Know Your Skin - Kenali Kulit Anda

Before you choose any skin care to use, you need to know what type of skin you have. Dry ? Oily ? Normal ? Or combination? So if you nak tau, jom refer to facts below.

Dry Skin/Kering
Kulit jenis ini biasanya kurang berminyak/lembab atau both pun tak. This is because of the kelenjar minyak yang not so active or you are exposed to air-conditioner, high alkaline cleanser or yang paling penting, KURANG MINUM AIR.

Masalah yang biasa dihadapi:
- Kedut/garis garis halus
- Bintik bintik hitam (freckles)
- Whitehead (Milia Seed)
- Hitam di sekeliling mata
- Jeragat (Pigmentation)
-Whole face kering and kusam

Normal Skin
Kulit yang seimbang. Usually babies ada normal skin, soft and supple.

Oily Skin/Minyak
Oily skin ni pores akan terbuka, kelihatan seperti kulit limau, berjerawat either small or big because  the kelenjar minyak is too active producing excessive oil. Besides that, due to hormones, our hot weather and high fat content in our diet pun can cause oily skin. TAPI, yang best kulit minyak ni ia melambatkan the aging process. Haha ! Pros and cons lah kan

Combination
Most of us ada combination skin. T-ZONE most of the time ada problem; whiteheads, blackeads, oily or dry.

There you go ! So your kulit tergolong pada yang mana ? Lepas dah tau jenis kulit, baru boleh plih product skin care untuk membantu memulihkan atau mantain kulit sedia ada.

Nak FREE CONSULTATION atau nak join FREE SKINCARE CLASS ? Jom whatsapp +60163379760. I'm here to help.

Love,
Miera
Your Mary Kay Beauty Consultant

Mary Kay - ESRS Class

I am now a Mary Kay's Certified Beauty Consultant. Yay me !

On the 1st and 2nd July 2016, I attended the Essential Steps to Reach Success(ESRS) class. It is basically a 2-days basic workshop on how to start building your business in Mary Kay. You will learn about Mary Kay's background, about how important dreams are, analysis of skin types, basic product knowledge, basic makeup application, how to manage your time, how to manage your business and also on how to conduct the skincare class.

If you are a new BC, I would suggest you to go. It is not boring at all. The 3 mentors we had were Kak Hasni, Kak Fiza, and Kak Jumi. They are a Sales Director that have inspiring stories to tell and they are super duper funny.

You will need to pay RM50 for the 2-days course but you will get back a lot more:
- ESRS Certificate
- ESRS Pin
- RM200 Voucher
- MK Daily Planner
- MK Creme Lipstick

TOTALLY WORTH IT !

So, I am looking for 15 ladies to have a skincare class with me in the month of July. It is for FREE because sharing is caring. I want you to learn what I have learnt.

The class will include
- Hands Spa
- Lips Spa
- Analysis of your skin
- A Complete Skin Care Regime

This is also your chance to try Mary Kay products. Awesome, huh ? You can also bring along your friends and family. We could have a party out of it. Fun, right ?! Be a hostess to get Mary Kay products for free.

If you are interested, do contact me at 0163379760 for further information.

My fit life which is no more

Today I was brought to an IG of a mother, a breastfeeding mother, who is still active with her physical activities. She ran, won a medal and breastfed her daughter after the race.

I cried.

Yup, I did.

I was active. Very active. I loved working out. To sweat. To lift heavy things. I worked hard for a few years and managed to lose weight. I managed to get a body that I'm comfortable in. A bit of muscles here and there. A lil bit of fat but I didn't mind it.

Then I got pregnant. Few months in, I bled. I stopped all my physical activities. After I gave birth, I realized that I lost all my strength. My core strength has gone down the drain. My arms strength is gone. Back to knee push ups. Panting after 5 reps. I am now back to flat ass. My glutes muscle, all gone.

For somebody who has worked so hard, woke up at 5 am to mealprep and workout, spent my weekend with running and gym and crossfit, what I am now is a disappointment.

I am disappointed with myself. I am disappointed that I do not make the effort to workout consistently. I am disappointed that I do not control what I eat and give excuses like I'm breastfeeding. I do not need to eat chocolate because it does not help with my breastfeeding but now I'm addicted to it.

When I have the free time to workout, I tell myself that I am tired. Or no, I can't leave her. I don't have enough milk in stock.

It has now been more than 5 months and I am nowhere near to progressing back to my old self. Don't get me wrong, I love my baby. I don't regret having her coz she is now my new bestfriend. She is my pillar when I'm going through an emotional turmoil like this one.

However, a baby is not an excuse. I should be working out consistently. I really want her to watch her parents living a healthy and fit life. I do not want her to grow up addicted to TVs, gadgets and video games. I want her to be active. I don't want her to be sedentary.

3 Months Breastfeeding Journey

It has been 3 months plus now and my breastfeeding journey is not as smooth as I’d hope it would be. Yes, breastfeeding is now one of my top priority.

As I went through a C-section, I had to lie down the first 24 hours while breastfeeding. Baby and I were both new at it so we had to call the nurse so many times to help. It’s so funny to have somebody to pull your nipple and put into baby’s mouth. As I did not have enough rest the first night, I really could not sleep that night, I sent my baby to the nursery and ask them to feed her on the second night.

I was tired. I couldn’t think. My blood pressure was reaching 190. What’s a few formula feeding compared to a sane mind, right ?

The next day, we got the hang of it. Baby could latch and I wasn’t feeling much pain. You see, all you need is to be calm.

Everything was smooth sailing during confinement. I even had extra to stock up for work. Or so I thought. In the journey of teaching lil Zayra to bottle feed and the events of spoiled freezer, my stock finished before I started work. So now I am what you call a pump-today-finish-tomorrow mother.

My office is a very small office which 99% of the employees are male. I am the 1%. It’s an open concept in one of the shop lots. There is no room except for the boss’s and no empty area that I could just cover with a separator.

So before I started work, I went to buy the wind shield and front windows cover. The plan was to just pump in the car. So I did. Then I realized that the front window cover is not a cover after all. People can still see inside. I have my nursing cover so I continued pumping in the car for a week. I kept on looking outside while pumping in case anybody is staring. It’s not good to pump when you are not calm as it will affect your milk production.

This week, I decided to just pump in the toilet. Oh my God. It is so freaking hot in there. And I have to stand for a good 30 minutes. That is tiring and also not calm. Also because there is only 1 toilet in the office, I’m always waiting for somebody to knock on the door. Sigh.

Going to client’s office is no breeze either. Almost cried because I couldn’t find a proper place to pump. Decided on the toilet again and luckily I got to leave early. So only 1 pumping session at the client’s place.

I also have to watch what I eat. A lot of food will have Zayra react to it. She has reflux problem. Same as her mother. Sigh. Chocolate will decrease my milk production, which is a sad thing to have. Spicy food too. Mee goreng and caffeine will give her bad reflux. Seafood would give her eczema. I’m observing her reaction to dairy. She couldn’t handle dairy when she was younger but I think now she is adapting to it.

So yeah, there are nights where she couldn’t sleep and cry because of reflux. Some nights she will be crying because I am out of milk. Some days I drive to work in a zombie mode. It has been tough but we have achieved our 3 months milestone. Targeting the 6 months milestone now. Baby steps. In Shaa Allah. Ada rezeki Zayra to have mama’s milk for 2 years.

Welcome To The World, Baby Girl !

It has been more than a month and I have yet to update baby Zayra's delivery experience. Yeap, I now am a mother and her name is Zayra Aisha.

Zayra's due date was on the 2nd of November. I started my maternity leave 2 weeks earlier because I was just too tired to wake up in the morning to get ready for work. Tired. Heh ! I did not know tired then. So anyways, I spent my days doing all the activities that could induce labor. Squats, jumping, dancing, walking. To no avail, baby decided to stay longer.

On the 10th, Deepavali day, I went for a checkup. By then I was already 8 days post due. The plan was to induce the next day but the checkup did not look good. My amniotic fluid was lacking. Had a deal with the doctor to come back in the evening for the induction.

We went back to UMSC at 6pm and I was induced at 7pm. Then I had to lie down for an hour. The nurse came to do the ctg around 8ish. I only felt like my usual period cramps during the ctg. I thought they were contraction but apparently not. So while I was playing with my phone, I saw the heart rate reading of the baby dropping. It was supposed to be between 140-160. It was 90.

Panicked, I called the nurse. I tried to calm myself down by thinking that the sensor moved, or the baby moved away. The nurse wasn't sure so she called the doctor.

The doctor came and again the reading dropped. She suggested c-section but I hesitated. While we were discussing, baby's heart rate dropped again. Then I saw it was only 8. No arguments from anybody. Off to the operating room we go.

I obviously panicked. I've never done any operation before and so freaking worried that I might lose our baby. With baby in mind, I surrendered. Needles in, tubes in. Whatever. Scared ? Just take a deep breath and think positive. I trusted my doctor and she assured me,"Don't worry. I'm here. I will make sure the baby is safe". Dr Aizura together with the anaesthetist, I relaxed a lil. I believed that they know what they are doing. Whatever is gonna happen is fated.

After about 10 minutes and a hole in my stomach, I heard baby's crying. Very soft though. So I asked, is that my baby ? "Yes but the nurse is bringing her to the paeds and clean her up. She pooped inside"

I smiled. I was super relieved. My baby is okay. She's fine. That's all that matters.

If I had been stubborn and postponed the induction, things might have worked out differently. Everytime I think of that, I break down. I am super grateful to Allah for this gift. She is just too precious to us. Zayra Aisha, I hope you know that.

Few things you need to know about c-section:
1) To get the baby out is fast but to clean you up and close everything will take awhile. Total maybe 45 mins ?

2) Only the bottom down of your body will be numb. You can feel pressure but no pain. After awhile, you won't feel your legs at all. Don't panic like how I was.

3) You will be shivering. Hard. It will be awhile. Just imagine you're somewhere hot and relax. It will go away. After an hour or so.

4) To get up after the operation is hell ! But you have to. And stand straight when you walk. Bending will make it even more painful.

5) The pain of the scar will be gone in 2-3 weeks so be patient. Just turn to your side when you are lying down or getting up.

That's all from me. Till then !

Pink Lemonade Baby Shower

"Pink Lemonade"

That was the theme.

Weeks before the shower, my sister told me that the theme was going to be "The Kardashian" *shriek!* Then she mentioned to me not to tell Alea that she told me, one of my bffs also one of the party organizer. *heart drops* I learned from the past not to believe everything my sister says but..I don't know. WHY THE HECK WOULD ANYONE THINK THAT THAT WOULD BE A GOOD THEME ? A Kardashian baby. Oh em gee, please NO !

Okay. Enough drama. 

I was super relieved when I stepped into The Picnic Table in Kota Damansara and I see nothing with The Kardashian theme. Instead, I was welcomed with a very pretty picnic-like ambience, very colourful with pink and yellow as the main theme. It was BEAUTIFUL ! I loved it ! 

The girls were dressed up in pink and the boys were dressed up in yellow. My close friends and family were there with a few exceptions.

It was a very sweet gesture from my friends as I have been asking them for a picnic at the park but thanks to the haze, we never did it. So I'm happy that we could do it indoor and the buffet spread by The Picnic Table was superb ! The owner was a Sri Amanian, I heard. Not bad, girl !

So here, I wanna thank my friends and family for the time taken to organize and attending the shower. I appreciate every bit of it and baby ZA thanks everybody for the lovely gifts.

Now let the pictures do the talking!

Dear baby girl, as I'm writing this you are now 38 weeks young in my tummy. If you ever read this, I want you to know that your Daddy and I are excited to meet you. We love you although we have not met you. You make me smile every time you move, kick, punch or hiccup. At one point of time, you started kicking every time you hear daddy's car at the gate every night. That was cute. My hope for you is that you will excel in everything that you put your hands on. I pray that you will be high-spirited and that you will not give up in anything that you do, till you succeed. I pray that you will always feel loved and never lonely. Know that you have me to confide in. No matter what the issue is at hand.  I don't know how the future is going to turn out, but know this, I love you and always will love you. 

Are you excited ?

I have decided that I don't like that question. It's because I always end up answering,"ermm..I'm nervous!"

Seriously, do you expect a NO for that question ? No, I'm not excited to meet my baby. No, I'm not excited that my life is going to change forever.

Of course not ! I want this baby ! I have secretly been wanting a baby even before I got married. So YES I am excited ! I smile when I feel the baby moves inside me. I get super excited when baby decides to respond to our conversation before bed with her by doing somersaults inside. I imagine her in my arms like all the time.

But on top of all the excitement, other feelings come into play. I'm scared for the delivery process. I'm scared that I might not know how to soothe my crying baby. I'm scared for the baby's future. I'm scared that she will turn out a horrible person because I do not know how to be a good mother.

I'm scared of many things. So please excuse me when I reply with an "ermm" when I get asked "Are you excited?"