5-Year Long Service Award

I am really thankful for having worked at the same company for the past 5 years, with significant development in my career.  Most importantly, the boss, my colleagues and my team are great to work with, even in the face of great challenges. Today I received my 5-year award from the CEO and I am thankful for this milestone. The award was given out at our company's annual dinner, and it comes with a cash award of RM1,500.  Wow!  Thank you very much, boss.

Baby Xin's 2nd Birthday

I can't believe my Baby is 2 years old today.  First thing in the morning, her brother came near her crib and said "Happy Birthday, Baby!" while she was still sleeping.  That was so sweet of Wei, who was getting ready for school.
As J and I were both working today, we had a simple celebration at home. An American chocolate cake with 2 candles, and some balloons that I took from my office event (haha!).  Baby Xin loves balloons.

Wei teaching Baby Xin to blow the candle out

Baby Xin wanted to cry because she touched the candle

Baby Xin cut the cake, and licked the plastic knife

Visit to Petrosains

Today, J and I took the kids to Petrosains, where we met up with our friends, a family from Penang who were on vacation here.  They are also a couple who have 3 kids.  Although both J and I were busy with homework (a term that we used with our kids whenever we have to bring work home), we decided that we would still spend some quality time with kids and friends.
And I am so glad we did, we had lots of educational fun.

Baby Xin at the multi-mirrors

 If you are Malaysian, you must remember to bring Mykad to Petrosains because that offers significant discounts.

6-peg puzzle

I am also very proud of the fact that Wei managed to solve the 6-pegs puzzle in less than 2 minutes, he said it was easy because he was guided by the knight piece in chess.  In the puzzle above, you have to put the 6 pegs where they are not aligned with each other in any lines. 

After Petrosains, it was food at Madam Kwan's with a few hours of chatting.  What a lovely afternoon, even though when we got home, we had to continue with our "homework".

2011 - The year That Was

A new year has dawned upon us just like that, without much fanfare.  I've spent the long weekend catching up on errands especially for the coming school reopening and Chinese New Year.  Then I read the posts of 2 bloggers and this inspires me to do the same on reflecting on 2011 and resolve to achieve some main goals in 2012.
Family
Baby Xin turned 1 in January and is a toddler.  She learnt to point before she was able to speak, and when she can speak she says 2 syllable words in Mandarin, English, Tamil and Teochew.  Her most frequently used word is "em mai" which is "don't want" in Teochew. She is turning into an i-generation toddler, where everything is about touch screens, sliding and flipping, and iPad becomes a bedtime request (sigh.....).
Wei turned 10 in Nov and is considered a tall boy.  My first born is a chess-enthusiast, swimmer and piano player.  He represented school in chess competitions, but swims and plays piano for fun. Towards the end of 2011, he had to get a dental retainer fixed to his upper teeth, that should last him for 3-6 months.
Yuan is a skinny but active girl, she turned 8 in Dec. She had to get an eye surgery done to correct her weak eye muscles, and started to wear glasses this year.  I am thankful that all went well.  Yuan is generally good with all subjects.  I hope 2012 will be a year she gains more weight, I am trying to encourage her to eat more.
J and I, we are in our 12th year of marriage and still going strong.  J is a partner who is considerate and supportive, a great father to the kids and a great family man.
Work
Work has been most challenging this year, and I put in a lot of time and effort in order to make things work.  The good things are: 1. J is very understanding about my tight timelines and 2. My efforts do not go unnoticed by the boss and my team as well.  Towards the end of this year, the boss changed my portfolio so that I can have a fresh start and develop new ideas.
Travel
For a work training I was sent to Manila.  Other than that, I really enjoyed the 3-day break to Singapore (Marina Bay Sands and Festive Hotel) and our 2-week-shoestring-budget trip to Japan with the kids.

Health & Fitness
This is the aspect that seriously needs improvement as I have skipped my yoga classes and swimming for months, all in the name of work (and also an element of laziness - *embarrassed*)
Spirituality
I really could have done more, but I am thankful for the opportunity to attend a 1-day meditation camp, Kathina Day as we do every year, and helping out at our Sunday classes to guide young pre-schoolers.  Time contribution reminds me to have patience, be humble and be grateful for all that I have.
Contribution
Under the planning and guidance of our fellow team-member and blogger, Anie, we organized a charity program on property topics and all the proceeds were donated to the NSTP fund.  We hope that our small contribution would make a difference to someone's life.
Education
This year was great!  I've been to at least 5 seminars on properties and wealth management.  And with a baby now, I really couldn't have done it without J's kind understanding, and willingness to look after the kids when I am away at the seminar sessions.
On top of self-education, we also conducted 2 other sharing sessions in March and July to share with others with like-minded interests.

A great 2011 indeed and I am thankful for the love of my family and the support of my friends.

Baby Xin Says Something

My Baby Xin at 1 year 11 months has quite a vocabulary.  She is now able to say words with 2 syllables like Papa, Mummy, bolster, water (btw bolster and water sounds the same so I have to decipher that).  Blanket, pillow, bear, dog, cold, habis!  And the ultimate 2-syllable word: ipad.

To encourage her to say more words, I will ask her, "Baby, say yes, say duck, say porridge etc." And she would always say the word.
Today, Yuan was playing a telephone game with her. Yuan said to her, "Baby, say something" while putting the pretend telephone near her mouth.  So Baby Xin said: "Something."

My One Big Goal for 2012

Steve Aichitson, a very inspiring personal development blogger and life coach, asked this question for Christmas.  What is the one big goal that I hope to achieve for 2012?
Well, it would have to be a health & fitness goal.  I wish to exercise at least an hour every week, either swimming or yoga.  This year I have not been going regularly at all, mostly due to being busy with work, at other times, well, just being plain lazy.....
I hope to lead a more active lifestyle together with J next year, that's my one big goal for 2012!

Photo from http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/ent1945.html

Pottu

My Baby Xin's nanny is an Indian, so naturally Baby Xin is learning a lot about Indian language and culture.  One of the things that she likes is a pottu on her forehead, which her nanny sometimes put for her as a symbol of protection.
One day while I was working on my laptop, Baby Xin wanted to take off the red tracker ball right in the middle of my keyboard.  The tracker ball cover, had gone missing before, but was always found afterwards and I put it back, so I now realized it was Baby Xin who pulled it off.  I asked her why she wanted it for, and she pointed to her forehead at the space between her eyebrows.  I finally realized that she thought it was a stick-on pottu, and that she wanted to put it on!  This is so funny!