Welcoming 2009

"New is the year, new are the hopes and the aspirations, new is the resolution and new are the spirits."

I particularly like this among the stream of smses I got last night as it succinctly captures the spirit of welcoming a brand new year.

In 2009, we will look forward to:
- Welcoming a new member of our family in mid-July. I’m into the 12th week of my pregnancy now, after several months of trying. As much as we are excited about this, we are also a little apprehensive as we’re not sure how we will cope with two young children at home on our own. We have no plans to hire a maid so it’ll be just me and hubby. Things will surely be chaotic if one of us is away for several days. Hopefully, Yiu Yiu will be better behaved and not demand so much attention.
- Yiu Yiu starting kindy. So far, she seems happy and enthusiastic enough about going to school. We have been pre-empting her that mummy and papa will not be in school together with her and she’ll say, “When I go to school, mummy and papa not there one. Yiu Yiu no (won’t) become cry baby one.”
- Hubby venturing out and starting a business with a friend. In fact, he started in December and things are pretty much still in the preliminary stages. And though I’m fully supportive of his decision, I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t the right time, given the current uncertain economic situation.
- Younger sister moving in near my house. By a stroke of luck, she got a really great deal on the house which is just a few doors away from mine. She expects to move in by Q2 or Q3, so Yiu Yiu will have her cousins close by, and me, my mum.

In 2009, I also hope to:
- Join the legions of mums in packing bentos for their children. Since Yiu Yiu’s kindy only serves biscuits during break time, I hope to pack more nutritious food for her to bring to school. I’ll start small, and not be too ambitious as I know I don’t have the time or creativity to decorate the bentos nicely.
- Complete three more photobooks, one for each year of Yiu Yiu’s life. I had planned to complete them over the last few weeks of 2008 but I ended up being so busy with work and running other errands, as well as a short weekend trip to Singapore.
- Enroll Yiu Yiu in some enrichment classes such as art and music classes, as well as more academic oriented classes like Kumon or Enopi.

Here’s wishing you a fulfilling and promising 2009.