Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

It's now time to bid farewell to 2011. My, my, what a year it has been!!! It definitely wasn't "just another year" for me.

Let's see:

First half of the year:
1. Was pregnant!
2. Took a career break for the very first time since I started working. Had really mixed feelings about leaving my old job.
3. For the first time, I stayed at home with Elyssa almost 24x7. I loved spending quality time with her but at the same time, she drove me half nuts! I ended up being really impatient with the poor girl. Blame it on the pregnancy hormones too.
4. Strangely enough, towards the end of my break, I realised I missed the rat race.
5. Had a down syndrome scare with baby Erin. That gave me the fright of my life.
6. Accepted a new job offer.


Second half of the year:
7. Welcomed baby Erin into the family.
8. Struggled with breastfeeding and milk pumping. Not 100% successful but I'm still producing (and pumping 3-4x a day) and yes, I think I deserve to give myself a pat on the back!
9. Had a maid for the very first time. Took some time to adjust to a stranger in the house + getting her used to the routine.
10. Started new job. So far so good.
11. Bought a new family house. Sold the house we stayed in since we got married.
This originally wasn't in our 2011 plan at all. Saw the house we liked and within 1.5 weeks - arranged for feng shui consultation, got the termites people to check, called up banks etc etc for the prospective new house, got 7 viewings on a Saturday for our current house and a firm offer the very next day. Everything happened so fast!
12. Adopted a new toy poodle.

Phew, what a year !!!! Personally, I feel that I have learnt and grown a lot during this year. And I feel really blessed for what I have in my life.



Photos my 2 little princesses taken on the last day of 2011 -


I'm happy to welcome in the new year as well. Plenty of exciting challenges ahead - moving to the new house, Elyssa starting school, travelling in my new job (my "immunity" had ended. I requested for no travel at all in the first 3 months of the job), seeing the kids grow etc etc..

Bring it on 2012 !!!

Big Secret

Yesterday, Elyssa pulled my mum aside and told her softly : " I have something to tell you".

My mum got a little bit worried when she heard that. Was something wrong?

Then Elyssa whispered into her ear :

"My mummy is fat".

Oh dear......... don't know whether to laugh or cry when I heard that !!!!

Must have been from last weekend. I was trying on my pre-baby Erin clothes and told her : " I'm so sad because I'm so fat already. I cannot wear my old clothes".

I said that each time I tried on something (can't fit! *sob* *sob*) and after each time, she came and hugged me saying "Mummy, you're so sad so I hug you. Then you are no more sad already right?". Awww, my little monkey can be so sweet sometimes!!

This and That

Phew....... finally have the time to sit down, relax and blog a bit.

For the past two weeks or so, I've been busy organizing our company's first ever regional conference. What an absolutely EX-HAUS-TING affair. Plenty of little things to oversee -t-shirt ordering, flight details, hotel confirmation, shuttle van to the hotel, confirmation of agenda, meals bla bla bla plus having to think of my own 3 hour presentation session, opening welcome session and closing recap session. That all happened BEFORE the event. Despite all the planning, there were still lots of unforseen things that happened DURING the event - delayed flights, traffic jams, last minute changes etc etc that needed attention.

Overall, the 3D2N event went well and boy am I glad that it's over :)


Here's a photo taken during the team building event. I was the "blind person" that had to be taken through the obstacle course :)


On the home front, we went for a family trip back to our own hometown in Ipoh 2 weekends ago. The whole "jing bang gang" of us 8 adults, 2 kids, 2 toddlers, 1 baby, 1 baby in tummy(not mine!) and 2 maids (minus my maid cos that one gets car sick even for a 30 minute journey).

Stayed 2 nights at a 5 bedroom apartment in Ritz Garden @ RM630 per night. Not much choice cos we wanted at least 4 bedrooms. He he..... one big happy family but we can't stay together for the night - I'm still breastfeeding, I can't stand my mother's loud snoring, the toddlers need to sleep with the parents etc etc.

We set our expectations really low based on some internet reviews and its past history but were pleasantly surprised indeed. The apartment itself was clean and newly renovated with flat screen tvs in each of the rooms. Breakfast was pretty decent too.

Forgot to take photos of the apartment. Some photos from the Ipoh trip:

My girls on the Tram ride to the Sungkai Hot Springs

Sis's family at one of the pools. Water temp was nice and warm.

The cousins at the Coronation Park playground
We used to go this park (then called Seenivasagam park) as kids. I loved it!

Elyssa with Jo Ern

Elyssa and Justin at the tortoise pond @ Sam Poh Thong

Family Photo

Ok, this is a bit of a "all-in-one" post. Photos of my 2 princesses taken in the past 2 weeks.

Me with my Princess No. 2
Do we look the same?? ;)

Princess No. 1
Looking sweet here, and not her normal "monkey" self :)

AND...... introducing the latest addition of our family. Already crazy busy enough, but we couldn't resist this little puppy when we saw him at a pet shop last weekend!!!!! He's like a walking teddy bear!!!! Super adorable!

Our Toy Poodle

Name still not finalised yet. Either Elvis or LV :)

.

Busy, Busy

Been too busy to update this blog recently. My life now has been taken over by work and milk pumping!

So just a quickie post with photos of the two princesses :)




Yes, I'm still obsessed with milk pumping! I pump 4x a day. Almost 30 minutes each time which means 2 hours a day. And that's excluding direct feed at night. Plus trying to juggle a new full time job. Plus tending to a demand-a lot-of attention 3.5 year old. TI-RED !!!