I caved.

I am the non-medicine type. I'm the kind that when I get sick, I just hack it through - take no medicine, drink lots of water and sleep it off. (Maybe that's why I went through labor with no epidural.)

But then on Friday, after Thursday's 4-hour episode waiting in the ER to make sure baby was okay because his lips had turned greyish-blue from vomitting, I felt so sick myself - the headache, the cold chills and worst, the feeling of wanting to (but couldn't) throw up. Did I catch the baby's virus? Like my old self, I naturally wanted to just sleep it off and hope it would all go away. But with the baby crying and crawling all over you, sleep was not an option.

And so, I caved. Because medicine was not an option either.

I ended up spending the night at my parent's place, in my old room and BA took baby home. The first whole night off without the baby, and my mom took care of me. It felt good being someone else's daughter again.

Gift cards!

I never collect anything. I never liked anything long enough to continue buying, searching and collecting that one item. It would just be a fad, come and go.

But today, I am claiming to start collecting GIFT CARDS! I think they're just so awesome! These days, they are endlessly creative - all kinds of shapes (especially the ones at Target), all kinds of colors, for all kinds of occasions. The original idea came from seeing Nordstrom's newest gift cards for Valentine's Day - it's luscious hot pink with a stylish heart cut-out in the middle. I have to go back and get one.

How I'm going about collecting these, I'm still unsure of. Would it just be the ones I have and when it goes to zero balance, I put them in my collection, or do I "take" ones from the store? Since they are not worth anything anyway until an amount is put on them, then technically it wouldn't be stealing. But as I was first sharing my newfound one-of-a-kind idea to my friend earlier today, she hands me my FIRST collectible - her recently used up Target gift card, which I LOVE! It's a Christmas one, iridescent with three puppets moving their mouths open, up and down, as you flip the card at certain angles. LOVE IT!

However I decide to go about this, we will have to see. I'm already thinking about the big collage of gift cards I can put together in a sleek matted frame. No one copy my idea please, but if you would like to contribute to my new fad, please send them my way! =P

I hate being sick!

That's the worst thing you can do to a mom. I was sick the last 2 days and couldn't do a thing! I couldn't even rest to get better because I had to take care of the baby. The little naps I tried to steal when the baby was taking his nap, I laid there thinking of all the things I needed to be doing (work-wise). Now, with having a baby, it takes twice as long to get better.

But yesterday, I didn't care anymore. I couldn't stay home another day to hopefully get better. The more I was trying to just lay there and rest, the more work I wasn't getting done, which meant the more sick I probably was feeling from thinking (stressing) about it. So, I just braved it and went out, and it felt so good to get so much done!

My iPhone

I never thought I would need/want an iPhone. I always believed that a phone should be a phone, a camera should be a camera, and the internet/emails should be left to the computer. That is until my husband secretly bought me an iPhone for our two-year anniversary (11.12.07). I'll admit, I was completely unappreciative of it at first, not thinking that I needed all these new functions. I thought having emails so handy would mean I could never get away from my work, when I was already on my computer enough.

But it turns out I love my iPhone and it’s going to be one of those things I can’t live without, and that’s okay because I am not dependent on it (not yet =P). It’s great to be able to check emails (set at every 15 minutes automatically =P) so that I don’t have to run to my computer and check it all the time. I can be free from sitting in front of my laptop and run errands and never be worried that I’ll miss a client.

Plus, I am addicted to You Tube! You can find all kinds of videos on there, SO easily, and it’s been such a new concept that my husband and I have stayed up past 2AM just watching videos of Raymond Lam, Charmaine Tse, Linda Chung, etc. If it had full episodes of our current Chinese soap opera, then we’d be set, and maybe then, I’d be dependent on my iPhone. =P

So if you don’t have an iphone, your phone is so out…that’s what I tell my husband all the time! =P But once you have it, you can’t go back. I can’t even imagine using my Sony Ericsson anymore. =P

PS. Of course I jinx-ed myself (see last posting). He napped all day that day, but yesterday, was a big struggle. I just won't mention n-a-p-p-i-n-g anymore. =P

He naps more than ever now (every mom's dream)!

Somehow we got into this routine and it’s great! He would wake up at around 8, eat, play for an hour, then nap for an hour or two. Then at 11:30ish, he'd wake up, eat, play for an hour, then nap for another hour or two...and repeat... But this only works flawlessly if we are at home/work by ourselves, without any interruption. If I take him out running errands with me, it's harder to get him to fall asleep. I do feel bad for robbing him of his naps, but I swore I would never be one of those moms who purposely stays at home or has to go home by a certain time so that he can nap.

We’re staying at home today and I’m working during his naps. Of course this is not going to work today because I’ve said this. (Every mom knows once we proclaim it, it'll jinx itself...but I'm crossing my fingers!)

I really enjoy what I do.

I really enjoy what I do. As long as there is no time constraint, no one bothering me, no baby crying in the background, I can do it all day long. It's like doing one of your hobbies, without a care in the world, time just passes by.

I can do anything!

I feel like I can do anything!

Having been pregnant for 9 months, of which, I limited (or had to limit) myself to doing only bare minimum, that once the baby was out, I was up and about in no time (well, thanks to not having a c-section or an epidural for that matter! =P)

So without the baby in my stomach, I wanted to get back all the time I had lost. I got back into work with only one month off, I went back to eating (or rather, not eating) at irregular hours, I carried heavy things without thinking twice, I resumed bending over backwards for my Brides and slithering through tight spaces.

I never thought I would be this career-driven woman. I always thought I would want to be that typical stay-at-home mom. I'm not sure if it is because of how society is now that it requires both to have incomes, but I do completely enjoy my career.

(But I did promise myself that with the next one, I will give myself at least 3 months off - no consultations, no weddings, no nothing - purely 3 months of time with the new baby, enjoying my time, especially with breastfeeding).

No one wants to take care of babies!

My sister and I have a theory.

No one wants to take care of babies (well, maybe except for my good friend, Karen's parents =P).

We all want to work. We would much rather work than to stay home. Anything than to stay home with the baby!

This generation has changed. For grandparents who are not yet retired and for new parents who have been working, they just want to keep on working. Is it that with taking care of a baby, you just don't feel that sense of accomplishment that you do with working?! Don't get me wrong, taking care of a baby is definitely hard work (anyone who's been a parent would not argue with this). But because you have to take care of your child and that it's an everyday lifelong task, you see it as something that you just do.

So for grandparents alike, they would much rather keep on working until they HAVE to retire and for those new parents, (who are probably still in shock that their lives have changed forever - I still am =P) they would do anything than to lose their previous career-driven lives to a baby.

What took me to writing this Blog is that I feel so lucky I can have both. With having my own business, I can take care of Baby myself and sometimes with help from the grandparents. But it's when I want, I mean "rather", work that I feel so guilty for it. And it seems like the grandparents would take care of Baby only bare miniminally (when I REALLY need them) that I can hardly imagine having a second baby anytime soon.

Maybe this Blog stemmed from my sister having her second child on Tuesday, 09.18. Congratulations!