Typhoon...walking...rocking...

Nearly ten o'clock here, bed time for me and Xiaobao...Today typhoon signal no. 1 was in effect. It rained the whole day :/ it was almost pitch dark at 4pm...thought I had to stay behind and wait for the rain to stop before I can go home! But I need to do shopping today or else there's no food to make lunchbox for tomorrow! :/

Luckily, the rain eased a bit at 4:30, so me and Manneka decided to leave while it's drizzling...walking in the rain with bags and umbrella is difficult. My slippers are not slippery however 'cause my feet were wet, so it's wet against the slippers! I had to walk really slow and carefully, so tiring :( The ground on the MTR looks slippery too...I had to clench all my toes in order to grip onto my slippers as I walk...

Got back home at around 5:30, we shopped and cooked and now I am looking at my lunchbox, it's huge lol - I think I should just eat two egg tarts tomorrow morning for breakfast and that's it...should probably eat my lunchbox for 2 rounds...though they are all vegetables, only very little meat :) I like my lunchbox. Once you start eating home-made food, takeout meals just won't do...they taste too artificial..

Xiaobao is doing good today, moving a lot as usual. He managed to pop my girdle as I walked out of the toilet and I had to go back in to fix it. He is getting *big*...colleagues at school kept asking me 'shouldn't you be on leave now? Why are you still here...' - that's how big my tummy looks to people..they thought I am about to be in labor! But I still have a month left!!Everyday I hope Xiaobao won't be too big when he comes out...hope he's nice to me...

Last weekend, Xiaobao was sticking out - real out - as usual, I took a pic on the phone and here it is:


Lot of people are talking about taking professional pictures during pregnancy, those pictures will be taken completely naked - well I expect some sort of towel over your belly but not really naked pictures...I don't think our children would like to see their naked mom lol. But so far that's what I've got of my tummy :)

Having a parade, aren't we?

A nice snooze feels good :) This morning we got up early to grab dim-sums on the podium for breakfast. We got there by half seven since we don't wanna share a table. Last time we left straight away being told we have to share table so we figured we'll go down early this time hopefully there aren't too many people.

Luckily we got a biggish table this time, there are quite a lot of elderly there already! They must have got there at 6am! Anyway we've ordered our dim-sums and this man decided to share table with us. I guess we can't really stop others to share our table lol. Today we had hon's favourite char-siu bao, I had my feng-jao (chicken feet lol), char-siu rice rolls, quail egg siu-mai, and a pan-fried vegetable and meat buns (beijing style I can tell). Very yummy....normally we also have har-gao
(prawn dumplings) and normal siu-mai (pork dumplings). But we thought we'll try something different this time, so we didn't order those :) Don't these pictures make you hungry ;)

After breakfast, we headed back home, sat on the sofa and rest. For about an hour, I was slightly 'fishing', then I decided to push myself up and went to grab a snooze. I just got up :) Hon's still sleeping...It's lunch time soon but I am not hungry yet and definitely not hon if he's still asleep. Yesterday he fell asleep at the table for a whole day!! I knew he was asleep but I didn't know he managed to fall asleep at the table in front of his computer for nearly the whole day I was at school!! I have to say Xiaobao definitely has his sleeping and twisting genes. They both twist like snake in bed! Well right now Xiaobao is doing that in my womb but very soon we shall see the resemblance ^_^

Earlier I was trying to take a few pictures of a moving Xiaobao. He was sticking real out on my right again making my belly looked really pointy lol. However it just wouldn't show as much on the picture *sigh* - guess Xiaobao is shy already lol. Speaking of Xiaobao, he's actually having hiccup again. My friend told me that usually happens whenever the baby's having a hell of a move inside and later he'll have hiccups lol. oooh....looks like our Xiaobao doesn't seem to give up, he's still wiggling and parading around inside with his hiccups. These days with all these trapped wind and him moving around. It got me very creative into thinking that Xiaobao is making friends with these trapped wind and show them around the womb - 'This is where I stick my head in...' 'this is the soft spot I like to poke and kick sometimes' (lol) otherwise why did I get so much trapped wind lately...And oh my nose is itchy too (so as hon's :/) I hope I didn't get my colleague's cold last Thursday! Always wanting to sneeze and have blocked nose :(

Tomorrow we'll go and watch Surrogates, can't wait!!!! :D :D :D

Better sleeps

Two days in a roll, Xiaobao seems to let me sleep more at nights, on average I can sleep without getting up (ie. either to the loo or just waking up) for about 5 hours. That's pretty amazing. I can certainly feel the difference these nights' sleep do to me the next day. I can walk faster and I feel more energetic.

This morning, though, I had a lot of trapped wind, don't know how. Yesterday after school, I thought I caught my colleague's cold! I was sneezing and had blocked nose. Was better at home but this morning once I stepped out of the flat, sneezing starts again!! :-/ Plus the trapped wind in the morning, tummy wasn't too happy. Fortunately I got it out before I headed to school... so that's a relieve. Travelling with bags and Xiaobao and trapped wind isn't fun.

Today is Friday! *yay* - this Sunday we'll be watching Surrogates! Looking forward to it :) the trailer seems very good. Xiaobao will arrive soon, til then we won't have time to do anything fancy like this anymore. Shall enjoy the last few times when I can :) Don't think xiaobao will be allowed into the cinema so small lol.

Ah..the bell just rang, I have to go to my homeroom now..

Evil claws

Another rather pointless checkup at Kwong Wah today. We've literally waited for more than 2 hours and went in to see the doctor for less than 3 minutes. I was told to get onto the checkup bed, nurse showed me the baby's heart beat whilst the doctor told me about my previous two blood tests (which are fine as I expected), then doctor came over and used a plastic rule to measure my tummy. Then the horrible 'claws' came! She used both her thumb and index finger pressed on the top and the bottom of my belly - I didn't know why she did that - I just know it hurts! Didn't know you can press a pregnant belly this hard!!!

Afterward she said 'the baby's head is down already, but we won't know for sure until it's the last 3 weeks time about his position' - I thought you'll know if you use an ultrasound! That's right, never been on ultrasound at Kwong Wah before! Dr. Fong said public hospital won't give you ultrasound unless you have some problem or that you are very special, i.e. very old or troubled'. And since I am neither, chances of me having ultrasound there is zero. Every time the consultation time is getting shorter and shorter, breaking the record today! *sigh*

But nothing to complain, I have a day off from school because of that. Tomorrow is our Professional Development day. Back in school for 8:30, so that's not too bad I guess. The morning session will be fine 'cause Wil will be hosting it. Though 3 hours in the afternoon is gonna be about IT training, how to use moodle, google apps, interactive whiteboard, etc. I wonder if I can skip it if I know how to use them already...have a feeling it's gonna be a waste of time :/

Dinner's ready, I have a lot of green leaves today :D waiting for the rice to finish, then I can prepare my lunchbox!

Hammer my back please

Had a better sleep last night, only got up once to the loo. Guess I was thoroughly exhausted, went to bed at 10pm and didn't wake up until 3:20ish. Usually these days I'll wake every 2-3 hours. Last night I had about 5 hours of sleep!! Back still aches and turning in bed is still difficult but last night was relatively better than previous days.

Tomorrow is another checkup at Kwong Wah. Looks like breakfast in Burger King (mmm sausage and egg croissant and potato bites :)

Yesterday morning was *very* exhausting on my way back to school. Walking proves to be very difficult and tiring, every step I take feels so heavy and I was carrying my bag and my lunchbox bag. Used to be fine but lately (a pretty drastic change I'd say) it's been getting more and more difficult very quickly. This morning I thought I shall feel better, but when I got to Kowloon Tong, I was very tired already, I walked fairly slow (lot slower than I normal would walk) and I really wanna sit down when I got to the KCR platform, however the queue at the first class session was full and not many people in the normal space, so of course I went for the normal platform since the train is due to arrive in 1 minute. I was hoping I could get a seat on the Ma On Shan Rail. Unfortunately, I didn't get to sit down until we got to Che Kung Temple. My back was sore as I sat back and again I was sweating. Though *lot* better than yesterday.

Yesterday was crazy, I soaked my entire top and people on the train were of course staring at me. They had no idea how hot it is for pregnant women in these crazy hot days. But today is lot better, the weather I mean. It wasn't suffocating kind of hot when I went to the kitchen this morning. Usually I'll start sweating when I brush my teeth...but today I was fine...that's why I thought I should walk fairly well but still no...cos it's heavy.....:/

I had my Pocari Sweat today as usual, don't know how I can survive without it, I couldn't imagine how I'll feel if I don't have one yesterday. 4 lessons non-stop in the morning, I literally dragged myself to class but feeling a bit better as we went along...

Today I still have 5 lessons but they are all separated with breaks here and there. It shouldn't be too bad I guess...they'll be doing listening practice or presentation, so that give me a chance to sit down as well. Looking forward to after school as usual...

Xiaobao on the other hand is very active; twisting and turning everywhere he can explore. One night I had trapped wind after dinner and it's making my tummy so painful that I had to lie down and hubby was rubbing my tummy. I was taking short and fast breathe, it seems to ease the pain a bit. Cold sweat and what not...hubby asked 'what can I do to help?' I actually said 'get him out!!' Guess I lost my mind there and then.... I can now imagine those pregnant women screaming at the top of their lungs saying crazy things like 'get out of my sight, I don't wanna see you' at their husband. Read it in the pregnancy bible book and thought it's funny. Now I truly believe the possibility of its happening!

There goes my morning assembly period, lesson in about 20 minutes time, I shall get ready and head up now. Hope Xiaobao can give me strength instead of taking it ...

Can I roll instead of walk?

It's been two days since I last updated. Whenever I want to update it, I was either too tired or didn't get round to it because of work. Last Wednesday I took a medical leave and headed over to St.Paul for a quick checkup. Part of my tummy was feeling numb for some unknown reasons. Hubby found something called 'Shingles' on the 'net which could be very serious, so we thought best get it checked out before it's too late. Managed to squeeze in a time slot with Dr. Fong, we arrived at the hospital before 4pm, registered and there were 2 people in front of me that didn't show up, so we got to see him at about 5pm. Dr. Fong was a bit surprised to see me a week early (next appointment was supposed to be 24th Sept), so I explained and mentioned about 'shingles' - he said the good and bad about the Internet is that it could 'scare' people like this. Apparently shingles is very serious and it's very painful for pregnant women. Once he said the term in Cantonese, I know what I have is not it. It literally means 'growing snake' around the belly. It's a type of skin problem and a snake-like thingy will be growing around the belly, it is believe that if it grows all the way round the belly once, the person will die. Well that's what I heard when I was young anyway. I guess it should be too painful not to get it check out and waited til it grows around the belly once!

Anyway had the usual ultrasound session. Xiaobao was lying sideways (head down position), all his limbs were on my right side. No wonder my right side was always sticking out, as if it's empty on my left! Needless to say it doesn't feel good when walking or lying or doing anything for that matter. Though I was worried that he's lying horizontally because there was times when both sides of my tummy were sticking out and I had no idea how he does that apart from his lying horizontally. I wouldn't want him to be in horizontal position... not ideal for delivery.

Before meeting Dr. Fong, I had to do my routine urine test, when I gave the test paper to the nurse, she gasped and told me not to move. She said 'wow Mrs. stay still, you have 3 positives this time! We need to jab your finger' - I didn't know what 3 positives means but I know finger-jab means my sugar level in blood is too high. I was surprised and scared. A nurse took me to this room, she instructed me to sit down and don't move. Asked me what I had for lunch (well, a plate of noodles with beef - that can't be it right??), I asked her if it's painful. She said 'yes a little bit painful :/) I thought of asking if I can go get my husband but she told me not to move and she's already getting those tools ready. My heart was beating so loud and fast, anxious like hell! Don't know what it'll be like. This is my first time to get finger-jab!

She rubbed something (I guess it's alcohol) on my left hand middle finger. Then I saw the device with a needle attached to it. It's big :( and a plaster ready at the side....I thought 'look away, don't look don't look, it'll be over soon!!' - Before I could see anything, well the device was square, so it's kinda hidden from where I can see the needle going in. I asked 'it's finished?' Apparently so! *Phew* always better to be occupied with something else, so that you won't know when the needle's going in...Nurse said 'oh, it's 6.1, that's normal' - I thought 'WHAT??!! then why did you jab me!!!' *sigh*

I was told to wait outside the room. Hubby saw me standing there but it's too far for him to see the plaster on my finger, he didn't know why I had to stand there...The nurse said 'I'll give you another pee pot, the urine test might not be accurate, so I won't write that on your record, we'll do the pee pot test for you later. I asked "well this time, I dripped on the test paper for a bit longer this time, is that why it interfere with the result?", Nurse said "oh, that might be it" - my next thought "well shouldn't you tell me before?"?!! *sigh*

Since I just finished the urine test on paper, I had to wait before I could pee again in the pot. At the moment, Dr. Fong's already told me to go in. He knows about my urine test result and said 'no need to do the pee pot, you are fine' - I like how firm he is and how certain he sounds when he speaks to me. Gave me all the confidence that I am fine. He explained that usually if sugar level in blood is high, it'll show on urine test. But the blood test (finger jab) is most accurate. And 6.1 is normal (not that I know what 6.1 actually means), But I am satisfied as long as I know I am 'normal' - that's all I need to hear at that moment.

According to the length and size of Xiaobao's head, he's now a 35 weeks old baby though I was just 32 weeks (yes he's gonna be a big baby). Dr. Fong said 'well you two are big built, so your baby is likely to be big, I foresee it to be 7.5+ pounds'. Well when I was born, I weighed 7.5 pounds. Indeed what goes around, comes around....I shall experience what mom went through for me.....

We got my vitamin supplies and left the hospital at around 6ish. We went to a local burger bar and had dinner there since I didn't have preference for food that night. We both had a burger and one side dish (chips with cheese and chicken wings), the burgers were *huge*! After dinner, we headed home and got back at around 8ish. After shower, I was ready to sleep...

Lately moving around in bed proves to be *very* difficult. Every time I have to move on a count of three! Launching myself and everything, even though it might just be a turn on my side...something use to be so easy before can be so difficult right now.

I am now waking up every 2 hours during the night, either just wake up or need to visit the loo. Like the website says 'now your body is preparing/ practicing the first month of feeding your baby, i.e. waking up every 2 hours! Well it's true that having a baby to hold onto is better than dragging your heavy body to the loo alone...

I have lesson in about half an hour, I shall get ready, will write more later.

Numbness

Typhoon Kuppo has gone already, though strong wind signal no.3 and amber warning are still hoisted. Apparently some of the classrooms in school are damaged and flooded. We'll still be going in tomorrow. Shame the typhoon doesn't stay for one more day. That would have been great lol.

Just finished dinner, waiting for food to settle then do the washing up. Still drinking my orange and grape juice. Not even 8pm yet, so we are doing good tonight. Tomorrow I have three lessons, so not too bad, though always take some use to after a long weekend like this. Getting up at 6pm when there is no school just feels different when you do have to get up at 6am for school.

For some reasons, tummy is feeling numb, I can't feel much when I scratch it or poke it. Well of course I feel it if I poke it hard, but otherwise not much :/ like the skin's covered in a layer of anesthetic :/

Lunchbox for tomorrow has eggplants, vegetables, bitter marrow fried with pork. I am pretty proud of my invention. Well not that it's my invention but my first time cooking it. Not too bad I think :)

Everyday I look forward to my lunchbox time, considering it's my own cooking, doing pretty well. Though tonight was having tummyache while cooking, that's not too good an experience. But have to cook it or else no lunchbox tomorrow, that'll be bad. *sigh* wish I have alternative...but not much luck in that prospect....

Tummy is getting heavier and heavier...now after dinner, I have to literally hold it *up* with my both hands....after a few minutes and let go, I could feel the imbalance thanks to gravity :/

Typhoon Koppu

It's typhoon signal no. 8 here, all schools closed! Wonder if they'll be closed tomorrow. Only if the typhoon waited for one more day, then I might Wednesday off as well! :) Time flies, today's Monday already. Last night was a bit difficult, I had trapped wind and didn't get better until after 4 hours of stirring around. Pretty painful with Xiaobao moving around in there as well! Before, I would have taken Po Chai pills to get the wind out, now I couldn't take pills so it took me 4 hours to settle it :( having trapped wind is like family condition, we tend to get that a lot or easily get wind into our body. But since I've been pregnant, this was the first time. Don't ever want it again....painfulllllll!!

Yesterday was pretty uneventful, we went out to Dragon center for lunch, then wandered to Wellcome to do some vegetable shopping, then headed home. Been sleeping a lot lately. Can easily doze off wherever I sit or lie down. This morning I woke at 7am, slept again at 9am, then up at 11am again, then dozed off at 12pm, then up again at 2:30 !!! Only went out for afternoon tea and bank at around 5pm. After that I was reading the Pregnancy Bible at 6pm, finished the whole book at 9:30! I know everything now:)

Was just getting a bit peckish. I had a wife cake. I thought that afternoon tea will be enough as dinner...I might have some milk before i head to bed actually....I found a little story about wife cake on wikipedia, here it is :)

The lower right of my tummy still feels a bit weird, as in it's not painful but a hint of soreness. If I slightly press it, it feels better....otherwise it's sore....like a wound trying to heal....:/

Actually I might have some green grapes...

Mask on - finale

Yesterday was the last day in school with mask on. Hopefully no more mask on Wednesday when we return to school. Yes we have Monday and Tuesday off!!!!! Because there will be a 'deep cleaning' in our school, no one needs to go in!! I shall enjoy this long weekend :)

Today we went back for our last workshop about short stories, I have to say I enjoy this one better than our last one about drama. I guess the tutor is experienced so that makes all the difference. I use to think that I am not that creative a person. But today seems to show that I am the most creative one in our team (lol), we were told to come up with 4 different story outlines for the same ending and we were in groups of three, it took me less than 30 seconds to come up with not three, but four stories. Tutor came to us and said 'all done?' - we nodded, he said you guys can take a nap now lol. After each group shared their stories outlines, tutor seems to like mine the best and asking our group how we did it and did it so fast. My group mates pointed at me saying 'we have a creative one here" - that feels good, never thought I am creative :) I guess today I was just lucky enough to have my moments heh.

We finished our workshop at 12pm sharp. Katty booked the buffet in Cafe Hyatt, Shatin. Her husband and Eric drove us there. It was a very nice buffet, we all enjoyed it very much. I made sure I had a *little bit* of everything :) Let me recall, I had king prawn, water snail thingy (by the way, that's the only picture I can find on google image, the greenish snail like creature looks exactly like what I had today, I had two of that:) it's fully cooked though but they were put on a big ice to keep them fresh and cool, so it looks like as if it's raw. You can imagine it's the Japanese session of the buffet:), beef, curry chicken, dumplings, noodles, fishballs, Italian sausage, spaghetti, lasagna, pizza, fried rice, rice noodles, vegetables, pork, lotus root, peppers, Caesar salad. Dessert: tiramisu, apple pastry, ice-cream. Fruits: watermelon, honey-dew melon, papaya, pineapples, strawberries, melon, grapes, orange. Wow that does look like a lot right lol. Now you can tell what I mean by a *little* bit of everything, like I have 2 pieces of curry chicken, one dumpling, one slice of beef, one slice of pizza, etc. How how I manage to eat all these different kinds of food :) Very nice indeed!!! And guess what, I didn't even need dinner tonight hah! Though today I sweat alot, so am drinking Pocari Sweat - a type of Ion supply drink :) Went out with Hubby to grab his dinner, he fancies Freshness Burger, we walked there and that's my evening walking exercise, I thought if I am hungry later, I could eat the supple at home. That's a big 'if' though if I am ever gonna get hungry later :)

*sigh* tonight the playground out there is having function again! I think it's the ghost festival or something, lots of burning and singing opera. It's believe that the songs will scare the ghost away and people burn paper houses, paper cars to the dead, so that they can 'come and take it back' - last night the whole thing didn't finish until 12am!! Couldn't sleep.... good job I had a little snooze this afternoon, so I am not exactly tired or sleepy. I shall wait til I am sleepy enough, then I'll head to bed...

Sunday tomorrow...wonder what to do... Will go and window-shop air-con, see the price range if nothing else...

Mask on - day 4

Yesterday having to call all the parents in my homeroom, I was pretty tired in the evening. I was unconscious by 8:30! Didn't even get up and have dinner would you believe :O this morning woke up feeling very hungry (not surprised), I ate a banana and a cake before I get ready for work.

It must be the mask I am wearing that gives me ulcers and spots around my mouth. Was drinking my water in school and felt that the corner of my mouth felt a bit sore :-/ came home, looked at the mirror and my mouth was basically surrounded by tiny blisters and spots *sigh* #_# add to the unpleasantness of wearing a mask!

Today I had 3 lessons non-stop in the morning, plus I have to call the parents. Though I only have the morning first period to call however experience taught me yesterday that most parents haven't even got up yet during that time, so I thought I'll need help to finish calling all the parents and still being able to email the updates to school by noon. I called for help. After I finish all my lessons at 11:35, my colleague told me that our dear student development officer went to my colleague's desk and asked 'how come you are calling the parents, you shouldn't be call them, it should be their class teacher, Miss Li makes the phone call'. Colleague didn't make a noise. Apparently he went to my desk, saw my fully packed timetable and went back to my colleague and said 'OK, today you can help Miss Li', she then replied 'I know, that's why I was helping her in the first place cos she told me she had a full schedule this morning, it's impossible for her to make all the phone calls in time for 12pm' - The officer responded that it was the Principal's idea that only class teacher should make the call 'cause we want to appear as 'friendly and nice' instead of having admin. staff to call which sounds too 'technical' - *sigh* did he think we class teachers are too free or something!

That was the little episode today, tomorrow we have to call parents again (at least it's the last this week! Thank god), I swear that some parents are starting to find us annoying rather than 'friendly' - they must be thinking 'don't you have better things to do?' Yeah I do actually!!

One good news today though, next Monday and Tuesday the entire school will be closed for 'thorough and deep cleaning' as a preventive measure against H1N1. We were all thrilled (lol). Though this Saturday we still have to go back for more workshop, it'll be half day, finishes at 12pm, after that Katty's booked the lunch buffet at Cafe Hyatt, Shatin to celebrate *nice*. She said today 'we can REALLY enjoy our buffet this Saturday now!" - agree :)

Tonight's dinner is gonna be bitter melon fried with eggs, you might wonder what is bitter melon. It literally tastes a bit bitter, hence the name. But it's very healthy and it's considered 'cool' type of food. More for me :) Just for your information, I use to eat the ripe bitter melon, its seeds are very (red) sweet :), that's how I know bitter melon when I was young. For cooking, we only use those green ones, can't really cook the skin of the ripe ones. One only eats the seeds if it's ripe. You can see the difference between the seeds on a green bitter melon :)

Apart from bitter melon fried with eggs, also gonna have eggplants and sweet beans fried with sausages. That's it for tonight's dinner.

Ah babyplus' finished now, shall head to the kitchen...

Mask on - day 3

Yesterday was rather 'hot' in school with the mask and everything. I sat in my English group's oral lesson with their speaking teacher. I nearly fell asleep sitting there with the fan blowing on my head. I just didn't feel the air-con kicked in... after 40 minutes of trying to stay awake and the fact that they weren't really engaged nor doing what the teacher told them. It makes the whole atmosphere even more boring than it already is!

After one lesson, the speaking teacher's gone and I took over. I had to express my boredom to them by getting them all up to speed and telling them my expectation in my lessons and that I can't stand boring lessons like this. Soon enough they pulled themselves together and we finished our lesson very quickly. By then my mask was soaking wet already, difficult to breathe if nothing else. 'raining' is part of my daily routine nowadays. Yes heavy sweating. Yesterday my entire top was soaking wet by the time I arrived school! I had to let the fan blow at me constantly throughout the first period (I didn't join that oral lesson) so that my top won't have different color patches! Guess I won't be wearing that top again :P At least not in hot days (lol)

Yesterday afternoon was rather uneventful, was hoping to do some uni though I haven't finished reading the textbook, so I couldn't really...but the book's at home and everyday after school, all I am doing is cooking and washing and cleaning, by the time all is done, it'll be shower time. After shower, it's bed time (10:30), so not really time to read my book. Don't even get round to let Xiaobao listens to his YBCR CD... how can a woman do so many things in one day, to work, to cook, to clean, to wash, oh to study... *sigh* not to include the time spend(or waste) on feeling painful on the back or everywhere else ...

Today I have 2 lessons, one before and one after lunch. I had a rather big lunchbox today lol. It has u-dong (noodles), spinach, choi sum, green beans with eggs, pork knuckle meat (got it from Taste yestday), broccoli with lobster meatballs. Well the name suggests that it's made of lobster meat but I doubt it. Might be some fake processed stuff and added some color and flavourings to make it looks like lobster meat :) Don't worry, I am not eating those processed food a lot, only occasionally, actually this is the first time and I only have half of the meatball in my lunchbox. Seeing all those dish in my lunchbox, you might think my lunchbox must be huge. Well today is rather big :) but still the same box lol. Since I put a little bit of everything in my box to add variety of nutrient. Though greens portion will always be bigger than the meat bit. So seeing that pork knuckle meat picture, don't think I put the whole thing in my box hehe...just a little bit of everything really...

I also brought my sesame seed dessert, it's in the fridge right now, like it chilled :) Just for your information, Chinese have this belief that during the last trimester, I need to eat some 'cool' kind of food. 'Cool' here is not temperature kind of cool but in terms of Chinese medicine theory. It is believe that 'hot' stuff will give you spots on your face and 'cool' stuff won't. However it also has to do with one's body type. Say if you are 'hot' based body type, imagine eating lots of 'hot' stuff like chilly, durian, mango, those 'hot' type of food will thus give you more spots on your face. Whereas if you are 'cool' based body type and you eat 'cool' types of food like watermelon, sesame seed, etc. you'll feel 'weaker' relatively and it's sad that women eat those things while they are having period, it won't have with the stomach cramp. Of course these theories are non-existent in western medicine, and yet we are so used to here. I don't know what makes the food 'cool' or 'hot', I just know which kind is which, but I don't know all the food. Sometimes I need to ask around, usually older Chinese know these stuff better :) I am surrounded by those experience people in school, they'll tell me or ask me if I started eating watermelon or sesame seed dessert yet. That's how I know sesame seed dessert is 'cool' ;)

OK my first lesson is at 12:30, I shall chill and think about my uni... more updates later!

Mask on - day 1

Today is still very hot, for some reasons I didn't feel any air-con on the train to Tai Wai this morning. A very nice lady offered her seat to me, so that I can at least sit down. Breathing heavily and 'raining' like a pig. Got back to school at 7:54am. Oops one more minute late, I'll be talked to by someone :P Guess I did walk rather slow this morning ...

I didn't have my double period this morning which was very good (because of the flu suspension), I did some more planning for my other class. It's coming out nicely, can't wait to show my students what they need to do (lol). Basically some more project/ presentation for them to do :P

After my double period with the G8 students, I bumped into Wil on my way back to my desk. Apparently he's visiting other English teachers' lessons. Wish he came to mine 'cause today my students were doing presentation, so it's very student-centered. I know he likes to see lessons like that. And to be honest, I think I'll make it more like this, I do a hell of a lot less in lesson and students are more engaged. My students are using the computer to do their presentation, I was just there to give comment and asking them further questions. I quite like this class, at least they show signs of independent thinking during lesson! Now that's something :) I can work on their critical thinking skills :) Aren't I integrating technology into my classroom now *giggles*

One more lesson to go in....6 minutes. I shall go to the loo and get ready now. More updates later.

Kung fu xiaobao

So far today kinda uneventful. Didn't have dinner last night. After breakfast this morning, picked up some more vegetables and cooked some sweet corns for snacks. Am now making mung bean soup (it's *cool* for the system, I should eat more during my last few months to ensure smooth delivery, yes some Chinese believes which I thought I'll follow, no harm done cos I like different sorts of beans anyway)

Watermelon is another *cool* fruit, so am drinking watermelon juice to cool (temperature wise here) down cos I just came from the kitchen which is always boiling hot! Our air-con is really messed up, need to replace it because I reckon it'll die any time soon. Basically the room just isn't 'cold' at all after leaving it on for the whole night and we even need to have the fan on when sleeping...well it is more than a decade old now. This is the only air-con I've seen ever since I am in HK (lol) I guess it's been doing its job quite well...time to retire...

Xiaobao wise, he's seriously kicking some *shxt* out of me lately. Whilst I am typing, he's sticking out real hard, my tummy is basically a triangle in the front! People here say a round tummy is a girl and a pointy one is a boy. I think he likes others to know it's a he. Well we all know that ... can you please stop sticking out or kicking...Sleeping proves to be a bit more difficult now that he's so 'active'. He used to react to babyplus and move around when it's on, but now he's just having fun kicking the devise while listening to it. Either way, I am getting all the kicks. See the picture, he's sticking all the way on my right! It's stone hard. No exaggeration.



Tonight we are gonna have sweet peas with ham, sausages fried with eggs (so far that's what we have in the fridge), might have to get more ingredients later. Oh we have beef, but nothing to fry it with. Need broccoli...I just saw a growing garlic underneath the cooker - strange...it must have been there since mom!!!, it's growing antennas....

As for lunch, think we'll have noodles with lettuce and fish balls :) For your reference, 'fish balls' aren't really it's literal meaning of being fish's balls. Instead they are made of fish, just in the shape of a ball. They come in different forms, some are deep fried fish balls (they are not crispy though) just that they have a golden coat to it instead of the normal white. Or you can have curry fish balls. One of our famous local snacks here on the street. Loads in Mongkok. This picture will do :) this dude is enjoying his fish balls with a cold drink. On his back is our typical stalks in Mongkok selling street snacks. They are not especially expensive, usually $5 or $10 for each item. Depends on what you order, you might as well having your lunch there having different variety of snacks. Oh trust me, they can fill you up.

Anyway enough for the fishballs, tomorrow is school again! Goes so fast when you have to be at work on a Saturday. I'll have to wear mask in school starting tomorrow...not looking forward to that...teaching with mask on is very 'hot'!

H1N1 update

After my OGTT test, yesterday I resumed work. I thought it's gonna be tiring and difficult for me because I have quite a lot of lessons and most of them were double periods. However, it's lot better than I thought. I prepared my lessons once again in the morning. Though yesterday morning wasn't easy. My tummy wasn't cooperating, it's been hard a couple of times. During my sleep as well, making it very difficult to turn round. And my back hurts very badly even when I am lying down, so need hubby to rub it from time to time, then I could sleep/rest for a bit...

Yesterday I skipped the morning assembly because of my hard-tummy, making me walk very difficult. On my way to work, my right hand and feet were numb (how is that possible when they were constantly moving around!) I did do a bit of a research the night before and found out about something called the Braxton Hicks Contractions that pregnant women during their last trimester might experience, I kept thinking if I am having that at the moment whenever my tummy go hard. This is a different hardness than before when Xiaobao was moving and sticking out. Now when my tummy gets hard, I know Xiaobao isn't moving....though I tried not to read too much into it...as long as it is something normal... no one says being pregnant is a fun and easy ride :)

Today is Saturday, I am at school again. Attending yet another NSS workshop for short stories. I quite enjoyed this one. The tutor is half Chinese, half Australian (I could tell from his accent), time passed quickly in the morning session. Suddenly Eric got a call from school and said him and I will have to stay behind and see Angela at lunch (our class might have to be suspended!), thank god I wasn't starving at that time, we didn't join others for lunch instead we were mad crazy calling all our students' parents informing them that one of our G9 student is a confirmed case of H1N1, so three classes will be suspended for a week. My class is one of them.

I have already called all the parents except one that I still couldn't reach! Now that three classes are suspended, next week I'll have three lessons maximum everyday. I think that's the only good news about it. Other than that, I'll have to wear mask everywhere I go...*sigh*

Stay tune for more updates

Second OGTT test

Today I went for my second arranged OGTT test in the hospital. I woke up at 6:20 this morning and ready to go at 7:15, we got there at the hospital at about 10 minutes to 8. There were already 2 women arrived before me. I took the no. 3 badge which means I'll be the third one to get jab.

The nurse arrived at 8:05, it's the same one as last time, I know she'll do a good job cos last time it didn't hurt as much:). By 8:15, I've already got my jab. She told me that since it's my second time for the test, she'll take one more tube for testing the blood color (I don't know they need to test my blood color, or maybe there is another term for that which I don't know...so you might not know what I mean), I thought I'll have to be jab twice in one go...but just one jab and she changed two tubes *phew* :). After that I grabbed my sugar drink which I longed for since last night! This time the drink didn't taste as nice, it's way too sweat that it actually tasted bitter :/ this time it took me 20 minutes to drink it all... Last time I was consciously drinking it slow and it took me 10 minutes...ah well... afterwards I feel so full but I hoped I won't throw up cos the nurse kept telling us to take our time so that we won't throw up (can't even spit) or else we'll have to go back and do the test again the next day. Won't want that...The reason why we can't even spit and if we do, we have to let the nurse knows. She said because we don't know how much sugar content is there in the spit, so that might affect the test result. Hence will have to redo everything again.

I waited in the room for 2 hours, today I couldn't help but fell asleep for about 15 minutes...other women were wearing cardigan cos it's cold but I didn't find it cold at all, was quite nice actually...woke up at around 9:30, I read some more newspaper and at 10am, I went down and pay the fee and came back up with the receipt because I'll need to give that receipt to the nurse before she'll do my second jab. So far so good, I didn't burp, or spit, or feel sick or throw up. Nurse called my name at 10:35 and after that I went out and met hubby and went for my well-deserved breakfast at burger king. Got my usual croissant-wich meal breakfast with a cup of tea! ahhhhhhh :D

We were supposed to hang out for a bit after the hospital visit, but since hubby's computer was acting up and he couldn't post online, so we have to come home. I forgot to take my morning pill with me anyway, so we could do with going home first.

I am at home now with a freshly made bottle of fruit juice (this time I have grapes, dragon fruit and orange with lots of ice), niceeeeee and cooooool :)

Last night wasn't so good though. I left school at around 6:20 because I was busy preparing lesson plan for today so that someone can substitute my lessons. It's always hard at the beginning of the term, never know what to do with the kids! Anyway I finished that and prepared all the materials for today AND also think about what to do with them upon my return on Friday cos I won't time to do it on Friday morning...so hope everything's fine...Then we'll have our weekend break!! Wanted that more than anything. A full day in school proves to be very tiring for me...after lunchtime, I am technically dragging myself through the day...When the kids are dismissed, I could just fall asleep. That's why yesterday I nearly fell asleep preparing the lesson plan, but I couldn't sleep until I finish those....you can imagine...

Didn't cook last night when I got home, I could have, but I guess I was too tired and can't be bothered, so we went out for dinner. Got home at around 8:45, put babyplus on for Xiaobao. I fell asleep before babyplus finished. The next time I woke it was already 3am!!! *doh!* I missed my last time to drink water *argh*!!! Again this morning I soooooo want to drink the water in my toothbrush jar!

Xiaobao is now listening to the YBCR CD, he still likes it. Pity that I can't do it everyday with him, especially if I come home late, after preparing dinner, it'll be time to put babyplus on and before that finishes, I would have fell asleep already!

Let's hope tomorrow will go faster in school...

Oh yesterday one of my students last year got me a souvenir from Taiwan, very nice of him. It's perfumed necklace :)