Time flies and the year is going to end in a few hours. I would like to take this moment to recall and reflect on what have happened over the year.
1. Kaitlyn was Primary 1
Kaitlyn started her life as a Primary 1 student. She has always been a crybaby (just like me when I was young), I have seen her grown over the year. The teachers have done a great job taking care of her. I am so glad that Jamie and my mil were around for her during the first six months of her primary school life, preparing pretty bento sets for her recess and helping her with her English and Chinese Spelling. I am also very thankful for the help rendered by my family side to pick her up after school when Jon is not available. 🙂
2. Kaiden attended Kindergarten without her sister.
Kaiden is more independent than Kaitlyn thus I am so glad that he is taking well attending school on his own. Over the year, he has grown more mischievous. Wonder is it because he is boy or what. He is so boisterous, not slowing down for a minute. Mrs. Lim, her teacher, said that it could be that I have not been giving him enough attention thus attention seeking. Guilty on my part, it’s true that my attention was on Kaitlyn as a lot of monitoring was to be done on her school work.
3. I am back at work.
Staying home to take care of the children for so many years, going back to work was a struggle initially. I made new friends and interacted with many, many good colleagues. I enjoy working with them and especially with the children. I have learnt a lot over the year especially from the little ones. It is also a joy to see them grow and to grow with them. On the other hand, I felt guilty for not giving enough attention to my children anymore. Not being able to help Kaitlyn much with her work as I was totally drained out at night after work. Not being able to spend enough time with Kaiden causing him to act out.
4. Embarked on the route to book editing
I took up the challenge to join a team as one of the editors to edit a set of Mathematics books which will be launching in 2013. It was my first time doing an editing job and I must thank people from VM for the opportunity to learn from them. Tiring with work and to continue with the editing after work, the team was very patient and accommodating to my work schedule. I had a glimpse of the books, the covers and layout of the books look great. Can’t wait for them to be distributed to different schools and to the hands of the teachers and students.
5. Went for a Thyroid surgery
My heart was palpitating as Jon walked side by side to accompany me to the surgery theatre on our wedding anniversary to have my thyroid removed. We were laughing our heads off about how comical we were and acting like male and female leads in a Hong Kong serial. I am so thankful that with many blessings from a lot of people, it was just an inflammation and only one side of my thyroid was removed. Parents were worried as the case had been dragging since May from a government hospital. Mother sourced for a specialist in Mount E, which did a really good job on the surgery within 1 week upon seeing him. The difference between a government and private. 🙂
6. I submitted
After thinking for almost a year. I decided to leave the service. Supposedly to feel happy, I had mix feelings. I love my job but at the moment, my priority is my family. I want to spend more time with Kaitlyn to help her in her work and to spend more time with Kaiden to undo what has been done. Staying home full-time is not what I have planned for. I will be taking up a freelance job using the time to engage myself while Kaitlyn is in school.
Welcoming 2013…. My resolutions
1. Start life anew in my new job.
I will be joining VM as one of the Senior Trainers, training students in the center and schools on conceptual thinking in Mathematics. I am not sure how everything will turn out but since I am embarking on it, my aim is to help every child like Mathematics in basic and to do well in their tests and exams. VM is really nice to fit the classes according to my schedule and giving me the autonomy to work from home on some days of the weeks. I can’t wait to see my new group of students starting next week. 🙂
2. Prepare Kaiden for Primary 1 in 2014
Kaiden will be enjoying his last year of kindergarten. I hope I can spend some time preparing him for Primary 1 and to kick off some of his bad habits. He has a lot of bad habits and I shall not mention them. Some are pretty gross…. LOL
3. Help Kaitlyn to build up her Maths foundation and confidence level
Kaitlyn is quite weak in Mathematics. I hope that I could use my expertise to help her understand Maths concepts better and to let her feel more confident in the things she does.
4. Shed some kilos off and have a good diet
I hope to take up a sport to shed some kilos off and to tone up my body. Probably to join my mother for yoga classes or to take up a family sport. Jon just renewed his SAFRA membership and hopefully, we can allocate one day each week to work out together. I hope to take better care of my body by having less suppers and healthier food.
5. Have a family day
Saturday and Sundays this year always ended up at my parent’s place lazing around and doing nothing. I hope to allocate either Saturday or Sunday as a family day where we will bring the kids out for fun. Be it visiting the park, having brunch, cafe hopping or the beach. Something for the kids to enjoy the nature rather hogging on to the TV and iPad.
6. Spending and savings plan
I normally do not keep track of my spendings. The new year, I hope to save more with some goals in mind. One of the big goals is to save for a major trip to US in 2014. This has been in Jon’s family discussion since last year and we shall make it happen in 2014. Save! Save! Save! Not forgetting my another major splurge, a Chanel flap. 🙂 Hoping to save for one this year.
7. Organise my life
Instead of living on what comes tomorrow, I hope to plan my life in a more systematic way. Getting a pretty schedule book to jot down my important schedule (still prefer pen and paper :)) and blog to reflect on my life. This year has been a busy year that I do not have time to meet up with my friends, spend time on my crafting and even blogging. I hope to spare some time in life, to meet up with good friends at least once a month and to create a craft and blog at least once a week. I want to start documenting my life thus embarking on the journey of ‘Project Life’, a fuss free scrapbooking, to journal and document my happenings on a monthly basis.
8. Have my own family trip
Jon’s family without fail will have an overseas trip at least once a year. This year, we went Hong Kong together, a group of 13 people. I hope to have the chance to have my own family trip with my parents and siblings. Shall we have one this year?
9. My wish for my family in 2013…..
is for everyone to be happy, healthy and to be thankful for every moment spent together.
A very Happy New Year to everyone. 🙂
My last post for year 2012.
ChippyChipDovey 