Skinning Me

The creams and oral medicine from gynae have taken care of the itchy tummy situation. So as you can imagine, the skin is recovering and what's the next stage of action? Peeling. Yes, massive peeling. It's not as satisfying as the sun-burn kind of peel where large pieces of skin come off. It's really only those little, little flakes. The peeling got so intensive that I got a little shock while visiting the loo on Sunday. I lifted the blouse and suddenly a "swarm of insects" filled my face. After it cleared, I realised it's those little flakes of skin on massive release.

Derod decided to put his relatively-new toy to good use by taking loads of pictures of tummy in pok-poked and peeling condition. In his words, we now have a series of tummy pictures for choice. I have been wondering whether I should gross everyone out by posting it up muahahaha

The Angels Rejoiced Last Night

I've found a new friend in P2 through living_in_tokyo. For obvious reasons, living_in_tokyo couldnt be around in church much and I was given the task to investigate the bible with P2.

Yesterday night, P2 messaged to say that she has accepted Christ and is ready for baptism. All glory be to God! And the angels rejoiced in heaven when she came under the grace of the blood of Christ.

Christmas this year will be extra special with P2's baptism ; )

The Miscellaneous Post

Work has been crazy. Leaving one pair of hands to organize an entire conference is seriously no joke, not to mention that the usual workload still stands. I was on the verge of bursting on Monday but thanks to God, He provided two very good chairpersons to work on this project with me. They are not the typical academic staff who simply push everything to the admin to do, and really came in hands-on in the publication of the proceedings, which is the other big portion of this conference. Telling myself to do one thing at a time also helped. Somehow, I got past Monday & Tuesday, no doubt with a short fuse, but I still got past them. The rest of the days still saw me busy as a bee, but God has been very gracious in letting many tasks get done in a short period of time. Just have to pray that no boo boos were made in the hurry ;p

Last Sunday after church, some of us went for lunch at a nearby coffee shop. I was the only one who ordered laksa. It didnt taste too correct, so after half a bowl, I passed it to derod who finished it all up. We shared a cab with ET and when I got in, I really didnt feel too right. By the time we alighted, I was ready to regurgitate it all out. After some contemplation (yeah... the discomfort of the momentary exercise versus letting the stuff sit uncomfortably inside me for a longer time), and since the urge came, I relented. Trusty plastic bags in my handbag came in handy again. Oh, in case you're interested, derod was fine.

The tummy was still ridiculously itching. I was complaining to P2 when we met for bible study last Saturday how agonizing it was and she was so amused with me, until I showed her the real thing. The reaction turned from amusement to horror in a flash, followed by a sympathetic oh dear!!! Mother, kao fu and auntie were nagging at how I should stop scratching/ rubbing and the same immediate, sympathetic reaction will be flashed on their faces once they catch sight of my red and pok-poked tummy. The summer man said I should not show anything to anyone, and I told him I wasnt gonna show him. To this totaly out-of-point comment, he gave up and buried his head in hands. hahahahah

So the laksa trouble and tummy rash were reported to my gynae when we saw him for our 26th week visit on Monday. He commented that I was putting on some weight, and I detected some approval in his tone. Well, 6 kg is on a rather low end, I think, but it's not as if I've not been eating. He advised caution on food since pregnancy may cause certain lvels of sensitivity to my stomach. Then proceeded in his usual tone to lie down for examination, and to see how bad the rash was. Even he was taken aback at the tummy and went on an "oh dear" streak for a little while. He suggested that it must have been due to something I ate, but then the rash didnt affect any other part of me. The summer man said that all doctors say that when they dont know what the reason for the problem is. Hmm... some sense in that. Anyhow, he prescribed medicine (which made me terribly drowsy) and some creams and I must say that the situation is very much improved at this point. Thank God!!!!!! You have NO idea what a relief it is...

Gynae also said baby's growing very well, and has a strong heartbeat. You know, when he was using the doppler device to listen to the heartbeat, the little fella decided to give a kick and the side of my tummy bounced up. That was all it took for gynae to conclude that bb has been giving "active kicks", to which I could only nod in resignation. The latest this little one has been up to: kicking me inwards (versus upward toward the tummy skin) at the ribs and at the bone nearer the bottom. Aw...

I have to watch the amount I eat now. If it goes beyond normal proportions, even if I really am hungry or greedy, it's detrimental. Believe it or not, I wont even be able to stand up straight, and will have some difficulty walking cos the tummy feels sooooo stretched, and I'd get breathless cos "no space" left for lungs.

I still miss alcohol. So sad... everyone will be drinking at alwayseekings' wedding and me no red wine no beer...

The summer man's leaving for NZ with his family for a month, and has so generously lent us his car!!! We'll get to drive his mazda for an entire month! Will be very helpful in getting lots of errands done.

We enrolled for an antenatal class, which will commence early next month. Cant wait to see how derod practices on bathing the baby hahahah

Arghhhhhhghghhghg!!!!!!!!!!

I'm dying of itch!!! My tummy is sooooooooooo sosoososososooso itchy. I know the skin is stretching and derod's face is so sympathetic to the red tummy, but nothing's helping! The skin's starting to have little pok poks of rash. It's so itchy I scratch my tummy unconsciously in my sleep. Any remedies?? (I wont ask my father for remedies, cos he'll say wu bi gao. To him, mopiko's the wonder medicine. He'll even use it for headaches and all...)

HELP!

All Dressed Up

Ok, not as dressed up as some of you would define, but I would think it's enough for my colleagues not to recognize me easily. Haha, yes, me and my bleah look when I go to work...

Last Sunday, an old friend from NUS got married at Raffles the Plaza and derod and I were invited to the wedding dinner. I chanced upon a dress at a very low price and happily bought it for the occasion. It's not maternity, and in size L. Some pictures for you who have not seen us for some time.

Don't worry, his hair didn't look like that all night.

Not a very clear shot due to the lighting, but still a worthwhile front-view capture.

Black is really quite deceptive, and I certainly looked bigger after the dinner. No kidding!

We Are 3

Yesterday, 1 November 2006, derod and I turned three. Yeah, it was our third wedding anniversary. Actually, time flew by so fast, I can hardly believe that we've been married for three years!

As I had to stay back at work for an event and him at worship practice, we celebrated the anniversary the day before, dining at a Korean restaurant in Suntec City. I was a bit hesitant about the venue at first, imagining kimchi was all there was to eat, but I'm glad I kept quiet and just followed him there. It was such value for the amount we ate, and what service they provided too! We ordered a bbq pork set, which comes with assortments of veggies and sides with a huge bowl of veggie mixed rice, and a Genghis Khan beef hotpot. The waitress would cook all your food for you in front of you and serve it piping hot. And it came up to less than $50!! Ok... we had a 10% discount for using Citibank, but c'mon, it's still real cheap for the amount that was served. And it was really yummy too.

Speaking about turning 3, well, it's quite literal too eh. This would be the last time we'll be celebrating it just as us two. Better remember this well before the floodgates of days of poo and wails come pouring down.

Thank God for the journey He has taken us on thus far. It has been a very enjoyable walk, including the days of thunderstorms and hurricanes.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;

Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

His faithfulness continues through all generations

Psalm 100: 3-4

Happy People

I mentioned in the last post that my father is probably the happiest person after learning that he's going to have a grandson.

You see, my father is one funny character; he refuses to be really open about his preferences e.g. the gender of the baby, and tries to be diplomatic about it, but the whole world really knows that he is kou shi xin fei. He'll be telling one and all "the other side aka derod's family will be really happy if it's a boy. His grandfather will be so disappointed if it's a girl." But you see, everyone can detect that he's the one who will be reallyyyy happy if it's a boy. Even my grandmother (his own mother) says so. Talk about being discreet/ diplomatic about his preferences. Everyone saw through him haha.

The same grandmother also seems to be failing at concealing some excitement. She called my mother upon hearing that she'll be having a second great-grandson (after ethan) and said, "This great-grandson will have the same surname as me *stops for a laugh* and he's also hokkien *stops for another laugh*."

Derod and I also made an observation -- 98% of responses to our it's-a-boy news is "congrats!!" Makes us wonder if the same reaction will be given if it was a girl ;p