I tendered my resignation yesterday, after 3+ years of service here. Yup, I have an offer, signed on the dotted line and will start work in about 2 months' time.

As much as I like the 'culture' and most of the colleagues here and had intended to stick around for a long time, it didn't work out. How true it is that your immediate manager plays a MAJOR role in your working life. Having a bird of a manager with no EQ especially in the HR department just doesn't cut it. Of course coupled with a pathetic increment, when it's time to go, it's time to go. 

I didn't mention about looking out as I didn't want to jinx it. With the employment market looking fairly good, I responded to quite a number of on-line ads. I had 2 interviews, 1 with an American property firm and another, a Norwegian firm in the oil and gas industry. While I went through 2 rounds with the former, the latter came back with an offer 2 weeks later. 

The offer was attractive although the leave has gone back to the basic minimum of 14 days for a start. I console myself that with so many leave that I enjoy now, it always becomes a 'struggle' when I have to start clearing them towards the end of the year. And it's not as if I need to take leave every month. Anyhows, the future HR Manager seems a nice person and at least she asks relevant job related questions.

I have been praying about it and I'm glad, with the odds against me like age and the 2 month notice period that I have to serve, God opened the doors of opportunity for me. I hope I do not disappoint.

When we dropped by the mothercare fair yesterday to buy the biggest milk bottle from the brand that baby K is used to, a lady stopped us to introduce some learning program that she was promoting. I had told another salesperson that we send baby K to a childcare centre and immediately he said;" Oh, childcare centre, 80% play, only 20% learning."

The lady somehow caught up with us and repeated the same thing whilst trying to get us to give her 10 minutes of our time to hear her out. She also said by the time it is the 20% learning, how much can the child absorb?

Excuse me, I do not know nor am I interested in her learning program that what, allow a child to absorb 100% of what is taught. Learn by playing! Isn't that being repeated constantly in recent times? And being a parent of a child who unfortunately or not, has to be sent to a childcare centre, I actually amazed myself when I find myself telling people that sending our children to the centre is a good thing!

Baby K has accepted having her hair washed without crying and she is doing exactly what the hubs and I have been trying to teach her which failed. I can tell that she is being toilet trained at school when she proclaims happily and claps when she passes urine in the toilet bowl and when she does it in her diaper, she will sometimes tell me too. Sure, if I had been a SAHM, I would be the one training her and would be the one beaming with joy with every milestone but truth of the matter is, how many parents are actually as patient with their own brood as the people who dedicate their lives to be childcare teachers? Well, ok, maybe not their lives but you get my drift.

Children get positive pressure when they see their peers accomplished something which may take a much longer time, if they have been staying at home. In every situation, there are pros and cons. And for now, my yet to be 2 year old baby will play as much as she wants to and enjoy her toddler years and I will on the other hand, try to teach her as much as I can, without putting any stress or creating any frustration on both mother and child.

Feeling tired with rushing home to cook everyday and not being in the best of mood after knowing the pathetic amount I received for my yearly increment, the hubs took over the cooking on Thursday and on Friday, we ate out. I met the hubs and baby K when I alighted at the bus-stop, near the childcare centre. She saw me while I was waiting to get off and waved to me happily. The sight of her being so happy when she saw me completely erases all the bad feelings I have from work. Anyway, it was TGIF.

And today, we had wanted to drop baby K off at Jeremy's while we go to the expo but she dragged her nap time from 1 to 2pm and with so much resistance. She finally fell asleep while drinking her milk. So I had to message the SIL to cancel our plans when baby K was still asleep at 3.30pm as we were supposed to be at the Salahudeens at 5pm for a steamboat dinner.

We had so much fun while we were there with the Victors and another couple who came late. The children, of course, enjoyed themselves. We enjoy the company of these 2 family and it's nice that we can get along so well and the children, all girls, do take care of baby K and try to involve her as much as they can, despite the age gap.

It's not common to hear of people saying and thinking aloud that the baby is too young to understand anything. There are so many instances that I can tell them it's not true! 

We hardly, almost never baby talk to baby K. We speak to her like a normal child or even an adult sometimes. She understands and carries out our instructions, sometimes to our amazement. On Sunday, when I was home resting, the 3rd SIL, who happens to be baby K's Sunday School teacher, whatsapped me to ask if I felt better. It was after church but before the hubs reached home.

The 3rd SIL mentioned that baby K had asked the 3rd SIL to pray for 'mummy' when my SIL was asking another boy if he had prayed. And at the end of the lesson, baby K reminded her aunt to pray for me again. It warmed my heart to know that the daily prayers we have with baby K has left an impression on her that we should speak to God everyday. 

I asked the hubs about it when they returned home and he said Ivy commented that baby K is just so mature. I'm not sure as I have never brought up any other child before. Just like how some children are so naughty, they appear spoilt. I think it all boils down to parenting. I'm not saying we have perfect parenting skills. No, we're far from that. So many times, we get so impatient with baby K, it shows. 

What I am saying is, discipline the child when it is due. Spare the rod and spoil the child. It is your child and his behaviour is a reflection of his upbringing.

It's been a week and the flu bug is still stuck on me. It was so bad this morning, I saw blood when I blew my nose. And not traces of blood, mind you. And I thought that I had conjunctivitis as well so I didn't attend church as a result.

The hubs brought baby K to the main service, giving me some rest at home. I took the meds and slept for a bit. But it's amazing the amount of mucus I have when I blow my nose. This must be the worst flu I've had. Thankfully, it's not sore eyes that I have. It was probably the frequency that I have been blowing my nose that my eyes started getting watery and irritated.

Although I had wanted to go out yesterday evening, I changed my mind and we stayed home instead. Going down to the playground early evening today is good enough for me. Thankfully, we have been blest with good weather. Good for us, but not good for the trees and grass, which are turning brown from the lack of rain.

Half the world seems to be having flu and I finally had to succumb to the dreaded bug. The clinic 'made' me pay an additional $6 for a miserly 20 tabs of chewable Vit C, which is not covered by my company's insurance. I had rejected it at first but was too sick to argue with the staff and decided to pay for it and make my way home.

Slept through the afternoon and felt a lot better. In fact, having had the symptoms of flu coming my way, I had consulted the GP on Monday and took the medication. But I still continued working. But this morning, my body was too tired. I need the rest.

Although I had a mask on yesterday, I'm hoping and praying baby K do not get infected by me. She's already having a bit of a runny nose and I hope it stays as that. Having a sick child is tough. Not only are they not allowed to attend school, the hubs and I have to take turns taking care of her at home. And because they can't manage it themselves, it can become a challenge to us when we have to constantly take her temperature and make sure she has lots of rest.

Oh dreaded flu, go far far away.

I had to pick baby K up from childcare today as the hubs had back to back meetings and 1 that starts in the evening. And like how it is with life, whenever you wait for the bus to arrive on time, it doesn't and the day that you are not waiting, the bus comes every few minutes. 

I should have just settled for our dinner at the hawker centre near her school or somewhere near home but not wanting to spoil the minced pork that has been brought down from the freezer and up again, I prepared soup with meatballs, fishballs, chinese cabbage, carrots, celery and a potato which was waiting for us in the the thermal pot. While I marinated the meatballs yesterday evening, the hubs rolled them in balls just before he went to bed. As expected, baby K was famished by the time we reached home and I had to appease her with a biscuit, not something that I want to inculcate in her. Which is, having snacks before meal times.

Thankfully, she was able to finish her dinner and a bit more and that I am able to sit down to eat with her feeding herself. We have been training her to feed herself just before she started childcare and I'm happy to say that she is able to do so now, plus minus bits of food dropping off the high chair. But generally, she is quite clean so I am proud to say, she learns fast. :)

And on a another note, I managed to sell this when a buyer contacted me last Thursday. With baby K eating most of our food now, there's no need for this anymore. :)

The hubs and I took the day off work yesterday and went shopping in JB! Baby K was sent to school at the usual time and then the 2 of us drove into JB just in time for lunch. :) And because it was just the 2 of us, we could really shop. And then of course we had to throw in a bit of supermarket shopping. 

Today, we had to go in again because the hubs had to change the size of 2 work shirts and 1 pants. Thankfully or not, baby K wakes up at about 7ish and so when we left the house, it was only about 9ish in the morning and when we reached, some of the shops were not even opened yet!

And in the evening,  my family, the whole lot of them, had steamboat dinner at Jerry's. It's quite rare that everyone could make it together, especially since my family is huge. There are 18 of us all altogether, including the nephews and nieces. Well, only Robin's son did not come as he was down with flu. So it was really nice to have the family gather together. 

I just hope as we all age, we or they can put aside their differences and genuinely enjoy the time as a family once again.

We have been having very good weather since what, mid November? We are experiencing cold winds and not so much of the scorching sun. I dread the day when the weather changes back to our high humidity sun scorched temperature. 

We do not even switch the fan on when we sleep at night and on few occasions, I had to close our bedroom door because it was getting too chilly in the middle of the night. Although baby K does not sweat as much now, I wonder if she feels the cold as she does not usually sleep under the covers. But she sleeps between the hubs and myself and I think that's all she really cares for now. :)

On another note, I did not visit any of M's relatives with her this CNY. The only person the hubs and I will visit is likely my godma. Ever since we got married, the hubs and I have been diligently following M on her visitation rounds and it is very tiring. Imagine going to a few homes on 1 day, especially under the hot sun. And we usually have Jerry and his family come along with us, with the exception of last year, when we had James and his ex-wife and her kids. But this year, Jerry went to Malaysia to visit his wife's family on the 1st 2 days and James, I suppose did not want to turn up on his own. It was only last year that he had a family so it's understandable if he wants to avoid all those curious looks and questions.

You can say it's only during this season that extended families get in touch with each other but the other train of thought is, how superficial can it be? As long as the immediate family remains close, I reckon that's the most important. 

I had invited Ivy and her family to come by our place and together with the Victors and Salahudeens, they dropped by our home late morning on Saturday. While Ivy and her family left almost lunch time to visit her mum's place, which incidentally is near our place, the rest stayed on and we had shepherd's pie, oven baked drumlets, pizza, iced wine and lo-hei. It's fun to have these 2 families over and as soon as they left, I put baby K to bed and then quickly mopped the floor and got ready to go to the hubs' relative's new home for CNY visitation.

His 3rd cousin had bought a new home and as usual, all the relatives would gather at their place for CNY. We were there about 4ish and had to send the MIL all the way back home as she was alone. After dropping her off, baby K was making a fuss in the car and kept saying that she wants to go home. I intentionally said to her that we had to send her grandmother home and now we're on the way home. I was reluctant to send her home but since she was alone, we didn't have much choice. The hubs had wanted to drop her off near the main road and give her money for a cab ride home but the MIL looked like she was going to have an asthma attack.

After church yesterday, we had lunch at Jeremy's together with Jerry's family and another family from church. At about 3ish, we left and Jerry's family came over to our place where the 3 kids had fun with the x-box kinect.

And then we had dinner downstairs our place. And that concludes the 1st 2 days of our Lunar New Year. Lol.... :p

We were supposed to knock off work at 4pm officially on the eve of Chinese New Year but somehow, the Country Manager realised 4pm and the normal hours doesn't make much difference, I suppose, and so he announced that we could leave at 2pm if we had nothing urgent to handle.

And so I left as fast as I could and reached home to a sleeping baby whose 1/2 day at the childcare centre was shorter than mine. The hubs had to 'escape' from work too just to fetch her. Anyhow, I didn't have to rush to cook my dish to bring to Jeremy's house for our reunion dinner.

On our first day of the Lunar New Year, we met the PILs as well as the 2nd BIL and his wife at the columbarium to 'visit' the MIL's late mother and sister. They started going only last Chinese New Year and somehow, this year, the MIL brought only hell notes and joss sticks to burn. I asked the hubs why must they visit the niche on the 1st day of the Lunar New Year, since we have never done so before and why the sudden burning of hell money and joss sticks. The MIL perplexes everyone. We didn't even go to the BIL's home for CNY visitation. 

And then we went back home after lunch. After baby K woke up from her nap, we were off again but this time to drop by the hotel that the Victors' and Salahudeen's were having a staycation at. They had asked us to join them too but it doesn't make sense, monetarily, if we are out for CNY visiting half the time. Anyhow, we spent about 2 hours at the pool side before we had to leave again as I needed to cook dinner with Jeremy and his family coming to our place in the evening.

And a group of my older cousins came over in the evening as well. Thankfully, most of our guests visit M on the first day of the CNY. So I don't have to fret over cleaning the house over and over. :)