Mix them all up...: October 2013

To describe this year (which has not end) as crazy is a gross understatement. How everything decided to happen this year, that we have no explanation except to say that the stars and the moons decided that this year, our fate was predestined to continually have one big event after another right until the end of the year. So from the start of the year till the end of the year, we barely have any breather.

1. Purchasing a new house / Selling of our existing house – Jan to Mar ‘13

From the start of the year, we decided that it was the right time to purchase a new place after staying in our current place for 5 years. With the steep increase in property prices for the past 5 years and the looming General Election 13 that has slowed down the market, we decided that this was the perfect time to sell our current place and purchase a new place. So the first quarter of the year was spent hunting for an affordable and relatively convenient place to buy. Weekdays were spent shortlisting houses online and making appointments with agents. Weekends were spent visiting those houses. Finally in March ’13, we manage to find somewhere where we both liked and at the same time we manage to sell our place off.

2. The birth of Evan – Apr ‘13

Once the purchase of the house was done, we were busy again preparing the arrival of our 2^nd child – Evan. Clothes need to be bought, car seat, cot etc needed to be prepared and we had to prepare ourselves and our daughter emotionally for the addition to our family. Evan of course came strong and healthy in Apr ’13 and so came the crying, wailing and not to mention the urine infection that he had to be infected approximately 2 weeks after his birth with which had us going to the doctor multiple times to have it cured. It wasn’t easy the first couple of week with his infection and to add “excitement” to it all, we discovered that his tongue was held back by that piece of “muscle” under your tongue that holds your tongue – that muscle was holding his tongue too back which caused him to have difficulty in breadstfeeding. Something that we could only have it corrected after his infection cleared. So through the early weeks until we did the minor op on that “muscle”, he cried much and had difficulty suckling which means, a crazy time for both daddy and mummy.

3. Renovation – Aug to Oct ‘13

Once we got our keys (or before that), we had to look into renovating our place. Figuring out what our budget was, securing a contractor, drawing out plans, getting approvals, hunting for materials (tiles, lights, etc) and all of this had to be done with us bringing along our 2 kids to showrooms, expos, factories & shops. This was the most stressful time in my life. My lunches were now spent flying off to potential shops (be it for bathroom items, tiles, lights) to check out if the items and price were right first because we didn’t have the liberty to do that during the weekend with the kids. Then when the weekend came, I would bring the family to the places where I have identified as being good enough to look to purchase the necessary items. My role was to scout. Then when the renovation commenced, my lunches were spent flying through MEX highway to our new place to check on the contractors (if F1 was ever held on MEX, I’ll definitely be one of the top three winners). A lot of times, I had to purchase additional materials till it came a point where I was afraid to see the contractors for fearing to hear “Boss, ini cat kena beli lagi”, “Boss, ini tile tak cukup”, “Boss, downlight kena beli 5 biji lagi”, “Boss, switches short”. Everytime I hear one of those sentences, that means I have to find the time to go buy the items and mind you, most hardware shops close by 6pm. The only chance I have of purchasing it was to fly during lunch after visiting the house hoping and crossing my fingers I get back to office before my lunch hour ends. I’m glad now that the renovation is coming to an end.

4. Friend’s Wedding in Bali – Sept ‘13

To add more excitement during our crazy time, a close friend decided to get married in September ’13 in Bali. I definitely wanted to be there for her special occasion and I guess it was a good time for our family holiday as well. So with a 6 months old son, a 3 year old daughter & a beautiful wife, we had to make the necessary arrangements for the trip from booking our flights, hotel, driver, planning places to visit and not to forget ensuring that the contractors had everything they need while we were away. Planning was crazy but the trip was worth every penny we spent and stress we endured planning.

5. Brother In-Laws Wedding – Oct ‘13

Like I said earlier, the stars and moon must be aligned to give us maximum light this year as my brother-in-law decided to have his wedding this year. Although there’s not much help that we were required to assist, it still required our time to alter my coat, my wife to get a dress, some details we needed to help look into for the church wedding. Don’t get me wrong, I am really excited for his wedding and I cannot wait for the event day to come to share his joy, it’s just that I have so much on my mind with the running around that I have to constantly remind myself to put those things aside and prioritize more important things (like his wedding) first.

6. Moving In – Dec ‘13

And to end it all for the year, we’ll be moving in on Dec ’13 and from now till then, we’ll be busy packing with the limited amount of time we have everyday (having to care for the kids till they fall asleep at night). From now till then too, it won’t be just packing but also cleaning up the house, putting up the necessaries and getting the house ready for us to move in.

To sum it all up, it has been and will be a beyond crazy year. As crazy as it gets, it’s still happy stress…. Something psychologists term eustress.