Baby Plan 2: Surprise! Surprise!

I was suprised! Last blog referring to baby plan 2 two weeks ago was the first month of us trying to conceive and now I am already 5 days late. I did not expect to get pregnant during first month of trying again but we are just lucky.
I bought a pregnancy test and the result showed 2 pink lines this morning.
We have decided not to tell anybody yet because these are still early days.
Furthermore, we are going to attend my sister's wedding in KL so I do not wish my parent-in-laws to be concerned.
Plan to have my first gynae visit early next week.
I actually look forward to this pregnancy (hopefully without 6 weeks of horrible morning sickness this time).

Baby Plan 2: Preparations

I do not believe in 'letting nature take its own course', especially in planning a pregnancy.
I think a couple needs to be ready: physically, emotionally and financially.

Since our first daughter was planned, we intend to plan for the second one as well. Having a baby by accident will deprive him/ her the best start for beginning in life. One or both parents might be on certain medication, exposed to chemicals or even sick when the baby is conceived.

Although I understand the state of health of a baby does not depend solely on above mentioned but as parents, I feel we have responsibility to ensure we give the best head start for our own children.

A few simplest actions to follow are to take folic acid prior to pregnancy, cut down on caffeine intake and getting enough rest. Though the last step is hardest for me to follow because I have been working hard for the whole day and I think I deserve the much needed 'me time' before the end of the day.

After doing all the above steps, only then i will let nature take its own course.

Mama!!

Tian called me 'Mama' the first time two days ago on 28th Oct. I was elated!

She learnt to call her grandpa and papa before one year old and continued with grandma. She even could call my mum and dad when they came to visit her last week. Also recognised her second uncle and auntie (LK's elder bro and sis). Except me!! She could even recognise pictures and read aloud.

I wondered why she would not address me until now. Saving the best for the last?
Whatever the reason is, I am happy!

Love for Daddy

We went to Melaka during Hari Raya holidays from Tuesday to Saturday last week. We did not visit any place, not even Jonker Street. We stayed at a relative's home. Her bungalow was huge with spacious yard to Tian to consume her pent up energy. We spent our time eating, chatting and the guys played 'Mahjong'.

The day before we came home, my husband fell off from a bicycle (yes, bicycle and not motorcycle) while trying to compete with his brother. The chain on the bike came loose when he accelerated. He went to see doctor and had a tetanus shot but his wound was healing very slowly.

I suggested using the painful and faster way for him. That was to apply a Chinese ointment bought at Chinese medical hall. I voluntered to apply the ointment for him (I am sadistic).
However, Tian cried two days ago when she saw her Dad struggling with pain so we had to bring her away.

After dinner just now, I helped LK to apply the ointment again and Tian cried again. She knew it meant pain as she said 'shao' (hot in Mandarin). For her, pain and hot means the same thing because she accidentally poked her finger into a lotus paste bun before and got burnt. It was painful and hot for her.

New Bed

I spent whole day today cleaning and tidying up my home. I cleaned to put away Tian's 2 playpens and one of her stroller. Reason is she hates sleeping in her confined playpen and will end up waking up in middle of night to demand to be carried to our bed to sleep so that she can roll about. Even before she started walking one month ago, she does not like to be put in stroller while we bring her walking around our neighbourhood. So I decided to put away some stuff that is not needed anymore. Oh dear, my baby is growing up fast!

As I am typing away, I am observing her sleeping on her new 'bed'. Just a mattress on the floor. I have been searching for a bed with sides but without posts, in case she climbs out and falls off her bed at night but the furniture shops insists that I have to buy the whole double decked bed to get the upper deck that I want. I have only one child now and it makes no point to buy two beds now. Furthermore, I have read somewhere that letting children sleep on double decked bed is not good for the one sleeping below because of 'chi' that cannot circulate when he/she is sleeping. Sleeping on the floor is not a good idea either. That is why i insist on finding a bed without posts for Tian.

I saw Tian turning to the edge of her bed just now, almost falling off onto the thinner mattress that I placed beneath the thick mattress that she was sleeping on. She felt nothing beneath her head so she turned back to her mattress. I have no idea how she knows she was falling off.

One thing I love about Tian is that she adapts to changes easily without making any fuss. This includes going to relatives house to stay, taking nap in the car while travelling, changing her routine etc.....

Feeling of Emptiness

I am not feeling exactly happy this weekend. Not angry, not resentful, just a feeling of void.

I know I should be contented. I do not face problems some people are facing about losing jobs, financial problem, family problems. I have an attentive husband (despite my moodiness this weekend) and an adorable daughter who is always the centre of my attention.

Maybe it is because I am taking weekends for granted. I let it passes by every week without making the effort to do something meaningful. Except that we brought 'Tian'to McDonald's yesterday and she had a great time!!

Since I will be having a 5 days holidays this Hari Raya Puasa (a festival celebrated by Muslims in Malaysia after fasting from morning to evening for 30 days), I hope to use this time to relax and reflect what I should in my life. Another thing that makes me jealous is that my husband is having 2 weeks Hari Raya Puasa holidays in a row. Huh!

Learning Curve

Tian has been able to recognise words that we read to her and point at the pictures on books a few months back. Her understanding of words has expanded. She has been pronouncing words like 'apple', 'au-au' (dog), 'car', 'lorry', 'key', 'sh' (fish) while recognising the objects when she sees one up to 'to-to' (tomato), 'lion', 'co-co' (coconut), 'papa-ee' (papaya), 'baam' (van), 'bum-bum' (motorcycle).

We have been trying to teach her new words lately but she does not seem interested. Only then, I realised that she is now learning to listen to us rather than learning how to talk. We will ask her if she wants milk and she will respond with 'yao' ('want' in mandarin). If we tell her we are going out, she will get her socks and shoes for us to help her put on. When she hold a food container and wants us to open for her, she will say 'key' to indicate 'open'.

These few days, a few nouns that she could point correctly at the pictures are 'duck', 'egg', 'moon', 'orange', 'rabbit', 'xylophone', 'zip'.

This evening we told her to bring her 'apple book' (books containing apple and other pictures) from a basket at the corner of our living room, she really walked there and brought the book for my husband to read for her. After reading, we told her to put back to the basket and she really did it!

Crossroads in My Career

An asistant manager from Engineering Department asked me last week if I was interested to be a Product Engineer. I asked him 'Why?'

He mentioned that he saw me doing my job well that includes stepping into technical details and co-ordinating among departments. When he found out that I was from engineering background, he told me to let him know anytime I would like a switch in my career.

His offer really made me think hard. Should I go back to a career involving technical requirements again? If this is really what I have wanted, I should have stayed to be a QA Engineer 2 to 3 years back and I would be in senior position by now. If I make a career change, have I wasted 2 years in Business Unit department in my current company?

I am trying to analyse the reason why I would even consider this.
1) I was not given an upgrade/ promotion during my last performance appraisal although my superior has been recommending but it was disapproved by top management
2) I just found out the salary increment/ promotions for executive level is far too low/ slow as compared to engineers
3) Being a Product Engineer is also a right career path to achive my goal in my career. It is more high profile and noticeable to top management so reason no. 1 will not happen

However, I like the job I am doing now but am I under-achieving? Although I am very busy in my work that requires for me to stay back until 7:00pm some days, can this be done by anyone else? Is my job easily replaceable?

If I stay at my current job, how soon can I reach my goal?
If I switch to engineering department, will I have to start from scratch again in terms of positions and grades but will this allow me to get promoted faster?

Nothing is decided, I will just wait for another performance appraisal end of this year and see how it goes.

Reading the Correct Way

I came home from work not as late as usual and found my 13 month old daughter, Tian having her evening stroll with my mother-in-law. She was examining my neighbour's balsam plant (by plucking the flowers) and looking at their pet dog.

I brought her into our car to reach home faster than her usual pace. If we would let her walk home, she would be stopping halfway to pick up stones, twigs, leaves, insects or make a U-turn to go further away from our house.

Sometimes, I do wonder how much can a 13 month old toddler understand about things around them. As we were watching TV and in order to keep Tian occupied, I just absent-mindedly took her book containing picture of fruits, put in front of her and read to her some fruit names. When she took the book away off my hand and turn it up side down only I realised that I had put the book in the wrong orientation for her. I was so proud and told my MIL. She asked me to try again just to confirm. I took the book away from her and put in front of her upside down. She removed it from my hand and turned it into the correct orientation again. It was not a coincidence! Real proud of her!! She must have remembered how my husband and I hold the book when reading for her.

First Blog

Hi All,
Finally, I have managed to start a blog. I have been comtemplating with this idea for a long time but did not have the initiative to really sit down and create one. Today is a good day to start one, though. According to Lunar Calender, today is Mooncake Festival as well as my ROM anniversary 4 years back. Happy 4th ROM Anniversary, LK! You have been a perfect partner as well as a confidant to me.