Going bananas!

Bananas are back in town! Huhuhu... It's been a while since I've had a banana. Since Cyclone Yasi struck Far North Queensland and destroyed acres of banana plantations last February, banana prices skyrocketed. They were at one time $13/kg. Crazy! Mr. Hubby and I love bananas but we'd only buy 2-4 pieces of bananas i.e. 1 or 2 piece each when we really really feel like having. But that's now in the past. :-) Banana supplies will increase starting end of this month promising a drop in their prices. There's more information at this Australian Bananas website.

I came across this article on health benefits of bananas.

Cool Bananas!

And yeah, check out this cool costume from this blog.

Eczema and Me

The last 2 weeks have been - all about Aariz. Hold on. Hasn't it always been about Aariz since he was born?! Huhuhu... Well, the last 2 weeks was more intense I guess. I was and still am obsessed about Aariz's eczema. Yes. Eczema. *Sigh* I burst into tears the other day while dressing Aariz up after his bath but I'm now less worried and annoyed on seeing my lil boy covered with patches of red and not-so-nice-looking rash (which turns out to be eczema) all around his body, and his cheek and ears are all red. It started with what we thought as milk rash around his face when he was about 8 weeks. I was frantically wiping his face especially near the mouth and cheek with warm damp cloth after every feed but it got worse. When we took him for his 2-month shot, his cheeks were bright red and a bit dry and scaly. I knew something was wrong and the doctor said it's probably infant eczema which is pretty common. He gave us a cream which later I found out was steroid base cream. It did clear up the rash in 1-2 days. But after that, the rashes came back and haven't gone away (yet!) ever since. It even spread all over Aariz's body; shoulders, arms, chest, tummy, thighs, calves and yesterday, his back; patches of coin shaped rash. I've been reading a lot on the internet; I need to stop before I go crazy! Haha! I decided to meet with the baby nurse at the Chemist just 15 minutes walk from where we live last Tuesday. We talked a bit about how Aariz and me are doing, etc and then she straightaway asked me about Aariz's rash. She had a look at all the rashes on Aariz and said that from her experience (Aariz's rashes are scaly and dry, and he has cradle cap), it looks like Aariz could have an allergic reaction of some sort to food and it could be milk protein a.k.a dairy products Although the nurse did say it could be something else as Aariz doesn't always have tummy upsets, never experienced diarrhea, his poo is only sometimes green and he's gaining weight pretty well. Oh yeah, at 14 weeks, Aariz is now 6.8kg and he's 63cm long. The nurse gave me some contacts of skin and allergic specialists for me to refer to later if things doesn't get better. But in the meantime, because Aariz is fully breastfeeding, my diet needs to change. So,  I'm cutting off all dairy for the next 2-3 weeks. I really hope Aariz's eczema gets better with this change of diet and that Aariz will grow out of this dairy intolerance (if he actually is) and the eczema. InsyaAllah. I didn't really want to talk about Aariz's eczema at first. I guess I kinda think I don't want to 'attract' it even more but I just had to get it out of my system. It's killing me from the inside!!! Huhuhu! Apart from the eczema, Aariz is growing up strong and healthy. He feeds and sleeps well, and cooing and smiling and laughing a lot. He has discovered his hands for quite some time now; staring at them and shoving them in his mouth. He also learned to scratch himself (thanks to the eczema) which made him bleed sometimes resulting in me putting mittens on him again recently especially when he sleeps (how fast do the nails grow?!!). Mr. Hubby prefer not to have the mittens on because the mittens do get yucky with Aariz's saliva! Huhuhu... His legs are getting stronger everyday. He could kick and kick and actually move himself without realizing it. He is also able to lift up his bum pretty high when he's lying down. He'll have tummy time and he just keep his head up for ages. Aariz likes to play by himself at times; he gets all restless and starts to cry when me or Mr. Hubby's cuddling him but once we put him down on his playmat, he stops crying and starts playing. How cool is that?!! But don't get me wrong, he does have his clingy, I-want-to-be-on-your-lap and unsettled times. Aariz also loves when we read to him. Provided he's in the mood. ;-)  He loves his cars mobile on his cot and talks to it sometimes! ;-) I still can't help watching him every chance I have. I guess I'm not just obsessed with Aariz's eczema, I'm obsessed with Aariz, eh??!!! Heh...

Hhmmm... as for my studies; I sometimes feel like giving up. :-( Don't worry. It's just a feeling. I'm currently lacking motivation and some moral support. Well, Mr. Hubby and everyone in the lab are very understanding, supportive and helpful. But not having the same vibe from your own supervisor, it just gets to me. I don't expect her to e-mail me everyday and give words of encouragements and stuff, but I sure don't appreciate her talking negative things to people about me behind my back. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not but the people that she talks to, talks to me too. Why wouldn't she discuss with me directly? *sigh* Half of me wants to prove her wrong but half of me feels like I'd rather stay home and not go to Uni and do any work. Rebellious eh??!!! I know, I know. I should work even harder and prove her wrong; having a baby does not stop someone from finishing her PhD. I am at the moment getting some things done i.e. progress report, literature review, ordering lab stuff, reading, etc even if I'm not working in the lab all the time. Do I need to explain myself? *sigh* Hopefully I'll get over this unmotivated phase A.S.A.P!

Thank God for Mr. Hubby! I'm lucky he's him. He puts up with my constant whining with Aariz's eczema and never gives up in making me go to the lab, even when he's so tired after work. I need to pay more attention to him. I just recently knew that he gets bullied at work sometimes. He didn't tell me earlier as he doesn't want to worry me. Racism - Muslim. I guess I just got used to it. Mr. Hubby seems to have too. Oh well, we just can't let those people get to us, eh? I know Aariz is Mr. Hubby's biggest motivation and that both of us must always be happy and provide a positive environment for Aariz to grow healthily; physically, mentally and emotionally. And as long as we have each other, it's all that matters. I love him!

I have photos of Aariz's eczema but couldn't really be bothered to upload it. So, here's a reading link and photos (although Aariz's not that bad), if you're curious. I now leave you with a comic strip below;

Huhuhu...

Cheers!

Fish Surrogate ;-)

I'm on the verge of breaking down.

I guess I'm just so tired and there's so much in my mind.

 Now that Mr. Hubby's working and he's usually so tired after work, I ended up doing almost everything. Too much. So overwhelming. I supposed I just need time to get use to things. But seriously, I need help! Huhuhu...

Anyways, I am now at Uni with Aariz. We've been here since 12 noon. We're at the Graduate centre at the moment and Aariz's sleeping. I went to a research talk earlier. It was so nice! It has been a while since I attended any kind of seminars/talks, etc. Glad I did that. The talk was so interesting and worth the bus ride to Uni. ;-) Germ cell transplantation in marine fish or in simpler terms, surrogate breeding technology in fish. So relieved that I can still understand and enjoy what the speaker presented! Hahaha!



Random cartoon from http://www.auburn.edu/~mathest/nufs2000.html. Hehe.. 

Denni watched over Aariz while I went for the talk. I was a bit nervous to leave him with Denni for a whole hour, but all's good! Alhamdulillah. :-)

Well, need to go pray before Aariz wakes up.

Till next time.

Cheers!

Wait a bit, we'll get there soon...

Dear Aariz,

Mama have no idea when you'll be reading this or whether you'll be reading this at all, but Mama will just write it anyway. It's Saturday morning and Mama's in the lab. Yes, working in the lab on a supposedly off-day. Well, now that your Abah (Mr. Hubby) has started working, Monday to Friday, from 6.30am to 2pm or sometimes even later, Mama hasn't been in the lab that much. But things are going to change soon! I'm going to bring you to Uni on some weekdays, have Abah pick you up on the way home from work so Mama can go in the lab after, and Mama will also be working on weekends. InsyaAllah. That's the plan at the moment before we could actually afford a proper babysitter/childcare for you.

I miss you!!! Yes, that is probably why I'm writing to you while waiting for my agarose gel to solidify. I'm going to run some DNA samples after. You know this, you've been doing this with me for the past 9 months or so! ;-)

I don't have much time so I'll just go straight to the point;

I'm almost there in achieving my dream of having  a PhD degree. So, wait a bit dear, and you'll have all my attention and love after this. Don't get me wrong; I love you to bits and you and Abah are all I can think of and my world basically revolves 99% around the two of you, but for the time being, Mama will be dragging you all around the place, reading and studying while I feed you, leave you alone to play while I reply my work emails or do some other stuff, and have you be taken care by Abah or someone else while I work in the lab. Sometimes Mama will be under pressure and you might feel the stress but I will always pray we'll manage to get through anything in one piece. InsyaAllah. You might be confused and it could be overwhelming at times but it will make you stronger. You are now such a good boy and sometimes Mama and Abah think you actually understand our situation. You don't make a fuss if we both could not play with you all the time and it's just so easy to take care of you; day and night. You know there's only the three of us and the occasional friends of Mama and Abah here in the Sunshine Coast; so you make the best of what we've got. 

Thank you my love.

I have to go now. The sooner I get my work done, the sooner I can go home and be with you and Abah. I love you, son. :-)

Yours always,

   Mama