So… my birthday came, and went in a jiffy. Did nothing special in particular, but it was a special day indeed. Thank you so much for the all the wishes. We are, afterall, only as young (or old) as we feel, no? And I feel justtttt nice. Not too young, not too old either. I’ve lived for 30 years, and life has treated me well. And I pray that I get to live for more than another 30 years. :)

2007 was a very good year. Full of ups and downs, of course. But we pulled through. Every cloud has a silver lining, isn’t it? That’s what we keep telling ourselves when something bad happens. And when good things happen, we need to remind each other that we have to keep our feet on the ground, that ‘kesenangan’ is also a test from Allah.To see whether we would be grateful.

We moved into our new house on March 3^rd. Alhamdulillah, the whole process of buying the house didn’t give us too much headache. Except the joker we were dealing with, the so called agent of the bank. I was 7 months along with Mariessa then.

End of March, our maid came to live with us. Alhamdulillah, so far, she’s doing OK. I hope she’ll stay that way.

April 2^nd, exactly on the due date, Mariessa popped out. Not so easily though. A beautiful baby, just as beautiful as our first born, Afiq. This time I had a normal delivery with the help of epidural, and vacuum. Traumatic, really. Hehe.

As we were leaving the hospital, I remember Hubby received a call. It was then all the mess at (his) office started. Backstabbing issue. Hubby was hit hard. Stayed out of office for almost 3 weeks I think, and decided to go for another job. (Oh, sempat pegi cameron highlands dulu to wind down. Mariessa was only 2-3 weeks then, I think). Alhamdulillah, a month after it all started, Hubby started working for another company. We definitely learned a valuable lesson then. Your best friend could very well be your worst enemy. I pray that we don’t have to go thru this ever again.

Afiq turned 2 on April 16^th. And on May 1^st, we celebrated our 3^rd anniversary.

I’m not good at recalling by the way. My memory is very selective, so I found out. And no, it has nothing to do with my age. :P

Work wise, there wasn’t anything much. After 3 years of contract, I was made permanent by the company. Was given salary increment. Although not much, it’s still better than nothing. :)

The last ‘event’ for the year was when Hubby was admitted for sinusitis on December 27. Stayed 3 days at the hospital and underwent a procedure to flush out the blockage. Sounds very simple, but heart breaking (for me) all the same.

(Kalau ada lagi..nanti2 tambah.. ;) )

What do I wish for 2008? Hmmm… I hope to lose ALL the weight I somehow managed to gain all these years, and more! That, of course has been in my list for as long as I remember lah kan, but what the heck. Who knows my determination will finally pay off kan ke?

I hope to spend more quality time with Hubby, Afiq & Mariessa. In short, I hope 2008 will bring us happiness, health and wealth. And I do hope we will always be in the right path. Ameen. :)

It’s my last day of being a 20-something. :) Come tomorrow..(yes, JANUARY 4^th, everybody!!) actually, if we count right down to the minute, it’s only another 12 hours away from the time I’m writing this down, I’ll be 30!!

Kalau dulu-dulu, bila org sebut umur 30 tahun, rasa macam, ‘makkkk aiii, tuanya!”. Now that I’ve reached there, I don’t know how to feel. I mean, how do you feel ‘thirty’ anyway?

Am looking forward to spend some quality time tomorrow with my husband. We’re taking the day off from work and go jalan jalan. Yey!

While I’m at it, Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2008 will bring lots and lots of happiness of every kind!

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

It’s funny how I stumbled upon writer’s block just after.. errr 2 entries? 3? Oh well.. I’m definitely not meant to be a writer. Sometimes I just wish I can pick whatever it is that I want to blog about in my head, and put it on the blog, just like that.

Last night I noticed that Mariessa’s first tooth is finally showing, justttt a little. How comel! I remember Afiq didn’t have any, until he was about 14-16 months! And last night, while meniarap, she finally moved! And just like Afiq.. whatever movement it is, mesti reverse dulu. When he crawled, it was backward first! When he was learning to walk, it was like 2 steps backward and 1 step forward. J So it was not a surprise when Mariessa moved backward last night. An achievement nonetheless! Yey!

At work, things are suddenly pouring in. I’ve been running like a headless chicken between the sites doing stuff related to my system and also helping out other teams. It’s actually fun, but it’s better if we don’t have to travel so much. Going to and fro the same 3 destinations almost everyday is definitely not fun!

Last month the president of the holding company made an announcement that there will be a merger of 5 companies. One of them is the company I’m currently working for. It’s targetted to take place next March. So right now, things seem a little haywire especially at the HQ. I personally don’t feel anything (yet). But the way I see it, some people (mostly those at the management side) are worried for different reasons. There are a lot of higher ranking vacancies to be filled, and I’m guessing a lot of people are hoping for promotions. Us on the operational side, are not much affected. At least that’s how I see it, for now. Yang lecehnya, now they want everyone’s latest photos lah, latest job description lah. Macam2.

Thank God today is Friday. Can’t wait to spend the weekend with the kids and hubby of course who just came back from another trip to Pasir Gudang. Yey! Have a good weekend everybody!

For the past few days.. Afiq has been saying that he wants to go to school. “Mama… Afiq nak gi kolah”.. Thing is, I don’t even know whether he knows what sekolah really is. So I don’t know what he really wants! Or maybe I’m under estimating his vocabulary. Maybe he really knows what sekolah is.

Latest phone conversation I had with him 10 minutes ago:

Afiq: Mama, Afiq nak pegi kolah

Me: Afiq nak pegi sekolah kat mana?

Afiq: Afiq nak pegi kolah kajammm (kajang)

* Pening *

I’ve been thinking about sending him to playschool. But I thought I might as well wait until January. Plus we haven’t had time to look around for one. (that’s a lousy excuse, really, I know). I should have made time for it. But isn’t he too small to go to school? Be it a playschool?

I’m also thinking of enrolling him in taekwando classes since he’s into all these pysical activities. Do they take 2 yr olds ek? Have to find that out too.

I did try out Tumble Tots once. But I felt (looking at Afiq), that it’s rather too ‘soft’ for Afiq. Have to find something more vigorous. Hence the taekwando classes idea. Hmm..

Afiq is also missing Hubby terrible today. He went outstation yesterday and is coming back later today. Afiq woke up at midnight yesterday, kicking, and calling for Ayah. And just now, Tri (my maid) said he woke up from his nap looking for ayah. When told that Ayah will be back later, he went to the door, waiting. Adoi.. Makes me wanna cry.

OooooooooK. So, where do I (re) start? My entries seem to have a pattern now. That is, everytime I start it will be something like… “it has been x months since I last updated” or something to that effect. And this time, the gap is only about 2 weeks shy from being a year since the last entry. Fuiyo. It’s a wonder why I bother to have a blog in the first place.

A LOT (of course) had happened since last november. I’d like to keep the happy memories, and do away with the sad (few) ones. The biggest happiness of course is the birth of our little princess, Afreena Mariessa. Interestingly, the remarks I get from my friends upon hearing Mariessa’s name will be..”Chehhhh nak jugak letak ‘reena’ tu kat nama baby” Hehe. Eh mestilah! At first I wanted to put “sufreena” terus. But then, I thot that is a little too unoriginal. Muahaha.. So, divert a little lah kan.

I’ll have a proper entry on Mariessa later. It’s only right. :)

About a month before Mariessa was born, we moved house, to Kajang. And it’s really a longggggggggggggggggggg story, that one. Things were really smooth at first. But RHB gave us a hard time later on. It’s lucky that I’ve never met the RHB agent who dealt with us. Lucky for him lah. I would have given him a good smack on his head if I had met him. He deserved it. Memang rasa merajuk sgt dgn RHB. The service was sooo slow. Oh well.. let’s not go there again, ok? Nanti luka berdarah kembali. Echeh. The most important thing is, we got the keys to the house (albeit a little late, and after MUCH persuasion. Well, ‘persuasion’ is too polite to describe it actually.. but anyway..).

So we moved to Kajang on March 3^rd. Dengan my sarat condition. Alhamdulillah, everything went smoothly. Had the kitchen cabinet installed about 10 days after that… and some other stuff done to the house. It was not all sweet of course. Like how our pakistan-contractor chose really ugly tiles for our porch.. That’s a long story also lah. I don’t want to go there, really. But overall, we’re pretty satisfied with the house.

A week before Mariessa was born pulak, we took home our maid. That’s also a longgg story how we got her, but that’s not really important lah (now). Hehe. What’s important is that, she’s OK. She’s not perfect of course. In fact, if I were to compare her to Ngah’s Bibik.. oiiii… jauhhhh bezanya. Tu sebab tak nak compare. Plus, IF, IF lah I were to compare pun, I should also compare her gaji with Bibik’s gaji kan? So, I’m thankful for what I have. Yang penting, she’s handling the kids OK-ly. Yang lain2 tu… boleh la pejam mata sebelah. Makes me happier that way rather than dwell on her weaknesses. Ye tak?

Moving on. On 2^nd April, right on the date predicted, Mariessa was born. Details, later lah. Kan nanti ada special entry nanti about her? ;)

Went back to 443 several days after that.. only to go to jelebu pulak a few days after that. Again… Longggggggggggggggggg story. This one, I don’t want to recall. Let bygones be bygones. Yg penting, everything & everyone is OK now. Think happy thoughts.. always! OK?

Then.. 60 days of maternity leave came and went. Sekojap yo! Went back to work, reluctantly of course. Alhamdulillah, this time around I am able to breastfeed my baby. Didn’t succeed with Afiq, so in a way, I was much much more prepared (mentally) this time. And until today, I am proud to say that Mariessa is still exclusively breastfed. Alhamdulillah. It’s an overwhelming experience, although in the beginning I felt like I was nothing but a feeding machine of some sort. Rimas ooooo. But that phase is long gone. Now she does not need to be fed 2-hourly. In fact since she’s started solid food, I’ve began to feel a lot like a ‘normal’ person again. Yay!

OK.. apa lagi? Tadi rasa byk sgt. Hmm.. Afiq? Oh… Afiq turned 2 exaclty 14 days after Mariessa was born. Kesian dia… tak dapat buat a proper birthday party for him. We did 2 small ones anyway.. so it should be ok, right? I promise (myself) that we’re going to have a VERY proper party for Afiq AND mariessa come April next year. It would probably be birthday party cum house warming cum whatever else. Hehe. InsyaAllah. Semoga dimurahkan rezeki. :D

At first Afiq didn’t care much about Mariessa. And then he became jealous… and now.. he still gets jealous sometimes.. but loving most of the time. I can rely on him to look after Mariessa while I run to the bathroom.. or whatever short breaks. And he reports everthing that Mariessa does too. “Mama… adik tarik rambut afiq!”…. “ Mama… sakit! Adik buat”… “ Mama.. tengok adik ni”…. Macam2..

These past few days… he’s been wanting to go to ‘kolah’ (sekolah = school). I have NO idea if he knows what sekolah really is. I do plan to send him to a playschool maybe next year. Haven’t had time to go around asking, though. Hmmm.. must find time. Must!

And Afiq is obsessed about Ultraman Tiga. (There are a LOT of ultraman version right? Ultraman Taro.. Ultraman Ace.. Ultraman Lexus).. Channel Ceria is showing Ultraman Tiga now. (I don’t subscribe to Disney Channels, so Ceria is Afiq’s only cartoon channel). Pose raya pun macam Ultraman. If he’s still interested in Ultraman.. I’ll make sure his bday cake next year will be an Ultraman Cake. Oh and he’s been practising singing Happy Birthday song, complete dgn tiup lilin everyday now.

Hubby? Oh… he has some interesting stories on his own too. We were hit by a BIG wave right after Mariessa was born. Again, this is not something I would like to recall too. But it was a BIG mess. Lucky for us.. Hubby is not the type to ‘melatah’ tak tentu pasal. He kept his cool. And although the situation was really bad at that time, neither of us really felt THAT bad. I personally felt that it was a test in so many ways to us. And alhamdulillah he came out of it a better person. We all did. As a person.. and as partners. Doa2 orang teraniaya kan dimakbulkan? If anything, this episode taught us how careful we should be, that your best friend could easily be your worst enemy. And in business, you probably have no ‘real’ friends, anyway. I am only thankful that it didn’t take too long for the truth to come out in the open. Alhamdulillah. I’m glad to get rid of people like that particular guy.

So now, Hubby’s back with our old Company. And things are looking real good, alhamdulillah. Seeing that ‘green’ building in Shah Alam surely brought a lot of memories. Hehe. After all, that was where everything started between me and him. I think it was meant to be.

OK. This is getting too long. Since I’m in the mood (at least today lah), I’ll probably post some entries today.. <-- this of course could just be ayat hangat2 tahi ayam. But we’ll see. And I’m planning to finally ‘reveal’ this blog to my sisters, (who had started blogging themselves) and some other friends. Sorry for not letting u guys know much earlier. I’m much too shy! I’m sure you guys know that. Muahaha.

I hope my next entry will not be in November 2008. Hihi. Let’s see.