Happy New Year, 2012!!

Happy New Year guys! 

What shall I be watching? Well, 2012 of course! heh..How cheezy!

The year has come and gone (yet again!). Time really flies. It seemed like just yesterday we celebrated and ushered in 2011 and now, we embrace 2012. 

New Years for us is and has always been the same -- in that we spend the time at home, mainly in dreamland. Except for that one time, when I was pregnant with Mini, we spent the night at the hotel in KL to catch the fireworks. Of course, Ash was fast asleep by the time the fireworks came on and I was close to calling it a day/night. Hubby? I can't remember what he was doing. Probably, was busy watching the telly.

We'll be doing the same this year which is to sleep off the fireworks, if at all possible considering the noise and such. But, I believe we will or at least I will because we spent the day de-cluttering the house. We gave much of their toys away and clothes too. On top of that, we also threw away things we don't need, empty boxes etc...Now we have more space for more..err..junk?? 

I cannot believe cleaning was what we did to prepare for the New Year. LOL. Hope your day was much more well spent, like shopping for instance. Oh how I wanted to hit the stores but well, since we procrastinated on cleaning, we best get it done. Especially so when school begins in a couple of days. 

Also, I have decided to do away with New Year's resolutions because I can never keep at it. The most, I'll be all excited about ticking off the 1st or 2nd, but the next 20 will just be carried forward. By year 2015, I would have about 300 unresolved resolutions! No...child, I shall not go down that road. Not this year. Possibly, not ever! 

So, anyway, before I ramble on and on -- Here's wishing you the happiest of moments and an amazing adventure in 2012.

Weaning off the pacifier

at my sister's place for Xmas dinner, and playing on sis' Iphone

Mini is addicted to her pacifier. Or should I say, she used to be until 2 weeks ago. All of a sudden, I just stopped giving her the pacifier whenever she asks for it. We just told her it's broken and there's no more.

She whined of course. She whinged. She screamed and shouted "GOT!!". But, we calmly told her there's no more pacifier and that she's a big girl now, no need for the pacifier. She whinged and whined some more. 

Ash is still on her thumb. SHe has been since she was a baby. The reason why we decided to stop Mini from the pacifier and not Ash is because Ash only sucks her thumb when she's about to sleep. And the 'thumb' doesn't stay in her mouth throughout. Whereas for Mini, she wants her pacifier ALL THE TIME. And she would want it when she's sleeping too. Not so good, right? 

So, we decided to try to get her off the pacifier. Besides, she'll be going off to play-school next year; we don't really need her to be asking for her pacifier in school.

WHenever she asked for it and when we tell her no, she'd whinged for a bit and accepted it. She'd go about doing her thing. Of course, we tried also to distract her and not leave her out cold and dry. I was pretty nervous especially at night or when she's tired during the day and needed her pacifier to snooze. But, thankfully, it wasn't as difficult as I expected her to get. 

The only time when we felt really bad for her was when she didn't get a good night's sleep during the first couple of nights. At times, she would sob in bed with her eyes closed. Like the Malay saying "mandi tak basah, makan tak kenyang, tidur tak lena". As of now, she's slowly getting the hang of it and so far, she's stopped asking for it. We have been doing our part too (and warned everyone to do the same ) by not mentioning the word tee-tah (as she calls it) to her. 

After all the stressful anticipation, it wasn't terribly difficult weaning Mini off her pacifier. You might have heard stories of  kids giving parents a hard time when they were similarly weaned off. Or at least, that's what I heard. And which was why I was completely nervous at the start. It took me a while to pull the plug. Now that I've done it, I feel relieved that it went down relatively easy for Mini, which naturally, is a good thing. Plus, for me, I feel it's the right age too because at this age, she's still a little..err..blur so she'll buy anything you sell to her..hehe.

That's it. One down, one more to go : her diapers. Potty training hasn't been completely successful..*sigh*

Have a Blessed Christmas everyone!

So the tree is up.

Decked with nice aging (since the 70s) angels.

and with some, that under normal circumstances, would not have made it on the tree. Like Cinderella for instance;

or, creepy girl who looks like she's hung herself and alien-shaped craft

 

Lastly, some presents. Most need to be distributed by tonight in any case. 

Looks like we are set aren't we? This year we will have our Christmas at my sister's new pad. Will be exciting!! And not to mention, I don't have as much cleaning up to do, so, it's a celebration I am most looking forward to..heheh..

That's it folks. Enjoy your Christmas, enjoy your time with loved ones, or simply just enjoy the holidays (and the rain..). Have a good one!

dressing up for a night out

I am sure some of you will be looking forward to this weekend. More so, the following weekend. Both weekends are long weekends. What with the season ending celebrations and the ushering of the New Year. I cannot believe 2011 is coming to a close and we're moving on to a new digit.

I always look forward to new years. I still do but somehow, the years have zoomed past so quickly lately that I feel there wasn't enough time for me to really savour every minute, every day. It's been go-go-go from the start. And, somehow, with Mini on board, the days went by even faster. I don't know..maybe it's just me but really, this year has passed me by so fast I didn't really have time to blink even.

But, I shall enjoy the rest of the year. Firstly, with the Christmas celebration and then, for the new year's. Now, all I need is 2 new dresses to go with the special occasions. Being the kiam-siap that I am, I'll probably look for past season dresses, like those clearance from the recently concluded prom nights. I am sure they come in all sizes like even plus size prom dress. So even if you're plus sized, you needn't have to worry. There's always something for everybody. 

When do you start shopping for Christmas?

With Christmas approaching in, oh..about a weeks' time, you don't really have much window space to do your shopping or get your Christmas party supplies. Or, maybe you do, but the myrid of things that one goes through for Christmas can be pretty overwhelming. Trust me -- there will never be enough time. 

The strange thing is, people always tend to do the last minute shopping. I don't believe this as an Asian phenomenon or more specifically, a Malaysian phenomenon. It's quite universal, I would think. Haven't I heard or read somewhere or told by some people that stores usually are packed to the brim with people as the date draws closer? 

We always tell ourselves to shop early or space out your shopping because you get a couple of big sales event happening in the course of a year anyways. Getting your gifts early, they say, will invariably prevent from disappointment and you get them at a discount. Win-win. 

I'd subscribe to that if not for one thing : workability. I mean, who shops for Christmas during Chinese New Year or Raya? As it is, as a mom, I already have my hands and minds filled with the weekly shopping list that I must fulfill every single week - I doubt I will have any room to think about shopping for that bra my sister wanted so badly and to only give it to her on Christmas. Do you? 

You know, apart from my buzy-ness, I think buying something so early (even if it looked great at the material time), and having to keep it in a box, stored somewhere collecting dusts, not so urm, eye catching. Especially when it will look pretty aged after 6 months sitting at a corner, unattended. I mean, if you really wanted to give someone something you bought 6 months ago, you might as well just give it to that person straight away. No need to keep and wait till Christmas or New Year or whatever. Buy something else then.

Of course, the flip side to getting presents in advance is that that particular something might out of stock and if you didn't get it then, you might not see it in the stores in months to come. I mean, yeah, if that's the case, by all means - get it. Only if you have the time or if you knew someone really wanted it. Otherwise, why bother?

Perhaps, I am not the most hardworking shopper in the world. Neither am I a prudent one. Well, it has only been the last year or so that this tradition started in our household. I am still feeling the ropes. While I wouldn't recommend actually shopping for Christmas too early in advance, maybe a month or 2 earlier is an acceptable time-frame.

Another thing I discovered is having a mock Christmas celebration is quite time consuming and a costly affair. But, truly, I am having the best of times. Nothing like getting gifts for the people you love. The upside for me, with this new ritual, is the fact that I have resorted to not getting anything for people's birthdays..Save cost ma..heheh

Christmas wish for 2011

The thing about Christmas this year is that the excitement has gotten to Mini too. You know - the tree decoration and..and..more tree decoration. Ash, on the other hand, can't wait for the grandparents to return so she could celebrate Christmas with them. But, unfortunately, her wish will not happen because the grandparents will be celebrating Christmas away from home this year instead. Of course we told her but, either due to her stubborn nature or she just cannot comprehend the reality of it. Either way, she will definitely get a rude awakening Christmas morning!

What's interesting is that the above wasn't what I wanted to talk about; I wanted to talk about my Christmas gift for this year and that would be getting the best ebook reader (apart from that Lamborghini and the Santorini vaca of course). I mean, the best thing since frosty chocolate cake, would be to be able to read free books off the internet. 

Now, to make my dream come true, the hubby needs to read this post right? Hubby, read this post!!  

the best of 2 evils

I don't know..chatterbox 4s or terrible-twos? Honestly, I cannot choose because both are equally bad..hahha.

At the moment, that is what I am and have had to deal with. Although Mini's terrible-two is still kinda bearable to a point where it's not even fair to call it a 'terrible two'. But, she does have her moments.

Let me break for a snap shot of her right now :

This was taken at Desa Parkcity the weekend evening that Mini got better from her cold/cough/fever. I am telling you, the worst thing since Kim K is a sick child. It's not ever fun when your child is sick. Especially if your child isn't competent in speaking much...yet. But, thank God she's better now. Have been for a while. She even missed her mini concert that weekend. Oh well - there's always next year, which isn't very far away, only 3 more weeks.

waiting eagerly for father to light up birthday candle. It was hubby's bday.

Ash on the other hand is...growing up. Can't believe it but it's definitely happening. This also means more freedom for me. More ME time for me. More headache I am sure. A different kind of headache, but a headache nevertheless.

You know, before I even talk about next year, I shall savour every bit of what's left this year. Plenty to be proud of, plenty to be sad about and definitely, plenty to have nothing but a good laugh at. Even though, i am simply a stay-at-home mom without the excess office baggage to carry with me, the year has not been without it's drama and significance. Oh yea, we still get those....just packaged slightly different.

So, with all the sugar n spice, will I be ready for "them" another year? I'll say - Bring it on!!