2008 into 2009: Time to Reflect

A few more hours before the new year arrive. I'm taking this opportunity to reflect and also to plan forward. Overall, 2008 has been a very blessed year for me.

• It marks the arrival of Caitlin after a not-so-easy pregnancy.
• Hubby is happier at work.
• Ryan is growing into a fine young boy and he's coping well with all the changes and challenges. I'm especially proud of him for making good progress in his Mandarin. Although he can be difficult at times, I'm happy to note that he's teachable and he will listen if we put in the effort.
• I got a promotion at my workplace and was also transferred to a new department. A new adventure for me and I hope I made a good choice on that career move.
• Everyone is healthy and happy.

There are also the down side but I prefer not to dwell in them. Life is no perfect and I'm learning to cope the best I can. I noticed that I can get easily stressed in my new position. Little things which did not bother me in the past now does. I guess, it's easier to stay positive when you are not tested. Easier said than done. Whatever it is, I'm happy to receive Hubby's blessing in all that I do. Family is precious to me and it's them that I should be focusing my energy to.

Moving forward, there's so much more that I want to accomplish. I shall list them here to remind myself, something like a resolution and I will do monthly review and hopefully 12 months later, I would have achieve most of them.

For 2009, I want to:

• be more healthy and lose at least 5 kg through healthy living, exercising and eating.
• have monthly meeting with hubby to plan for family activities. I used to do this but somehow I have given them up. Will continue with this good practice.
• read more, at least one book a month and practice all good things.
• learn basic makeup.
• be more positive and energised. Try not to let small issues get the better of me.

I will fine tune the list as I go along but whatever it is, my priority is to be there for my family. Year 2009 will no doubt be challenging, with all the prediction of an economic-financial-crisis-meltdown but I think as a family, we will be able to weather them all. Happy New Year and have a blessed year ahead.

Colourful Jelly

Look what vivid colours from my camera. It makes the jelly looks extra yummy.

Merry Christmas 2009

Christmas is here and it's Caitlin's first. She wore a new skirt I bought her and with her hat, she looks every inch a santarina.

We are happy to celebrate this occasion with our loved ones.

Merry Christmas everyone and have a blessed year ahead.

A Short but Meaningful Holiday (19-21 Dec 2008)

We went for a short 3-day holiday in Genting and stayed at my company's apartment in Awana Genting. Although it was the only holiday for us for the year and it's just for a few days, IT WAS GREAT!!

We had fun, lots of fun with Aunt Jo, Freddy and Doris. It was also special as it was Caitlin's first trip and we also put her on the stroller for the first time. From the photos you can tell that she enjoyed it, being pushed around and seeing and be part of the activities around her. Ryan was too old for the rides and instead he was very much into one of the arcade game, Mushiking. I went into the casino and "donated" RM150.00 for 30 minutes of "fun". Better luck next time.

And I made full use of my new camera!!

My New Toy #1 - Camera

Hubby bought me a new camera for Christmas and birthday. After doing his research and "checking" his budget, we settled for a Canon Ixus 870 IS with 10.0 megapixel (released in August 2008) and it's mega cool.

With my old camera, I had problem taking indoor photos of Caitlin. Most of the time, it will turned out blur and I could not capture good shots as there is a time delay. It worked fine outdoor, but not indoor so when hubby suggested to "upgrade" my camera, I too think that the timing is just right as I have the intention to pass my old camera to Ryan who is also into photography. Unfortunately, he slipped and fell when he was trying to take a shot at my neighbour's house and the camera's lense was "crocked" and could not retrieved back into its body. So while we were shopping for my new camera, we also ended up sending my old camera for repair.

Ryan was devastated as I have planned to go with him on a photography adventure during our coming holidays. Nevermind, there will be other occassions. But for now, let me savour my new toy........muahhaha

Roomful of Cloths

This is what happens when it rains continously for a few days and all the cloths cannot dry.

Without a dryer and out of desperation, I had to be creative and improvised. So I turned one of the rooms to a "drying room", with the fan on.

The next time, I will save all the trouble and send the cloths to the laundrette.

Garden: 15 December 2008

My garden has been growing well, in particular, the red-flower plant which I have yet to find out its name. New shoots will grow from its flowers and I usually will transfer them into a new pot once they are mature enough.

Looks like I will have lots of planting to do judging by the record-number of shoots that are coming up!

Broken Toothbrush

One minute he was brushing his teeth and then he slipped and his toothbrush broke into 2. Thank God his two front teeth is still intact.

Ryan's Introduction to Primary 1

Ryan will be starting Primary 1 next year in Puay Chai 2. The school is located within Bandar Utama and I understand from other parents and teachers that most of the students there are not from mandarin-speaking families (just nice for Ryan).

Anyway, the school had an optional 3-week introduction class for all its new students from 17 November 2008 to 5 December 2008 and I gladly registered Ryan.

First day was chaotic as the little ones were accompanied by their parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, etc, who came by the horde, armed with cameras (like me!) and videocams. All of us wanted to capture our kids "first-day-at-school" and to be there for them. I was also alarmed by the presence of a large number of people/adult within the school compound and I eyed each of them with suspicion, especially since I heard a lot of stories of kidnapping in school. I share the same fear with a few parents and was relieved when they did not allow any more adult into the school compound after the second day.

Besides that, I was also anxiuos as I have arranged for Ryan's transportation back to the day care centre and I hope that they can find him.

Ryan was excited. He woke up early and wore his new uniforms (I got him 5 sets for Mondays to Fridays), which consists of a white shirt and blue short pants. He was attentive in class and was happy to discovered that a few of his kindie friends are also students there. During recess, I packed him water and a few biscuits but he's not interested. He's more interested to run "wild" in the small field besides the school canteen. After 5 minutes of running, he's all hot and sweaty and his white shoes turned grey.

And that marks the start of my nightmares...

Caitlin: 4 months

Caitlin is now 4 months and she started "recognising" people/faces/place for the past 2 weeks. The first victim is my mother-in-law, who loves to cuddle her. We go over to her place once a week and Caitlin will be screaming her lungs out whenever she's in her grandma's arms, much to the cringe of her parents.

Also, when it's her bedtime, she will be looking for her "nest" along with all her "sleeping periherals" which consist of smelly nappies, bolsters, hankies etc.

Besides that, she's also busy "demonstrating" her knack for kicking..... so much so that her leg (it's usually her right leg) often got caught in between the planks of her baby cot. If she manage to pull it out, then fine. Otherwise, you can bet there will be a round of screaming.

Overall, she's doing fine and I always wonder what will she be doing next?

Happy Birthday Dear

Dear Hubby...

" Happy Birthday and we love you always "

From : Shirley, Ryan and Caitlin

We saw "Smiley" in the sky

We took Caitlin to the doctor as she was having flu and she had them for the past one week. In fact, it was her second visit to her pediatrician. On our way back, hubby mentioned that the cresent-shaped moon together with 2 stars looked like a smiley. And indeed it did.

I thought nothing of it. When we reached home, hubby tried taking photos of it but it did not turn our well. The photo in this blog is from the internet. The next day, I was surprised to read it in the newspaper and that it was a stellar phenomenon caused by Venus, Jupiter and a three-day-old crescent moon. The biggest surprise is that it happened once every 5 years.

I wonder if I'm lucky enough to see it again.

Ultramen Under Attack

I walked into our living hall and found this on the floor. Ryan, using his imagination, had arranged his ultramen battling with 2 dinosours; one dinasour was busy biting the attackers while the one is running away.



Can't help smiling.

Ryan's Tuition Bearing Fruits

Remember the time when we did not know what to do with Ryan's chinese? We ended up engaging a personal tutor for him who comes in twice a week, 1.5 hours each time. That was sometime in August 2008 and it has been 3 months now and he has shown tremendous improvement....so much so that for his final year kindi examination, chinese is the only paper which he got 100%. We are happy with the teacher, Ms Lim and we are also proud of him.

Initially, we wanted the tutor to come in for a period of 6 months as we thought Ryan should be able to cope / survive on his own thereafter. However, looking at the school syllabus and seeing Ryan improving by leaps and bounds, we decided to continue engaging her. It will put a dent on our finances but I guess this is one of the sacrifies that we are happy to make.

Ryan's creative side?

Ryan have been playing with my camera, happily snapping away. Most of his shots are blurr because my camera is one of those cheap ones and do not have anti shake. I, myself find it challenging to use it.

So I was surprised to see him getting a clear shot. I'm not sure what he has in mind, but that is his hand. Is this a fluke shoot or is that boy creative?....Well, I'm not sure of that either.

Gardening: Chop. Chop, Chop

My neighbour's maid helped me clear part of my garden so that my cloths will get direct sunlight and dry faster. So....the green palm have to be trimmed as its the main culprit !!

She used the ladder and chopped off the leaves. By the time she finished, my garden looked bare but neat.

Caitlin: 3 months

Time flies ...... Caitlin is now 3 months old. She's such a cutie pie, especially in skirts.

Relaxing

Without fail, Ryan will "position" himself right in front of the TV every Saturday and Sunday mornings.

He, like any normal kids, just loves TV and can spent mindless hours glued to it. Though I would prefer that he spend more time doing more outdoor activities, I do admit that at times I would just allow him to watch TV just to get him "out of the way" while I attend to whatever-that-needed-my-attention" and since Caitlin's arrival, that happen very, very often.

He will be starting Primary 1 soon and like it or not, his TV time would be limited and I will also remind myself not to have the TV as the convenient babysitter.

Tooth fairy came for a visit

Ryan had such healthy teeth that his new ones had to push to old teeth out and his new teeth were not growing properly "aligned".
We were worried that he may ended up wearing braces !!! So we packed him to Dr Belinda who later assured us that his teeth will be fine and since he's still young, somehow the newbies will align with the rest of his teeth.

We are keeping our fingers crossed!!

Ryan's Kindi Graduation

Today is Ryan's graduation and the kindi did the normal stuff....graduation ceremony and a concert performance by all the students. It was fun. When they are in their robes, Ryan and his friends looked like Harry Porters.

As for the performance, Ryan did a robot dance and he was also in the choir. For his robot dance, he did quite well and we did notice that his body is quite flexible. He also mentioned that he like dancing and I'm considering enrolling him to a dance school. Something creative for him.

For his choir, we also note that he just could not stand still and get easily distracted. But so are the rest, so I guess, he's just your normal 6-year old.

Next year, Ryan will be starting his Primary 1 but before that he will be attending his school's 3-week introduction specially for all standard 1 students this coming 17 November 2008. My "baby" is growing up so fast.

Dinosaur Egg

Mummy: Ryan........what's this?
Ryan: It's a dinosour egg.

Caitlin's Creche closed for a week due to HFM

Life have been hectic. Just as Caitlin had settled in the creche and our daily routine, the creche was closed for a week due to HFM. A few older kids confirmed having them and as it's extremely contagious and can be life-threatening (depending on the virus), the creche had to be closed and sanitised.

We could not take leave for so many days and decided to seek my mother-in-law's help. She, together with my sister-in-law were kind enough to take care of Caitlin during that period. We were reliefed and this means a new routine for the week.

Papa will take Caitlin to mum's place in the morning. They will leave at 5.30am. In the evening, we will take one each and whoever can leave early will need to pick Ryan. Traffic was terrible as we usually travelled during peak hours and it rained every single evening. Sigh.

We are so tired by the time we are back but we are glad that Caitlin is fine. She's happy and had the opportunity to spend loads of time bonding with grandma. MIL is very happy to have her around. All of us were happy when her creche reopens.

Ryan's "Pokedex"

This is Ryan's most treasured book.

It's a pokemon dictionary and it contains details of all pokemons characters and Ryan just love it. The book was a gift from Uncle Kee Heng for his birthday.

All I can say is, he had the book for the last 2 months and he has been referring to it every other day. I just wish that he has the same interest when it comes to his school book. (wishful thinking)

Back to Work

Today, I woke up at 6.00am. I'm going back to work after a 2-month break. Today is also Caitlin's first day at my company's creche. Armed with 4 bags + 2 kids, we left at 7.30am. Thank god Aunt Jo was around to help us get ready as hubby leaves for work much earlier (at 6.30-6.45am).

I expect to be blurr at work (and at home) for at least the first few days. Thereafter, I should be back on track.

Caitlin: 2 months

She has grown to be a feisty girl. When its feeding time, she wants her milk straight away. Otherwise, you will get an earful as she will be screaming her lungs out.

She's a cutie pie but as the days goes by, she looks more and more like her brother. People tend to mistaken her as a boy. It did not help that she's dressed in her brother's baby cloths which are mainly white and blue instead of red or pink!!

I'm going to start work on 6 October 2008 and she will be heading to my company's creche. It will be a new adventure for her (and me!). Wish us luck.