sharlydia's 2cents worth thoughts

Taking a break...

2008-09-08T16:53:00.003+08:00

It has been a while since I wrote my previous post...Been busy coping with work, my 2 years old boy and the heavy pregnancy...

Last week during the routine check-up, I did the CTG test where it shows the baby's heartbeat & contractions. Doc said she's happy with my baby girl's heartbeat, her size is alright, and that I've got mild contraction already! So I'll be due for delivery anytime this week...

I guess with this, I'll have to stop blogging for awhile...My plan is to take a break from blogging until I'm ready and can find some time again after having the new baby around.

To those who had been reading this blog, thanx for your support & encouragement so far. Your comments & feedback have always been my motivation in blogging!

THANX and I'll be back!

He has grown up so much!

2008-08-21T17:19:00.002+08:00

After so much shopping for my lil girl, I realized I haven’t really pre-wash those clothes, bed sheet, pillow cases etc for her, so I did yesterday…Since I also bought some new clothes for the elder boy, I’ve included them in the washer.

While I was hanging those clothes, I realized my boy has grown up so much! When I compare those clothes I bought for my baby girl with those for my boy, hanging them side by side, I realized my boy is no longer a baby, like how I always call him…Soon he will be a big brother to the lil baby sister!

Now as daddy & I get ready for baby girl to arrive, we probably have to do something to help our boy to be ready too, for his new sibling! Of cause we have been educating him about his lil sister’s existence & her arrival soon, but are these sufficient? Maybe we should have brought him to some of the gynae appointments, so he can see from the ultrasound screen that there’s a real baby in mummy’s tummy, but then again, will he really understand it?

I took an online quiz today on whether my boy is ready for a new sibling. My score was 21, which says: “It sounds like you have a nice balance of involvement with your child and your pregnancy. Be sure to answer any questions he may have, but be brief and don't go into more detail than is age-appropriate.” So I guess we are more or less there, but need to do more in preparing my boy…

Anyone has any good suggestions for me?

10 Other Commandments to Live by

2008-08-06T08:33:00.005+08:00

Someone sent me the below "10 commandments to live by" last week...I thought it was sent to me at the right time since I was quite upset with my hubby. Infact these are common things that we all know, but whether we practice them is another different story. To me, this came as a good reminder....What about you?

You shall not worry, for worry is the most unproductive of all human activities.

You shall not be fearful, for most of the things we fear never come to pass.

You shall not carry grudges, for they are the heaviest of all life's burdens.

You shall face each problem as it comes. You can only handle one at atime anyway.

You shall not take problems to bed with you, for they make very poor bedfellows.

You shall not borrow other people's problems. They can better carefor them than you.

You shall not try to relive yesterday for good or ill, it is forevergone. Concentrate on what is happening in your life and be happy now!

You shall be a good listener, for only when you listen do you hearideas different from your own.

You shall not become "bogged down" by frustration, for 90% of it is rooted in self-pity and will only interfere with positive action.

You shall count your blessings, never overlooking the small ones, for a lot of small blessings add up to a big one.

It's so true that we always take life for granted, take God for granted, take our happiness for granted, take all our blessings for granted, take our health for granted, isnt it? I hope the above will serve as good reminder to you too!

Sad weekend…

2008-07-28T12:42:00.005+08:00

The past weekend was not a pleasant one for me…had a fight with hubby on Friday morning and there goes the spoilt weekend…

There’s this Chinese saying which goes “jia-jia-you-ben-nan-nian-de-jing”, which simply means every family has its own issues or problems. This sounds so real to me now…why?

When I wrote about S in my previous post, this phrase came to my mind. It’s just like from the outer layer or surface, I see that she has a perfect happy family life, until I got to hear her “true” stories on family issues & family problems with the violent husband, I realized things are so different from what I’ve imagined. Yeah, her husband bought her a brand new Honda CRV as a gift and all, but so what?

Recently too, when I spoke to another good friend R, whom despite having a hubby few years younger than her, stays in big 2-1/2-stories link-house in Sunway SPK. So I always thought they are doing well and all, but apparently not really. She was told by her hubby to stay at work no matter how stress is her job coz the family needs the income. Now that I know why I can practically see her admiring eyes when she heard me saying one of my hubby’s dreams is to make me a happy housewife and that he always tell me quit the job if it’s too stressful for me…

See…to both S & R, they said I have a perfect husband, who’s family oriented, doing well in his career, lovely & all, but that’s just the surface which they are aware of. Every family or relationship has its own problems & issues, it’s just so true. Yeah, my hubby loves the family, he will cook dinner for us, prepare breakfast for me, help with housework, etc…but have I not tried my best to be a good wife for him too?

Whatever it is, I don’t think I’ve done something wrong to deserve the shouting & scolding from him for 10 mins where I just kept quiet. I know if I were to fight back & argue with him, it’s gonna be no ending to this….He apologized for the shouting after that, but I was already really upset. It was just a small thing (at least to me), but he reacted as though it’s such a huge issue, which really surprised me. Anyhow, I’m so heavily pregnant, plus I never get to sleep well at night for past few months, I thought he could be more loving & caring than this…

I refused to speak to him throughout the weekend. I took my son out all day from early morning to late evening on Sat since he has his personal agenda for morning half Sat. It was really exhausting for me though…handling my boy all alone with my huge tummy…

Well I don’t even know when will I be comfortable to speak to him again, maybe will have to pray harder for God to help me forgive & forget…

Putting life on one single bet

2008-07-18T17:19:00.004+08:00

When u embark on a “till-death-do-us-part” journey with the “so called” right one, you are taking a big risk, as though putting your whole life on one single bet on the gambling table…

Do u feel so?

I think I do. And I surely went into marriage thinking & hoping that this is it and he will be the right person for the rest of my life, till death do us part.

My friend S is not as lucky. She’s married for 5 years or so, now with 2 kids, and she’s filing for divorce. I felt sad for her and I’m trying every single effort to help her whenever & wherever I can.

I’ve seen her effort trying to patch the relationship with her hubby by repeatedly giving him chances to change or improve. They have also gone through the Christian counseling sessions with the pastor…but he doesn’t seem to realize and acknowledge the problem and so not putting any effort to improve it. So S decided to put a stop to the relationship and now filing for divorce.

From what I know about S and her husband, they are loving couple, doing well in terms of their careers too. More so with the 2 kids around, I always thought S has a perfect happy family! Until I heard about her problems recently, that her husband was actually getting more & more violent towards the family, being very suspicious too, her life has turned miserable.

Without much choice, now S is divorcing her husband. She now has to stay with the 2 young kids and a maid. Husband will come to pick up the kids every Friday evening and send them back on Sat to spend some time with them, if he wants to.

See…S is only in her early thirties, to spend rest of her life without a husband & with 2 young kids is not gonna be easy. But when she married the husband after some 2 years of dating, she didn’t realize there’s such problem. Few years down the road after marriage & after given birth to 2 babies, everything seems to have changed….

That’s what I meant by saying putting whole life on one single bet on the gambling table when we decided to marry someone…because few years down the road, if anything bad happens like S, where there are already 2 kids around, it’s highly unlikely that she will go for another marriage….

Preparing for her arrival

2008-07-10T17:40:00.005+08:00

I've been so busy lately that I think I've neglected the pregnancy, or rather neglected my dear daughter...I was busy with projects one after another in April & May, not giving me space to even breath. Then in June, it was all about mum, PLUS work...So I felt so exhausted!

Finally last 2 weeks, I had some time for myself and I realized both hubby and I are not really prepared and ready for our baby girl's arrival as yet. And u know what? We are now left with ONLY two more months to go before my expected due date!

Firstly we have not decided on her name, both English & Chinese name...so that's one headache for me. Been looking through the names-dictionary which we got it as a Christmas gift when we got married, but nothing excites me as yet though we have short-listed a few...

As part of the preparation, shopping is definitely not avoidable! In the last 2 weeks, we have been shopping quite a bit for our baby girl, including getting her bedding, clothing and other new born essentials ready.

In preparation for labour, I've also started to do more exercises & reading. Since we did not opt for antenatal class refresher, I took out all the notes from previous antenatal class to read too.

Somehow I still feel that we have not done enough to prepare for our baby girl's arrival...Or maybe that's how it is when u have a second baby?

Thank GOD!

2008-07-02T18:00:00.003+08:00

We took mum to the hospital for removal of stitches, and the gynae-oncologist told us the result of mum’s removed womb plus limb-nodes is finally out! Doc said EVERYTHING is positive, meaning no cancer cell spreading at the limb-nodes, and this surgery IS IT! There’s no need for any radio-therapy or treatment, coz the womb & limb-nodes removal surgery has cleared everything, and this will be long-term cure!

*PHEW*

This is the GREATEST news ever and I can see the smile on mum’s face!

But doc also said that mum will need lots of rest for the wound to heal well and that she will still have the swelling and feeling of discomfort at times, but she will just have to bear with them....

Once again, thanks for all your prayers.

Thank God for holding mum tight in His hand, watching her and strengthening her. Pray Lord that You will continue to grant mum speedy recovery, heal her wound and deliver her from those discomfort caused by the removal of her womb and limb-nodes, Lord.

Mum’s condition

2008-06-26T17:55:00.002+08:00

Mum was discharged from the hospital two days ago on Tues evening, after the doc checked her. She will have to be back to remove her stitches in a week’s time and at the same time for her report on the test result on removed womb.

I was too busy at work, so sis took mum home. I called mum around 6pm to check on her, she didn’t sound good at all. She was complaining that her right foot is swollen and she suspected it to be caused by the over consumption of water before discharging from the hospital coz doc needed to check her urine but she didn’t have any, so the nurses kept asking her to drink more.

I visited her around 8.30pm after work. She didn’t look and sound good…still….She said the swelling is getting worse, and she looked uncomfortable and worried. We tried calling the hospital and contacting the doc but to no avail.

On Wed, around 3pm, finally the nurse got whole of the doc and told him mum’s condition. He suggested mum to have her right foot rested on a pillow while sitting down, and if the swelling doesn’t go off by Thur, then we shall see him on Friday.

When I told hubby about mum being upset and sounded depressed, he said it may not have been caused by the swelling at all. He said it could be due to the post-surgery of the removal of her womb. Though the organ has not been useful for last 10 years, it’s still a major organ in our body, so the removal may have somehow caused her depression. YEAH…I thought it could be true…How can I never thought of that?

I guess we all, as daughters, just have to be more patience with mum and spend more time with her, talk to her. I hope that will make her feel better…

Please continue to pray for my mum, pray for healing, not just physically but also mentally and emotionally…

An “eventful” week

2008-06-23T09:07:00.001+08:00

16/06 (Monday)
Mum’s test result was out, so we went to gynae’s clinic first thing in the morning. Mum was surprised that hubby drove me when we picked her, and she was even more surprised when she saw sis came with bro-in-law & 3rd sis too….I guess by then she realized it must be something serious…

Gynae said this is Grade1 Cancer, where it’s determined by certain amount of cells from mum’s womb. This is really “pre-stage”, so he cant really tell how bad it is, until the surgery is done and the complete test on the womb is done, then we will know which cancer stage that is. Mum stayed calm.

This gynae recommended us to see the gynae-oncologist, Prof BK. But he said he will need to draft a letter & help us make appointment, so we will have to wait till the next day….

After some discussions among us, hubby said no harm seeing an oncologist who’s good, since he has some contacts, rather than waiting for Prof BK. So we arranged an appointment to see Dr Foo instead for Tue afternoon coz she doesn’t have clinic in the morning.

17/06 (Tuesday)
We went to see Dr Foo’s after lunch, mum still looked very calm. After she checked mum, she said we have to see a gynae-oncologist (recommended Prof BK again) to remove the womb first, then the test on the removed womb will determine if mum needs any radiotherapy or needs to come back & see her. Since hubby knows this doc, he asked if the doc can call Prof BK for us straight and get an appointment done. Dr Foo was really nice and kind enough to help us do that, and her one-single-phone-call to Prof BK’s mobile had definitely made wonders!

We rushed over to the other hospital where Prof BK was in, with Dr Foo’s letter. We waited for 2 hours and finally got to see him. He checked mum…and concluded that mum needs to go for surgery to remove the womb plus the limb-node as well soonest possible since she’s bleeding. But this is very early stage and since we found out early, it’s highly likely of 100% cure.

While the nurse flipped through his diary, we saw some totally full operation schedules….But he was kind enough to slot mum in for his upcoming operation day – Thur.

18/06 (Wednesday)
Mum was supposed to be admitted to hospital for her operation on Thur. But since there wasn’t any room available and her operation is scheduled for Thur evening at 5.30pm, the nurse told us to go home after the necessary tests and only come back around 12pm the next day. So after all the ECG, blood test etc, sis went home with her so she could rest.

19/06 (Thursday)
All 4 of us (daughters) accompanied mum in the hospital. We told mum this is nothing serious, as long as the womb is removed, things will be alright. She took it very calm, and she even joked with us while waiting.

At about 6pm, mum was sent to the operating room for anaesthesia and all. The surgery took 2 hours all in all, so mum was out around 8.30pm. She was half-conscious, but she recognized all of us ofcoz! The surgery was done well and smoothly….THANK GOD!

She did complain about the pain, but after the pain-killer drips kicked in, she felt better.

20-22/06 (Friday – Sunday)
We visited mum everyday ofcoz, and tried to spend as much time with her as possible. Her condition improved day by day and on Sun she can actually come down from the bed & started walking very slowly by herself.

Prof BK came checking her everyday and said she’s healing well, but can only discharge maybe next Tue or Wed cause he still needs to monitor her. The test result of the removed womb will be out by then too.

THANX for all your prayers. I’m sure God has His plan for mum and He will be in control of mum’s condition. Pray that God will continue to strengthen her faith in Him.

Heavy hearted

2008-06-10T15:51:00.004+08:00

Been not writing lately due to the crazy work schedule, which I bet I’ve mentioned this more than once in my past blog posts….Have gathered plenty to write about, but just couldn’t find the time & energy to do so. But today, I just really feel like writing, for mum…though I’m writing with a extra heavy heart.

Yesterday lunch time, mum called telling me she had a bad morning. She woke up & went to the washroom early morning, realizing that she’s “bleeding” as though she’s having menstrual. She has reached Menopause since more than 10 years ago and so this should not happen! She was in the washroom for about 30 mins coz the “out-flow” could not stop…Then when she finally got out from washroom, she realised that she’s tired & exhausted.

After discussing with sis, we decided to send her to the gynae straight away. Gynae heard the symptoms and started shaking his head, which made sis really worry, but luckily mum didn’t pay much attention to that. After checking mum, he said mum has to do some kind of test (with very complicated medical name) to confirm if this is womb cancer! My heart dropped. Fortunately when the gynae mentioned “cancer”, mum was still in the changing room and did not hear that. We didn’t want to scare her and so decided to not let her know for now.

Hubby is from the pharma industry, so I called him to tell him everything. He confirmed that this is a clear symptom of womb cancer…My heart dropped, again…but whatever it is, we still have to wait for the test.

So today I drove mum to the gynae’s clinic & met with sis. Mum was put on GA (general anaesthetic) for the procedure of extracting some cells from her womb to be sent for test. While waiting for mum to recover consciousness, we spoke to the gynae. He said during the procedure, mum’s womb doesn’t look as healthy but the extraction from her womb doesn’t look like she has cancer too! So his conclusion is to wait for the final result from the test to confirm what should be done next.

Again, we decided not to inform mum about this, hoping that she can eat & sleep better in the next few days while waiting for the results. We just told her the test is necessary to find out what is wrong in her womb and the results will be out next week.

I prayed for mum, and will continue to pray for her. I hope she can find peace in God and willing to accept the treatments if she has to go through any…

Mum, pls stay strong, for we all love u, VERY MUCH!

Which is more important?

2008-05-28T16:28:00.003+08:00

Hubby was reminding me last night about my mother-in-law (MIL)’s vacation in Shen Zhen plus other places in China next week. BTW my MIL is my 20 months old boy’s day-care-taker….So when she’s away, hubby & I will have to take turns to take care of baby instead.

Right after our conversation, we saw on the news that in some parts of Shen Zhen there were lots of frogs coming out from no-where! Apparently one of the signs before the previous terrible China earthquake was frogs & rats all came out from no-where too!

So this morning when I sent my boy, I spoke to MIL regarding this. I was telling her not to go for her vacation next week since there’s this potential earthquake or whatever natural disaster happening there or might happen there, looking at the sign. Then the below conversation took place :

MIL : “err…but we all paid already! Also, I cant be asking all the rest of 18 people to not go, right?”
Me: “Is the few thousand dollars more important or your life is more important?”
MIL : “What if it doesn’t happen?”
Me : “Then great! U can go another time! Do u want to risk your life betting IF anything happens???”
MIL : “err…let’s see what the rest say first lar…”
Me (very upset) : “I’m telling u that u really shouldn’t go, but I’m not asking the rest of your friends to not go, ok? They can go ahead by all means, I don’t care coz they are not somebody important to me!”

Infact the conversation we had this morning brought me to ponder a bit…Is money more important or is health more important? Is money more important or is family more important? If money more important or is life more important?

Handling difficult people at work

2008-05-13T11:28:00.004+08:00

Difficult people and situations exist in every work place. These people in particular, sometimes can cause tremendous stress directly or indirectly to those people working with them.

Dealing with difficult people is easier when the person is just generally obnoxious or when the behavior affects more than one person. Dealing with difficult people is much tougher when they are attacking you or undermining your professional contribution.

These people are usually well too arrogant. No matter what anyone says or does, this person will force their ideas on everyone else. There can be no open discussion or involvement. Things MUST be done this person’s way or else.

I just had very good experience working with one of these people in my previous project. His main problem is, he will never listen. And what made it worse was, he’s the “owner” of this project and so he’s like the boss! To him, everyone else are just the supporting actors & actresses, he’s the only person to make this deal happen! He likes to instruct and does not take suggestions (at least not from me). Maybe he does accept suggestion when it comes from someone else and not me, cause to him I’m just an admin person not adding much value to the whole project. So then throughout the period working on this project, I can sense that my work & effort were not being appreciated.

I did have few fights with him, trying to explain certain processes to him, and trying to make him understand the practicality, but he refused to. When he works over the weekend, he’s expecting everyone else to work over the weekend without advance notice. Some of us, being on the job, have had certain expectation to work long hours or even over the weekend, but what about other people involved along the process?

Anyhow, the nightmare is now over, and I really hope I wont need to work with this person again. And from the experience, I did get some tips for dealing with people like this, so am sharing them with u….

When you see someone go into attack mode or excess defensiveness, recognize that it is useless to argue with them.
Realize that the person is feeling very insecure at that time.
Don’t continue to push them because they will only get worse.
If the symptoms only seem to occur when the person is under stress, wait until another time to pursue the discussion.
If they are always overly defensive or always attacking others, you may need to find another person with higher authority or someone this person respects to communicate the message.
Keep your own sense of self-confidence and don't allow yourself to be verbally abused.

Just my 2cents worth…

Global Warming

2008-05-09T15:04:00.004+08:00

Did u realize that weather now has changed so much compared to some 20 years ago when we were small kids?

Recently I was watching a tv show that talks about Global Warming and what are the things that many other people around the world especially kids in their early education system, are doing their parts to safe the environment. Having more outdoor curriculum and monthly exchange of used toys (in good condition) are among the few activities happening in many primary schools in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The same tv show also showed how badly the earth has been damaged by the industries, by human being, by global warming! Temperatures, we are told, are to increase by 3.6 degrees by the middle of the century, resulting in melting glaciers, flooding and choked water supplies that will threaten the livelihood of millions. Crops will fail, we are told, disease will run rampant, rising sea levels and intense droughts will create hundreds of millions of refugees, and up to 40% of species will face extinction. Well lots of these facts we do know them, but we just may not have done our parts to contribute to saving the environment…

I’m one of those idiots whom I don’t think I’ve done much, but I’m gonna start now! Since last month I think, I started to nag hubby to not turn on the air-con unless we really can’t stand the heat. I started nagging him to switch off the lights when we don’t really need them. And we also started bring our own reusable shopping bags when we buy groceries from Jusco across the street.

I’m sure there are a lot more that we can do to contribute in saving the environment, so start somewhere if u have not done so. Start some lil small deeds will do…

It’s not as easy…

2008-05-08T13:32:00.002+08:00

It has been really tiring for me recently, being a pregnant mum, having to juggle between real busy work schedule and family.

My 20-months old son is really hyper and he runs around the house non-stop! Well, ofcoz that’s quite normal for a boy, but it’s just a bit tiring for the care taker, that’s all…Hubby has been helping ofcoz, but sometimes somehow I felt he’s not disciplining the boy well so I have to interrupt.

Work has been terribly stressful lately, with overwhelming workload and tight schedules. Also, having to handle some really difficult people in the same project, is really causing lots of unnecessary additional stress…

Somehow this pregnancy has caused me some serious sinus problem at night, causing me to have insufficient or very low quality sleeps. So then during the day, I’m feeling extremely tired due to lack of sleep and my body is aching like hell, especially the neck and shoulder…how I wish I could go for a good massage or SPA now…

When all the above add up together, they can be quite killing! I tried telling hubby, but somehow he didn’t quite get it. Infact he’s living in the same house, sleeping on the same bed as me, so even if I don’t elaborate much, he should know what I’m going through…but somehow he doesn’t really show much concern. Maybe the way he cares for me is very different…well he will prepare breakfast for me sometimes, he will help with housework as usual (even before I got pregnant), he will take baby out for cycling & all so I can have some time to rest, etc etc. But I really wish he would offer me a light shoulder massage one of these days, offering his listening ears asking me to tell him about my work stress so I can release, give me a hug & kiss me goodbye in the morning wishing me a good day ahead…

Taming Tantrums

2008-04-25T09:02:00.010+08:00

If u have a baby or toddler, u would probably be able to give me some good advice…

Somehow recently, my 19th month lil toddler has been throwing tantrums...Most recent being one of the nights earlier this week, when he was about to sleep at night and suddenly papa’s phone rang and papa went out of the room and he got curious & woke up straight away. And when papa was done with the phone call, my lil boy was already sulking…then soon enough followed by crying and throwing tantrums all over, and both me & hubby were not sure of what he really wanted that time. Our guess : it was some 30 mins passed his bed time, he was sleepy & tired, but yet didn’t feel like going to sleep?

And the worse part was….He didn’t want both papa and mama to hug or cuddle him, and he just went on sitting on his bed & crying & crying... And before I could think of any attractive good tricks to calm him, he vomited! Now…he created a whole mess and I got really mad…Ofcoz I didn’t scold him or whatever, just went on cleaning & changing him, then calm him to bed…

I did get some advice from those baby websites, but I felt most of them are very “theory”-based, ie : Model good behavior, Set good expectations, Establish rules, Be consistent and supportive, Eliminate temptation, and Avoid tantrums of your own, etc. Many of these are what we have already been doing today, but practically I must say not all of them can be done easily, ie. Avoid my own tantrums (for someone hot tempered like me)…Nevertheless, am still trying my best…

So do u have any better advice?

Funny..."Sunny"...and...

2008-04-15T14:45:00.004+08:00

It was a bright early morning when my 1.5 year old son woke up and went sitting next to the window & started playing with his books, as usual...

Then when I realised it, I turned to him saying :"Good morning my dear! Would u help mommy pull up the curtain please? (which is a roman blind type)". He did as I told him ofcoz...but when he pulled the curtain up, wow! It was a bright sunny morning. So I decided to tell him to put the curtain back down instead. I said :"Baby, mummy changed my mind, let's put the curtain down coz it's very SUNNY!"

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!

What so funny? I didnt realised it until my hubby lying next to me said :"yaya baby, listen to your mom, put down that curtain & pull it up again tonight when it's MOONY!"

HAHAHAHA!!! Now I got the joke!

I meant to say it was too bright & glaring, but not sure how did "sunny" came out of my mouth...

We had a good laugh and definitely a joyful morning!

Baby in my tummy...

2008-04-09T23:27:00.007+08:00

My usual gynae check-up is dued today, so as usual hubby & I went to doc's clinic after lunch. The wait today was extra long because somehow the queue was not arranged well by the nurse, so I got a lil frustrated after 1.5 hours of waiting...

But guess what? I was truely delighted after the check-up! Why?

We did a very thorough scan today and doc spent a lot of time with us on the scan somehow (maybe she knew I was upset for the long wait). So we saw baby's head, the heart, the bladder, the spine, the tummy, the hands, the legs, etc. Gynae confirmed that the baby is now 17 weeks old, growing well and the structure is formed well too....Best part was : she confirmed that I'm having a BABY GIRL!!!

I was so extremely happy and first thing I said was : Thank God for answering my prayer!

I was indeed praying for a baby girl way before I was pregnant, while hubby & I were planning for our 2nd baby. Coz I read in this book called "Supernatural Childbirth" that if you are wishing to have certain baby gender, u gotta commit that to God way before u conceive so then God can do something about it! haha...Once u'r pregnant, though u may not know the gender of your baby as yet, but it's already formed. The gender was decided while the sperm found the egg, so it's probably too late to pray for certain gender after that...

I really really felt grateful to have God answered this prayer of mine. U know...having blessed with another baby according to our family plan (ofcoz we submitted the plan to God too) is already great, but having blessed with a baby girl is just marvelous! It's beyong words how God has blessed me and my family...

Praise the Lord!!! for He is good, ALL THE TIME!

Modern relationship

2008-04-02T09:00:00.006+08:00

I was catching up with one of my close girlfriend R last week and she told me she needed some advice. Below part of our conversation :

Me :"So how are things with your new boyfriend? Ru enjoying the new relationship?"

R :"Well...I found that he's not too interesting afterall...We went dating as usual, watching movies, having dinners, went shopping, etc, but we dont have much interesting stuff to talk about or to do together! I think he's quite boring!"

Me :"What? Thought u would have found out about this before u even started the relationship with him right?"

R :"Yeah...but I thought things could be different! Anyway I was wrong...So I'm not sure what to do now."

Me :"Well u should just be frank with him, so then both of u wont waste anymore time! Err...unless u'r saying, u guys f***ed already???"

R :"I know u gonna scold me, but....yeeaaahhh...we did it, we f***ed already..."

Wow! I was quite surprise to hear that she actually slept with this guy whom she went out with only for 2 weeks! Well I was surprised obviously becoz she's not the type who will go for ONS (one-nite-stand).

I guess this is so-called the Modern Relationship? U date with this person for awhile, do everything u want, feel happy about it then u continue; if not u step out from the relationship and say, sorry I think u'r not too interesting!

I'm not sure since when our society has became like this, where boy-girl relationship is treated so lightly, mayb a decade ago? But for me, to fall in love with someone is easy, to be in love with someone and to give this person everything u have including your body and that precious moment in bed, is never easy!

Sometimes I cant understand how this "modern relationship" could work out, especially if u'r female, but I guess it's alot to do with the way we were brought up...

***no offence to anyone reading***

Just my 2 cents worth...

Listening with your heart, not your ears...

2008-03-23T23:06:00.002+08:00

In the past one whole month I suddenly realised that my hubby has alot of interest in politic matters! Why do I say so? Way before the election on Mar8, he has been reading lots of info regarding the election, the candidates, the parties, etc. Then he will keep me updated on all the latest progress & news...Well I thought this is a once-in-few-years occasion, so that's why he's paying some attention to it, knowing that we are going to make a difference this time!

Then it was after the election...lots & lots of post-election news on new state government, new MP, etc etc. Again, he will surf & read all the latest "gossip" either about BN or the "new govt" and keep me updated. So he will talk and talk about this every time when we get to have a conversation....

1 week, 2 weeks, now almost 3 weeks after the election, nothing has changed. He is STILL talking to me about politics, his opinion, latest gossip etc....I've told him before, that I'm actually not too interested at all these, but since it was the hot topic of everyone, I'm fine to listen to them, but I really dont have much interest....

On another hand, work has been CRAZY for me last 2 weeks! Imust say, being pregnant and having to handle a stressful job with tight timeline & all, is never a easy thing to manage...So I was complaining to hubby on Friday night that I've been having this bad headache for past few days most probably due to lack of sleep & I think I need a break. U know what he said in return? After few moments of silence, he said "hmmm, that's funny..."

WHAT??? FUNNY???

That's the result of listening with your ears and not your heart! I then realised that he was too much into reading some stuff on the net, so while looking at the laptop, he just simply gave me some respond...I got upset and went to sleep straight away...

Infact this was not the first time he's doing this to me! He's a talker, definitely not a good listener. Many of my friends told me lots of guys are like that, but as long as they love u and show love in other manner, dont take this too seriously. Well sometimes this is just easier said than done...Who wants to be unhappy right?

Sometimes what I required of him are just simple things...like caring for me, give me more TLC (tender loving care), listen to me with his heart & support me when I'm not comfortable (especially now that I'm pregnant). I've even taken time to tell him how I feel and not once, but many times, YET he hasnt improved much on this...

Maybe we can never find someone perfect...No doubt he's a good husband in many other areas, a good daddy too, but there's still this lil black dot on the beautiful picture...Or am I just too demanding???

Joke of the day...

2008-03-18T05:17:00.003+08:00

Just thought despite my busyness this week, I'll post this one - short but funny!

I was driving back to office with another pretty girl colleague, R in my car after lunch last Friday. As we drove pass a fruit stall outside a coffee shop, I was suddenly craving for guava. Since R felt like having fruits too, I stopped the car by the road side and she jumped down to buy fruits.

When she's back, she was holding quite big a plastic bag so I was curious what she bought...So we the below conversation happened:

Me : So what did u buy? Looks like a big bag there?

R : OH, I bought pineapple, and lembau guava...

Me : WHAT? Lembau guava??? Is this new type of special guava or what? I havent heard of it before...Nice?

R (BURST out laughing) : Sorry, pleave forgive my poor cantonese! I said "leong-bau" guava (meaning 2 packs of guava)!

HAHAHAHAHA!!! We both ended up laughing out loud in the car like crazy women while having our "lembau" guava!!! Kakakaka...

In the past 10 days....

2008-03-12T08:50:00.003+08:00

I've been really busy at work since last week, so have not really been blogging...

Alot had happened in the past week, and to us Malaysians, ofcoz the most significant "happening" will be our election on 8 March. People were all queuing up to vote since early morning and u can actually see the eagleness to vote in their eyes!

Well I'm staying in between Kepong & Segambut area, and both these places were won by the opposition, OFCOZ! Infact hubby & I were sitting infront of the TV waiting for the counting results on Sat night after dinner & after putting baby to bed. But what we realised was...very disappointing - the TV programme showing LIVE results was not reflecting the "truth".

So then we decided to switch on the computer & depend on our internet! True enough, the news were MUCH FASTER on the internet! We were really delighted to see more & more opposition candidates won over BN candidates, whether they are from PKR, PAS or DAP. For the first time I guess, the people of Malaysia are no longer "racist"! They just wanted to do their part for a change, change of a better future for all of us!

Finally I went to sleep & couldnt wait for all the latest results, but the first thing hubby told me when I woke up next morning was - we finally achieved something! Though the opposition did not win the overall election, but we achieved 2/3 to AT LEAST deny BN! Well for a start, that could be good enough, coz the opposition finally will have a "say" on all govt decisions!

Many of us will have very high expectation on many changes to be made from now on...Let's just pray for better ruler over this nation.

Work friends

2008-03-03T17:16:00.002+08:00

I was attending a friend J's wedding dinner last night together with my hubby. This is one of my best friends at work. I dont usually call these friends "colleagues" coz to me, our relationship has gone beyond just "colleagues". I categorize "colleagues" as merely work-related people whom we dont really talk beyond work-related stuff; while work friends are good friends that I made along my working life, whom we dont really talk about work-related stuff, but whole lot more other things around us.

I knew J since I joined this company, but have never been in the same team ever. Somehow we have to visit this university for meetings when we were both new to the company and so we started chatting along the journey each time we go together. Then we got along very well and became close friends. We have another common close friend too, called P, who was already pretty close to J when P joined my team and became close to me. So three of us will always go out lunching together, sometimes all the way driving from Tmn Tun to KL down town or Mid Valley when all 3 of us have some time to spare for longer lunch. We also went treasure hunting together...

Unfortunately P decided to leave the company about 3+ years ago coz he got a much better offer from our competitor. It was painful for me to have to lose a good friend at work. I used to sing "Here without u" when I think of him. But though he has left the company, we still meet up very often at Coffee Beans after work, or meet up for lunch when he's around the area, and mostly without J.

Time flies....In the last 3 years, there has been so much changes to our lives! I've got married in 2006, then P got married beginning of the following year. Our meet-ups then reduced A LOT after we both got married. Then I've got a baby and ofcoz alot more busier, and he has been promoted & got busier too I guess. We hardly meet up anymore...We'll call each other once in a blue moon, but usually just have a short conversation.

Last night P & wife, me & hubby together with other friends were put on the same table for the dinner. Sad to say...P & I hardly spoke to each other...We seemed sooooo like "strangers" to each other. I hate the feeling, and I was sad, though I looked happy on the face mingling with other friends. Sigh...

I guess this is what happens to work friends when u dont put the effort to keep in touch. No matter how close u were, when u left the company & put into new environment, u'll make new friends. Same goes to the one who stayed, no matter how painful was the lost, u'll get adjusted soon & then make new friends! That's why people say "Work friends come & go, dont take it too hard"...

Wonder how to make mum happy

2008-02-29T14:52:00.006+08:00

Hubby & I took some time-off yesterday first half to get some personal things done. Since it was already close to lunch time & we were just around the neighbourhood, we called mum to lunch with us, together with my mother-in-law & grandma-in-law & my son.

I suggested to go for Korean food since I feel like having Kimchi and I know the fact that mum likes Korean food too, but havent been brought to Korean restaurant for awhile. Everything was fine over lunch, but I know mum didnt eat much, probably dued to her small appetite these days ever since the grastric problem.

But u know what? I had a ear-full from her this afternoon when I met her for lunch, since I'm working from home today...She commented that we shouldnt have wasted money for expensive meal since it was just ordinary lunch, not even some special occasion. She said we should have spent the money for best milk powder for our baby! BTW ever since she saw us buying a packet-type milk powder (Dugro), instead of one of the most expensive tin-type MamilGold, she has been nagging on us saying we are not giving our baby the best thing.

Besides, mum also said she was very uncomfortable having meal with my in-laws & told me not to invite her next time if we are going with the in-laws. Infact she also said alot more other comments which actually made me feel sad & disappointed.

U see...sometimes she complained about not having good son-in-laws though she has four, when she compared her sons-in-law with her friends' sons-in-law. Sometimes she complained about not going out for good meals like this often coz all of us are so busy & no one has time for the old parents. Sometimes she complained about us not willing to listen to her...etc etc...

I'm not sure about my other sisters, but I'm pretty sure that I've been trying my every single effort to be the best daughter and my hubby the best son-in-law. We will spend time with them, bring them out for dinner over weekend, we will invite them over to our house & enjoy the park, we will take them out for shopping, etc etc.

YET, these may not necessarily have made mum happy! Sometimes I doubt, whether I really know her well enough to know how to make her happy. I really wonder...

Updates about mum

2008-02-27T17:12:00.003+08:00

If u have been reading my blog, then u would probably know about my mum's health condition in the last few months....Well I should say, her health is not too bad now, but the worry is not over!

Few days ago mum was dued for check-up again since the last visit in December. This time, she has to go to the hospital twice, where the first day was for blood test & second day to get the report and meet the doctor to determine whether there's a need for another round of "scope".

So on the 2nd day when we met the doc, he said mum's blood test is still showing high tumor-marking reading but slightly lower compared to the previous blood test done in Dec. So doc made arrangement for mum to do another round of 'scope', but this time just need to do it with the upper half body....Then when the 'scope' was done, the result was 'clear', so doc said the tumor-making reading may be caused by some stomach infection. Mum needs to be on medication for few more weeks, and if there's nothing major, next check-up is 2 months from now.

U know...it's painful to see mum going through this everytime when there's a check-up. Her worries were all on her face....She's already getting old, getting more & more skinny these days, yet she looked anxious when doc was reading the test report and her disappointment when she heard that the tumor-making is reading high, again & again...

I dont know what to do, except praying for her....

"I miss u" message

2008-02-26T15:12:00.004+08:00

On Fly fm, there's this "Pagi show" which I listen to whenever I'm driving in the morning. And this morning as I switched it on, the "Fix-it" program was on...Ok for those who doesnt listen to Fly fm & not sure what "fix-it" is, this is a request where u can send in an email to fly fm with a problem then the DJs will help u fix it, whatever the problem may be.

So this morning's "Fix-it" was about this guy F, who has a HOT girlfriend & he saw a sms on her phone which said "I miss u, can I see u now?", obviously from another guy! So F took that guy T's number down & submitted this problem for "Fix-it". So the DJs actually put F & T on air so they can sort it out! hahaha....

Well when I heard the whole thing, I was actually laughing....Laughing becoz F actually decided to put this personal problem on air for everyone else to know, and also laughing for F to be quite jealousy over "small" matter like this without even clarifying with the girlfriend.

Infact sometimes, I tell my friends (close guy friends) that I miss them too! Sometimes over MSN, sometimes over SMS, or sometimes even over the phone....I'll say "I miss u" when I really do, but what wrong with that? And I recalled saying "I really miss u and I wish I could hug u soon!" to one of my good friends who's a guy this morning over MSN! haha...Not sure if I'll make my hubby jealous if he finds out, but I'm pretty sure he will not coz I really know him. But maybe if he's saying that to another lady, that may make me mad! haha...

Do u say "I miss u" to friends of the opposite sex and not your spouse or gf/bf?

Chap Goh Meh

2008-02-21T15:46:00.005+08:00

The 15th day of Chinese New Year, which is known as Chap Goh Meh (Hokkien), marks the finale of Chinese New Year. Similar to the ushering in at Chinese New Year Eve, most families will gather for a delicious meal and houses are once again brightly lit.

I’ve also heard of some old time stories about Chap Goh Meh in Penang, where in olden days, young women who are not allowed to go out and meet people often, will be allowed to be out of their houses to cast tangerines or mandarin oranges into the sea or river with hopes and prayers to find a good husband. Hmm…wonder if that actually works!

But in traditional Chinese culture in China, Chap Goh Meh is also celebrated as the Lantern Festival or Yuan-Xiao Festival (元宵節). As the first lunar month is called yuan-month and in the ancient times people called night as “Xiao” in Chinese, plus 15th day is the first night to see a full moon, this day is then called Yuan-Xiao Festival in China.

According to the Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate. At this time, people will try to solve the puzzles on the lanterns too and eat tang-yuan (glutinous rice ball) while getting all their families united in the joyful atmosphere.

I’ll be joining my hubby’s family plus the extended family members for a big dinner tonight in one of hubby’s auntie’s house…am sure it’s gonna be a long night. What about you? How are your celebrating Chap Goh Meh? Throwing some mandarin oranges?

My Pregnancy so far...

2008-02-20T16:06:00.004+08:00

Just came back from the hospital for my first(second) check-up after we confirmed the pregnancy during the last check.

Baby is developing well, now 10 weeks old and we even saw the hands & legs! The baby's heart is very actively pumping too! Here's the photo of it, and trust me, this is the best I could load as the doc doesnt know how to transfer the file as image to my thumbdrive, I used the camera to take a pic of the hardcopy doc gave me....haha!

Comparing with the previous pregnancy, this one is truely different, like many have told me that each pregnancy will be different...For the past few weeks I suffered on evening sickness & nausea, though not as serious as many other mummies, it's bad enough for me to cope since I've never experienced this for my last pregnancy. I also lost appetide and lost weight!

Well I guess the "bad" time is soon coming to an end...I prayed about this alot, and nausea has more or less gone from me now. Only thing is....I still dont have much appetide for dinners, but I guess this will soon improve too (I hope)!

Apart from slight nausea & evening sickness, I'm just feeling very tired everyday...But that should be the way according to my gynae. She said :"My dear, can u imagine ur whole body strength & all energy has been used to BUILD another human inside u? Ofcoz u'll feel tired!" Haha...how true!

Hubby & Baby's new toy!

2008-02-18T14:03:00.006+08:00

The past weekend was really a wonderful one....

Infact hubby has been talking about buying a bike since we now stay in a very very environmental friendly neighbourhood where there are huge parks around for cycling, jogging & all. Also when we were in Europe, we saw many parents riding bicycles with their kids at the back-seat (with special baby seat for bikes).

So finally last weekend, we went to checkout some bike shops coz hubby came back home with the baby-bike-seat on Friday night already! haha! Apparently he found this baby-seat in the area he was in for work last Friday and the price was reasonable, so he bought it (before we even have the bike)!

Now here's the "expensive" but very stylish Rockbike and other photos of the bike with the baby seat & lastly the baby-helmet we got for baby to wear whenever he's on the bike...and I tell u, baby looks soooooo fantastically CUTE when he wears the helmet and sits on the baby-bike-seat! And I truely enjoyed looking at the lovely "papa" riding the stylish bike with happy baby at the back going around the park....

It's a different CNY...

2008-02-14T16:20:00.001+08:00

This year's CNY is a lil different for me....

Usually every year for the past many many years since my parents moved to KL, there will be this family affair, where my parents and my sisters together with all the bro-in-laws, nieces & nephew (16 of us) will go somewhere for a short holiday. We will usually have our family "tuan-yuan-fan" (gathering lunch) on eve of CNY, then 2 of my sisters will be going back to the husbands' hometown for their family gathering dinner. Then on 2nd day of CNY, we will all meet at the holiday resort, whether it's Port Dickson, or Malacca, or A' Famosa...or wherever outside of KL. Then we will spent some family quality time together, all 16 of us, until 4th day of CNY.

This year, for some many reasons, this "tradition" did not happen, so I spent the whole CNY in KL for the 1st time! And because of that, I did spend a lot more time with my in-laws too. For the 1st time (since we'r in town), I went relative-visiting with my parents-in-law together with hubby & baby. This really made my mum-in-law happy I must say...And well, the visitings were not too bad & boring at all, as I always thought they would be. Plus, we collected lots of ang-pows! haha...

So how was your Chinese New Year?

Oh BTW today is Valentine's Day, I almost forgotten! Well since I dont have a romantic hubby, this is usually not considered a special occasion for me, how sad...But what about you? How do u plan to celebrate your Valentine's Day tonight?

Wish u have a sweet wonderful romantic Valentine's Day!

Chinese New Year

2008-02-05T17:45:00.000+08:00

Time flies....thought hubby & I were just talking about Christmas & whether we should host a Christmas party this year (err...sorry that was 2007, haha!); then I was writing a post about New Year 2008; and now...it's already Feb & tomorrow itself is eve of Chinese New Year where there will be family gathering lunch or dinner or both (for some of us who's married).

It's time to get FAT again! Why? Coz Chinese New Year is also related to many many family dinners (big meals usually), lots of tarts & cookies, bak-kua (my favourite BBQ sliced pork), candies and lotz more!

One more significant Chinese New Yeay element to me is really the ang pow (red packet with cash inside)! Well some people are surprised to hear that I'm still receiving ang pows eventhough I'm married, coz apparently only the singles are eligible to receive ang pows from those who are married! I really think it's rubbish to have that thinking, haha! Fortunately for me, it's a tradition in my family to STILL give ang pow to the younger ones regardless if u'r married. So with that, I still receive ang pows from parents, sisters and some relatives.

So have you done all the preparation for Chinese New Year yet if u'r celebrating? Have you done some spring cleaning of the house & decorated it with some red lanterns & deco around? Have you packed all the ang pows (if u'r married)? Have you had all the cookies, food & drinks ready for your friends & relatives who are visiting you?

Wish you all have a Blessed Chinese New Year, a good break and

GONG XI FA CAI !!!

FINDING & KEEPING A LIFE PARTNER - PART 2

2008-01-31T13:21:00.000+08:00

QUESTION ..5: Is there anything I'm hoping to change about this person after we're married?

Too many people make the mistake of marrying someone with the intention of trying to "improve" them after they're married. If you cannot fully accept this person the way they are now, then you are not ready to marry them. In conclusion, dating doesn't have to be difficult and treacherous. The key is to try leading a little more with your head and less with your heart. It pays to be as objective as possible when you are dating, to be sure to ask questions that will help you get to the key issues. Falling in love is a great feeling, but when you wake up with
a ring on your finger, you don't want to find yourself in trouble because you didn't do your homework!

Another perspective....

There are some people in your life that need to be loved from a distance....
It's amazing what you can accomplish when you let go of or at least minimize your time with draining, negative, incompatible, not-going anywhere relationships.

Observe the relationships around you. Pay attention....
Which ones lift and which ones lean? Which ones encourage and which ones discourage? Which ones are on a path of growth uphill and which ones are going downhill? When you leave certain people do you feel better or feel worse? Which ones always have drama or don't really
understand, know, or appreciate you? The more you seek quality, respect, growth, peace of mind, love and truth around you...the easier it will become for you to decide who gets to sit in the front row and who should be moved to the balcony of your life.

Bottom line : Before you get involved and make a commitment to someone, don't let lust, pity, desperation, immaturity, ignorance, pressure from others or a low self-esteem make you blind to warning signs. Keep your eyes open, and don't fool yourself that you can change someone or that what you see as faults aren't really that important.

Do you bring out the best in each other?
Do you compliment and compromise with each other, or do you compete, compare and control?
What do you bring to the relationship?
Do you bring past relationships, past hurt, past mistrust, past pain?
You can't take someone to the altar to alter them.
You can't make someone love you or make someone stay.
If you develop self-esteem, spiritual discernment, and "a life"; you
won't find yourself making someone else responsible for your happiness or responsible for your pain. Seeking status, sex, and security are the wrong reasons to be in a relationship.

WHAT KEEPS A RELATIONSHIP STRONG ARE:
1. TRUST
2. COMMUNICATION
3. INTIMACY
4. A SENSE OF HUMOR
5. SHARING TASKS
6. SOME GETAWAY TIME WITHOUT BUSINESS OR CHILDREN
7. DAILY EXCHANGES (meal, shared activity, hug, call, touch, notes)
8. SHARING COMMON GOALS AND INTERESTS
9. GIVING EACH OTHER SPACE TO GROW WITHOUT FEELING INSECURE
10. GIVING EACH OTHER A SENSE OF BELONGING AND ASSURANCES OF COMMITMENT

If these qualities are missing, the relationship will erode as resentment withdrawal, abuse, neglect, and dishonesty; and pain will replace it....

Inspired by an email...FINDING AND KEEPING A LIFE PARTNER

2008-01-30T16:41:00.000+08:00

Maybe I've been giving lotza advice these days to some good single girl friends around me, this email really came to my attention. And ofcoz I myself am really keen to KEEP a life partner like my hubby....

This is a looooong one, so I've decided to break this into 2 parts so that u wont get too bored and that u'll have something to look out for in this blog tomorrow...hehe!

When it comes to making the decision about choosing a life partner, no one wants to make a mistake. Yet, with a divorce rate of close to 50%, it appears that many are making serious mistakes in their approach to finding Mr./Miss. Right!

If you ask most couples who are engaged why they're getting married, they'll say: "We're in love". But truly, I believe this is the #1 mistake people make when they date. Though this may sound "not politically correct", there's a profound truth here. Love is not the basis for getting married. Rather, love is the result of a good marriage. When the other ingredients are right, then the love will come. Let me say it again: "You can't build a lifetime relationship on love alone". You need a lot more!!!

Here are five questions you must ask yourself if you're serious about finding and keeping a life partner:

QUESTION ..1: Do we share a common life purpose?

Why is this so important? Let me put it this way: If you're married for 20 or 30 years, that's a long time to live with someone. What do you plan to do with each other all that time? Travel, eat and jog together? You need to share something deeper and more meaningful. You need a common Life purpose.
Two things can happen in a marriage:
(1) You can grow together, or
(2) you can grow apart.
To make a marriage work, you need to know what you want out of life and marry someone who wants the same thing.

QUESTION ..2: Do I feel safe expressing my feelings and thoughts with this person?

This question goes to the core of the quality of your relationship. Feeling safe means you can communicate openly with this person. The basis of having good communication is trust i.e. trust that I won't get "punished", or hurt for expressing my honest thoughts and feelings.

Be honest with yourself on this one. Make sure you feel emotionally safe with the person you plan to marry.

QUESTION ..3: Is he/she a mensch?

A mensch is someone who is a refined and sensitive person. How can you test? Here are some suggestions:
- Do they work on personal growth on a regular basis?
- Are they serious about improving themselves?
- What do they do with their time?

- Is this person materialistic?

There are essentially two types of people in the world:
(1) People who are dedicated to personal growth
(2) people who are dedicated to seeking comfort

Someone whose goal in life is to be comfortable will put personal comfort ahead of doing the right thing. You need to know that before walking down the aisle.

QUESTION ..4: How does he/she treat other people?

The one most important thing that makes any relationship work is the ability to give. By giving, we mean the ability to give another person pleasure. Is this someone who enjoys giving pleasure to others or are they wrapped up in themselves and self-absorbed? To measure
this, think about the following:
- How do they treat people whom they do not have to be nice to, such as waiters?

- How do they treat their parents and siblings?
- Do they have gratitude and appreciation?

You can be sure that someone who treats others poorly, will eventually treat you poorly as well.

TO BE CONTINUED...
...by Dov Heller, M.A

I'M PREGNANT!

2008-01-28T16:53:00.000+08:00

God answered my prayer! THANK YOU JESUS!!!

I was praying & praying the last few months to get pregnant around this time, so I can have my 2nd baby around Sept this year. Why? Coz my elder baby was born in Sept 2 years ago! Simple as that...

About 2 weeks ago when I missed the mentral, hubby bought me the self-pregnancy-test, and guess what? The result was like...not clear! Coz if u'r pregnant, there should be 2 solid Red lines. For my case, it was one red line with another pink line...so....

Then I got really busy in a project and finally when it was over, we made appointment with the gynae today, and she confirmed that I'M PREGNANT! The scan was really clear, where we also heard the heartbeat, though only at 6 weeks! I was impressed with the new scanner machine my gynae has in her clinic though...haha!

Infact I've started feeling it coz nausea attacked me already last week, morning sickness kicked in and I felt extremely tired all the time....True enough like many people told me, every pregnancy will be a whole new different experience, my morning sickness and nausea are worse this time compared to my 1st pregnancy...Guess all I have to do is to pray harder so God will continue to bless me and take me through a smooth pregnancy again.

I'm excited! So is my hubby! And we really thank God for such wonderful blessing!

Work-life balance?

2008-01-21T21:30:00.000+08:00

I havent been writing for more than a week, and this is probably the longest break I've taken off from blogsphere since I started Aug last year, except the break I took when I went to Europe...

Work has been crazy the last 2 weeks, and I really mean CRAZY! I guess work has never been as crazy as this ever before to me for the past 7 years in the company. Maybe it's the nature of this current job that I'm in, which is very different from what I've been doing in the past, so this crazy long working hours is like...unavoidable!

In this current job, it's like "project-based". So when there's no "project"assigned, then I'll have more time, but when there's mega "project" going on, it's unbelievable...

I always believe in work-life balance and the MNC I work for also encourages work-life balance. But when you are engaged in such "project" where a lot of your work will be depending on other team members who always submit things late and pushing the timeline tighter and tighter, and end up having to work overnight without any sleep for the last few days, beating the dateline, where can u find work-life balance?

Anyway the "project" is now over, dateline was last Friday and I was practically sleeping throughout Friday afternoon & Sat. Also went to Genting with hubby & baby on Sunday, came back today since I've taken few days off from work to spend some time with family....

Before I end this post, I would like to thank Daniel who has given me the Bloggers of The World 2007 2008 Award. This is my first award since I started blogging Aug last year and I'm really really happy!

Hoping to get pregnant soon...

2008-01-09T17:10:00.000+08:00

Followed on from my previous post on a Brand New 2008, there are few things that I'm looking forward to in 2008, one of which is to get pregnant.

I was talking to some friends about 2008, what's our plan and what are we looking forward to and all. When I mentioned about trying for 2nd baby this year, I've got that "look" from ALL of them! Surprised and shocked...

You see...Most things told to us about pregnancy are usually bad...Pregnancy, as the world views it, is nine months of misery! Most people expect a pregnant woman to get depressed, to be moody & blue, to miss her mum and hate her husband, to be an overall basket case for nine months! It's supposed to be a terrible experience for the husband who will have to make every single effort to keep his wife happy because she is sick to her stomach, has morning sickness, craves pickles & ice-cream and hates sex! Then comes to delivery part, or birth, as the world says, should be equally a disaster! So all in all, it's not a pretty picture and certainly not a pleasant experience both for the wife as well as the husband.

Therefore I understand why my friends were giving me that "look" coz all of them are either single or married without kids as yet....

I guess I was blessed during my first pregnancy, so it really wasnt a bad experience. I was actually a very happy pregnant woman! I still remember over-hearing a close colleague of mine telling another person that she has not seen me smiling & laughing away so much in her whole life! hahaha...

My morning sickness was not too bad, just a very very mild one, and I tried many recipes to overcome the terrible feeling of morning sickness. As for craving, I didnt have weird cravings, just lots & lots of mangoes! And that's all I could remember..oh ya! There was this one period of time when I craved for "ham-chin-peng" (a type of chinese pastries) every other day!

During the first trimester, since there was mild morning sickness, I worked from home pretty often. Then throughout the second and third trimester, I dressed up brightly in those pretty clothes with my usual make-up to work everyday, feeling blessed, happy, proud and excited about my pregnancy!

When it was delivery time, no dount there were some worries, but no big deal under God's hand. Contraction started around 5.30pm and baby was delivered at 11.56pm the same day...without epidural, natural birth of our lil bundle of joy!

So why wouldnt I look forward to my 2nd pregnancy? Do I have any reason at all to NOT look forward to it? I know and I believe God is in control of all things, therefore if I'm blessed with a baby, He will take care of me and the baby throughout the pregnancy period...

Brand New 2008

2008-01-03T16:17:00.000+08:00

A new chapter, a new journey, a new story, a new commitment...A BRAND NEW YEAR - 2008!

Let's make sure it brings :

New Hope, New successes, New achievements, New fat bank accounts

Above was one of the many SMSes I've received on New Year's eve & New Year day...thought it's quite true to me, coz if our "2nd-baby-project" is successful, then hubby & I shall have a really challenging 2008, yet new joy and happiness in this new chapter of life! We gonna have new stories to tell, and have new achievements!

As for work, since hubby & I both started our new jobs Aug last year, and till now still struggling through the changes & differences, we are both hoping that 2008 will come with new hope and new successes, that we both may achieve new heights in our career...

Also, Hubby & I both felt that we have gone astray from God last year, maybe due to our busy-ness with young baby around, maybe due to our work...But whatever excuse it may be, I'm hoping & praying that we could draw closer to God once again, not just physically, but mentally & emotionally....We do attend church every Sunday with baby around, we do sing praises, we do pray with baby everyday, but somehow I believe something has gone missing in our hearts...May God be gracious to us and lead us back to the flock in 2008!

I've been tagged - Monthly Flavors

2008-01-02T23:10:00.000+08:00

Rules:

1. Mention the person who tagged you and create a link back to them

2. Copy-paste the traits for all the twelve months

3. Pick your month of birth & Highlight the traits that apply to you

4. Tag 6 of your friends

5. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve done it!

Thanx Daniel, for tagging me, so now u passed the headache to me huh! haha...

My birth month is

Loves to chat. Loves those who loves them. Loves to take things at the center. Inner and physical beauty. Lies but doesn’t pretend. Gets angry often. Treats friends importantly. Always making friends. Easily hurt but recovers easily. Daydreamer. Opinionated. Does not care of what others think. Emotional. Decisive. Strong clairvoyance. Loves to travel, the arts and literature. Touchy and easily jealous. Concerned. Loves outdoors. Just and fair. Spendthrift. Easily influenced. Easily loses confidence. Loves children.

THE MONTHLY FLAVORS, WHICH ARE YOU?

JANUARY: Stubborn and hard-hearted. Ambitious and serious. Loves to teach and be taught. Always looking at people’s flaws and weaknesses. Likes to criticize. Hardworking and productive. Smart, neat and organized. Sensitive and has deep thoughts. Knows how to make others happy. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Rather reserved. Highly attentive. Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds. Romantic but has difficulties expressing love. Loves children. Loyal. Has great social abilities yet easily jealous. Very stubborn and money cautious.

FEBRUARY: Abstract thoughts. Loves reality and abstract. Intelligent and clever. Changing personality. Attractive. Sexy. Temperamental. Quiet, shy and humble. Honest and loyal. Determined to reach goals. Loves freedom. Rebellious when restricted. Loves aggressiveness. Too sensitive and easily hurt. Gets angry really easily but does not show it. Dislikes unnecessary things. Loves making friends but rarely shows it. Daring and stubborn. Ambitious. Realizes dreams and hopes. Sharp. Loves entertainment and leisure. Romantic on the inside not outside. Superstitious and ludicrous. Spendthrift. Tries to learn to show emotions.

MARCH: Attractive personality. Sexy. Affectionate. Shy and reserved. Secretive. Naturally honest, generous and sympathetic. Loves peace and serenity. Sensitive to others. Loves to serve others. Easily angered. Trustworthy. Appreciative and returns kindness. Observant and assesses others. Revengeful. Loves to dream and fantasize. Loves traveling. Loves attention. Hasty decisions in choosing partners. Loves home decors. Musically talented. Loves special things. Moody.

APRIL: Active and dynamic. Decisive and hasty but tends to regret. Attractive and affectionate to oneself. Strong mentality. Loves attention. Diplomatic. Consoling, friendly and solves people’s problems. Brave and fearless. Adventurous. Loving and caring. Suave and generous. Emotional. Aggressive. Hasty. Good memory. Moving. Motivates oneself and others. Sickness usually of the head and chest. Sexy in a way that only their lover can see.

MAY: Stubborn and hard-hearted. Strong-willed and highly motivated. Sharp thoughts. Easily angered. Attracts others and loves attention. Deep feelings. Beautiful physically and mentally. Firm Standpoint. Needs no motivation. Easily consoled. Systematic (left brain). Loves to dream. Strong clairvoyance. Understanding. Sickness usually in the ear and neck. Good imagination. Good physical. Weak breathing. Loves literature and the arts. Loves traveling. Dislike being at home. Restless. Not having many children. Hardworking. High spirited. Spendthrift.

JUNE: Thinks far with vision. Easily influenced by kindness. Polite and soft-spoken. Having ideas. Sensitive. Active mind. Hesitating, tends to delay. Choosy and always wants the best. Temperamental. Funny and humorous. Loves to joke. Good debating skills. Talkative. Daydreamer. Friendly. Knows how to make friends. Able to show character. Easily hurt. Prone to getting colds. Loves to dress up. Easily bored. Fussy. Seldom shows emotions. Takes time to recover when hurt. Brand conscious. Executive. Stubborn.

JULY: Fun to be with. Secretive. Difficult to fathom and to be understood. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Takes pride in oneself. Has reputation. Easily consoled. Honest. Concerned about people’s feelings. Tactful. Friendly. Approachable. Emotional temperamental and unpredictable. Moody and easily hurt. Witty and sparkly. Not revengeful. Forgiving but never forgets. Dislikes nonsensical and unnecessary things. Guides others physically and mentally. Sensitive and forms impressions carefully. Caring and loving. Treats others equally. Strong sense of sympathy. Wary and sharp. Judges people through observations. Hardworking. No difficulties in studying. Loves to be alone. Always broods about the past and the old friends. Likes to be quiet. Homely person. Waits for friends. Never looks for friends. Not aggressive unless provoked. Prone to having stomach and dieting problems. Loves to be loved. Easily hurt but takes long to recover.

AUGUST: Loves to joke. Attractive. Suave and caring. Brave and fearless. Firm and has leadership qualities. Knows how to console others. Too generous and egoistic. Takes high pride in oneself. Thirsty for praises. Extraordinary spirit. Easily angered. Angry when provoked. Easily jealous. Observant. Careful and cautious. Thinks quickly. Independent thoughts. Loves to lead and to be led. Loves to dream. Talented in the arts, music and defense. Sensitive but not petty. Poor resistance against illnesses. Learns to relax. Hasty and trusty. Romantic. Loving and caring. Loves to make friends.

SEPTEMBER: Suave and compromising. Careful, cautious and organized. Likes to point out people’s mistakes. Likes to criticize. Stubborn. Quiet but able to talk well. Calm and cool. Kind and sympathetic. Concerned and detailed. Loyal but not always honest. Does work well. Very confident. Sensitive. Good memory. Clever and knowledgeable. Loves to look for information. Must control oneself when criticizing. Able to motivate oneself. Understanding. Fun to be around. Secretive. Loves leisure and traveling. Hardly shows emotions. Tends to bottle up feelings. Very choosy, especially in relationships. Systematic.

OCTOBER: Loves to chat. Loves those who loves them. Loves to take things at the center. Inner and physical beauty. Lies but doesn’t pretend. Gets angry often. Treats friends importantly. Always making friends. Easily hurt but recovers easily. Daydreamer. Opinionated. Does not care of what others think. Emotional. Decisive. Strong clairvoyance. Loves to travel, the arts and literature. Touchy and easily jealous. Concerned. Loves outdoors. Just and fair. Spendthrift. Easily influenced. Easily loses confidence. Loves children.

NOVEMBER: Has a lot of ideas. Difficult to fathom. Thinks forward. Unique and brilliant. Extraordinary ideas. Sharp thinking. Fine and strong clairvoyance. Can become good doctors. Dynamic in personality. Secretive. Inquisitive. Knows how to dig secrets. Always thinking. Less talkative but amiable. Brave and generous. Patient. Stubborn and hard-hearted. If there is a will, there is a way. Determined. Never give up. Hardly becomes angry unless provoked. Loves to be alone. Thinks differently from others. Sharp-minded. Motivates oneself. Does not appreciate praises. High-spirited. Well-built and tough. Deep love and emotions. Romantic. Uncertain in relationships. Homely. Hardworking. High abilities. Trustworthy. Honest and keeps secrets. Not able to control emotions. Unpredictable.

DECEMBER: Loyal and generous. Sexy. Patriotic. Active in games and interactions. Impatient and hasty. Ambitious. Influential in organizations. Fun to be with. Loves to socialize. Loves praises. Loves attention. Loves to be loved. Honest and trustworthy. Not pretending. Short tempered. Changing personality. Not egotistic. Take high pride in oneself. Hates restrictions. Loves to joke. Good sense of humor. Logical.

OK, I really dont have so many "friends" in this blogsphere, so I'm sorry but to tag u guys lor...

1. zewt

2. hcfoo

3. cbenc12

4. seal in astral

5. natasha

6. spikey

Last day of the year...

2007-12-31T17:21:00.000+08:00

Today is 31 Dec, last day of year 2007...

This year's new year eve is slightly different for me, coz the feeling is so different. Usually (at least for the past not sure how many years), I'll be busy helping out at sis' house for a new year eve party. Then the whole family plus some sis & bro-in-law's close friends will have a party and count down together, then ofcoz there will be drinking all night long....

Sis is not having a party this year coz the maid ran away and the new maid just came in & needed some time to settle down....But even if sis is hosting a party like before, hubby & I may not enjoy it as much as last time I guess...Why? I'll leave this to another day's post...

So what's happening tonight? Hubby's auntie is having a party and invited all of us to her house, so we shall be there together with our baby, then most probably leaving early so it wont disturb baby's sleeping time....No count down then? Yeah...most probably just counting down with hubby at home :(

2007 has been an eventful year for me. The year started with me being a new mother, baby was 3 months old in Jan; then I was breastfeeding till about March/April time; then some chemistry between my boss & I broke down & I got really pissed of him and work was just so stressful for me; lucky for me coz I then found some true friends at workplace which helped lighten up my days, then I changed job & went through a really tough learning curve (still goin through it actually); then hubby & I went to Europe for 2 weeks where I achieved my dream to visit Rome...

Besides, 2007 has been a "not-so-happy" and "drawing-away-from-sisters" year too for me....In my whole life I've never felt so distanced from my 3 sisters, especially my elder sister. Due to the many many miscommunications, misunderstanding & all, our relationships are no longer as close as before (at least that's how I felt)...So I really hope this will be improved in the coming 2008!

Nonetheless, I just want to wish everyone HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The True Meaning of Christmas

2007-12-27T18:08:00.000+08:00

I'm back from a great Christmas holiday, though not having vacation elsewhere, but the endless Christmas parties & fun in town made it a great break for me & family....

Belated MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you!

Came across this email about the True Meaning of Christmas and thought it serves as a good reminder for me while celebrating Christmas in the years to come, so decided to share this with you too...

Teach the children! Teach them the old meaning of Christmas. The meaning that nowadays Christmas has forgotten....

FIR TREE - the pure green colour of the stately fir tree remains green all year round, representing the everlasting hope of mankind, all the needles point heavenward, making it a symbol of man's thoughts turning toward heaven.

STAR - the heavenly sign of promises long ago. God promised a Saviour for the world, and the star was the sign of fulfillment of His promise.

CANDLE - symbolises that Christ is the light of the world, and when we see this great light we are reminded of Jesus who fills our lives with light.

WREATH - symbolises the real nature of love. Real love never ceases, like Gods love which has no beginning or end.

SANTA CLAUSE - symbolise the generosity and kindness we feel during the month of December.

HOLLY LEAF - represents immortality. It represents the crown of thorns worn by our Saviour. The red holly represents the blood shed by Him.

GIFT - God so loved the world that HE gave us HIS only SON... We thank God for his very special gift. The wise men bowed before the Holy Baby and gave HIM gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We should always give gifts in the same spirit of the wise men.

CANDY CANE - represents the shepherd's crook. The crook on the staff helps to bring back lost sheep to the flock.

ANGEL - it was the angels that announced the glorious news of the Saviour's birth. The angels sang 'Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace and good will toward men.

BELL - as the lost sheep are found by the sound of the bell, it should ring to guide us to God. The bell symbolises guidance and return. It reminds us that we are all precious in the eyes of God.

~ Author Unknown ~

What makes a good lover?

2007-12-19T08:50:00.000+08:00

I've always had this question in me, trying to find out what factors will make me a good lover.... So today I'm just gonna write down my 2 cents worth...

Some people say the key to being a good lover is paying attention, and responding to the other’s verbal and non-verbal signals. Some people say man or woman with great personality and socialable usually makes them great lover too...but I dont really agree...Some people, especially women will say, a sensitive, caring and romantic guy makes a good lover...Some people may even think that good lover means skilled in bed!

I believe it's just one simple thing : CHEMISTRY!

It's just the buzz you get from someone when you’re with them. They may have some of the ‘qualities’ that you find attractive, they may have things in common with you and you enjoy their company, but without that fizz - that excitement you feel in their presence going on between you, I think it just wont work out...

A man usually gets sexually aroused by looking at a magazine, an x-rated movie, large breasts or long legs. His response is immediate and his reactions are physical. For most women, sex is not an immediate reaction. It takes at least 30 minutes for her to become aroused. She also needs to feel emotionally connected to respond in a physical way. For a man to become a great lover, he has to be taught sensitivity, tenderness and patience, otherwise there's no way for both to find the magical chemistry between.

I was reading some forwarded emails and found this interesting para about some pointers for women to remember when judging if your partner is a good lover:

1) A woman gets aroused by words - I don't know any man who goes into a bookstore and buys a gothic novel. Men are much more visual.
2) A man's hormone level is at the highest level in the morning; so many times he wakes up and wants to make love. Her hormone level is highest in the evening and that's why she likes to make love after they've had a lovely evening together.
3) After a couple makes love, a man produces a hormone that puts him to sleep and a woman produces a hormone that makes her wide awake. So she wants to cuddle and there he is snoring! So she thinks, "He's just using me."

The bottom line: we are very different and we need to learn, understand and talk about our differences. IF u cant find the chemistry, then talk about it. You may feel embarrassed the first few times but it's worth it. For a man to become a good lover, it's going to require the woman becoming a good teacher (sometimes vise-versa), then together, find the magical chemistry, and things will work out just fine...

Contentment

2007-12-13T17:51:00.000+08:00

Have you ever, at any one time, had the feeling that life is bad, real bad, and you wish you were in another situation? You find life make things difficult for you, work sucks, life sucks, everything seems to go wrong?

After a conversation with one of my friends, he told me despite taking 2 jobs, he brings back barely above 1K per month, he is happy as he is. I wonder how he can be as happy as he is considering he has to skimp his life with the low pay to support a pair of old parents, in-laws, a wife, 2 daughters and the many bills of a household.

He explained that it was through one incident that he saw in India that happened a few years ago when he was really feeling low and touring India after a major setback. He said that right in front of his very eyes he saw an Indian mother chop off her child's right hand with a chopper.
The helplessness in the mother's eyes, the scream of pain from the innocent 4-year-old child haunted him until today....

You may ask why did the mother do so?? Had the child been naughty? Had the child's hand been infected? NO...it was done for two simple words - TO BEG!

The desperate mother deliberately caused the child to be handicapped so that the child could go out to the streets to beg. Taken aback by the scene, he dropped a piece of bread he was eating half-way. And almost instantly, a flock 5 or 6 children swamped towards this small piece of bread which was covered with sand, robbing bits from one another - The natural reaction of hunger!

Stricken by the happenings, he instructed his guide to drive him to the nearest bakery. He arrived at two bakeries and bought every single loaf of bread he found in the bakeries. The owner was dumbfounded but willingly sold everything. He spent less than $100 to obtain about 400 loaves of bread (this is less than $0.25 per loaf) and spent another $100 to get daily ecessities. Off he went in the truck full of bread into the streets. As he distributed the bread and necessities to the children (mostly handicapped) and a few adults, he received cheers and bows from these unfortunate.

For the first time in his life he wondered how people can give up their dignity for a loaf of bread which cost less than $0.25. He began to tell himself how fortunate he is. How fortunate he is to be able to have a complete body, have a job, have a family, have the chance to complain what food is nice and what isn't nice, have the chance to be clothed, have the many things that these people in front of him are deprived of...

Now I begin to think and feel it too after hearing his story. Was my life really bad? Perhaps...no, I should not feel bad at all coz I'm so blessed! What about you?

Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, it is the realization of how much you already have.

When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the one which has been opened for us. It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything...they just make the most of everything that comes along their way, I believe...

Warehouse sales

2007-12-12T16:49:00.000+08:00

Was talking to a friend who is a fan to all kinds of branded warehouse sales yesterday, and she told me she has been to many of those recently...it's like a warehouse clearance season or something! haha...

Actually I was also one of them too, who went to one of those warehouse sales last week, bought myself some nice Raoul shirts and Raoul ties for my hubby. Plus, I've gotten the Guess watch which I've been wanting to buy...now got it at almost 50-60% off the retail price at the same warehouse sale. Ofcoz I've got some clothes for baby too from Gap kids...

As I was queu-ing for the fitting room, I saw some ladies grabbed like 20 handbags as if they have not bought any handbags in their whole life...some men with some 50 shirts as if they have not worn Raoul shirts before...haha, I just laughed at them....

Well on one side I kept hearing some people saying that our economy is not doing good and economy in this country will soon face its downturn...Yet on the other side, I also kept hearing about how people has been spending hundreds or thousands of dollar in those warehouse sales or stock clearance 'events'....If the country economy is not doing good, I sometimes wonder where do these people get their money from to spend & spend without much consideration?

So, are you one of those who will go to these warehouse sales?

That "something" I would love to do...

2007-12-06T15:15:00.000+08:00

If u have been following my blog, u might have realised that I've mentioned about this "something" I would love to do in some of my earlier posts ie. "My Dreams" and the recent one "What is your ultimate end in mind"...

So what is that "something" which I would love to do when I become a part-time housewife?

-> Wedding Planner!

I've always been wanting to be a freelance wedding planner, where I can help the couple in planning, organizing, coordinating and executing a stress-free wedding. As the wedding planner, I'll help the couple in selecting the wedding theme, source for suppliers, advise on venue, prepare timeline & budgeting, plan the entire wedding reception and coordinate the actual wedding day itenary....wow! sounds so challenging!

I fell in love with wedding planning when I started planning for my own about 3 years ago. Plenty of ideas on wedding decoration, wedding flower, wedding cake, invitation, favor, etc...but I could only choose one of each for my own wedding...what a waste!

Last time, people used to think that hiring a wedding planner will be costly, but this is no longer true. This is largely due to the fact that many soon-to-be-wed couples have begun to appreciate the services offered by wedding planners. More importantly, they have realised that by appointing a wedding planner, they will be relieved of a tremendous amount of stress and therefore will be able to better enjoy the months of preparation leading up to that very special day. The list of things-to-do can be overwhelming. This together with the well-meaning but perhaps unsolicited opinions and comments from family and relatives can very possibly drive couples up the wall...This is where a wedding planner can come to the rescue.

Perhaps the most important criteria in selecting a wedding planner would be ‘chemistry’. Being comfortable enough with the planner to have open, honest discussions and to be able to deal with the inevitable bickering every now and then is crucial in order to ensure that the planning process is smooth and to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

Well I do hope my last dream can come true one day, where I can be a part-time housewife while becoming a freelance wedding planner...

The nightmare is not over...

2007-12-04T22:29:00.000+08:00

Today is the follow-up appointment for mum to see the doctor again...Since I have some work to do, sis sent mum to the hospital this morning.

At 11.30am, I called mum to check if it was done, and so happened they just came out from the doctor's room...

Mum said :"Doc told us the blowing test is still showing existence of bacteria in my stomuch. Then the blood test is showing even higher tumor-marking reading compared to the first blood test done last month. But since I'm not experiencing anymore pain, there's no need for any medication for now. Doc said just monitor the situation and come back if there's any unusual pain. Otherwise just need to go back in 2 months time to do another blowing test & blood test. If by then the tumor-marking is still high, then need to do another 'scope'."

Well I dont quite understand why were the tests results like this and even doctor couldnt really explain it...on the other hand, we can do absolutely nothing about it, except praying for mum...

I went to see mum after work and I can see the worry in her eyes. All I could tell her is not to worry coz nothing bad is happening and I'll pray for her...I guess that's probably the least I could do. I really hope she wont think too much about it...

What's your ultimate end in mind?

2007-12-02T21:51:00.000+08:00

Lately I've been getting many calls from different head-hunters, asking me for different jobs in the MNCs of the industry I'm currently in. So I've been meeting up with these head-hunters to further discuss these opportunities...hough I'm not really looking for a job...

Well, some of them I was pretty interested and therefore went to the interviews with hiring managers, but then no news came back. Some others I thought the job was not as interesting or the offer was not attractive, therefore did not proceed with them...

Last night I was telling hubby that coming Monday I'll be home slightly late coz I have another interview downtown. He wasnt really too happy about it.

Hubby said :"Let me ask u this, are you looking for a job now?"

I said :"Not really, but since the opportunity came, no harm trying right?"

Hubby said :"I see that u've been meeting up with recruiters and having few interviews, but they all didnt work out right?"

I said :"Yeah...but I told u why each of them didnt work out whut! I'm really interested at this one which i'm going for interview on Monday."

Hubby said :"My dear, what is your ultimate end in mind? Didnt you tell me that all u want to achieve is to be a part-time housewife, where u can spend time with the kids & meanwhile do that something which u've always wanted to do without worrying about income? Arent we planning for another baby next year? So you are soon gonna be pregnant right? You wanna join a new company & have all those work-stress while u'r pregnant? Dont you like your new job now anymore?"

I said :"But u know what? I think with my capabilities, I can go further than where I am today. Besides, this is an Asia Pacific job and the package will be very attractive I believe."

Hubby said :"So is climbing up the corporate ladder your dream now? Do we need that few thousand dollars to support the family? Shouldnt I be the one worrying about our family financials and do all I can to support the family? I'm the man in this house, so let me do that, will ya?"

I thought for a while and realised : It's true! Why should I always think this new job I'm doing now is keeping me under-utilized? This job drives me crazy when there's project going on, and when there's none, I can work from home & live a stress-free life and spend some quality time with my baby! Yes...less pay, less challenging, but so what?

I'm sure many a times when we face the cross-road, not sure which way to go, we would appreciate someone to remind us of our priorities & dreams....
THANX HONEY!

From hospital to hospital...

2007-11-29T21:21:00.000+08:00

Today is a busy day for me, though I was on leave...

Mum's appointment for the gastric test is today, so I went to the hospital with her early morning. Waited about 30 minutes after registration for her turn at the Diagnostic Department. Then the diagnostic specialist came with 4 "bags" (about 3' x 6' in size) and a cup of orrange colour drink. So what mum needs to do is to breath in, hold it for 5 seconds & then blow through a mouth-piece into the "bag". After the first "blow", she has drink the orrange colour drink and wait for 10 minutes before blowing the next bag, then subsequently blow the other bags every 10 mins.

After the "blowing" test, mum's blood was taken for blood test as well. All results will be out next week when we see the doctor on Tuesday. Pray hard that there's no more bacteria in mum's stomach...

We left the hospital at 11am. Mum & I decided to visit hubby's grandma in another hospital... Hubby's grandma was experiencing some chestpain and after being checked by the doc, she was admitted to the hospital yesterday. Her chestpain was caused by minor heart attack! An Angiography has also been arranged for her tomorrow and she seems worried...

What is an Angiography? It is a medical imaging technique in which an X-ray picture is taken to visualize the inner opening of blood filled structures, including arteries, veins and the heart chambers. The X-ray film or image of the blood vessels is called an angiograph, or more commonly known as an angiogram.

According to the doctor, during the angiography, decision will be made whether there's a need for Angioplasty - a mechanical widening of narrowed or totally-obstructed blood vessel.

Hubby & mother-in-law & the whole family are all worried about grandma. I just pray that everything will be alright tomorrow...

Simple, yet satisfying...

2007-11-28T16:15:00.000+08:00

Since there's no meeting in the office today, I opted to work from home. I told mum about this last night so she said :"Why dont I cook lunch as well then u come & join us?" Well usually mum cooks dinner only & not lunch, but since she offered, I said Yes to her ofcoz...

Around 12.15pm, I drove to my parent's house which is about 5 minutes away from mine. Lunch was just about ready...To my surprise, mum cooked something which i've been craving for lately - Chinese pancake & sweet potato desert ("fan-shu-tong-shui" in Cantonese). This combination is perfect coz the taste of these two just go so well together!

The simple Chinese pancake is actuall made of flour & dried prawn. This meal reminds me of the tough times when I was young...Mum was always creative in her cooking, so she will think of many simple, economic, yet delicious food for us.

U know...sometimes I think it's not how expensive the meal is that makes you happy, but the taste of the food which is made by someone with her heart & love that makes it special. That's why my lunch today was really simple, yet truely satisfying.

THANX MUM!

Which beer do u prefer?

2007-11-27T13:52:00.000+08:00

Last Friday, I was invited by bunch of friends to the Tuborg launch event in MardiGras bar...For those who may not know Tuborg, it's a beer by Carlsberg. It is apparently the number one beer in Denmark, and is the leading premium beer in several Eastern European countries and in Russia. But in Malaysia, it is not as well-known, so Carlsberg organized a big launch event to create some "rah-rah" around it.

Well it was free flow while stock last, so we had it as soon as we arrived at 7.30pm till around 9.30pm. Then since one of our friends is a Carlsberg Embassador, she bought more Carlsberg beer for us. It was a fun event with some live band singing & hip hop dancing on the stage too....

It has been a while since I last drank so much beer coz I was pregnant since Jan last year, then was breastfeeding for 6-7months, so those were non-alcohol period for me...Now that I can drink alcohol again, I dont usually drink beer coz I'm not a beer person.

But if I'm given no choice but beer only, I'll probably go for Heineken - a beer that’s been brewed in Holland since 1873. Why? Since I'm not a beer-expert, I probably cant describe it to the details, but somehow I prefer the taste of a Heineken beer better. My 2nd choice will probably be Carlsberg and now 3rd will be Tuborg...

What about you? Which beer do u prefer and why?

I would not have survived...

2007-11-23T12:45:00.000+08:00

People who knows me may know that I met a terrible car accident 7 years ago, which almost took away my life...But people who are reading sharlydia's blog may not know this had happened to me before and so I decided to put my testimony down in my blog...And BTW please dont think that I'm trying to preach or something, haha!

4th July 2000

It was a fine morning, two days after my convocation when I was driving alone, heading to the kindergarten to pick my niece around 11am. That was all I could remember....

Something terrible happened a moment later…which until today I have no recollection of what had happened. Without knowing what had happened, I woke up in the hospital. I regained consciousness and felt the pain on my face, arms, legs, chest and almost every other parts of my body.

Then someone told me I met a terrible accident! I was shocked and could not really understand how this had happened. My family members were all around me. They looked sad, worried and anxious. They told me that I crashed into a lorry and that my tiny Kancil was totally damaged - beyond repair. Anyone who have seen the badly damaged car would not believe that I survived. No one knew how the accident happened, including myself. My memory got wiped away totally and I could not remember a single thing about the accident. I did not feel any fear or pain. Neither could I even recall what did I collide into nor where did the accident happened.

But whatever happened, I know that I was not driving alone at the time of the accident. God was with me, watching me. And He saved my life. He was in control of everything. Firstly, He arranged a good man to save me out from the car and subsequently contacted my family members. Not only sending me to the hospital, this man also kept all my valuable belongings. This man thought I was dead and that my right hand was broken!

Batch of miracles...
The first miracle that I experienced through this accident was on my wounds. God allowed every wound that happened only in the right places! It was as though they were perfectly measured somehow. Although they were serious wounds, they happened only at the places which otherwise could be a lot worse. The cut on the right side of my face caused my cheekbone to fracture. There was some bad internal bleeding. However, this cut was just few millimetres away from the main vein to my eye! The doctor said I was really fortunate that the cut did not reach the vein, which otherwise would have caused blindness. I also had a big cut on my right arm, which again was “perfectly measured.” The cut was just one or two centimetres away from the bone in my arm!

The internal bleeding caused by the injury on my face required an operation to fix my cheekbone. However, the doctors could not operate me because I had another injury in my lungs, which caused a great pain in my chest whenever I breathed.

According to the doctors, the punctures in my lungs must be closed before the operation on my cheekbone can be performed. Otherwise, another operation has to be performed to close the holes in my lungs first. The situation was crucial at that time as the internal bleeding was getting worse. A lot of church friends, including pastor came to visit me in the hospital and prayed for me. I prayed hard as well…asking God to heal me by closing the holes in my lungs. Again, another miracle happened! The holes miraculously got smaller until the operation on my cheek could be done and was successfully done too.

God strengthened my Faith
After two weeks in the hospital, it was finally time to remove all the bandages on my face. It was really tough for me to accept the fact that one side of my face is now full of large and small scars, reddish & swollen.

It took me a long time to learn how to control my emotions when I talk about the accident. It took me a long time to be brave enough to go out to start meeting people again. I blamed God, when I first saw myself. I asked Him why did this accident have to happen to me?

But soon, I found an answer to my question…God has a plan for me and my future. I know there must be a purpose for Him to allow this to happen to me, but as long as I trust in Him and continue to have faith in Him, He will bless me!

Many years had passed now and I realised I've really been blessed, being married to a man of my dream, having a healthy cute little baby boy, having a good job, living a happy life...My scars have faded alot too so they dont look as obvious as before...Thank God!

Before I end this post, I have to give credit to my hubby (who back then was my boyfriend) and my family members too, for taking good care of me, accompanying me, encouraging & supporting me during the most depressing & miserable time of my life. Thanx for loving me so much!

Will you keep the baby or not?

2007-11-21T09:29:00.000+08:00

Over lunch yesterday, this conversation came up, about one of our colleague's cousin having a Down syndrome baby...It's always sad to me, to hear this type of thing coz somehow, I pity the poor lil baby, and also pity the parents...

Commonly known, Down syndrome is a genetic disorder, associated with the presence of an extra chromosome 21, characterized by mild to severe mental retardation. Affected babies have weak muscle tone, a low nasal bridge, and epicanthic folds at the eyelids.

Since one of the friends who was lunching with us, P is planning for baby next year, we also spoke about pre-pregnancy test, prenatal test etc. For Down syndrome in particular, there's normal screening test (usually done over a blood test of the pregnant mother) to try to identify those pregnancies at "high risk". These pregnancies are then candidates for further diagnostic testing - Amniocentesis.

Amniocentesis is usually carried out between the 14th and 18th week of pregnancy, which is around 4th month. This procedure is used to collect amniotic fluid, the liquid that is in the womb. It's performed in the doctor's office or in the hospital on an "out-patient" basis. A needle is inserted through the mother's abdominal wall into the uterus, using ultrasound to guide the needle. Approximately one ounce of fluid is taken for testing. This fluid contains fetal cells that can be examined for chromosome tests. It takes about 2 weeks to determine if the fetus has Down syndrome or not.

As we were talking, I have this question in my mind which I put it forth to get some feedback. What happens if the Amniocentesis result came out to be positive where your baby is highly possibly having Down syndrome? Are you gonna keep the baby or not?

This is a tough question. P said he will rather not think about this until he really needs to make such decision. Most of us kept quiet...I agreed with P. What do you think? Will you keep the baby or not?

Does height matter?

2007-11-20T11:30:00.000+08:00

I went out clubbing with some friends 2 weeks ago when hubby was not in town. One of my friends M brougth her "new boyfriend-to-be" and introduced to us. He's quite OK-looking, but he was sitting down all night long while we were drinking & dancing away...

Around 1am, M said she's quite tired and wanted to go home, so she & her boyfriend-to-be G came to me to say goodbye. That was when I actually realised that G is shorter than M, quite a bit!

So on the following Monday while M was talking to me over lunch, this topic about G came up...

M said : G is really a nice guy, he is very caring & romantic too. He's very rich & successful on his career at his age, driving a BMer 5series and has another Merc which he offered to let me drive! But u know...he's shorter than me! But does height really matter?

I told M : It depends on your priority! Well if u always think height is one of the criteria to qualify your partner, then this bitter point will be there. But if u think his wealth & kindness is the utmost important and u'r sure that it wont bother u when people talk about his height comparing with yours, then by all means u should go ahead with him! But for me, personally, I've always wanted my partner to be taller than me. I've tried going out with someone with the same heigth where I have to wear flat shoes all the time, and I felt very uncomfortable when we bumped into friends...Maybe I havent really fell in love with him, that's why...

M said : Well, look at the Country GM of MNC 'X', his wife is taller than him! Look at CEO of company 'Y', the wife is so pretty and much taller than him too. They can live happily and the wives can enjoy their lives! I want to be like them too! Have a knowledgable & rich husband, so I wont need to work and can enjoy life! Dont care about the height lar...

I told M : Then u better spend some time seriously thinking about this. U'r talking about spending the rest of your life with this guy or are you talking about just going out with him for a while then decide if everything goes alright? Let's just say everything goes right, are you sure u'r ready to marry someone despite of all kinds of nonsense and "talking" about you guys behind your back?

Guys out there, would u mind if your girlfriend or wife is taller than you? Girls, do u think height really matters? I know some of you girls may say, well I think it's fine for height, as long as this guy loves you and treats you really well. But how often is this true?

Smoking is bad for health, isnt it?

2007-11-16T17:10:00.000+08:00

When our parents were young, people could buy cigarettes and smoke pretty much anywhere — even in hospitals! Ads for cigarettes were all over the place...Comparing with us today, we're more aware about how bad smoking is for our health. Smoking is restricted or banned in a lot of public places and cigarette companies are no longer allowed to advertise on TV, radio, and in many magazines.

Almost everyone knows that smoking causes cancer, emphysema, and heart disease; that it can shorten your life by 10 years or more! Not to mention that the habit can cost a smoker thousands of dollars a year! So why would people still light up? They love to burn their lives off? They want to test out their healthy lungs?

I really dont understand!

I may get quite emotional when I continue writing this, so please bare with me...

I recently found out that my dad is smoking AGAIN. He was a smoker since I was very young but he quitted many years ago since he had serious hypertension, high cholesterol, minor altery blockage and single kidney failure problem. Many studies detail the evidence that cigarette smoking is the major cause of coronary heart disease, which leads to heart attack. So we constantly remind him that his move to quit smoking was the right thing to do.

When I accidentally saw him holding the cigarette smoking away in the coffee shop, I almost fainted and I didnt know what to say! Should I confront & scold him for not loving himself & not loving us coz he will make us worry? Should I keep quiet & not do anything about it since it's his choice to burn out his lungs & lead more health issues to himself? I was definitely upset about this, but not sure what I should do or what can I do....

On another note, I have a loving, caring & romantic bro-in-law who loves his wife (my sister) and his 2 pretty daughters a lot. He's a business man and made quite alot of money (I guess), so they are staying in bungalow house and sis is a housewife. Everyone thinks that he's the best husband & best daddy, but I really dont think so. Why? Simple - He's a heavy smoker!

See...he's the only son in the family and sis is a housewife. His 2 daughters are 14 & 10 years old this year which I think they are still pretty young. So what happens if, one day bro got a heart attack or stroke? Who's gonna take care of the family finance? Who's gonna provide TLC (tender-loving-care) to sis & their 2 girls?

Well, many smokers will give all kinds of excuses for staying in the habit - Stressed out with work, it's already a habit, it's cool, whatever...But have these smokers thought of their family & their love ones?

Who doesnt know smoking is bad for health? But why these smokers are still giving those excuses? Why would they treat their lungs as the ashtray?

Europe Part3 - London

2007-11-14T16:52:00.000+08:00

This is really a long overdued post, almost 6 weeks after I came back from Europe! Well if u have missed the previous posts about Paris & Rome, you may wanna check out Europe Part1 - Paris and Europe Part2 - Rome.

London was our last stop of the 2-weeks Europe trip. We arrived on 26 Sept and had our fun-filled 4 days in London! Actually...on 26th which was the day when we touched down, it wasnt as fun-filled coz both hubby & I were exhausted from the travelling, so we just settled ourselves into the hotel we booked in King's Cross, and then came out for a nice fish & chips dinner early, and rested the whole night so we can enjoy the rest of the days in London. BTW I must also say, the weather in London is pretty cold!

On 27th, we started our day with a great English Big Breakfast, then we took the Underground to our first destination - Big Ben & Houses of Parliament. It was AWESOME! And apparently "Big Ben" does not refer to the whole clocktower, but to the huge thirteen ton bell that strikes the hour. Attached with the clocktower is The Houses of Parliament which incorporates The House of Commons and The House of Lords & Westminster Hall. And this whole place including the Big Ben is also known as The Palace of Westminster.

Opposite the road not too far away from Big Ben is the famous British Airways London Eye! It was opened to public since March 2000, rising high above London's skyline at 135 metres, making it one of the tallest observation wheels in the world. I'll leave the pic to the end since we went back for the ride on 3rd day night and took some awesome pics of its night view...

Then we went on to visit the Tower Bridge, stood over the River Thames in London since 1894. It has become an iconic symbol of London and is sometimes mistakenly called London Bridge, though London Bridge is in fact the next bridge upstream and it's really very "normal" looking! haha! Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge, and I must say this is really a magnificent architecture.

After that, we walked to the Tower of London which has lots of hystory behind it and I'm not gonna put them down here...On the same day, we also visited the National Art Gallery and took some pictures at the Nelson's Column.

On 28th, we first went to the elegant buildings of Horse Guards, which were built in 1755 and was the original main entrance to the Buckingham Palace. The Changing of Guard took place at 10.30am that morning and those guards with their uniform riding on the horses were truely gorgeous! But we did not manage to watch the entire exchange process coz we rushed over to the Buckingham Palace through the famous St. Jame's Park, to witness the Changing of Guard parade over there at 11am!

Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of The Queen. During the Change of Guard parade, The New Guard marches to the Palace from Wellington Barracks with a Guards band, the Old Guard hands over in a ceremony during which the sentries are changed and then returns to barracks. The New Guard then marches to St James's Palace leaving the detachment at Buckingham Palace.

By the time we finished witnessing the awesome parade, it was drizzling...dem! So we have to take a bus to somewhere indoor, which we decided on Harrods! When we got there, the splendid appearance of this luxury shopping mall really amazed me! And one thing I must mention about Harrods is its "BY APPOINTMENT" shopping experience - a truly bespoke Personal Shopping heaven offering an unrivalled luxurious service that is rare, stylish and indulgent.

After Harrods, the rain stopped, we then went to the Chinatown, close to Leicester Square. Frankly there was really nothing much there and I just cant wait for our flight on London Eye which we planned for that night. After dinner, we went to get our tickets & there we went on the last flight, enjoyed the beautiful night view of London city!

On 29th which was the our last full-day in London, we did only 1 thing - SHOPPING & SHOPPING! We were mainly shopping at Bond Street, Oxford Circus & Regent Street. The shopping experience was just amazing! I was overwhelmed by the sales going on in NEXT, Dorothy Perkins etc, and baby clothings in Mothercare, Marks & Spencers were just so much cheaper than here!

**I definitely look forward to another trip to Europe!

Longest weekend...

2007-11-12T16:51:00.000+08:00

Last weekend was the longest weekend ever...Why?

Hubby has been away since Friday morning in Thailand attending a conference, so I've been spending the whole weekend at home with my lil baby. I did not bring baby out because the doc advised us not to do so for at least 2 weeks since baby was affected by pneumonia earlier.

I realised, to handle the house work & baby at the same time without a helper (who usually is my hubby) is not an easy task. I enjoyed the 100% attention I had with baby and the fun we had playing together without daddy around the house. I brought him to the park and let him walk around, and he was having so much fun!

Though I enjoyed spending quality time with baby, still, when baby was asleep, I felt so lonely...somehow I missed hubby soooooo much! And when u miss someone, time seems to just stop there! Indeed this is not the first time hubby is away due to work, but not sure why, I felt this past weekend has been the longest...

Hubby, I MISS U...

Is having a "fu-bu" something common?

2007-11-09T18:04:00.000+08:00

I'm not so sure how many of you do not know what "fu-bu" is, but I guess it's better for me to just explain it here, just in case...*it's definitely not the brand 'FUBU'*

"fu-bu" is actually made up by 2 words : "fuck" + "buddy" = fu-bu

I started to hear people using this "word" more & more common these days, so I'm just wondering what the world has turned into...coz this is something that I definitely cannot accept!

What's the difference between fu-bu and one-night-stand (ONS)? The difference is :

ONS is usually when u dont know the person u f***, and u dont really leave contact to know each other better or keep the relationship going.

fu-bu is when u actually know this person, but not bothering if the person is married or engaged or whatever, and f*** each other when there's a need.

Hubby & I have a friend "C" who's married with 2 kids and wife currently pregnant with 3rd baby. No doubt he's a very very attractive man, especially when he starts speaking, but this doesnt mean he can have fu-bu! Apparently he has not only one fu-bu, but a few! GOSH...And more surprisingly to find out is, some are actually married women! I cant believe it!

Recently we also heard of another person "Y" who broke up a fu-bu relationship with a married man...She said she has been fu-bu-ing with this person for years without her real boyfriend knowing it and she really enjoyed it! Oh my God...I almost fainted!

Am I leaving in the cage not seeing the world or what? Have u also got a "fu-bu"? Have u have friends who are "fu-bu" of another person? Is this something really common now?

Problems with relationship

2007-11-07T17:58:00.000+08:00

Was having lunch with a friend who's much younger than me, a junior who just joined the company as management trainee indeed...Somehow we clicked well when we first met and so we have been lunching & joking together for the past few weeks.

Today, she looked very down...not as cheerful as before and was extra quiet...True enough, something happened...Problems and complication with relationship!

She has been having problems with her current boyfriend and have tried breaking up with him for few times, but somehow got back together. Few days ago she asked for a break-up again after a big fight with the boyfriend, but then the boyfriend asked for one last chance which she agreed to....

What's her problem? She's quite sicked with the current boyfriend for being someone ridiculously uncourteous and not caring at all. At the same time, there's this guy in the same management training program ("F") who's really caring for her and he has expressed his feeling towards my friend too, knowing that she has got a boyfriend.

So now she's confused! Why? Because she cant let go of the boyfriend as yet though she's sicked with his attitude coz they have been together for 2.5 years. BUT she quite like this new guy "F" too! She asked me what can she do....

Well I told her to settle her problem with the boyfriend first and not get into another relationship while she's not even sure where her heart is going. This feeling with "F" is probably just crush, which will be gone over time...

When I was advising her, suddenly I was reflecting on myself...how often this "crush" feeling happened to me? yaya...I know I'm married, but let's be frank, it still happens and I'm sure it has happened to u too! But with some self-control, doesnt it always fade off over time?

Baby's first few steps...

2007-11-06T16:12:00.000+08:00

It's just so wonderful to see your baby started walking "freehand", and not cruising along the furniture anymore!

Actually my baby started to walk few steps a time few days before he fell sick, and he was still "walking" while he was admitted in the hospital, but "walking" on the baby bed which was quite a big court for him...

Last weekend, I put the new pair of sandles on him and we brought him down to the park to "practice" his walking. AMAZING! He was walking & walking, ofcoz few steps at a time, but tirelessly walking! Hubby & I were laughing and we were soooo happy that baby was enjoying this learning. And finally I felt much better now since baby was discharged from the hospital as we watched him having fun!

I guess this is the sweet part of parenthood. The joy within me when I saw baby walking those few steps by himself is beyond description. This is a huge milestone for both baby and us as parents!

Soon baby is going to call me "mommy"...I cant wait for that moment!

*somehow my baby is still talking those "nonsense" at 13th month, but I guess that's ok...his time will come!*

Oh...my poor lil baby!

2007-11-01T15:58:00.000+08:00

Last Sat after the medication given by ER on friday nite, baby's fever subsided, cough & flu got slightly better. But on Sunday afternoon onwards, the fever came back, cough & flu seemed to be getting worse...Baby cant seemed to be able to sleep well, and he vomited in the middle of night too, suffering from nose-block and bad cough...

Monday morning 7am we went to the hospital to see the paediatrician, but her appointments were really full and we had to wait in the queue. At 11.30am, finally it was our turn! Doc checked lil baby and said he has got pneumonia, commonly known as lungs infection. Now baby needs to be hospitalized to get the right treatment and x-ray done. My heart fell down to the ground! But doc said this is not something REALLY serious, and as long as treated well, it will be alright.

After all the admission processes, we got in to the single room at 3pm. First treatment started thereafter - Nebulizer, where the liquid medicine will help to "soften" the phlegm. This will not cause any pain but baby was just sooo affraid and he was screaming, crying & struggling throughout the 5 mins of treatment. Me? I cried with him helplessly...

About an hour later, another treatment in place - physiotherapy, to help clear the phlegm. This is the WORST treatment! They wrapped baby and insert the long thin tube into his nose & throat to "suck" those phlegm out by a machine! Baby was screaming out his lungs and crying helplessly. The physio therapist told me to wait outside the room and only daddy was in there. I cant describe how painful it was to me to hear baby's shouting from inside the room...This took about 20 mins and imagine, baby crying & shouting for 20 mins and u cant do anything to help!

Besides, they did the x-ray for baby's chest, took his blood for tests and japped his buttock with antibiotic on top of the oral antibiotic dose. And for each of these, he cried & screamed. Towards Monday night, he was so exhausted and his eyes were swollen.

After 4 days in the hospital, gone through those "suffering" time, I must say : My lil baby is really a tough boy! I'm so proud of him! BRAVO BABY! *star for u* Everyday 3-4 times of nebulizer treatments, 1 physio, 1 jab a day for first 2 days, oral medication, etc....YET he's a happy boy smilling and playing when there's no treatment going on for the past few days. And this is really heart-warming and encouraging for me. Finally today, he can be discharged! As usual, he's back to be a cheerful boy!

I cant really describe how despairing it was to see my lil baby suffered the past few days. The hurt to see your pitiful baby going through the fearful treatment is heart-tearing and beyond words...I'm glad that this is all over now and baby will just need to be on medication for few more days and return for check-up next week...

Baby fell sick :(

2007-10-26T23:48:00.000+08:00

Baby was having cough & flu since yesterday, so I brought him to the clinic yesterday morning. After some medication, he looked OK and so I didn't bring him to the hospital since hubby was not back from outstation as yet.

Got a call from hubby today at around 7.30pm while I finished dinner and was about to go home...telling me that baby is crying since 7pm, looked like he was looking for me, so asking me to come home quickly.

The moment I got home, looking at my poor lil boy crying there, immediately I hugged him and I felt the heat on his forehead. He's got fever! Hubby & I quickly pack the bag and off we went to the hospital's emergency room. He vomited in the car while we almost reached there...poor baby...

Thank God we didnt need to wait in a queue! Immediately when we arrived, the nurse came by and checked him in the room, then wrote down all necessary details and then an MO came to check on baby. He said :" This is viral fever , and there's also oral infection. If the fever doesnt subside in 3days, please come back to do a blood test." Baby cried like mad when he was checked by this Indian MO and he vomited again...
Then there was this nurse who came and inserted the medication into baby's rectum. She also took a small pale of warm water in and sponged baby to help release those heat from his body... At last we collected the medicine and baby fell asleep as we drove home....

My heart broke when I saw baby crying in discomfort. He has never fall sick like this and at his 13th month now, this is the first time. I believe he himself doesnt know how to cope with this. He refused to take milk and he vomited each time when he cried & coughed. He couldnt sleep coz his nose is blocked but he's exhausted. Poor baby...

As I cuddled him all night long, I wished I could take the discomfort, the fever, the phlem & flu all away from him, so he could just rest and sleep well...And I really hope the medication will help him fast...

Part 2 to 'Friend who hurts' - What goes around comes around

2007-10-24T16:20:00.000+08:00

I would suggest you to first read Part 1 - 'Friend who hurts' before u start reading this post coz this is the Part 2 of the story...

Few weeks ago during the fasting month, I was invited to a Buka Puasa dinner with few more others colleagues. At first I was considering whether to go or not to go because I found out that this person "L" was also invited. ("L" is the "best friend" I wrote about in 'Friend who hurts' sometime in Aug). But finally I went...and I'm glad that I decided to be there coz eventually I heard lots of gossip about "L"!

When L and myself were very close last time, she was also quite close to this person "J" and both of them used to gossip about me behind my back...Now that I'm no longer close to L, naturally J became L's best friend...They are now well known as "bestest friend" in the company like how people used to associate me & L.

At the Buka Puasa dinner, since both L & J were not there, there were so much about them! There was this new hire N who just joined J's team where J is the teamlead. She got so feddup with J because she got bullied BIG TIME by her. So she was telling all of us about how J has treated her in her first few weeks. Then eventually N also told us, that J said to her that L knows nothing and was all the time depending on other people to get her stuff done...blah blah...

WOW! When I heard this...all in my mind was - WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND! Few of us just smiled to each other coz deep down our hearts, we know this is soooo shameful for L! Her "bestest friend" in the company is talking bad about her behind her back, just like how she did to me!

Sometimes I dont quite understand why do they treat their so-called "best friend" this way...Is this their nature? Is this their habit? Is this their attitude towards friends? I dont know...For me, this is definitely not something I'll do to my friends.

About "sharlydia"

2007-10-23T23:35:00.000+08:00

I'll leave the last part of Europe trip to another day...why? Coz I felt like sharing with you about "sharlydia"...

Yes, sharlydia is me, but it's actually not my real name, it's just my name in this blogsphere! So how did "sharlydia" come about? What made me decided on this as my blogging identity?

Simple...
"shar" is part of my name and some people or friends do call me "shar".

"lydia" is the title of a song by F.I.R which I really like.

So when u put them together, it's "sharlydia"!

Some friends actually knew that I blog, but they dont really get to read my blog coz I have no intention of sharing it with anyone who knows me personally. Then they asked:"So why do u blog then if u dont let us read?" Well, my answer is simple - I dont blog to get famous or something and I just want to have a channel to voice out how I feel and write things that are in my mind which I may not want to tell anyone!

I treat this blog like my lil diary where I'm hoping to read this some many years later to refresh on things that has happened, be it small matter or a conversation I once had with some old friends...

Europe Part2 - About Rome!

2007-10-21T23:00:00.000+08:00

Firstly before I start writing about Rome, just wanted to provide some updates regarding my mum...Thanx for all your prayers, she's all well and the biopsy test result was finally out - nothing harmful..."PHEW"

Visiting Rome has always been one of My dreams, so I was really excited as we landed in Rome Fiumicino Airport on 21 Sept, around 1pm. Since we were in Rome for 5 days 4 nights, we have been to almost all the tourist spots and I figured that if I were to write every single details down, this post will probably get too lengthy...so, I'll just summarize it and share some photos with u!

Before I start talking about visiting places, I must say:"I really really love the varieties of Italian pasta available in Rome and the fantastic thin crust pizza there! I totally fell in love with them!" We tried Rotelle, Ravioli, Tortellini, Risoto, Fusilli, Rigatoni and ofcoz Spaghetti and many types of pizza. Personally my favourite pasta is still Tortellini, which I have never had in Malaysia...

On day 1, we only have time to cover Fontana di Trevi (photo below) and Piazza Barberini.

On day 2, we started our day really early at Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus) which is an oval basin, nearly 600 meters long, was once a race track which could hold up to 200,000 spectators. Then we went across the street to The Palatino (The Platine Hill), which was the first nucleus of city life in ancient Rome and thereafter became the Imperial Headquarters.

From there, we walked through the Arco di Costantino (Arch of Constantine) which is situated between the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill, built after Emperor Constantin's victory on October 28 in 312AD.

As we walked down the path, I was amazed when I saw the Colosseo (Colosseum) in front of me! I must say, this is really one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering...Its construction started between 70 and 72 AD, and was completed in 80 AD. Originally capable of seating around 50,000 spectators, the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests.

After Colossuem, we went to the magnificent Pantheon, originally built as a temple to the seven deities of the seven planets in the state religion of Ancient Rome but later consecrated as a Catholic Church. The building's dome, more than 43 meters high is most impressive. At the top of the dome is a large opening, the oculus, which was the only source of light.

On day 3, we first went to the famous Sunday Flea Market in Porta Portese. Fantastic shopping and great bargain!!!

Then after a late lunch, we went to Basilica di San Pietro (St. Peter's Basilica) in Vaticano (Vatican City). I believe this impressive building is the largest church in the world, with capacity of over 60,000 people. Near the entrance of the Basilica, there were few famous Swiss guards in their uniform...The interior of the building is just amazing...

On Day 4, we went to San Giovanni, visited the Basilica of San Giovanni, and did some shopping in that area too. Basically this is like our shopping day...so after S. Giovanni, we also went to Piazza Venezia & Piazza Navona. Ofcoz we also shopped at the famous Via del Corso and took picture at the Spanish steps.

Day 5 is when we took our flight to London at night, so we only had limited time in Rome...There is this one important spot which we have not covered so far and we left it to the last day - Foro Romano (The Roman Forum). The site looks like a disorderly collection of ruins to the uninitiated...including temples, basilicas, arches, senate house, law courts and others. The Forum was the marketplace of Rome and also the business district and civic center.

Birthday & Mum

2007-10-18T14:45:00.000+08:00

Today is the special day coz I was born on this day many many years ago...So first of all, Happy Birthday to myself! haha...

Around 11.30am when I got a call from the company receptionist informing me that there's a bouquet for me, I was surprised. Happily I went to collect it and I was delighted that it's a bouquet of 3 dozen white roses (my favourite), with 2 lil bears on it...really sweet! Guess what? This was not from my hubby! haha...it was from a good deary friend of mine in Singapore!

Hubby? He's never a romantic person and he doesnt believe in buying flowers for me....So we will probably go for dinner tonight and have a small cake to celebrate it with our lil baby! Ofcoz I'm happy for that too!

Bunch of close colleagues thrown me a small birthday lunch too and bought me a lovely gift, so thoughtful of them...And I was touched.

On another note, mum is still feeling very uncomfortable eventhough she's on the strong antibiotics from the doctor. This is her 2nd week on medication and she told me last night that she's feeling as though she hasnt started any medication, unlike the first week where there were some improvements....She looked weak too when I saw her at dinner last night...

So I'm heading home now from office to take her to the hospital, at least then we get the doctor to check on her condition....And we could probably get the biopsy result today too...Pray hard that nothing is major!

Lost of a love one

2007-10-16T22:25:00.000+08:00

Supposedly planned to continue my writing about Europe trip, but I was really busy during the day and my mood was so affected by an event today...

I attended the funeral of my friend, T's mum, today in the church. The news about T's mum came to us on Sunday morning when her mum passed away in the hospital.

T's mum is a Christian and she's a regular church go-er, so we always see her in church. Once a while, she will come by and check out my baby and talk a lil bit...

At the funeral, I saw T, her brother, elder sister and her dad, ALL very sad. T was crying almost all the time...I know it must have been a tough fact to accept that her mum is now gone, forever...

After the funeral while driving home, hubby & I were just talking about T's mum...Though she was only 52, her life was so blessed (at least from what we see). She has a son and 2 daughters, a loving husband, and she accepted Jesus Christ about 10 years ago. Infact we should feel happy for her that she's now in paradise! Ofcoz it's easier said than done if we are not the family members, but both hubby & I thought, at least she could leave this world without much regret...

This conversation prompted me about my mum...If she were to die today, I'll really really feel sad, not just because she's my mum and that she loves me so so much, but because I'm not able to share Jesus' love with her! So I really hope and pray that I can convince her one day, to accept Jesus Christ as her Lord & Savior...so I may be reunited with her one day in Heaven! And I really wanna love her so much more and do so much more for her while I still can...

Europe Part1 - About Paris...

2007-10-11T15:15:00.000+08:00

On 19th Sept, 6.30am, our flight arrived in Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Hubby has been to Paris so he wasnt as excited as me. Despite of the tiring flight journey, I was all excited & ready to see "Paris"!

After we checked out from the airport, we went straight to check-in to Tim Hotel where we have made prior reservation. Then at 10.30am, we started our "day" at Champs Elysées...We passed by the HUGE Louis Vuitton (LV) shop and we went in ofcoz! Next is the Arc de Triomphe, 50 meters tall and 45 meters wide awesome looking arch, which construction on the Arch began in 1806, restarted in 1825, and was not finished until 1836.

At 11.30am, we arrived at the great giant monument of Paris - The Eiffel Tower! This amazing 320 meters high structure was built for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution. The tower has 3 main levels where the first level has the post office, restaurant, cafe and souvenier shop. The second level is mainly the viewing terrace and then the top level is the office and viewing terrace too. Looking down at Paris from the Eiffel Tower is really awesome! And I must say...this is truely an architecture to be appreciated. See some of these pics i've taken...

After lunch, we went to The Louvre Museum. The building itself is 800 years old, and the treasures within it represent centuries of priceless works of art. The highlight ofcoz is the visit to see the original Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Many people including myself, also stand to marvel the 20 years old pyramid outside the Louvre Museum.

Hubby & I were all tired after the whole day of walking (non-stop), so we went for dinner & we tried Ratatouille! It was delicious but the presentation was really different from the one we saw in the cartoon though...haha! And u know what? We forgot to even take a pic of it!! dem...

On the next day, Notre Dame was our first stop. Constructed in three stages, the cathedral was completed in 1250. This is really one of the most outstanding church I've ever been (since I havent been to Rome, if u know what I mean...haha). The yellowish pic is the architecture model of Notre Dame.

After Notre Dame, we went up the hill of Montmartre to visit The Sacré-Cœur Basilica (Basilica of the Sacred Heart), which was constructed in completion in 1914. From in front of the Basilica, you can actually see the whole city of Paris, which was really an awesome view... This Basilica is not really one of the most famour tourist spot in Paris, but we decided to pay a visit since it's situated at the highest point of the city!

In the late afternoon, we finally had some time for shopping at the Galeries Lafayette! And then we went back to Eiffel Tower again to have a night view of the impressive architecture. Lucky us, while enjoying the view and eating crepe, the spotlight went on so I took this picture...

This is a rather long post coz I wanted to write down those details while I can still remember them fresh in my head...so when I read this some long time later in the future, I would be able to remember the experience clearly...

I love u, Mum!

2007-10-08T12:46:00.001+08:00

Over the weekend, I was planning to spend as much time as possible with mum though we do not stay together. On Sat around noon, I went to my parents' house which is nearby to where I'm staying, but found out from my dad that they had a fight that morning and mum went out all alone...

I was upset with my dad but he said he really couldnt stand mum nagging on him all morning. Then I said:"But she's not feeling well mar, cant you just hold it there?" He kept quite. I took out my mobile and called her straight away (luckily I've just got her a subline few weeks ago). Apparently she went to a nearby mall by bus...So I told her to wait there and i'll come pick her up. When I found her in the mall, she was quite reluctant to follow me home, but I manage to convince her and then brought her out lunching with all my sisters and nieces...

When I told my hubby about this, he said my mum was just crying for some attention. But I dont think so....Infact I suddenly realised that she looks so old now....she's no longer as energetic and aggresive as before...

A lot of people said I'm too close to my mum, and my hubby sometimes even get jealous about this! But u know what? I'm just appreciating her love!

I came from a small town in Johor state and we were quite poor last time. But I remembered mum trying her every single effort to make us all live well, study well, eat well etc. She works night shift in a factory so she could take care of me coz I was the youngest and my sisters all are 9-12 years older than me. She will cook "special things" like fried chicken and my dad will pack the A&W Rootbeer home so we could enjoy them as if we are in A&W coz we couldnt afford it. She will save every single cent so we could have more pocket money and buy more books....There were many many more little little things she did for us, that I couldnt list them all here, but I really appreciate them! There were many times when I disappointed her and made her sad, but she never gave up hope on me. I almost lost my life in a terrible accident 7 years ago and she was there to take really good care of me each day and I really felt bad to see her sad and worry about me.

I always ask myself, mum has loved us so tirelessly and unconditionally, but have I loved her enough? Have I done enough for her? Have I cared for her so much like she cared for us? Have I made her smile lately?
I hope I can do every single bit to make her live a happier life and I dont wanna wait till it's too late....

Mum, I LOVE U!

Happy for mum!

2007-10-04T17:29:00.000+08:00

Infact I should have written this post yesterday, but I was too tight-up with work so didnt really have time to blog it down...

Thanx for those who prayed for my mum, thank God she's fine, at least for now...I sent her to the hospital yesterday morning for the thorough checkup but I couldnt wait till the whole thing was done, so 2 of my sisters together with my dad were accompanying mum while I went to work.

At 10.50am, I sent sms to sis asking for status. She replied saying "scope" has just been done, now resting. There's a small growth near the gastric area which substance has been extracted for biopsy.

At 11.30am, I called sis to check if they have spoken to the doctor. She said :"Doctor cant confirm anything until the substance biopsy result is out in few weeks time, but it doesnt look cancerous. The reading of the blood test which indicated existance of cancerous cells was due to the bad bacteria infection in mum's stomach. So mum needs to go on special antibiotics for 3 weeks." WOW! What a relief when I heard this....

Nevertheless, please continue to pray for my mum that the growth in her gastric area is nothing major or cancerest at all, which the doctor can remove it and all will be fine.

Mixed feeling...

2007-10-02T17:51:00.000+08:00

After a long holiday, I felt so refreshed when i touched down yesterday morning...still tired and couldnt get over the jetlag, I'm just sooooo sleepy! Infact I had so much to write about the Europe trip and I was all excited to start writing yesterday but I was just too tired, so I dozzed off after spending some time playing with my son, whom I missed soooooo much!

So I thought I'll spend some time blogging today despite of the busy work schedule...BUT my brain just cant seemed to be working at all after the phone conversation with sis few minutes ago...

Two weeks ago before I left for the trip, mum started having gastric problem...So she went to the clinic and got some medication and I thought that will do. Last night when I saw her at dinner, she looked pale and she lost weight, and she told me she's still having minor gastric though she's on the medication for 2 weeks....so last week she actually went to the same clinic for blood test and the doctor told her, she should consult a specialist cause the report showed some strange-ness...

There she was today...at SJMC, my sister brought her to the specialist doctor....And the doctor actually said :"Maam, I'm affraid the blood test report shows that there are cancerous cells in your blood, therefore we need to do a more thorough check. Can u please come back tomorrow morning and fast from 5pm today?" Sis wanted to ask more questions but she was affraid that will worry mum even more, so she decided to keep quite.

I was stunned when I heard it...I always have the 'this-will-not-happen-to-me' mentality, so when I heard about it over the phone, my heart was over-burdened...And after i put down the phone with sis, I realised tears are just running down my cheeks, uncontrolable...

I'll be fetching mum to the hospital tomorrow morning for the thorough check and I pray hard that God will lay His hand on her and pray hard that it's just a false alarm. I really cant imagine having to see mum going through the pain which associates with cancer...I think my heart will break! She is already a asthma patient, can she take that?

Oh no...Please God, dont let this happen to mum...please...

Long deserved break...

2007-09-17T13:44:00.000+08:00

ANNOUNCEMENT : sharlydia's blog will be closed for holiday next 2 weeks starting tomorrow, returning in action on 2 Oct. So if you are leaving any comments, I'll only reply to them when I'm back...

It has been almost 2 years since I last went traveling for holiday, to Japan in Sept 2005...Now that my little baby has just turned one, it's about time for hubby & I to go for our loooong awaited deserved trip...TO EUROPE!

Infact it has always been one of my Dreams to visit Rome, so i'm really really looking forward to it since one whole month ago! And better still, we have confirmed our flights to extend few more days to visit London as well!

This trip is costing us a BOMB!!! But I guess both of us work so hard that we really deserve this break. Ofcoz I thank God that I have a hubby who shares the same interest, rather than some of those friends who actually thought spending so much money on a trip is being stupid...And I always believe this Chinese proverb that says : Resting is for us to walk further. Even Stephen Covey said we should Sharpen the Saw in his famous 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

my EX-love...

2007-09-13T21:32:00.000+08:00

I was just reading a post in ardy's blog about his previous long-distance relationship which did not work out....and this reminded me of my own story about an ex-relationship...

I was in Secondary school (Form4) back then in my hometown when I started the relationship with this guy "S", who was same age as me but studying in another school. I was introduced to him by another friend whom I met at the tuition class! S was quite a shy guy but he was really nice to me...before we even started the relationship, he's already buying gifts for me, send me flowers, etc...after sometime being friends, we started our "relationship". Since we were both quite young that time, our relationship was soooooo "pure", haha! We only hold hands and occasionally some kissing in action!

One year later when we were in Form 5, he got his driving license and started driving the family care. So now i have a "private" driver who would drive me to & fro tuition, supper, etc...ALL without parents knowing it! WOW!!! Haha...my parents were very against love-relationship while studying...

2 years in love, we have never had major arguement and we would never get to fight because he will always let me have the last say...He was so loving, caring, understanding. etc...But the relationship still did not work out at the end...

It's time to get into pre-u and his parents wanted him to continue study in Singapore but my parents wanted me to come to KL since my sisters were all already here. He said he will come & join me after his study in Singapore and told me to wait for him coz he's confident that the long-distance relationship will work out. So we were seperated...He missed me sooo much that he called every day to talk to me in length (wonder how much phone bills he had paid). He sent me thousands of those very special cards and love letters, which I kept them until the day before I moved into my new home with my hubby....I would love to continue keeping them, but I'm affraid my hubby will be jealous if he sees it one day...Besides calling & sending cards & letters, he came to KL almost every other month over the weekend just to visit me...

Well this did not last long...About 10 months later, I fell in love with someone else! This person was there when I needed someone to care for me the most and needed some encouragement. I must admit....I was selfish back then....So during his last trip visiting me in KL, I told him I couldnt wait for him for another year coz I've fallen in love with another guy....I appologized thousand times & cried like mad too coz I really felt sad to have to let go of such a good guy, and have to hurt him so badly...

We were still in touch after the break-up, even until today...He continued his life in Singapore and had 2 girl-friends within the last 10 years, planning to get married next year. I've moved on with my life too ofcoz, with the guy I've chosen over S. After 9 years in the relationship with him after breaking up with S, we got married and had our lil bundle of joy Sept last year.

I cannot judge whether i've made the best choice or not 10 years ago, leaving S for my hubby, coz it's unfair for me to compare S with my hubby now. But I can definitely say:"I've made the right choice of my life and i've never regreted it so far."

Such a tired week!

2007-09-12T16:24:00.000+08:00

I havent had time to post anything past 2 days coz I was really too sucked into my job...and I think for my whole life in the MNC I'm working for, I've never ever been sooooo hardworking before!

In this new job that i'm in, I have to manage those complex bid which comprises of multiple products and services, then produce the proposal and ensure submission to the RFP is on time.

Well this is a new area for someone like me who came from many years of marketing background, so it wasnt easy to adapt, but I think it's managable and I'm coping well so far....

I received this request for bid management support last Tuesday and the proposal submission is today. I've been working with the whole team until 3-4am past 2 nites and I started to work on the proposal template, getting background ready for the team since many days ago until 1am-ish each night....I feel like fainting NOW!!!

BUT then again, it goes back to say...Are you enjoying what you are doing? Well eventhough i'm new to the job and I got pretty frustrated with myself as well as some idiots who just cant bare with me (the poor newbie) and be more patient, I have a fantastically supporting manager! And after completing this proposal I realised that the job can be quite fun too though pretty stressful...So I cant believe it that I'm starting to LIKE IT! hahah!

I guess it's just how we manage stress and set the right expectation on ourselves at times...

Hokkien mee for Muslims?

2007-09-10T09:44:00.000+08:00

I just cant help it but to blog it down....

On Sat night, I finally convinced my hubby to go watch Ratatouille and so we went! Oh no...the movie was sooooo good & funny! I really enjoyed it....and had a good laugh in the cinema!

Well as usual, both of us were hungry after the show ended around 11.30pm, so we decided to go to our favourite Hokkien-Mee stall in BU. Got there, sat down & ordered our Hokkien-mee, started waiting....

Few minutes later a posh car arrived, 2 young men & 1 young lady got down from the car. The lady in her cool short hair, was wearing a white tube-top and a low-cut hipster jeans. They walked near & finally sat down at the table next to us. Though they were all stylish and modern looking, fare skin colour, I still wonder if they are malays coz they looked "malay" to me!

So I asked hubby:"Do u think they are malays?"

Hubby said:"Well, they do looked like malays, but maybe they are from Sabah or Sarawak so they may not be muslims..."

But u know what? They ordered Hokkien-mee, and told the waiter "No pork please"!!!

What kind of bullshit is this??? Obviously Muslims, yet ordering Hokkien-mee at obviously non-halal stall, SO OPENLY!!!

Why am I on fire about this?

Because when we (non-muslims) do some little small mistakes, the "gobermen" will point their finger at us & penalise us, etc etc. YET they dont mind their own business!!!

Funny email - "Now we men understand!!!"

2007-09-06T09:49:00.000+08:00

Someone sent me this email joke which i felt i should put it here...Hope you have not read this before and enjoy...

You usually find a line of women, so you smile politely and take your place. Once it's your turn, you check for feet under the stall doors. Every stall is occupied.

Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving the stall. You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn't matter, the wait has been so long you are about to wet your pants! The dispenser for the modern "seat covers" (invented by someone's Mom, no doubt) is handy, but empty. You would hang your purse on the door hook, if there was one, but there isn't - so you carefully, but quickly drape it around your neck, (Mom would turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR!), yank down your pants, and assume "The Stance."

In this position your aging, toneless thigh muscles begin to shake. You'd love to sit down, but you certainly hadn't taken time to wipe the seat or lay toilet paper on it, so you hold "The Stance."

To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what you discover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser. In your mind, you can hear your mother's voice saying, "Honey, if you had tried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWN there was no toilet paper!" Your thighs shake more.

You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on yesterday - the one that's still in your purse. (Oh yeah, the purse around your neck, that now, you have to hold up trying not to strangle yourself at the same time). That would have to do. You crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It's still smaller than your thumbnail...

Someone pushes your door open because the latch doesn't work. The door hits your purse, which is hanging around your neck in front of your chest, and you and your purse topple backward against the tank of the toilet. "Occupied!" you scream, as you reach for the door, dropping your precious, tiny, crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor, lose your footing altogether, and slide down directly onto the TOILET SEAT. It is wet of course. You bolt up, knowing all too well that it's too late. Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life form on the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper - not that there was any, even if you had taken time to try. You know that your mother would be utterly appalled if she knew, because, you're certain her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seat because, frankly, dear, "You just don't KNOW what kind of diseases you could get."

By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is so confused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a fire hose against the inside of the bowl that sprays a fine mist of water that covers your butt and runs down your legs and into your shoes. The flush somehow sucks everything down with such force that you grab onto the empty toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged in too.

At this point, you give up. You're soaked by the spewing water and the wet toilet seat. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a gum wrapper you found in your pocket and then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks.

You can't figure out how to operate the faucets with the automatic sensors, so you wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the line of women still waiting.

You are no longer able to smile politely to them. A kind soul at the very end of the line points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe. (Where was that when you NEEDED it??) You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and tell her warmly, "Here, you just might need this."

As you exit, you spot your hubby, who has long since entered, used, and left the men's restroom. Annoyed, he asks, "What took you so long, and why is your purse hanging around your neck?"

This is dedicated to women everywhere who deal with a public restrooms (rest??? you've GOT to be kidding!!). It finally explains to the men what really does take us so long. It also answers their other commonly asked questions about why women go to the restroom in pairs. It's so the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your purse and hand you Kleenex under the door!

HAHAHAHA!!! I find this sooo funny after reading it!

Mama or Baby?

2007-09-05T14:57:00.000+08:00

Not sure how come this conversation came up during lunch last week, but I feel it is something to ponder upon....

If you are a married man & one day your pregnant wife is in the delivery ward struggling to deliver the baby...due to unforseen circumstances, the gynae told u to leave the ward and wait outside....

After some time, the gynae comes out from the ward and asking you this question :

"We have tried all we can, but we can only safe either the baby OR the mother...now the decision lies with you."

What will you answer?

Infact when asked this question, 99.9% of guys will answer : "Safe my wife!"

What if you are the mother? What if the question is posted to YOU by the gynae? Will you tell the gynae to safe your baby or yourself?

I almost immediately answered :"Ofcoz safe my baby!" You wont know how it feels being a pregnant mother, building the whole baby bit by bit in your own body...it's just different!

But then again, I was posted with subsequent question :"So you want your baby to be neglected since birth and then when your hubby re-marries another woman, you want your baby to be tortured & mistreated by her?"

Err...I cant answer that question....Obviously I dont want my baby to suffer, but it will be too painful for me to stay alive by sacrificing the baby!

What do you think?

Frustrating...

2007-09-03T14:58:00.000+08:00

It was a long weekend...

On Sunday after church, hubby & I together with our lil baby went paying a visit to our dear friends (married couple) who were manning the stall at Mont Kiara bazaar. Infact I always envy the wife who has a lovely husband that will help her out every single Sunday without fail to operate the stall, as he's actually a Business Unit Manager in an American pharma company who earns big bucks! Ok that's besides the point...let me tell you what happened next...

After lunch with the couple at Mc Donalds which is right next to the stall allocated, the 2 hubbies were catching up & busy talking. While the wife left us & went talking to some potential customers, I thought of bringing baby in his stroller for a walk around the bazaar. I was walking slowly passing those stalls while trying to shop for some cool & cheap jewery, I came to a narrow junction where I couldnt get through with the stroller....so I wanted to reverse & take another route...

Right at this point, there was this lady in her 40-ies holding a young girl around 4-5 years old, right behind me, frustrating and angrily saying :"Make up your mind man!" WOW! I WAS SOOO ANGRY! I turned to her immediately saying :"Not that I cant make up my mind, but my stroller cant get through this path!!!"

I think if not because my baby was with me, I would have shouted at her...Sometimes I dont understand why would someone who obviously have had babies before (since she was holding this young girl) to say such non-understanding statement. I was upset because she sounded like me & my baby has caused her to delay her precious 5 seconds, what nonsense!

Anyway, it was a Sunday and we just came out from church, so I decided to let it go...no point dwelling into small matter like this...

Shy guy still exist?

2007-08-29T14:42:00.000+08:00

Was just listening to a close friend's story about her recent date - we call him "the shy guy"...It was quite funny and we ended up all laughing!

Infact this "shy guy" has been dating M (my close friend) for past few months, sent her HUGE bouquet of flower to the office during her birthday and bought her the latest Canon Digital Camera as birthday gift! She finds him quite interesting, pretty good looking, soft & gentle person, and above all, he drives a BMer! But one weird thing about him is - TOO SHY!

According to M, he will need an excuse to date her each time, ie. asking her to accompany him for wedding dinner, company function, when he has something to pass to her, when there's free movie tickets to redeem, etc...hahaha, so funny!

And during weekends, he will sms M asking "what ru doing?" Then when M replied saying "Home, doing nothing", hoping that he will ask her out. Guess what? He will just reply saying "M at home too, watching F1", and that's it! wahahaha!

We concluded that this guy is just too shy...BUT does shy guy really still exist these days? I just think this guy needs to read some Shy Guy Dating Guide or something! haha...What do u think? I thought guys nowadays are a lot more daring, out there dating or hunting for 1-nite-stand most of the time if not married, NO?

My friend M is wondering if she should just ask him straight if he likes her and if yes, let's progress....I seriously dont know what advice to give her...what do u think?

My deams...

2007-08-28T21:58:00.000+08:00

I'm sure everyone has their own dreams, whether practical or realistic or not, they are still dreams!

I personally have 3...alot huh? haha...

Those who know me personally will know that I LOVE kids! I used to work in Club Med Cherating during holiday breaks, managing the kids sent by their parents to the Kids Club. I also used to take my nieces & nephew out for movies (cartoon ie. Ice Age etc), cruise-library visit, Mc Donald's, church, etc. I love spending time with them...So I told myself, one day I MUST have my own kids - so that's my 1st dream....

Status?

Many years after having this dream, I finally achieved it last year when I got my baby boy! And I feel that he's the cutest person in this world now...haha!

There was this TV show which I watched when I was very very young, about this couple who met in Rome, Italy...how they fell in love, how they missed each other during their first & last date & lost contact of each other, and finally how they bumped into each other in the home country again after many years and still in love with each other, they finally got married. Somehow after watching the show, I've always been dreaming to visit Rome - so that's my 2nd dream...

Status?

I guess I'm really lucky to have a lovely husband who knew that I have this dream and is planning for a trip to visit Rome & Paris with me next month! HOORAY!!! So that means I'll be achieving my 2nd dream very soon!

I always admire those woman who can be a housewife, so then they wont need to handle crappy bosses, irritating colleagues & all. But if u ask me, I may not want to be a full-time housewife either, coz then I'll probably lose touch with things and become a boring person soon! My whole wardrobe of pretty office clothes will go to waste...and I wont be able to show-off some fashion in the workplace! So...I always think, if one day I can be a part-time housewife where I dont stay at home 24 hours to take care of my baby & housework, and I get to do something I've been wanting to do, wow...how nice! By then, I'll have almost zero stress, enjoying time with my baby as when I want it, meet people while doing the "own business" which i've been wanting to start doing...PERFECT! So...that's my 3rd dream...

Status?

Well, I'm still dreaming, obviously! haha...

So, what do you dream — dreams of achievement or fantastic imagined worlds? Dreaming about getting married with Mariah Carey or Richard Gear? Dreaming of becoming a millionare?

Part2 - 1nite on a wrong stand

2007-08-27T10:31:00.000+08:00

I was reading this entry on my favourite blog by zewt - One Night on a Wrong Stand...and since I have some 1-nite-stand stories to share, I'm making this Part 2, so if u wanna read Part 1, please go to zewt's blog....

Some time ago I had this friend who went out clubbing as usual on Sat nite...after few hours of hot dancing & drinking, she realised there's this mat-salleh (caucasion) who had been observing her from the other table while drinking. Until this guy saved enough guts, true enough he came by to buy my friend a drink, but by then he was already like....very drunk! After few more drinks with my friend, she realised that if they continue drinking at the club, they will end up no where! haha...

So she decided to be open about it, and they finally got to the taxi and ended up in her house since that guy cant even tell which hotel is he staying in...hahaha (too drunk)! By the time she finished removing all her clothes & his clothes, she's as tired as a cow, u know why? Coz she's the only one in action & that guy already 100% knocked off! wahahah!

There's also this one other story I heard from another friend....this time from a guy...

He picked up this hot chinese gal, thinking he's the most lucky person that nite in the club...they got very "high" after plenty of alcohol and they were hugging each other while walking out the club. He drove her back home since he stays alone and guess what? After all the HOT "pre-sex" stuff, she insisted my friend to wear a condom! And guess what? He couldn't find a single one in the whole dem house! hahahaha!

This last one is very classic....

Both guy & gal knew each other but not really well and ended up having 1-nite-stand after one of the party & after drinking too much....
2 months down the road, she missed her period & "tah-dah"....SHE's PREGNANT! So how?
They finally got married lor...

So, always remember if u'r gamed for 1-nite-stand, make sure you dont end up at the "wrong-stand"...haha!

Trip to Japan - Kobe, Osaka & Kyoto

2007-08-24T16:22:00.000+08:00

Over lunch while talking about some places where we have been travelling to, reminded me of my trip to Japan with my hubby 2 years ago....how time flies!

One of the colleagues was saying she may be going to Japan end of this year and was asking me for some interesting places that she MUST go to. I realise...shucks! I've forgotten many of those places' name! So I told myself, I have to blog it down before i totally forget about the whole trip, haha!

We covered 3 cities in Japan - Kobe, Osaka & Kyoto.

Oh...reminds me of the FANTASTIC Kobe beef experience - the BEST beef I've ever had in my whole life! It melts in your mouth, trust me! And I was lucky to have a chance to try Kone beef in different types of cooking - Tepanyaki & Sukiyaki. I personally LOVE Tepanyaki by far more than Sukiyaki....Besides Kobe beef, this is how Kobe looks like at night :

Kyoto is a city full of history...Famous tourist spots we went to included : Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Kyoto Palace, Ginkaku-ji, Nijo-jo Castle and Kinkaku-ji Temple. Some pictures taken as below :

Oh before i forget, there's this place which I would think is seriously a MUST-GO : the Japanese On-sen (Hot spring). This is my first time entering an On-sen and I got a culture shock! Hahaha! Ofcoz the male is seperated from the female area...And there are just many many types of hot spring, some even open-air! I truely enjoyed the experience and this is the On-sen we went to (One of the best Japan) ...

Alright, so that's really summary of Kyoto & Kobe...now OSAKA! Shopping is soooo good in Osaka! We were staying in Dotonburi (not sure if I got the spelling right) and it's near Shinsaibashi with whole lot of shoppings! Besides that, we also visited the Osaka Castle & the Umeda Sky Tower, check out the photos...One very special thing about this Umeda Sky Tower is the floating garden which worth a visit...

Who moved my cheese?

2007-08-22T09:25:00.000+08:00

I recently changed job role in the same company which is a norm in the company that I work for, where there's great amount of diversity. Infact this is not the first time I've changed role since I've been with the company for many years, but I've always been changing roles within marketing function, from country marketing to regional marketing, etc. So I've never felt the "change" so much until I joined this new team few weeks ago...

Though I was the one who initiated this change since I wasnt too happy with my ex-boss, I still relatively feel uneasy...I find it difficult to adapt to this new job function since it's something really different from marketing management, which is my CORE skills! This job now involves a lot of processes and I need to be extra detailed and extra thorough.

Someone just came asking me yesterday how am I doing with my new job.
I said : "Still a lot to learn....struggling, but trying to enjoy it at the same time!"
She replied : "Positiive attitude will carry you far. Nothing beats working with your difficult ex-boss!"
I said : " Yeah! Struggling with people is equally tough compared to struggling with the job function, but good thing is - struggling with people will never end, and struggling with the job, it takes only some time to get through."

Infact it reminds me of a book which I've read many years ago - Who Moved My Cheese! (Bet many of you have read this book before) This is a simple comic-style book that talks about coping changes in our lives. I took out the book and re-read it few days ago...to remind myself of the attitude I should have while coping with this change that's happening to me now at work. Moving out from the comfort zone is never easy, but like Haw said in the book :"When u move beyond your fear, u'll feel free!" And you can only adapt to the change when u start enjoying the journey to that change.

I hope it will not take me too long to find my new cheese station, so I can start enjoying those "cheese" again and be comfortable for a while...

Appreciating his love...

2007-08-20T09:16:00.000+08:00

There are just too many bloggers talking about Namewee the dude who gone into trouble by singing the "new version" of Negaraku...So i decided to just make sure i hold my breath & not blogging anything about this guy....

Over the weekend during a lunch with a close friend, we were talking about our marriage, our new babies and also some gossip about our MILs (mother-in-laws). At the same time, we also talked about our husbands...yes, our lovely husbands!

After the long conversation with her, I suddenly realised that I should appreciate my dearly hubby a lot more! Infact my hubby is never a romantic person, so he doesnt tell u how pretty you are when u dress up for a dinner, he doesnt believe in buying flowers, he will not plan for special romatic dinner for anniversaries, he doesnt say I LOVE U often, he doesnt come home with lil surprises and all...BUT, he's definitely someone who loves me very very much!

Why am I so sure about that?

Many years ago when I met a serious accident which almost took away my life, he was there for me throughout the difficult time. He was among the first to get to the hospital, and was shocked to find out about my condition, but he stayed there and did not "run away"...Through the 2 weeks in hospital and subsequent 2 months at home, he came visiting me every single day without fail....It was a painful time for me both physically and mentally, but he was sooo encouraging! I must say, for someone who's as good looking as him, he could have just leave me and go look for another better looking girl and get married happily ever after. But he decided to stay...And 2 years ago we got married, I must say, he's by far the best hubby and now with our baby, he's truely a fantastic daddy!

Over lunch with my close friend, she reminded me by saying :

"U know, not many people get to go through such difficult time with someone u love and most importantly, this love one did not leave u andwas there for you throughout the toughest time of your life! Many couples fall in love and get married and have kids and just live their normal lives without such an experience, which is good and bad for them. Why good? Because they wont need to go through the pain and the heart breaking moments. Why bad? Because they wont get to experience such LOVE which will last forever in their lives! So u should really appreciate your hubby..."

Sooooo true! And I really wanna tell him that :
I LOVE YOU MY DEAR! AND I REALLY APPRECIATE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR ME SO FAR...THANX FOR BEING THERE!

Friend who hurts

2007-08-16T15:33:00.000+08:00

Have u ever been "betrayed" by a friend whom u thought is your best friend? Well I'm sure many may say : "YES!" Why? Because there are simply too many of these people who are selfish and they are like fake monsters!

Few years ago when this girl joined the same company as me, I was assigned as her mentor at work in the same department. At a regional offsite planning session in Singapore after she joined for a month, she mentioned this remark during a small group break-up discussion time about motivation at work :

"To me, my mentor is like my motivation! She's like the most energetic person in the office but despite of her busyness, she's always there to help answer my questions..."

Wow! I was touched and I felt soooo good about it! At least she appreciates what i'm doing...

Very soon after that we became the closest friend ever in the office and many people who always bump into us together will say :"Wah, 2 of you always together wherever u go hor?" Haha...Yeah! And we talk almost about anything and everything...We roomed-mate each other at company offsite events and went clubbing together...She even volunteered to be chief "chi-mui" for my wedding ceremony! And ofcoz, we had lots of fun together at the "wild" hens nite....

I thought too, that i've found my "best" friend in the company after my previous best friend left to join our competitor...

Guess what? On my wedding day, this "best friend" did not turn up on time and she was late for more than an hour! When she got to my house, the whole process of "zhip san leong" was done and we were all taking pictures already...Luckily i had a bunch of spontaneous chi-muis and so the whole thing went alright despite of the hiccup that the chief was not there. Was I mad at her? At that very moment, YES! But it was my wedding day, so i let it go & wanna enjoy the rest of the long day with fun & joy....When i returned to office after my 2 weeks honeymoon break, I decided to put this whole unhappy incident behind my back, and so my "best friend" and I were just back to normal - talk & laugh together, lunch together etc....

Until one fine day few months ago, when few of us colleagues were talking, these people started talking bad about my "best friend" and naturally i defended her! Then this guy who's also my close friend, started shouting at me saying :

"Hey! Stop defending her lar! She has never treated u as her best friend ok? She has been bad-mouthing about u all these while! We all just didn't want to tell u coz we know u'll get hurt badly! But i really cant help it now...seeing u still so silly, thinking that she's ur "best friend"!"

U know what? I really really felt like i've been thrown down from some 20th floor and feel like killing myself!!! It hurts soooo badly & I cried...Someone whom i've helped so much in her career & work said that I'll always bully new colleagues, and lots of other negative things....I cried BADLY!

Then subsequently, many close friends came telling me about things that this "best friend" has said to them, asking me not to be too sad, just let it go...I thought about it for many days & this really bothered me...I could have confronted her, but i did not do so. Finally I decided to just stop initiating conversation with her, but will still respond if she talks to me....

I believe what goes around comes around....I've met many many more close friends in the company and we always have fun & laughters together. What happened to her? She's now left all alone with limited friends to even go out lunching with...how sad...

Our lil bundle of Joy!

2007-08-16T10:52:00.000+08:00

It took me a while to decide which should I post here at my very first blog...and finally i decided on this one - about my 1 year old lil cute baby....

Some people may think & say :
sigh, this new mum, is gonna just write & write about how cute her baby is, nothing new lar!

Guess what? I may surprise u! haha!

Infact, having to write about this, it's also to remind myself of the joyous moment in my life! When my lil baby boy was born Sept last year, he weighed 3.6kg and he was born without epidural (a type of painkiller for those men out there who may not know, hehe!). I was proud of myself and ofcoz my hubby was proud of me too! The type of joy when baby came out from my womb was just "undescripable" and i'm sure those of you out there who are parents will know what i mean...

Like a blink of an eye, the experience of giving birth is still so fresh to me and yet baby is already almost one year old now! Time flies...

I must say...being a working mom, it's never easy for me to juggle the busy schedule and yet spend enough quality time with my lil baby, plus breast-feeding during the first 6 months! And I've shared with many many new mothers that this is worth the effort! Infact I feel like I can start a breast-feeding consulting business since I've consulted sooooo many friends, friends' wives, hubby's friends, hubby's friends wives and colleagues on this matter! hahaha! Some came to me asking about the feeding, some asked me about juggling work & feeding the baby, some asked me about traveling for work while nursing, some asked me about handling breastmilk, etc, and I must say, this mode of exchanging notes is so important and encouraging!

Now that baby is turning one, seeing him with some lil cute teeth and the lovely smile each day, I realised that the joyous moment did not just stop at the moment he was born, but has been with me and my hubby and our whole family throughout the last 11+ months...