RYAN'S CHU-CHUT

Last week, I managed to pack some of Ryan's old baby clothes to pass on to my Sis' friend. I gathered some stuff (mostly home clothes for the yet-to-arrive baby boy) & found 2 unopened pacifiers (or chu-chuts, that's what we called them at home). The pacifiers made me laugh now ... Ryan used to be so attached to them, that he could never fall asleep without it in his mouth. I was wondering how I could wean him off it, without creating World War 3 (at home). Surprisingly, it was relatively smooth sailing when I decided that the chu-chut should go MIA (missing-in-action). He created a small ruckus, cried a little but it was actually easier than I expected. The draining nightly feeds was much tougher to drop though. As he gave up the pacifiers rather easily, I thought (assumed) that the night feeds will be a breeze too. Errm ... it wasn't! .... but its still much better than I anticipated. Phew!

Whilst looking though some old photos, I discovered one of the last photos of Ryan "sucking" on his pacifier (whilst napping in the car), taken in December 2008. I could have sworn that he gave them up much earlier but the picture proves me (dead) wrong ... haha!

I was glad to give away them pacifiers. Its a stage that Ryan has long passed ... & giving it away is a sign that me boy is no longer a baby ... he's a toddler now! Well, just gotta make him give up his (baby) bottle for a real sippy-cup-thingy (its been an uphill battle so far). Well, wish me luck, ya!

YES ... I'M STILL ALIVE

Yep! Still alive & kicking ... just not in the mood to blog much. Have been taking pics too but its still in backlog land. Don't know why ... just seem gloomy these days. Is it because of the weather? Its been sunny one minute, cloudy the next. Thundery on some days, scorching on others. That's been me ... these couple of weeks. Just can't pin down whats wrong though ...

Our wedding anniversary is coming ... this weekend to be precise. Its been 12 years (yep! a dozen) since we've been married, though we've been together for much longer. Am I in a celebratory mood? Nope, not really! We've been together for so long ... I guess its just another year to notch up. I don't know ... when I was younger I thought being married for more than a decade seems great, an achievement even ... but the reality is ... marriage is a lot of hard work. Its more than 2 people being together ... its a lot of compromises, sacrifices, negotiations, heartaches, etc. Do we have any plans? Nope ... being on a budget, well what can you do? No special dinners, no special getaways, no special gifts ... I kinda got used to the life that we've lived these couple of years that we don't do anything grand on any special day. Its like any other day, I guess.

I've been thinking a lot about our future ... in the coming year of 2010. As we will be making major changes in our lives, I don't really know what to expect. Our routine family life will change & although I hope its for the better, there is a LOT of trepidation on my part. I don't know what to expect or whether we will make it through but I know that we made this decision as a family ... and we will have to stand strong & be brave ... in facing our new life together. I hope we made the right decisions ... coz there's no turning back now .... just to look and move forward. Whatever the future brings, we will face it head-on ... we will be strong, we will still stand tall & survive ... like we always do!