Pregnancy: 40 Week Update

I actually have three different due dates depending on how it was observed. According on my doctor, I'm supposed to be due by August 12th. According to midwife, I'm supposed to be due by August 14th. And according to my last ultrasound, I'm supposed to be due by August 19th. If following my doctor and midwife, I'm either due today or overdue by 2 days. But bubba decided that it's comfier inside mummy's womb LOL. So, yep, baby is still inside me while I'm writing this blog post :D.

NO SIGNS OF LABOUR YET

I've tried everything to get my labour going, but until now nothing has happened. No cramps  or any signs of contractions whatsoever. I've tried walking, eating pineapple and dates, spicy food (I often have spicy food throughout my pregnancy so I doubt that this will help at all), telling bubba to come out, etc. None works and I'm getting desperate! A friend of mine whose due date is around the same time as me already delivered her baby on Friday.

On my last check up with the midwife last Thursday, she said, "You're supposed to have delivered the baby by now, what's happening?". I'm like, "Umm... I don't know... I didn't feel any contractions at all!". And, oh, by the way, I gained another 1.5 kgs in a week. I suspect this is because mum already arrived with loads of comfort food from Indonesia. She made me eat everyday and I'm not getting enough exercise - deadly combination (-_-)". The midwife also said that baby's head was not fully engaged yet (what? I was told it was already engaged two weeks ago!) and asked if I would like her to do an examination to trigger the labour. I nodded and the midwife did what she needed to do. Before I left the appointment, she reminded me again that I should just keep walking to get the baby down. But to be honest, I'm starting to give up walking because I can't bear the weight on my tummy anymore. Baby's getting bigger and bigger by the day (pretty much sure of that!), my tummy's definitely getting harder and harder, and now I worry that he's too big to be delivered vaginally.

After reading a couple of people's posts in forum saying that baby will decide when it wants to come out, now I'll just fully trust bubba to decide when he wants to come out. I've heard a couple of stories from my friends that they've tried everything possible to trigger labour but baby still decided to come late, and one was even still too stubborn to come out after the mother had been induced!

MUM'S HERE!

My mum has arrived since last Sunday and she's enjoying her time here away from all the house chores back in Indonesia (fyi, she's got three people to feed, mountains of laundry and clothes to be ironed, a big house to clean up, etc). Here? All she does is eat and sleep LOL. I let her help around the house (excuse?) so she actually has something else to do besides sleeping and eating. At least she doesn't have to do laundry and ironing everyday, and my house is fairly small.

As always, mum brought along precious cargo with her: comfort food! Junk food (as per my request) and other food that I can't get here. She also brought along sapu lidi which is a broom made out of the bones of coconut tree leaves bundled together (this really cracks me up!). I was actually worried that she won't be able to converse with the custom officers if they ask her stuff about her belongings. So before mum left for Australia, my sister and I checked all of the stuff that she'd be bringing and needing to declare and taught her how to fill it in. She's now a pro in filling in the custom declaration form and I'm sure she'll be able to travel alone next time.

ENJOYING MY WAITING PERIOD

I have to admit that the last two weeks has been great. Maybe it was a much needed holiday. But I feel bad for mum to have arrived earlier and bubba still doesn't want to come out yet! I managed to finish making my wedding album, which now I have to redo because I just realised that I'm missing some of the photos from my harddisk, after all these years (4 years since my wedding to be exact)! And I finally finished sewing a change pad cover and one blanket for bubba - this was supposed to be only-a-couple-of-hours-job - but it eventually stretches to a couple of days because I had troubles working with the stretchy mink fabric (now I realise I had to get a walking foot for my sewing machine!). I also managed to have some relaxing time to go for some retail therapy - picked up teapots, maternity/breastfeeding bras, went for grocery shopping on a weekday (which is a luxury for me because the shopping centre was not crowded). But I do need to be a bit mindful now that my income is not as steady flowing as before :D.

***

Last words from me: bubba please come out very soon so your Nanny can help me out longer before she needs to leave!

Desperate Writer

Photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash

Kadang saya kepikiran, "kamu nulis blog buat apa sih Dit?". Selama lebih dari seminggu lalu saya berusaha keras untuk menyelesaikan tiga tulisan yang tidak kunjung selesai. Entah karena saya merasa alurnya berantakan atau isinya kurang bermanfaat dan cenderung ke arah riya'. Apalagi setelah blog-walking ke blog orang lain yang banyak di-share di Facebook, ah... semakin terlihat bahwa tulisanku dan tulisan mereka bagai langit dan bumi. Oh, dan satu lagi yang saya sadari, kemampuan bahasa Indonesia saya semakin jelek. Semakin sulit untuk menemukan padanan kata yang pas. Intinya, English has taken over my brain.

Mungkin saya kurang membaca. True that. Membaca memang bukan sesuatu yang saya nikmati sepenuhnya di waktu luang saya, mungkin karena agak sulit untuk saya mempertahankan fokus ketika membaca, biasanya hanya bertahan 30 menit :D. Tapi tidak berarti saya tidak suka membaca sama sekali. Dan buku-buku yang saya baca kebanyakan memang bahasa Inggris karena saya merasa kosa kata bahasa Inggris saya terbatas dan kemampuan saya untuk membetuk kalimat dalam bahasa Inggris juga kurang baik. Ternyata, hal itu bisa juga berbalik kepada saya, sekarang saya kesulitan menulis dengan baik dan benar dalam bahasa Indonesia.

Otak saya tidak sistematis. Hahaha - true that, again. Saya sepertinya memang punya masalah untuk berpikir secara terstruktur yang berimbas ke kemampuan menulis saya karena isi otak saya sangat 'berantakan' walaupun saya cenderung otak kiri. Entah, mungkinkah karena saya punya ADHD? Sebetulnya nggak pernah terdeteksi atau apapun, tapi ketika saya mencoba tes online atau membaca ciri-ciri orang yang mengidap ADHD, kok saya banget ya!? Saya memang punya masalah untuk bisa fokus pada satu hal. Inget banget waktu dulu di-ospek saat SMA, ada kakak kelas yang marah-marahin saya karena ketika dimarahin mata saya malah lirik-lirik kemana-mana (andai saya inget kakak yang mana, pingin saya bilang "hey, kamu marah-marah seenak jidat!"). Kalau pikiran saya terlalu kalut karena banyak hal yang menggantung di pikiran saya, maka saya wajib-kudu-mesti menuliskan apa yang ada dipikiran saya baru kemudian saya bisa sortir. Walaupun saya cenderung otak kiri, saya termasuk orang yang visual dan lebih suka melakukan hal-hal yang mengasah kreativitas. Saya bisa duduk di depan layar komputer berjam-jam berkutat dengan desain dan saya lebih menikmati menonton film ketimbang membaca buku.

Takut riya'. Sepertinya inilah deal breaker saya yang sebenarnya. Saya nggak suka pamer tapi kok setiap kali membaca posting saya sebelum akan saya publish, terdengar seperti saya sedang bragging karena hal-hal yang saya sharing bukan sekedar cerita hikmah-inspirasi tapi juga review produk-produk yang saya sukai. This is the tricky part. Sebetulnya niatan saya baik, hanya ingin berbagi, tapi bagaimana ya caranya supaya tidak terdengar seperti bragging? Mungkin saya harus hilangkan pikiran-pikiran seperti itu kali ya dan biarkan pembaca yang menilai. Kalau bermanfaat ya syukur, kalau dapat kritik ya coba diperbaiki lagi. Lagipula, pede banget sih kamu Dit, yang baca blog kamu juga nggak banyak kali!? :D hahahaha.

Who cares kali ya? Pada akhirnya, yah, apalah kata orang toh blog ini juga blog ku, ruang tulisku, ruang curhatku, ruangku berbagi bermacam hal sama orang lain yang memang tertarik :). Nggak semua orang bakal suka, tapi nggak semua orang juga bakal benci. Ya seperti orang-orang di Youtube saja - banyak yang sinis dan banyak pula yang suportif. Dan mungkin yang paling penting adalah selalu berusaha menghasilkan tulisan yang kira-kira bermanfaat dan akan dinikmati oleh orang lain (dan jauh dari kesan riya', walaupun hal itu memang sangan subjektif). Yuk Dit mulai nulis lagi!

Dari Pak Anies: Nilai Yang Perlu Ditanamkan Pada Anak

Photo by Robert Collins on Unsplash

Beberapa hari yang lalu jujur aja kaget bahwa telah terjadi re-shuffle kabinet Jokowi di Indonesia. Saya bukan pengamat berita Indonesia, tapi saya pengamat setia timeline Facebook (siapa bilang Facebook udah ga jaman? hihihi...). Dan dari timeline Facebook itulah saya mengetahui bahwa presiden Jokowi "memecat" pak Anies dan pak Jonan dari posisi kementerian. Sangat disayangkan sekali sebetulnya karena kedua orang itu adalah orang-orang yang kompeten di bidangnya masing-masing. Tapi yah, namanya juga politik, banyak lah agenda-agenda terselubung dan orang-orang titipan. Entah kenapa pemerintahan Jokowi ini gampang sekali ditebak (re: "orang-orang titipan"). Kadang jadi gemas sendiri. Untung dulu nggak milih Jokowi (tapi nggak milih yang satunya lagi juga).

Lalu, di timeline Facebook itu pula saya menemukan pesan berikut dari pak Anies yang menurut saya sangat relevan untuk semua orang tua, apalagi di zaman sekarang orang tua sudah meng-outsource-kan peran orang tua ke gadget dan memanjakan anak-anaknya secara berlebihan - termasuk terlalu banyak mengintervensi kehidupan anak sehingga anak tidak mampu menyelesaikan masalahnya sendiri.

Anak anak yang dididik dalam keluarga yang penuh kesantunan, etika tata krama, sikap kesederhanaan akan tumbuh menjadi anak anak yang tangguh, disenangi, dan disegani banyak orang... 

Mereka tahu aturan makan table manner di restoran mewah. Tapi tidak canggung makan di warteg kaki lima... 

Mereka sanggup beli barang-barang mewah. Tapi tahu mana yang keinginan dan kebutuhan... 

Mereka biasa pergi naik pesawat antar kota. Tapi santai saja saat harus naik angkot kemana-mana... 

Mereka berbicara formal saat bertemu orang berpendidikan. Tapi mampu berbicara santai bertemu orang jalanan... 

Mereka berbicara visioner saat bertemu rekan kerja. Tapi mampu bercanda lepas bertemu teman sekolah... 

Mereka tidak norak saat bertemu orang kaya. Tapi juga tidak merendahkan orang yg lebih miskin darinya... 

Mereka mampu membeli barang-barang bergengsi. Tapi sadar kalau yang membuat dirinya bergengsi adalah kualitas, kapasitas dirinya, bukan dari barang yang dikenakan... 

Mereka punya, tapi tidak teriak kemana -mana. Kerendahan hati yang membuat orang lain menghargai dan menghormati dirinya... 

Jangan didik anak dari kecil dengan penuh kemanjaan, apalagi sampai melupakan kesantunan, etika tata krama...

Hal hal sederhana tentang kesantunan seperti :

• Pamit saat pergi dari rumah

• Permisi saat masuk ke rumah temen (karena ternyata banyak orang masuk ke rumah orang tidak punya sopan santun, tidak menyapa orang orang yang ada di rumah itu),

• Saat masuk atau pulang kerja memberi salam kepada rekan, terlebih pimpinan

• Kembalikan pinjaman uang sekecil apapun,

• Berani minta maaf saat ada kesalahan

• Tahu berterima kasih jika dibantu sekecil apapun...

Kelihatannya sederhana, tapi orang yang tidak punya attitude itu tidak akan mampu melakukannya. Bersyukurlah, bukan karena kita terlahir di keluarga yang kaya atau cukup. Bersyukurlah kalau kita terlahir di keluarga yang mengajarkan kita kesantunan, etika, tata krama dan kesederhanaan...

Semoga bermanfaat :). Sekalian nge-bookmark :D.

Mayo Clinic Guide to Healthy Pregnancy

During my pregnancy, I knew I needed a source for all things related to pregnancy because scouring the internet will just complicate things even more as there will be heaps of conflicting articles. Basically, the effort to filter the information will be very overwhelming.

I searched for a good pregnancy book and stumbled upon the "Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy" book. I checked the ratings on Goodreads and read the reviews. It gained 4.1/5 stars and there were a lot of reviews saying that this one book is already enough as a guide during their pregnancy. There was another popular book "What to Expect When You're Expecting", but it has lower rating than the Mayo Clinic one. Besides, I know for sure Mayo Clinic is one of the best healthcare provider in the US, so I have no doubt of the quality of the contents.

I think this book is very very useful as a one-stop guide to pregnancy. It is not to be read back-to-back, although you can. It's more like a reference guide or "pregnancy bible" that you read throughout while your pregnancy is progressing. It explains what food you can or cannot eat, what you should expect each week in your pregnancy, and in the last third of the book (I think) there are heaps of information on what to expect when you're giving birth - complete from the symptoms when you're about to go into labour, pain relief options that you can have, to about having C sections. It even has a dedicated chapter for dads-to-be on how they can support their wife during the pregnancy! I can't recommend this book enough. The reviews you'll find on Goodreads, Google books, Amazon, etc will speak for itself :). 

Click here to have a preview on the book contents before you decide to buy!

I do recommend to get the physical book rather than the Kindle version just because it's easier to flip through the pages as this is not a book that you read from front to back. And based on this experience, I had decided to purchase the next stage to this book, which is "Mayo Clinic Guide to Your Baby's First Year".

Why You Should Get Married Young

I got married in my early 20's - one month before my 24th birthday, to be exact. Not too early, but by most people's standard nowadays, it is considered quite early. I got married early for plenty of reasons apart from finally finding the perfect match (hopefully), some of it being wanting to be one of the first in my class to get married, getting married before my dad goes for retirement (alhamdulillah he still hasn't and still actively working full time), etc. Now that I've been married for almost four years, there are some benefits that I personally feel by getting married at a young age.

Having A Friend 24/7

It may sound immature, but I always thought being in a marriage means you will always have a friend, in good or bad. I know, I know... being in your early 20s, your life still revolves around your closest friends and it's not wrong. But everyone's got their own lives, priorities, and other things, hence they can't attend to your needs 24/7. But I believe husband and wife indirectly have that obligation towards one another. Compromises might be needed at times, but I'm sure most of the time, you'll have always have a friend there for you.

Be Real with Financials

When you are still young and single, you'll most likely splurge on yourself - fancy dining, designer items, travels, etc. But when you're married and (especially) if you move out from your parents house, that's when financial reality hits. You now have to pay your own rent, utility bills, groceries, etc. I was already pretty frugal and good with savings and financial management before I got married, but I was forced to be even smarter in managing our household financials once I was married. And once we have a mortgage, financial management becomes even trickier as we were just scrambling trying to find savings here and there. This has also opened our eyes that we need more than just savings account, we had to invest. Sometimes I feel like we haven't done our best in building our savings and investment. But when I had a look in our investment and progress saver account, we're actually doing quite well (I'm just too hard on myself most of the time).

"Halal" Relationship

Pacaran? The Indonesian term of "being in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship". For me, it's nothing than just a waste of time, money, and energy with the wrong person. Good on you if you married your long-time "pacar". Unfortunately, it just didn't work for me. I remember thinking, "it must be really stupid if I ended up with someone whom I barely know for more than 6 months". True that. I said "yes" to my husband whom I had known for less than 4 months. And because we've only known each other for less than 4 months, we've decided to extend our "honeymoon phase" after we got married, which eventually lasted for more than 3 years LOL. By being married, I can actually enjoy the relationship we have and feel secure about it. I know I'm going to the movies, dining out, trying new things, and traveling with the right person and not wasting my energy. Sometimes we do have our fight and arguments, but which family doesn't?

Achieving Things Together

I think this is what I love most about our marriage. We get to do stuff together and achieve things together. I love our last trip together to Melbourne. No kids yet, so we get to enjoy the trip like all normal guys-gals relationship. And the best thing about it is that we're halal! So our parents need not to worry about us going on a trip together (duh!). Also, in the past 4 years, we were able to achieve the unthinkables (at least for us): a job (for me), hajj trip, and finally "renting" our own home. It may look like that we "got lucky" to have those opportunities (I'm not saying that we're not lucky), but all of those did come with hard work, sacrifices, faith, and lots of tears. With each ups and downs, husband and I learned that we will always be dependant on each other. And when we're able to achieve things by working together and supporting each other, that's when we know that we're a great team.

***

Not all people may agree with me because everyone's circumstances are different. But I'm just sharing my personal experience and chipping in my two cents :). I know quite plenty of people who got married even younger than me, and their relationship is still going strong. 

Pregnancy: 38 Week Update

This week I'm in my 38 weeks, which means I'm due in two weeks! But bubba can come out any time now. I had the regular check up with the midwife on Thursday. As usual, I got weighed in and the scale was reading 70.1kgs. So, I had gained about 1kg in the last two weeks, but please note that I just ate an Oporto chicken sandwich just before I got weighed in. I reckon you can subtract a few hundred grams from the reading LOL. 

Thankfully the midwife that night was very nice and cheerful, which is completely the opposite of what I had last week. She told me that I'm already considered full term, so bubba may arrive any time soon. When she said that, I thought it was a very good call that I had moved my maternity leave forward by a week. Otherwise who knows what will happen at the office next week!

She checked bubba's position - bubba's head is already engaged in my pelvic bone. And also checked his heart beat. She said that bubba's heart rate is good and looks like he's happy inside (but don't get too cozy in there bubba!). He gave her a couple kicks as well while she was counting his heart beat, cheeky bubba! Oh, did I mention that bubba's very very active now. Not sure whether it's because he wants to get out of the womb or he just ran out of room to stretch.

As I was preparing my hospital bag the night before the check up, one of the bullet points in the list was to have your birth plan ready. By the way, I used the hospital bag check list from Baby Centre (http://www.babycenter.com.au/what-to-pack-in-your-hospital-bag). I hadn't thought about the birth plan, but I remember my friend saying that she did have a birth plan, which went out the window eventually as her water already broke, she was in severe pain, and can't think of anything else other than delivering the baby. And I had also read in the Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy book what a birth plan is. It's basically just listing your preferences during and post labour so you don't have to make a decision on the spot while you're focusing on delivering the baby, that includes the preferred pain relief, whether you'd consent to a C-section, etc. Then I asked the midwife whether it's necessary to have a birth plan. She said, "only 10% of women make birth plans". Well, that makes sense, I thought, considering my friend's experience. "You just need to have make sure that you make informed decisions. And please do not oppose to C-section, although you are allowed to, because we only do C-section if something goes terribly wrong and we need to save both of you," she added. I nodded. Fair enough.

My tummy is getting more uncomfortable by the day. Getting very firm. Can't wait 'til bubba comes out and I'll be done with all of this! Err... not really. Actually the real hard work will just begin. 

Maternity Photoshoot

Last Sunday, husband and I did a DIY maternity photo shoot with our minimalistic equipments: M3/4 camera, tripod, and some props. I was in my 37th week of pregnancy and I wanted to have a keepsake photo of my first pregnancy without breaking the bank. Basically just a photo of me holding my belly would already suffice. I don't need any fancy photo shoot. I mean, what's there to show other than my growing belly? 

I browsed for maternity photo shoot ideas and all of them seems to be either too quirky (that it just doesn't interest me) or it's-that-pose-again. Because most of the photos I saw on the internet is just the "it's-that-pose-again", I thought we should be able to do it by ourselves, with the help of the tripod of course, as long as I can get great background. 

The sky was cloudy that morning and we went out around 9am. I expected the sky would be clear by then (according to the weather forecast), but unfortunately we can hardly get any natural light. So, most of the photo is a bit disappointing, coupled with my husband inability to take good photos (as usual). But anyway, I'm still happy because some of them turned out great good.

The photos were taken at Holroyd Gardens in Merrylands which is near our house. The venue is actually gorgeous. It's just a bit unfortunate that we couldn't get natural light on that day and that I completely forgot to bring my 60mm lens. And I guess it would be much better if we could have a third person to help us - but then this would dismiss the idea of a "DIY" photoshoot, LOL, as that means we're "hiring" a photographer.

Here Comes Maternity Leave!

That day has finally come :) - last day at the office before maternity leave. It feels like I'm going to leave that place forever although I'll only be away for 6-7 months. 

Yesterday was my last day at the office before I officially go into the "waiting period" before bubba arrives. Since morning, I was full-on training my maternity leave cover on my last day, making sure she's on top of everything - or at least get the gist of most of my task. We were quite late when we started the handover three weeks ago as I had a lot to handover and some of the tasks had to be done at a certain time or required certain files from other people. To make matters worse, I wasn't training her full time because she was also training her offshore counterpart and covering her manager who was also on leave at that time. Eventually, we only had around 1-2 hours of training each day for about 3 weeks. It was very unfortunate, because my manager already had everything planned carefully earlier in the year (even I had submitted the training plan back in February!) but that plan just went out of the window.

In the afternoon my colleagues threw me a temporary-farewell party (slash baby shower) as well on my last day. I was gifted baby singlets, jumper, baby toys, and a huge greeting card (thanks everyone!). And on the Monday before, my bird-loving colleague, Katrina, gifted bubba children's books by Australian authors (thank you! will definitely read them to bubba :)). At the party, many were commenting about how my bump is very much facing forward, indicating that it's a boy (well, that's what most people believed). Some were commenting how on Earth I was still able to come into the office although I'm due in two weeks! To be honest, it wasn't easy, especially that my bump is getting bigger and bigger by the day and standing up (from sitting position) is just hard, but I can't imagine myself just staying at home doing nothing.

At the end of the day, I finished training my maternity leave cover at 6pm - just in time when hubby arrived to pick me up. I packed the remainder of my personal belongings (I guess this is why it felt like I'm leaving the company once and for all) and said goodbye to anyone who was still at the office when I exited the building, which is actually not many people, LOL. 

Anyway, now I'm enjoying my quiet Saturday (with no hubby at home as well!). I'm trying to finish the "Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy" book, preparing myself for labour which can happen anytime now. Starting next week, there's no work that I need to think about. Hopefully I don't get the itch to open my work emails now that I have VPN access which means I can basically access the company's server and actually do some work remotely. And hopefully I will have some time to finally finish creating my wedding book (while Blurb is having 40% off) and sewing bubba's blanket before he arrives.

Sayur Singkong/Kale

When you can't find singkong (cassava) leaves in Australia, kale leaves make a great substitute due to the similarity of the texture. That's what I've been doing pretty much in the past year when I'm longing for any type of cooking with singkong (cassava) leaves.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of kale leaves (around 400gr)
• 2 tbsp small shrimps (ebi) - or you can use prawns with skin on, but if using prawn do not blend it with the other spices 
• 1/2 red onion
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1 block of ABC shrimp paste (terasi)
• 2 tsp of coriander seeds (ground)
• White pepper 
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 2 candlenuts (burn)
• Chillies (optional)
• 3-4 bay leaves
• 2-3 tbsp anchovies
• Royco ebi flavour (optional)
• 1 can of coconut milk (400gr)
• Water

Directions:

1. Blend together: small shrimps, red onion, garlic cloves, shrimp paste, coriander seeds, white pepper, ginger paste, candlenuts, and chillies. Add a bit of water if it will not grind finely.
2. Heat a bit of oil and saute the blended spices.
3. Add in water and coconut milk.
4. Add in anchovies, bay leaves, and Royco until boiling.
5. Add in the kale leaves and cook until the leaves wilt.
6. Add sugar and salt to taste. 

Bread and Butter

Prologue: This post has been sitting in my draft folder for months. I wasn't really sure whether to expose the hardship that I've gone through. But no one's life is perfect, and I think we shouldn't pretend to fake it that everything in our lives is so perfect in social media. So, I thought to myself, "why not just share?"

***

Four years ago when my husband and I started out as a married couple, my husband wasn't even making the average income. And he is not the greatest at managing money either. I still remember how I face-palmed trying hard to understand the justification of his purchase (when he was still single) when I found out that his Macbook Pro worth more than $3000. I thought to myself, "Oh God, how can he be so reckless with his money!?" I didn't have lot of savings as well at that time because when you convert my savings into Australian dollar, it's basically nothing. The money we collected from our wedding, we spend almost all of it for my return flights and my visa application. So, I went from comfortable living in my parents home, to struggling to make ends meet.

I have been having toast and butter almost everyday for the past few weeks. Just felt like having them although bread and butter are not a staple breakfast in our home. Every time I slather the butter onto the warm toast, it brings back memories of how I used to have my bread and butter when we just started out on our own. I consider it as a good reminder of how my life has evolved in the past 4 years, reminder for me to look back to my past and keep myself grounded.

The bread and butter that we used to be able to afford were the Aldi or Coles homebrands. The bread that we normally purchase wasn't fresh from the onsite bakery. And the butter was also cheap - the private label ones. I'm big believer that if you want to have a taste of the best, then you must be ready to pay the price - which translates to usually good stuff are expensive. Since I only buy the cheap ones, I never knew what good bread and butter tasted like. I remember buying the 80 cents bread for my in-laws while they were staying for 3 months because they usually have bread for breakfast. They would say the bread was hard and they would like the Tip Top one (which cost three times the private label).

Fast forward to four years later, we now eat a different bread and butter. My bread is the freshly baked ones from the bakery. I don't go to the bakery aisle anymore where they display breads from bakery companies. And the butter that I eat now is one of the pricier butter you will find in the chiller (but I always get them when they're on sale every 4 weeks or so tho). Every time I see my now-butter and bread, it reminded me how I used to not be able to afford them because I needed to save money and should make do with whatever we can afford. Now I'm quite proud that I can afford good bread for when my in-laws are staying over without needing to feel guilty. It's a beautiful reminder for us as well how a lot has changed for us.

Thank you, God, for the immense blessings that you have showered us with. We are truly grateful for everything you have given us.