my twin pregnancy journal- eveeleva so buruk

someone told me over lunch, that someone in my organisation (on another floor), said that I am not carrying my pregnancy well compared to other soon-to-be mothers in my office.

in short, this person said, i've been looking buruk since i got preggie.

sigh.....

i wish i could get mad about it, but i can't.

you already know about my awful tomato nose.

and then the other day, imp sent out photos from an office event, and look at how buruk i'm sitting....

so not lady-like....at all!....

Tsk!

(that's me in pink. notice how the colleague who's 8 months pregnant is

sitting more properly than I am!)

mik's growing a tiny white beard!

Look carefully, and you can see that Mik is growing a beard, and starting to look like Santa (or in muslim circles- like a very astute ulama)!

It's his awfully cute habit of blowing, blowing, blowing bubbles with
his own spit!

His mom taught him how to do it, and now he loves to blow, blow, blow bubbles.

Of course, that cute lil beard doesn't stay put for very long, and will slowly slide down his tiny chin onto whatever  top he's wearing.

Leaving him, always a very very wet baby. So, he usually hangs out at home with a bib!

This morning, i carried him when he came over. As he was bibless, I exclaimed ,' Please don't get your spit all over auntie eveeleva's blouse!'

But really I wouldn;t have minded, he's sooooo cute!

the discussion

i've been fretting..fretting away about how this discussion with this particular person i work with was going to go. it didn't help that i was totally frustrated with this person's quality of work in the morning. and just the day before i wanted to scream, shout, hurl stuff and pull out my hair! so i was afraid i'd get carried away with all my negativity and criticism.

but i'm glad i didn't say anything then. cos i managed to cool down, think objectively and not get carried away with my emotions, and think about how best to communicate what i needed to communicate without losing the message, by either going ballistic or even worse sugar-coating to make the person feel better while i try and dish out criticism!

i hate people who sugar-coat and then complain that their staff don't get it. what do you expect? they only taste the sugar, lor!

the conversation went well. it was honest. i didn't hold back, but i don't think i was unnecessarily mean. i think i also focused on this person's strengths, although we spoke a lot more about the areas for improvement, and i think i was encouraging too. (my hubby thinks i'm full of praise for myself always, but seriously, i think i didn't do too bad today!)

i found out later from another colleague, that she has it worse! she can't even be frank with her staff about her staff's work performance, cos her staff will go all black faced on her, and ignore her, or make life difficult. At least i feel i can give honest feedback. *phew*

I later read on someone's facebook post, a quote from 'Eat, Love and Pray'- you should choose your words just as you would choose what you wear (or something alongst those lines).

I was glad that i chose my words carefully today!

my twin pregnancy journal- tomato nose

it was first my boss who pointed it out.

now i can't run away from my tomato nose.

okay so i'm expecting.

it's normal that the nose turns all red and round.

erk...all my hari raya pics look awful...

because of my tomato nose!

today, he said, 'eveeleva! your nose is redder and even cuter now'

he continued, 'we chinese would say that you're having a baby girl'.

i replied,' but my doc thinks i'm having boys'.

he responded, 'oh, maybe it's different for malays then!'

LOL...

ok boss...only universal standards apply to me ok? not racial ones!

the lil girl in her kebaya

the highlight of my weekend was seeing lil nikki all prettied up in a cute pink kebaya for raya! 

according to her mum, she's a lil vain pot. 

well, only a cute lil one year old vain pot would leave the pretty lil flower untouched in her hair! =)

this pic is..oh not so glam...but oh soooo cute! =)

doodles

visited wanton doodle's home on Sat for some makan.

i always feel rejuvenated by all his artwork-doodles around.

i luv quietly snooping around to see what's new.

while enjoying all the doodles that have been around for some time.

not there, but here

a quarter of my team is now in Hanoi for work.
i've been grounded for very obvious reasons.
and although making my hari raya rounds have been exhausting enough,
i wished i was in Hanoi with them, instead of being here.

feeling rather useless right now,
but i know i have to keep my eye on the ball!

Mike's first Eid!

He had a fabulous day! All decked out in purple, mike, mummy and daddy looked soo very smart!

his great-grandma was thrilled that he gurgled and cooed in her arms all morning! =)

Eid Mubarak 2010!

Eid came and went rather quickly this year.

But i was proud of myself on many fronts. I was only nauseas in the morning. Lots of sweets kept my head out of the toilet bowl during the day. And I manage to visit all the houses we had intended to this year, and managed to get home before 8pm, so that I could get my rest. My appetite was also very good, so I managed to sample a little of everything. And oh my, everything was absolutely delicious!

hubby and i were also decked in matching festive wear. which was very nice. and he's already decided to wear red next year. an auspicious colour for our growing family i suppose.

Eid Mubarak one an all!  =)

snore

Did you know? My husband snores.

I suppose some people have one signature snore. A snore that sounds the same all the time. My husband is different, he has a variety of snores. It's as if he has different types of snores for different occasions tucked away in some cupboard i don't know of. =)

He has the unbearable snore. VERY VERY loud. Some people have said it sounds like a drill. My brother who roomed with my hubby (before we hitched), exclaimed after one morning that there was no way he could sleep in the same room with hubby again- after being kept awake all night. Somehow i manage to sleep throught the snores. Bothers me a little, but not too much.

But my husband has this delightful snore that I love. And this morning I woke up to this delightful snoring. It's not too loud and not too soft. And it lulls me back to sleep. It's this feeling of comfort I enjoy when he snores this way. Without opening my eyes or feeling his arms around me, I know he's near, breathing and next to me.

Of course the horrid thing is that I switched off the alarm and went right back to sleep, leaving us scrambling half an hour later, trying to get out of the house on time for work.

=)

monarch obsession

i've been stuck at home. and in between shuttling from the loo and the bedroom, i've had lots of time to watch tv. my latest obsession has been with monarchs.

it all began with a great documentary about the inner workings of Windsor Castle which was followed by a series about the English Monarchy. This has included bios on the late Princess of Diana, Prince Charles. Something about the formality of everything, especially watching all the people behind the scenes work out everything for the royal family, resonates with me. Reminds me a bit of work too, although it seems much more cordial and polite in Buckingham palace, compared to our Island's offices.

I then chanced upon a lovely documentary about a monarch closer to home- Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. It was about the pertabalan (appointment) of  HRH Tunku Mukhriz, King of Negeri Sembilan. What i found most interesting was the fact that the crown isn't inherited directly via the lineage, i.e. when the king passes on, his first-born son does not inherit the crown automatically. Instead, they have a semi-democratic process in place.

Negeri Sembilan which literally translates into 9-states, is divided into 9 districts. Each district has its own elected chief. Now the king of Negeri Sembilan is chosen by these 9 chieftains. HRH Tunku Mukhriz's father who was King of Negeri Sembilan had passed on when he was a young boy. And the 9 chieftains had selected his uncle to inherit the crown. When his late uncle, the late King passed on, HRH Tunku Mukhriz was selected from among his cousins to be king.

I believe Negeri Sembilan is a unique case in Malaysia and perhaps in the rest of the world.

Now what struck me most about the documentary, I must admit were the princes. *LOL* I was very impressed by the way they carried themselves and their British English accents. I was especially swept away by the younger Prince, Tunku Zain, who although like his older brother was very articulate had a special something about him. Although he is the younger prince, it is interesting that there seems to be no sense of entitlement at all among the brothers, after all, who gets to be King after their father is fair game. Afterall, the older son doens't automatically succeed his father.

Okay, i also think he's quite cute and seems very accomplished...afterall he did come up with a new arrangement of the state's anthem......heee...*drool*

Anyways, taken by Tunku Zain, i googled him and found to my surprise that he's a research fellow at the LKY school just minutes away from me. Sooo exciting! But soo sad. Seeing that i am married and with some additions on the way. *groan*.

LOL!

mike sakit

missed him yesterday. he was at home with a fever.

pic courtesy of his mommy/daddy's iphone

get well soon sweetie. =)

sayang

you know you are someone's sayang when your request to be tepuk (patted) to sleep is received with immediate agreement.

i like being tepuk (patted) to sleep...

i see now why babies like it very much...