Malaysian Wife, Australian Life

Michael, Ayisha & I were out partying last weekend! Woohooo! But, errrr..with a place called Peekaboo, you know it's a kid's party yeah? For the past year living in Bali, out of us 3, Ayisha has had the most invites for parties. Lucky for me, I got to join all of these parties. Michael, not so much. This is because almost all invitations that we receive for her specifically state 'for mums & kids only'. It took me a while to get used to this actually. In Malaysia & even Australia, most kids parties (esp 3 years old and below) would include both parents or don't really specify otherwise as it's a gathering of family & friends. Like, how many friends does a 1 year old have? Or to be exact, it's actually an excuse for the parents to celebrate and have a get together, with the added excitement of a fancy birthday cake & a chance for us mums ( yang over) to put together the ultimate party bags. I would find myself asking my friends here for...

I'm about 4 1/2 months pregnant now. Wow, that went by pretty quick. I don't think I look pregnant yet but I definitely feel & look fat. I went for my monthly check-up last weekend and found out I've put on 2kg in a month. My clothes are feeling rather tight around the tummy and my arms. Don't really understand why the arms but they absolutely feel like at least a kilo fatter - my sleeves keep getting stuck at the elbows when putting & taking my top off.  As discussed in my  previous pregnancy  as to the shape of the tummy, I think this time it's a watermelon too. Which means it's not pointy at all but rather spread out flabbily across ( belambak gitu ). Which means, when my friends see me they say 'hey, you're still not showing yet but you do look a bit chubbier', while poking my hips. Which also means, I think I'm having a girl.  With Ayisha, we didn't find out the sex of the baby. The whole surprise element is apparently a very ...

Today, Ayisha's school had its annual Christmas Performance. Last year, Ayisha was still new, having been only 1 month to playschool. She was about 17 months and one of the youngest in the youngest Starlet 1-2 year olds class. She didn't even get on stage because she was clinging on to me for dear life. Her class performed the Christmas Angels song, with the Starlets supposed to be wearing white. I dressed her in white pants and white t-shirt and was feeling so left out when all the other mothers dressed their lil girls in pretty lil dresses. What was I thinking? I still cringed a bit when I thought about that day but didn't matter. We were amateurs back then. :p This year, she's in the Moonbeam 2-3 year olds class. Still one of the youngest amongst the other Moonbeamers, but hey, we've been to playschool for about a year now ok. We're seasoned playschoolers, hehe. Her class was supposed to be wearing white again this year and lo & behold - she's got th...

Our friends from Sydney, Ces & Reanne, have left us this morning. It's been great having them around. Bit unfortunate that they're both a bit sick on and off. And few days before they left, even Michael got sick too. :( However last weekend, right after they got back from Gili, we did get to go away and spend some time together. We went to Lembongan Island, about 20-30 mins boat ride from Sanur beach. I'm not a big fan of boat rides, especially more so now that I'm pregnant. I wasn't sure how bad my sea + morning sickness would be even if it's just a short 20 min ride. But I was assured that the tide's low and the boat ride's fast and smooth etc. Plus the fact that Michael has already booked a 2 bedroom villa in one of the nicest resorts in Lembongan, so I sucked it up and went along. The moment we arrived at the boat office, we felt like we're on holidays already. Complimentary drinks and being chauffeured for 2 mins from the office...

We actually have guests arriving from Sydney last weekend. We took them to Ubud on Sunday for the Monkey Forest (again!! someone's super happy :p, I stayed outside) and then to our favorite Sari Organic restaurant. They absolutely loved it. They're now in Gili for the week and will be back with us this weekend.  In the meantime, on weekdays, it's back to just Ayisha & me and we've been spending a lot of time indoors. See, with me being all pregnant and sick, I couldn't stand walking around for too long, even by myself as I get quite faint and nauseous. I didn't want to risk passing out having Ayisha in tow so we don't go out much anymore, just the two of us. Playing in the garden & having a swim are also pretty rare because of the same reason. Poor Ha :( Luckily she goes to playgroup 3 times a week. I used to be doing errands while she's at school but I couldn't even do much of those anymore and Michael sometimes helps send & pick her u...

...unexpectedly getting pampered for no special reason on no special occasion. It was just another Saturday. Days before that, Michael has been telling me that we're going to be doing something special that weekend but he didn't want to tell me what it is. Drove me crazy but I really do love surprises so I went along with it, asking casually what to bring, what to wear etc, thinking he might slipped. But he didn't. So where did we end up? He dropped me off at my favorite Spa place in Ubud, where he booked me for a half day treatment of a four hand massage (woohoooo!!), a body scrub, a facial and hair creambath. I was ecstatic :)) It was a total surprise because I really thought we'd be doing something together. The treatment of course, was out of this world crazy fabulous. Just what I needed after lots of days feeling blergh & nauseated.  Where did they end up? Where he'd always wanted to go - Monkey Forest, Ubud. (thanks for THAT not being my surprise! :p...

I don't mean to brag (ok, actually I am :p) but when it comes to making trifle, I am one of the best. The fact that there's really nothing in a trifle that could go wrong is the main reason why this is true. Layers of soft yummy cake, fruits, custard (mmmmmm...), jelly, whipped cream and more fruits - how could it not be so good? You can never fail with trifle. Unless if you make it ala Rachel from Friends - putting beef sauteed with peas & onions in it! I may not be known as making the best cakes & bakes in my family but they know that trifle is my thing. It's always a hit when I make it. I've also shared this with a lot of my friends, some of whom have become such an expert at making them, even better mine. This is true because one time, Michael actually asked me to learn how to make it from my friend when she served her trifle, without realizing that I've made the exact same thing for him few times before. Isk.. There's really nothing much to it and...

We're now back in Bali. As always, it all felt too quick. We arrived late Sunday night. Delayed flight with Air Asia separating mother & child when we did our web check-in. What's that all about? It was ok that Michael & I got separated but to separate Ayisha too? We emailed our complaint only to be served with 'you should buy your seats' automated response. When we requested to be seated together at baggage drop off, the staff said she couldn't help. On the plane, we were hoping good people would kindly swap seats with us - same ones, only different rows. But they both wanted to be directly behind their other family members and refused to swap just across the aisle. The thing is, in the middle of the flight, one of them moved to the front next to her family who happens to have an empty seat next to them and another lady moved to who knows where. One came back every now and then (maybe to check if we took it!) then at the last minute, came back way after se...