So long, Farewell, I Need to Say Goodbye... 2009!

Today is the last day for the year 2009. How fast time flies! And just like that... 365 days gone!

Now let me see what have I achieved / done in 2009... (Drum rolls please... :P)

#1 - Give birth SUPERNATURALLY!
Most of my circle of friends are still not married yet... and those who does (or older friends / relatives / family members) are still in awe of my supernatural childbirth! Just to sum it up (in case you are too lazy busy to read my post (I hope you do cos' its kinda hilarious! ;p), I delivered Ben naturally.

How supernatural is that? Well, from the time I got admitted to the hospital at 12 midnight right up until I delivered Ben in 4 pushes (of which the 1st was wasted on my screaming like a slaughtered chicken) the whole process just took 4.5 hours. Maybe you think it's still a long time... but hey, 4.5 hours for someone who is delivering a child for the very first time in her life!!! Not too bad huh?

#2 - Become a mother!
Wow! This cheeky petite girl suddenly becomes a mum! I now have a very heavy responsibility to bring up my own child in the best possible ways I could. Think of that... someone is actually depending on me now! And now that I am a mother, a lot of things have changed. I learnt so many things ever since I became a mother!

Life slows down... you really stop to smell the piss and poop roses and enjoy and savour every moment... One thing I've always thought of and wanted is for my mum and dad to know that their daughter is now all grown up and is a mummy herself! God bless them and I pray we will see them again one day...

#3 - Quit my high paying job and become a slave robot Stay-At-Home-Mother!
Bye-bye to system analyst + application support + web programmer + project secretary + system admin + database admin + acting IT head (when my supervisor is not around). Wow! What a mouthful!!! And to think I only get 1 pay for doing all of these?!! :P

Now that I have quit my job, there is no longer the need to rush through datelines and projects, no need to stress myself out liaising with users and vendors for meetings and discussions and walk through and project requirements, no need to avoid office politics, no need to put up a happy face when you are being back stab behind your back, no need to take on your colleagues work just because they think its not their line of work...

Of course, there are times when I really feel that being a SAHM is the sh*ttiest job in the world! ;p

#4 - Blog!
Ever since I became a SAHM, I started this blog as a way to keep me sane note down my joy and life with hubby and Ben, my new profession as a full time mummy, my past experiences and memories of working life, pregnant phase etc etc.. whatever that comes to mind. During the first few months when Ben is not so active, I used to have more free time and sometimes published up to 4-5 posts on daily basis but nowadays, I try to do it whenever I can (like now, I'm blogging at 3am Malaysian time) and I also took a pledge to blog with integrity.

#5 - Breastfeed!
I've never had this great amount of respects toward my breasts before... but now that I am a mother and is still breastfeeding Ben (he's going to be 10mths old on 4th Jan 2010), Wow... salute salute... hang on a sec.. I gotta give myself a pat on my back... :)

Think of the amount of money we saved by breastfeeding! And seeing how strong and healthy Ben is thanks to breastfeeding! Read this post further to know how I make my breastfeeding works!

#6 - Able to continue my hobby for FREE!
Ehem... I love reading books! But this year onwards, I no longer buy books. No wait, let me correct myself... what I'm trying to say is I no longer buy adult books for my reading pleasure. The reading materials I bought once in a blue moon now are either baby books or parenting magazines. So to be able to continue my hobby now for FREE... wow... it's awefully...awesome!

All thanks to the Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger programme. So far I've reviewed about 5 books of which I actually received some of them for free! They actually send the hardcopy all the way to Malaysia so that I could read it and post up my review...

#7 - Starting my own online store
About 10 years ago, right after college, I used to work at this souvenir shop as a sales girl. There's tons of stuff sold in the shop, from batik, pewter, jewelry, etc etc. I've always wanted to have my own little store selling stuff I'm familiar with, and so after researching over the Internet and finding an affordable supplier, I started off this small online store which is called 2 Die 4 Jewelry.

Business so far has been OK although I've been pretty much occupied with taking care of Ben nowadays.

#8 - Finally meet my long distance friend from UK!
I met John in the iSeries expert website about 8-9 years ago when I was working as a trainee programmer (this is after I left the souvenir shop job). John is one those expert who helps answer your questions with regards to Iseries (formerly known as AS/400) and after exchanging a few emails, we became friends. Even after I jumped to few other companies after that, we still kept in touch (had to, he's my sifu! :D)

And so finally, this year, John went to Indonesia for a holiday and he dropped by Kuala Lumpur for a few days to meet up with me. I brought hubby and Ben along and we went out for 2 lunches when he's down in KL. I was really really nervous as I'm very shy when I am face to face with someone and think of it... after almost 10 years of emailing each other and spamming the person's inbox with chain mails and jokes (:P) you finally meet the person! And to think of the trouble he took to arrange to come down to KL to meet up with you!

John, just in case you are reading this, I want to thank you again for the wonderful lunch treat you gave us on your last day in KL and for your trouble to come down to KL to meet up with us. Thanks so much!

#9 - Eat more veggie! (I think this year I eat more vege than all the years before this)
People who know me knows that I am an anti-vegetarian. Yup... you read it right... I'm an anti-vege person.

Again, people who know me knows how I clever I am to avoid eating vege... but sigh... all good things cleverness must come to an end... with a baby in the house, I had to start eating more vege.

Else, I'm going to be nagged on how am I ever going to get our child to eat vege when I don't eat it... yada yada yada... yawn....

#10 - Make new friends online!
Thanks to the wonder of Internet, I am able to meet many new friends from all over the world. Those of you who visits and/or follows my blog and commented my posts on regular basis, thank you so much. I really appreciate your comments to my posts (it's really great knowing that there are people out there who actually reads my crappy stuff!

#11 - Start a SAHM club (forum)
I started this forum after meeting this mummy via Baby Center MY where she posted about not able to find any SAHM club or forum in Malaysia. After a couple of MSN chats and emails, I created this forum, copied over some of my previous blog posts which are relevant to mummyhood matters and she invited her SAHM friends to join as well. To date, the club has about 10 members including myself... still little but beats having no club at all! :D

#12 - Throw up...
Yes.. you are reading it right again.. I'm proud to announce that for the year 2009, I actually throw up... This actually happened around mid Nov recently which forced me to take MC and pig out rest for the whole day.

As far as I can remember, I have never vomitted at all.. not even during pregnancy.

In fact, I don't have any morning sickness at all throughout my pregnancy (unless you count eating 2 sets of McDonald's meal sets as sickness then err..yeah...)

Oh well... that's about all that I can think of for now... I hope the coming 2010 will be filled with more adventures and experiences for me and family!

To end this post, I'd like to share this new year wish I found on the Internet:

I wish you Health... So you may enjoy each day in comfort.
I wish you the Love of friends and family... And Peace within your heart.
I wish you the Beauty of nature... That you may enjoy the work of God.
I wish you Wisdom to choose priorities... For those things that really matter in life.
I wish you Generousity so you may share... All good things that come to you.
I wish you Happiness and Joy... And Blessings for the New Year.
I wish you the best of everything... That you so well deserve.
HAPPY NEW YEAR FRIEND!

~ Author Unknown ~