I'm a full-time mummy

I was just thinking the other day... wouldn't it be great if my parents were still alive? Wouldn't it be nice if I could bring my 2 kiddos to visit their grandfather and grandmother? Another place that I can drive and fetch my kiddos to, let them see my birth place, or the place where I grew up and stay before I shifted here.

I have written a post on parenting with extended family in May 2012 and just want to repeat my opinion:

"I think it is good to have extended family around. It gives a sense of belonging to a larger scale of family root and we are also showing and displaying to our children how we should be treated when we get old one day..."

My FIL passed away in Dec 2004, my dad in April 2006 and my mum in January 2007. There's only my 68 years old MIL left for my 2 kiddos to terrorised at (hehehe) so yeah, I do wonder what if my parents were still alive now...

I would've loved to fetch my kiddos every now and then to visit my parents, let them dote on my kiddos etc etc. Hmmm...

How about you? Does your child get to spend time with their grandparents? What do they do?

I wrote some posts about what I did in 2010 and 2011 that I'm proud of so this post is to continue on the 'tradition' for 2012 as well! Here goes (in no particular order):

* Sharing My Tips On Getting Products to Review

I have received a number of emails and comments from my followers asking how I get to review products and apps so I decided to list down my tips and post it on my blog. I'm happy to share that there are some of my blog followers who followed my tips and able to get cool stuff to review on their blog too!

 *  Tandem Nursing!

I initially had nursing aversion when we brought Alyson home and Ben started asking for his nen-nen (breastmilk). I wrote a couple of posts on my tandem nursing experience, the struggles and how I cope with it, surviving it, and how it goes along at 3 months after that.

I'm happy to report that we're still tandem nursing though Ben nowadays doesn't really ask for his feeding unless he's in one of his baby mood to play and to get mummy's attention hahaha... but still, since I'm practising the 'Don't offer, don't refuse' method of weaning, as long as he asks, I will be glad to offer to him. Imagine nursing a 46 months old boy and a 16 months old girl, wow! And yes, we are still at zero specks of formula powder in our house since our first child came back from the hospital!

 * Continue to help some friends, even strangers in the matters of baby care, breastfeeding and so on

Yes, even while I am busy with my 2 kids, blogging and doing product reviews, I do spare some time helping my friends, bloggy  pals or strangers. Whatever topics I get asked on, be it breastfeeding, childbirth, pregnancy, baby care, product reviews, making use of blog to earn money, and so on, I am happy and proud to say I have been able to share my experience with other mums and friends all around.

* Continuing in potty training my boy (and my girl!)

I blogged about starting Ben back on his potty training in February after months of delaying it (Alyson came along in September and I had to pause Ben's potty training since then) and even listed down some short, medium and long terms goals that I looked forward to accomplishing with Ben.

Then I also blogged about the precious sight I get to see - Ben finally pooping in his potty! (instead of diapers which he always insisted on), and revisiting those goals I set in February against the progress in early May this year and checking off the ones we achieved 3 weeks later, and now it looks like we are getting almost all of the goals soon for Benjamin! Thank God for this and for my dear boy to be so good in following through his potty training!

As for my 16 months old girl, she is learning fast by observing her big brother! So much so that when I can see her obvious signs she wants to poo, I will immediately take off her diaper and put her on her brother's potty (which surprisingly, is the one property of Ben's that he gladly shares!!!)

As of today, the last day of the year, I'm happy to share that my boy has been off diapers during day AND night time. Woohooooo!!! I've just got to work on getting him to get used to using the toilet seat from now on. As for our girl, I have observed on two occassions where she squatted on the toilet floor to pee, so yes, I'm pretty proud to see her do that... still, I want to let her slowly and steadily move along in her potty training progress, no rush on our side as I firmly believe when she's ready, she's ready...

 * Getting to review Nissan LEAF, the world's first mass produced, all-electric & zero-emission Nissan Vehicle in Malaysia 

To be precise, my husband and I have been appointed as the couple ambassadors for Nissan's 2nd batch of Nissan LEAF test drive program. It has been an amazing 8 weeks for us to test drive this beauty and for my blogging experience, getting to review this car and work with Nissan brand is truly one of the pinnacles in my blogging journey!

Btw, you can view loads more pictures of the awesome car in my Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.507265295964237.115229.147942468563190&type=3

 * Helping out book authors by sharing their book review pitch

There are times I had to reject some pitch to review books that is not my genre or I simply do not have time to review it. There are also times when after reviewing the book, I was very excited to have read the book and wanted to help the author to spread out the news about their awesome book.

So, I created an album on my Facebook page and with the permission from these authors, I shared the opportunities available for book bloggers to review these books (mostly in PDF format). I am happy to be able to share these opportunities with other bloggers as well and also happy to know I can help out these authors!

* Building up my blogging portfolios
   

These are some of the brands / companies I've worked with and I'm happy to share that each and every one of this brands and companies are awesome to work with and I hope to continue building up my blogging portfolio and to be able to work with more brands and to share what my family and I have tried and tested and the things that works!

So there you go, a list of things I did in 2012 that I am proud of! I hope to be able to achieve greater things be it in my blogging or parenting. I wish the same for you all out there and thank you so much for your support and following through my blog in 2012!

Wow, I can just imagine myself hearing children asking their parents 'Are we there yet?' every few seconds but instead, I hear 'Is it the end of the world yet?' Kidding, kidding...

Oh well... as a Christian, I believe when it's time, it's time. No false prophets. No predictions. No warnings.

Logically thinking, if the Earth is really going to be hit by a giant ball of fire or asteroid or planets aligning or whatever the rumors being thrown around now, we would be able to see it in space long before it is 21st December 2012.

In any case, I'm just going to spend and cherish my time with my children and my family. Hug my kids a little more, a little tighter, smell them, kiss them all over, tickle them, just plain being silly with them and enjoy each and every moment. You never know when will be your last day on earth...