This is Ann

I went for my third prenatal appointment yesterday. Everything’s on track. The baby’s progress is good.

I’m well into my second trimester now but the headaches are still there and the doctor has kindly prescribed me some painkillers that he said won’t affect the pregnancy. (I’m desperate!)

I’d been planning for a short break since last week, my very own ME time before the storm arrives. Cannot balik kampung Malaysia, kampung UK pun cukup. But something else has come up. Not any less exciting but I’d been so looking forward to meeting up with a dear friend and going on a shopping spree in Mothercare. I guess that will have to wait for another day (possibly soon and not two or three years later, if I’m lucky).

According to the doctor, we could be having a boy. He’s not 100% sure but says it looks like a he (it’s still too small to tell but you can see what looks like a pair of balls on the screen, haha).

OK, suggest me a name! I’m pretty sure Anakin will not go down well with the hubby.

After sending Alesha to the krippe today, I went to get my hair cut. My first haircut here since we came two years ago. I’ve been avoiding the hairdressers because they’re just too expensive to the normal price I used to pay in Malaysia. I used to go then every other week to wash and blow or to trim and cut. The salon was just opposite my office, and sometimes I’d go just to get my scalp massaged and catch a few winks. Yes, such pampered life I had in Malaysia.

And the other reason I’ve been avoiding the salons here, besides the crazy prices, is of course the language barrier.

But last week I reached a point where I just couldn’t be bothered anymore. So I went to the nearest salon and made an appointment. Before my appointment today, I taught myself these simple German sentences, with the help of my online translation software obviously!

Machen Sie zurecht und kurz (Make it trim and short)
Nicht zu kurz (Not too short) 
Ich will noch meine Haar binden (I still want to tie my hair)

Well I needn’t worry cuz one of the staff understood some English (this is ok? this short?) … and when we couldn’t understand each other, there’s always sign language. Haha.

In the end, I got my hair cut just the way I wanted it. In fact it turned out better than I expected. Cost me CHF66.

OKlah tu. That’s about the same figure I’d be paying in Malaysia without conversion.

Now I feel so light and free. Should have done this earlier.

Next challenge - Get a massage (hmm, lagilah mahal!).

My archive doesn’t load up.

I experienced a glitch with this blog on Saturday. My webhost managed to fix it. Then I discovered I can’t access my archive.

I am mighty pissed.

We had a long and full weekend. But obviously not long enough to recuperate from our recent activity. I wish today wasn’t a working day cuz I could sure use an extra pair of hands at home.

The hubby came home with a brand new Wii (albeit the cracked version, as requested) on Friday. He bought it complete with the Wii-Fit Board plus some accessories and 20++ games, everything for about RM2000. I don’t know if we can get it cheaper here. The console would have probably cost the same but each game could set us back between CHF40 and CHF80, not to mention the Wii Fit Board + cd at least another couple of hundred. I have a couple of friends who are really against buying non-original, tapi kalau sudah Malaysian tu Malaysianlah. If you can get the same thing for a cheaper price, why not kan. Lama-lama boring juga so no point really spending a fortune on the real thing (in my humble opinion lah).

Needless to say, first day test drive tu macam budak sekolah dapat mainan baru. Mmg toy baru pun, hehe. We tried out tennis, bowling and then Anton dropped by and the men started playing golf. We were Wii-ing the whole day that Alesha had no choice but to watch her Dora The Explorer shows on the laptop since there is only one TV in the house. Mmg kecohlah.

On Saturday, after another round of Wii tennis, we left for the German border to get some meat and do some grocery shopping. At the Zoll (border control), we had to turn back cuz the hubby had forgotten his driving license. I have to mention here that the road we take to get to the border is not the Autobahn. It’s the normal dual carriageway, with countless of roundabouts, traffic lights and varying speed limits. It’s hard to keep a smooth drive all the way even I get motion sickness sometimes. So I can’t blame Alesha when she vomitted in the car on our way back to the border. The hubby nearly went ballistic, siap nak patah balik lagi just to clear the mess. Somebody had to take control so I did. Despite the horrid smell in the car, I told the hubby to just drive to the border, get the stuff we need and be done with it. Lepas tu he can do whatever he wants. Beli kereta baru pun boleh. Sayang sgt kereta dia. Ish.

 
This is the town of Tiengen in Germany. We come here every now and then to shop for grocery and other essential stuff.

We got back home about 2-ish I think. By then I was nursing a mild headache and just wanted to have a lie-in. But not even half an hour later, we were out of the door again, headed for Baden to get …. guess what, a new TV. Bapak anak rebut TV satu tu. So the only solution was to get a second TV. Apalah.

Guys being guys, must go for the biggest and the fanciest. It took the hubby nearly two hours to decide to get this one thing. The longest two hours of my life thanks to my headache which had turned massive by then and I just wanted to go back. I know now what most men must put up with when they go shopping with women. We installed the new TV in the computer-cum-game-cum-guest room.

 
This is Alesha trying out the Wii-Fit board. Ready to (pretend) jump down the snow-covered hill slope, haha!

On Sunday, we finally had our housewarming party. It was a last minute thing but almost everyone we invited turned up. I didn’t have to prepare much. We cooked rice and two dishes and some of the guests offered to bring the rest.

It feels great to have more space to entertain our guests this time around. Obviously, the Wii came in handy too.

My man is coming back tomorrow and I am so happy. Until he texted me just before boarding his flight that he didn’t manage to get me my Kuih Pau Ayam BBQ. I nearly cried! Felt like putting up a strike pun ada. He has some frozen pau with him but they are not ayam. Something to do with custom regulation lah. Swiss custom. Meat products are not allowed in and he didn’t want to take his chances. Sedihnya.

Tapi takpa. He bought me a Wii.

And of course I’m looking forward to have him back. My significant other. Boringlah tidur sorang.

Tomorrow is the Swiss National Day so it’ll be a long weekend for many. Had to go to the shops earlier to stock up on grocery as the shops will be closed tomorrow and possibly the weekend too. But if we need anything I guess we can always drive to Germany where business is open as usual.

For a two-and-half years old, Alesha sure has a bundle of energy. I don’t know where she gets it from but I wish I could have half of it if just to be able to keep up with her.

The krippe she goes to is currently on a summer break and since the hubby is outstation at the moment, sapa lagi lah yg kena entertain this little monster. The thing is, I’m still getting nausea and headaches  every now and then (when will it all end?) So sometimes tu, when I find myself really stretched and irritated, adalah budak kecik yg kena marah tak tentu pasal.

Alesha is the rough-and-tumble type. She prefers climbing and jumping and running, all that sport. It is tough keeping up with her. She’s also picking up quite a temper these days (sapalah yg ajar eh?).

Sometimes when I just can’t play with her or can’t entertain her antics anymore, I’d just plop myself on the sofa and tell her to play on her own. She would get angry and in her stern little voice would start telling me:

“Come here, come here!”

And if that doesn’t work, she’d start yelling, “1, 2, 3 .. go! Go!”

And if I’m still not budging, she’d say, “Don’t make Lana mad.”

Yes, she calls herself Lana.

It’s so funny. Obviously, she picked these all up from me. But I have stopped counting 1, 2, 3 and sending her to her naughty corner before she turned two. It’s amazing she can still remember.

Of course, there are times she can be such angel. In any case, she is growing up so fast!