Birth of Ruqaiya (remembering the day a few months ago)

It's been a looooong time since I updated but I'm sure everyone would understand the reason (HAVING A BABY). I just really don't have a lot of time to myself anymore since I have to take care of Ruqaiya Hana.

(and to exemplify I wrote the above passage nearly an hour ago before Ruqaiya started crying)

The weeks before her birth were all a flurry for me because she was overdue. Her expected date was August 25 but when that rolled by and still no contractions I was in a panic. I already had a few early alerts when I thought I had contractions but still no dilation. I was looking up all these tips on identifying labor and kept calling the childbirth center. I'm sure they were sick of me. Thing is my contractions were not regular. Sometimes they were 13 mins apart, other times 5 mins apart and then 30 mins apart and everyone was telling me they would be in a regular pattern. And when they were regular, they were like minor cramps to me and they told me they would be much stronger. Finally I just went in because I was starting to cry from the pain. Seriously, after praying Maghrib I was on the floor crying.

And when I went in I was 8 cm dilated! And the first thing I said was that I wanted a epidural! Before I thought I would go without medication but after experiencing the pain of the early contractions I know I won't be able to stand transition phase and the birth. Ahhhhh...epidural...how I loved you so.

I was able to sleep (and during the time Umar was able to come from Syracuse to Troy) during the night. I think it was about an hour before Fajr that I woke up and felt the need to push. The delivery took an hour. Several people told me that was a relatively quick delivery. An hour....quick. Nooo...an hour is still too long. Quick would be 5 minutes. I won't give the details but I was crying and yelling and finally Ruqaiya was born on August 31! Anak merdeka!

She was 21 inches long and 7 lbs and 13 oz. Huge for a person my size. No wonder I felt like my skin was going to rip apart.


Isn't she cute?

And now she's 2 months old. She's gained over 4 lbs since born and grew nearly 2 inches. She can't wear any outfit labeled for 0-3 months and her 3-6 months outfits are starting to become tight and small. She's growing so fast.

And now she's crying.

Freckle Face

For some reason I've been getting freckles on my face. I thought I was supposed to be tan enough and have the genetics so that I just tan and NOT get freckles. So far my freckles aren't that numerous or large and they've been primarily on the apples of my cheeks. It's kind of weird though. Wouldn't my Malaysian genes prevent me from getting freckles. It's not like I'm Irish or have any European blood in me. Even my Chinese parts are from southern China (the part that tans). So where are these freckles coming from?!

Baking sheets

Whenever I bake some recipes called for parchment paper and other recipes called for wax paper. I never really knew the difference or how they would affect the cookies. Well, today, making thin mints (yum), we had some cookies laid out on wax paper and some on parchment.

The type of paper that you put it on does make a difference!

The ones on the parchment paper were the crisp hard cookies that thin are usually like. However, the ones with the wax paper were more cake-like.

Both sets of cookies were from the same batch of dough and baked together, yet the results were quite different. So when baking, if the desired texture is to have a crunchy cookies, it would be useful to use parchment paper, and for softer ones use wax paper.

However, I only tested this with one kind of cookie so I'm not sure if this would apply for all. If anyone else would like to try, don't forget to tell me.

Inception reaction

Just watch Inception and for those of you that are curious, it's a really good movie. I would recommend for the people who like Sci-fi/Action movies. I do warn you it's a long movie and it's not a movie to relax to. Your mind has to be kind of sharp because it definitely gets confusing at times if you miss some parts of it. I love the special effects of it, especially the anti-gravity fighting (very Matrix-like). Sometimes I feel like going to movie theater isn't worth the $10 in order to see a movie except if it's on 3-D. Well, Inception isn't in 3-D (thank goodness) but it was definitely worth the movie I spent going to see it in theaters.

New Camera

I can't wait to get my new camera. I still have the Nikon D80 but I don't have a hand-held point and shoot. I'm not exactly the kind of person to bring a big camera with me everywhere unless I'm on trips or at scenic places. Plus ever since I got pregnant and my stomach is getting bigger, it's harder to carry it around. So we decided to get a small point and shoot that I can put in my purse and take out for impromptu pictures. I'm currently waiting to get it in the mail.

This is the one I'm waiting for. It's the Sony Cyber-shot H55. The reviews for it are pretty good. It averages around 4.5 out of 5 stars. It has 10x optical zoom, which is higher than most *hearts*. And the new sweep panorama function which was so much fun to play around with at the store. It also has this anti-blink function which gives a warning when someone's eyes are closed, which is perfect for Umar. In half of the pictures that we take Umar's eyes are somehow always closed >_<. He seems to have this uncanny habit of blinking when he hears the shutter I guess, and we don't realize his eyes are closed until we upload the pics.

I can't wait to get in the mail so I can start taking pics with it.

Sport Season

Watching the world cup and enjoying it! I realized that for some reason I don't seem to have many (if any) girlfriends that are really into sports and watching sports like I am. Kind of sad because I'll be all alone when watching sport games. Or I'll be surrounded by primarily guys.

Most of the girls I know prefer watching dramas and reality shows. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes I like watching them. But when the the Olympics or World Cup is broadcasting, those other shows can all take a backseat. There is something called Hulu for them. For sport games....watching replays online is...well...boring because you can easily know the results. Watching live is so much more exciting.

I love my husband so much since he's really into sports among other things. Many wives would complain about their husbands watching NBA playoffs and FIFA world cup soccer matches but I don't mind. I'll gladly join Umar in watching the games. Plus it gives us something else that we have in common and can talk to each other about. Can you imagine a conversation about America's Next Top Model between us?

The only sports I won't watch are football (well sometimes but I don't find it too exciting) and baseball/softball because face it....it's BORING. I'm serious. If I had married someone who wasn't into sports, I would be the "guy" and he would be the "girl." I guess it's because I was somewhat a tomboy while growing up.

Too bad the Celtics lost the finals last night. :(

Graduation!

It's been a long time since I posted on this blog but please understand that I've been busy. There were so many papers and projects to do last quarter. I was done with all my work quarter to midnight on Thursday night. And guess what....this year is my year to graduate and graduation was on Friday and Saturday! (Convocation on Friday and Commencement when I actually graduate on Saturday) hahahaha! Shows that I was busy till the day I graduate.



Now, I'm "free!"


I also got 2 diplomas because one is for my BS and one is for my MS. Yes, I graduated for both at the same time. That's why I have the golden cords/ropes (for Highest Honors in my BS) and the hood, to represent my MS.


I also walked across the stage twice! It was funny because as soon as I walked across the stage got my BS and stepped off from the stage, I had to run right in front of everyone to the other side to walk across the stage again! There were some other people that went up twice as well but they were in fairly large majors so that they had time to saunter for their second time. My major is very small and the number of people graduating was only 6 for both BS and MS degrees. I had to run because there was only like 4 to 5 people between each of my turn and usually there's about 4 people on stage at the same time. >_< Imagine how fast I had to run.


The second time, instead of just the usually congratulations and good luck. I got comments from all the deans and advisers and higher-ups about my running skills. hahahahah


With my roomie of 2 years and two "diplomas!" Hehe...yeah, just the case and they'll mail the real stuff later.

However, I'm still busy.....got to finish up more research for my Masters. At least I don't have to worry about class and just work on my thesis. ^_^ And the best thing about that is that I only need to go to lab 1-2 days a week and the rest of the time I can spend at home. Which means I can leave with my beloved husband and future daughter!


More pictures on my Facebook. :)