MCO RAYA 2.0

No annual raya photos this year because everybody is celebrating raya seperately due to another MCO so here's our custom made kad raya from the very recent photos of us together as a family. Haha. Happy Eid Mubarak from my family to yours! May this Eid brings nothing but joy and peace for us all. Maaf zahir & batin 💗

OUR TTC JOURNEY

Every couples have their own story on getting pregnant. Some had it easy, some was not even trying, some waited for years only to conceive and some even had their family planning to not get pregnant as soon as they get married. It is all depends on the needs and wants of the couples. As for me and my husband, we are that kind of couple who would like to conceive as soon as we can hehe. Like, one of the main goals of this marriage is to get our own baby. 

So, me and my husband are not living together since i am working at Putrajaya and my husband is working at Melaka. So our chance to meeting each other is only during the weekends. But that doesn't include when my husband has to work on the weekends, plus when our first months of marriage, the CMCO was still on (thanks to the coronavirus). So technically we just meet only like one to two times in a month.

We got married on the 3rd October 2020. And our first TTC (trying to conceive) was around November since that was the first time my husband was home and (we thought that) i was on my ovulation period according to the Period Calendar app. Before my husband was home, i already consulted with some of my married girlfriends on this and that for, you know, to make things work. Haha. One of my friends' suggestions was to use the Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs) test. She said that even though the Period Calendar app telling us that today is our ovulation day, the OPKs test usually just telling the otherwise.

And somehow on my case it's true because the app told me that it was my ovulation day but when we tested using the OPKs test (like 3 times on that day), my results were all negative. But we were still all positive at that moment and just hoping and praying that i'm not going to get my period at the end of the month haha. But as the saying goes, "good things happen when you least expect them to". And we were expecting too much during our first try, so yeah, my period came like a thief in the night literally 3 days earlier from my expected period date, crashing our hopes into dust on the ground. Haha. 

At that time we were like, okay this is it. Allah definitely doesn't want us to get it easy. He also knew that we were not ready yet. He wants us to strive for it and pray hard to Him so that we earned it. And so, our second and foremost TCC journey begins (bismillah). So, me and my husband read some blogs and articles here and there on how to conceive successfully, what foods and what supplements should we consume, what to do and what not to do and everything. We also asked some of our married friends for the pro-tips that we can try as well. So here are what we did: 

Body Basal Temperature (BBT) 

So literally BBT is we take our temperature first thing first when we wake up in the morning (during the same time like ± 30 minutes and at the same position). We are not required to move or do anything yet before we take our temperature, we need to have at least 4 hours of sleep before the temperature is taken and use the same digital thermometer (preferably 2 decimals thermometer) throughout the cycle. Ideally, we should start charting on the first day of period and continue to take the BBT everyday for the month. The purpose of taking our daily BBT is to observe when it rises. Ovulation usually happens a day or two before our BBT rises. As for myself, i recorded my BBT together with daily OPKs test. 

I swear i'm not good at explaining this one because it kinda confusing to me especially during the first cycle and till the end tbh haha. Because i don't see much different on the reading and the chart and maybe because i don't do it as consistently as it should be. So, for better understanding, i suggest you, to do your own reading and research on this as well. 

OPKs Test, Period Calendar App & Premom App

I've been using the period calendar app since as long as i can remember. Back then, i only use it to track my period. And only after i got married, i knew that the app can also track our ovulation period. Lol lame, i know. My best suggestion is, never rely on only 1 app. Please download at least 2 period calendar apps to record your period regularly to increase the accuracy to forecast when is your next period and next ovulation day. As in my case, i used Period Calendar App and Premom App. And these two apps never show the same prediction. Ever. It will always be like one to three days differ. Which means, you can't trust exactly when one app said that your ovulation day is on the 1st day of the month and the other app told you that it is on the third or fourth day of the month. But still, you can take note on what particular day after your period ends to predict for the upcoming months. 

So to double confirmed if the day is actually my ovulation day, i will use the OPKs test. I bought like 50 strips of the OPKs test at Shopee and it only cost me around RM20. Seriously, but at Shopee guys. Because we will use this strips everyday for every month after the last day of our period. Only to confirm when is exactly the ovulation day. I mean, you don't want to spend like RM4 per strip to use daily while you can get way cheaper online. Haha. 

The OPKs test is very simple to use. It's almost exactly like the pregnancy test. The pregnancy test is to test whether you are pregnant or not. But the function of OPKs test is to determine whether you are ovulating on that day or not. If the strip is double line (clearest double line), that means, it is your ovulation day. Go make babies and increase the number of human population. Hahaha. 

As for myself, to record the daily OPKs tests, i used the Premom App. I took photo every time and uploaded the strips on the app to evaluate my progress. It's actually easier when you uploaded them on the app because you can compare clearly the T/C ratio and the contrast level of the double line to define when is your ovulation day. In my pov, this was the most accurate procedure so far compared to others.

Supplements & Sunnah Foods 

Me and my husband also consumed pure honey throughout the process. I also consumed olive oil, black seeds and almonds. I bought these all from Mahnaz Food. And for supplements, i consumed Appeton Folic Acid while my husband consumed Himalaya Kapikachhu and Himalaya Speman. Tbh, i don't really consumed these everyday because i was not that disciplined enough. But i did try to never skip them for too long in a week if i ever forgotten. 

Make duas (drink warm water with a pinch of salt - recite Al Fatihah 7x & Al Ikhlas 7x)

It was my husband who shared with me this one. I also did read this online when i googled things on TTC. I did try it (warm water with pinch of salt) but only like two or three times because i was forgetful as always. Hehe. And yes, we have to make duas to Allah all the time. Specifically. 

Extra: Buah Zuriat (doum)

My husband and i never tried this buah zuriat. But i did read about it and saw it online on the benefits of this fruit which is believe to boost female fertility and sperms quality (can read more online). We can get the fruit from Shopee and there's also like tea bags made from buah zuriat that i saw from Shopee as well. 

Still after all, we just need to put our trust to Allah because we can try so hard or perhaps, not trying at all, but in the end, only Allah determines the grant. Tawakkaltu ala Allah. I'm sharing these on my blog not to pretend to be the next Miss Know It All (cause i am definitely no expert on this) or to be Miss TMI (too much information) exposing 'everything' about our marriage. But tbh, i was one of those who just knew about these only after i got married and TTC. And i believe that there are actually a lot of women and couples out there who have no closed friends to consult on this matter or even don't know which and what to read regarding on this. So yeah, here some from our very own little experience. 

Alhamdulillah, all praise to Allah, we are currently 10 weeks pregnant. Definitely still very new in this and have a long way to go from here. I pray that i will have a smooth, safe and healthy pregnancy. And i also pray that my baby will grow and develop healthily, normally and beautifully. InsyaAllah. May Allah ease everything. Amin YRA. 

LEAF ART MILESTONES @BYSTFRHN

Graduated with Diploma in 2014

Graduated with Degree in 2017

Went to Emara's Degree Convocation in 2018

Graduated with Master's Degree in 2019

We got married in 2020

"Allah, You created everything. We belong to You. Ya Rabb we raise our hands. Forever we thank You" - Maher Zain. 

P/S: Get your leaf art from @bystfrhn on Instagram.  

SO LONG, 2020

That said, 2020 finally come to an end. Though the elephant in the room (read: COVID-19) is still around like it will never going to leave us anytime soon, but let's not overlook and still be thankful on the good things that also happened this year. I often hear people say that "2020 is cancelled" because of the pandemic. However, i don't think we should think about it that way at all. We should somehow feel grateful than ever because we are part of this pandemic in 2020 and we are still breathing healthily until today. Alhamdulillah. 

To recap, 2020 taught us that we humans are fragile by ourselves. Our strength lies by being part of the community. The virus simply does not choose from one to another. Which showed us how we are all so equal to each other. Like, even if only one person or one small group fail to adhere to the SOP, in turn, it can and might result in an exponential surge of new COVID-19 cases which affect everybody in the region and the country. Crazy how this pandemic really 'forced' us to finally listen, to care, to respect and to tolerate others and everything. Needless to mention, the new norms that already the norms in our everyday basis. The online meetings, work from home, 1 meter apart from each other, wearing face mask all the time, and etc, you list it. And yeah, 2020 was really not just about ourselves. 2020 was about and for all of us. We can all claim that. 

As for myself in person, 2020 is definitely my special year because it's the year i got married to my main man. Other than that, it's the year we got us a new car, Bezza and my first year of running half marathon. Of course there are more little things that were achieved and lost this year. But yeah, Alhamdulillah for everything. I read somewhere, no matter how we ended the year, whether we're running into a bright season or limping across the finish line or crawling our way out of a tough calendar, we are enough and we did it. 

May 2021 be the year we achieve more goals for life and for the hereafter. And may 2021 be a year fully loaded with happiness and success for all us and our families. Here's to a wonderful 2021! InsyaAllah. Bismillah.

HALF MARATHON FINISHER #KLSCM2020

 

I ran my first half marathon! Yayy! What a way to end my 2020! (Though 2020 still have like 17 days to go hehe). My initial goal for 2020 was to participate in run (10km) for at least once in a month. And yeah, because of corona virus, the goal was literally just gone with the wind. Lol. But since i signed up for the gym months before i got married, so i did joined the virtual run, did it on the treadmill and earned myself like 2, 3 medals. 

Thanks to Armira for asking me join the Kuala Lumpur Standard Chartered Marathon 2020 Virtual Run (KLSCM 2020). Tbh, i already saw some of my colleagues, DOSM friends and runners posting here and there about their practices for KLSCM 2020. But you know, you just couldn't care less especially when nobody was asking you to participate haha. And suddenly Mira texted me and asking me to register the run with her and told me that our mutual friend, Puyi already signed up for HM. She also told me that she will do HM as well. 

So i was thinking, since i always told my husband that i feel like i didn't achieve anything new this year (except from getting married), and i also been doing 10km few times already and all okay with it, so why not this time i try to finish 21.1km? I can also do it in my own pace since there's no cut off time as well. So, i persuaded my sister to do it with me and yeah, we signed up for HM. Needless to mention, my sister hated me for it lol. She is actually not really into long distance running especially when she is now already has her own bike that she prefers to cycle more. But whatever though haha. 

We started our practice two weeks before the date. Not everyday but slowly starting from 2km per day, up until 10km. Thanks to Kak Nisa for accompanying me while doing the 10km practice one day before the real deal. Honestly, previously when i was first doing 10km, i never practiced at all. I just signed up for 10km and did it on the day of the event. But that was only 10km. This time it's 21.1km. My mind can be saying that i can do it like crazy, like now or never whatever. But my body might be responding otherwise. So i had to train my body for it so that it will not be shocked like, "the hell gurl? Are you trying to kill us?" hahaha. 

I knew it will take at least 4 hours for me to finish this HM. Honestly, i am not that kind of person who can run fast and non stop for such a long distance. Most of the time i will just brisk walking / walk as fast as i can without stopping. And i am well aware that my pace is nothing to be proud of. But i was and am not even trying to lower my pace at all at this moment. Because i wanted my pace to be steady and correlate with my stamina. I swear i'm no fit as fiddle haha. Plus the main goal was just to double the distance. 

So i started my half marathon at around 8pm. My sister was joining me doing the HM but she was riding her bike. It was raining lightly. I was praying hard for God to let me finish the HM that night and please don't let it rain cats and dogs that we had to stop the activity. Alhamdulillah the weather was good enough for a night run. The first 10km was a-okay. But after the first 10km, i accidentally stepped in a puddle of water that my shoes were all soaked. My feet was also melecet out of the blue maybe because of the size of my socks. But i can still keep on doing it, keeping my goal straight until i reached at 17km. Haha. I swear that was my cut off point. At that time, my positive mindset was all over the places, my feet started to tell me to stop and i also felt like the running apps were not functioning well. Hahaha. I mean, you were already super tired, of course nothing is no longer right or okay for you. 

Somehow the KLSCM 2020 app was a bit off. It was literally like 1.5km behind compared to Strava. Strava recorded that i already done with 21.1km but KLSCM app said that i was not done yet and still have about 1.5km to go. Hm. Deep breath. Lol. Alhamdulillah i finished my first ever HM at around 12.20am. It was all worth it and i am so proud of myself. Phew. To avoid severe sore muscles or to be sick on the next day onwards, that night, i promptly ate two bananas, pop a panadol (because it was raining), drank glasses of water and applied Yoko Yoko on my feet to relieve muscular aches. Alhamdulillah everything was well and okay even on the next day. 

Here's to more positive achievements and good memories. May we always have the will to do and experience new things in the future. InsyaAllah. 

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY AS A HUSBAND!

 

Happy 27th Birthday & Happy 1st Birthday as a husband to my person! I am grateful that we managed to spend the birthday weekends together though i was kinda pissed in the beginning because we supposed to have our staycation at Cyberview Resort & Spa but the the resort didn't mentioned to us earlier that they don't accept any bookings during this CMCO. Thank God we knew about this when we were still at home since i was absentmindedly browsing the resort's website at that time. Or i will be more pissed. Haha. We ended up having our staycation at Marriott Putrajaya instead. The foods were good. Our tummies were good, so we're good. 

We also got to celebrate your birthday with your very closed friends, Senyumers at Blonde, Damansara. Were planning to surprise you but obviously i was the who screwed it all hahaha but whatever. I am beyond happy that you have your small circle of friends who are very closed and dear to you since you guys were kids until today. And i also feel lucky because they too accept me to squeeze in the circle that we get to blend very well together. May this friendships last forevermore. Amin YRA.

So, happy birthday to you, Affiq Emara! One year older and wiser. The best things are yet to come. InsyaAllah. Amin YRA. I definitely owe you black pepper beef but till our next meeting with each other xx

P/S: I'm so homesick at this moment. The last time we balik kampung was on the day we got married. That was literally like more than a month ago. I never even once balik kampung to Batu Pahat yet. This RMCO sucks, but may Allah ease this pandemic for us all. Amin YRA.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

Everybody has their own version of how their relationships started. Some may have already known each other since kids, some just met and suddenly get married, some got married because their parents match them together and many other versions of love story. I've always wanted to write it here about how me and Affiq Emara met. But i guess, the best time is when we already got married. Hehe. So yeah. Here's our story.

So, Emara told me that his first time saw me was actually on our mutual friend, Shazana Hashim's Instagram account. He saw me in a picture probably taking selfie with Zana but he didn't do anything at that time. Instead, he tried to approach me on Twitter and pretended as if he first saw Zana on one of my tweets. Haha. That was his very first move i guess.

Zana was Emara's primary school friend and she was my Diploma and Degree classmate. At that time, i remember asking Zana about him and Zana was like "tak payah lah piqah dia ni" hahaha. I've always believed in Zana's judgement so yeah, nothing about him deserved my attention at that time. Especially when i was also on a phase that i was way too comfortable with being single and not in the mood of being with anyone at all at that time. 

Over the time, all Emara did was replying to my tweets one after another. But being my old self, i felt nothing but annoyed with him. He was like, always there every time i was on Twitter. I saw his tweets asking about statistics lah or replied to my tweets like yknow. I even hated him for a while back then because i was so rimas with him. But somehow, i still replied to his tweets occasionally and never blocked him for real which i never know why.

And oh, after we were already together, Emara told me that when he asked me about where i live and i said that i live in Rantau, he said that he actually Googled on Rantau to ask me about the Eco Park just to keep the conversation going. Lol. Okay now suddenly it's cute. Kbye. 

Tbh, the "udara ni tak segar tanpa awak" is one of the most things that i remember about him. It was cringed af at that time but it just stucked on my mind. I swear at that time, i just see him as someone who was just playing around and if i rejected him, one way or another, he will surely go to chase another girl and i will be gone from his mind in no time. That was my solid opinion about him.

I can't remember how long he was trying to get my attention on Twitter. But what i really remember was, he moved on from Twitter to Instagram where he suddenly followed me on Instagram and i followed him back. On Instagram, he was far less annoying since he was not trying so hard to hit on me like he did previously on Twitter. All he did was just replying to my Instagram stories as a good friend and asked about random things that our common friends will ask. So i had no reason to hate him at that time. And yeah, we became friends somehow. 

Until one day, when i was doing my part time job at Shell, Emara suddenly dm-ed me and told me that he will be coming to Shell to see me the next day. And i was like, "erk, no (?)" that i didn't even reply to his dm hoping that he understand my silence and never came. Because dude, we barely know each other and what conversation do you expect us to have when we are looking in each others' eyes? Awkward. So, no. Just no.

But he was persistent. The next day, he really came to my workplace. Lol. The moment i saw him from afar, i just ran into the store room to hide like a freak. Hahaha. I remember how my Shell friends were all confused of what happened at that time. I even monitored him from the CCTV hoping that he will leave ASAP, but he ended up waiting for me for like an hour, idk. It was one of the longest time in my life. No lie.

I even called Sarah and Zana and told them like, "Emara is seriously no joke lah man". At that time, Zana even laughed and teased me saying, "tak apa, nanti ada juga kenangan untuk cerita kat anak cucu". And i was like, "Hell no Zana! Please lah no!". Hahaha. How time is a funny thing. And so, on that day, Emara just went home without seeing me at all. Poor him and i did feel sorry about him but i don't even feel like apologizing to him at all at that time. Sigh. I was such a monster. 

Time passed by, and suddenly on 2018 when my birthday was coming, Emara dm-ed me and told me that he bought me a birthday present, which was obviously nothing for me to be excited about. Lol. It was out of the blue, so i just thanked him and told him to just post out the present to me. But he insisted to meet me and give the present to me by himself. After contemplating with Sarah whether to see him or not, and Sarah also insisted me to see him, so yeah, i decided to just do it and go see him for dinner. 

Our first meeting was at Pak Li Kopitiam, Seksyen 7, Shah Alam. He gave me a Naelofar Sajada for my birthday (which we still use until today). And i gave him a luggage tag from Typo. I bought the luggage tag because i don't want to just meet him and let him go home with empty hands since i already knew that the purpose we were seeing each other was for him to give me my birthday present. When i bought that luggage tag, i remember having a thought that, if this were the first and the last time i meet him, at least i was not going to be the bad, ungrateful girl who just receive things and never give anything back.  

But turned out the meeting went really well that i absentmindedly liked him and his personality right at that time. And yeah, i learned something on that day. All of these times, i saw him as someone really really annoying and i thought that there's no way on earth i can even be close with him. But when i met him in person, i realized that he is actually a good person and easy to talk with irl.

And our first face to face conversation was not awkward at all unlike from what i predicted to be. We had our good small talk that evening and before we went home, Emara asked for my number (because all this while he just reached me through Twitter and Instagram).

And the rest as they say, is history.  

This photo was taken when Emara graduated with his Degree on 2018. It was one of the earliest photos of us together. Here's to more photos of us in the future and here's to the rest of our lives. Thank you for approaching me in the first place and never left ever since. I love you, husband.