Little Cozy Corner

It’s been quite some time since I last blogged and it was mainly due to being business clearing the house for the painters who had come in to paint the whole unit and also for Ted to complete his modding. It’s going to be released in a couple of days so he’s really been working very hard at finishing it as soon as possible because….we’ve got a new place!!

Yes, we finally found a nice little unit which is bigger than our current unit and for a lower price. In short, it’s a very good deal and we are really happy and excited about it. We have been looking for a new place since Oct/Nov 07 and I didn’t realise that it would take this long to finally find something we both like. I guess such things take time because it ain’t as simple as buying a blouse where you can return and exchange it for another if you didn’t like it. This new unit is about 10 minutes away from where we currently live and although the area isn’t as nice as the one we are in now, the shopping complex is nearby and a close family friend lives in the next street so you could say that I will have someone spend time with other than Ted. Hehehehe…..no one could say no having a chat over a cuppa, right?

So, yea….I will be busy slowing packing stuff up since we have approximately 6 weeks before the big move but since the painters were here earlier, it was extra incentive for us to start packing our stuff although at that time, we didn’t know yet that our offer would pull through. So, now although 1/4 of our stuff is already in storage, there is still a lot of our things back home which isn’t and hasn’t been packed and I really don’t know where to start. This is the first time I have ever done any moving so it will be an experience for me. Moving my clothes from one country to another is totally different to moving EVERYTHING we own to a brand new place. So, fingers crossed, all will be fine.

That said, it is a bit of a bugger because this is happening now - not saying that I am not happy with the new place but the timing is a little off because I’ll be heading home on 11/3/2008. So I really hope that with Sis help [she's coming over on 28/2/2008], it will making the moving or unplacking, which ever is applicable at that time, a little easy for me. So excited!!!!

Ps. Those are all the books that was taken off the shelved by the painters and 3/4 have been packed. I don’t know where these books came from but all I know is Ted loves books. Maybe once  we’ve unpacked, I’ll show you Ella’s books….. :) 

Pps. I’ve uploaded more pix of Ella - go check em’ out!  :grin: 

Pelf made a good point when she wrote that it would be easiest to read about a blogger’s year in one post if everyone did a reflection post about what happened in 2007. She did one and indeed, it had the gist of 2007 and really made me think [and she mentioned this as well] that I wouldn’t need to worry if I didn’t frequent your blog coz all I would need to do is hop over on 31/12 and read that one post and voila, 2007 in a nutshell…hence, I decided to write mine as well. What has 2007 been like for me? A lot of lessons learnt and certainly, many eye openers too.

The first big news for Ted and I was when we found out that we were expecting a little golden piglet in August! [Not a very good image coz of my old crappy digi-cam but it's the original one.]

That was in Dec/Jan, and ever since I found out about the little one, I had started a new blog, Kecik’s Cozy Corner, for her to keep track of practically everything that happened during the pregnancy and now, it’s the blog I maintain for all my baby stories. I had also started my journey writing sponsored post and made quite a sum from it but with all the sponsored posts, I have lost a large number of readers, which is sad since I love getting comments and well, everyone wants to be a ’superstar’, no? But I’m stuck in that yoyo feeling between writing sponsored posts and my personal stuff because it really does bring in some cash and when you’re a stay at home mum, it’s the least you can do to rake in your own pocket money. So although I’ve cut down a lot on these sponsored posts, don’t be surprised to see a few every now and then. Did I also mention that because of PPP, my GoogleRank is now 0???? Basket betui!

In March, I returned to Malaysia for a very long holiday  - 3 months and it was because it was the last time I ever returned home ’alone’. After all, wherever I go these days, I have to bring Ella. It felt so good to be home especially with Mum and all my other relatives and friends. The glorious food was merely a huge added bonus. While I was there, I attended my bestfriend’s wedding in March. I went down to KL for that but didn’t have time to meet up with any bloggers as I had hoped.

And right after that, I was back working at my old office as a temp replacement for another friend [who took over my spot when I left] who went on maternity leave. That was another occasion that made me very happy because I got to be with my old friends and to be working in such a familiar environment was super!

Needless to say, shopping for Ella was definitely on the list. In the beginning, we didn’t know the gender and it was agreed that we would make it a surprise but I caved in! lol Turns out we were having a little girl and hence, the shopping began.

I had high hopes of getting some stuff from our trip to Padang Besar but I was very disappointed after that long journey. However, I did enjoy myself at Gua Tempurung.

In May, I celebrated pre-Mother’s Day dinner with my Mum at my Uncle’s cafe called Kofi Haven. I also got a Mother’s Day gift too! Hehehe….

After having all that fun and settling back into life in Kulim, it was time to return home to Sydney. I had to leave in June otherwise the airlines wouldn’t take me on board for being past the allowed number of weeks for pregnant women which was a bugger coz I would have loved to have stayed longer. On the other, hand I was really missing Ted and he missed out on feeling the baby move for the first time. It was a bittersweet moment for me really. But the consolation was that my sis was coming back with me and further down the road, Mum would also be with me after Ella was born, so that was all good.

Being animal lovers, we didn’t miss out on any chance of going to the zoo and petting animals. I must say that my mum wasn’t too pleased with this beach whale handling animals! lol =P I’m sure you know why…..all the pantangs la, that’s why!

The biggest and most important thing that happened in 2007 was….Ella’s birth, my first born. [Note : The birth story is rather graphic but trust me, I left out quite a bit already! It's not there to scare off potential mums-to-be because trust me, when it's your first, you'll want to find out ALL you can to be prepared but honestly, nothing you do or read will be able to prepare you for birth. ;)]

This picture was taken a week before the birth and was upload on the 11/8/2007 - in the morning! Ella was 9 days early.

The moment….

The proud Mummy and Daddy…and their little Eel.

In September, Ted celebrated his first Father’s Day and he’s very proud of it. In fact, Ella has been his inspiration for a webcomic, Kecik!, which he has been trying to put up on a daily basis but with working crazy hours, it’s not that regular. However, he tries very hard so if you’re popping by, do give him your support, ya?

On 12/9/2007, we celebrated Ella’s mor guek [sp?] which the the celebration of a baby’s first month. We invited my aunt and uncle to join us for Chinese that night.

On 17/9/2007, Mum flew back home. That was another one of those sad days for me because I had gotten so used to having her at home and her company was just something I really treasured what when you’re home alone with only a baby for company. So yes, having adult company is something I miss but, I’m still ok. I got your blogs to check out when I’m free and bored. Hehe…but seriously, there is hardly a dull moment with Ella.

In October, we began looking for a new place to purchase since we are currently renting this unit. I must say that it’s tough getting a place that you like. I absolutely love my current unit but there are issues which makes it a bad property to purchase so we are really looking hard, high and low for a new place. Even getting the finances in order had taken such a long time! Fingers crossed we will be able to settle all of this come Jan/Feb 08 coz Mum and Sis are coming out at the end of February for Ella’s baptism.

Another achievement [don't know if you can call it that or not]on a persoal note, is the fact that I’ve gotten involved with writing some articles for The Giving Hands, Pelf’s charity project. I try to write and submite an article once a fortnight so far, so good. I’ve also joined PK Tan to blog about Malaysia wildlife conservation awareness campaign and have an article ready to be posted tomorrow. Please join me and spread the word, k? To be totally honest, I’ve never gotten involved with any sort of writing like this before and I feel a personal sense of satisfaction and feeling that although it’s not much, it’s still something and I know I can do more but I prefer to take baby steps. Perhaps I will take on more challenging tasks along the rod but for now, spreading the word is the way to go.

Finally, in December, we celebrated our first Christmas together as a family. And I have been diligently playing with Photoshop and this is one of my first creations. It isn’t THAT fantastic and I’m far from being a pro but it’s a start. I don’t think I have enough imagination to start something from scratch! ;P

This is another one of my creations as well. A photo of Ella taking her first picture with Santa.

Here is Daddy with Ella posing in front of Grandma’s Christmas tree. Would you believe it if I told you that I forgot to take a family picture of the 3 of us this Christmas??? Funny how all your priorities are turned upside down when you have a little baby of your own. But it’s worth it, really.

And there you have it, my year 2007 in a nutshell. Here’s wishing you a very blessed happy new year and may 2008 be properous and more productive in any possible and imaginable way. O, and may your new year resolution [yes, RESOLUTION, not resolutionS]* come true.

*Why? I’ll tell you tomorrow.

Christmas came and went in a blink of the eye. All the anticipation and then you blink, and now it’s another 363 before Christmas comes again. So, how was your Christmas? Mine was quiet as it was last Christmas but the bonus if that we got Ella to celebrate it with. Partying started with a Christmas Eve party at Ted’s friends place and Ella got loads of toys there. It was rather claustrophobic [sp?] for me coz there were SO many kids running around. It was like a mad house! Good thing that Ella handled it VERY well and was only tough trying to get her to sleep being in a strange place and all but tiredness gave in any way. Ever seen what a place looks like after 10 odd kids have stripped their presents opened? Well, here’s what it looked like anyway…

After we got home, there was still one more present to be opened, so I opened it for Ella - Daddy had the chance to open the rest at the party.

On Chrismas morning, it was pressie opening time and this is what I got from Mum.

Very creative!!

Then it was time to get over to have Christmas lunch at Grandma’s.

Ella was suppose to wear this dress but it was a little chilly that day so she had to wear something else BUT the cute pink ribbon is still there! Btw, that yellow jumper she’s wearing was knitted by Grandma - talented Grandma!

Grandma roasted quails for us but had the ham and turkey bought and prepared, I think. Lunch was great but the presents were better!

She was obviously thrilled and so am I! She’s got a lot of clothes now so I don’t have to buy those cutes ones for now. We also got a train set from Grandma’s friends, it’s gorgeous!

It was about 5pm when we left for home, all happy and contented. Well, at least it was that way for Ella coz she was grumpy during lunch.

Chilling out with Uncle William’s [also known as Bill, my brother in law who was the one carving the leg of ham] teddy….all ready to go home.

Hope your Christmas was fun. Happy New Year!!!

Ps. If you’ve never seen a ‘drunk’ baby - be sure to check out more Christmas shots of Ella over at Kecik’s blog.

Obviously not me!!! Cis…after all I went through…

I missed it by 19%!!! Bah….not amused la.

Typically if I were back home in Malaysia, I would still be cooped up at home, strutting around in my sarong, feet all socked up, having the least number of baths a week and perhaps have a head of [stinky] matted hair. This, assuming that my Mum would want me to follow strict after birth pantangs [old wives do's and don'ts]. But because I’m down under, I have pretty much broken almost, if not, every don’t in the book.

Instead of not bathing for a whole week immediately after the birth, I was in a nice hot shower on day 2, only because I was too weak and unstable to get up and walk to the shower any earlier. [Read my wild ride after the delivery.] I washed my hair by day 3 and I have been out and about for my dental and GP appointments 2 weeks after the birth. Food wise, I’ve been trying to be good but still, it’s not easy to follow when specific herbs are hard to come by in this part of the world BUT thanks to Mum, who has been diligently boiling for me some of those herbal teas which keep me warm and Ted buying me DOM, I think I’m not to far off.

Today, I officially had a day out. It was because we had to attend a settling class that I had the chance to step foot into Westfield, one of those huge shopping complexes like Queensbay Mall or Gurney Plaza and had lunch and a tiny bit of shopping. We left Ella home with Mum for a couple of hours and although she acted up a little, Mum didn’t have much problems with her other than having to rock and cradle her for about 2 hours before she hit the sack!! Such a wicked baby…..BUT now that we know some of those settling techniques, we’re all geared up to use it!

It felt good to be out and about. I’ve been indoors for as long as I can remember and only because I just didn’t feel like getting out into the sun PLUS, I’m still a wee bit sore in a place I won’t mention - TMI [too much info] might scare potential Mums away! *lol* But now that I feel almost as good as new, I’m ready to take Mum shopping tomorrow!

So Teddy baby…..Ella’s all your tomorrow!! *snigger snigger*

I still find it all still too surreal. I can’t believe that Ted and I now have a little baby of our own. We have a FAMILY. It normally strikes us when either of us are carrying Arianna and looking down at her while she sleeps. For me, it’s like I’m in a world of my own when I’m feeding her.

It’s amazing how I can just sit and stare at her while she sleeps. I bet she finds that extremely disturbing, then again, I think babies were built to take all the staring, poking and prodding while they sleep coz truth be known, I’m constantly staring at her and touching her all the time. It’s a wonder she can actually sleep through it!

I remember  hollering out at Ted the other day while he was surfing and I was feeding Arianna while watching CSI, I said, ‘Baby…..we have a baby.’ And even as I said that, I felt as if I was dreaming….it’s really very bizarre when all of a sudden, you have this small bundle of cute-ness which can turn to a top-notch screaming and pooping machine in your hands in mere seconds. To be frank, it can be quite distressing really.

But I’ve come to realise that there’s nothing I would change about it….