she smiles.. the whole world stops and stares for a while....

Cuz she's amazing.. Amazing Arissa!

Happy 6 months darls! Love you every single bit!

Milestones:

1. SMILE: She just loves smiling now, could even smile to strangers. She giggles but selectively(subject to her mood).

2. FOOD: First real solid food: Pureed avocado + milk (taken on 11 April 2011. EXACT 6months to an extent Mama & Papa took one day leave today). And why avocado? Although it's rare and exotic, it's the best first baby food, indeed very nutritious. Got it from this website called BabyDevelopmentNews. But I did not mix up with other fruits in case it's too drastic for her tummy. So next thing is to monitor whether she's okay with the fruit. We were so fascinated looking at her face, how she took it when she first tasted her food. Yesterday she tried a lil bit of papayas. I found that she really enjoyed it. Papa said, "Cucu Ki". Last week, I gave her a bit of my bread from Subway, she didn't know how to eat yet. (Check out photos below)

Her first solid food

Check out her impression(bottom right) right after the very first feeding.

Left: Bit of bread at her chin

Right: Papayas?! "LIKE!"

3. SKILLS:

(i) Able to pulls out and put back pacifier into her mouth by herself(but upside down)

(ii) Able to open/shut her hands whenever she hears I sing Twinkle2 Little Star

(iii) Loves to play set-set bom-bom

(iV) Could suck her toes

4. ENTERTAINMENT/FUN ACTIVITIES:

Flashcard Apps

Fav songs: Clap your hands, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Fav Youtube: Barney & Friends

Swimming

5. THINGS SHE MUST HAVE AROUND:

Just one, Pacifier!

p/s: I forgot to watermark my photos!

photo stamping

Hey I learned something new today! I wanted to try this since last year but I don't really know what they call. It's WATERMARKING! Watermark your photos for protection.

Let's see my first few photos I set under iWatermark.

Coolness! (sorry I am not an IT savvy afterall)

But.. not so nice.. I need to explore more..

Not so Soto on Sunday

Last night I cooked bihun soup. Quite a decent meal.

Hubby: Tolong buatkan begedil.

Me: Too late lah!

So after a couple of requests today, I decided to make begedil but with bihun soup AGAIN. I did not cook soto because:

one: It's healthier if we eat more veggies, which I normally put in my soup.

two: Simply LAZY!

Reason number TWO is more me-ish.. hehe

Begedil or Pegedil?

(in the making)

Bihun soup + begedil

Taddaaa!