Saturday, March 27, 2010

managing

Managing a toddler and a baby has been much harder than I ever imagined particularly because toddler has been throwing numerous horrific tantrums including rolling on the floor when not getting what he wants. I am at wits end, having tried everyting except for whaking (M and I agreed that we are not going to raise them like that no matter what). You know, love begets love and all that.

I am however seriously reconsidering this because 2 year old doesnt seem to have registered any of my admonishments.

The other thing that is worrying me is that he is just not that into sharing -his toys, etc. I know that this is normal but how do I inculcate a sharing habit. This evening, at the playground, he refused to let go of the swing when another boy wanted to have a go.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

All the world is a birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much


Dear Wispy,


You are 1 month old today. I can’t believe how fast it’s been. Soon you will even be no longer the wisp of a thing that I held on Feb 25th. In fact, you hardly look like the wrinkled cabbage leaf that you were and have been thriving well.


Your birth itself was serendipity. On the 24th afternoon, I was already 3 cm dilated for 3 days. M and I went to watch a movie, My Name is Khan (which by itself was pretty mundane) and it made me pretty wistful that this will be my last movie/outing/social event for a long, long time before you popped. I remember after Sprong, it took me 2 whole years to go back to the cinema to watch a movie.


That night, while putting Sprong to bed, I suddenly felt mild contractions. Mild means enough for me to have a warm bath, have a cup of milo, give orders to the maid, get my mom to come over and call M to hurry from the office. It was 12 pm by the time we reached the emergency ward and I was buzzing with pain already. After this, I was in an epidural induced haze- god bless. I even managed to nibble some crackers, suddendly hungry as the last thing I had was popcorn at the movie.

By 6am the next day, I was again in a fair bit of pain, despite the epidural. The midwife had a look at me and declared that I was in labour. By 6:45, my gynae was next to me and out you slid, ceremoniously plonked in my arms all gooey and gnarled.


The world when you were born: Orang aslis were caught killing tigers in jungles in Pahang, a survey revealed that young people spent 2-4 hours a day on social networking sites on the internet, a French hostage was freed by Al-Qaeda.


Famous birthdays : George Harrison ( title quote is his) , Anthony Burgess, Auguste Renoir

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Blogging Again

So yes, blogging mojo has been regained. I really want to maintain momentum this time because blogging is kind of one of those 'me' things that I enjoy doing but has been one of those casualties of motherhood and a busy career combination- which also includes movies, reading with abandon, TV, rambling walks/runs, coffee with friends, holidays and any other remotely social undertaking.

This time around, I am quite determined to balance me time and mommy time, though it's proving to be trying with a toddler and a baby.

But I'll try.

XXXXX

Updates

1. So, yes baby No.2 Wispy was born on 25th Feb. A Tiger baby to my Golden Pig Sprong.
2. In 09, I moved to another job but it has come with its own set of frustrations. Hmmm...
3. In a way I am glad to be on maternity break, I need some time to re-think where I am heading now.
4. M's been pretty busy with work and with my schedule and the kid(s), I sometimes hardly see him. We seriously need to resolve this.
5. Our 7th wedding anniversary is in June and I want to do something nice but not sure what.
6. I turned 34 in January. 40 creeping closer and my personal strategic plan nowhere activated as yet.
7. Don't think a holiday is going to happen soon ie in the next year although I am dying for one. Just the thought of dragging a toddler and a baby anywhere is tiring-the last one we had was aeons ago to South of France last summer.
8. I miss Croftie, Ira, Maur, Steve, Rajesh (and Delio) so so much - I dont seem to have friends like that in Msia. Or maybe I have no time to cultivate friendship now.

Okay, Wispy is fussing.

Books read, loved and loathed

Books read 09

Jan/Feb Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

March The Trial by Franz Kafka ,Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh

April What was Lost by Catherin O’Flynn

May The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

July Norweigian Wood by Haruki Murakami , The Other Hand by Chris Cleave

August Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

2010 Reads Jan-March

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck – cry fest which was nurtured by pregnancy hormones.

One Night at a Call Centre by Chetan Bhagat – Stay away unless you have too much time on your hands. I picked it up after watching the inspring 3 Idiots which was based on another book by the same author. I didn’t expect too much noting its ‘popular’tag but this was absolutely badly written drivel. To be fair, I read it till the end but it never got any better.

The Return by KS Maniam- Re-read. It gets better actually after the 5th chapter or so. I do think its an important piece in terms of Malaysian reading with all the necessary questions of identity and corresponding angst, driving a stake in Malayan ground and all that.

The 5 People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. Hey to be fair,I wanted to read something light during labour and maternity. It was between this and Paul Astler’s Brooklyn Files. Give me a break okay, I was in no mood for CK Prahalad and saving the world.