Cheer Myself Up

It has been ages since my last post.

This will be a quick one. What's happened so far? TOO MUCH!

In a nut shell, I am pretty much out of a job… My role has been made redundant. There is no pay out, because they expect us to find another job within the bank. I found another job outside, but had to turn it down. For reasons unknown… and I still can't stop shitting myself for doing that. I know I know, one should not live a life of regrets, 'should have' 'could have' 'would have'..

I am feeling very overwhelmed at the moment. All sorts of things are running through my head. The project that I am working on, is coming to an end. And the big Go-Live weekend is happening next weekend. As much as I want to give it my best, after all, I have been working in this project for a long time… On the other hand, getting treated like crap by the company, its like HEY Thanks for all your hard work, now GET LOST! All I have to say to them, despite all the motivational talk on gearing up for this Go-Live, is GO FUCK YOURSELF!

We are due for a family holiday in Malaysia at the end of the month, for three weeks. We are all looking forward to it. As much as I want to enjoy myself, on the back of my mind, not having a role when I return… is pretty shitty.

Anyways, hope you all had a lovely weekend. Grumpy and I just went to the movies and we watched Bad Neighbours, in La Premiere! We had free tickets, and yes it was two hours of my life I will never get back. In La Premiere! Haha Dopey was kind enough to babysit our Little Bambi. He is very good with her, I will give him that.

Now, here's a song to cheer myself up!

Budget

If there is one thing Grumpy and I do badly, it has to be sticking to the allocated budget.

But then again, I think about my job now, working in projects, and how a project manager never delivers a project on budget and on time, and also, never delivering on what that was asked for.. Well, clearly we both make excellent project managers!

First, we set out to buy a car within a budget of $50,000. Well, it did not happen. Instead we spent an extra $20,000 on top of what we were meant to.

In terms of timing, we did set out to buy a car before my parents arrive next month. We have a planned road trip to Adelaide in April, and after our previous trip to Loch Sport during the Christmas break with Grumpy's parents in the Audi A3, and me squashed in the car with my knees up to my chest for the 4 hour drive, we said we definitely need a bigger car for this 10 hour drive (one way)! So, the project manager in us did meet the timeline of the project. Unfortunately again, at a cost of an overblown budget.

And finally, we started out our car search for a station wagon. We were tossing between the Audi A4 Avant wagon, and the VW Passat wagon. And what did we buy? Something that is NOT a station wagon!

So what did we get? A shiny BMW X3… that is a bit posh, and I think we will be the only BMW owner on the very humble street that we live in… my, my… what will my neighbours think?

After we bought this new ride, Grumpy drove Little Bambi and home, screaming YOLO!!!! Yes my friends, we have lost the plot.

Here are some photos of my weekend after the disastrous splurge on a new car.

Little Bambi with her favourite uncle and aunty

While Little Bambi was on the swing with her uncle, her parents were on the see-saw

See-saw fun

We spend most of our weekends in parks

Dinner in the city with friends on White Night - my gorgeous girl

Good night!

Jules, the project manager

Sick

I called in sick at work today. For a variety of reasons.

Firstly, Little Bambi woke up numerous times last night, for reasons unknown. I picked her up from the cot, cuddled her, and asked if she wanted some music as she usually sleeps to Baby Einstein. She replied "Gabba gabba". We also have Yo Gabba Gabba on her iPod, which she loves. But no, I was not going to play Yo Gabba Gabba at 2.45 in the morning.

My health - I had a bit of a red eye yesterday, and my back. My back is killing me. Two knots on my back and it is so sore!

And finally, I am just OVER work at the moment. I think I need a change. The mummy in me is saying No, Jules! Only because I have the flexibility of working from home and the ability to finish work early each day. But it does not give me the sense of achievement or satisfaction. Others could say, work harder then… yes I guess so...

Oh well, life goes on.

Little Bambi & I at the beach

Loverly Time

This weekend has been such a fulfilling one, on so many levels! Relaxing - Check, Friends - Check, Family - Check, Good Food - Check, Little Bambi loverly time - Check check check!

The weekend before, I had to work the entire Sunday, which was my 3rd Dress Rehearsal. Grumpy had Little Bambi all to himself that day, and I swear, all he did was watch TV with her and feed her chips and Doritos.

This weekend was completely different, of course. Friday I worked from home, but there was hardly anything on at work, apart from one conference call in the morning. By 11.30am, I had already logged off and was off to the gym. Then I grabbed a massive takeaway briyani lunch at a local Sri Lankan restaurant. I also stopped by DFO to do a bit of shopping. I decided I needed some new Lululemon goodies to improve my running (As if!). Then it was back home, eating my lunch in front of the Kardashians. I am so behind on KUWTK (due to Grumpy's dad hogging our Foxtel the past couple of weeks). Then the rest of the afternoon I cooked Little Bambi vegetable spaghetti, and prepared Nasi Lemak for Grumpy and myself. Our version of a Valentine's Day low-key dinner. Hehe.. At 4.30pm, I picked Little Bambi up from child care and we were off to meet some friends at our local park.

Little Bambi with Little G (his mum and I work together) and Little C (from Mothers Group)

Saturday morning we had an Asian breakfast with Mr Happy and his wife (whom we bumped into by chance). Then we bumped into more friends at the Asian markets, before we dropped Grumpy off to work. Yes, he is working Saturdays again, after-effects of overspending while his parents were here.

I cooked Little Bambi a nice Spanish omelette for lunch, which she did not seem to like. Great! Then we went to our local library to borrow some Wiggles CDs and Baby Einsteins CDs, and we borrowed every Spot book we could.. spot. Then we came home and both took an afternoon nap. We had to pick Grumpy up from work and then we did a bit of car shopping. I can't believe we are considering a BMW, haha as we are currently team Audi.

We had dinner at a local Korean restaurant with Dopey and his girlfriend, and Mr Happy and his wife again. With Little Bambi around now, we no longer head to bars for drinks but instead we visit gelato places (sad isn't it?). We drove to Gelato Messina for some gelato goodness. The queue was incredibly long, but we joined the crowd. Little Bambi was happily dancing to the soft lounge music there and prancing away, even though it was clearly past her bed time.

Little Bambi with Mr Happy and her favourite uncle, Dopey at Gelato Messina in Fitzroy

This morning we woke up to no power in the house. No hot water as well! We upgraded our hot water system recently, and it only works with electricity. But that did not dampen our weekend at all. Finally power was restored at 9.40am, and we made a mad dash to church for the 10am service. We caught up with my cousin and her fiancé, and we had a yummy souvlaki lunch after. Then it was nap time again for Little Bambi and her parents. Geez.. (lazy). Then park time, and to end the weekend, Grumpy cooked us all a delicious hearty meal for dinner - Mee Hun Kueh (my all-time favourite after the Nasi Lemak). Did I mention that he uses the KitchenAid mixer for the dough? 

Good night and feeling so blessed for such an awesome weekend.

Happy Australia Day

Happy Australia Day and Happy New Year! Four weeks late… but better late than never!

I must say that this blog is not getting the level of care and attention it deserves. I have been very occupied with TV shows lately. After Breaking Bad, I got hooked on to Girls by Lena Dunham. This TV show is brilliant! I LOVE IT! Grumpy avoids watching Girls because he says he can't stand watching all the sex scenes but thats okay because I enjoy watching it alone! And then, there is Downton Abbey. So how many books have I read in the past couple of months? NONE! How many posts have I posted up on the blog? NONE!

But here is a quick summary of Christmas and New Years….

Work was winding down before the end of last year, which was good because that gave me more time to spend with Little Bambi … and all the Christmas activities that came with an 18 month old - Santa photos, child care parties, dressing her up etc.

This Christmas was a lot more meaningful with Little Bambi compared to the previous year, only because she is a bit older and she enjoys it all! She really does! She is truly a bundle of joy and I really am so blessed to have such a gorgeous little girl in my life.

My out-laws came over to visit before Christmas and they are staying for an extended period of time (yes, they are still here!). I must say, having our families stay for so long is a challenging time for both Grumpy and myself. We have to cater to both our needs and theirs, making sure we have the right balance - important virtues to keep in mind - respect, tolerance and patience. One more week Jules, one more week. Hang in there!

In between Christmas and New Years, we did a short family getaway to this far far away place called Loch Sport. We were given a holiday house to stay, thanks to the generosity of Grumpy's client.

And for this week our focus will be on Chinese New Year.. I hear the Year of the Horse will be much better than the Snake. Good things to look forward to!

Work or Breaking Bad

It has been more than 2 months since my last post. Most of my time has been spent on work or Breaking Bad. To sum it all up:

• Did my first cupcake decorating class. Enjoyed it. However, have not done anything related to baking in the kitchen since. Too lazy. I did borrow a Planet Cakes book from the library for further motivation. 
• Catching a cold for the 4th and 5th time this year. The same with Grumpy. Either he gets it first and then passes it on to me, or vice versa.
• Did my first Dress Rehearsal weekend for work. It was such a stressful and exhausting week. And ended up reporting to a previous Queen Bitch manager (whom I used to work for back in 2007 in a different company) for a couple of weeks. Lesson learnt : Melbourne is such a small market. You never know who you end up working with. 
• We finally did our first trip together on our own with Little Bambi to Sydney. It was a huge success! We had lots of fun, and we caught up with my darling BFF Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot (who hasn't been drinking, really because of breastfeeding) and her gorgeous little bubba. 
• We found out Little Bambi is allergic to something… what exactly, we still do not know. When she had the reaction, we were so scared for her. Now we are waiting for our appointment with the allergist. 
• Applied for an internal role with the firm. Failed to secure it. Ah well, disappointing.
• However, Little Bambi getting accepted for full time care next year at our preferred childcare centre - Jumping JOY! What a huge relief.
• Little Bambi's vocabulary has improved and she can count one to six, and she says A, B, C, B! 
• We finally installed evaporative cooling at home, after the last dreadful summer I endured while on maternity leave. And then 5 weeks later, our hot water system broke down, and we had to replace that too. So definitely feeling very poor right now.
• Survived 6 whole days without running hot water at home. Utter madness, yes it is!

Overall, it has been an interesting 2 months. Now its all about prepping for Xmas and the New Year!

15 Months

Poor Little Bambi with her swollen eyes

Happy 15 months my Little Bambi! Unfortunately she picked up conjunctivitis from child care on Thursday, and has been suffering from red and swollen eyes since. She has been a bit grizzly and as such, we have kept her home, making sure she gets lots of rest.

At 15 months exactly yesterday, she took her first steps on her own! My baby is walking! My baby is walking! *sobs* How fast has she grown?!? We have been busy taking videos of her taking her baby steps, (with her red eyes - my poor bubba). She is doing really well walking without any assistance, and loving every minute of her new profound independence. However, at certain times of the day, she resorts back to crawling as it is just a quicker way of transportation. 

I decided at 15 months, I would stop breastfeeding completely. Little Bambi handled being weaned off extremely well, and I still marvel at the easy going baby that she is when it comes to feeding and sleeping. In fact, if there was anyone that did not cope too well with the transition, it was me! I must admit I felt quite sad, which is only natural (especially with the hormones).

Also at 15 months, despite all the wonderful traits that she has been showing, she started learning the art of throwing tantrums! It does sound awful, and I assure you that it is! She throws herself to the floor, kicking and screaming until she gets her way. Oh my, how and what do I do with this?! Plenty of reading and advice from other mums, I guess.

So there we go, three big development milestones at 15 months - walking, weaning and tantrums. My gorgeous little girl - I am still so crazy in LOVE with you.