Baby's first kicks

Somewhere between weeks 18 and 22, after a few days of wondering if what you're feeling is gas bubbles or some kind of strange muscle spasm, you'll feel tiny flutters as your baby moves. I had my very first experience on 16 January, 1AM to be exact. Dev was in Frankfurt then. I felt it again at ten that morning, and I was so excited I wanted to pick up the phone and call home, but it would have been 5 in the morning Malaysian time. I decided to enjoy the kicks until I fell asleep.

There's something really special about feeling your baby's kicking, squirming and hiccups. Your baby goes from being an abstraction to a real moving, stretching, living little person. You begin to realize that somebody is really inside you, and that can be just as exciting as the first time you heard your baby's heartbeat or caught a glimpse of her moving during the first sonogram.

"Quickening'" is what sensing first movement is called. It was once believed that mother's first feeling of movement was when the baby's soul descended down to earth. But pictures inside the womb show that babies are actually very active long before their moms ever realized it. You just begin to be able to feel the movements as your baby's bones harden.

First-time moms usually feel their babies move weeks later than experienced ones, and if you're overweight it may also take longer to detect movement. Sometimes, the placenta can be located toward the front of the uterus, making it harder to feel baby movements until the baby gets larger.

As mischievious as our son already is, he refuses to let his daddy feel his kicks. Last night while we were laying down in front of the tv, I felt his gentle kicks, so I told Dev to quickly place his hand on my belly, but as soon as his daddy put his hand on my belly, our boy decided not to kick. Moments after giving up on feeling his kicks, baby decided to kick. Our baby could have heard our conversation and decided to play a trick on us.

I feel his kicks several times a day, every day. It is just amazing!

Too cute to resist!

I went shopping the other day at a British store called NEXT, and here are a couple of things I just couldn't resist. The best part was they were on sale!

Baby's first pair of shoes ... and socks. Aren't they cute??? The shoes are for "pre-walkers", between 3 and 6 months old.

Mommy-to-be, at five months

Taken on 2 September 2006, just before my cousin's wedding dinner
(pardon the wrong date on the camera)

Smile!

A windy morning at the Abu Dhabi Corniche with Adrian & Jessie's baby girl Rachel






At Tony Roma's, Ibn Battuta Mall Dubai

Ultrasound Picture

Here's a picture of a scanned image of our baby's head at 18 weeks, 6 days. If you look close enough at the bottom of the picture (the white line where his body is), that is his spinal cord.

Check out the pointed nose and the rounded head! Hehe! Our little fellow!

All Things Blue

Dev and I took advantage of the Dubai Shopping Festival sale in Dubai and went on a shopping spree for our little one at The BabyShop and Mothercare. We also got a Peg-Perego stroller, which is packed neatly in a box, to be checked in with our luggage when we head home to Malaysia next month. Nonetheless, I managed to get a picture of the exact stroller off the internet, just for you.

Here's a peek of what we have so far.

The complete feeding set

The baby stroller, which can accommodate a baby's weight up to 18kg, approximately 4 years old












Baby's first nursery rhymes book and music CD

A gift from our visiting Malaysian friend Audra

Christmas Eve Dinner

Dev and I hosted a dinner for eight close friends on Christmas Eve, and it all started with the idea of roasting a turkey together with a couple from Malaysia Adrian and Jessie. Adrian and Jessie celebrate Christmas, but Dev and I don't, and because Adrian and Jessie suggested having roast turkey, Dev and I went all out to get everything we needed for a wonderful and memorable Christmas Eve dinner.

Jessie was exhausted from the flight from Malaysia to Dubai that morning so she missed dinner that evening, and Adrian came over with our friend Nurul. We had Deep and his girlfriend Svenja, our neighbours Kurt and Ian, as well as Malaysian cabin-crew-in-training, now with Etihad, Shoba and Rowina.

Thanks to online recipes, our very first Christmas Eve dinner was a success! Check out our roast turkey and baked stuffing!

Menu for the Evening:
Roast turkey, baked stuffing, baked corn on the cob, grilled garlic bread, fried spring rolls and sarmosas, and potato salad and "bubur kacang hijau" (Malaysian dessert - green peas boiled with coconut milk and sugar) made by Shoba, not forgetting my version of the Virgin Sangria!

Ian, Kurt and I enjoyed our non-alcoholic drinks. Both the guys had to work the next morning, so the Sangria was the only drink they could have. Hehe!

Dev landing a helping hand in basting the almost-done turkey

After the rain in Abu Dhabi

Pictures were taken from our apartment after the heavy down pour in Abu Dhabi.

Gathering in Malacca

Dev's parents hosted a party on 18 November, a wet Saturday, in their hometown Malacca. Thankfully the rain stopped before the guests arrived. It was a wonderful weather for a garden dinner party. The food was fantastic, and so was the company of family members and friends.


My brother-in-law Ben & Delphine
My nieces Charlene & Delphine clowning around
Delphine posing sweetly for the camera!
My Mom & Dad, and a close shot of my sister Jasmina
The proud-father-to-be!

It was a surprised birthday shout out for my brother Justin, who blew out 26 candles that evening.

Virgin Sangria

For people like me who can't take any amount of alcohol during pregnancy, I have discovered a recipe for sangria, without the alcohol. This recipe is from one of the pregnancy books I am reading. It will be my drink on X'mas Eve!

VIRGIN SANGRIA

Ingredients

3 cups unsweetened grape juice
3/4 cups apple juice concentrate
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 small unpeeled lemon; sliced and seeded
1 small unpeeled orange; sliced and seeded
1 small unpeeled apple; cored, cut into eights
1 3/4 cups soda / sparkling water

Instructions

Combine all the ingredients except the soda/sparkling water in a large pitcher. Stir well, and chill. Add soda/sparkling water just before serving. Serve over ice in wineglasses.

Pikelets

I was first introduced to "pikelets" (pronounced pai-ke-lets) by Rosie, one of my good friends here in Abu Dhabi who loves feeding me and Dev! I went online a few days later and decided to get the recipe from the internet, and today, I made my very own pikelets!

These are guaranteed no-fail pikelets, so the recipe says, and it is proven!

Ingredients
1 cup self raising flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp bicarbonate soda (baking soda)
1/2 tsp lemon juice or vinegar
3/4 cup milk
1 egg - beaten
30 g melted butter
Butter/oil for cooking

Preparation
Add lemon juice/vinegar to milk. Stand to one side. Melt butter in microwave or over hot water. Mix flour, bicarbonate soda and sugar. Add butter, milk and egg to dry ingredients, mix well to remove all lumps.

Heat pan over medium heat. Drop 1 tbsp of mixture into fry pan for each pikelet. Cook for about 1 minute, turn and cook other side for 1 minute.

Serve with jam and butter or other condiments as preferred. It is delicious when you spread butter first and then jam over butter. Yummie!

As simple as A-B-C! Happy pikelet-ing! Hehe!

* Image of pikelets taken from yahoo image gallery. Mine didn't look as good as the ones in the picture *